Project Gutenberg's Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree

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Title: Housekeeping in Old Virginia

Author: Marion Cabell Tyree

Release Date: March 31, 2013 [EBook #42450]

Language: English

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Housekeeping
In Old Virginia.
CONTAINING

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY
LADIES IN VIRGINIA AND HER SISTER
STATES,

DISTINGUISHED FOR THEIR SKILL IN THE CULINARY ART AND OTHER BRANCHES OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

EDITED BY

MARION CABELL TYREE.

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.... She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness."
Prov., chap. 31, verses 10 and 27.

JOHN P. MORTON & CO.,
LOUISVILLE, KY.
1878.

Copyright by
MARION CABELL TYREE.
1877.

Dedicated
TO
THE SISTER HOUSEKEEPERS,
WHOSE KIND ASSISTANCE AND CONTRIBUTIONS HAVE SO MUCH
LIGHTENED THE LABORS OF THE WRITER AND
ENHANCED THE VALUE OF HER WORK.

GENERAL CONTENTS.

vii

PREFACE.

Virginia, or the Old Dominion, as her children delight to call her, has always been famed for the style of her living. Taught by the example of her royal colonial governors, and the numerous adherents of King Charles, who brought hither in their exile the graces and luxuriousness of his brilliant court, she became noted among the colonies for the princely hospitality of her people and for the beauty and richness of their living. But when at length her great son in the House of Burgesses sounded the cry of war, and her people made haste to gird themselves for the long struggle, her daughters, not to be outdone either in services or patriotism, set about at once the inauguration of a plan of rigid retrenchment and reform in the domestic economy, while at the same time exhibiting to their sisters a noble example of devotion and self-sacrifice.

Tearing the glittering arms of King George from their sideboards, and casting them, with their costly plate and jewels, as offerings into the lap of the Continental Congress, they introduced in their homes that new style of living in which, discarding all the showy extravagance of the old, and retaining only viii its inexpensive graces, they succeeded in perfecting that system which, surviving to this day, has ever been noted for its beautiful and elegant simplicity.

This system, which combines the thrifty frugality of New England with the less rigid style of Carolina, has been justly pronounced, by the throngs of admirers who have gathered from all quarters of the Union around the generous boards of her illustrious sons, as the very perfection of domestic art.

It is the object of the compiler of this book, for she does not claim the title of author, to bring within the reach of every American housekeeper who may desire it, the domestic principles and practices of these famous Virginia homes. In doing this she has not sought to pursue the plan adopted by so many authors of such books—to depend upon her own authorship for her rule. She confesses that in this matter her labors have been largely editorial.

Through a long life it has been her good fortune to be a frequent visitor, and often the intimate guest and kinswoman, at many of these homes; and she has sought, by the opportunities thus afforded, and guided by her own extensive experience as a housekeeper, to gather and select from these numerous sources those things which seemed to her best and most useful to the practical housewife, and which, carefully observed, would bring the art within reach of all who have the ambition to acquire it.

It will be seen that she is indebted to near 250 contributors to her book. Among these will be found many names famous ix through the land. Associated with them will be discovered others of less national celebrity, but who have acquired among their neighbors an equally merited distinction for the beautiful order and delightful cuisine of their homes.

The labors of the writer have been greatly lightened by the kindness of these contributors. And she desires in this public way to renew her thanks for the aid which they have given her, but even more for the goodness which prompts them, at cost of their sensitiveness, to allow her to append their names to the recipes which they furnish.

The book, after great care in its preparation, is now offered to the public with much confidence. All that is here presented has been so thoroughly tested, and approved by so many of the best housekeepers in Virginia, that she feels it must meet with a cordial and very general reception at the hands of all accomplished housewives throughout the land, and will supply a long-felt and real need.

If she shall thus succeed in disseminating a knowledge of the practice of the most admirable system of domestic art known in our country; if she shall succeed in lightening the labors of the housewife by placing in her reach a guide which will be found always trusty and reliable; if she shall thus make her tasks lighter and home-life sweeter; if she shall succeed in contributing something to the health of American children by instructing their mothers in the art of preparing light and wholesome and palatable food; if she, above all, shall succeed in making American homes more attractive to American husbands, and spare x them a resort to hotels and saloons for those simple luxuries which their wives know not how to provide; if she shall thus add to the comfort, to the health and happy contentment of these, she will have proved in some measure a public benefactor, and will feel amply repaid for all the labor her work has cost.

MARION CABELL TYREE.

Lynchburg, Va., January, 1877.

xi

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

19

HOUSEKEEPING IN OLD VIRGINIA.

BREAD.

Bread is so vitally important an element in our nourishment that I have assigned to it the first place in my work. Truly, as Frederika Bremer says, "when the bread rises in the oven, the heart of the housewife rises with it," and she might have added that the heart of the housewife sinks in sympathy with the sinking bread.

I would say to housewives, be not daunted by one failure, nor by twenty. Resolve that you will have good bread, and never cease striving after this result till you have effected it. If persons without brains can accomplish this, why cannot you? I would recommend that the housekeeper acquire the practice as well as the theory of bread-making. In this way, she will be able to give more exact directions to her cook and to more readily detect and rectify any blemish in the bread. Besides, if circumstances should throw her out of a cook for a short time, she is then prepared for the emergency. In this country fortunes are so rapidly made and lost, the vicissitudes of life are so sudden, that we know not what a day may bring forth. It is not uncommon to see elegant and refined women brought suddenly face to face with emergencies which their practical knowledge of household economy and their brave hearts enable them to firmly meet and overcome.

To return to the bread question, however. Good flour is an indispensable requisite to good bread. Flour, whether old or 20 new, should always be sunned and aired before being used. In the morning, get out the flour to be made up at night for next morning's breakfast. Sift it in a tray and put it out in the sun, or, if the day is damp, set it near the kitchen fire. Only experience will enable you to be a good judge of flour. One test is to rub the dry flour between your fingers, and if the grains feel round, it is a sign that the flour is good. If after trying a barrel of flour twice, you find it becomes wet and sticky, after being made up of the proper consistency, you had better then return it to your grocer.

The best flour is worthless without good yeast. Yeast made up in the morning ought to be fit for use at night. It should be foamy and frothy, with a scent slightly like ammonia. After closely following the directions for yeast-making, given in the subsequent pages, the bread will be apt to succeed, if the flour employed is good.

There is a great art in mixing bread, and it is necessary to observe a certain rotation in the process. To make a small quantity of bread, first sift one quart of flour; into that sift a teaspoonful of salt, next rub in an Irish potato, boiled and mashed fine, then add a piece of lard the size of a walnut, and next a half teacup of yeast in which three teaspoonfuls of white sugar have been stirred. (Under no circumstances use soda or saleratus in your light dough.) Then make into a soft dough with cold water in summer, and lukewarm in winter. Knead without intermission for half an hour, by the clock. Otherwise five minutes appear to be a half hour when bread is being kneaded or beaten. Then place it in a stone crock, greased with lard at the bottom, and set it to rise. In summer, apply no artificial heat to it, but set it in a cool place. As bread rises much more quickly in summer than in winter, you must make allowance for this difference, during the respective seasons. The whole process, including both the first and second rising, may be accomplished in seven or eight hours in summer, though this will be regulated partly by the flour, as some kinds of flour rise 21 much more quickly than others. In summer you may make it up at nine o'clock P.M., for an eight o'clock breakfast next morning, but in winter, make it up at seven P.M., and then set it on a shelf under which a lighted coal-oil lamp is placed. If you can have a three-cornered shelf of slate or sheet-iron, placed in a corner of the kitchen, just above the bread block, it will be all the better, though a common wooden shelf, made very thin, will answer, where you cannot get the other. The coal-oil lamp underneath without running the risk of burning the shelf (if wooden), will keep the bread gently heated all night, and will answer the double purpose of keeping a light burning, which most persons like to do at night, and which they can do with scarcely any expense, by using a coal-oil lamp.

Never knead bread a second time in the morning, as this ruins it. Handle lightly as possible, make into the desired shapes and put into the moulds in which it is to be baked. Grease your hands before doing this, so as to grease the loaf or each roll as you put it in, or else dip a feather in lard and pass lightly over the bread just before putting it in the oven to bake. Let it be a little warmer during the second rise than during the first. Always shape and put in the moulds two hours before breakfast. If hot bread is desired for dinner, reserve part of the breakfast dough, keeping it in the kitchen in winter, and in the refrigerator in summer till two hours before dinner.

In baking, set the bread on the floor of the stove or range, never on the shelf. Always turn up the damper before baking any kind of bread. As you set the bread in the stove, lay a piece of stiff writing paper over it to keep it from browning before heating through. Leave the door ajar a few minutes, then remove the paper and shut the door. When the top of the loaf is a light amber color, put back the paper that the bread may not brown too much while thoroughly baking. Turn the mould around so that each part may be exposed to equal heat. Have an empty baking-pan on the shelf above the bread, to prevent it 22 from blistering: some persons fill the pan with water, but I think this is a bad plan, as the vapor injures the bread. When thoroughly done, wrap the bread a few moments in a clean, thick, bread towel and send to the table with a napkin over it, to be kept on till each person has taken his seat at table.

I would suggest to housekeepers to have made at a tinner's, a sheet-iron shape for bread, eight inches long, four and one-half inches wide, and five and one-half deep. This is somewhat like a brickbat in shape, only deeper, and is very desirable for bread that is to be cut in slices, and also for bread that is to be pulled off in slices. A quart of flour will make eight large rolls, six inches high, for this mould, and three or four turnovers. It is a nice plan after making out the eight rolls to roll them with greased hands till each one will reach across the pan (four and one-half inches), making eight slices of bread which will pull off beautifully when well done, and thus save the task of slicing with a knife. It requires an hour to bake this bread properly.

Do not constantly make bread in the same shapes: each morning, try to have some variation. Plain light bread dough may be made into loaves, rolls, twist, turnovers, light biscuit, etc., and these changes of shape make a pleasant and appetizing variety in the appearance of the table. The addition of three eggs to plain light bread dough will enable you to make French rolls, muffins, or Sally-Lunn of it. As bread is far more appetizing, baked in pretty shapes, I would suggest the snow-ball shape for muffins and egg bread. Very pretty iron shapes (eight or twelve in a group, joined together) may be procured from almost any tinner.

If you should have indifferent flour of which you cannot get rid, bear in mind that it will sometimes make excellent beaten biscuit when it will not make good light bread. In making beaten biscuit, always put one teaspoonful of salt, a piece of lard the size of an egg, and a teacup of milk to a quart of flour, adding enough cold water to make a stiff dough: no other ingredients are admissible. Make the dough much stiffer than 23 for other breads, beat steadily a half hour, by the clock. Cut with a biscuit cutter or shape by hand, being careful to have the shape of each alike and perfect. Make them not quite half an inch thick, as they rise in baking. Do not let them touch each other in the pan, and let the oven be very hot. It is well not to have beaten biscuit and light bread baked at the same time, as they require different degrees of heat. When two kinds of bread are required, try to have two such as require the same amount of heat. Egg bread and corn muffins require the same degree of heat as beaten biscuit, while Sally-Lunn and muffins need the same as light bread.

There is no reason why the poor man should not have as well prepared and palatable food as the wealthy, for, by care and pains, the finest bread may be made of the simplest materials, and surely the loving hands of the poor man's wife and daughter will take as much pains to make his bread nice and light as hirelings will do for the wealthy. The mistake generally made by persons in restricted circumstances is to make too great a use of soda bread, which is not only less wholesome, but is more expensive than light bread or beaten biscuit, as it requires more ingredients. The bread, coffee and meat, which constitute the poor man's breakfast, properly cooked, furnish a meal fit for a prince.

The furnishing of the kitchen is so important that I must here say a few words on the subject. First, the housekeeper must have a good stove or range, and it is well for her to have the dealer at hand when it is put up, to see that it draws well. Besides the utensils furnished with the range or stove, she must provide every kitchen utensil needed in cooking. She must have a kitchen safe,—a bread block in the corner, furnished with a heavy iron beater; trays, sifters (with iron rims) steamers, colanders, a porcelain preserving kettle, perforated skimmers and spoons, ladles, long-handled iron forks and spoons, sharp knives and skewers, graters, egg beaters (the Dover is the best), plenty of extra bread pans, dippers and tins of every kind, iron moulds for egg bread and muffins, wash pans, tea 24 towels, bread towels, and hand towels, plates, knives, forks and spoons for use of the servants, a pepper box, salt box and dredge box (filled), a match safe, and last, but not least, a clock. Try as far as possible to have the utensils of metal, rather than of wood. In cases where you cannot have cold and hot water conveyed into the kitchen, always keep on the stove a kettle of hot water, with a clean rag in it, in which all greasy dishes and kitchen utensils may be washed before being rinsed in the kitchen wash pan. Always keep your cook well supplied with soap, washing mops and coarse linen dish rags. I have noticed that if you hem the latter, servants are not so apt to throw them away. Insist on having each utensil cleaned immediately after being used. Have shelves and proper places to put each article, hooks to hang the spoons on, etc. If you cannot have an oilcloth on your kitchen floor, have it oiled and then it may be easily and quickly wiped over every morning. Once a week, have the kitchen and every article in it thoroughly cleaned. First clean the pipe of the stove, as the dust, soot and ashes fly over the kitchen and soil everything. Then take the stove to pieces, as far as practicable, cleaning each part, especially the bottom, as neglect of this will prevent the bread from baking well at the bottom. After the stove is thoroughly swept out,—oven and all, apply stove polish. I consider "Crumbs of Comfort" the best preparation for this purpose. It comes in small pieces, each one of which is sufficient to clean the stove once, and is thus less apt to be wasted or thrown away by servants than stove polish that comes in a mass. Next remove everything from the kitchen safe and shelves, which must be scoured before replacing the utensils belonging to them, and these too must first be scoured, scalded, and wiped dry. Then wash the windows, and lastly the floor, scouring the latter unless it is oiled, in which case, have it merely wiped over.

Never let a servant take up ashes in a wooden vessel. Keep a sheet-iron pan or scuttle for the purpose. At night, always have the water buckets filled with water and also the kettles, 25 setting the latter on the stove or range, in case of sickness or any emergency during the night. Have kindling wood at hand also, so that a fire may be quickly made, if needed.

Sometimes a discoloration is observable in iron kettles or other iron vessels. This may be avoided by filling them with hay before using them. Pour water over the hay, set the vessel on the fire and let it remain till the water boils. After this, scour in sand and ashes—then wash in hot soap-suds, after which process, there will be no danger of discoloration.

Household Measures.

YEAST.

Boil one quart of Irish potatoes in three quarts of water. When done, take out the potatoes, one by one, on a fork, peel and mash them fine, in a tray, with a large iron spoon, leaving the boiling water on the stove during the process. Throw in this water a handful of hops, which must scald, not boil, as it turns the tea very dark to let the hops boil. 26

Add to the mashed potatoes a heaping teacupful of powdered white sugar and half a teacupful of salt; then slowly stir in the strained hop tea, so that there will be no lumps. When milk-warm add a teacupful of yeast and pour into glass fruit jars, or large, clear glass bottles, to ferment, being careful not to close them tightly. Set in a warm place in winter, a cool one in summer. In six hours it will be ready for use, and at the end of that time the jar or bottle must be securely closed. Keep in a cold room in winter, and in the refrigerator in summer. This yeast will keep two weeks in winter and one week in summer. Bread made from it is always sweet.—Mrs. S. T.

Irish Potato Yeast.

Put two cups of flour in a bowl, and pour over it three cups of strong hop-water, scalding hot, and stir it briskly.

Then put all the ingredients in a jar together, and when cool enough, add a cup of yeast, or leaven.

Set it by the fire to rise.

It will be ready for use in five or six hours.—Mrs. E.

Another Recipe for Yeast.

Mix the ingredients well, and when milk-warm, add a pint of yeast. Set it in a warm place to rise. Put one teacupful of this yeast, when risen, to two quarts of flour.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Yeast that Never Fails.

Boil twelve potatoes in four quarts of water till reduced to three quarts. 27

Then take out and mash the potatoes, and throw into the water three handfuls of hops.

When the hops have boiled to a good tea, strain the water over the potatoes, a small quantity at a time, mixing them well together.

Add one teacup of brown sugar.

1 teacup of salt.

1 tablespoonful of ground ginger.

When milk-warm, add yeast of the same sort to make it rise.

Put it in bottles, or a jug, leaving it uncorked for a day.

Set it in a cool place.

Put two large tablespoonfuls of it to a quart of flour, and when making up, boil a potato and mix with it.

This yeast never sours, and is good as long as it lasts.—Mrs. A. F.

Alum Yeast.

On one pint of flour pour enough boiling water to make a thick batter, stirring it until perfectly smooth, and then let it stand till milk-warm.

After it ferments, add enough meal to make it a stiff dough.

Let it stand till it works, and then spread it in the shade to dry.

To a quart of flour put a tablespoonful of crumbs.—Mrs. P.

Leaven.

28

Make the leaven soon after breakfast in winter, and at one o'clock P.M. in summer. Let it be of the consistency of batter. Put it in a small bucket, in a warm place, to rise till four o'clock P.M. This amount of leaven is sufficient for two quarts of flour. If for loaf bread, leave out the eggs and butter.—Mrs. M.

Excellent Bread for Breakfast.

Make up a soft dough with cold water in summer and milk-warm water in winter. This must be kneaded for thirty minutes, and then set to rise, in a cool place in summer, and a warm one in winter; must never be kept more than milk-warm.

Two hours before breakfast, make the dough into the desired shapes, handling it lightly, without kneading it, first rubbing lard over the hands, and taking especial care to grease the bread on top. Then set it to rise again.

Thirty minutes are sufficient for baking it, unless it be in the form of a loaf or rolls, in which case, it must be baked fifteen minutes longer. Excellent muffins may be made by the above receipt, adding two eggs well beaten, so that from the same batch of dough both plain bread and muffins may be made.

Iron moulds are best for baking.

For those who prefer warm bread for dinner, it is a good plan to reserve a portion of the breakfast dough, setting it away in a cool place till two hours before dinner, then make into turnovers or twist, set it to rise and bake it for dinner, as for breakfast. Very nice on a cold day, and greatly preferable to warmed-over bread.—Mrs. S. T. 29

Recipe for Family Bread.

Make into rolls and bake with very little fire under the oven.—Mrs. A. C.

Loaf Bread.

First make a batter of the following ingredients.

Set this to rise and when risen work in two pints of flour, or, if the batter is not sufficient to work up this flour, add a little water.

Work it smoothly and set it to rise.

When risen, add a small piece of lard, work it well again, let it stand an hour and then bake it slowly.—Mrs. P. W.

Old Virginia Loaf Bread.

Sponge for the same.

Boil one large Irish potato, until well done, then peel and mash it fine, adding a little cold water to soften it. Stir into it

Then add three tablespoonfuls of good hop yeast.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly, then put the sponge in a mug with a close-fitting top, and let it stand several hours to rise.

Sift into the tray three pints of the best family flour, to which 30 add a teaspoonful of salt. Then pour in the sponge and add enough cold water to the flour to work it up into a rather stiff dough. Knead it till the dough is smooth, then let it stand all night to rise. Work it over in the morning, using just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the hands. Allow it one hour to rise before baking and one hour to bake in a moderate oven. Then it will be thoroughly done and well dried.

Use a little lard on the hands when making out the loaf, as it keeps the crust from being too hard.—Mrs. S.

Another Recipe for Loaf Bread.

Good flour is the first requisite, and next, good yeast and sufficient kneading.

For a loaf of ordinary size, use

Mix up these ingredients into a moderately stiff dough, using for the purpose, from three gills to a pint of water. Some flour being more adhesive than others, you have to learn by experience the exact amount of water required.

Knead the dough till perfectly smooth, then set it to rise, in a cool place, in summer, but in a warm place, free from draughts, in winter. In the latter season it is better to keep a blanket wrapped around it.

This amount of flour will rise to the top of a gallon and a half jar or bucket. If it is ready before time, stir it down and set it in a cooler place.

When you put it in the baking-pan (in which it will be in an inch of the top, if the pan be of a suitable size for the amount of flour) cover it well, or a hard crust will form from the effects of the atmosphere. Keep it a little warmer during the second rise than during the first. When ready for baking, set it in the oven and bake it for three-quarters of an hour with 31 a moderate fire, evenly kept up. It will then come out without sticking, if the pans are well cared for.—Mrs. J. J. A.

Light Bread.

Sift the flour and divide it into three parts. Mix one third in the batter, one third in the jar to rise in, and pour the other third over the batter. Let it stand two hours and then work it well, adding a small piece of lard before baking.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Recipe for Hot Rolls Or Cold Loaf Bread.

Mix the following ingredients.

Set it to rise at eleven o'clock in the morning, for early tea. Make into rolls at five o'clock P.M., and bake as soon as risen. In cool weather, set before the fire, both before and after making it into rolls.—Mrs. S.

French Rolls.

32

Work and knead it well at night, and in the morning work it well again, make it into rolls, put them in the oven to take a second rise, and when risen, bake them.—Mrs. Col. W.

Another Recipe for French Rolls.

Mix up with milk and warm water and set to rise.—Mrs. Dr. E.

Another Recipe for French Rolls or Twist.

When very light, add one beaten egg and two teaspoonfuls of butter, and knead in the flour till stiff enough to roll. Let it rise a second time, and, when very light, roll out, cut in strips and braid it. Bake thirty minutes, on buttered tins.—Mrs. S.

Velvet Rolls.

Mix well and beat the dough till it blisters.

Let it rise, work in a small quantity of flour, beat as before and make into rolls. After the second rising, bake quickly.—Mrs. Dr. S. 33

Pocketbook Rolls.

Mix up these ingredients with warm water, making up the dough at ten A.M. in summer and eight A.M. in winter. Put in half the lard when it is first worked up, and at the second working put in the rest of the lard and a little more flour.

Roll out the dough in strips as long and wide as your hand, spread with butter and roll up like a pocketbook. Put them in buttered tins, and, when they are light, bake them a light brown—Mrs. L. C. C.

Turnovers.

Rub the potato in the flour, then the lard and other ingredients, making it into a soft dough. Then set it to rise, at night if you wish it for breakfast next morning. Early in the morning, take off a piece of dough, the size of a biscuit, roll it out, about five inches long, then turn it about half over. When you have made up all the dough, in shapes like this, place them on a dish or board, cover with a napkin and set aside for a second rising. When ready to bake, dip a feather in water and pass over them to prevent the crust being too hard. If the dough should be sour, knead in a little soda, which will correct it—Mrs. A. C. 34

Another Recipe for Turnovers.

Set it to rise, then make them up round and flat, greasing the upper side with lard and turning over one side. When well risen the second time, bake—Mrs. I.

Twist.

From the dough of loaf bread or French rolls, reserve enough to make two long strips or rolls, say, fifteen inches long and one inch in diameter. Rub lard well between the hands before handling and shaping these strips. Pinch the two ends so as to make them stick together. Twist them, pressing the other ends together to prevent unrolling.—Mrs. S. T.

Pockets.

Add the yeast, butter and eggs, after mashing the potato in the flour. Knead all together and set to rise.

Sally-Lunn.

Make up the dough to the consistency of light bread dough, 35 with warm water in winter, and cold in summer. Knead half an hour. When it has risen light, handle lightly, put into a cake-mould and bake without a second kneading.—Mrs. S. T.

Another Recipe for Sally-Lunn.

Set it to rise in the pan in which it is to be baked.—Mrs. A. C.

Another Recipe for Sally-Lunn.

Use as much milk in mixing as will make a soft dough. Work this well, as it gets only one working. Then grease it, put it in a greased pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. Bake about an hour.—Mrs. Dr. T.

Recipe for the Same.

Make up with new milk into a tolerably stiff batter. Set it to rise and when risen pour into a mould and set to rise again, as light bread. Bake quickly.—Mrs. L. 36

Quick Sally-Lunn.

Bake fifteen minutes.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Muffins.

Sweet Spring Muffins.

Sift three good pints of flour. Beat well six eggs, leaving out one and a half of the whites. Then beat into them as much flour as they will take in; then add milk and flour alternately (beating all the while) till all the flour is used. Add five tablespoonfuls of yeast, and when this batter is well beaten, stir into it two ounces of melted butter, cooled but liquid. The batter must be as stiff as can be beaten with an iron spoon. Bake in a hot oven.—Mrs. L.

Salt Sulphur Muffins.

Work together, about twelve o'clock in the day, one pint of yeast, half a pint of water, six eggs, one pound of butter and enough flour to make a dough just stiff enough not to stick to the fingers. After the dough is risen, make it out in biscuit and allow half an hour or more for them to rise before baking.—Mrs. L. 37

Superior Muffins.

Rub in one heaping tablespoonful of butter and lard mixed, and one tablespoonful of Irish potato, mashed free from lumps.

Pour in three well beaten eggs and a half teacup of yeast. Make into a soft dough with warm water in winter and cold in summer. Knead well for half an hour. Set to rise where it will be milk-warm, in winter, and cool in summer. If wanted for an eight o'clock winter breakfast, make up at eight o'clock the night before. At six o'clock in the morning, make out into round balls (without kneading again), and drop into snow-ball moulds that have been well greased. Take care also to grease the hands and pass them over the tops of the muffins. Set them in a warm place for two hours and then bake.

These are the best muffins I ever ate.—Mrs. S. T.

Parker House Muffins.

Boil one quart of milk. When nearly cool stir in one quart sifted flour, one teaspoonful salt, one half cup of yeast. Then stir in three well beaten eggs. Let it rise in a warm place in winter and a cool one in summer, eight or ten hours. When risen light, stir in one tablespoonful melted butter and bake in iron muffin moulds.—Mrs. W. H. M.

Muffins.

Mix and beat till perfectly light.—Mrs. W. S. 38

Another Recipe for Muffins.

One quart of milk, one dozen eggs, one pound of butter. Beat the butter and yolks together. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Make the batter the consistency of pound cake, and bake in snow-ball cups as soon as made.—Mrs. C. W. B.

Muffin Bread.

Make up at night. This makes two loaves.—Mrs. A. F.

Soda Muffins.

Add enough buttermilk to make a stiff batter, and bake immediately.

White Egg Muffins.

Add enough milk to make it into a thin batter. Put in a little salt. Very nice.—Mrs. C. C. McP.

Cream Muffins.

Beat the whites and yolks of four eggs separately. When well beaten, mix them and add to them a half pint of cream, a lump of melted butter half the size of an egg. Then mix in 39 slowly one pint of flour and bake it quickly, in small tins, without any further beating. A delicious breakfast bread.—Mrs. McG., Ala.

Miscellaneous Yeast Breads.

Bunns.

Make as Sally-Lunn and bake in rolls.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Cottage Loaf.

Make up at night for breakfast, mixing it with water. Bake in a quart tin pan.—Mrs. A. B.

Potato Bread.

To be made up with water, not so stiff as light bread dough. Bake in a loaf or rolls.—Mrs. J. H. F.

Old Maids.

Made at night like common light bread. Roll out the size of saucers in the morning, for the second rising. Bake on a hoe, turning over as a hoe cake. Then toast the sides, in 40 front of a fire. A very nice, old-fashioned bread.—Mrs. Dr. E.

Graham Bread.

The night before baking, make a sponge of white flour, using half new milk and half cold water, with a teacup two thirds full of home-made yeast. In the morning, put four tablespoonfuls of this sponge in a separate dish, adding three tablespoonfuls of molasses, a little milk or water, and stirring in as much Graham flour as you can with a spoon. Then let it rise and mould the same as white bread.

Brown Bread.

One quart of light bread sponge, one-half teacup of molasses. Stir into the above, with a large spoon, unbolted wheat meal, until it is a stiff dough. Grease a deep pan, put the mixture in; when light, put the pan over a kettle of hot water (the bread well covered), and steam for half an hour. Then put in the oven and bake until done. Especially good for dyspeptics.—Mrs. D. Cone.

Box Bread.

One quart of flour, one teacup of yeast, one teacup of melted lard or butter, four eggs, one teaspoonful of salt. Let it rise as light bread, and, when risen, make it into square rolls, without working it a second time. Let it rise again and then bake it.—Mrs. R. E. W.

Rusks.

Enough flour to make a batter, mixed with the other ingredients. Let it rise; then add enough flour to make rolls, and 41 also add a teacup of lard and butter mixed. Bake as rolls after they have risen.—Mrs. H.

Egg Rusks.

Melt three ounces of butter in a pint of milk. Beat six eggs into one-fourth of a pound of sugar. Mix these ingredients with enough flour to make a batter, adding a gill of yeast and half a teaspoonful of salt. When light, add flour to make a dough stiff enough to mould. Make into small cakes and let them rise in a warm place while the oven is heating.—Mrs. Dr. S.

German Rusks.

Put all the ingredients in the middle of the flour, work well together and set to rise as loaf bread. Wash the rolls over with butter and sugar.—Mrs. C. L. T.

French Biscuit.

Rub in one tablespoonful of butter and lard mixed.

Pour in half a teacup of yeast, two well beaten eggs, and enough water to make a soft dough. Knead half an hour. Then set to rise; when well risen, roll out, without kneading again. Handle lightly, first greasing the hands with butter. Cut with a biscuit cutter, greasing one biscuit and placing another on it. Set to rise a second time before baking.—Mrs. S. T. 42

Vanity Biscuit.

One pint of flour, one of milk, three eggs beaten well together. Bake in cups.—Miss D.

Beaten Biscuit.

One quart of flour, lard the size of a hen's egg, one teaspoonful of salt. Make into a moderately stiff dough with sweet milk. Beat for half an hour. Make out with the hand or cut with the biscuit cutter. Stick with a fork and bake in a hot oven, yet not sufficiently hot to blister the biscuit.—Mrs. S. T.

Another Recipe for Beaten Biscuit.

Mix up these ingredients with skimmed milk, work them well together and beat fifteen minutes. Stick with a fork and bake quickly.—Mrs. E. B.

Soda Biscuit.

1 quart of flour.

1 heaping teaspoonful of cream of tartar, the same of soda, and the same of salt. Sift these together, then rub in a tablespoonful of lard and make up the dough with milk and water.—Mrs. E. B.

Cream Biscuit.

1 quart of sifted flour.

Four teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and two teaspoonfuls of fine table salt, which must be well diffused through the flour. Then add two ounces of fresh, good butter. Take one pint of pure, sweet cream, put in it two even teaspoonfuls of soda and then add it to the flour. The dough ought to be very soft; but 43 should it be too soft, add a little more flour. Work it well, roll it out half an inch thick, cut with a biscuit cutter and bake in a quick oven five minutes.—Mrs. J. H. F.

Excellent Light Biscuit.

Boil four large Irish potatoes. While hot, mash them with a piece of lard the size of an egg. Add one teacup of milk and one of yeast. Stir in enough flour to make a good batter and set it to rise. It will take about two quarts of flour. When light, make up the dough. You generally have to add more water or milk. Roll thick, let them rise slowly, but bake them quickly.—Mrs. M. G. H.

Light Biscuit.

Two quarts flour, one large tablespoonful lard, and the same of butter. Salt to the taste. One teaspoonful soda and enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Bake quickly.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Thick Biscuit.

One quart flour, one large tablespoonful lard and butter mixed, one teaspoonful salt, enough morning's milk to make a stiff dough. Work well and beat with a rolling-pin or iron pestle, at least half an hour. Make into small biscuit and bake in a quick oven. This will make sixteen biscuit.—Mrs. M. A. P.

Thin Biscuit or Crackers.

One quart of flour, one tablespoonful lard and butter mixed, a little salt. Make a stiff paste with water. Beat the dough till it blisters. Roll thin, stick, and bake quickly.—Mrs. A. C.

Soda Crackers.

44

Make a stiff paste with buttermilk, beat until light, roll tolerably thin, cut in squares, prick, and bake quickly.—Mrs. A. C.

Huntsville Crackers.

Take a lump of risen dough, as large as your double fist, a heaping teaspoonful of loaf sugar, beaten with the yolk of an egg. Mix with the dough a lump of butter the size of a hen's egg and an equal quantity of lard, a tablespoonful of soda, dissolved in a cup of cream. Beat a long time, stirring in flour all the while, till quite stiff. Roll out, cut in square cakes and bake in a brisk oven.—Miss E. P.

Water Crackers.

Make up with sweet milk, beat well, roll thin, and bake quickly.

Wafers.

Mix with milk, as stiff as you would for biscuit. Beat well with the biscuit beater, roll out thin and put in the wafer irons. Put in the fire and bake.—Mrs. W. S.

Nun's Puffs.

Boil one pint of milk with half a pound of butter. Stir them into three-quarters of a pound of flour and let them cool. Then add nine eggs, yolks and whites to be beaten separately, and whites to be added last. Fill cups or tins half full and bake. When done, sprinkle with white sugar while hot. Very nice for tea.—Mrs. A. D. 45

Miscellaneous Flour Breads.

Lapland Bread.

Twelve eggs (whites and yolks beaten separately and very light). Put the whites in the batter the last thing, beat very light, bake in a quick oven, in small tins, which must be perfectly dry and sprinkled with a little flour before being greased. A delicious bread.—Mrs. Dr. J.

A Plainer Recipe for the Same.

Beat the eggs well and stir in the flour and milk. Bake in little pans.

New Bread.

Work the lard and butter in the flour, and sprinkle in the soda, with salt to taste. Mix with buttermilk or clabber to the consistency of biscuit. Roll it round to the size of a teaplate. Made just before eating.—Mrs. F.

Henrietta Bread.

Make the consistency of poor man's pudding. Bake in cups.—Mrs. K. 46

Jenny Lind Bread.

Bake twenty minutes.—Mrs. L.

Lunch Bread.

Bake in a flat pan in a quick oven. To be eaten hot with butter.—Mrs. I. H.

Breakfast Puffs.

One tumbler of flour, one tumbler of milk, and one egg. Beat the yolk and milk together, then add the flour, and lastly the white of the egg. Bake a few minutes in a hot oven.—Mrs. I. H.

Another Recipe for the Same.

Take two eggs well beaten and stir into a pint of milk; add a little salt, two spoonfuls of melted butter, one and one-half pints of flour. Stir thoroughly, so as to avoid lumps. Grease the cups in which you pour the batter, and fill them two-thirds full. 47

Salt-Risen Bread.

Make into a thin batter:

Set in a warm place to rise. After it has risen, pour into it two quarts of flour, with sufficient warm water to make up a loaf of bread. Work it well, set it to rise again, and when risen sufficiently, bake it.—Mrs. T. L. J.

Another Recipe for the Same.

Into a pitcher, put one teacup of milk fresh from the cow, two teacups of boiling water, one tablespoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt. Into this stir thoroughly a little less than a quart of flour. Set the pitcher in a kettle of moderately warm water and keep it at a uniform temperature. Keep a towel fastened over the mouth of the pitcher. Set the kettle in front of the fire to keep the water warm. Let it stand three hours, then beat it up well, after which do not interrupt it. If in two hours it does not begin to rise, put in a large slice of apple. As soon as it rises sufficiently, have ready two quarts of flour, half a tablespoonful of lard and more salt, and make up immediately. Should there not be yeast enough, use warm water. Put into an oven and set before a slow fire to rise, after which bake slowly. The yeast must be made up at seven o'clock in the morning.—Miss N. C. A.

Waffles.

Three eggs, beaten separately, the whites added last. To have good waffles, the batter must be made thin. Add another 48 egg and a teacup of boiled rice to the above ingredients, if you wish to make rice waffles.—Mrs. S. T.

Waffles.

This may be baked as flannel cakes or muffins.—Mrs. H. D.

Another Recipe for Waffles.

Set it to rise at night, and stir with a spoon, in the morning, just before baking. When you want them for tea, make them up in the morning, in winter, or directly after dinner, in summer.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Soda Waffles.

Beat up and bake quickly.

Another Recipe for Waffles.

1 quart of flour, with a kitchen-spoonful of corn meal added. 49

Bake in hot irons.

One secret of having good waffles is to have the batter thin.—Miss R. S.

Superior Rice Waffles.

Make into a batter with buttermilk. Bake quickly in waffle irons. Batter made as above and baked on a griddle makes excellent breakfast cakes.—Mrs. D. B. K.

Rice Waffles.

Beat well.—Mrs. F.

Another Recipe for the Same.

Two gills of rice, mixed with three ounces of butter, three eggs, three gills of flour, a little salt, and cream enough to make the batter. Beat till very light.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Mush Waffles.

With one pint of milk, make corn mush. When cool, add a 50 tablespoonful of butter, a little salt, and thicken with flour to a stiff batter. Bake quickly in irons.—Mrs. C. L. T.

Breakfast Cakes.

In the morning take the dough of a pint of flour. Beat two eggs light and mix them with a half pint of milk, then add these ingredients to the dough, let it stand an hour to rise, and then bake as buckwheat cakes.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Madison Cakes.

Two pounds of flour, two eggs, two ounces of lard, three tablespoonfuls of yeast. Make up with new milk, the consistency of roll dough, at night. Flour the biscuit board and roll out the dough in the morning about three quarters of an inch thick, cutting the cakes with a dredging-box top. Let them rise, covered with a cloth, till fifteen minutes before breakfast.—Mrs. L.

Orange Cakes.

Make into a stiff batter with milk, the over-night. Next morning, add a teacup of Indian meal. Beat well and put in cups to rise before baking.—Mrs. A. C.

Velvet Cakes.

Bake in muffin rings.—Mrs. A. C. 51

Flannel Cakes.

Beat well together and let it rise till usual time in a warm place. Excellent.—Mrs. W. B.

Another Recipe for Flannel Cakes.

Beat light, and set to rise till morning.

Bake on a griddle.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Another Recipe for the Same.

Flour to make the batter like pound cake.—Mrs. S.

Buckwheat Cakes.

After rising, stir in a half teacup of butter or lard. Let it 52 rise a second time, grease the griddle, dip the spoon in lightly, and cook quickly.—Mrs. P. W.

Another Recipe for Buckwheat Cakes.

Make up with water the over-night, and beat till it bubbles. In the morning beat again, and just before baking stir in a pinch of soda dissolved in milk or water.—Mrs. Col. W.

Buckwheat Cakes.

Make into a batter with warm water. Set to rise. Thin the batter with a cup of milk (to make them brown well). Add a pinch of soda and bake quickly on a griddle. Butter and send to the table hot.—Mrs. D. B. K.

Another Recipe for the Same.

Beat well and set to rise till morning.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Cream Cakes.

53

Put the milk and butter on the fire till it boils. Mix and bake quickly in pans. Salt to taste.

Another Recipe for Cream Cakes.

Flour for a thick batter.—Mrs. G.

Another Recipe for the Same.

Bake in tins.—Mrs. A. C.

Boston Cream Cakes.

Boil the butter and water together, stir in the flour while boiling; after it is cool, add the eggs, well beaten. Put a large spoonful in muffin rings, and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven.

The cream for them is made as follows:

Put over the fire one cup of milk and not quite a cup of sugar, one egg, mixed with three teaspoonfuls of corn starch and one tablespoonful of butter. Boil a few moments only. When cool, add vanilla to the taste.

Open the cakes and fill them with this cream.—M. H. K. 54

Buttermilk Cakes.

Beat very light, after mixing the ingredients. Just before baking, stir in a little soda, mixed in a little of the buttermilk.

Bake on a griddle, free from grease.—Mrs. L.

Sour Milk Cakes.

Bake in hot and well greased iron clads.

Farina Cakes.

Melt together one pint of milk and one tablespoonful of butter. Then add four tablespoonfuls of farina and boil till quite thick. Set aside to cool. When ready to bake, add three well beaten eggs, a few spoonfuls of flour, and salt to your taste.—Mrs. S.

Rice Cakes.

Put one pound of rice in soak the over-night. Boil very soft in the morning, drain the water from it and mix with it, while hot, a quarter of a pound of butter. After it has cooled, add to it one quart of milk, a little salt, and six eggs. Sift over it and stir into it gradually a half pound of flour. Beat the whole well and bake on a griddle like other batter cakes.—Mrs. W. 55

Another Recipe for Rice Cakes.

One cup of cold boiled rice, rubbed in a quart of milk, one pint of flour, a teaspoonful of salt, two eggs beaten light. Beat all till free from lumps. Bake as soon as made, on a well greased griddle.

Batter Cakes.

Two eggs beaten separately. Pour into the yolks a pint of buttermilk, then put in two handfuls of meal and one of flour, then the whites of the eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda and a little salt. Fry with very little grease, or with egg shells. Put two spoonfuls of batter to a cake.—Mrs. C. L. T.

Another Recipe for Batter Cakes.

Make up with buttermilk.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Batter Cakes made of Stale Bread.

Put a loaf of stale bread to stand all day in a pint of milk. Just before tea add three eggs and one large spoonful of butter. If too thin, add a little flour.—Mrs. R.

Old Virginia Batter Cakes.

Beat two eggs very light in a bowl. Add one teacup of clabber, one of water, one of corn meal, a teacup of flour, one-half teaspoonful of salt. Just before baking, sift in half a teaspoonful of soda and stir well. It is better to grease the griddle with fat bacon than with lard.

The above proportions will make enough batter cakes for two or three persons.—Mrs. S. T. 56

Another Recipe for the Same.

Break the eggs, whites and yolks together, beat slightly, then add the milk, stir in the meal and beat until it looks light. Bake on a griddle.—Mrs. J. P.

Cheap Recipe for Batter Cakes.

Bake on a hoe.—Miss E. P.

Indian Griddle Cakes.

Make a thin batter, with two-thirds Indian meal, and one-third flour.

A small bag made of coarse but thin linen or cotton, and filled with common salt, is much better to rub over the griddle than lard, when cakes are to be fried or baked.

Batter Bread.

Break two eggs into a bowl. Beat to a stiff froth. Pour in one teacup of clabber or butter-milk, one of water, one of corn meal, one of flour, half teaspoonful of salt, a heaping teaspoonful of butter melted. Beat all well together. Have already heated 57 on the stove or range, iron-clad muffin moulds (eight or ten in a group). Grease them well with a clean rag, dipped in lard. Fill each one nearly full with the batter, first sifting in half a teaspoonful soda. Set in a hot oven and bake a nice brown. Oblong shapes are the nicest. If preferred, sweet milk may be used instead of sour milk and water. In this case add another egg and dispense with the soda.—Mrs. S. T.

Batter Bread.

Four cups of meal, two cups sweet milk, four eggs, two tablespoonfuls flour, one tablespoonful lard, one teaspoonful salt, half teaspoonful soda.—Mrs. F.

Batter Bread.

One cup meal, one cup sweet milk, one cup butter-milk, two eggs, one tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful flour, half teaspoonful of salt, and same of soda. Bake in cups.—Mrs. G.

Corn Muffins.

Meal enough to make the batter of the consistency of pound-cake batter.—Mrs. I.

Corn Meal Waffles.

One pint of corn meal scalded. While hot add to it, two tablespoonfuls of lard or butter, three well beaten eggs, a cup of boiled rice, a pint of flour, a teaspoonful of salt. Thin to the proper consistency with milk.—Mrs. Dr. S. 58

St. Nicholas' Pone.

Grit or Hominy Bread.

Add enough meal and hominy to make a batter, and bake quickly.—Mrs. C. L. T.

Hominy Bread.

Mix with two teacups of hot hominy a very large spoonful of butter. Beat two eggs very light and stir into the hominy. Next add a pint of milk, gradually stirring it in. Lastly, add half a pint of corn meal. The batter should be of the consistency of rich boiled custard. If thicker, add a little more milk. Bake with a good deal of heat at the bottom, but not so much at the top. Bake in a deep pan, allowing space for rising. When done, it looks like a baked batter pudding.—Mrs. F. D.

Corn Cake.

Boil the milk and pour it over the meal, flour, and butter. 59 Beat light. When cool, add eggs well beaten. Bake in a buttered pan.—Mrs. G. W. P.

Mush Bread.

Make a thin mush of corn meal and milk (or hot water, if milk is scarce). Cook till perfectly done, stirring all the time to keep it smooth. Then add a good lump of butter; and, after it cools a little, two eggs, one at a time. Beat in a very small pinch of soda and a little salt.

Butter a yellow dish and bake slowly till brown.—Mrs. C. L. T.

Light Corn Bread.

Pour one quart of boiled milk over one pint of corn meal. Add a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half teaspoonful of soda, three well beaten eggs, four tablespoonfuls of flour, a little butter.—Miss E. P.

Soft Egg Bread.

Make in a pudding dish. Rice is an improvement to the above.—Mrs. P.

Old-fashioned Egg Bread.

Add enough sweet milk to make a rather thin batter. Bake quickly.—Mrs. S. T. 60

Another Recipe for Egg Bread.

Beat the eggs very light and add to the other ingredients. Bake in a pan or dish. Add a little soda dissolved in milk, if you desire it.—Mrs. I. H.

Indian Bread.

Beat two eggs very light, mix alternately with them one pint of sour milk or buttermilk, and one pint of fine corn meal. Melt one tablespoonful of butter, and add to the mixture. Dissolve one teaspoonful of soda in a small portion of the milk, and add to the other ingredients, last of all. Beat hard and bake in a pan, in a hot oven.

Rice Bread.

Bake in a very hot oven, using buttered iron muffin moulds.—Mrs. S. T.

Cracklin Bread.

Take one quart sifted corn meal and a teacup of cracklins. Rub the latter in the meal as fine as you can. Add a teaspoonful of salt and make up with warm water into a stiff dough. Make into pones, and eat hot.—Mrs. P. W. 61

Virginia Ash Cake.

Add a teaspoonful of salt to a quart of sifted corn meal. Make up with water and knead well. Make into round, flat cakes. Sweep a clean place on the hottest part of the hearth. Put the cake on it and cover it with hot wood ashes.

Wash and wipe it dry, before eating it. Sometimes a cabbage leaf is placed under it, and one over it, before baking, in which case it need not be washed.—Mrs. S. T.

Plain Corn Bread.

Work well with the hands, pat out in long, narrow pones, six or seven inches long and as wide as the wrist. Bake quickly in a hot pan.—Mrs. P. W.

COFFEE, TEA, AND CHOCOLATE.

To toast Coffee.

Wash and pick the coffee, put it in a very large stove-pan in a hot oven. Stir often, giving constant attention. It must be toasted the darkest brown, yet not one grain must be burned. It should never be glazed, as this destroys the aroma.

Two pints of coffee become three pints after toasting.—Mrs. S. T.

Boiled Coffee.

To one quart of boiling water (poured in after scalding the pot) stir in three gills of coffee, not ground too fine. Boil 62 twenty minutes, scraping from the sides and stirring occasionally. Five minutes before breakfast, scrape from the spout, pour out half a teacupful, and return to the pot. Do this a second time. Set it with the side of the pot to the fire, so that it will be just at the boiling point. Do not let it boil, however. Serve in the same coffee-pot.

Coffee should never be glazed.

Have a liberal supply of thick, sweet cream, also of boiled milk, to serve with the coffee.

If the members of the family drop in at intervals, it is well to keep the coffee over a round iron weight, heated just enough to keep the coffee hot, without boiling it. This answers better than a spirit lamp for keeping coffee hot.—Mrs. S. T.

Coffee.

Take equal quantities of Mocha, Java, Laguayra and Rio coffee. Have the coffee roasted a chestnut brown. To every twelve cups of coffee to be drawn, use eighteen heaping tablespoons of the ground coffee. Have the water boiling hot, scald the biggin or percolator, put the ground coffee in the upper part, then pour on some boiling water for it to draw—about two teacups if you are to make twelve cups of coffee. Let it stand a few moments and pour again into the upper part of the percolator the first drawn coffee. Then add, one by one, the cups of boiling water required. It will take ten minutes for the coffee to be ready for the table.

Use the best white sugar, and in winter let the milk stand twenty-four hours for the cream to rise. Use together with rich cream, a cream jug of boiling sweet milk.—Mrs. M. C. C.

Coffee.

Buy Java and Laguayra mixed, two-thirds Java and one-third Laguayra, which will give a delightful aroma to the Java.

Scald the pot. Then put in a teacup of coarsely ground 63 coffee, parched a light brown and mixed with cold water till it forms a paste, to six cups of boiling water. Before you put in the boiling water, add to the grounds one or more egg-shells or whites of eggs, to keep it clear. Let it boil ten or fifteen minutes. Before taking it off the fire, drop in about a teaspoonful of cold water, which will settle all the floating grounds.—Mrs. J. P.

Dripped or Filtered Coffee.

If one quart of coffee is desired, grind three gills of coffee, put it in the filterer and pour boiling water over it. If not sufficiently strong, pour out and return to the filterer. Then set on the fire and boil up, taking from the fire immediately.—Mrs. S. T.

Dripped Coffee.

One-half pint Java coffee ground and put in the dripper. Pour over it two and one-half pints boiling water. If not strong enough, pass through the dripper a second time.—Mrs. J. R. McD.

Café au Lait.

Put in three pints boiling water with a pinch of isinglass, boil five minutes and allow it to settle, or, if made in a percolator it will be better. Use three-quarters of a cup boiling milk and one-quarter of strong coffee, with sugar to suit the taste.—Mrs. J. W. S.

Green Tea.

Scald the teapot, and add one-half pint boiling water to two teaspoonfuls of the best green tea. Set it where it will keep hot, but not boil. When it has drawn fifteen or twenty minutes, add boiling water till it has the strength desired.—Mrs. J. R. McD. 64

Green Tea.

Scald the teapot. If you wish a pint of tea, put in one heaping teaspoonful tea after putting in a pint boiling water. Set this where it will keep hot, but not quite boil.—Mrs. S. T.

A good Cup of Green Tea.

Before putting in any water, set the teapot with the tea in it before the fire and let it get thoroughly hot. Then fill the pot with boiling water and let it stand five minutes.—Mrs. M. E. L. W.

Black Tea.

If you wish a quart of tea, put that quantity of boiling water into the teapot, after scalding it. Add four teaspoonfuls of tea. Boil twenty minutes. It is a great improvement to put in a little green tea.—Mrs. S. T.

Black Tea.

Add one and one-half pint boiling water to a half-teacupful of the best black tea. Boil gently for ten or fifteen minutes. If too strong, weaken with boiling water.—Mrs. J. R. McD.

Iced Tea.

After scalding the teapot, put into it one quart of boiling water and two teaspoonfuls green tea. If wanted for supper, do this at breakfast. At dinner time, strain, without stirring, through a tea-strainer into a pitcher. Let it stand till tea time and then pour into decanters, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the pitcher. Fill the goblets with ice, put two teaspoonfuls granulated sugar in each, and pour the tea over the ice and sugar. A squeeze of lemon will make this delicious and healthful, as it will correct the astringent tendency.—Mrs. S. T. 65

Chocolate.

Scrape fine one square of Baker's chocolate (which will be an ounce). Put it in a pint of boiling water and milk, mixed in equal parts. Boil it ten minutes, and during this time mill it or whip it with a Dover egg-whip (one with a wheel), which will make it foam beautifully. Sweeten to the taste, at table.—Mrs. S. T.

Cocoa.

To one pint milk and one pint cold water add three tablespoonfuls grated cocoa. Boil fifteen or twenty minutes, milling or whipping as directed in foregoing recipe. Sweeten to taste, at the table. Some persons like a piece of orange-peel boiled with it.—Mrs. S. T.

Broma.

Dissolve one large tablespoonful broma in one tablespoonful warm water. Pour on it one pint boiling milk and water (equal parts). Boil ten minutes, milling or whipping as above directed. Sweeten to the taste.—Mrs. S. T.

A cream-pitcher of whipped cream should always accompany chocolate or any preparation of it, such as cocoa or broma.—Mrs. S. T.

MILK AND BUTTER.

The most exquisite nicety and care must be observed in the management of milk and butter. A housekeeper should have two sets of milk vessels (tin or earthenware, never stoneware, as this is an absorbent). She should never use twice in succession 66 the same milk vessels without having them scalded and aired.

In warm weather, sweet milk should be set on ice, if practicable, or if not, in a spring-house. Never put ice in sweet milk, as this dilutes it. One pan of milk should always be set aside to raise cream for coffee. A bucket with a close-fitting lid should be filled with milk and set aside for dinner, one for supper, one for breakfast, and a fourth for cooking purposes.

For making butter, strain unskimmed milk into a scalded churn, where the churning is done daily. This will give sweeter butter and nicer buttermilk than when cream is skimmed and kept for churning, as this sometimes gives a cheesy taste to the butter. Do not let the milk in the churn exceed blood heat. If overheated, the butter will be white and frothy, and the milk thin and sour. Churn as soon as the milk is turned. In summer try to churn early in the morning, as fewer flies are swarming then, and the butter can be made much firmer.

A stone churn is in some respects more convenient than a wooden churn; but no matter which you use, the most fastidious neatness must be observed. Have the churn scalded and set out to sun as soon as possible after churning. Use your last made butter for buttering bread, reserving the staler for cookery.

Butter should be printed early in the morning, while it is cool. A plateful for each of the three meals should be placed in the refrigerator ready for use. Do not set butter in a refrigerator with anything else in it but milk, or in a safe with anything but milk. It readily imbibes the flavor of everything near it. After churning, butter should be taken up in what is called "a piggin," first scalded and then filled with cold water. With an old-fashioned butter-stick (scalded) wash and press the butter till no water is left. Then add a little salt, finely beaten. Beat again in a few hours, and make up in half-pound prints. I would advise all housekeepers (even those who do not make their own butter) to keep a piggin, a butter-stick, and a pretty butter-print. 67

To secure nice Butter for the Table in Winter.

In October and November, engage butter to be brought weekly, fresh from the churn in rolls. Wrap each roll in a piece of old table cloth, and put in a sweet firkin or stone jar which has been washed with soda water, scalded and sunned for a month before using. Pour over it a clear strong brine, which also must have been prepared at least a week beforehand, by pouring off the settlings and repeated strainings. Have a nice flat rock washed and weight the butter down with it, being careful to keep it always under the brine.—Mrs. S. T.

Recipe for Putting up Butter.

Work the butter over three times, the last time adding an ounce of the above mixture to every pound butter. Of course, the butter is salted, when first made. Make the butter into rolls and wrap in cloths or pack in jars, within four inches of the top of each jar. If the latter is done, fill the jars with brine and tie up closely. If the former is preferred, drop the rolls into brine, prepared as follows:

To every gallon brine that will bear an egg, add one pound white sugar and one-half ounce saltpetre. Boil well and skim. Keep the brine closely covered. I have used butter on my table in May, put up in this way, and it tasted as well as when put up in October.—Mrs. R. C.

Clabber.

To have clabber in perfection, place in small glass dishes or bowls enough milk to make clabber for each person. After it has turned, set it in the refrigerator, if in summer, till called for. By the way, refrigerators (as well as water-coolers) should be washed every morning with water in which a tablespoonful 68 of common soda has been dissolved. They should then be aired before filling with ice for the day.—Mrs. S. T.

Cottage Cheese.

When the tea-kettle boils, pour the water into a pan of "loppered" milk. It will curd at once. Stir it and turn it into a colander, pour a little cold water over it, salt it and break it up. A better way is to put equal parts of buttermilk and thick milk in a kettle, over the fire, heat it almost boiling hot, pour into a linen bag and let it drain till next day. Then take it out, salt it, put in a little cream or butter, as it may be thick or not, and make it up into balls the size of an orange.

SOUP.

As making soup is a tedious process, it is best to make enough at once to last several days. Beef shank is most generally used in making nutritious soup. It is best to get this the day before using it, and soak it all night in cold, clear water. If you cannot do this, however, get it as early in the morning as you can. Break the bones, wash it, soak it a few minutes in weak salt and water, and put it in a large boiler of cold water. As soon as it begins to simmer, remove the dark scum that rises on top. Keep the boiler closely covered, and boil very slowly till an hour or two before dinner. Then, with a ladle, remove all the fat from the top, as it is this element that makes soup unwholesome. Strain and season, or, if you prefer, season just enough for one meal, reserving the rest as foundation for another sort of soup. It is well always to keep some of this stock on hand in cold weather, as by the addition of a can of tomatoes, or other ingredients, a delicious soup may be quickly made of it. Never throw away water in which any sort of meat 69 has been boiled, as it is much better to simmer hash or a stew in this liquor than in water, and it is also invaluable for basting fowls or meats that have not been parboiled.

Directions for soup making are so fully given in the following pages that it is needless for me to say anything further on the subject here.

Oyster Soup.

Separate the oysters from the liquor: put the liquor to boil, when boiled add salt, pepper and butter, then the flour, having previously made it into a batter. Stir all the time. When it comes to a boil, add the eggs well beaten, then the milk, and when the mixture reaches a boil, put in the oysters; let them also just boil, and the soup is done. Stir all the time to prevent curdling.—Mrs. Judge M.

Economical Oyster Soup.

Cut up one tablespoonful butter with flour and put in while boiling; beat the yolks of four eggs light, mix them with one-half pint milk.

When the oysters are well cooked, pour on the milk and eggs, stirring all the time. Let it boil up, and take off quickly, and pour into the tureen, over toasted bread cut into dice—if preferred rich, leave out some of the water.—Mrs. Lt.-Gov. M. 70

Oyster Soup.

Empty the oysters into a colander and drain off all the liquor; then strain the liquor through a very coarse cloth to rid it of all scum, etc. To a whole can of oysters take a quart of milk.

Put the milk, oyster liquor, one level tablespoonful flour rubbed very smooth with one heaping tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful salt, one-half teaspoonful pepper, all on the fire together in a farina-boiler (or put a skillet one-third filled with boiling water under the saucepan, to prevent the milk burning). When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters and let them stew for twenty minutes or till the gill of the oyster turns and begins to ruffle and crimp at the edge. Serve immediately, for if they are cooked too long, they become hard, dark and tasteless. If you put the salt in last, it will not curdle the soup. Some add one level teaspoonful whole cloves and same of mace, tied up in a net bag, but they are little improvement.—Mrs. R.

Purée of Oysters.

For fifty oysters.

Put the oysters on in their own liquor—let them come to a boil—take them out and mince them; skim the liquor when nearly done. Beat well together:

Pour this into boiling liquor and then add the minced oysters. When done, the soup is smooth. The milk must be fresh or it will curdle.—Mrs. John Walker, Alabama.

Oyster Soup.

Let it boil until all the substance is out of the oysters. Strain the liquor from the ingredients and put it back in the pot. Add a large spoonful butter mixed with flour. Have ready two dozen oysters to throw in just as it is ready to be dished—at the same time stir up two yolks of eggs with a cup of cream. Cayenne pepper is an improvement.—Mrs. E. W.

Turtle Soup.

Kill the turtle at daylight in summer, the night before in winter, and hang it up to bleed. After breakfast, scald it well and scrape the outer skin off the shell; open it carefully, so as not to break the gall. Break both shells to pieces and put them into the pot. Lay the fins, the eggs and some of the more delicate parts by—put the rest into the pot with a quantity of water to suit the size of your family.

Add two onions, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, cloves and allspice to suit your taste.

About half an hour before dinner thicken the soup with brown flour and butter rubbed together. An hour before dinner, take the parts laid by, roll them in brown flour, fry them in butter, put them and the eggs in the soup; just before dinner add a glass of claret or Madeira wine.—Mrs. N.

Turtle Soup.

To one turtle that will weigh from four to five pounds, after being dressed, add one-half gallon water, and boil until the turtle will drop to pieces, then add:

When nearly done, put in a small handful pot marjoram, thyme and parsley tied together, and two large onions; when 72 ready to come off, add two sliced lemons, one pint good wine, and a small quantity of curry powder; thicken with flour.—Mrs. D.

Turtle Soup.

Tie up a bunch of parsley, thyme, and onion in a cloth, and throw into soup when boiling. When nearly done, thicken with two tablespoonfuls flour. To give it a good color, take one tablespoonful brown sugar and burn it; when burnt, add a wineglass of water. Of this coloring, put two tablespoonfuls in soup, and just before serving, add half a pint Madeira wine.—Miss E. W.

Mock Turtle Soup.

Put on beef and boil very tender; take out, chop fine, and put back to boil. Put potatoes, mace, cloves, cinnamon, parsley, thyme, spice, celery seed, and ten hard-boiled eggs; pepper and salt to your taste.

Thicken with flour and add brandy and wine.—Miss E. P.

Mock Terrapin Soup.

Cut up two pounds roast or boiled beef in small pieces. Put one large teacup new milk, one large teacup of wine, a piece of butter size of an egg (rolled in flour), a little nutmeg, two or three spoonfuls mixed mustard—all in a stewpan, and cook ten or fifteen minutes. Good way to use up cold meats.—Mrs. S. M.

Clam Soup.

Boil half a peck of clams fifteen minutes; then take them from the shells, clean and wash them. Have ready the stew-kettle; 73 strain the water, in which clams have been boiled; chop up clams, and put in with three or four slices of salt pork, some mashed potatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Thicken with grated cracker, and add two spoonfuls butter rolled in flour. Let it boil twenty minutes and serve.—Mrs. C.

Clam Soup.

Open the clams and chop them up fine. To twenty clams, add:

Just before taking off, add one quart rich milk and thicken with flour.—Mrs. D.

Crab Soup.

Open, and cleanse of the deadman's fingers and sandbag, twelve small fat crabs raw. Cut the crabs into two parts. Parboil and extract the meat from the claws, and simply extract the fat from the back shells of the crabs. Scald eighteen ripe tomatoes, skin them and squeeze the pulp from the seeds through a colander. Chop them fine and pour boiling water over the seeds and juice, and strain them. Stew a short time in the soup-pot one large onion, one clove of garlic, in one spoonful butter and two spoonfuls lard, and put them in the tomatoes.

After stewing a few minutes, add the meat from the claws, then the crabs, and lastly the fat from the back shells. Season with salt, cayenne and black pepper, parsley, sweet marjoram and thyme, one-half teaspoonful lemon juice, and peel of one lemon. Pour in the water with which the seeds were scalded, adding more should there not be the quantity of soup required. Boil moderately one hour. About a quarter of an hour before serving, sift in grated bread crumbs or pounded crackers as a 74 thickening. Any firm fish prepared by this recipe is excellent.—Mrs. J. I.

Crab Soup.

One dozen crabs to one gallon water. Take off top shell; clear body of crabs. Cut through the middle, put them into a kettle, mix with some butter, and brown them. Then add one gallon water, and simmer for half an hour. Skim slightly, and add the hock of an old ham, and strained tomato juice one pint. Boil two hours. Season with pepper, spice if liked, and half-pint wine.

The claws are to be cracked and divested of the jaws. A Hampton recipe.—Miss E. W.

Beef Soup.

Crack the bone of a shin of beef, and put it on to boil in one quart water. To every pound meat add one large teaspoonful salt to each quart water. Let it boil two hours and skim it well. Then add:

When the vegetables are tender, add a little parsley chopped fine, with salt and pepper to the taste. Serve hot.—Mrs. P. McG.

Another Recipe for Beef Soup.

One shin beef in one-half gallon water, put on before breakfast and boiled until dinner. Thicken with brown flour two or three hours before dinner. Put in one carrot, two turnips, one onion, thyme, cabbage, and celery-seed.—Mrs. H. P. C.

To prepare a Beef's Head as Stock for Soup.

Cut up the head into small pieces, and boil in a large quantity of water until it is all boiled to pieces. Take out all the bones 75 as for souse cheese, and boil again until thick. Then while hot, season very highly with pepper, salt, catsup, allspice, and onions chopped fine.

Put into a mould to get cold. For a small family cut a thick slice, say five inches square, whenever you want soup in a hurry, adding about a quart of water. It need cook for a few minutes only, and is valuable as keeping well and being ready in times of emergency. By adding a few slices of hard-boiled egg and a gill of good cooking wine, this soup may have very nearly the flavor of mock turtle.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Calf's Head Soup.

Take one-half liver and the head of a mutton, veal or beef, and boil until the meat drops from the bone. Cut up fine and add one-half the brains; then:

Put in enough water at first, as adding it makes the soup thin.

Cut up three hard boiled eggs, and add, when done, one glass of wine.

A little brandy and walnut catsup, with more eggs, will improve it, though it is a delightful soup as it is.—Mrs. W. A. C.

Calf's Head Soup.

Clean the head, laying aside the brains. Put the head in a gallon of water, with pepper and salt. Boil to pieces and take out bones; return to the pot with—

Fry, and add the brains when nearly ready for the table. About five minutes before serving, add:

When sent to the table have two hard-boiled eggs sliced and floating on top.—Mrs. J. D.

Calf's Head Soup.

Take a large calf's head and boil it with four gallons water and a little salt; when tender, bone and chop it fine, keeping out the brains, and put the meat back in the pot and boil down to a tureenful. Half an hour before serving the soup, add:

Brown a cup of flour to thicken and just as the soup is dished, add one cup walnut catsup, and one cup port or claret wine.

The brains must be beaten up with an egg, fried in little cakes, and dropped in the tureen.—Miss N.

Calf's Head Soup.

Take the head, split it open and take out the brains; then put the head, brains, and haslet in salt water—let them soak one hour. Put on to boil at eight o'clock; after boiling four hours, take it up and chop up the head and haslet, removing all the bones; return to the soup, with a small pod of pepper. Thicken it with one pint browned flour with one tablespoonful butter rubbed in it. Have— 77

Beat all together and put in the tureen with,

Pour the soup on them. Have the brains fried, and two hard boiled eggs sliced and dropped in the soup.—Mrs. T. C.

Brown Calf's Head Soup.

Scald and clean the head, and put it to boil in two gallons water, with

When they have boiled half an hour, take out the head and shank, and cut all the meat off the bone in pieces two inches square. Let the soup boil half an hour longer, then strain it and put in the meat, and season with salt, black and cayenne pepper (and a few cloves, if you like them). Thicken with butter and brown flour.

Let it now boil nearly an hour longer, and just before serving it, stir in one tablespoonful sugar browned in a frying-pan, and half a pint wine. A good substitute for turtle soup.—Mrs. Col. A. F.

Calf's Head Soup.

Have a head nicely cleaned, the brains taken out and the head put to soak. Put it on with,

78

Boil together until the flesh is tender; take out and chop—strain the water—two tablespoonfuls brown flour, four ounces butter—returning the "dismembered" fragments; let it boil till reduced to two quarts. Season with one-half pint wine, one gill catsup, nutmeg, mace, allspice.

Cut up the liver, and fry; beat the brains up with an egg, pepper and salt; fry in cakes and lay in the soup when served up, and hard boiled eggs sliced up and put in.—Miss B. L.

Ox-tail Soup.

Wash and soak three tails; pour on them one gallon cold water; let them be brought gradually to boil, throw in one and a half ounce salt, and clear off the scum carefully as soon as it forms on the surface. When it ceases to rise, add:

Stew these gently from three hours to three and a half hours. If the tails be very large, lift them out, strain the liquor and strain off all the fat. Cut the meat from the tails and put it in two quarts or more of the stock. Stir in, when this begins to boil, a thickening of arrow-root or of rice flour, mixed with as much cayenne and salt as may be required to flavor the soup, and serve very hot.—Mrs. P.

Chicken Soup.

Put on the chickens with about three quarts water and some thin slices bacon. Let it boil well, then put in:

79

Let all boil up. Some dumplings made like biscuits are very nice in it.—Mrs. W.

Roast Veal and Chicken-bone Soup.

Boil the veal and chicken bones with vegetables, and add one handful maccaroni, broken up fine. Boil the soup half an hour. Color with a little soy or catsup.—Mrs. S.

Chicken Soup.

Put on the fire a pot with two gallons water and a ham bone, if you have it; if not, some slices of good bacon. Boil this two hours, then put in the chickens and boil until done: add one-half pint milk and a little thickening; pepper and salt to the taste. After taking off the soup, put in a piece of butter size of an egg. Squirrel soup is good made the same way, but takes much longer for a squirrel to boil done.—Mrs. P. W.

Giblet Soup.

Boil peas slowly seven hours. Add giblets, spices, and salt to taste, two hours before dinner. When peas are dissolved, strain through sieve; cut giblets into dice and return to soup; boil up and serve. Will be enough for six or eight persons.—Mrs. R. R.

Okra Soup.

80

Add the tomatoes about twelve o'clock. Put the soup on early in the morning.—Mrs. I.

Gumbo Soup.

Gumbo Soup.

Fry two fowls, old or young, with parsley, pepper, salt, onion, lard or bacon.

Put it in the pot with water sufficient for the soup. One quart sliced okra, scrap of ham or fried sausage to boil with it.

Sassafras Gumbo is made in the same way, except after the fowl has boiled until the flesh has left the bone, just before taking off the fire, stir in one tablespoonful sassafras flour. Oysters are a great improvement to sassafras gumbo. Gather the sassafras leaves green, and dry in the shade, as sage; when thoroughly dry, rub through a sieve and bottle and cork tightly. It is nice in beef soup instead of okra.—Mrs. T.

Fine Vegetable Soup.

Put on two pounds of fresh beef, or a good-sized chicken, or ham bone if you have it, early in the morning. Put your boiler on filled with water. Keep boiling, and when boiled down, about one hour or more before dinner, add:

A few leaves of dried sassafras rubbed up will improve the taste. Serve hot with toast, a small quantity of sugar and vinegar. Boil till thick.—Mrs. Dr. L.

Vegetable Soup.

Before breakfast, wash a beef shank in several waters, break the bone, and put it in a large pot of cold water. Keep it steadily boiling until one hour before dinner, when the following vegetables, previously prepared, must be added to the soup after it has been carefully skimmed of all grease, and strained.

Boil an hour: thicken with mixed milk and flour, and serve.

A piece of middling, bacon, or any other kind of meat, may be used instead of the beef shank. The best meat of the shank may be freed from gristle, chopped fine and made into a nice stew by adding

Boil up and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Tomato Soup.

Take one quart ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped up, or a three-pound can of same, put in an earthenware baking dish with

Set this in a hot oven with a tin plate over it to prevent browning. Have ready, in a porcelain kettle or pan, two quarts new milk boiling hot. When the tomatoes and corn are thoroughly done, stir in one large Irish potato mashed smooth, a little minced onion and parsley, and pour into the boiling milk and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Tomato Soup.

A shin of beef, season to your taste with all kinds of vegetables:

Tomatoes, turnips, carrots, potatoes, cabbage cut fine, corn, butter beans and celery.

When nearly done, take vegetables out and mash them well, and also cut the beef up fine. It is best to season with salt and 83 pepper when you first put it on. The beef should be put on very early.—Mrs. J. L.

Clear Tomato Soup.

Boil eight hours, stir and skim several times. Strain through wire sieve, add one tablespoonful Worcester sauce and same of brown sugar. Serve with dice of toasted bread; pepper and salt to taste.—Mrs. R. R.

Asparagus Soup.

Cut the asparagus into small pieces and put on to boil in salt water, with slices of middling; just before dinner, taking it off, beat four eggs and stir in one pint milk or cream, a piece of butter. A piece of veal may be boiled with it, if you wish meat.—Mrs. H.

Asparagus Soup.

Parboil the asparagus with as much water as will cover them; then pour the water and asparagus into milk, then add butter, pepper and salt, also bread crumbs, and boil until the asparagus is done.—Mrs. S.

Pea Soup.

Soak one pint of split peas in water for twelve hours; drain off the water, put the peas into a saucepan with three pints cold water, one-half pound bacon, two sprigs of dried mint, a bay leaf, some parsley, an onion stuck with one or two cloves, some whole pepper, and salt to taste.

Let the whole boil three hours, then pass the purée through a hair sieve; make it hot again and serve with dice of bread fried in butter.—Mrs. A. 84

Green Pea Soup.

Boil one quart peas in two quarts water, and two thin slices bacon. When done mash through a colander; then put back in the same water, throwing away the slices of bacon. Season with pepper, salt, spoonful butter rolled in flour.

Boil well again. Toast some bread and cut in slices, and put in the tureen when the soup is served. The hulls of green peas will answer; boil them well with a few peas, then season as above and boil. Two hours will be enough to boil green pea soup.—Mrs. W.

Green Pea Soup.

Boil half a peck of peas in one and a half gallons water, till perfectly done. Take out, mash and strain through a colander, then pour a little of the water well boiled over them, to separate the pulp from the hull. Return it to the water they were boiled in; chop up one large or two small onions; fry them in smallest quantity of lard, not to brown them. Add this with chopped thyme, parsley, pepper and salt.

Just before taking off the fire stir in one tablespoonful butter. If the soup is too thin, cream a little butter with flour to thicken.—Mrs. I.

Potato Soup.

Mash potatoes, pour on them one teacup cream, one large spoonful butter.

Pour boiling water on them till you have the desired quantity. Boil until it thickens; season with salt, parsley, and pepper to your taste.—Mrs. R. E.

Potato Soup.

Pour two quarts water on six or seven large peeled potatoes, adding two or three slices of middling; boil thoroughly done. Take them out, mash the potatoes well and return all to the 85 same water, together with pepper, salt, one spoonful butter, and one quart milk, as for chicken soup.—Mrs. W.

OYSTERS AND OTHER SHELL FISH.

Stewed Oysters.

Put butter, salt and pepper in a stew-pan, and put the oysters to the butter and stew until perfectly done.—Mrs. D.

Stewed Oysters.

Take one-quarter pound nice butter, put it in a pan and melt, then pepper and salt, add a small piece of cheese. When it is all melted add one pint of oyster liquor, and boil; when hot, strain and put back in pan, then add oysters and boil five minutes.—Mr. K. N.

Stewed Oysters.

Let them simmer until the oysters are plump; take them out with a fork and drop them into a tureen, on a handful of crackers and three heaping tablespoonfuls fresh butter.

Pour one pint milk to the liquor, let it boil up and strain it on the oysters. Rinse out the stew-pan and pour the oysters, liquor, etc., back into it, and set it on the fire. When it comes to a boil, serve.

This method deprives the oysters of the bits of shell.—Mrs S. T. 86

To Stew Oysters.

Put into the kettle one pint liquor, one-half pound butter, and pepper.

Let it boil, then put in the oysters, after draining them in a colander. They will be done as soon as they boil up, or when they curl right well. When ready to take up, add half teacup cracker crumbs and a little salt in the stew.—Mrs. P. W.

To Stew Oysters.

Put into a shallow stew-pan the oysters. As soon as the gills begin to open pour off all the liquor. Continue to cook them, stirring all the time until done. The liquor that was poured off must be thickened with a good lump of butter rubbed up with flour, and seasoned with pepper and salt, and poured boiling-hot onto the oysters.

The advantage of this way of cooking is that the oysters become large and plump.—Mrs. Dr. E. R.

To Cook Oysters.

Rub the egg and flour together and thin with a little of the milk. Mix the oysters, pepper and salt, and let them come to a boil; then add the milk, and when this boils add the egg and flour with the butter. Let the whole boil three minutes.—Miss N. S. L.

Scalloped Oysters.

Do not drain the liquor from the oysters, but fork them out of it as you use them; in that way as much liquor as you require 87 adheres to them. Use stale bread, and do not crumb it too fine, or it will be clammy.

Oysters part with a great deal of moisture in cooking, and if the mixture is too wet it is not as good; it should be rather dry when done. Cover the bottom of a well-buttered dish with a layer of very dry bread crumbs, dust over a little salt and pepper, and stick little bits of butter all over the crumbs; then, with a spoon, moisten it with cream. Next, place a layer of oysters, alternating with bread crumbs, until the dish is filled, finishing with butter and cream; invert a plate over it to keep in the flavor. Bake three-quarters of an hour, or until the juice bubbles to the top. Remove the plate, and brown on the upper shelf of the oven for two or three minutes only.—Mrs. R.

Scalloped Oysters.

Those who are fond of oysters prepared in this way will find them much more delicate when cooked entirely by reflected heat. Have your tinner make you an old-fashioned "tin-kitchen" with sloping sides. Take small oblong dishes, such as are in general use at hotels, fill them with alternate layers of oysters and rolled crackers, and lay lumps of fresh butter liberally on top of each dish. Arrange them in the "kitchen," set the open dish in front of a bright fire or very warm grate, and in fifteen or twenty minutes you will find the oysters delicious.—Mrs. D. P.

Scalloped Oysters.

Put on the oysters with just enough liquor to keep from burning, and parboil slightly. Season the rest of the liquor as for stewed oysters with butter, pepper, salt, and a little flour, and boil until done. Put the parboiled oysters in a baking-dish, 88 with a piece of butter and a grated cracker or stale bread and pepper, and pour as much of the gravy as the dish will hold. Put a little of the grated cracker on top, and set it in the oven to brown.—Mrs. W.

Oysters Scalloped in the Shell.

Open the shells, setting aside for use the deepest ones. Have ready some melted butter, not hot, seasoned with minced parsley and pepper.

Roll each oyster in this, letting it drip as little as may be, and lay in the shell, which should be arranged in a baking-pan.

Add to each a little lemon juice, sift bread crumbs over it, and bake in a quick oven till done. Serve in the shells.—Mrs. S.

Scalloped Oysters.

Put in the scallop shells as many oysters as each will hold. Season with butter, salt and pepper; a few bread crumbs.

Cook until well done; add a piece of butter just before they are served.—Mrs. R. L. O.

Devilled Oysters.

Put a layer of raw oysters in a pan, and then a layer of breadcrumbs, black and red pepper, salt, butter, mustard, and a little vinegar mixed together.

Put alternate layers of each until full, and then bake.—Mrs. Duke.

Devilled Oysters.

Drain one quart oysters; chop thoroughly and season with cayenne pepper, lemon-juice, salt, and yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, and yolks of two raw eggs beaten and stirred in; one-half as much bread crumbs as you have oysters, and one large tablespoonful butter.

Have ready one dozen deep shells, nicely cleaned, and fill them with the oysters; sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake in a few minutes.—Mrs. H. S. 89

To Cook Oysters.

Put into a baking-bowl a layer of cracker-crumbs, pepper, and butter. If the butter is salty do not use any salt. Then a layer of oysters, after they have been drained from their liquor; do this alternately till the dish is full. Be sure and put the cracker crumbs at the top of the dish, and bits of butter, also pepper: this makes it brown nicely. Set it in a hot oven; as soon as browned it will be ready for the table.—Mrs. P. W.

Fried Oysters.

Take each oyster separately and put salt and pepper on them; then roll them in equal portions of meal and flour. Fry them in hot lard until a light brown.—Mrs. D.

Oyster Fritters.

Beat two eggs very light; then stir in two tablespoonfuls cream or milk, three tablespoonfuls sifted flour, a pinch of salt; dip the oysters in this and fry them in hot lard.—Mrs. B.

Oyster Fritters.

Wipe the oysters dry. Beat 6 eggs light, and stir into them:

Beat to smooth batter. Have in a pan some butter and lard; when it begins to froth, put a small ladleful of the batter, with an oyster in the middle, into it to fry. If too thin, add flour; if too thick, milk.—Mrs. R.

To Fry Oysters.

Drain the oysters through a sieve; sprinkle a little salt and pepper over them. Dip each oyster into meal. Have the pan hot, and drop in an equal portion of lard and butter; when boiling, put in the oysters and fry. Do not let them stand, but serve hot.—Mrs. E. 90

Fried Oysters.

Drain the oysters through a sieve. Beat up two or three eggs. Have ready some grated bread crumbs. Sprinkle some salt and a little pepper over the oysters; then dip each oyster into the egg and bread crumbs. Have the pan hot and clean; put equal portions of butter and lard into the pan. Be careful to keep the fat of oysters from burning.—Mrs. R.

To Fry Oysters.

Wash them and dry them on a clean napkin; dip in beaten egg and pounded crackers sifted, and let them lie several hours before frying, and they will not shrink.—Mrs. P.

To Fry Oysters.

Drain the oysters dry. Three eggs beaten, and grated crackers. Dip the oyster first in the egg and then in the crackers; do this twice. Grease the pan with butter or lard. Add pepper and salt to taste, and fry.—Mrs. P. W.

Clam or Oyster Fritters.

Chop up the clam very fine (when of oysters, leave them whole); put them in a batter and fry them.—Mrs. D.

Broiled Oysters.

Select the largest oysters, examining each one, to see that no particle of shell adheres to it. Dry with a nice linen cloth; then pepper and salt them, and sift over a little finely-powdered cracker. Place them on an oyster gridiron over a quick fire. As soon as plump, dip each one in a cup of melted fresh butter; lay on a hot dish garnished with scraped horseradish and parsley, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Steamed Oysters.

Wash shell oysters perfectly clean; lay them on a steamer, so the juice will not escape from the shells when opened. It 91 is best to lay the upper shells down. Cover the lid of the steamer with a coarse towel and press closely on. Set this over a pot of water boiling hard. In from twenty minutes to half an hour, the shells will have opened. Have ready a hot dish, on which lay the oysters; sprinkle over them a little salt and pepper with a bit of fresh butter on each oyster. Serve immediately.—Mrs. S. T.

To Roast Oysters.

Wash and wipe one peck large shell oysters. Put in a hot oven, taking care to put the upper shell downward, so the juice will not escape. As soon as the shells open, lay on a hot dish and serve with horseradish or pepper-sauce, after sprinkling on them a little salt, and putting a bit of fresh butter on each oyster.—Mrs. S. T.

Pickled Oysters.

Pick oysters out from the juice with a fork; stew until gills are opened well, then lay on flat dishes until cold; put in a jar, and cover with equal parts of stewed juice and vinegar. Let stand two days.—Mrs. R. R.

Pickled Oysters.

Take two hundred oysters of largest size, rinse them in their own liquor and put them in a stew-pan. Strain the liquor to them, let them come to a boil, and no more. Take them out of the liquor; have ready one quart or more of pure cider vinegar, with which boil whole pepper, a little salt, mace, cloves, and nutmeg. 92

When it is cool, pour over the oysters. Before serving add a few raw cranberries and thin slices of lemon.—Mrs. S. T.

Pickled Oysters.

Take one gallon oysters and cook them in their own liquor till nearly done. Then skim out the oysters and add to the liquor one teaspoonful whole black pepper, one teaspoonful allspice, one teaspoonful mace, a little red pepper and half a pint of strong vinegar.

Let it boil a few minutes and then pour over the oysters. When nearly cool, slice in them a large fresh lemon.—Mrs. Col. A. F.

Oyster Pie.

Stew the oysters, not entirely done, with butter, pepper and one tablespoonful pepper-sauce, and salt. Make a paste of one pound flour and one-half pound butter. Line the dish and put in the oysters, grate bread crumbs over top, and bake.—Mrs. T.

Oyster Pie.

Put a paste in a deep dish. Wash the oysters, drain and put them in the dish, seasoning with butter, pepper, salt, and a little mace, if liked; then put in a layer of grated cracker. When the dish is full, cover with paste and slips of paste laid across; then bake.—Mrs. W——.

Oyster Pâtés.

Stew some large oysters with a little nutmeg, a few cloves, some yolk of egg boiled hard and grated, a little butter and as much liquor from the oysters as will cover them. When stewed a few minutes, take them out of the pan to cool. Have shells of puff paste, previously baked in patty pans, and lay two or three oysters in each.—Mrs. D. 93

Oyster Short Cake.

Roll about one inch thick and bake on tin pie plates quickly. While it is baking, take one quart oysters and one-half cup water and put on the stove; then take one-half cup milk, and one-half cup butter mixed with one tablespoonful flour, and a little salt or pepper; add all together and boil up once.

When the cakes are done, split them open and spread the oysters between them, and some on the top. Put the oysters that are left in a gravy-dish and replenish when needed.—Mrs. K.

Oyster Sausage.

Chop one pint oysters, with one-quarter pound veal, and one-quarter pound suet.

Mix with bread crumbs, and pound all in a mortar. Season with salt and pepper, adding an egg, well beaten.

Make into cakes like pork sausage.—Mrs. E.

Raw Oysters.

Take each oyster separately on a fork and drain from the liquor. Place on the table in an oyster tureen or salad bowl; have near a pile of small oblong dishes; scraped horseradish, pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, etc., so that after being helped, each guest may season to taste.

When oysters are transported some distance, it is well to boil the liquor from which they have been taken and pour over them: this makes them plump and prevents them from being slimy.—Mrs. S. T. 94

To keep Oysters alive and Fatten.

Mix one pint of salt with thirty pints of water. Put the oysters in a tub that will not leak, with their mouths upwards and feed them with the above, by dipping in a broom and frequently passing over their mouths. It is said that they will fatten still more by mixing fine meal with the water.—Mrs. R——.

To Cook Crabs.

Take live crabs and put them in cool water, let them remain for half an hour. Then put them in a vessel, pour boiling water on them sufficient to cover them; boil ten minutes. Take them off and wipe them clean, first removing the dead men, and proceed to remove the meat. Take the upper shell, clean it. Season the meat with pepper, salt, mustard, and plenty of butter; put all in the shell again and bake half an hour.—Mrs. K. Norfolk.

Crab Stew.

One peck live crabs, steam twenty minutes, bone and pick the claws and bodies. Stew with one pint milk or cream, the flesh and eggs of the crabs, fifteen minutes. Flavor with salt and cayenne pepper.—Mrs. R. L. O.

Devilled Crab.

After crabs are picked, season with mustard, pepper, salt, and catsup to taste. Add olive oil or butter.

Cover with bread crumbs moistened with milk and lumps of butter (put a little milk in the crab also). Bake in the shells or in a pan.—Miss E. W.

Devilled Crabs.

To the flesh of one dozen crabs boiled fifteen minutes and picked free from shell, add: 95

Put them in the shell and bake in a quick oven.—Mrs. M. E. L. W.

Soft Crabs.

Turn up the ends of the shells and take out the dead man's fingers and take off the flap, and cut out the sand-bag; lay them in cold water until ready to fry. Then dust flour over them, a little salt, and fry them in hot lard.—Mrs. D.

Devilled Crabs.

After the crabs are boiled, pick them up fine and add one third the quantity of crab, in cracker dust or bread crumbs, mustard, red and black pepper, salt, and butter. Return them to the top shells, and bake.—Mrs. D.

To Devil Hard Crabs.

Take them while alive, put them in very little water and steam them till perfectly done and brown, set them away till cold, take all out of the shell. Mix with eggs, bread crumbs, butter, and pepper. Either put back in the top shell and bake, or bake in pans.—Mrs. J. C.

Lobster Curry.

Put the meat of a large lobster into a stewpan with one blade of mace.

Simmer for an hour and serve hot.—Mrs. C.

Turtle or Terrapin Stew.

After they are well cleaned, parboil the meat, then pick it to pieces. Season highly with pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, hard-boiled egg, spices, lemon, and champagne or other wine.

Stew until well done.

Stewed Turtle.

Make a stew of the turtle and add all the ingredients used in the turtle-soup, except wine and lemons.—Mrs. D.

Terrapin.

First cut up the head and put it in the pot to boil with the shell on; when done enough to remove the under shell, take it up and pick to pieces. Clean the top shell well; add a few crackers, onions, parsley, allspice, black pepper, butter, and wine.

Return it to the shell, put sliced lemon on and bake it.—Mrs. D.

Turtle or Terrapin Steaks.

Cut the turtle or terrapin in thin slices; broil or fry them with pepper, salt, and butter.

Turtle or Terrapin in Batter.

Smother the steaks in an egg-batter. Season with pepper, salt, butter, and with a little bread crumbs; fry or broil.

To Cook Turtles.

Drop four turtles into boiling water, and boil one hour; then take them out and remove the skin from the legs and feet, and replace them in fresh boiling water, where they should continue 97 to boil one and one-half hour and then be taken out to cool. When cold, clean them thoroughly, removing the round liver which contains the gall. Cut them into small bits and place them in a stewpan, adding pepper, salt, the eggs that are found within, one quart water, one-half pound butter, and two tablespoonfuls flour mixed with a little cold water. Stir the flour and water well into the other ingredients, and stew about twenty minutes. As you remove them from the fire, pour in one-half pint Madeira wine.—Mrs. A. D.

FISH.

In selecting fish, notice if the flesh is firm and hard, the eyes full and prominent, the scales bright, the fins stiff, and the gills red, as all these indications denote their being fresh. Wash the fish, rub it with salt and pepper, and lay it on a dish, or hang it up till ready to cook. Never keep it lying in water, either in preparing it for cooking, or in trying to keep it till the next day.

In boiling fish, put it in boiling water, and simmer very slowly. It will require an hour to boil a large fish, and about twenty minutes for a small one. Every housekeeper should have a fish-kettle for fish.

Be careful to have boiling-hot lard in the frying-pan when you go to fry fish. First rub salt and pepper and flour or meal on the fish, then keep it well covered while frying, as you should do to every thing that is being fried. Doing this will enable you to fry the fish (or other article of food) a pretty amber color, while at the same time it will be perfectly done.

Always have a tin sheet for lifting boiled fish and for turning broiled fish. Before broiling, rub with pepper and salt, 98 and then grease with fresh butter. Lay the fish on a gridiron well greased with sweet lard and lay the tin sheet over it. When you wish to turn, take the gridiron from the fire, holding the tin sheet on top the fish. Hold them together, then lay them on a table with the tin sheet down and the gridiron uppermost. Carefully raise the gridiron, leaving the fish lying unbroken on the tin sheet. The cook may now easily slide the fish on the gridiron, put it again on the fire and brown the other side, putting the tin sheet back on top of it. Every thing should be covered while being broiled. When done, lay it on a dish and pour over it melted butter in which has been stirred pepper, salt, and minced parsley. If devilled fish is desired, add to this dressing, one tablespoonful pepper vinegar, one of celery vinegar, one of walnut catsup, one of made mustard, one wine-glassful of acid fruit jelly. In making sauces for fish, never use the water in which the fish has been boiled.

Full directions for stewing fish are to be found in the subsequent pages.

Fish à la Crême.

Boil a firm fish, remove the bones, pick it to pieces. Mix one pint cream or milk with two tablespoonfuls flour, one onion, one-half pound butter (or less), and salt.

Set it on the fire and stir until it is as thick as custard. Fill a baking-dish alternately with fish, cracker, and cream. Bake for thirty minutes, use four crackers.—Mrs. W. C. R.

Halibut.

Boil one pound halibut, then chop it very fine and add eight eggs well beaten; pepper and salt to taste, then one cup butter.

Put it in a stewpan and cook until the eggs are done sufficiently. Serve very hot on toast.—Miss F. N.

Halibut.

Halibut should be cut in slices of four pounds each. If to 99 be boiled, cover with salt water, and skim often; drain off and serve with butter sauce.

If baked or fried, garnish with horseradish and serve with melted butter.

Fish Chowder.

Fry a few slices of salt pork, cut the fish in small pieces, pare and slice the potatoes, add a little onion chopped fine.

Place all in layers in the kettle; season with salt and pepper. Stew over a slow fire thirty minutes.

Cat-fish Chowder.

To be made of New River cat-fish.

Wash the fish in warm water, put it on in just water enough to cover it, boil until tender or until the bones will slip out; take out the largest bones, chop up the fish, put it in a stewpan with a pint of water, a large lump of butter.

1 cup of cream, pepper and not much salt.

1 onion, one teaspoonful mustard, one-half teacupful walnut catsup.

Stew until quite thick, garnish with sliced lemon and serve hot.—Mrs. P. W.

Cat-fish Chowder or Hog-fish.

Take two cat-fish, skin, and boil till thoroughly done; pick very fine and add:

Add a little celery or celery-seed, a little thyme, a little parsley.

Pour over all about one quart of boiling water and cook fast about half an hour.—Miss F. N. 100

Fish Chowder.

Take any large fish, and cut in thin slices, lay some slices of fat bacon at the bottom of the pot and then a layer of fish, onions, cracker dust, red and black pepper, salt, and butter.

Then more layers, until you have used all the fish. Cover the whole with water and cook until well done.—Mrs. D.

Boiled Sheep's-head.

Clean the fish and boil well done. Serve hot with butter and egg sauce.

To Bake a Sheep's-head.

Put two tablespoonfuls butter and two tablespoonfuls lard in a skillet; also, with that, two tablespoonfuls flour, a little parsley, one pint boiling water, a little wine, catsup, salt, and cayenne pepper. Boil a few minutes; then take four eggs, half a pint cream or butter; beat well together. Lay the fish in a large deep dish, pour gravy from skillet over it; spread butter over top of fish. The bottom of the oven to be quite hot, top slow.—Miss E. W.

Boiled Sheep's-head or Rock.

Lay the fish in a fish boiler, in a cloth, to prevent breaking. Throw into the water a handful parsley, and when the fish is done, lay some sprigs on it in the dish.—Mrs. D.

Baked Sheep's-head.

Put the fish in a pan and cover with water; put a little parsley, onions, and fat bacon, chopped up together, black pepper and salt, in the fish and over it, and when nearly done, beat up one egg and a little flour, and pour over it to thicken the gravy. Rock or shad may be cooked the same way.—Mrs. D. 101

Baked Sheep's-head.

When ready for cooking, salt and pepper well, gash the sides in three or four places. Cut four onions very fine, to which add one pint bread crumbs, fat meat minced very fine, as it suits better than lard, cayenne pepper, thyme, a little salt, and the yolks of two eggs, all mashed together, with which stuff the fish inside and gashes on the outside. Then sprinkle over with flour and black pepper; put into a large pan with one quart cold water. Bake two hours, slowly. Serve with or without sauce, according to taste.—Miss F. N.

Boiled Rock-fish.

Clean the fish nicely, rub well with salt and pepper. Put into a large deep pan, that it may lie at full length; cover with cold water, adding salt and pepper. Boil steadily for three-quarters of an hour; dish and serve with melted butter and sauce or catsup.—Miss F. N.

Boiled Rock-fish.

Clean nicely and hang it up; do not lay it in water, but wash it when ready for cooking. Put on in boiling water, seasoning with salt to taste. It takes two hours to boil, if large. Serve with egg sauce, and send to the table in a napkin to keep hot.—Mrs. W.

To Stew Rock-fish.

Take a rock, clean and season with parsley, sweet marjoram, onions, one-half pint water, salt to taste, one pint Port wine, one-half pound butter, and a little flour. Put them in a dish, and set in a stewpan. One hour is sufficient for cooking.—Mrs. J. T.

Baked Rock.

Boil the fish and take out the bones. Season with cream, 102 butter, pepper, and salt, and grated bread crumbs over the top. Bake slightly in a flat dish or scollop shells.—Mrs. R.

To Pickle Rock.

Cut a rock-fish into pieces and put in a kettle with sufficient water to cover it. Put in a handful of salt, some white pepper, one tablespoonful allspice, a few cloves and mace.

When the fish is nearly done, add a quart of vinegar. In putting away, use as much liquor as will cover it.—Mrs. J. W. S.

Baked Shad.

Open the shad down the back, wash well and salt it; wipe dry and rub inside and out with a little cayenne pepper. Prepare a stuffing of bread, seasoned with pepper, salt, thyme, or parsley, celery-seed, a little chopped onion, piece of butter, size of a walnut.

Tie up the fish and put in a baking pan with one pint water (to a good sized fish) and butter, size of a hen's egg. Sprinkle with flour, baste well and bake slowly an hour and a half.—Mrs. J. H. F.

To Fry Shad.

Clean and hang in a cool place. When ready to use wash thoroughly, cut up and sprinkle lightly with flour, pepper, salt, and fry with lard.—Mrs. R——.

To Roast Shad.

Fill the inside with forcemeat, sew it up and tie it on a board, not pine, cover with bread crumbs, a little salt, and pepper, and place before the fire. When done one side, turn it; when sufficiently done, pull out the thread; dish and serve with drawn butter and parsley.—Mrs. D.

To Broil Shad.

Clean, wash, and split the shad, and wipe it dry.

Sprinkle with pepper and salt, and place it over a clear, slow 103 fire, with the skin down so as to retain the juice; put on a clean gridiron, rubbed with lard. Turn it when nearly done; take up, and season with a generous piece of butter, salt, and pepper to taste.—Mrs. S.

Potted Shad.

Cut the fish as for frying; pack in a stone jar with layers of mixed spices, seasoning with salt; after the jar is filled, pour vinegar over; cover tightly with a cloth. Put the jar in a large pot of water and boil until the fish is thoroughly done.

A nice relish for tea.—Mrs. C. L. T.

To Barbecue a Shad.

Split the back of the fish, pepper and salt it, and put on the gridiron with the skin down.

Baste the upper side of the fish with butter; brown a little piece of butter with a small quantity of flour, and when brown add pepper, salt, and a little water.

Dish in a tureen.—Mrs. J. W. S.

Scolloped Sturgeon.

Four pounds sturgeon, boiled; when cold, pick to pieces and then wash and squeeze out the water. Make a mayonnaise dressing, using celery, cayenne pepper instead of black pepper, and salt. Serve on white lettuce leaves.—Mrs. R. R.

Sturgeon Cutlet.

Remove all the fat from the fish; cut it into steak pieces. Beat up the yolks of eggs enough to moisten the pieces well; dip them into the beaten egg. Have ready a dish of grated bread crumbs (stale bread is best), then roll them in the bread crumbs and pepper them well.

Prepare a vessel of melted lard, have it boiling hot, but not burnt; lay in the pieces of fish and cover with a lid. Turn 104 them over as they brown and remove the lid when they are nearly done.—Mrs. Dr. P. C.

Sturgeon or Drum.

Slice it like beefsteak, and roll in a thin egg batter, and fry in hot lard.

Chopped parsley and black pepper may be added, if liked.—Mrs. D., Suffolk.

Baked Sturgeon.

Wash the skin well, put in a pan and bake for three-quarters of an hour. Then take it out on a dish; pierce it with a knife in several places. Make a stuffing of pot-meat, bread crumbs, onions, parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt, all chopped well together. Stuff the holes with the mixture and put the rest in the gravy; return to the pan and bake until done.—Mrs. D.

To Fry Perch.

Sprinkle with salt and dredge with flour; after a while dredge with flour the other side. When the lard boils hard, skim it well and put in the fish. Serve hot.—Mrs. W.

To Fry Trout.

Split the fish down the back, insert a thin slice of fat pork. Squeeze lemon juice over it and fry brown.—Mrs. J. I., La.

Boiled Cod-fish.

Boil over a slow fire and skim frequently. Season with salt. Garnish with parsley and rings of hard boiled eggs, and serve with butter and egg-sauce.

Cod-fish Balls.

One-fourth fish, to three-fourths potatoes, eggs enough to moisten. Season with pepper and salt, and fry brown. 105

Nantucket Cod-fish.

Cut the thick part out of a firm, white dried codfish, and soak it over night, then cut into very small pieces and parboil for a few minutes, changing the water until the fish remains but slightly salted. Drain off the water, leaving the fish in the saucepan. Pour over a little more milk than will cover it; when it becomes heated, add a little butter and pepper, thicken with flour stirred smooth in milk. Stir constantly for a few minutes.

To Dress Salt Cod-fish.

Take one-third of a large fish; soak it from three to four hours; next, boiling it till thoroughly done, pick the meat fine, taking out all the bones. Then add:

Mix all well together in a stewpan, with—

Boil half an hour, and add a liberal supply of butter just before serving. If preferred, the salt and mustard need not be put in until during the cooking.—Mrs. A. C.

Boiled Mackerel.

Well wash the fish, put it into nearly boiling water with one tablespoonful salt in it; boil up quickly, then let it simmer gently for a quarter of an hour, and if the fish be very large, a few minutes longer. Serve in a hot dish.—Mrs. B.

To Broil Mackerel.

If the mackerel is fresh, after it is nicely scaled and cleaned, dry it; pepper and salt and broil it on a gridiron; baste it with fresh butter. After it is broiled, put it on a hot dish, pour melted butter over it, and serve. If the fish is salt, pour boiling water over it, soak it several hours; butter and pepper, and broil; serve in the same way as the fresh.—Mrs. R. 106

To Cook Salt Mackerel.

Soak the fish over night in fresh water. In the morning drain off the water and place on a gridiron to broil, dressing with hot butter.—Mrs. T.

Baked Salmon.

When washed and dried, sprinkle over pepper and salt. Have ready in a baking-pan a small grating; lay the fish on this, with bits of butter over it; set in a hot oven, basting often and freely with butter. When nicely browned, butter a sheet of white paper and lay over it, to prevent its getting too dry; when done and tender, place on a hot dish. Add to the gravy one teacupful milk, one tablespoonful pepper vinegar, pepper, salt, and a mashed Irish potato smoothly mixed in; boil, and pour over the fish. Sift over all browned cracker. Garnish with bleached tops of celery and curled parsley alternately.—Mrs. T.

Boiled Salmon.

After the fish has been cleaned and washed, dry it and sew it up in a cloth; lay it in a fish-kettle, cover with warm water, and simmer until done and tender. Meanwhile have ready in a saucepan one pint cream, two tablespoonfuls fresh butter, salt, pepper, minced parsley, and thyme; let it boil up once, not too quickly. Take the fish from the kettle, carefully unwrap it, lay it for a moment on a folded napkin to dry. Have ready a hot dish, lay the fish on it carefully, without breaking it, pour over the cream. Slice some hard-boiled eggs, and lay over the fish alternately with sliced lemon. Border the edges of the dish with curled parsley.—Mrs. S. T.

Salmon Steak.

When well dried, pepper and salt, sift over powdered cracker, and lay upon a gridiron, which has been first greased with butter or lard, over hot coals. As soon as the side next to the fire is brown, turn it by carefully slipping under it a batter-cake 107 turner and holding the fish on it with the other hand, lest it should break. When both sides are of a light brown, lay in a hot dish; pepper and salt again; pour over melted butter; place the cover on, and serve.—Mrs. T.

Pickled Salmon.

Soak the salmon twenty-four hours, changing the water. Put it in boiling water, with a little vinegar. When done and cold, boil your vinegar with spice and pour on the fish.—Mrs. A. P.

German Fish Stew.

Put the fish in a kettle to boil. Stew together in a saucepan one onion chopped fine and a wine-glass of sweet oil; when well done, pour them in with the fish. Then mix yolks of three eggs, juice of two lemons strained, one tablespoonful sifted flour. Beat these well together, and pour upon the fish when nearly done. Then add ginger, pepper, and salt to taste; stew three or four minutes, after mixing all the ingredients. Oysters may be cooked by the same receipt, only substituting one quart oysters for the fish.—Mrs. A. D.

GAME.

Haunch of Venison.

Rub the venison over with pepper, salt, and butter. Repeat the rubbing. After it has been put in the oven, put in as much cold water as will prevent burning and draw the gravy. Stick five or six cloves in different parts of the venison. Add enough water to make sufficient gravy. Just before dinner, put in a glass of red wine and a lump of butter rolled in flour, and let it stew a little longer.—Mrs. T. 108

Venison Haunch.

Prepare the venison as you would mutton.

Put in a baking-pan, lard with a little bacon, add a pint of water, a gill of red wine, salt, and a little cayenne pepper. Bake quickly, and serve with or without gravy.

Stewed Venison.

Cut in tolerably thick slices. Put in an oven with two spoonfuls of water and a piece of lard. Cook till nearly done, then pour off the gravy and baste it well with a large spoonful of butter, pepper, and salt.

Stewed Venison.

Slice cold venison in a chafing dish and add—

The same receipt will answer for cold mutton.—Mrs. R. L. O.

To Barbecue Squirrel.

Put some slices of fat bacon in an oven. Lay the squirrels on them and lay two slices of bacon on the top. Put them in the oven and let them cook until done. Lay them on a dish and set near the fire. Take out the bacon, sprinkle one spoonful of flour in the gravy and let it brown. Then pour in one teacup of water, one tablespoonful of butter, and some tomato or walnut catsup. Let it cool, and then pour it over the squirrel. 109

Roast Rabbit.

Stew the rabbit. After boiling the haslet and liver, stew them with parsley, thyme, celery-seed, butter, salt, and pepper, for gravy. Soak a piece of loaf bread, a short time, in water. Mix with it the yolk of an egg and some butter, for stuffing; then soak it in milk and cream. Sprinkle the inside of the rabbit with salt and pepper, fill it with the above dressing, sew it up, and roast or bake quickly.—Mrs. B.

Barbecued Rabbit.

Lay the rabbit in salt and water half an hour, scald with boiling water, wipe dry, grease with butter, and sprinkle with pepper and a little salt. Lay it on the gridiron, turning often so that it may cook through and through, without becoming hard and dry. When brown, lay on a hot dish, butter plentifully on both sides, and add a little salt and pepper. Set in the oven, while preparing four teaspoonfuls of vinegar, one of made mustard, and one of currant jelly or brown sugar. Pour this over the rabbit, rubbing it in, then pour over the gravy and serve hot.—Mrs. T.

Stewed Rabbit.

Cut up the rabbit and wash it. Put it in a stewpan and season it with salt and pepper. Pour in half a pint of water, and when this has nearly stewed away, add half a pint of Port wine, two or three blades of mace, and a tablespoonful of flour, mixed with a quarter of a pound of butter. Let it stew gently till quite tender, and then serve hot.—Mrs. C. C.

Stewed Rabbit.

Cut a rabbit into eight pieces. After soaking in salt and water, put it in a stewpan, with a slice of pork or bacon, and with more than enough water to cover it. When nearly done, take out the pieces, strain the water in which they have boiled, and return all to the stewpan, with a teacup of milk, a little 110 pepper, salt, chopped onion and parsley. After this boils up, stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter, in which a tablespoonful of flour has been rubbed. Let it boil up once more; then serve in a covered dish, with four hard-boiled eggs sliced over it, and grated bread crumbs. The same receipt will answer for squirrel.—Mrs. T.

Wild Turkey.

If the turkey is old, after it is dressed wash it inside thoroughly with soda and water. Rinse it and plunge it into a pot of boiling water for five minutes. Make a stuffing of bits of pork, beef, or any other cold meat, plenty of chopped celery, stewed giblets, hard-boiled eggs, pounded cracker, pepper, and salt, and a heaping spoonful of butter. Work this well and fill the turkey. With another large spoonful of butter grease the bird, and then sprinkle salt and pepper over it. Lay in a pan, with a pint of stock or broth in which any kind of meat has been boiled. Place in a hot oven. When it begins to brown, dredge with flour and baste, turning often, so that each part may be equally browned. Put a buttered sheet of paper over the breast, to prevent dryness. When thoroughly done, lay on a dish, brown some crackers, pound and sift over it, and serve with celery or oyster sauce.—Mrs. T.

A Simpler Way to Prepare Wild Turkey.

Prepare the turkey as usual, rub the inside with salt and cayenne pepper, and put in the baking-pan, with water enough to make gravy. Cut up the gizzard and liver with a lump of butter and a spoonful of cream. Mix with the gravy and serve hot.

To Roast Wild Fowl in a Stove.

Put them on a rack above a pan, so that the gravy will drip through. This makes them as delicate as if roasted on a spit. If roasted in a pan, they will be exceedingly greasy and have 111 the stovey taste to which so many persons object.—Mrs. J. W. S.

Wild Goose.

After the goose is dressed, soak it several hours in salt and water. Put a small onion inside and plunge it into boiling water for twenty minutes. Stuff with chopped celery, chopped eggs, mashed potatoes, bits of fat pork or other cold meat; a little butter; raw turnip grated; a tablespoonful of pepper vinegar; a little chopped onion; pepper and salt to the taste.

A teacup of stock or broth must be put in the pan with the fowl. Butter it, dredge with flour, and baste often. Pin a buttered paper over the breast to prevent its becoming hard. Serve with mushroom or celery sauce, or, for a simpler taste, serve merely with its own gravy.—Mrs. T.

Wild Goose.

Put a small onion inside, a slice of pork, pepper, salt, and a spoonful of red wine.

Lay in a pan with water enough to make gravy. Dredge with flour, and baste with butter frequently. Cook quickly and serve with gravy made as for wild turkey.

Wild Duck.

When the duck is ready dressed, put in it a small onion, pepper, salt, and a spoonful of red wine. Lay in a pan with water enough to make the gravy. Cook in fifteen or twenty minutes, if the fire is brisk. Serve with gravy made as for wild turkey.

Canvas-back ducks are cooked in the same way, only you leave on their heads and do not use onion with them.—Mrs. R. L. O.

To Cook Wild Duck for Breakfast.

Split open in the back, put in a pan with a little water, butter, 112 pepper and salt, and cook till tender. Baste with flour. If for dinner, cook whole.—Mrs. J. L. C.

To Broil Partridges.

Place them in salt and water, an hour or two before broiling. When taken out, wipe them dry, and rub them all over with fresh butter, pepper and salt. First broil the under or split side on the gridiron, over bright, clear coals, turning until the upper side is of a fine, light brown. It must be cooked principally from the under side. When done, rub well again with fresh butter and if not ready to serve them immediately, put them in a large shallow tin bucket, cover it and set it over a pot or kettle of boiling water, which will keep them hot without making them hard or dry and will give time for the many "last things" to be done before serving a meal. When served, sift over them powdered cracker, first browned.—Mrs. T.

To Roast Partridges.

Clean the birds as for stuffing. Rub with butter, salt and pepper. Put in sheets of letter paper and allow to cook in this way.—Mrs. W. C.

To Cook Partridges and Pheasants.

Place them in a steamer, over a pot of boiling water, till tender.

Have ready a saucepan of large fresh oysters, scalded just enough to make them plump and seasoned with pepper-sauce, butter, and a little salt. Rub the cavity of the birds with salt and pepper, fill with oysters and sew up. Broil till a light brown. Place on a hot dish and sift over them browned cracker. Add a large tablespoonful of butter and one of pounded cracker to the oyster liquor. Boil it up once and pour into the dish, but not over the birds.—Mrs. T.

To Broil Pigeons.

Pigeons may be broiled the same as chickens, only cover the 113 breast with slices of bacon. When nearly done, remove the bacon, dredge with flour and baste with butter. They will be done in half an hour.

Stewed Pigeons.

The pigeons must be seasoned with pepper, salt, cloves, mace and sweet herbs. Wrap the seasoning up in a piece of butter and put it in the pigeon. Then tie up the neck and vest and half roast the pigeons. Then put them in a stewpan with a quart of good gravy, a little white wine, some pickled mushrooms, a few peppercorns, three or four blades of mace, a bit of lemon peel, a bit of onion and a bunch of sweet herbs. Stew until done, then thicken with butter and yolks of eggs. Garnish with lemon.

Pigeon Pie.

Take six young pigeons. After they are drawn, trussed, and singed, stuff them with the chopped livers mixed with parsley, salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with rather small pieces of beef. On the beef, place a thin layer of chopped parsley and mushrooms, seasoned with pepper and salt. Over this place the pigeons, between each putting the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. Add some brown sauce or gravy. Cover with puff paste and bake the pie for an hour and a half.—Mrs. C. C.

To Dress Reed Birds.

Pick open and carefully wash one dozen or more birds. Place them between the folds of a towel, and with a rolling-pin mash the bones quite flat. Season with salt and a little cayenne and black pepper. Either fry or broil on a gridiron made for broiling oysters. This must be done over a clear fire. When done, season, put a lump of butter on each bird and serve hot.—Mrs. A. M. D.

To Cook Sora, Ortolans, and Other Small Birds.

Prepare as you would a chicken for roasting. Lay in a pan 114 and pour boiling water over them or, if convenient, steam them. Scald a few large fresh oysters till just plump, season them with cayenne pepper, salt and butter. Pour into the cavity of each bird a few drops of pepper-sauce and then put a large oyster in each. Broil a short time, frequently turning that they may not become dry. If not ready to serve them as soon as they are done, lay in a tin bucket, butter them and sprinkle them again with black pepper, cover the bucket and set it over boiling water till wanted. When laid in the dish, sift browned cracker over the birds, and pour gravy into the dish.—Mrs. T.

To Cook Sora, Ortolans, and Other Small Birds.

After they are split open in the back and dressed, lay them in weak salt and water for a short time. Then lay them on a board and roll with a rolling-pin to flatten the breastbone. Put butter, pepper, and salt on them. Lay them on a gridiron and broil slowly. When just done, add more butter and pepper, lay in a flat tin bucket, which set over a vessel of boiling water to keep the birds hot, juicy, and tender till wanted.—Mrs. T.

Sora, Ortolans, Robins, and Other Small Birds.

They should be carefully cleaned, buttered, sprinkled with pepper and salt, and broiled. When they are served, butter them again. If you like, serve each bird on a piece of toast, and pour over them a sauce of red wine, mushroom catsup, salt, cayenne pepper, and celery.

MEATS.

All meats are better in winter for being kept several weeks, and it is well, in summer, to keep them as long as you can without 115 danger of their being tainted. If it is not in your power to keep meat in an ice-house, in summer, keep it in a cool dark cellar, wrapped around with wet cloths, on top of which lay boughs of elderberry. The evaporation from the cloth will keep the meat cool and the elderberry will keep off insects.

If you should unfortunately be obliged to use stale meat or poultry, rub it in and out with soda, before washing it. Tough meats and poultry are rendered more tender by putting a little vinegar or a few slices of lemon in the water in which they are boiled. The use of an acid will save time and fuel in cooking them and will render them more tender and digestible.

If possible, keep the meat so clean that it will not be necessary to wash it, as water extracts the juices. When it is frozen, lay it in cold water to thaw, and then cook quickly, to prevent its losing its moisture and sweetness.

In roasting or boiling, use but little salt at first, as it hardens meat to do otherwise. In roasting, baste frequently, to prevent the meat from hardening on the outside, and try to preserve the juices. If possible, roast the meat on a spit before a large, open fire, after using salt, pepper, butter or lard, and dredging with flour. Where an open fire-place cannot be obtained, however, the meat may be well roasted in a stove or range. Mutton, pork, shote and veal should be well done, but beef should be cooked rare.

In boiling, put on salt meat in cold water, but fresh meat in hot. Remember also that salt meat requires more water and a longer time to cook than fresh. Boil slowly, removing the scum that rises when it begins to simmer. Keep a tea-kettle of boiling water at hand to replenish the water in the pot, as it boils away. Do not let the meat boil too hard or too long, as this will toughen it and extract the juices. Add salt to fresh meat, just before it is done.

Lardering beef, veal, and poultry is a great improvement, keeping it moist whilst cooking and adding richness to the flavor. Lardering consists in introducing slips of clear fat bacon 116 or salt pork, into the surface of meat, by means of a pin, sharp at one end and cleft into four divisions at the other. This pin may be obtained at any hardware store.

As the housekeeper is sometimes hurried in preparing a dish, it will save time and trouble for her to keep on hand a bottle of meat-flavoring compounded of the following ingredients.

Put all in a quart bottle and fill it up with cider vinegar. A tablespoonful of this mixed in a stew, steak, or gravy, will impart not only a fine flavor, but a rich color. Keeping this mixture on hand will obviate the necessity of the housekeeper looking through various spice boxes and packages to get together the requisite ingredients for flavoring, and will thus save her time and trouble.

How to Select Meats.

Good and wholesome meat should be neither of a pale rosy or pink color, nor of a deep purple. The first denotes the diseased condition, the last proves the animal has died a natural death. Good meat has more of a marble look, in consequence of the branching of the veins which surround the adipose cells. The fat, especially of the inner organs, is always firm and suety and never moist, while in general the fat from diseased cattle is flabby and watery and more often resembles jelly or boiled parchment. Wholesome meat will always show itself firm and elastic to the touch, and exhibit no dampness, while bad meat will appear soft and moist, in fact, often more wet, so that the liquid substance runs out of the blood when pressed hard. 117 Good meat has very little smell and diffuses a certain medicinal odor. This can be distinctly proved by cutting the meat through with a knife and smelling the blade or pouring water over it. Lastly, bad meat has the peculiarity that it shrinks considerably in the boiling, wholesome meat rather swells and does not lose an ounce in weight.

Observations on Pork, Curing Bacon, etc.

Hogs weighing from 150 to 200 pounds are the most suitable size for family use. They should not exceed twelve months in age, as they are much more tender from being young. They should be well kept and should be corn-fed several weeks before being killed. After being properly dressed, they should hang long enough to get rid of the animal heat. When they are ready to be cut up, they should be divided into nine principal parts, two hams, two shoulders, two middlings, the head or face, jowl and chine. The hog is laid on its back to be cut up. The head is cut off just below the ears, then it is split down on each side of the backbone, which is the chine. This is divided into three pieces, the upper portion being a choice piece to be eaten cold. The fat portion may be cut off to make lard. Each half should then first have the leaf fat taken out, which is done by cutting the thin skin between it and the ribs, when it is easily pulled out. Just under this, the next thing to be removed is the mousepiece or tenderloin, lying along the edge, from which the backbone was removed, commencing at the point of the ham. This is considered the most delicate part and is used to make the nicest sausage. Just under this tenderloin are some short ribs about three inches long, running up from the point of the ham which are known as the griskin. This is removed by a sharp knife being run under it, taking care to cut it smooth and not too thick. When broiled, it is as nice as a partridge.

The ribs are next taken out of the shoulder and middling, though some persons prefer leaving them in the middling. In this case seven should be taken from the shoulder, by a sharp 118 knife cutting close to the ribs, which make a delicious broil. Then cut off the ham as near the bone as possible, in a half circle. The shoulder is then cut square across just behind the leg. The feet are then chopped off with a sharp axe or cleaver. From the shoulder, they should be cut off leaving a stump of about two inches. From the ham, they should be cut off at the joint, as smoothly as possible, and then you may proceed to salt the meat.

In order to impart redness to the hams, rub on each a teaspoonful of pulverized saltpetre before salting. If the weather is very cold, warm the salt before applying it. First rub the skin side well with salt and then the fleshy side, using for the purpose a shoe-sole or leather glove. No more salt should be used than a sufficiency to preserve the meat, as an excess hardens the meat. A bushel of salt is sufficient for a thousand pounds of meat. For the chine and ribs a very light sprinkling of salt will suffice.

The meat as salted should be packed with the skin side down, where it should remain from four to six weeks, according to the weather. If the weather is mild, four weeks will answer. Should the weather be very cold and the pork in an exposed place, it will freeze, and the salt, failing to penetrate the meat, will be apt to injure it.

After it has taken salt sufficiently, the old Virginia mode is to break the bulk, shake off the salt, rub the joint pieces (hams and shoulders) with good, green-wood ashes (hickory preferred). Then rebulk it and let it remain two weeks longer, when it should be hung up with the joints down and the other pieces may be hung up for smoking at the same time. It is not necessary that the smoke-house should be very tight, but it is important that the pork should not be very close to the fire.

A smothered fire made of small billets of wood or chips (hickory preferred), or of corn cobs, should be made up three times a day till the middle of March or first of April, when the joint pieces should be taken down and packed in hickory or other 119 green-wood ashes, as in salt, where they will remain all the summer without danger of bugs interfering with them.

This recipe has been obtained from an old Virginia family, famous for their skill in this department of housekeeping. This mode of curing makes the best bacon in the world, far superior to what are generally called Virginia cured hams.

Shoat (which I must explain to the uninitiated is a term applied in the South to a young pig past the age when it may be cooked whole) should be kept up and fattened on buttermilk, several weeks before being killed, as this makes the flesh extremely delicate. It is best killed when between two and three months old. It should then be divided into four quarters. It is more delicate and wholesome eaten cold.

Pork Steak.

Remove the skin, beat without breaking into holes; scald with boiling water, wipe dry and broil. When brown lay in a hob dish. Sprinkle over pepper, salt, a little sage, chopped onion, and parsley; then butter profusely.

Grate over all hard biscuit or crackers that have been browned and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Spare-ribs.

Pork chop and pork cutlet may be cooked in the same way, omitting the onion if not liked.—Mrs. T.

Pork Spare-rib.

With stuffing of sage and onions, roasted spare-rib, done over the potatoes, affords a good substitute for goose.

Spare-ribs.

Always parboil spare-ribs: then broil with pepper and salt; cut in pieces three or four bones each.—Mrs. W.

Spare-Ribs.

Cut them into pieces of two or three ribs each; put them 120 into a covered stewpan and boil or stew until perfectly done. Just before you take them out, add salt, pepper, and minced parsley.

Put on the cover and simmer until well seasoned.

Take them out of the pan, drain and dry them. For one moment let them scorch on a gridiron over a bed of hot coals; lay on a hot dish; butter each one; pepper added; sift over browned cracker and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

To Cook Spare-ribs and Griskin or Short-ribs.

Put them on in a small quantity of water and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes. Gash them with a knife; sprinkle with pepper and put them on a hot gridiron as near the fire as possible; broil quickly, but not too brown. Have some butter melted and pour over the meat and shut it up in the dish. These are good for breakfast.—Mrs. P. W.

To Cook Backbone or Chine.

Cut the chine in three pieces; the large end must be about a foot long, the remainder cut in half. Put it in a pot of water and boil for two hours; then put it in a pan, baste and set it in the stove to brown. Peel some Irish potatoes and put them in the pot; boil till done, mash them up and season with pepper, a little salt, and some of the gravy dripping out of the chine while baking; spread them in the dish, then lay the chine on top. The largest piece is generally put aside to eat cold, and is very nice. Turnips are good, cooked in the same way as potatoes, with the chine.

The chine and ham of a hog are nice, corned like beef.—Mrs. P. W.

Backbone Pie.

Take the smallest end of the backbone, cut in pieces two or three inches long; put in water and boil until done. Make nice rich pastry as for chicken pie; line the sides of a baking dish with the pastry, put in the bones, adding some water in 121 which they were boiled; also salt, butter, and pepper to taste, with bits of pastry.

Cover top of baking-dish with pastry; put in stove and brown nicely.—Mrs. G. B.

To Cook a Ham of Pork.

Wash off the salt and put it in a pot of water; boil from four to six hours, according to size. Do not take off the skin, as it preserves the juice and is much better cold. It is also nice to slice and broil with pepper and butter over it.—Mrs. P. W.

Leg of Pork Stuffed.

Make deep incisions in the meat parallel to the bone, trim it so as to leave the skin longer than the flesh; then boil some potatoes, and when they are done, mash them with a piece of butter, cayenne pepper and salt, an onion finely chopped, and a little rubbed sage.

With this dressing fill the incisions, draw the skin down and skewer it over to keep the dressing from falling out. Season the outside of the meat with salt, cayenne pepper and sage.

Roast it slowly; when done, pour the gravy in a pan, skim off the fat and add some browned flour wet in a little cold water, and boil up once.

Serve with apple or cranberry sauce.—Mrs. A. M. D.

To Dress Chine.

Rub the large end with salt and saltpetre, and it will keep some time, or you may boil it fresh. Cut the bones of the other end apart, sprinkle with flour and a little salt: add one teacup of water, and stew.

It will make two large dishes.—Mrs. W.

Roast Chine.

Chine should always be parboiled and stewed before roasting, to take away the gross taste which the melted fat frying from 122 it gives. After this lay in the pan with one pint water in which it was boiled, from which all the fat has been skimmed. Put in this several whole leaves of sage, to be removed before serving—just to get the flavor; minced onion, and parsley.

Baste and brown quickly that it may not dry.

This is only stewed chine browned.—Mrs. S. T.

Pork Royal.

Take a piece of shoulder of fresh pork, fill with grated bread and the crust soaked, pepper, salt, onion, sage and thyme: a bit of butter and lard. Place in a pan with some water; when about half done, place around it some large apples; when done, place your pork on a dish, with the apples round it; put flour and water on your pan, flour browned, some thyme and sage; boil, strain through a very small colander over your pork and apples.

Seasoning for Sausage.

Excellent Recipe for Sausage.

Mix well together.—Mrs. S. M.

Sausage Meat.

Cut the fat in small pieces and then chop it; chop the lean very fine: mix all together, kneading in the seasoning. Press it down in small pots and pour melted lard over the top.—Mrs. J. D.

Sweetbread of Hog.

This nice morsel is between the maw and ruffle piece inside of the hog. Put them in soak for a day; parboil them and then gash them and stew them in pepper, butter, one teacup of milk and a little vinegar.

Or they are very nice fried or broiled.—Mrs. P. W.

Souse Cheese.

Lay the meat in cold water as cut from the hog. Let it stand three or four days, shifting the water each day. Scrape it and let it stand a day or two longer, changing the water often, and if it should turn warm, pour a little salt in the water. The oftener it is scraped, the whiter will be the souse. Boil in plenty of water to cover it, replenishing when needed. When tender enough, put it in milk-warm water, and when cold in salt water. Boil the head until the bones will almost fall out. Clean one dozen or more ears and boil also; while hot, chop very fine, and season with pepper and salt.

Put in a mold or bowl with a weight on top. The feet may be soused whole, or cut up with the head and ears; but it is not so nice. Clean them by dipping in boiling water and scraping; do not hold them to the fire to singe off the hair. One head and one dozen ears will make a good-sized cheese.—Mrs. W.

To Make Souse from Hog's Feet.

As soon as the hog is cleaned, cut off the feet and throw them 124 in a tub of cold water with a handful of salt; let them remain covered in water until you are ready to clean them, which should be done as soon as possible, as they will be much whiter. To get the hoof off, put the feet in hot water (not above the hoof); as soon as they get hot enough, slip a knife between the foot and hoof, and slip it off; then scrape the foot nicely, and throw into a tub of clear water; do this for several days. When you have scraped and changed the water for a week, then wash them clean and put them on to boil. First put them in a clean pot with a thin gruel made of corn meal; boil until half done. Wash them off, and put on in clear hot water, and boil till done, then take them up and throw them into a firkin of clean salt and water; keep closely covered to prevent them from molding. They are now ready to fry, which should be done by splitting the foot in half and fried in egg batter.—Mrs. P. W.

To Cure Lard.

As soon as it is taken from the hog, cut in small pieces, wash clean, press out the water, and put in the pot to boil, with one gallon of water to a vessel holding four gallons. Boil briskly until nearly done, or until the cracklins begin to brown, then cook slowly to prevent burning. The cracklins should be of a light brown and crisp, and will sink to the bottom when done. This is Leaf Lard.

The fat off of the backbone is also very nice, done in the same way, and does not require soaking, unless bloody. The fat from the entrails can also be made into nice lard by soaking for a day or two in fresh water, changing it frequently, and throwing a handful of salt in the tub of water to draw out the blood and impurities. When ready to render, wash in warm water twice and boil in more water than you do for leaf lard. The cracklins will not become crisp, but remain soft, and will sink to the bottom; they are used for making soap.

Virginia Mode of Curing Hams.

Put one teaspoonful saltpetre on the fleshy side of each ham. 125 Salt not too heavily for five weeks; if the weather is freezing cold, six weeks; then brush the hams well, and rub them with hickory ashes; let them lie for one week, then hang and smoke them for six weeks with green hickory chips. After brushing, pack them in hickory ashes in a bulk.—Mrs. P. C. M.

To Cure Bacon.

Pack the meat in salt and allow it to remain five weeks. Then take the hams up, wash off, and wipe dry. Have some sacks made of about seven-eighths shirting, large enough to hold the hams and tie above the hock. Make a pot of sizing of equal portions of flour and corn meal, boil until thick, and dip each sack until the outside is well coated with sizing. Put the hams in bags, and tie tight with a strong twine and hang by the same in the smoke-house.

Curing Bacon.

One peck salt to five hundred pounds pork. To five gallons water:

Mix, and after sprinkling the fleshy side of the ham with the salt, pack in a tight barrel. Hams first, then shoulders, middlings. Pour over the brine; leave the meat in brine from four to seven weeks.—Mrs. Dr. J.

For Curing Hams.

For five hundred pounds hams.

Mix these ingredients well together in a large tub, rub it into each ham with a brick, or something rough to get it in well. Pack in a tight, clean tub and weigh down. Let the hams remain six weeks; then take them out and rub each one on the fleshy side with one tablespoonful black pepper to avoid skippers. Hang in the meat house, and smoke with green hickory for from ten to twelve hours a day for six weeks, not suffering the wood to blaze. On the 1st of April, take them down and pack in any coal ashes or pine ashes well slaked. Strong ashes will rot into the meat.—Mrs. R. M.

An Improvement to Hams.

Sometimes very good bacon is found to be of a bad color when cooked. This may be remedied by keeping it in ashes (hickory is best) for a few weeks before using. Must then be hung up, with ashes adhering, until needed. This also prevents skippers.—Mrs. S. T.

To Boil a Ham Weighing Ten Pounds.

Let it soak for twenty-four hours, changing the water two or three times. Boil it slowly eight or ten hours: when done, put it into a dish, as nearly as possible the shape of a ham, taking care first to take out the bone—turn the rind down. When cold, turn it out into a large dish, garnish with jelly and ornamental paper. Serve with the rind on. To be eaten cold.—Mrs. W. C. R.

To Boil Ham.

Put in the water one pint vinegar, a bay leaf, a little thyme, and parsley.

Boil slowly for two hours, if it weighs ten pounds; then bake. Soak all hams twenty-four hours before cooking.—Mrs. M. 127

To Boil Ham.

The day before you wish to boil a ham, scrape, wash and wipe it dry, and put it in the sun. At night put it into water and soak till next morning. Then lay it with the skin down in a boiler of cold water, and boil slowly for five hours. If the ham is large, boil six hours. When perfectly done and tender, set the boiler aside, with the ham and liquor undisturbed, until cold. Then take off the skin, sprinkle black pepper over thickly, and sift over crackers first browned and pounded; for special occasions, place at equal distances over the ham, scraped horseradish in lozenge shape, and edged with curled parsley. This mode keeps the ham juicy.—Mrs. S. T.

Baked Ham.

First of all, soak an old ham overnight, having first washed and scraped it. Next morning put in a boiler of milk-warm water with the skin side down. Boil slowly for four or five hours, according to size, and if a very large ham, six hours. When done, set aside the boiler with the ham and liquor in it, to remain until cold, when the skin must be taken off, and it must be trimmed of a nice shape. Sprinkle over two tablespoonfuls black pepper. Lay the ham on a grating or twist in the baking-pan, in which pour a pint of water, and set it in a hot oven. This mode prevents the frying so disagreeable to the taste. After the ham is heated through, and the pepper strikes in, sift over cracker; return to the oven and brown, then decorate with scraped horseradish and parsley, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Baked Ham or Tongues.

Boil the ham and grate some powdered cracker thickly over it; first rubbing it with beaten yolk of egg. Bake with butter. Lay slices of currant jelly around the tongue, and garnish the ham with parsley.—Mrs. R. 128

Baked Ham.

Most persons boil ham, but it is much better if baked properly. Soak it for an hour in clean water and wipe dry; next spread it all over with a thin batter, put it into a deep dish with sticks under it to keep it out of the gravy. When it is fully done, take off the skin and batter crusted upon the flesh side and set it away to cool.—Mrs. B. J. B.

Stuffed and Baked Ham.

After your ham is boiled, take the skin off. Take pepper, allspice, cloves and mace, well pounded; add a little bread crumbs, and a little brown sugar; mix with a little butter and water.

Gash your ham and take out plugs; fill in with the mixture. Rub the ham with an egg beaten, and grate on bread crumbs and white sugar.

Put in the oven and brown.—Mrs. D. R.

To Stuff Fresh Cured Ham.

Mix all well together and moisten with cream, if too stiff. Whilst the ham is hot, make holes to the bone and fill with this mixture. Put in the stove to brown. 129

Spiced Ham.

Salt the hams for two days; put them in a keg and for each ham add:

Let them stand four days, turning each day, then hang them up.—Mrs. D. R.

Broiled Ham.

To have this dish in a perfection, ham must first be soaked, then boiled nearly done, and set aside to take slices from, as wanted. Cut rather thin, lay on a gridiron over hot coals; when hot through, lay on a dish, and pepper well. Pour over fresh butter melted, and serve. If a raw ham is used, the slices must be cut thicker, dropped in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes, then broiled as above.—Mrs. S. T.

Fried Ham.

The slices are always taken from a raw ham, but are most delicate when first simmered a short time: five minutes in a stewpan, dried with a clean cloth and put in a hot frying-pan, first removing the skin. The pan must be hot enough to scorch and brown both ham and gravy quickly. Lay the slices on a hot dish, pour into the gravy half a teacup new milk, pepper, and minced parsley; boil up and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Shoulder of Bacon.

This piece is not used until cured or smoked, it is then boiled with cabbage or salad, as you would the middling. It is inferior to the ham or middling.—Mrs. P. W.

Bacon and Greens.

The middling is generally used for this purpose: cut a piece about a foot square, boil three hours. 130

Take a good head of cabbage, cut, quarter, and wash clean; press the water out as dry as you can. Boil them one or two hours with half a pod of red pepper; put them on a dish and the middling on top. You can fry the cabbage next day, and make a savory dish, but it does not suit dyspeptics. The thin part of the middling is used for frying, and is called "breakfast bacon."—Mrs. P. W.

Fried Bacon.

Dip the ham or slices of middling in bread crumbs. Put in a frying-pan with chopped parsley and pepper. Just before taking off the fire, pour to the gravy a cup of cream.—Mrs. W.

Jowl and Turnip Salad.

This is an old Virginia dish, and much used in the spring of the year.

The jowl, which must have been well smoked, must be washed clean, and boiled for three hours. Put in the salad, and boil half an hour; if you boil too long, it will turn yellow. It is also good broiled for breakfast with pepper and butter over it.

The jaw-bone should be removed before sending to the table; this is easily done by running a knife around the lip and under the tongue. The jowl and salad should always be served with fresh poached eggs.—Mrs. P. W.

Pickled Pork Equal to Fresh.

Let the meat cool thoroughly; cut into pieces four to six inches wide, weigh them and pack them as tight as possible in a barrel, salting very slightly. Cover the meat with brine made as strong as possible. Pour off a gallon of brine and mix with it one tablespoonful saltpetre for every 100 pounds meat and return it to the barrel. Let it stand one month, then take out the meat, let it drain twelve hours. Put the brine in an iron kettle, and one quart treacle or two pounds sugar, and boil 131 until perfectly clear. When it is cold, return the meat to the barrel and pour on the brine. Weight it down and keep it covered close, and you will have the sweetest meat you ever tasted.

How to Cook Salt Pork.

Many people do not relish salt pork fried, but it is quite good to soak it in milk two or three hours, then roll in Indian meal and fry to a light brown. This makes a good dish with mashed turnips, or raw onions cut in vinegar; another way is to soak it over night in skimmed milk and bake like fresh pork; it is almost as good as fresh roast pork.

Ham Toast.

Mince about one pint boiled lean ham.

Add the yolks of three eggs well beaten, two tablespoonfuls cream, and a little cayenne pepper.

Stir all on the fire until it thickens, and spread on hot toast with the crust cut off.—Mrs. J. T. B.

Ham Toast.

Chop very fine two spoonfuls of lean ham that has been cooked; take two spoonfuls veal gravy; a few bread crumbs.

Put all together in a stewpan and heat it. Have ready a toast buttered, spread the above upon it, strew a few bread crumbs over it and brown it before the fire.—Mrs. S.

Ham Relish.

Cut a slice of dressed ham, season it highly with cayenne pepper and broil it brown; then spread mustard over it, squeeze on it a little lemon juice, and serve quickly.

Potted Tongue or Ham.

Remove all skin, gristle, and outside parts from one pound of the lean of cold boiled tongue or ham.

Pound it in a mortar to a smooth paste with either one-quarter 132 pound of the fat, or with two ounces fresh butter. Season with cayenne, pounded mace and allspice.

Press it well into pots and cover with clarified butter or fat.

To Roast Shoat.

The hind-quarter is considered best. Cut off the foot, leaving the hock quite short. Wash well and put into boiling water; simmer until done, adding salt and pepper just before lifting from the kettle; salt put in sooner hardens and toughens. Place the meat in a baking-pan and score across, in the direction in which it is to be carved. Skim several ladlefuls from the top of the kettle and pour over; after this has dried off, sprinkle over a little salt and pepper, cover with an egg beaten stiff, sift over powdered cracker, and set to brown. Lay around sweet potatoes first parboiled, then cut in thick slices. Serve with minced parsley and thyme, both on the meat and in the gravy.—Mrs. S. T.

To Roast a Fore Quarter of Shoat.

Put it on in hot water, boil for half an hour; take it out, put in a pan, gash it across with a sharp knife, in diamond shapes, grease it with lard and dredge with flour, pepper and a little salt. Peel some good Irish potatoes, lay them around the pan and set in the stove to brown, basting frequently. This meat should be cooked done, as it is not good the least rare. Grate some bread crumbs over it and serve.—Mrs. P. W.

To Barbecue Shoat.

Lay the shoat in water till ready for use; if small, it will cook in an hour. Put in the oven with two spoonfuls of water, a piece of lard, and dredge with flour. When ready for use, pour in half a teacup of walnut catsup, and, if not fat, a piece of butter. 133

Shoat Jowl.

The upper half of the head is what is generally used for what is called "The Pig's-head Stew." Another nice dish may be made of the under jaw or jowl by parboiling until the jaw-bone can be taken out; always adding pepper and salt just before it is done. When perfectly tender, score across; pepper and salt again, cover with beaten egg, then with cracker. Set in a pan with some of the water in which it was boiled. Put in a hot oven and brown.—Mrs. S. T.

Roast Pig.

When roasted whole, a pig should not be under four nor over six weeks old. In town, the butcher prepares for roasting, but it is well to know, in the country, how this may be done. As soon as the pig is killed, throw it into a tub of cold water, to make it tender; as soon as cold, take it by the hind leg, and plunge into scalding, not boiling water (as the last cooks the skin so that the hair can with difficulty be removed), shake it about until the hair can be removed by the handful. When all that is possible has been taken off in this way, rub from the tail up to the end of the nose with a coarse cloth. Take off the hoofs, scrape and wash the ears and nose until perfectly clean. The nicest way to dress it is to hang it by the hind legs, open and take out the entrails; wash well with water, with a little soda dissolved in it; rinse again and again, and leave hanging an hour. Wrap in a coarse cloth wrung out of cold water and lay on ice or in a cool cellar until next morning, when, if the weather is warm, it must be cooked. It should never be used the same day that it is killed.

First prepare the stuffing of the liver, heart and haslets of the pig, stewed, seasoned, and chopped. Mix with these an equal quantity of boiled potatoes mashed; add a large spoonful of butter, with some hard-boiled eggs, parsley and thyme, chopped fine, pepper and salt.

Scald the pig on the inside, dry it and rub with pepper and 134 salt, fill and sew up. Bend the fore legs under the body, the hind legs forward, under the pig, and skewer to keep in position. Place in a large baking-pan, pour over one quart of boiling water. Have a lump of fresh butter tied up in a clean rag; rub it all over the pig, then sprinkle over pepper and salt, putting some in the pan with a bunch of herbs; invert over it a baking-pan while it simmers, and steam until entirely done. Underdone pork, shoat, or pig, is both unpalatable and unwholesome. Remove the pan, rub over with the butter and baste often. When of a fine brown, cover the edges of a large dish with a deep fringe of curled parsley; first sift over the pig powdered cracker, then place it, kneeling, in the green bed. Place in its mouth an orange or a red apple; and, if eaten hot, serve with the gravy in a tureen or sauce-boat. It is much nicer cold; served with little mounds of grated horseradish amongst the parsley.—Mrs. S. T.

To Stew Pig's Head and Jowl.

Clean the head and feet; take out the bone above the nose; cut off the ears, clean them nicely. Separate the jowl from the head; take care of the brains to add to the stew. Put the head, jowl, feet and part of the liver in water sufficient to keep well covered; boil until quite done. Split the feet to put on the dish; hash the head and liver; but do not spoil the jowl, which must be put in the middle of the dish and surrounded with the feet and hash. Put all of the hash, jowl and feet in the pot and season with a cup of cream, a lump of butter, pepper and salt, a tablespoonful walnut catsup, an onion chopped fine, a stalk of celery.

A teaspoonful mustard improves it.

Stew half an hour; thicken the gravy with grated bread.—Mrs. P. W.

Shoat's Head.

Get a shoat's head and clean it nicely. Boil and chop in pieces. Season with: 135

Have two or three hard-boiled eggs, cut them in half and lay on the top of the head; set it in the oven to bake.

Veal or mutton head, can be cooked in the same way, but are not so nice.—Mrs. R.

Shoat's Head, to Stew.

Clean the head and feet; and put them on to parboil with the liver. Then split up the head, through the nose, taking out the bones. Cut the meat from the feet and chop up with the liver, season this with pepper and salt.

Lay the head open and fill it with this mince and the yolks of some hard-boiled eggs: if this does not fill the head, add some grated bread crumbs or crackers and butter.

Sew up the head and bind it with thread; put it in the pot with the water it has been parboiled in and let it stew slowly. Take up the head, and add to the gravy a lump of butter, rolled in flour, some browning and some walnut catsup. Pour this over the head, which should be brown. If the shoat is not very small, use bread and butter instead of the liver.—Mrs. R.

To Hash Pig's Head.

Take head, feet, and haslet of pig; boil them until done, then cut them up fine, taking out the bones.

Put it back in the same vessel with liquor and cook till 136 done, then thicken with a little flour. Add two hard-boiled eggs and one cup walnut catsup.—Mrs. Dr. J.

BEEF AND VEAL.

In selecting beef, see that the flesh is firm and of a clear red, and the fat of a yellowish white. In buying a quarter of beef, it is better to have it cut up by the butcher, if you are living in town. The hind quarter is considered better, and sells higher than the fore quarter. If a roasting piece is desired, the sirloin from the hind quarter is usually preferred. It is not generally known, however, that the second cut of the rib-roast from the fore quarter is the finest roast from the beef.

When the bone has been removed, and the meat skewered in the shape of a round, by the butcher, it is well to roast it on a spit before an open fire. If the latter cannot be obtained, however, plunge the beef for a moment in boiling water, then rub well with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and place on a little grate or trivet which will readily go in a baking-pan. In this pour about a pint of the water in which the beef was scalded. Place it in a very hot oven, with an inverted tin plate on top of the roast. Remove this plate often to baste the meat. When nearly done, which will be in about two hours for a roast of six pounds, baste several times and bake a nice brown. Season the gravy with minced onion, parsley and thyme, add a little salt and pepper and a tablespoonful of the meat flavoring of which a receipt was given in the general directions about meat. Serve the gravy in a sauce-tureen, so that each person may choose whether to eat the beef with gravy or with the juice that escapes from the meat while it is being carved. The latter mixed with grated horseradish is preferred to gravy by some persons. 137

Every portion of the beef, from head to feet, is useful and delicious when properly prepared.

The rounds and rump pieces are generally used for beef à la mode.

Fresh beef from the ribs, boiled with turnips, is considered a nice dish by some persons.

For steak, nothing is so nice as tenderloin or porter-house steak. I take this occasion to protest against the unwholesome custom of frying steak in lard. When inconvenient to broil, it may be deliciously cooked by being first beaten till tender, then laid in a hot frying-pan, closely covered, and cooked without lard or butter, in its own juices. When scorched brown on both sides, but not hard, remove the pan from the fire, pepper and salt the steak, and put a large tablespoonful of fresh butter on it. Press this in with a knife and fork, turning the steak, so that each side may absorb the butter. Serve on a hot dish. The whole process will not consume five minutes. Some persons think it best to add the salt after the steak is done, though many good housekeepers salt and pepper the steak before broiling it. Beefsteak should be cooked rare; it is a great mistake to cook it till hard and indigestible.

The parts most suitable for soup are the head, neck, shank, and all the unsightly parts. After the bones are broken and the meat boiled from them, the liquor is used for soup, while the meat, picked or cut to pieces, will make an excellent stew seasoned with potatoes, turnips, sweet herbs, one tablespoonful of butter and the same of meat flavoring.

It is well always to keep brine on hand for corning beef. All the parts not desirable for roast or steak had better be corned.

The beef, after being dressed, should be hung up by the hind legs, with a smooth, round piece of timber sufficiently strong to hold the weight, passed through the legs at the hock, or run between the tendon and bone, with short pegs to keep the legs stretched apart. Then with a sharp axe, standing behind the 138 suspended beef, split it down the backbone, severing it in half. Then pass a knife through the ribs, leaving two or three short ribs on the hind-quarter. Sever the backbone with an axe. Then cut with a sharp knife straight across the parallel line with the spinal bone, which piece must be divided into two pieces, the sirloin and steak. Then take off two rounds, or three, according to the size of the animal, cutting with a sharp knife, and cutting the bone with a meat saw or axe, as near the joints as possible, which leaves the shin-bone.

The fore quarter then is divided into four pieces, after taking off the shoulder, which may be divided into three or more pieces.

The loin of veal is the nicest part, and is always roasted.

The fillets and knuckles may be stewed and roasted.

The latter is nicest for soup.

The breast may be stewed or roasted.

The cutlets are nicest from the legs or fillet.

The head is a dish for soup, stew or pie.

Sweetbreads from the throat make a delicious dish, much prized by epicureans.

The feet, boiled till the bones drop out, make a delightful dish, fried in batter, while the water in which they are boiled makes excellent jelly.

Veal, to be eaten in its perfection, should be killed when from four to six weeks old.

Beef.

The sirloin, or fore and middle ribs, are best for roasting.

The steaks are best cut from the ribs, or the inner part of the sirloin; shank, tail and head make nice soup.—Mrs. W.

To Roast Beef.

Lay the meat on some sticks in a dripping-pan or other vessel, so that it will not touch the water which it is necessary to have in the bottom. Season with salt and pepper, and put in 139 the oven three or four hours before it is wanted for the table. Baste it often with the water in the bottom of the pan, renewing it as often as it gets low. This makes sweet, juicy roast beef. The great secret of it is, not to have the meat touch the water in the bottom of the pan, and to baste it often. Tough, unpromising pieces of beef are best cooked by steaming them an hour and a half or so and then putting them in the oven and roasting as much longer.

Crackers, first browned and then pounded, should always be kept to sift over roast meats: and curled parsley to garnish with. Grated horseradish is also excellent with the roast.—Mrs. S. T.

Rib Roast of Beef.

Get, from the butcher, a rib-roast—the second cut is best—and get him to take out the bones, and roll and skewer it: if this is not convenient, it can be done at home with a sharp knife. Before roasting, take out the wooden skewers put in at market, unroll, season well with salt and pepper and anything else liked, and roll again tightly, fastening securely with the iron skewer pins. Put it in a pan on a little iron griddle or trivet, made for the purpose to keep it just over the pint of water in the pan. Pepper and salt freely, dredge with flour and baste. Some persons like half a teacup of pepper vinegar, poured over just before it is done; and minced onion, thyme and parsley added to the gravy, which should be brown.—Mrs. B.

To Roast Beef.

The sirloin is the nicest for the purpose.

Plunge the beef in boiling water and boil for thirty minutes: then put it in the stove-pan; skim the top of the water in which it has been boiled, and baste the roast, after dredging it with flour; pepper and salt to taste. Baste frequently, and roast till done.—Mrs. P. W. 140

Beef à la Mode.

Take, from a round of fresh beef, the bone; beat the meat all over slightly to make tender. Grate a loaf of bread, mix with it equal quantities of—

Mix these ingredients with three eggs well beaten: fill the place from whence came the bone, and what is left rub all over the round: fasten well with a tape, tied round to keep in shape. Cover the pan with slices of bacon, lay the beef upon them, baste with butter: pour in the pan a pint of water. Cover closely and stew gently for six hours; when thoroughly done, take out the beef, skim the fat from the gravy, strain into a saucepan, set it on the stove and stir into it one teacup Port wine. Let it come to a boil and send to the table in a sauce tureen. You may, for supper, dish cold: dress with vegetable flowers, whites of eggs boiled hard and chopped fine.—Mrs. J. W. S.

Beef à la Mode.

Take a round or a rump piece of beef, take out the bone, the gristle and all the tough pieces about the edges. Fill the cavities from which the bone was taken, with suet, and fat salt pork.

Press this so as to make it perfectly round, pass around a coarse, strong piece of cloth, so as to hold it firmly in shape. If the round is six inches thick, the cloth must be six inches wide, leaving the top and bottom open. With a larding needle, fill this thickly with strips of fat pork, running through from top to bottom and about one inch apart each way. Set this in a baking-pan, pour over:

141

Add to this one heaping tablespoonful brown sugar and a bunch of herbs.

Sprinkle over the beef liberally with salt and black pepper; chop one small onion fine, and lay over top of the beef. Simmer this for two or three hours, basting frequently and keeping an inverted tin plate over the beef except when basting. If the gravy stews down too much, add stock or broth of any kind. Turn it over, and let the top be at the bottom. When it is done and tender, skim the fat from the gravy. Pour over:

Simmer and bake for two hours longer, frequently basting, that it may be soft and seasoned through and through. Take the beef from the pan and remove the cloth; place in a large flat dish, pour over the gravy, and over this one teacup of mushroom sauce. Sift finely powdered cracker over the top and garnish with grated or scraped horseradish and parsley.—Mrs. S. T.

Beef à la Mode.

Rub the beef in the mixture for three or four days, then cook, with all these ingredients. The H piece is generally the part taken for this purpose.—Mrs. M. B.

Boiled Beef and Turnips.

The brisket or breast of beef is nicest for boiling. Keep sufficiently covered in water, boiling three hours, or until tender.

Peel and slice half a dozen turnips and put with beef, boiling until soft enough to mash with a spoon, which will require 142 about thirty minutes. Dress with one teacup of milk, pepper and salt to the taste.

Stew together a short time and put in bottom of dish with beef on the top.—Mrs. P. W.

To Collar Beef.

Take a flank of fresh beef, stew it with pepper, salt, allspice, saltpetre, thyme, and sage.

Then roll as hard as you can, and wind a string around it; then boil till done. It must be served up cold, cut in slices.—Mrs. M. P.

Rolled Beefsteak.

Beat a large tender steak thoroughly and carefully.

Sprinkle over salt, pepper, sage, minced onion, minced parsley, and bits of butter.

Have ready some mealy Irish potatoes mashed fine, and seasoned with a little butter and salt. Spread over all, and roll up tightly: fasten the ends and sides securely with skewer pins. Place in a pan with such broth or gravy as may be on hand; if none, two teacups of boiling water, and one small minced onion, pepper, salt, and one slice of pork.

Simmer and baste as you would a roast duck. Sift over it browned cracker, pounded fine. Very nice.—Mrs. S. T.

Beefsteak Broiled.

Cut the steak one-half inch thick; it should then be beaten with a steak beater or pestle. The griddle should be hot and on the coals: place the steak on the griddle, and as soon as seared, turn it; when both sides are seared, place it in a pan, season it with pepper, salt, and butter: repeat this for every piece of steak, and place in the pan, which should be kept closely covered without being on the fire. If your heat is sufficient, from three to five minutes is sufficient to cook.—Mrs. P. W. 143

Broiled Steak.

A porter-house steak is considered, by some persons, best, others prefer the tenderloin. Beat either tender, and place on a gridiron over coals, frequently turning. Have ready a hot dish, place the steak on it, pepper and salt well, then with a knife and fork profusely butter, with one large tablespoonful fresh butter, turning and pressing it so as to absorb the butter; pepper again and set the dish over boiling water until wanted, when it will be found tender and juicy, if not cooked too long on a gridiron. One tablespoonful pepper vinegar gives this the taste of venison, and to this may be added one tablespoonful made mustard, for those who like highly seasoned food.—Mrs. S. T.

How to Cook Beefsteak.

Take a thin, long-handled frying-pan, put it on the stove and heat it quite hot. In this put the pieces of steak previously pounded, but do not put a particle of butter in the frying-pan and do not salt the steak. Allow the steak to merely glaze over and then turn it quickly to the other side, turning it several times in this manner, until it is done. Four minutes is sufficient for cooking. When done, lay it on the platter, previously warmed; butter and salt, and set a moment in the hot oven. Allow the steak to heat but a moment on each side; this helps it to retain all its sweet juices, and putting on the salt at the last moment, after it is on the platter, draws out its juices.—Mrs. S. T.

Beefsteak Fried with Onions.

Prepare the steak as for broiling, pepper and roll in flour and fry in lard; remove the steak from the pan when done; add to the gravy one chopped onion, pepper, salt, one-half teacup water, and a little mustard.

Cook a few minutes, put the steak in the gravy—let it remain a short time; send to the table hot.—Mrs. P. W. 144

To Fry Steak.

Hunt up all the pickle and take from each one teacup vinegar, lay the steak in a deep dish, pour over the vinegar and let it stand one hour. Take a clean frying-pan, throw in one ounce butter, and some of the vinegar from the dish, sufficient to stew the steak. If managed properly, when done it will be imbedded in a thick gravy. Put the steak in a hot dish, before the fire; into the pan, put one spoonful black pepper, one or two of catsup, and one of raw mustard.—Mrs. S.

Fried Steak.

Get from the butcher a tenderloin or porter-house steak. Do not wash it, but be careful to lay it on a clean block and beat it well, but not into holes, nor so as to look ragged. Sprinkle over pepper and salt, then dredge with flour on both sides.

Have ready a hot frying-pan, lay in the steak and cover closely. The juice of the meat will be sufficient to cook it. Turn often, as the pan must be hot enough to scorch and make the steak and gravy brown.

Before it gets hard or overdone, butter liberally; place in a hot dish. Pepper again, and, if preferred, pour over first one tablespoonful pepper vinegar, then one tablespoonful made mustard, and turn in over all the hot gravy. Sift powered cracker over and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Frizzled Beef.

Shred some dried beef, parboil it until it is sufficiently freshened, drain off the water and add enough boiling water to cover it. Rub equal quantities of butter and flour together until smooth, then add to the beef. Beat up three eggs, yolks and whites together, stir these in with a little pepper, a couple of minutes before taking from the fire. This is to be served hot on toast.—Mrs. F. 145

Fricasséed Beef.

Take any piece of beef from the fore quarter, such as is generally used for corning, and cook it tender in just water enough to have it all evaporate in cooking. When about half done, put in salt enough to season well, and half teaspoonful pepper. If the water should not boil away soon enough, turn it off, and let the beef fry fifteen minutes—it is better than the best roast beef. Take two tablespoonfuls flour, adding the fat—when mixed, pour on the hot juice of the meat. Serve with apple sauce.—Mrs. D.

Beef Stew.

This is best when made of slices cut from an underdone roast, and simmered in any liquor in which meat has been boiled, but if none is at hand, use water instead—just covering the beef.

To a half dozen slices of the usual size, add:

Cold beefsteak or mutton chops, which are always unfit to appear upon the table a second time, are delicious cut up in small pieces and mixed or stewed separately in this way.—Mrs. S. T.

To Stew a Rump of Beef.

Stuff the beef with shallots, thyme, parsley, chopped fine, slips of bacon, pepper, salt and allspice. Then lay it in a pot with water sufficient to keep it from burning before it is done. 146 Thicken the gravy with burnt flour and butter, and when it is served up, pour a little wine over it and strew the top with allspice.—Mrs. M. P.

Lebanon Stew.

Take scraps of raw beef, such as are not fit for boiling, cut very fine, picking out all the strings, and put into a kettle, and more than cover with cold water. Let it boil several hours, or until the water is nearly all gone. Season with butter, pepper and salt. It is rich and needs but little seasoning. Serve hot, as you would hash.—Mrs. S. T.

Beef Collaps.

After being well cooked, thicken gravy, and season with vinegar and pepper.—Mrs. H. D.

To Stew Beef Tongue.

Put a fresh tongue in water sufficient to cover it, and let it simmer six or seven hours. Skim the gravy well. Half an hour before dishing it, add one-half wineglassful wine, one-half wineglassful walnut catsup, a little mace, and a few cloves to the gravy, and stew awhile together.—Mrs. S. T.

Tongue à la Terrapin.

Take a freshly salted tongue and boil tender; take out, and split it, stick a few cloves in, cut up a small onion, put in some sticks of mace, and a little brown flour.

Have water enough in a stewpan to cover the tongue; mix in the ingredients, before putting in the tongue. Three hard-boiled eggs chopped up fine and put in the stew. Add a glass 147 of wine just before taking up. Send to the table hot, garnished with hard boiled eggs cut in rings.—Mrs. L. C.

Tongue Toast.

Take cold tongue that has been well boiled, mince fine, mix it well with cream or a little milk, if there is no cream. Add the beaten yolk of one egg and give it a simmer over the fire. Toast nicely some thin slices of stale bread and, having buttered, lay them in a flat dish, that has been heated, then cover the toast with the tongue and serve up directly.—Mrs. S.

To Roast an Ox Heart.

Wash it well and clean all the blood carefully from the pipes; parboil it ten or fifteen minutes in boiling water; drain and put in a stuffing which has been made of bread crumbs, minced suet or butter, thyme or parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Put it down to roast while hot, baste it well with butter, and just before serving, stir one tablespoonful currant jelly into the gravy. To roast, allow twenty minutes to every pound.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Beef Heart.

Parboil the heart until nearly tender, then gash and stuff with rich stuffing of loaf bread, seasoned with onion, salt, pepper, and sage. Then put in a pan and bake, turning it several times. Baste with gravy whilst baking.—Mrs. J. H.

Stewed Kidneys.

Soak the kidneys for several hours, put them on to boil until tender. Roll them in flour, add a lump of butter the size of an egg, two spoonfuls catsup—any kind will answer, though walnut is the best; pepper and salt to the taste. Stew them until well seasoned.—Mrs. P. W.

To Stew Beef Kidneys.

Cut into pieces and stew in water, with a nice addition of 148 savory herbs, pepper and salt, and a handful flour to thicken the gravy; flavor and color the latter with burnt sugar.—Mrs. H.

Kidneys Fried.

After plunging in boiling water, cut them in thin slices and fry in hot butter; add pepper, salt, and toss them for a few minutes in rich brown gravy.—Mrs. M.

Beef Kidney, to Fry.

Trim and cut the kidney in slices; season them with salt and pepper, and dredge well with flour; fry on both sides, and when done, lift them out, empty the pan and make a gravy for them with a small piece of butter, one dessertspoonful flour, pepper, salt, and a cup of boiling water. Shake these around and give them a minute's simmering; add a little tomato or mushroom catsup, lemon juice, vinegar, or any good sauce to give it a flavor. Minced herbs are to many tastes an improvement to this dish, to which a small quantity of onion may be added when it is liked.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Kidneys Grilled.

Prepare them as for stewing, cut each kidney in half and dip them in egg beaten up with salt and pepper; bread-crumb them, dip them in melted butter, bread-crumb them again, then grill before a slow fire; serve with Worcestershire or some other sauce.—Mrs. K.

Broiled Kidneys.

Plunge some kidneys in boiling water; open them down the centre, but do not separate them; peel and pass a skewer across them to keep them open; pepper, salt, and dip them in melted butter.

Broil them over a clear fire on both sides, doing the cut side first; remove the skewer, have ready some maître d'hote sauce, viz.: butter beaten up with chopped parsley, salt and pepper, 149 and a little lemon juice. Put a small piece in the hollow of each kidney and serve hot.—Mrs. P.

Beef's Liver.

Skin the liver, cut in slices and lay in salt water, as soon as it comes from market. Fry in lard with pepper, very brown. Season to taste.—Mrs. C.

To Fry Liver.

The slices must be cut thin, as they require some time to fry; brown both sides; when taken up, add butter and salt to taste. Fry in hot lard.—Mrs. P. W.

Beef Liver with Onions.

Slice the liver rather thin, and throw into salt and water. Meantime slice the onions and put into a deep frying-pan, just covered with water, and boil until done, keeping it closely covered. When the water has all boiled away, put in a heaping spoonful of sweet lard, and fry until the onions are a light brown. Take them up in a deep plate; set them on the back of the stove or range to keep hot, and fry the liver in the same pan, adding more lard if there is not enough. Season all with salt and pepper, cutting the liver in slices suitable to help one person. Make a little mound of fried onions on each piece, grate pounded cracker on the top, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Dried Liver for Relish.

Salt the liver well for four days; hang to smoke and dry. Cut in very thin slices, and broil in pepper and butter.—Mrs. W.

Fried Liver.

Cut the slices thin, scald them for some minutes, put them in a pan with hot lard, and fry slowly till browned on both sides; add a little salt and pepper. Take up the liver, and pour into the pan half a teacup of water; let it boil a few minutes; put 150 the liver back, stir it up, and cover it up for a short time to keep it from being hard.

Kidneys can be cooked the same way, excepting you must add some butter, as they are very dry.—Mrs. P. W.

To Stew Brains.

Have them thoroughly soaked in salt water to get the blood out. Put them in a stewpan with water enough to cover them; boil half an hour, pour off the water, and add one teacup of cream or milk, salt, pepper, and butter the size of an egg. Boil well together for ten minutes, when put into the dish. Add one tablespoonful vinegar.—Mrs. P. W.

To Dress Brains.

Lay in salt and water, then either scramble like eggs, or beat the yolks of eggs with a little flour; dip the brains in and fry them.—Mrs. W.

To Fry Beef Brains.

Pour over the brains salt water, let them remain for an hour, changing the water to draw the blood out, then pour over them some boiling water and remove the skin. Beat up two eggs, and make a batter with a little flour, bread crumbs and crackers. Season with pepper and salt. Fry in hot lard.—Mrs. P. W.

To Fry Brains.

Soak the brains for several hours in weak salt water to get out the blood; drain and put them in a saucepan and pour very little boiling water on; simmer a few minutes. Handle them lightly, and arrange so as to form round cakes, without breaking. Pepper them and use very little salt; brains require very little salt. Have ready a beaten egg, and cover the top of the cakes with it, using a spoon to put it on. Sift over grated cracker and fry in hot lard; serve the other side the same way. Keep closely covered while frying.—Mrs. S. T. 151

Brain Croquettes.

Wash the brains of three heads very thoroughly, until they are free from membraneous matter and perfectly white. Then scramble with three eggs. When cold, roll into egg-shaped balls, with floured hands; dip in beaten egg, then in cracker or stale bread crumbs, and fry in lard.—Mrs. R. L.

To Prepare Tripe.

Empty the contents of the stomach of a fat beef; put it in boiling water, one piece at a time, to prevent getting too hot. Scrape with a sharp knife, then put it in a vessel of cold water with salt; wash thoroughly, and change the salt water every day for four or five consecutive days; when perfectly white, boil in a very clean vessel of salt water. Then put it in vinegar until you wish to use it. Cut it in pieces of three or four inches square, and fry in egg batter.—Mrs. J. H.

Tripe.

The moment the tripe is taken out, wash it thoroughly in many cold waters. (If you have quick-lime, sift it over the dark inner coat, and instantly scrape off the coat.) Cut it in four parts. Have ready boiling water, dip and scrape until it becomes quite white. Prepare weak brine with a considerable mixture of meal; let it soak a day. Continue to shift it every day, and every other day scrape it; this must be done for a week, and then make nice gruel, in which it must be well boiled, first tying it up in a cloth. When boiled, take it out of the cloth, and lay it in a weak brine for a night, after which it may be put with the feet.—Mrs. R.

Beef Tripe.

Clean the tripe carefully. Soak several days in salt water, then in clear water, changing several times. Cut in slices, boil perfectly done, dip in a batter of egg (beaten light), milk and 152 flour, or sift meal over it. Fry or broil. Season with pepper and salt.

To Fry Tripe.

Cut the tripe after it has been boiled, into strips about four inches wide and six long. Make a batter with two eggs, one teacup of flour and a little milk. Pepper the tripe and roll it in the batter. Fry in a pan of hot lard; as soon as one side is done, turn it over on the other side.—Mrs. P. W.

Gravy for Roast Beef.

When the joint is done to a turn, dish it and place before the fire; then carefully remove the fat from the dripping-pan, and pour the gravy into the dish, not over the meat, as is the custom of inexperienced cooks, who, moreover, ruthlessly drown it with a cupful of boiling water or highly flavored made-gravy. This is an error, for there is always a sufficient quantity of natural gravy in good meat to render the use of foreign sauces superfluous.—Mrs. P.

Brown Gravy.

Take the gravy that drips from the meat; add a little water, one spoonful butter, a little flour, a little pepper and a little salt. Stew all together.—Miss E. P.

Bologna Sausage.

Take ten pounds of beef, and four pounds pork, two-thirds lean and one-third fat; chop very fine and mix well together. Season with six ounces fine salt, one ounce black pepper, one-half ounce cayenne pepper, and sage to the taste.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Beef Sausage.

Take tough beef and run it through a sausage machine. Form the pulp into shapes an inch thick, and the size of a common beefsteak. Season to the taste.—Mrs. C. 153

Cow Heel.

As soon as the beef is killed, throw the feet in cold water, and let them remain during the night. In the morning, put them into a pot of cold water and let them boil until you find you can easily take off the hair and the hoof with a knife; take care as the water boils away to replenish with boiling water. Have ready strong brine, not boiled nor strong enough to bear an egg, and the moment the feet are stripped, throw them in. Let them stand one night and in the morning pour the brine from them and put to them a fresh brine, with a small quantity of vinegar. In a day or two, they are fit for use.—Mrs. R.

Cow Heel Fried.

Buy the feet prepared at the butchers; boil well done. Season with salt and pepper.

Have ready an egg batter; fry brown, and serve hot. A nice breakfast dish.—Mrs. R. L. O.

To Fry Beef Heel.

Have a batter made of eggs, flour, etc., as for tripe. Split the feet into convenient shapes and fry in hot lard. Pour some vinegar over them while frying.—Mrs. P. W.

Daube Froide.

Take a beef shin, chop in several places to break the bone, keep it cooking in just water enough to prevent burning, till it falls to pieces.

Then after taking out the bones, season with one heaping teaspoonful flour rubbed into one tablespoonful butter, red and black pepper, salt and celery seed.

Stew it long enough to cook the flour. Pour into a deep dish, cover with a plate, and put weights on it to press it. Eat cold, as souse.—Mrs. C. M. A.

A French Dish.

To two beef feet, put four gallons water; set on the fire at 154 eight o'clock in the morning. When the bones have dropped off add the half of one large onion, two red peppers, and one sprig parsley, all chopped fine.

Take another pot, put in two gallons water, in which cut up one-half gallon nice pieces of beef, half an onion, one red pepper, parsley, all chopped fine, and salt. When all has boiled to pieces, put all together and let it boil half an hour. Press as souse cheese.—Mrs. T.

Brine for Beef.

Boil and skim well. Let the beef get thoroughly cold, and let as much as possible of the blood be drained out before putting it in the brine. It may sometimes be necessary, in the course of a few months, that the brine be boiled and skimmed a second time.

This quantity will suffice for about half of an ordinary sized beef.—Mrs. A. C.

To Corn Beef.

For every hundred pounds of beef, take:

The whole to be dissolved in four gallons of water. The beef must be closely packed in a barrel, and the mixture poured over so as to cover it. Let it stand a week or ten days, or longer if the weather is cold; then pour off the brine, boil it, and skim off the blood. Let it cool, and pour back on the beef. Warranted to keep.—Mrs. Dr. S. 155

To Corn Beef Tongues and Beef.

One tablespoonful saltpetre to each tongue or piece of beef; rub this in first, then a plenty of salt. Pack down in salt; after it has remained ten or twelve days, put this, with a few pods of red pepper cut up fine, in a brine of only salt and water, which has been boiled, strained, and cooled, and strong enough to bear an egg. Wash a rock clean and place on the beef or tongues, to keep them under the brine. This will keep an indefinite length of time. Fit for use in two weeks.—Mrs. S. T.

To Corn Beef or Pork.

Mix well, boil and skim. When milk-warm, pour it over the meat with a ladle. The beef must be soaked in clear water and wiped dry, before putting in the brine. It will be ready for use in a few weeks. Should the brine mould, skim and boil again. Keep the meat under the brine.—Mrs. P. W.

To Pickle Tongue.

Rub it well with salt and leave it alone four or five hours; pour off the foul brine; take two ounces saltpetre beaten fine, and rub it all over the tongue; then mix one-quarter of a pound brown sugar and one ounce sal-prunella (the bay salt and sal prunella beat very fine), and rub it well over the tongue. Let it lie in the pickle three or four days; make a brine of one gallon water with common salt strong enough to bear an egg, a half-pound brown sugar, two ounces saltpetre, and one-quarter of a pound bay salt. Boil one quarter of an hour, skimming well; when cold put in the tongue; let it lie in the pickle fourteen days, turning it every day. When ready to use take it 156 out of the pickle, or hang it in wood smoke to dry.—Mrs. A. M. D.

To Corn Beef.

One tablespoonful saltpetre to each piece of beef, well rubbed in. Then rub in as much salt as it will take. Let it stand ten or twelve days, and then put it in strong brine. Will be ready for use in a week.—Mrs. Col. A. F.

Corned Beef.

Having a quarter of beef cut into proper size and shape for nice roasting pieces, put it in a barrel of weak brine and let it remain four days. Then make a brine that will bear an egg, to which add:

Transfer the beef to this barrel, cover closely, and let it remain a week. Put a weight on the meat to insure its being kept under the brine. Beef thus prepared in January will keep well through the month of March, improving with the lapse of time. It is best served cold. A valuable receipt for country housekeepers.—Mrs. Wm. A. S.

Hunter's Beef, or Spiced Round.

To a round of beef weighing twenty-four pounds, take:

Beat all into the finest powder; allow the beef to hang three or four days; remove the bone, then rub the spices well into it, continuing to do so every two or three days, for two or three weeks.

When to be dressed, dip it in cold water, to take off the 157 loose spices, bind it up tightly and put into a pan with a teacupful water at the bottom. Sprinkle the top of the meat with suet, cover it over with a thick batter, and brown paper over it. Bake five hours.—Mrs. T. C.

Hunter's Round, or Spiced Beef.

To a round of beef that weighs twenty-five pounds, take the following:

Let the round of beef hang in a cool, dry place twenty-four hours. Take out the bone, and fill the space with suet and spices mixed. Rub the above ingredients all over the round; put in a wooden box or tub, turn it over occasionally and rub a small quantity of salt on it. Let it remain three weeks. Then make a stiff paste of flour and water, cover the round with it and set in the oven. Bake three hours slowly. Remove the paste when cold, and trim neatly the rough outside, and slice horizontally. Served only when cold.—Mrs. W. A. S.

To Spice a Round of Beef.

Take three tablespoonfuls saltpetre, four tablespoonfuls brown sugar, with which rub your beef well. Two teacups of salt, one teacup of cloves, one teacup of allspice (the spice must be ground fine). Rub the beef with these ingredients. Put it into a tub as near the size of the beef as possible; turn it every day in the pickle it makes. In about four weeks it will be ready for use. For thirty pounds use two pounds beef suet. When cooked place sticks across the bottom of the pot to prevent its burning.—Mrs. R. L. P.

Spiced Beef.

Take eight or ten pounds of the thin flank, remove any gristle, 158 skin or bones; rub it over with half ounce saltpetre, half ounce bay salt, then rub it well in with a mixture of spices, the the following proportions being used:

Use only as much as will suffice to rub the beef all over; then add three ounces common salt, and quarter of a pound coarse sugar.

Let the beef remain a fortnight in this pickle, turning it and rubbing it every day: then take it out, cover it with the spices and chopped sweet herbs, roll it very tight, tie it with tape, put it into a pan with half-pint water, and half-pound suet.

Bake it after the bread has been drawn, for six hours; put a heavy weight upon it, and when cold take off the tape.

To Cook a Corned Round of Beef.

Wash it clean of the brine, sew it in a coarse towel and boil six to eight hours. Do not remove the towel until next day; it is nicer to put it in a round mould and gives it a good shape. When perfectly cold, trim nicely and cut it across the grain.—Mrs. P. W.

To Cook Corned Beef-Tongue, etc.

If the beef has been in brine long or has been dried, it must be soaked in cold water twelve hours before boiling. If freshly cured it is unnecessary. The beef should be put on in a large pot of water early in the morning and simmer for hours. Set the pot at the back of the range or stove, where it will gently boil during the preparation of dinner. When it first commences to boil, take off the scum. After it is thoroughly done, take off the boiler or pot. Set away with the beef under the liquor to remain until next day, when it will be found juicy and 159 tender. With a sharp knife carefully trim, and garnish with scraped horseradish and curled parsley.—Mrs. S. T.

How to Cook Corned Beef.

The flank is a nice piece to corn; though an ugly piece of meat, it can be made a nice and delicious dish. Wash the flank clean, roll it up as tight as you can, and tie it with strong cord in three places; then sew it up in a coarse towel and put it on and boil from five to six hours, according to size; take it out of the pot, but do not undo it, put it on a dish or pan and put a weight on it; let it stand until next day, then remove the cloth and strings; trim it, and you have a nice dish.—Mrs. P. W.

Smoked Beef.

To a piece of beef weighing about twelve or fourteen pounds, you rub in the following:

Rub this well on the beef and turn it several times. At the end of ten days drain it, rub bran on it, hang it up and smoke for several days.—Mrs. H. T.

To Cure Beef for Drying.

This recipe keeps the meat moist, so that it has none of that toughness dried beef mostly has when a little old. To every twenty-eight or thirty pounds, allow one tablespoonful saltpetre, one quart fine salt, mixed with molasses until the color is about that of light brown sugar; rub the pieces of meat with the mixture, and when done, let all stick to it that will. Pack in a keg or half-barrel, that the pickle may cover the meat, and let it remain forty-eight hours; at the end of that time, enough pickle will be formed to cover it. Take it out and hang in a suitable 160 place for drying. Allow all the mixture to adhere to the meat that will.—Mrs. A. M. D.

To Cure Beef Ham.

Divide the ham into three parts; rub on half-pint molasses; let it remain in this molasses a day and two nights, turning it over occasionally during the time. Rub on then one handful salt and put it back in the vessel with the molasses; turn it over, morning and night for ten days. Hang it up to dry for one week, then smoke a little. It is an excellent plan, after sufficiently smoked, to put each piece of beef in a bag, to protect from insects, and keep hanging till used.—Miss K. W.

To Dry Beef and Tongue.

The best pieces are the brisket, the round and rib pieces that are used for roasting. Put about the middle of February in brine. Rub first with salt, and let them lie for a fortnight, then throw them in brine and let them lay there three weeks, take them out and wipe dry: rub them over with bran and hang in a cool place and dark, not letting them touch anything. Should there come a wet season, put them in the sun to dry a little.—Mrs. R.

Stewed Loin of Veal.

Take part of a loin of veal, the chump end will do. Put it into a large, thick, well-tinned iron saucepan, or into a stew-pan, add about two ounces of butter, and shake it over a moderate fire until it begins to brown; flour the veal well over, lay it in a saucepan, and when it is of a fine, equal light brown, pour gradually in veal broth, gravy or boiling water, to nearly half its depth; add a little salt, one or two sliced carrots, a small onion, or more when the flavor is liked, and one bunch parsley.

Stew the veal very softly for an hour or rather more, then turn it and let it stew for nearly or quite another hour or longer, should it not appear perfectly done. A longer time 161 must be allowed when the meat is more than middling size. Dish the joint; skim all the fat from the gravy and strain it over the meat, or keep the joint hot while it is rapidly reduced to a richer consistency.—Mrs. J.

Veal Chops.

First beat until tender, then lay the chops in a pan, pour in just enough boiling water to barely cover them. Cover closely and simmer till tender, sprinkling over after they are nearly done, with a little pepper and salt. Lift from the pan, dry with a clean towel, butter them, then cover with beaten egg, and sift on cracker crumbs. Lay on a baking dish or pan and set in the stove to brown. Garnish and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Roast Veal.

Plunge into boiling water, dry with a clean cloth; rub well with pepper and salt, then with butter. Dredge with flour, and put into a pan with two teacups of boiling water, a slice of bacon or pork, minced onion and parsley, pepper and salt. Set in a hot oven; simmer, baste and brown. Veal is longer cooking than lamb. When a light brown, with a pin, stick on a buttered paper to prevent dryness. Thicken the gravy with brown flour, if brown gravy is wanted, but always with mashed Irish potato if white gravy is desired.—Mrs. S. T.

Veal Steak.

First beat until it is tender, then without washing lay on a gridiron over coals; turn over it a tin plate to prevent hardness and dryness. Turn the steak, and when well done, with a knife and fork press it and turn it in a pan or plate of hot melted butter. After putting in plate of hot butter and letting it absorb as much of the butter as possible, lay it on a dish, pepper and salt it plentifully, and pour over the melted butter. (Set in the oven a few minutes, but not long enough for the butter to fry, which is ruinous to the flavor of steaks, game, 162 etc.) When done, sift over grated cracker. Garnish with parsley and serve hot.—Mrs. S. T.

Veal Cutlet.

Cut the veal as if for steak or frying, put lard or butter in the pan, and let it be hot. Beat up an egg on a plate and have flour on another; dip the pieces first in the egg, then in the flour, on both sides, and lay in the pan and fry until done, turning it carefully once. This makes an excellent dish if well prepared. This way is superior to batter.—Mrs. D.

Veal Cutlet.

Cut it in pieces the size of your hand, and lay in salt water some little time. Take out and wipe dry. Put a small piece of lard in the pan and sprinkle the cutlet with a very little flour, pepper, and salt. Fry until nearly done. When it begins to brown, pour off the lard, and pour in a little water, one large spoonful butter, and a little celery-seed. Turn it over frequently.—Mrs. W.

Veal Cutlets.

Trim smoothly and beat till tender, sprinkle over pepper and salt; then with a spoon spread over an egg beaten till thick, and cover thickly with pounded cracker.

Have some hot lard ready in the frying-pan, put the cutlets on to fry, with the prepared side down; when of a light yellow brown, dress the other side the same way and fry, keeping closely covered. When they are perfectly done (veal should never be rare), place in a hot dish; pour one teacup of milk, one small piece of butter, pepper, salt, and minced onion and parsley into the pan, stirring constantly. When it boils up, pour into the dish and garnish with parsley. Always sift browned cracker over such dishes.—Mrs. S. T. 163

Cold Veal Dressed with White Sauce.

Boil one pint milk and thicken it a little with one teaspoonful flour, wet with cold water. When well boiled, put in very thin slices of veal, and simmer slowly for fifteen minutes.

Have the yolk of an egg well beaten up, and add to the meat, also a piece of butter.

Let it boil up once, stirring all the time, and serve it on toasted slices of bread. A few slices of bacon, cut thin and fried to a crisp, make a good relish with this dish.—Mrs. G. P.

Minced Veal.

Cut some slices of cold veal into small bits or dice; take the cold gravy and add to it a half-pint of boiling water, one teaspoonful tomato or walnut catsup, the grated peel of one lemon, pepper and salt.

Simmer it with the meat slowly for half an hour; then add half a teaspoonful flour made into a thin batter and pour it into the gravy, stirring it rapidly. Boil for ten minutes; turn in one-half cupful cream, or same quantity of milk with a small piece of butter; let it boil up. Serve on a hot platter garnished with sippets of fried bread.—Mrs. P.

Veal Loaf.

Make up into a loaf or pone, and bake slowly three and a half hours. This is an excellent dish to use with lettuce, etc., 164 in the spring or early autumn, when game is out of season. It is best to be made the day before using.—Mrs. R. R.

Veal Loaf.

Two and a half pounds meat taken from fillet or shoulder, or wherever the meat is free from fat. Take out all the little white, fibrous or sinewy particles, and chop very finely, almost to a paste. Mix in rolled cracker crumbs with one egg to hold it together, a little butter, red and black pepper, and salt to taste.

Form into a small loaf; dredge with the cracker crumbs, and put several little pieces of butter over the outside. Set this loaf uncooked, with about one quart water or some broth, in a pan; put it in the oven and baste constantly for two hours, and when taken out to cool, pour any remaining liquid over the loaf. It ought to cut in slices and be quite compact—no caverns in the inside of the loaf.—Mrs. G. P.

Veal Cake.

Take one and a half pounds veal, and half a pound of bacon, stew together with very little water, a little salt and pepper, thyme and parsley.

When the veal is tender, cut into small square pieces, as also the bacon.

Boil four eggs hard and slice them up, and chop some raw parsley fine.

Take a mould or small bowl, lay the slices of egg in a kind of pattern prettily at the bottom of it. Sprinkle the parsley between the slices. Add veal, bacon, and more egg alternately, pepper and salt to taste, and a little grated lemon-peel, also some more parsley, and so on until the bowl is nearly full. Fill up with the gravy the veal was boiled in, which ought to be very rich. Let it stand until quite cold, then turn out on a flat dish. The slices cut firmer and more solid when the cake is made the day beforehand, which it is best to do if the weather permits.—Mrs. R. P. 165

Sweetbreads.

Three good throat sweetbreads will make a dish. Blanch them well and lay in cold water, then take out and dry well. Add egg, bread crumbs, and herbs.

Put on a dish and brown in an oven. Eat with mushroom or tomato sauce.—Mrs. R.

Sweetbreads.

Soak, and put in boiling water for ten minutes.

Stew in cold water to blanch them.

They may be cut in slices or in dice and put in fricassee or meats, or ragoûts, or used as a separate dish.—Mrs. W.

Sweetbreads.

Lay them in salt and water, after washing; parboil until done; drain, dry, and split in half. Rub with butter, pepper and salt. Dip in one egg beaten stiff. Sift over pounded cracker.

Butter a baking-dish, lay them in, and set in a hot oven to brown, or fry until a light brown.—Mrs. S. T.

Calves' Feet dressed as Terrapins.

Boil eight feet until the meat leaves the bones, then remove them. Put them in a pan with one-half pint of the rich gravy in which they are boiled, and add two large spoonfuls butter.

Rub the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs with a small teaspoonful mustard, a very little cayenne, and salt to the taste.

When well mixed with the egg, stir all together into the feet or gravy. Let it simmer ten minutes, and just before dishing add two wineglasses of good cooking wine and simmer again before serving.—Mrs. M. E. L. W.

Calf's Liver Broiled.

Cut the liver in thin slices, wash it and let it stand in salt and water half an hour to draw out the blood. Parboil in 166 fresh salt and water, and broil, basting frequently in butter. Lay on a hot dish with a lump of butter.—Mrs. A. M. D.

To Fry Calf's Liver.

Cut in thin slices. Season with pepper and salt, sweet herbs, and parsley.

Dredge with flour and fry brown with lard. Have it thoroughly done, but it must not be hard; keep covered while frying.—Mrs. R.

Calf's Liver Fried.

A calf's liver, as white as can be procured, flour, one bunch savory herbs, including parsley, juice of a lemon; pepper and salt to taste, a little water.

Cut the liver into slices of a good and equal shape. Dip them in flour and fry brown. Place on a hot dish and keep before the fire while you prepare the gravy. Mince the herbs fine and put into the frying-pan with a little more butter; add the other ingredients with one teaspoonful flour. Simmer gently until the herbs are done, and pour over the liver.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Bewitched Liver.

Mix all well together, and put into a tin mould; set it in a pot of cold water and let it boil two hours. Then set the mould in a cool oven to dry off a little; when thoroughly cold turn it out.—Mrs. J. H.

Simple Way of Cooking Liver.

Wash calf's liver and heart thoroughly; chop them fine as 167 possible, after they have been boiled till very tender; then add pepper and salt, and one tablespoonful flour, straining into it a little of the water.—Mrs. J. P. H.

Calf's Brains.

Beat up the brains with a little lemon-peel cut fine, a little nutmeg grated, a little mace beaten, thyme and parsley.

Shred fine the yolk of an egg, and dredge with flour. Fry in little flat cakes and lay on top of the baked head.

If for soup, mix in one-half the brains with the soup while the soup is boiling, and make the other in cakes and lay together with forcemeat balls in the soup.—Mrs. R.

Calf's Head.

Split the head, take out the brains, boil till it will fall to pieces. Cut it up fine and season with pepper, salt and nutmeg to the taste; add one-quarter pound of butter, wineglassful wine, and the brains, which are not to be boiled with the head. Put in a dish and bake with or without paste.—Mrs. J. D.

Baked Calf's Head.

Boil until tender, then cut into pieces and put into a deep dish with pepper, salt, a few cloves, mace, a little thyme.

A spoonful butter with flour, well mixed through the meat, a layer of bread crumbs on top. Then add a wineglass of wine and fill up the dish with the water the head was boiled in, and bake three-quarters of an hour. Garnish with forcemeat balls and rings of hard-boiled eggs, just before sending to the table.—Miss N.

Veal Daube.

After the head of a calf is skinned and the feet prepared by taking off the hoofs, scraping, etc., throw them into cold water for twenty-four hours. Put them in a boiler of cold water, and 168 simmer until the flesh leaves the bones and there is but little water left.

Throw in salt, pepper, minced onion, parsley, and thyme; take the meat and bones out. Beat up two eggs until light, add two tablespoonfuls cold water, then the liquor from the boiler. Stir all together, boil up and strain on the meat from the head, which must first be cut up or picked fine and chopped with six hard-boiled eggs, and seasoned to the taste with the juice of one lemon and wineglass of jelly. This is set aside in a mould or bowl and eaten cold with garnish of scraped horseradish and parsley. The calves' feet make another good dish by drying first, then dipping in batter made of an egg, one spoonful of flour, one small teacupful milk, with a little salt, and frying.—Mrs. S. T.

MUTTON AND LAMB.

When the weather will admit of it, mutton is better for being kept a few days before cooking. The saddle, which is considered the finest piece, consists of the back or loin and upper part of the hind legs. In getting this nice roast, however, you spoil the hind quarter, as the saddle takes some of the nicest parts of this and leaves it too dry to cook by itself. The hind quarter and loin together make a very nice dish—the latter being fat and juicy.

The fore quarter is sometimes cut by taking off the shoulder and taking the rib-piece, making a piece called the brisket or breast, and many persons esteem this the choicest part of the mutton. The ribs cut next to the back are used for mutton chops.

When you have a large supply of mutton on hand, it is well to put the hind quarters in brine, as you can thus corn them as 169 nicely as beef. As mutton spoils easily, this plan is very advisable.

Whilst boiled mutton is very nice, lamb is spoiled by this mode of cooking. If lamb is to be roasted, it should be covered with the caul, as the fat, dripping from this, will preserve the moisture of the meat.

In carving the fore quarter of lamb, first take off the shoulder and then cut the ribs in strips.

Lamb is seldom cut except in quarters, and when nicely cooked there is nothing better. It should be four months old before being eaten. The season for lamb is from May to August, whilst that for mutton is from August to Christmas.

To Roast Mutton.

The hind quarter is the nicest part of the mutton to roast, and requires longer to cook than lamb. Put it in a pot of boiling water and let it simmer one hour. Lift it into a baking-pan, rub with salt and pepper (too much salt makes the meat tough). Rub over it a little lard and then dredge with flour: skim off the top of the water and pour over it. Set it in a hot oven, basting frequently to prevent it from being hard and dry; roast till thoroughly done. This is nice to set aside for a cold dish, garnished with horseradish and eaten with currant jelly.—Mrs. P. W.

Roast Leg of Mutton.

Choose young and tender mutton. Take off the shank—wash it well; let it lie fifteen or twenty minutes in salt water to take the blood out. Rub with little salt and pepper well. Lay on a grate, which will go nicely in a baking-pan, over one pint boiling water; break the bones of the shank in the water, adding more pepper and salt. Set it in a very hot oven, and baste frequently to prevent it from being hard and dry. When it is of a light brown, cover with sheets of buttered paper. Place it on a dish; add minced parsley to the gravy, which should be brown. Cover the roast with grated brown cracker 170 and garnish at intervals with chopped parsley; pour the gravy in the dish, not over it. Mutton should always be perfectly done.—Mrs. S. T.

Roast Saddle of Mutton.

Trim the joint carefully, roast it at a brisk, clear fire; baste frequently, and when done dredge it plentifully with salt, and serve with the gravy well freed from fat.

To Boil a Leg of Mutton.

Make a paste of flour quite plain, mixed stiff with water, roll out as for a meat pudding; break and turn in the shank bone; then cover the leg of mutton carefully with the paste; tie up tight in a well-floured cloth. Have ready sufficient boiling water, place in the joint, allow ten minutes for checking the boiling, and twenty minutes for each pound of meat. Carefully remove the paste, which can be done by one cut longitudinally and one cut across. Strain the gravy and serve as usual.

Boiled Leg of Mutton.

Dip a cloth in hot water, tie up the mutton and put in boiling water. Boil slowly for two hours, or longer, if not kept constantly boiling.—Mrs. R.

Broiled Mutton.

After a leg of mutton has been washed and wiped dry, place in a cloth that has been dipped in boiling water. Roll it up, pin and tie securely; put in a pot of boiling water. Let it simmer several hours, removing the scum that rises when it first begins to boil. If a small leg of mutton, it will require a shorter time to cook than a large one. Just before it is done, add enough salt to season it properly, half an onion, and one heaping teaspoonful of black pepper. When this has properly seasoned the meat, take from the fire, unwrap and drain. Serve with drawn butter, adding capers or nasturtium seed, or if you have neither, use 171 chopped sour pickle instead. Mutton should always be served with caper sauce, if possible.—Mrs. S. T.

To Cook a Saddle of Mutton.

Meats are all better for being kept a day or two before cooking, particularly mutton. If the mutton be tender, do not boil it, but put it in a pan of water, set it on the stove, and cook slowly, basting constantly with the gravy or water in the pan; with pepper and salt to taste. Just before it is done, put some scraped horseradish over it, and garnish the dish with the same; add a little ground mustard and grated bread or cracker; pour the gravy over it, and grate bread over, and set aside to cool. This is for cold mutton. All meats are better for roasting before a fire than in a stove.—Mrs. P. W.

Saddle of Mutton.

This should be covered with paper, and carefully roasted or baked. Season with a little pepper and salt; garnish with horseradish.

Iced Saddle of Mutton.

Reserve the drippings from the meat when it is roasting. After the saddle is nicely cooked, let it get cold. Then take the white part of the gravy and melt it to the consistency of cream. Pour this over the saddle until it is covered with a white coat; if it appears rough, warm an iron spoon and pass over it until it is smooth. Place it on a dish, and dress the dish all round with vegetable flowers and curled parsley, using the parsley to ornament the saddle also.—Mrs. Judge S.

To Corn Mutton.

Mutton being less apt to keep than other meat, it is well, when you have an over-supply, to corn it exactly as you would corn beef.—Miss R. S. 172

Shoulder of Mutton Corned.

Take a small shoulder of mutton, rub it with

After twenty-four hours, rub it again with the pickle; next day boil this in paste like the leg of mutton. Serve smothered in onion sauce.

Mutton Chop.

Get from your butcher nicely shaped mutton chops, not too long. Put them into a pan with pepper and salt, and barely enough water to cover them.

Cover close and simmer till done; drain, wipe dry; pepper, salt and butter them; with a spoon, cover with an egg beaten stiff. Sift over pounded crackers. Put in a pan and set in an oven to brown.—Mrs. S. T.

Mutton Chops dressed with Tomatoes.

Place in a pan tomatoes peeled and chopped; season with butter, pepper, sugar, and salt.

Take from your gridiron some nicely broiled mutton chops; put into a pan, cover close, and simmer for fifteen minutes. Lay the chops on a hot dish, put on a little butter, pepper and salt.

With a spoon, cover each chop with tomatoes. Sift over pounded cracker and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Mutton Chop.

Cut the steaks; pepper and salt them. Broil them lightly on both sides; take them off the gridiron, lay them on a spider. Slice up one large onion and stew until it becomes tender; put a layer between each chop and stew until they become tender. Take out the steaks, cover them closely or tilt the gravy to the side of the vessel, till it is brown; stir in a lump of butter.—Mrs. A. P. 173

Mutton Chop.

Mushroom catsup is a nice flavoring. Put pepper and salt on the chops and lay them in melted butter; when they have imbibed sufficient, take out and cover with grated bread crumbs and broil.—Mrs. R.

Broiled Mutton Chops.

Beat the mutton chops till tender; then trim, making them of uniform size and shape; pour on them boiling water. Let them remain in it a minute, dry them and rub with pepper, salt, and fresh butter. Lay on a gridiron over hot coals, always remembering to cover them while broiling. Turn them, and as soon as nicely browned place in a hot dish, pepper again, pour over them melted butter, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Mutton Stew.

Cut slices of rare mutton and put on to stew in a little water; when nearly done put in—

Stew slowly a short time.—Mrs. F. D.

Mutton Stew.

Slice cold mutton or lamb, lay it in a baking dish; put in—

174

Slice up a little yellow pickled cucumber, sugar to taste, one-quarter pound butter, one roll of light bread broken in small pieces or cut in little slices, and toasted before used.

In preparing this dish put a layer of the meat and seasonings alternately.

The peppers, celery-seed, cloves, cinnamon, and mace must all be pounded fine.—Mrs. C.

Grilled Slices of Mutton.

Cut some rather thick slices of underdone cold mutton, score them well and rub in plentifully some common mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper; then broil them over a clear fire, and serve with onion sauce.

Sheep's Tongues.

Boil them till the skin can be taken off; split them, and put them into a stew-pan, with some gravy, parsley, mushrooms, and one minced shallot, and some butter, some pepper, and salt.

Stew till tender, and strain the gravy over them; or they may be glazed and served with the gravy under them. Sheep's tongues may also be skinned, larded, braised, and glazed; and served with onion sauce.

To Roast Lamb.

The hind quarter is the nicest piece for roasting. Drop it in a pot of boiling water; boil half an hour, put it in a pan, dredge it with lard, pepper, flour, a little salt; skim the top of the water in which it is boiled, and pour over it; as soon as the gravy accumulates in the pan keep it basted frequently to prevent it from being hard and dry. Lamb should be cooked done to be good.—Mrs. P. W.

To Grill a Shoulder of Lamb.

Half boil it, score and cover it with egg, crumbs, and parsley seasoned as for cutlets. Broil it over a very clear, slow fire, or 175 put it in a Dutch oven to brown it; serve with any sauce that is liked. A breast of lamb is often grilled in the same way.

Lamb's Head to Fricassee.

Parboil the head and haslet (the liver excepted); cut the meat in slices from the head; slice the heart, tongue, etc., and fricassee as for chicken. Have the liver fried in slices with the sweetbreads and slices of bacon and bunches of parsley. Pour the fricassee into the dish, and garnish with the fried pieces.—Mrs. R.

Lamb's Head.

Boil the head and liver, but so as not to let the liver be too much done. Take up the head, split it through the bone, which must remain with the meat on. Cut the meat across and across with a knife, grate some nutmeg on it and lay it on a dish before a good fire; then throw over it some grated bread crumbs, some sweet herbs, some allspice, a little lemon peel chopped fine, a very little pepper and salt. Baste it with butter, and dredge a little flour over it.

Just as it is done, take one-half the liver, the lights, the meat, the tongue; chop them small with six or eight spoonfuls water or gravy. First shake some flour over the meat and stew it together; then put in the gravy or water, a good piece of butter rolled in a little flour, pepper and salt, and what runs from the head in the dish. Simmer all together a few minutes, and add half a spoonful of vinegar; pour it on the head. Lay the head on the centre of the mince-meat; have ready the other half of liver, cut in pieces and fried quickly with slices of bacon and lemon; lay these around the dish and serve.—Mrs. T.

Decorations and Garnishes for Cold Meats and Salads.

The day before giving a dinner or evening entertainment, gather up medium and small sized pure white and yellow turnips, carrots, red and pink beets, the different colored radishes. From these the most beautiful flowers can be cut; camellias, 176 roses, dahlias, tulips, tuberoses, etc. No explicit directions can be given except, first, smoothly to pare each vegetable, taking care not to keep them too near the fire, which will cause them to wilt and lose the waxy freshness which makes them so beautiful. Each flower may be laid on a cluster of green leaves or curled parsley, and over the cold meats, and around the edge of the dish.

The cutting of these flowers makes a charming and interesting pastime for the young members of the family, in the evening before.—Mrs. C. G.

POULTRY.

In summer, kill and dress the poultry the day beforehand, except chicken for frying, which is not good unless killed the same day it is eaten.

The best way to kill a fowl is to tie it by its legs, hang it up, and then cut off its neck. In this way, it dies more quickly, suffers less, and bleeds more freely.

It is best to pick fowls dry; though, if you are pressed for time, you may facilitate the picking of chickens, as well as of partridges and other small birds, by putting them first into water, hot, but not boiling. Then take off the feathers carefully, so as not to break the skin. Never scald a turkey, duck or goose, however, before picking.

To draw the crop, split the skin of all poultry on the back of the neck. Pull the neck upward and the skin downward, and the crop can be easily pulled out. Then cut off the neck close to the body, leaving the skin to skewer at the back of the neck after the dressing has been put in. Make an incision under the rump lengthwise, sufficient to allow the entrails to be easily removed. Be careful not to break the gall, and to preserve the 177 liver whole. Cut open the gizzard, take out the inner skin, and wash both carefully. Wash the bird inside several times, the last time with salt and water. Some persons object to using water inside or outside, but I consider it more cleanly to wash the bird first and then wipe it dry with a clean towel. It should then be hung with the neck downwards till ready to cook.

The head, neck, and feet, after being nicely washed and the bones in them broken, should be stewed in the gravy, as they make it much richer.

It is said that throwing chickens into cold water immediately after they have finished bleeding, and allowing them to remain there ten or fifteen minutes, will make them deliciously tender, which can be accounted for scientifically. Frozen fowls or game should be thawed gradually, by being laid in cold water. If cooked without being thawed, it will require double time, and they will not be tender nor high-flavored.

The tests by which you may tell the age of a turkey are these. An old turkey has rough and red legs, and if a gobbler, long spurs, while young turkeys have black legs, and if gobblers, small spurs. The fatter they are and the broader their breasts, the better. When dressed, the skin should be a yellowish white, and, if tender, you may easily rip it with a pin. If, when you bend back the wings, the sinews give and crack, this is another test of the turkey being young, and the same test will apply to other fowls. The bill and feet of an old goose are red and hairy. A young goose has pen feathers and its flesh is whiter than that of an old one.

If young, the lower part of a hen's legs and feet are soft and smooth, while a young cock has small spurs. When dressed, the flesh should be white and the fat a pale yellow. Turn the wing back, and if the sinews snap it is a sign the chicken is young.

A few words on the subject of carving may not be out of place here. A sharp knife, with a thin and well tempered 178 blade is essential to good carving. In carving a turkey, cut off first the wing nearest to you, then the leg and second joint, then slice the breast till a rounded, ivory-shaped piece appears. Insert the knife between that and the bone, and separate them. This part is the nicest bit of the breast. Next comes the merry-thought. After this, turn over the bird a little, and just below the breast you will find the oyster, which you will separate as you did the inner breast. The side bone lies beside the rump, and the desired morsel can be taken out without separating the whole bone. Proceed with the other side in the same way. The fork need not be removed during the whole process.

Chicken and partridges are carved in the same way.

Roast Turkey.

Wash nicely in and out. Plunge into boiling water ten minutes. Have ready a dressing of

After rubbing the cavity well with salt and pepper and putting in a slice of pork or bacon, fill with the above dressing. Do the same also to the crop, so as to make the turkey look plump. Rub the turkey well with butter and sprinkle salt and pepper over it. Dredge with flour. Lay in the pan with a slice of pork or bacon and a pint of boiling water. Lay the liver and gizzard in the pan with it. Put in a hot oven, basting and turning frequently till every part is a beautiful brown. When the meat is amber color, pin a buttered sheet of writing paper over it to keep it from becoming hard and dry. Cook three or four hours. Season the gravy with minced parsley and celery and serve with cranberry sauce.—Mrs. S. T.

Roast Turkey.

Wash the turkey thoroughly inside and out, having removed 179 the insides. Make a dressing of bread soaked in cold water, drained and mashed fine, a small piece of melted butter or salt pork chopped, pepper and salt, sweet herbs, a hard boiled egg, chopped fine.

Any kind of cooked meat is good, minced fine and added to the dressing. The body and crop must be filled with the dressing and sewed up. The giblets ought to be boiled tender, if they are to be used. Use the water in which they are boiled, for gravy, adding a little of the turkey drippings, seasoning with pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, and thickening with a little flour and water, mixed smoothly. Place where it will boil.

When the fowl is put on to roast, put a little water into the dripping-pan. At first it should be roasted slowly and basted frequently. Tie up the wings and legs before roasting, and rub on a little butter and salt. Serve with drawn butter.—Mrs. W.

Roast Turkey.

Put the gizzard, heart and liver in cold water and boil till tender. When done, chop fine and add stale bread, grated, salt and pepper, sweet herbs, if liked, two eggs well beaten.

Fill the turkey with this dressing, sew the openings, drawing the skin tightly together. Put a little butter over the turkey and lay it upon the grate of your meat-pan. Cover the bottom of the pan well with boiling water. In half an hour, baste the turkey by pouring over it the gravy that has begun to form in the pan. Repeat this basting every fifteen minutes. In an oven of average temperature, a twelve-pound turkey will require at least three hours' cooking.—Mrs. A. D.

Roast Turkey, with Truffles.

Truffles must be peeled, chopped and pounded in a mortar; one and a half pound will do for one turkey. Rasp the same amount of fat bacon and mix with the truffles and stuff the turkey with it. This dressing is usually placed in the turkey two days beforehand, to impart its flavor to the fowl. Lay 180 thin slices of fat bacon over the breast of the turkey, cover it with half a sheet of white paper, and roast two hours. Chestnuts dressed in the same way as truffles are found an excellent substitute.—Mrs. S. G.

Boiled Turkey.

Wash well with cold water, then put on in milk-warm water, either tied in a coarse cloth dredged with flour or with a half-pound of rice in the water. Keep well under water, and boil slowly three hours, adding salt just before it is done. When perfectly done and tender, take out of the pot, sprinkle in the cavity a little pepper and salt, and fill with oysters stewed just enough to plump them, and season, with butter, pepper, salt and vinegar. Place in a dish and set in a steamer to keep hot. Strain the liquor in which the oysters were scalded, add drawn butter, chopped celery, parsley and thyme; pour over the turkey, and serve. If not convenient to use oysters, use egg and butter sauce. Garnish with sliced lemons.—Mrs. S. T.

Boiled Turkey.

Prepare the turkey as for roasting. Tie it in a cloth or boil rice in the pot with it, if you wish it to look white. It is improved by boiling a pound or two of salt pork with it. If soup is made of the liquor, let it stand till next day and skim the fat. Season after heating.—Mrs. W.

To Steam a Turkey.

Rub butter, pepper and salt inside the turkey after it has been well washed, fill with oysters, sew up, lay in a dish and set in a steamer placed over boiling water. Cover closely and steam from two hours to two and a half. Take up, strain the gravy which will be found in the dish. Have an oyster sauce ready, prepared like stewed oysters, and pour into it this gravy thickened with a little butter and flour. Let it come to a boil and whiten with a little boiled cream. Pour this over the 181 steamed turkey and send to the table hot. Garnish with sliced lemons.—Mrs. S. T.

Turkey Hash.

Cut up the meat very fine. Stew the bones in a little water, then stir into this water the meat, adding a large tablespoonful butter, a cup of cream, salt and pepper, a little chopped parsley, thyme or celery (or else a very few celery-seeds). Stew all together.—Mrs. R.

Devilled Turkey.

Place the legs and wings (jointed) on a gridiron. Broil slowly. Have ready a sauce made of—

Lay the broiled turkey on a hot dish. Pour the dressing and sift pounded cracker over it.—Mrs. S. T.

Potato Stuffing for Turkeys and other Fowls.

Mash smoothly six good-sized boiled Irish potatoes. Chop a small onion very fine and fry a light brown, in a frying-pan, with a dessertspoonful lard. Then add the potatoes with salt and pepper, and a lump of butter as large as a walnut. To this add one well beaten egg, stirring till perfectly dry. If for geese or ducks, add a little sifted sage and a small quantity of red pepper.—Mrs. McG.

Boned Turkey.

The turkey must be full grown, moderately fat, and picked dry. Do not remove the entrails. Cut off the neck about one inch from the body. Take off the wings above the second joint and cut off the legs as usual. With a sharp pointed knife, split the skin from the end of the neck to the rump. Run the knife between the bones and flesh on one side, till you come to 182 where the wing and leg join the body. Twist the wing and raise it, cracking the joint. Separate it from the body. Then proceed with the leg in the same way, on the same side. Run the knife between the bones and flesh till you reach the breast bone. Repeat this on the other side. Take out the craw. Carefully run a sharp knife under the rump, detaching it from the bone without cutting the skin, as it must come off with the flesh. Hold the turkey by the neck and pull the skin carefully down, until the upper part of the breast bone is uncovered. Cut the flesh from the bone on both sides, till the end of the bone is nearly reached. The turkey must now be laid on the back and held by the neck, the front of the turkey being toward you. Take hold of the skin of the neck with the left hand, pulling downwards with a knife in the right hand, separate the skin from the end of the bone. The whole of the turkey is now detached from the carcass. Lay it on a table with the skin down. Pull the bones from the wings and legs, first running the knife around so as to leave the flesh. Pull out all the tendons of the legs. Push them and the wings inside. Cut off the ring under the rump. All this must be done slowly and carefully. Have ready a half-dozen slices of salt pork, and a salad made of shoat, veal or lamb, chopped and seasoned, as turkey salad, with celery, etc. Mix with this salad three or four large Irish potatoes, boiled and mashed, with a spoonful of butter. Now lay the turkey on the table, inside up and the neck from you; pepper and salt it; lay three or four slices of pork on it, then a layer of the salad; pork again and salad alternately until filled; draw the two sides together and sew it up, giving it as near as possible its proper shape. Sew it up carefully in a cloth, place in a kettle of the proper shape, cover with boiling water, adding the broken bones, three pounds fresh lean beef, parsley, thyme, onions and two dozen whole black peppercorns, with salt to the taste. Simmer three hours, then take it from the water and remove the towel. Carefully remove all discolorations and settlings of the water from the 183 turkey. Scald a clean cloth, wrap it up again; place it on its back, put a dish over it with a weight on it and set it in a cool place till next day. Unwrap and remove the twine with which it was sewed. Glaze it with a little meat jelly; just before the jelly congeals sift over a little cracker browned and pounded; decorate with meat jelly and serve. Directions for preparing meat jelly follow.—Mrs. S. T.

Meat Jelly for Boned Turkey.

As soon as the water in which the turkey was boiled is cold, take off all the fat and strain it, put it in a porcelain-lined kettle; two ounces gelatine, three eggs, with shells, a wine-glass of sherry, port or madeira wine; stir well. Add one quart of the strained liquor; beat rapidly with an egg-beater, put it on the fire and stir until it boils. Simmer ten or fifteen minutes. Sprinkle in a pinch of turmeric and strain just as any other jelly. When congealed break it up and place around the turkey. Cut some in thick slices and in fanciful shapes with paste cutters. Place some of these lozenges over the turkey and border the edges of the dish with them.—Mrs. S. T.

Chickens.

These, whether for boiling or roasting, should have a dressing prepared as for turkeys. Six spoonfuls of rice boiled with the chickens will cause them to look white. If the water is cold when they are put in, they will be less liable to break. They are improved by boiling a little salt pork with them. If not thus boiled, they will need salt.

For broiling, chickens should be split, the innards taken out, and the chickens then washed. Broil very slowly till done, placing the bony side down; then turn it and brown the other side. Forty minutes is the medium time for broiling a chicken.

For roast chicken, boil the gizzard and liver by themselves, and use the water for gravy.—Mrs. Col. W. 184

Roast Chicken.

Chicken should never be cooked the same day it is killed. Wash well with cold water, then pour boiling water over it and into the cavity. Rub the latter with salt and pepper, and fill with a dressing made of bread soaked in water and squeezed out, a tablespoonful butter, a little salt, pepper and parsley.

Rub the chicken well with butter. Sprinkle pepper and salt over it and dredge with flour. Lay it into a pan with a slice of pork or bacon and a pint of water. Let it simmer slowly two hours, basting and dredging frequently. Turn the chicken so each part may be equally browned. Add chopped thyme and parsley to the gravy.

Some persons think ground ginger a more delicate flavoring for the dressing than pepper.—Mrs. S. T.

To Boil Chicken.

Never boil the same day the chicken is killed. Soak them overnight in weak salt and water. Place in a kettle of water, with a handful of rice and a little milk to make the chicken white. Simmer slowly two or three hours, removing the scum that rises when the chicken first begins to boil. Keep under the water, with an inverted deep plate. Just before taking off the fire, add salt to the taste. Lay on a hot dish near the fire. Skim off the fat from the top of the liquor, strain it and add chopped celery, parsley and thyme, drawn butter, a little pepper and salt, or, if preferred, six hard-boiled eggs chopped fine.—Mrs. S. T.

To Steam Chicken.

Soak two hours, in salt and water, a fat young pullet. Drain and dry. Rub in the cavity a little salt and pepper and a large lump of butter. Fill with large, plump oysters, seasoned with pepper and salt, and sew up. Lay the chicken on a dish or pan, and set it inside a steamer, which close and keep over boiling water four hours. When thoroughly done, lay on a dish and 185 pour over it drawn butter or celery sauce. Garnish with curled parsley, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Smothered Chicken.

Kill the day before it is smothered. Split open the back, as if to broil. When ready to cook, wipe dry with a clean towel, rub well with butter and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Put in a pan with a slice of bacon or pork and a pint of water. Simmer an hour or more, basting frequently. When thoroughly done, place on a hot dish.

Stir into the gravy remaining on the fire a beaten egg, mixing it carefully. Pour this into the dish, but not on the chicken. Sift over it cracker, first browned and then pounded. Garnish with parsley, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Stewed Chicken.

Cut up the chicken as if to fry, adding the prepared head and feet. Soak in weak salt and water. If for dinner, do this immediately after breakfast.

An hour and a half before dinner, put in a saucepan, covering well with water. Let it simmer slowly for one hour. Take it out with a fork and lay in a bowl. Add a teacup milk and half a teaspoonful black pepper to the liquor. Let it boil up and strain on the chicken. Rinse the saucepan and return all to the fire. Beat one egg with a tablespoonful of flour and one of milk until quite smooth. Mince some parsley, thyme, and a very little onion, and stir all into the saucepan. Then put in a tablespoonful of butter. Stir around and pour into a dish in which small pieces of toast have been neatly arranged. Garnish with curled parsley.—Mrs. S. T.

Stewed Chicken.

Cut up and lay in salt and water. Put them in water enough to cover them, with some slices of middling. Let them boil till nearly done. Then put in the dumplings, made like 186 biscuit but rolled thin, and let them boil till done. Roll a piece of butter in flour, with pepper, salt, chopped parsley and celery, or a little celery-seed. When the gravy is thick enough, pour in a teacup of cream or milk, and let it boil up once. Take off the fire and serve hot.—Mrs. Col. W.

Fried Chicken.

This dish is best when the chicken is killed the same day it is fried. Cut off the wings and legs, cut the breast in two, and also the back. Wash well and throw in weak salt and water, to extract the blood. Let it remain for half an hour or more. Take from the water, drain and dry with a clean towel, half an hour before dinner. Lay on a dish, sprinkle a little salt over it, and sift flour thickly first on one side and then on the other, letting it remain long enough for the flour to stick well. Have ready on the frying-pan some hot lard, in which lay each piece carefully, not forgetting the liver and gizzard. Cover closely and fry till a fine amber color. Then turn over each piece and cover well again, taking care to have the chicken well done, yet not scorched. Take the chicken up and lay in a hot dish near the fire. Pour into the gravy a teacup of milk, a teaspoonful of butter, a saltspoon of salt, and one of pepper. Let it boil up and pour into the dish, but not over the chicken. Put curled parsley round the edge of the dish and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Fried Chicken.

Kill the chicken the night before, if you can, and lay on ice, or else kill early in the morning. When ready, wipe dry, flour it, add pepper and salt, and fry in a little lard. When nearly done, pour off the lard, add one-half teacup water, large spoonful butter, and some chopped parsley. Brown nicely and serve. Meal mush fried is nice with the chicken.—Mrs. Col. W.

To Dress Chickens With Tomatoes.

Fry till a light brown. Then add some tomatoes, cut in 187 small pieces, with the juice. Strain the tomatoes from the seed, season them with salt, pepper, a little sugar, and let them stew.—Mrs. J. B. D.

To Fricassee Chicken.

Wash and joint the chicken; place the pieces in a stew-pan with the skin side down. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each piece. Add three or four slices of pork, stew till tender, take them out and thicken the liquor with flour, and add a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg. Replace the chicken in the pan and let it stew five minutes longer. When it is taken up, soak in the gravy some pieces of toast, put them on plates and lay the chicken on the toast, pouring the gravy over it. To brown the chicken, stew till tender, without the pork; brown the pork, take that up, then put in the chicken and fry a light brown.—Mrs. Col. W.

To Broil Chicken.

Kill the chicken the day before using, split open in the back, nicely clean, and, if the weather is warm, slightly sprinkle with salt. If for breakfast, half an hour before press between the folds of a clean towel till dry, grease well with fresh butter, sprinkle with pepper and salt and lay on a gridiron, over hot coals, with the inside of the chicken down. Let it cook principally from this side, but turn often till the outside of the chicken is of a bright, yellow brown. When thoroughly done, pour over it melted butter, sprinkle pepper, and sift pounded or grated cracker.—Mrs. S. T.

Chicken Pie.

Cut up the chicken and place in a deep oven with one large spoonful of lard. Let it brown a little and add one onion, parsley, thyme, sage and black pepper, to suit the taste. Pour on it a cupful boiling water, stir well and let it simmer till well cooked. Just before taking from the fire, rub together:

Stir well and pour in a pan lined with a paste.—Mrs. A. C.

Chicken Pie.

Make into a paste one quart of flour with the weight of four eggs in butter and a large spoonful of lard. Put the paste in a deep dish, lining the bottom and side with chicken interspersed with layers of very thin bacon. Add some large crumbs, some pepper, and a quarter-pound butter. Fill the dish with cold water, and yolks of four or six hard-boiled eggs, then dredge with flour and put on the top crust. Let it bake gradually. It will take two hours to bake.—Mrs. Col. W.

Chicken Pudding.

Cut up the chicken and stew it a little, after which lay the pieces in a buttered dish with a few bits of butter, a little pepper and salt, and a little of the water in which the chicken was stewed.

Make a batter of one quart milk, five eggs, a little salt. Pour this batter over the chicken, and bake half an hour.—Mrs. A. B.

Chicken Pudding.

Stir in enough flour to make a thin, good batter. Put four young chickens, nicely prepared and jointed, in a saucepan, with some salt and water and a bundle of thyme or parsley. Boil till nicely done, then take up the chickens and put in the batter. Put all in a deep dish and bake. Serve with gravy in a boat.—Mrs. Dr. C.

Chicken Pudding With Potatoes.

Cut up a young chicken as if to fry, and parboil it. Boil and 189 mash Irish potatoes. Beat up three or four eggs, add to the potatoes, and thin with milk. Season with butter, pepper and salt, stir in the chicken, and bake it.

Boiled rice is a good substitute for potatoes.—Mrs. E. W.

N. B.—Most of the recipes given for turkey apply to pea-fowl, and most of those given for chicken may be used for guinea fowl.—Mrs. S. T.

To Roast Goose.

A goose must never be eaten the same day it is killed. If the weather is cold, it should be kept a week before using. Before cooking let it lie several hours in weak salt and water, to remove the strong taste. Then plunge it in boiling water, for five minutes, if old. Fill the goose with a dressing made of:

Grease with sweet lard or butter. Lay in a pan with the giblets, neck, etc. Pour in two teacups of boiling water, set in a hot oven, and baste frequently. Turn so that every part may be equally browned. Serve with gravy or onion sauce.

The above recipe will answer equally as well for duck.—Mrs. S. T.

Devilled Goose.

Plunge the goose into a pot of boiling water and let it remain half an hour. Fill with a stuffing made of:

Mashed Irish potatoes, a heaping tablespoonful butter, minced onions, sage, parsley and thyme, half a teaspoonful black pepper.

Place it in a pan with a slice of fat pork and a pint of broth or liquor in which any kind of meat has been boiled.

Mix two tablespoonfuls pepper vinegar, celery vinegar, made 190 mustard, and one of acid fruit jelly. Butter the breast of the goose and pour this mixture over it, adding salt and pepper to the taste.

Place in a hot oven, dredge with flour and baste frequently till done; when serve with its own gravy. This receipt will answer equally as well for wild goose.—Mrs. S. T.

To Prepare Young Ducks.

Kill and hang to drain. Plunge, one at a time, in boiling water, then immediately in cold water, which makes them easier to pick. Kill some days before using, or if obliged to use them the same day as killed, they are better roasted.—Mrs. R.

To Stew Ducks.

Truss the ducks and stuff them with bread, butter, and onion. Flour them and brown them in lard. Have prepared slips of bacon, giblets, onion, water, pepper, salt, and a little clove or mace, if you like. Put in the ducks and let them stew gently but constantly for two hours. Then add the juice of green grapes or of a lemon, or else a little lemon pickle. Flour the ducks each time you turn them, and thicken with butter rolled in flour.—Mrs. Col. W.

SALADS.

In making salads, be careful to add the vinegar last. Where oil cannot be obtained, fresh butter, drawn or melted, is an excellent substitute and is indeed preferred to oil by some persons, epicureans to the contrary notwithstanding. Always use good cider vinegar in making salads, as chemical vinegar is sometimes very unwholesome. Much depends on the rotation in which you mix the ingredients for a salad, so I would call 191 particular attention to the directions given on this point on the subsequent pages.

Oyster Salad.

Drain the liquor from the oysters and throw them into some hot vinegar on the fire; let them remain until they are plump, not cooked. Then put them at once into clear cold water; this gives them a nice plump look and they will not then shrink and look small. Drain the water from them and set them away in a cool place, and prepare your dressing. Mash the yolks as fine as you can and rub into it the salt, pepper, and mustard, then rub the oil in, a few drops at a time. When it is all smooth, add the beaten egg, and then the vinegar, a spoonful at a time. Set aside. Mix oysters, celery, and pickle, tossing up well with a silver fork. Sprinkle in salt to your taste. Then pour dressing over all.—Mrs. E. P. G.

Salmon and Lobster Salad.

If the salmon salad is made of the fish preserved in cans, drain it from the oil and mince the meat fine. Cut up one third as much lettuce or celery.

For one box of salmon, boil four eggs hard; lay them in cold water a few minutes, shell and separate the whites from the yolks; lay the whites aside. Mash the yolks smooth with two tablespoonfuls sweet olive oil or one teacup sweet rich milk or 192 cream. The oil makes the smoothest and best paste. Dissolve in one teacup vinegar,

Mix this with the paste and toss lightly over the meat with a silver fork. Ornament the dish in which it is served with the green leaves of the celery, or with curled parsley and the whites of eggs cut in rings.

Lobster salad is prepared in the same way. Take the nicest parts of the lobster.—Mrs. C. C.

Lobster Salad.

Chop up one can of lobsters; cut in small pieces as much celery. Then cream with one teacup butter, one tablespoonful mustard, one tablespoonful sugar, one teaspoonful salt, and yolks of four hard-boiled eggs, rubbed smooth; stir in five tablespoonfuls pepper vinegar (simply pepper steeped in vinegar and sweetened with a little sugar), and pour the mixture over the lobster and celery.—Mrs. S. T.

Fish Salad.

Boil four flounders, or any medium sized fish; when done, take off the skin and pick out the bones, then shred very fine. Add pepper and salt, one tablespoonful mixed mustard, a half cup vinegar, and half a pound butter, and mix all well with the fish. Put into shallow pans, set in the oven and bake ten minutes. When cold put over it a little Worcestershire sauce, and sherry wine.—Miss F. N.

Terrapin Salad.

Boil them until the shells will come off easily and the nails pull out; then cut into small pieces and carefully remove the sand-bag and gall. 193

To three good sized terrapins, take six hard-boiled eggs; remove the yolks and rub into a powder with half a pound sweet butter. When creamy and light, add one teaspoonful flour. Put this with the meat into a saucepan; season with cayenne pepper and salt, and let it boil for one or two minutes. Just before taking from the fire, add wine to taste, and if desired, a little mace.

Be careful to remove the skin from the legs.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Turkey Salad.

Mince the turkey very fine. Have ready the following mixture, for a large company.

Twelve or fourteen eggs boiled hard; mash the yolks smooth with one spoonful water; add to it pepper, salt, and mustard to the taste. Two teaspoonfuls celery-seed, one teacup of fresh melted butter or fine olive oil, and pour in strong vinegar to the taste.

Mix the turkey and celery, and pour over the mixture just before eating.—Mrs. F. C. W.

Turkey Salad.

Remove the skin and fat from a turkey; mince the meat fine.

Prepare a dressing of the yolks of four eggs, rubbed in a little thick cream.

194

Turkey Salad.

Boil two turkeys till well done, pick out all the bones, skin and fat, and cut up the balance in small pieces.

Boil one dozen eggs hard, let them cool, then separate the yolks and whites, mash the yolks fine, chop the whites very fine and set them to one side.

Have a large flat dish, in which put four large spoonfuls mixed mustard; pour in a little oil, and with a fork rub it in till smooth, then a little vinegar, in which has been melted two full tablespoonfuls of salt, then oil, and alternately put in oil and vinegar, each time rubbing it in till well mixed. When you have mixed a whole bottle of oil and one pint vinegar till it is as smooth as butter, add one heaping teaspoonful cayenne pepper, three teaspoonfuls celery-seed rubbed fine in a mortar, and one large mango cut fine, put in stuffing and all.

Have ready as much celery as you have fowl, cut fine, mix meat and celery carefully together, and pour the dressing over all.—Mrs. E. I.

Chicken Salad.

One large chicken boiled; when cold remove the skin and chop into a dish, over which throw a towel slightly dipped in cold water to keep the meat moist. When the celery is cut, put between clean cloths to dry.

Take one tablespoonful best mustard, the yolk of one raw egg, which drop into a dish large enough to hold all the dressing; beat well for ten minutes and slowly add to the mustard one tablespoonful vinegar.

When well mixed add three-eighths bottle of oil, a drop at a time, always stirring the same way.

Rub the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs very smooth and stir in half a teacup of vinegar. Pour this mixture to the mustard, oil, etc., stirring together as lightly as possible.

Add to the chicken one pint chopped celery, a little yellow pickle, and half a loaf of stale bread crumbs, and the oil taken 195 from the water in which the chicken has boiled. Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour on the dressing just before serving. If the salad is kept too cool the dressing will curdle.—Mrs. E.

Chicken Salad.

Mix smoothly with the oil and then add the vinegar.—Miss N.

Chicken Salad for Thirty-five People.

Add slowly, beating all the time, one large sized bottle of best salad oil. Lastly, add two-thirds teacup of vinegar.—Mrs. C. C. McP.

Chicken Salad.

196

Boil the eggs hard, mash the yolks, put in the seasoning with a little vinegar.

Chop up the whites of the eggs, the pickle, chicken, cabbage and celery—then mix. If liked, add a little olive oil.—Mrs. O. B.

Chicken Salad.

Boil a chicken; while warm, mince it, taking out the bones. Put it in a stewpan with boiling water. Then stir together until smooth, one quarter of a pound butter, one teaspoonful flour and yolk of one raw egg; all of which add to the chicken one half at a time, stirring all well together.

Season with salt and pepper.

Let it simmer ten minutes; then add half a gill of Madeira wine, and send to the table while hot.—Mrs. P.

Celery Salad.

Rub the yolks of eggs smooth, then add the oil, mustard, etc., the vinegar last. Cut the celery into pieces half an inch long. Set all in a cool place.

Just before serving sprinkle over a little salt and black pepper, then pour over the dressing.

If you have any cold fowl, chicken, or turkey left from dinner, chop it up and mix it with some of the above—equal proportions of both—and it will make a delicious salad; or a few oysters left in the tureen will be a great addition to the celery salad.—Mrs. S. T. 197

Tomato Salad.

First rub the yolks of eggs smooth, adding mustard, oil, sugar, salt, pepper and beaten raw egg—then the vinegar. The tomatoes should be peeled and sliced and set in the refrigerator—the dressing also.

Just before serving, cover the tomatoes with ice broken up; sprinkle over a little salt and pour over the dressing.—Mrs. S. T.

A Salad of Turnips.

Potato Salad.

Boil your potatoes very carefully; or, rather, steam them until very dry and mealy; cut in slices and prepare a dressing of egg, onion, mustard, oil, pepper, salt, and vinegar, and pour over them.—W. S. S.

Veal and Potato Salad.

Take equal proportions of cold veal and boiled Irish potatoes.

Shred the veal and cut up the potatoes. Season with a little butter or oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, celery, and mustard.—Mrs. R. 198

Irish Potato Salad.

Cut ten or twelve cold boiled potatoes into small pieces. Put into a salad bowl with—

Stir all well that they may be thoroughly mixed; it should be made several hours before putting on the table.

Throw in bits of pickle, cold fowl, a garnish of grated cracker, and hard-boiled eggs.—Mrs. C. V. McG., Alabama.

Potato Salad.

To one quart potatoes mashed fine and rubbed through a colander:

Cream all together and beat until light.

Rub the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs with—

Then chop the whites of the eggs very fine and mix in.

Put a layer of the potatoes in the salad-bowl and with a spoon put the dressing over in spots. Another layer of potatoes, then the dressing, and so on, putting the dressing on top. Garnish with curled parsley, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Lettuce Salad.

Take two large lettuces, after removing the outer leaves and rinsing the rest in cold water, cut lengthwise in four or six pieces, rub into a bowl and sprinkle over them— 199

Stir the salad lightly in the bowl until well mixed. Tarragon and chevies, or a little water or mustard cress.—Mrs. R.

Slaw.

When boiled add one-half cup of strong vinegar; stir well and pour over the cabbage.—Mrs. E. T.

Cold Slaw.

Wash well and shred fine, a firm white cabbage.

Boil one teacup vinegar.

One tablespoonful butter in a little flour, stir this in the vinegar.

Beat the yolks of four eggs till light and stir also in the mixture, just before taking from the fire.

Add mustard, pepper, and salt, to the butter and flour, before putting in the vinegar.

Pour all, when hot, over the cabbage and set away to cool.—Mrs. M. C.

Cold Slaw.

Wash your cabbage and lay in cold water some hours. Have a seasoning of egg, mustard, oil, pepper, salt, celery-seed, and vinegar, and pour over it. In winter the slaw will keep a day or two.—Mrs. W. 200

Lettuce Dressed.

Take well headed lettuce, chop it fine and pour over a dressing made of salt and pepper, mustard, hard-boiled egg, and olive oil.

Cream the yolk of the egg and mustard together with a little oil, until quite smooth. Add vinegar if desired.—Mrs. R.

Lettuce Dressed.

SAUCES.

Sauce for Salad or Fish.

Yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, mashed well with mixed mustard, pepper, salt, three tablespoonfuls salad oil, three of vinegar and one of tomato catsup.—Mrs. J. H. F.

Fish Sauce.

Six hard-boiled eggs, chopped and stirred into two cups of drawn butter.

Let it simmer, then add one tablespoonful of pepper-sauce, two tablespoonfuls minced parsley, a little thyme, and salt to the taste.

Pour over the fish and slice a lemon over all.—Mrs. S. T. 201

Sauce for Fish.

Yolks of three eggs, one tablespoonful vinegar, half a tablespoonful fresh butter, a little salt.

To be stirred over a slow fire till it thickens, it must only be warm or it will curdle and spoil.—Mrs. S.

Sauce for Cod's Head.

Take a lobster, stick a skewer through the tail, to keep the water out; throw a handful of salt in the water. When it boils put in the lobster and boil half an hour; pick off the spawns, if any, and pound them very fine in a marble mortar and put them in one-half pound drawn butter. Take the meat out of the lobster, pull it in bits and put it in your butter; add:

Boil them one minute; then take out the lemon and horseradish, and serve it up in the sauce-boat.—Mrs. R.

Dutch Sauce for Fish.

Put all the ingredients, except the lemon juice, into a stewpan; set it over the fire and keep constantly stirring. When it is sufficiently thick, take it off, as it should not boil. If, however, it happens to curdle, strain the sauce through a taminy, add the lemon juice, and serve. Tarragon vinegar may be used instead of plain, and by many is considered far preferable.—Mrs. C. 202

Maître d'Hôte Sauce.

It is nothing more than butter-sauce made thus:

Beat with an egg-whip while simmering. Good for almost any dish of fish or meat.—Mrs. S. T.

Fish Sauce.

Pepper, salt, and mustard to the taste. Stew till well mixed.—Mrs. J. D.

Anchovy Sauce.

Soak eight anchovies in cold water, for several hours; cut up and stew in a very little water for twenty minutes; strain into one teacup drawn butter.

Pour all in a saucepan and set it on the fire. Beat it up until it comes to a boil; pour into a sauce tureen. Add a little cayenne pepper; one squeeze of lemon.—Mrs. S. T.

Horseradish Sauce.

Celery sauce is good made in the same way, by adding butter instead of oil, and celery instead of horseradish.—Mrs. P. W. 203

Mushroom Sauce, for Fried or Broiled Fish.

Get fine-grown fresh gathered mushrooms; break them up and sprinkle salt over them. Let them lie for the juice to run out, stirring them often. When the juice has been extracted, strain it, boil well with a little ginger and pepper.

Do not season much, as it is the mushroom flavor to be desired. You can add seasoning as required; all necessary to keep it is enough salt and pepper.

This makes a nice flavoring for any sauce or gravy mixed with soy or lemon pickle.—Mrs. C. C.

Pepper Vinegar.

Fill a quart bottle with small peppers, either green or ripe; put in two tablespoonfuls sugar, and fill with good cider vinegar.

Invaluable in seasoning sauces, and good to eat with fish or meat. If small peppers cannot be obtained, cut up large pods instead.—Mrs. S. T.

Tomato Sauce.

Scald and peel six large ripe tomatoes; chop them up and stew slowly. Cream one tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful sugar, one tablespoonful flour, together.

When the tomatoes are thoroughly done, and reduced to a fine pulp, add pepper and salt.

Stir the butter, sugar, and flour in. Let boil up and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Mushroom Sauce.

Roll a piece of butter as large as an egg into one heaping teaspoonful sifted flour; stir in two tablespoonfuls warm water; let it simmer. Pour in one teacup cream, and stir; throw in one pint young mushrooms, washed, picked, and skinned; add pepper, salt, another small piece of butter.

Let it boil up once, shaking the pan well, and serve.—Mrs. S. T. 204

Onion Sauce.

Boil four or five large white onions in salt and water; change the water, then drain them. Chop fine and boil with one teacup new milk, salt, pepper, and one tablespoonful pepper sauce.

Add drawn butter and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Nasturtium Sauce.

This is made by stirring into one teacup drawn butter, three tablespoonfuls pickled nasturtiums, adding a little salt and pepper. Simmer gently and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Apple Sauce.

Pare and slice some tart apples; stew until tender in a very little water, then reduce to a smooth pulp. Stir in sugar and butter to the taste, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a little nutmeg.—Mrs. S. T.

Mint Sauce.

Mix ten minutes before using.—Mrs. S. T.

Sauces especially suitable for Fowls, though they may be used for any kind of Meats.

White Sauce for Fowls.

Take the neck, gizzard, liver, and feet of fowls, with a piece of mutton or veal, if you have any, and boil in one quart water with a few whole peppers, and salt, till reduced to one pint; then thicken with a quarter pound butter mixed with flour and boil it five or six minutes.

Mix the yolks of two eggs with one teacup good cream; put it in the saucepan, shaking over the fire till done.—Mrs. Dr. S. 205

Sauce for Boiled Poultry.

One stick of white, blanched celery, chopped very small; put it in a saucepan with one quart milk and a few black peppercorns; let it boil gently, till reduced to one pint. Keep stirring the celery up with the milk until it is in a pulp. Thicken the whole with the yolk of one fresh egg well beaten, and half a teacup of fresh cream.—Mrs. S.

Celery Sauce.

Chop celery into pieces half an inch long, enough to fill one pint measure, and stew in a small quantity of water till tender. Add one tablespoonful pepper vinegar, a little salt and pepper; pour in one teacup cream or milk, then add a sufficient quantity of drawn butter.—Mrs. S. T.

Egg Sauce.

Cut up six hard-boiled eggs, with salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in a sufficient quantity of drawn butter, adding, just as you serve, minced onion, parsley, and thyme.—Mrs. S. T.

Asparagus Sauce.

Parboil one bunch of asparagus, first scraping. When nearly done, drain and cut in small pieces. Stew in a teacup of milk, with pepper and salt. When done pour into drawn butter, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Oyster Sauce.

Scald one pint large fresh oysters, just enough to plump them; adding one tablespoonful pepper vinegar, a little black pepper and salt.

Pour into a sufficient quantity of drawn butter and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Drawn Butter.

Take one-quarter pound of best fresh butter, cut it up and mix with it two teaspoonfuls flour; when thoroughly mixed, put it into a saucepan and add to it four tablespoonfuls cold water. 206

Cover the pan and set it in a kettle of boiling water, shake it round continually, always moving it the same way. When the butter is entirely melted and begins to simmer, then let it rest until it boils up. In melting butter for pudding, some substitute milk for water.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Drawn Butter.

Cream together one-quarter pound fresh butter, with two heaping teaspoonfuls sifted flour; add to this six teaspoonfuls water.

Put it in a small tin saucepan and set it in a vessel of boiling water, until it begins to simmer, shaking it often.—Mrs. S. T.

Drawn Butter.

Rub a piece of butter in a little flour, add two or three tablespoonfuls boiling water.

Shake continually over the fire without letting it boil, till it thickens.—Mrs. P. W.

Cranberry Sauce.

Stew two quarts cranberries; putting only water enough to keep from sticking to the bottom of kettle. Keep covered until nearly done, then stir in one quart white sugar, and boil until thick. The color is finer when the sugar is added just before the sauce is done.—Mrs. S. T.

Mushroom Sauce.

Wash and pick one pint young mushrooms, rub them with salt to take off the tender skin. Put them in a saucepan with a little salt, nutmeg, one blade of mace, one pint cream, lump of butter rubbed in flour.

Boil them up and stir till done, then pour it round the chickens. Garnish with lemon.—Mrs. C. C. 207

SALAD DRESSINGS.

Take the yolk of one raw egg; add to that one-half tablespoonful of either dry or thickly mixed mustard, salt and pepper to your taste.

When well mixed together, add sweet oil in very small quantities, at a time, stirring briskly until it is very thick. Then add a little vinegar, but not sufficient to make the dressing thin. These are the proportions for the yolk of one raw egg, sufficient for four people. The quantity of eggs, mustard, etc., must be increased in proportion to the quantity of dressing needed.—Mrs. McK.

Salad Dressing.

Set it in a bowl on top of the tea-kettle and stir until as thick as cream.—Mrs. W. H. M.

Dressing.

To one tumblerful vinegar, warmed in a stewpan, add four beaten eggs; stir for a few minutes till cooked like boiled custard. Then throw in:

Stir well and pour out. Will keep for weeks. Good for chicken salad.—Mrs. W.

Dressing for Salad.

Turkey is more economical and better for salad than chicken. To one turkey, weighing about nine pounds, allow nine eggs: 208

This will last a week.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Dressing for Chicken Salad.

To four chickens, the yolks of twelve eggs mashed very smooth with:

Lettuce Dressing.

Dressing for Cabbage.

Sana Mayonnaise.

The yolks (raw) of two eggs.

Stir in oil, a drop at a time, until it begins to thicken, and then pour it in slowly still, but in greater quantities, stirring continually. Add cayenne pepper, salt, and vinegar to the taste.

If mustard is liked in the sauce, it must be mixed with the yolks of the eggs before dropping the oil.

This sauce should be nearly as thick as soft butter. It makes a delicious dressing for lettuce, celery, cold poultry or game; and also for cold boiled fish or pickled salmon. If used with the latter, the salmon should be placed in the centre of the dish and covered thickly with sauce.

Boiled chestnuts, peeled, small pickled onions, sliced cucumbers, lettuce, etc., are a great addition, and should be used to dress or garnish the dish, but not be mixed with the salmon.—Mrs. E. P., Cin.

Salad for Slaw.

Stir well over the fire until as thick as custard. Let it cool and pour over cabbage.—Mrs. R. A. 210

Dressing for Cold Slaw.

Mix together the butter, salt, pepper, sugar, mustard; add the eggs last.

Have the vinegar boiling and pour it on, stirring all the time. Then pour it back in the saucepan and boil a few minutes. Pour on the slaw when cold.—Miss N.

Lettuce Dressing.

After mixing all well together, except the vinegar, let it come to a boil. When cold, beat well, add the vinegar, salt, pepper, and made mustard to suit the taste. Keep corked in a bottle.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Salad Dressing.

Put one tumbler vinegar, and one lump butter, size of an egg, on to boil.

Beat up the yolks of three or four eggs, and pour the boiling vinegar over them, stirring all the time; return it to the fire and continue to stir, until it thickens like custard. When it is perfectly cold add one tumblerful cream, into which has been mixed one tablespoonful salt, one tablespoonful mustard, two spoonfuls sugar, and one spoonful bruised celery-seed.

Bottle the dressing and it will keep for a month.—Mrs. P. 211

Celery Dressing.

Boil and use cold.—Mrs. I. D.

To Dress Celery.

Beat light the yolk of one egg; add:

BRUNSWICK STEWS, GUMBO, AND SIDE DISHES.

Brunswick Stew.

If served at two o'clock, put on the shank as for soup, at the earliest possible hour; then about twelve o'clock take the shank out of the soup and shred and cut all of the meat as fine 212 as you can, carefully taking out bone and gristle, and then return it to the soup-pot and add all of the vegetables; the bread and two slices of middling are an improvement to it.

Season with salt and pepper to the taste; and when ready to serve, drop into the tureen two or three tablespoonfuls butter.

This makes a tureen and about a vegetable-dish full.—Mrs. R. P.

Brunswick Stew.

About four hours before dinner, put on two or three slices of bacon, two squirrels or chickens, one onion sliced, in one gallon water. Stew some time, then add one quart peeled tomatoes, two ears of grated corn, three Irish potatoes sliced, and one handful butter-beans, and part pod of red pepper.

Stew altogether about one hour, till you can take out the bones. When done, put in one spoonful bread crumbs and one large spoonful butter.—Mrs. M. M. D.

Brunswick Stew.

Take one chicken or two squirrels, cut them up and put one-half gallon water to them. Let it stew until the bones can be removed. Add one-half dozen large tomatoes, one-half pint butter-beans, and corn cut from half a dozen ears, salt, pepper, and butter as seasoning.—Mrs. I. H.

Brunswick Stew.

Take two chickens or three or four squirrels, let them boil in water. Cook one pint butter-beans, and one quart tomatoes; cook with the meat. When done, add one dozen ears corn, one dozen large tomatoes, and one pound butter.

Take out the chicken, cut it into small pieces and put back; cook until it is well done and thick enough to be eaten with a fork.

Season with pepper and salt.—Mrs. R. 213

Gumbo.

Put one tablespoonful lard into a pan. Slice two onions and fry them in it a few minutes. Have ready a chicken cut up, and fry it in the lard till it slightly browns, also one or two slices of bacon or pork, and three or four bunches parsley cut up.

Have a heaping plateful of ochra cut up; put that in the pan and let it wilt a few minutes (you must stir it), then add three or four tomatoes cut up. Then put the whole into a stewpan, pour hot water to it, not quite as much as for soup. Let it boil until quite thick. Season with pepper and salt, also red or green pod pepper.

It must be dished like soup and eaten with rice; the rice to be boiled dry and served in a vegetable dish; put one or two spoonfuls in a plate and pour the gumbo over it.—Mrs. G.

Gumbo.

Cut up two chickens, fry slightly with a little onion, and a few slices pickled pork.

Put in three or four quarts boiling water, together with pepper and salt, eighteen okras, one-half peck cut up tomatoes.

Stew one hour and a half.—Mrs. D. R.

Gumbo.

Take one chicken, frying size, cut up in hot lard; add one quart ochra chopped fine, and one good sized onion chopped fine, when the chicken begins to brown, stirring all the time until it ceases to rope and is a nice brown.

Then put it into a deep vessel and pour on enough boiling water to make soup for ten or twelve persons, adding two or three tomatoes, skinned and sliced, two ears of tender corn, salt, and black and red pepper to the taste.

Let the whole boil one hour.

Boil rice very dry and serve with it.—Mrs. P. McG. 214

Gumbo Filit à la Creole.

Put into a deep pot one tablespoonful lard, when hot put in one tablespoonful flour, stir in until brown, then slice one large onion and fry it till brown; skim out the onion and do not put it back until a chicken cut up in small pieces has been fried. Stir it all the time. Have a kettle of boiling water near by; pour one or two cups of water on the chicken, stir well and let it simmer slowly. Add:

Put in two quarts of water, boiling, and let it boil gently two hours. Have ready the liquor from one quart oysters, put that in with the water; put the oysters in later, allowing them time to cook. When ready to serve stir in one tablespoonful filit, boil up once. To be eaten with rice cooked dry.

N. B. Filit is only pulverized sassafras leaves, dried and sifted; you can make it yourself.—Mrs. S., La.

Veal Pâtés.

Hash veal and pork together, cutting very fine. Then mix seasoning very thoroughly and form into oval shapes. Put a small piece of butter and bread crumbs over the top, while in the baking dish; half a teacup water, and baste frequently while baking. In moulding it and when mixing it keep wetting 215 the hands in cold water, also wet the dish when you begin moulding it in shape.—Mrs. J. P. H.

Hashed Mutton.

Cut cold mutton into very thin slices, and make a gravy by boiling the bones for two hours with a little onion, pepper and salt.

Strain this gravy and thicken it with a little flour, adding a small amount of tomato or mushroom gravy to flavor it, and a small piece of butter. When the gravy is of a proper consistency, put in the slices of mutton, and let it simmer slowly for ten minutes. Serve on a platter with parsley and sippets of bread.

Hashed Mutton.

Fry in a saucepan three small onions, and three small slices of bacon or ham, until they are brown; then add a little more than half a pint water, and thicken it with flour. Next strain it and add it to the meat with a little sauce; pepper and salt to the taste.

It will take about an hour to hash.

Mutton Hash.

Cut the meat up fine, putting the bones on to stew in water; then take out the bones and put in the hash, with pepper, salt and gravy left from the day before.

Let these stew at least half an hour. Put in one large tablespoonful browned flour. Add—

If a small dish, proportion the seasoning.

Beef, goose, and duck hash can be made the same way.—Mrs. R. 216

Hotch Potch.

During the summer season get lamb chops, which half fry. Cut up cabbage, lettuce, turnips, onions and any other vegetables, which boil, with seasoning of pepper, salt, etc.; one hour before dinner, put in the lamb chops, with some green peas; boil the potatoes separately.

Scotch Broth.

Put the mutton in the pan and cover with two quarts cold water, add the vegetables and not quite one teacup rice; one small carrot and a little celery added will give a nice flavor.

When it boils, skim carefully, cover the pan, and let it simmer for two hours. Of course, the vegetables must be cut small.

Meat Loaf.

Chop fine whatever cold meat you may have, fat and lean together; add pepper and salt, one finely chopped onion, two slices of bread which have been soaked in milk, and one egg.

Mix well together and bake in a form. This makes an admirable tea or breakfast dish.—Mrs. J.

Black Stew.

Take any kind of fresh meat that has been boiled or roasted, cut up enough to make a dish; put one tablespoonful currant jelly, one tablespoonful of wine, one large spoonful butter, one-half onion chopped, pepper and salt.

Stir all together fifteen minutes. Pickle cut up is an improvement, and brown sugar can be used instead of currant jelly.—Mrs. J. T.

A nice Side-dish.

Make a mince meat of turkey; after it is stewed put boiled 217 rice around the dish and set it in an oven to brown. Then garnish with hard boiled eggs.—Mrs. E. I.

Meat Croquettes.

Any nice cold meat when nicely minced will make good croquettes, especially veal. Take about one-quarter loaf bread, well soaked in water and squeezed dry; mix with the minced meat about one dessertspoonful chopped parsley, one dessertspoonful ground ginger, three eggs, a pinch of ground mace, pepper and salt, roll them into egg-shaped balls; have ready two or three eggs well beaten, in one plate, and flour in another; first roll in the flour, then in the egg, fry in boiling drippings; serve hot.—Mrs. T.

Croquettes.

Take cold fowl or fresh meat of any kind, with slices of fat ham; chop together very fine, add one-half as much stale bread grated, salt and pepper, grated nutmeg, one tablespoonful catsup, one teaspoonful made mustard, and lump of butter size of an egg. Mix well together till it resembles sausage meat; mould them into cakes, dip into well beaten yolk of an egg, cover thickly with grated bread. Fry a light brown.—Mrs. F. D.

Croquettes.

Boil or roast a turkey, chop the meat as fine as possible. Mix eight beaten eggs with the meat, add one quart of milk, one-quarter pound butter, salt and pepper, a little mace.

Stew all together for a few minutes, then take it off to cool and make into little cone shapes. Roll each one into pounded crackers and drop in boiling lard till a light brown.—Mrs. M. E. L. W., Md.

Chicken Croquettes.

Cold chicken, chopped parsley, a little cream, grated crackers, lemon flavoring, salt and pepper. Cut chicken very fine and season with salt and pepper; add chopped parsley, moisten with 218 cream sufficient to make paste; mould in a wineglass with grated cracker or bread crumbs on outside. Fry quickly in hot lard. Brown lightly. Lemon flavoring can be added at will.—Mrs. G. P.

Potato Croquettes.

Peel, boil, and mash one quart potatoes, mix with yolks of four eggs and some milk.

Set on the fire, stir two minutes; set on a dish to cool or leave overnight. In the morning add a little milk, mix thoroughly, roll in bread crumbs; divide in cakes and fry in lard. Take off when done; drain, dish, and serve immediately.—Mrs. E.

Croquette Balls.

Chop up one quart of any cold meat very fine, to which add one pint stale bread. Mix up one egg, mustard, pepper, salt and butter, and pour over the bread and meat; roll into balls, which must be rolled into the white of an egg, then into bread crumbs, and bake a nice brown. This is a nice side-dish for breakfast or tea.—Mrs. S. G.

Croquettes.

Have some nice pieces of veal or fowl, chopped fine, season with nutmeg, pepper and salt to your taste.

Boil one-half pint milk with one small garlic. Thicken with two tablespoonfuls flour, and one tablespoonful butter.

Let it remain till thoroughly done: stir in the meat and then form the croquettes. Roll in bread crumbs, then the yolk of an egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry a nice brown.—Miss E. P.

Croquettes.

Take cold meat or fresh meat, with grated ham, fat and lean, chopped very fine—add one-half as much stale bread grated, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, one tablespoonful catsup, a lump of butter.

Knead all well together—if not soft enough add cream or 219 gravy. Make in cakes the shape of a pear; dip them in the yolk of an egg beaten, roll in dried bread crumbs, and fry a light brown.—Miss M. C. L.

Sausage Croquettes.

Add powdered cracker or stale bread crumbs sufficient to thicken, while on the fire. Roll in oblong shapes and fry in lard. Roll the balls in cracker dust before frying.—Mrs. R. K. M.

Sausage Croquettes.

One pound sausage meat, two eggs, well beaten, and bread crumbs well minced.

Make the meat into cakes, then roll in the beaten egg, and afterwards in bread crumbs. Fry in pan and serve hot. Cold ham served in the same way is delicious; mince it very fine.—Mrs. G.

Forcemeat Balls.

One pound of fresh suet, one ounce ready dressed veal, or chicken chopped fine, bread crumbs, a little shallot or onion, salt and pepper (white), nutmeg; parsley and thyme, finely shred.

Beat as many eggs, yolks and whites separately, as will make the above ingredients into a moist paste; roll into small balls, and fry in boiling lard. When of a light brown, take out with a perforated skimmer. Forcemeat balls made in this way are remarkably light, but being somewhat greasy, some persons prefer them with less suet and eggs.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Mince with Bread Crumbs.

Chop up any kind of cold meat very fine, place in a baking dish a layer of bread crumbs, seasoned with lump of butter, black pepper, and salt. 220

Then a layer of minced meat, and so on with alternate layers, till the dish is filled. Pour over all a cup of rich cream, and be sure to have enough lumps of butter to make it rich. Bake until it is a good brown on top.—Mrs. C. M. A.

Mince with Potatoes.

Chop fine any cold meat; parboil enough Irish potatoes to be two-thirds as many as there is chopped meat. Mix all together with one raw egg, one onion, black pepper, and salt.

Fry with butter, either in large or small cakes in a pan, the cakes rather larger than sausages. If you have cold ham, it is an advantage to add some of it to the mince; and the whole is very nice made of cold pickled beef.—Mrs. C. M. A.

Pot Pourri.

Take any kind of fresh meat chopped fine, and put into a stewpan with a little warm water, pepper and salt, and chopped onion. Cook twenty minutes; then put into a baking-dish with an equal quantity of bread crumbs, and pour over a cup of sweet cream. Bake to a light brown.—Mrs. F. D.

Hash.

One and one-half teacup of boiling water must be poured into a saucepan, mix one heaping spoonful flour with one tablespoonful cold water, stir it in and boil three minutes. Then add two teaspoonfuls salt, half a small teaspoonful pepper, and butter size of an egg.

After removing all tough, gristly pieces from the cold cooked meat, chop it fine with some boiled potatoes. Put them in the dressing, heat through, then serve. It injures meat to cook it again, making it hard and unpalatable. Should you have any cold gravy left, use it; in that case you will require less butter, salt and pepper. You can serve it with buttered toast underneath, or you may set it into the oven to brown on top, 221 or drop eggs into a skillet of boiling salt water, and when cooked, place on top of hash.—Mrs. J.

Cassa Rolls.

Boil some Irish potatoes until quite done, mash them smooth and add an equal quantity of salt meat chopped fine. Mix with this several well beaten eggs, one spoonful butter, some pepper and salt.

Bake in little cakes like potato cakes.—Mrs. F. D.

Ragoût Souse.

Split four feet once, fry with one or two dozen large oysters, a light brown. Lay them in a stewpan over the liquor from the oysters, or some beef or veal gravy; add one large spoonful butter rolled in flour, one dozen allspice, beaten, one glass red wine, one glass walnut catsup, and pepper.

Stew gently until dinner, skimming off any grease. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs. Mace or cloves may be used instead of allspice.—Mrs. B.

Breakfast Dish.

Take the remnant of any cold meats, either boiled or roasted. Prepare it, as if for chicken salad, in fine shreds. Mix with potatoes mashed fine, and add two well-beaten eggs.

Season with butter, pepper, and other spices if you like.

Make it into a loaf and bake it brown, or fry it in cakes if preferred.—Mrs. J. F. G.

Mock Terrapin.

Mince cold veal very fine, sprinkle with salt and cayenne. Mash the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, three tablespoonfuls cooking wine, three tablespoonfuls cream or milk, a little nutmeg and a little mixed mustard, a large lump of butter with a little flour rubbed in.

Let all steam five minutes, and serve hot on toast.

A nice relish for breakfast or lunch.—Miss E. S., La. 222

Breakfast Dish.

One pound pork sausage, one tablespoonful pounded crackers, two well beaten eggs. Work thoroughly together, and make into cakes. These will be rather soft, but dropping each one into a plate of pounded or grated cracker will enable you to handle them. Put into a hot frying-pan. No lard is to be used, but keep the pan covered while frying.—Miss E.

Baked Hash.

Take cold beef or veal, chop the meat very fine, put it in a pan with some water; add salt, pepper, butter and bread crumbs to taste. Season with a little chopped onion, parsley and thyme, all minced fine, half a cup milk or cream with one egg beaten. Grate some crumbs over the top, and bake till brown.—Mrs. J. H. F.

Sandwiches.

Grate one quarter pound cold ham in a bowl, with one tablespoonful chopped pickle, one teaspoonful mustard, a little black pepper, six dessertspoonfuls butter; put in a bowl and stir quickly until a cream.

Add the ham and seasoning, mix all together well. Have slices of light bread and spread the mixture on each side of each slice.

Cold grated tongue, instead of ham, is very nice spread on the inside of biscuit.

Sandwiches.

Mince ham and tongue together, and spread between buttered bread. Add a little French mustard to the mince if liked.—Mrs. R.

Pillau.

Take cold fresh meat, either chicken or veal, and cut it up quite small after taking off the outer skin either fat or gristle. Mix it well with some cold rice, then stir this in a batter made 223 of two eggs well beaten, and about one quart milk. Season with salt, pepper, and butter.

Bake in a deep dish.—Mrs. A. B.

Calf's Head Pudding.

Skin the head, take out the brains. Thoroughly wash, then soak the head one night to extract the blood. Put on in cold water and boil five or six hours, or until the bones are ready to drop out. Pick it very fine, taking all the bones out; then add the liquor in which it was boiled, one tablespoonful butter, four eggs well beaten; one small piece of lemon or pickle; one onion, if liked; pepper and salt.

Lay the brains all over the top and bake. Bread crumbs are an improvement. The liquor seasoned makes excellent soup.—Miss F. E.

Liver Pudding.

Take two hog's heads, clean nicely; two livers, two lights, and cut all the good part off half a dozen milts; half a dozen sweetbreads; half a dozen kidneys, split open.

Put all together in a tub of salt and water; let them soak all night; take them out next morning, put them in a kettle with two slices of fat pork. Let all boil until done, then take it up and let it cool a little and grind it in a sausage mill, and while grinding, skim some of the grease off of the kettle and pour it into the mill. After it is ground, season with black pepper, salt, and onions chopped fine, to suit the taste.

If it is not rich enough, boil more middling or pork and mix with the meat; if stuffed, boil again a few minutes.

Pig's Head Pudding.

Boil head and liver until perfectly done, cut up as for hash. Put it on again in warm water and season highly with butter, pepper, salt, and a little chopped onion.

After well seasoned, put in a baking-dish with one egg beaten 224 light. Bake two hours, and lay over hard-boiled eggs sliced, and strips of pastry across the top.

Calf's Head Pudding can be made in the same way.—Mrs. Col. S.

Potato Pie.

The remains of cold mutton, either roasted or boiled, cut into nice slices, three hard-boiled eggs, also sliced, and two or three potatoes, seasoning of pepper, salt, and pounded mace to your taste.

All laid alternately in a baking-dish and filled nearly up with any gravy or stock at hand; cover with a potato crust, full two inches thick, and bake until the potatoes are a nice brown color. If the potatoes are scratched over with a fork, it gives them a pretty, rough appearance. To make the crust, boil and mash the potatoes with a little butter and milk and a small quantity of salt.—Mrs. R. P.

A Nice Pie.

One pound steak, three soft crackers rolled, one small piece of butter, two tablespoonfuls of water, salt and pepper. Bake in a deep pan.—Mrs. R.

Potato Pie.

A savory potato pie is made thus: A layer of mashed potatoes placed in a pie dish and then slices of any cold meat (if chicken or veal, slices of tongue or ham may be added), and herbs, pepper and salt, sprinkled over to taste. Continue these layers alternately till the dish is full; the potatoes must well cover the top, which should have some butter added, and be brushed over with the yolk of an egg, and put into the oven till done through. A little butter on each layer is needed if the meat is not fat, and it should not be too fat.—Mrs. S.

Crumb Pie.

Mince any cold meat very finely, season it to taste, and put it into a pie dish; have some finely grated bread crumbs, with a 225 little salt, pepper, and nutmeg; and pour into the dish any gravy that is at hand. Cover over with a thick layer of bread crumbs and put small pieces of butter over top. Place in the oven till a fine brown. Send to the table hot.—Mrs. W.

Haggis.

Cut cold beef in pieces and mix with mashed potatoes; fill a baking-dish and season with butter, pepper, and salt. Bake and serve hot.

Cold Chicken with Vinegar.

Cut up the chicken in fine pieces and crack the bones. Season with salt and pepper; put it in a deep baking plate with a lump of butter, and one tablespoonful vinegar. Cover it with hot water. Put a plate over it and stew on a stove or over hot embers. Add one heaping teacup chopped celery to the mixture before cooking.—Mrs. A. P.

Devilled Cold Chicken.

Take the legs and wings of any cold fowl.

Dress with pepper, salt, mustard, and butter; then broil.

Giblet Pie.

Made as chicken pie, adding livers of chicken or pigeon, which have been boiled in the water left from cooking; celery and sweet herbs. Season with mushroom or walnut catsup.—Mrs. T.

Squab Pie.

After the squabs are picked and drawn as a large fowl is for roasting, wash them and put them in a saucepan with a close cover. They should be covered with boiling water and boiled slowly till tender, when a little salt and an onion clove should be added. Then take them out, drain and dry, and put in each squab a teaspoonful of butter, a little pepper, salt, minced parsley and thyme. Then put into the cavity of each squab, a hard-boiled 226 egg. Lay them in a large, round, earthen baking dish, three or four inches deep. Strain over them the liquor in which they were simmered. Add a tablespoonful of butter and a teacup of milk or cream. Sift in two tablespoonfuls of cracker crumbs not browned, a tablespoonful of minced parsley and thyme, and a little salt. Put in a few slips of pastry. Cover with a rich crust and bake.

The same recipe will answer for robins, except that the eggs must be chopped, instead of being placed whole in the cavity of the bird.—Mrs. S. T.

Beef Cakes.

Chop pieces of roast beef very fine. Mix up grated bread crumbs, chopped onions, and parsley; season with pepper and salt, moisten with a little dripping or catsup.

Cold ham or tongue may be added to improve it.

Make in broad, flat cakes, and spread a coat of mashed potatoes on the top and bottom of each. Lay a piece of butter on every cake and put it in an oven to brown.

Other cold meats may be prepared in the same way for a breakfast dish.—Mrs. D.

Fish and Potatoes.

Boil salmon or other fish; mash up boiled Irish potatoes; chop yolks of hard boiled eggs.

Mix all together with butter; make very hot, and keep it so at table.—Mrs. R.

Beefsteak and Potatoes.

Cut up in a stewpan, with cold water, and stew till well cooked, the steak you will use; mash some potatoes with creamed butter, pepper and salt.

Line a baking dish with it and put in the steak, seasoning with butter, pepper, and salt. Bake a little while. 227

Bacon Fraise.

Take a nice piece of middling about six inches square, pare off the skin and cut in small square pieces, then fry it. Make a batter of three pints flour, five eggs, one handful parsley, chopped fine. Beat all light and fry with bacon. Serve hot. This will make two dishes.—Mrs. M. D.

Italian Manner of Cooking Macaroni.

One and a half pound macaroni, parboiled with a little salt, and one clove garlic. One pound of beef chopped fine, lean and fat stewed with one pint tomatoes.

Alternate layers of macaroni and the stewed beef with grated cheese. Add cayenne pepper, salt, butter, and a little wine.

A thick layer of grated cracker crumbs and cheese on top. Serve with a stand of grated Stilton cheese.—Mrs. R. R.

Macaroni.

Break into pieces one inch long and put in the dish you wish to fill, filling it only one-third full. Wash well and boil in a covered stewpan until soft and tender, drain off all the water; cover with this the bottom of a baking dish. Sprinkle over pepper and salt, grated cracker, bits of butter and grated cheese; then another layer of macaroni, etc., in the same order. When the dish is filled, pour over fresh milk until all is barely covered. Sift over pounded cracker and set in the oven. If it becomes too brown, sift over more cracker before serving.—Mrs. S. T.

Macaroni.

Boil one-half pound macaroni in water, with salt, one small onion and two blades mace.

Put in one sweetbread, chopped fine, or the same amount of fresh veal, the nice part being taken.

Boil till tender before taking it up, drain off the water and add one large spoonful butter, one-half pint milk, a quantity of 228 grated cheese; one teaspoonful mustard; two teaspoonfuls black pepper, one pint skinned tomatoes, salt to the taste; one egg, beaten up, is a great improvement.

Butter a deep dish and bake the macaroni a light brown. Have it served with a small bowl of grated cheese, of the best quality, so that each one may add what they like.—Mrs. M. C.

Macaroni.

Parboil enough macaroni to make a dish; lay alternate layers of macaroni, and grated cheese. Season with salt, pepper, and butter; add three eggs, well beaten, and enough milk to fill a dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs over top and bake.—Mrs. R. A.

Macaroni.

To one and one-half pound macaroni, add one pound beef, chopped fine. Make a stew of the beef with one quart water, one clove of garlic, catsup, tomato, or walnut, to suit the taste, one dessertspoonful currant jelly, salt and pepper.

Boil the macaroni; put in a pan a layer of macaroni and a layer of cheese, with plenty of butter, using quarter of a pound of butter for the dish.

Then pour the stew over the top, and bake fifteen minutes.—Miss M. B. B.

To Boil Hominy.

Take two quarts of hominy, wash through several waters until the water is clear; put it on to boil in a pot half full of water, with a plate turned down in the bottom of the pot to prevent its burning. Boil for six hours—do not stir it; when done, take off the vessel and set it aside in a cool place. When it is ready to fry, put a little lard in the pan, let it get hot, and mash in the hominy; then add a little salt. Put it in the pan and press down; let it fry till brown, turning it upside down on the dish.—Mrs. P. W.

Hominy Croquettes.

To one cup cold boiled hominy, add two teaspoonfuls melted 229 butter, and stir it well, adding by degrees one cup milk, till all is made in a soft light paste; adding one well-beaten egg.

Roll into oval balls with floured hands; dip in beaten egg, then roll in cracker crumbs and fry in hot lard.—Mrs. M.

Fried Hominy.

Warm the boiled hominy; add a piece of butter, a little salt, half a pint cream, two eggs, and flour enough to stiffen the mixture. Fry like mashed potatoes.—Mrs. E.

To Boil Hominy.

Soak in hot water the overnight. Next morning wash out in two waters and boil thoroughly. A little milk added to the water whitens and seasons it.—Mrs. W.

To Stew, Fry, or Broil Mushrooms.

After you have peeled them, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put them in a stewpan with a little water and lump of butter. Let them boil fast for ten minutes and stir in a thickening of flour and cream. They may be broiled on a gridiron, and seasoned with butter. Fry them also in butter. The large mushrooms are used for the two latter modes of cooking them.—Mrs. C. C.

Sweetbread and Mushroom Pâtés.

Ten sweetbreads, parboiled, skinned and all the fat removed; cut into small pieces. Add one even teaspoonful salt, one can of French mushrooms. Slice thin, add to juice one teaspoonful salt, one teaspoonful pepper, one saltspoonful powdered mace, lump of butter size of guinea egg.

Simmer slowly twenty minutes. Add sweetbreads dredged with one heaping spoonful corn starch, well mixed in the sweetbread. Let it boil up once, stirring to prevent sticking. Serve in puff paste shapes, hot. A little chopped parsley may be added.—Mrs. R. R. 230

To Stew Mushrooms.

One pint mushroom buttons, three ounces fresh butter, pepper and salt to taste, lemon juice, one teaspoonful flour, cream or milk, a little nutmeg.

Pare the mushrooms, put them into a basin of water with a little lemon juice. Take them from the water, put into a stewpan, with the above ingredients. Cover the pan closely and let them stew gently twenty minutes. If the mushrooms are not perfectly tender, stew them five minutes longer; remove every particle of butter which may be floating on top, and serve.—Mrs. C. C.

Broiled Mushrooms.

Cleanse the large mushrooms by wiping with flannel and a little salt. Cut off stalks and peel the tops; broil them over a clear fire, turning them once. Arrange on a hot dish. Put a small piece of butter on each mushroom, season with pepper and salt; squeeze over them a little lemon juice. Place before the fire, and when the butter is melted, serve quickly.—Mrs. C. C.

Fondée.

Cut the butter and cheese into small pieces and place them in a large bowl with the bread; on this pour scalding milk, after which add the yolks well beaten, also a little salt. Mix well together, cover and place on the back of the range, stirring occasionally, till all is dissolved; when add the whites beaten to a stiff froth. Place in a buttered pie-plate and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. Serve as soon as taken from the stove. Mustard is considered by some an improvement.—Mrs. H. H. S. 231

Welsh Rarebit.

Cut up cheese fine and place in a saucepan with a little butter, add one or two spoonfuls beer, and boil till the cheese is well dissolved. Cut a slice of bread, pour on the cheese; season with pepper, salt, and catsup.—Mrs. S.

Rice and Egg Pâtés.

Mix cold rice with well-beaten eggs, season with pepper, and salt.

Then cook like scrambled egg; don't let the rice burn.

Tongue and Prunes.

Get a fresh beef tongue, parboil and skin it. Add one pound prunes, one pound raisins, one-quarter pound sugar, spices to the taste.

Let it stew until perfectly well cooked.

When nearly done, add one lemon.—Miss M. B. B.

To Stew Dried Apples, Peaches, Quinces, or Pears.

Take three pounds of dried fruit; wash it in lukewarm water, through three or four waters, rubbing it hard. Pour on this five quarts boiling water; boil at least three hours. Just before taking from the fire, add two teacups nice brown sugar. Do not stir, except occasionally, to prevent sticking to the bottom. Try to cook the pieces of fruit separate, except the apples, which run through a colander and season with nutmeg. The other fruits need no seasoning.—Mrs. S. T.

Fried Apples.

Slice apples without peeling; cut and fry some thin slices of breakfast bacon until thoroughly done; remove the slices from the vessel, adding water to the gravy left. Put in apples and fry until done, sweetening to taste.—Mrs. G. B. 232

Spiced Apples.

Boil the sugar, vinegar, and spices together; put in the apples when boiling, and let them remain until tender; then take them out and put them in a jar; boil the syrup down, and pour over them.

Stewed Prunes.

Immediately after breakfast, wash two pounds prunes in several waters, rubbing them in the hands.

Put in a preserving kettle with one gallon boiling water. Simmer three or four hours. Add two teacups light brown sugar and boil till the syrup is thick. Keep closely covered and do not stir, so each prune may be stewed whole. Put in a shallow bowl and set to cool. This amount will make two dishes.

Excellent side dish for winter or spring.—Mrs. S. T.

EGGS.

Properly cooked, eggs are very wholesome and nutritious diet. Always be certain, however, that they are fresh, before attempting to make a dish of them. Some persons use Krepp's family egg-tester, to ascertain if an egg is sound. Full directions, as to the mode of using it, accompany the egg tester; so it is unnecessary to give them here. A simple mode of testing the soundness of an egg, is to put it in water; and if fresh it will sink to the bottom. 233

Boiled Eggs.

Let the water be boiling when you put the eggs in it, and let the eggs boil three minutes after putting them in.—Mrs. S. T.

Soft-boiled Eggs.

Put the eggs in a large tin cup or any tin vessel convenient. Pour boiling water over them, and let them remain near the fire, five minutes. Do not let them boil. Eggs cooked thus are slightly jellied throughout. They can be kept hot without becoming hard.—Mrs. S. T.

Scrambled Eggs.

Beat four eggs very light. Add a teacup milk, thickened with a teaspoonful flour. Have the pan very hot, put in a tablespoonful butter, pour in the eggs, and scramble quickly.—Mrs. E.

Scrambled Eggs.

Wash the pan with hot water and soap. Wipe dry. Grease with a little lard. Break into this the eggs, adding a lump of butter and a little salt. Stir till done.—Mrs. B.

Eggs for Breakfast.

Heat in the oven a common white dish, large enough to hold the number of eggs to be cooked, allowing plenty of room for each. Melt in it a small piece of butter, break the eggs, one at a time, carefully in a saucer, and slip them in the hot dish. Sprinkle over them pepper and salt, and let them cook four or five minutes. It is a great improvement to allow to every two eggs a tablespoonful of cream, adding it when the eggs are first put in.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Egg Cups—A Breakfast Dish.

Boil some eggs perfectly hard. Halve them, take out the yolks, which mix smoothly with some finely chopped or ground ham or fowl, salt and pepper, and a few spoonfuls melted butter 234 or salad oil. Cut a piece off the bottom of each white half, to make them stand, and fill each with a chopped mixture. Make a sauce of sweet cream, boiled within an inner saucepan, and pour over the eggs. Decorate the edges of the dish with sprigs of curled parsley.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Omelette.

Break six eggs in a pan, beat them well together, add half a gill of milk, pepper and salt to suit the taste, and a few sprigs of parsley chopped fine. Beat all well together. Have the cooking-pan hot enough to brown the butter. Put in half a tablespoonful of butter. Pour the mixture in the pan or skillet to cook. When sufficiently done, roll with a spoon and turn into the dish.—Miss E. P.

Omelette.

Boil one pint milk in a shallow vessel.

Beat up four eggs very light; add salt, pepper, and a little flour, making it of the consistency of paste. Put this into the boiling milk. Have a pan well buttered, into which turn the mixture, and set inside an oven to bake a light brown. Serve immediately.—Mrs. J. D.

Omelette.

Fry a light brown in a well buttered pan. Some minced ham or oysters improve the flavor.—Mrs. R.

Omelette.

235

Omelette Soufflé.

Six eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately and very light. Put on the stove a teacup milk with a piece of butter in it the size of a walnut. When the butter is melted, mix in one tablespoonful corn starch. Mix this with the yolks, add salt to the taste, then stir in slowly the whites. Bake in a buttered pudding dish, fifteen minutes, in a quick oven.—Mrs. M. E. L. W.

Mock Omelette.

Two cups bread crumbs soaked all night in one and one-half cup milk. Add, next morning, three eggs, whites lightly stirred in; pepper, one teaspoonful salt.—Mrs. E. W.

Ham Omelette.

Cheese Omelette.

Cook in a frying-pan with butter. Some persons add chopped thyme and parsley.—Mrs. P.

German Omelette.

3 eggs (yolks and whites beaten separately).

Mix thoroughly one-half teacup milk and one teaspoonful of flour. Then add it to the yolks (well beaten) together with a little salt. Pour this mixture into a moderately hot pan, greased with butter. When this is nearly done (which will be in about five minutes), add the whites, stiffly frothed and slightly salted, spreading them over the whole surface. Run a knife carefully around the edges, and turn into a heated dish when done. 236 It is an improvement to mix one-third of the frothed whites with the yolks before pouring into the pan.—Mrs. M. C. C.

Poached Eggs.

Let the eggs be perfectly fresh, and the pan at least two inches deep in boiling water. Break the eggs carefully, just over the water or in a spoon, so that they may be slipped into the water with their shape preserved. Take them up in a large perforated spoon, cover with fresh melted butter and sprinkle with salt—never pepper, as some persons do not use it, and it mars the appearance of the dish.—Mrs. S. T.

Eggs with Toast. (A Spring Dish.)

Cut bread in squares, and toast a light brown. Poach eggs nicely, place each one on a piece of toast. Pour melted butter over them, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Rumble Eggs.

Beat up three eggs with two ounces fresh butter or well washed salt butter. Add a teaspoonful cream or new milk. Put all in a saucepan and stir over the fire five minutes. When, it rises up, dish it immediately on toast.—Mrs. S.

Ham and Eggs.

Slice the ham rather thick. Fry in a hot pan. Before it becomes hard, take from the pan and lay in a dish over a vessel of hot water.

Let the pan remain on the fire, so as to keep the ham gravy hot, that it may cook the eggs nicely when dropped into it. Break the eggs carefully, drop them in whole, and do not let them touch each other. Cook a light brown, not allowing the yolks to get hard. Lay an egg on each slice of meat.—Mrs. S. T. 237

Ham and Egg Pudding. (A Spring Dish.)

Sprinkle some slices of boiled ham (both fat and lean) with pepper, and lay them across a deep dish that has been greased. Then pour the pudding batter over the bacon and bake quickly. Mrs. V. P. M.

Eggs à la Crême.

Six eggs boiled hard and chopped fine, and stale bread. Put in a dish alternate layers of chopped egg and grated bread. When the dish is full, pour on one pint boiling milk seasoned with salt, pepper, and one tablespoonful butter. Bake a light brown.—Miss N.

Baked Eggs for Dinner.

Have ready eight or ten hard-boiled eggs, a cup of light grated bread crumbs, butter, pepper and salt. Place in a buttered pudding dish a layer of sliced eggs, dotted with bits of butter, and sprinkled with salt and pepper; next a layer of bread crumbs, and so on to the top, being careful to let the top layer be of bread crumbs.—Mrs. A. M. D.

Egg Pie.

Take six hard-boiled eggs, slice, season with salt, pepper, and butter, bake in a paste, top and bottom.

Stuffed Eggs.

Boil six eggs very hard. Peel them, and after having sliced a bit off of each end to make them stand well, cut in halves and extract the yolks. Rub up the yolks with a pinch of pepper and salt, melted butter, bread crumbs, and finely chopped celery. Fill in the whites nicely, stand on end in the pan, lay bits of butter on each egg and bake.—Mrs. D. P. 238

VEGETABLES.

If possible, use vegetables gathered early in the morning, with the dew on them. It is even better to gather them late the evening before, with the evening dew on them (setting them in the ice-house or some cool place), than to gather them after the morning sun has grown hot. If you are living in the city, get your vegetables from market as early in the morning as possible.

As soon as gathered or brought from market, all vegetables should be carefully picked over, washed, placed in fresh water, and set in a cool place till the cook is ready to put them on for dinner.

Put them on in water neither cold nor boiling hot. The slow heating that takes place when you put them on in cold water deprives them of their flavor, to some extent, whilst too rapid heating toughens the vegetable fibre.

Just before they are thoroughly done and tender, add sufficient salt to season them. Do not stir them and mutilate them with a spoon, but turn them into a colander and drain. Place them in a hot dish and put a large tablespoonful of fresh butter over them.

In cooking dried peas and beans, as well as corn, put up in brine, always soak them the overnight. These vegetables should first be parboiled, whether they are to be used for soup or for side dishes.

To Boil Green Peas.

Early in the morning, either buy the peas from market or have them gathered in your garden, while the dew is on them. Shell and lay in cold water till half an hour before dinner. Then put in boiling water and boil steadily a half hour. Add a little salt, just before taking from the fire. Drain, add a heaping tablespoonful fresh butter and put in a covered dish.—Mrs. S. T.

To Cook Asparagus.

As soon as you get the asparagus from market or your garden, 239 throw into salt and water, after scraping the outer skin and tying up in bunches. Put on to boil one hour before dinner. After boiling thirty minutes, drain, cut in pieces half an inch long, and put in the saucepan with enough milk to cover them. Just before serving, add one tablespoonful fresh butter, in which one teaspoonful flour has been rubbed. Season with salt and pepper.—Mrs. S. T.

To Cook Asparagus.

Wash well, scrape, cut off the tough end, tie up in bunches and put in boiling water with a spoonful of salt. Boil thirty minutes or till tender. Lay it on slices of toast in a dish, pour melted butter over it, and serve hot.—Mrs. P. W.

To Boil Beets.

Wash them. Do not break or cut the roots. Leave an inch of the tops, so that the color and juice cannot escape. Boil hard for two hours. When tender, slice them, sprinkling over them sugar, then butter and salt to the taste. Sugar is the greatest improvement.—Mrs. S. T.

To Bake Onions.

Boil six onions in water, or milk and water with a seasoning of pepper and salt. When done enough to mash, take them off, mash them with butter, grate bread crumbs over them and set them to bake. Or place them whole in the baking dish with butter and bread crumbs.

To Cook Onions.

Boil till tender, in milk and water. Pour melted butter over them, and serve; or chop up and stew with a little milk, butter, and salt.

To Fry Onions.

Wash and slice them. Chop fine, put in a frying-pan and cover with water. Simmer till the water is dried up, then fry 240 brown, with a large slice of fat pork. Add pepper and salt.—Mrs. S. T.

To Dress Raw Onions.

Slice and chop fine, and put in weak salt and water till just before dinner. Then drain off and dress with half a teacup vinegar, two tablespoonfuls pepper vinegar, two tablespoonfuls made mustard, two tablespoonfuls white sugar, one tablespoonful salt.

Lay a large lump of ice on top, and garnish with curled parsley; which, eaten after onions, is said to remove the scent from the breath.—Mrs. S. T.

Radishes.

As soon as taken from the ground, put in cold water. Then put red and white radishes alternately in a dish of fanciful design, ornamenting with curled parsley, in the centre and around the edges.—Mrs. S. T.

Celery.

Wash carefully and put in cold water to keep crisp till dinner. Remove all the green, as nothing is so ornamental as the pure white leaves of bleached celery. If the ends of the stalks have been broken, split and curl them.—Mrs. S. T.

To Boil Snaps.

Early in the morning, string round, tender snaps. Throw into water and set in a cool place, till an hour before dinner, when they must be drained and thrown into a pot where the bacon is boiling.—Mrs. S. T.

To Boil Snaps Without Bacon.

Prepare as above directed. Boil an hour in hot water, adding a little salt, just before they are done. Drain and serve with pepper, fresh butter and a little cream.—Mrs. S. T.

To Stew Cymlings (or Squash, as it is sometimes called).

Peel and boil till tender. Run through a colander. To a pint 241 of pulp, add one half pint rich milk, a heaping tablespoonful fresh butter and a little salt. Stew till thick like marmalade. Pepper freely, pour over it, if convenient, half teacup cream, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

To Fry Cymlings.

Steam or boil the cymlings (unpeeled), till tender. When cool, slice and butter them, sprinkle pepper and salt and pour over them a spoonful of eggs, lightly beaten. Sift over it cracker, pounded fine, and fry a light yellow brown. Take from the frying pan, prepare the other side the same way. Return to the pan and fry it a pale brown.—Mrs. S. T.

Cymlings Fried with Bacon.

Fry some slices of fat bacon in a pan. Remove the bacon when done and keep hot. Fry in the gravy some cymlings that have been boiled tender and cut in slices. While frying, mash fine with a large spoon, and add pepper and salt. Fry brown, and serve with the bacon, if you like.—Mrs. G. B.

Cymling Fritters.

After boiling and running through a colander, mix with an egg, season with salt, pepper, and butter, make into cakes and fry a light brown.

Cymling Pudding.

Boil young cymlings, mash and run through a colander. Add one teacup of milk, three eggs, a large lump of butter, pepper and salt.

Put in a buttered deep dish, and bake a light brown. For a change, you might line the dish with thin slices of buttered bread, pour in the cymling batter and put some pieces of butter and grated cracker on top.—Mrs. M. C. C.

To Boil Green Corn.

Strip off the outer shucks, leaving only the thin white ones. Cut off the ends. Throw into boiling water. Boil an hour. 242 Strip off the silk with the shuck. Cut from the cob while hot. Sprinkle over salt, add a tablespoonful fresh butter and serve hot.—Mrs. S. T.

Corn Pudding.

With a sharp knife, slit each row of corn in the centre. Then shave in thinnest slices. Add the corn to the yolks of the eggs, next the butter, cornstarch, sugar, and salt, then the milk, gradually, and last of all the whites. Bake in a hot oven. As soon as a light brown on top, cover with a buttered paper. Grate cracker or bread crumbs over it and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Corn pudding.

One dozen large ears corn. Cut off the top of the grain, scrape with a knife, so as to get the heart of the grain without the husk. Season with a teacup of cream, a large tablespoonful butter, salt and pepper to the taste. Bake in a dish.—Mrs. Dr. E.

Corn Fritters.

Grate the corn, add to it the flour, and gradually mix with the eggs. Beat all hard together. Drop in oval shapes, three inches long, into a pan, in which fry them brown, in equal parts of lard and butter. A batter cake-turner is convenient for turning them.—Mrs. Dr. J. 243

Corn Fritters.

Make the mixture the consistency of a soft batter, and fry in lard or butter.—Mrs. A. W.

Corn Fritters for Breakfast.

Make a batter as you would for fritters, put in pepper, salt, lard, or butter, add to a quart of batter, a pint of corn, cut from the cob, and fry.—Mrs. A. P.

Baked Tomatoes.

Spread a layer of tomatoes on the bottom of an earthen (never a tin) baking dish. Put over it half the sugar, butter, pepper and salt, and crumble half the roll over it in small bits. Then spread another layer of tomato, sugar, etc., ending with the remaining half of the roll. Grate cracker or hard brown biscuit on top, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Baked Tomatoes.

Scald and peel the tomatoes, or else peel thin with a sharp knife, without scalding. Cut in small pieces, season with a little sugar, salt, pepper, and finely minced onion. Grease a baking dish and line it with thin slices of light bread buttered. Pour the tomatoes in the dish, crumming up a little light bread 244 on them. Spread on top a layer of heavily buttered light bread, and bake.—Mrs. M. C. C.

Stewed Tomatoes.

Peel and chop tomatoes till you have a quart. Add one teacup brown sugar, one teacup butter, one teacup bread crumbs. One tablespoonful salt; one teaspoonful black pepper.

Stew till free from lumps and perfectly done. Pour in a deep dish, sift powdered crackers over it, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Stewed Tomatoes.

Scald and peel the tomatoes, chop fine, season with salt, pepper, onion, and a little sugar. Put in some pieces of buttered light bread, cut up very fine. Add a lump of butter, and stew in a saucepan.—Mrs. V. P. M.

Tomato Omelette.

Peel and chop fine one quart of tomatoes, add salt and pepper, a little onion minced fine, a half teacup grated bread. Beat five eggs to a foam, stir into the tomatoes and turn the mixture into a hot pan, greased with butter, stir rapidly till it begins to thicken. Let it brown a few minutes on the bottom, then fold it half over and serve hot. This dish may be made of canned tomatoes, when fresh cannot be obtained.—Mrs. I. G.

Fried Tomatoes.

Slice tomatoes one-quarter inch thick. Put them in a skillet in which a spoonful of nice lard has been melted. After getting hot, the skins of the tomatoes may be removed. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, take the tomatoes out, thicken the gravy with a teacup cream in which a teaspoonful flour has been stirred. Put the tomatoes in a dish and pour the gravy over them. Serve hot.—Mrs. C. L. T.

Ropa Viga.

Select fine ripe tomatoes. Pour boiling water over them so 245 as to remove the skins readily. Put them in a pan of melted butter, with some pepper and salt. Shred cold meat or fowl over them. Fry sufficiently, and serve hot.—Mrs. A. D.

Tomato Toast.

Put some canned tomatoes in a frying pan with a little butter and salt. Cook lightly and pour over slices of toasted bread, buttered and softened with cream.—Mrs. Dr. G.

To dress Raw Tomatoes.

Slice a plateful large fresh tomatoes. Pour over them a dressing made of the yolk of one egg and olive oil, creamed smoothly together; salt and pepper to the taste; one teaspoonful prepared mustard, a little vinegar. If you like, you may add sugar.—Mrs. R. L. O.

To dress Raw Tomatoes.

Peel and cut in thick slices six large ripe tomatoes which have been kept on ice. Put a layer into a salad bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and powdered sugar. Put in another layer, and so on, till all the tomatoes are disposed of. Pour over the top a teacup of weak vinegar. Cover the top with ice, and set in the refrigerator ten minutes before serving.—Mrs. S. T.

Lima Beans.

Shell and throw into cold water. Put in boiling water an hour before dinner; add some salt; when tender, drain off the water and add a tablespoonful fresh butter. Beans are seldom cooked enough.—Mrs. S. T.

Lima Beans.

Shell and lay in cold water. Boil thoroughly, and then stew a little with butter, pepper, salt, and cream.—Mrs. R. 246

Succotash.

Boil the corn and beans together till done, then drain off the water and pour in a cup of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, and salt to the taste. Let it boil up, and then pour in the tomatoes. Let all simmer an hour. Baked or stewed dishes should have cracker or brown biscuit grated on top, before sending to the table.—Mrs. S. T.

To Fry Cucumbers.

Peel, cut lengthwise in thick slices and lay in water till just before dinner. Wipe dry, sprinkle with pepper and salt, dip in beaten egg, sift over pounded cracker and fry with the cover on till light brown. Prepare exactly as egg-plant.—Mrs. S. T.

To Dress Cucumbers Raw.

Gather early in the morning, peel, lay in cold water till just before dinner. Then drain, slice as thin as possible into ice water, which drain and then fill a dish with alternate layers of sliced cucumber and thinly sliced white onion, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Pour a cup of weak vinegar over it and lay a lump of ice on top.—Mrs. S. T.

Okra.

Boil young okra till tender, in salt and water. Drain, add half a teacup of cream, and a heaping tablespoonful butter. Let it boil up, turn it out in a dish, sprinkle salt and pepper over it and serve hot.

To Boil Irish Potatoes.

Old potatoes must be nicely peeled and dropped in boiling water, covered with a lid and boiled hard half an hour. Then drain off the water and set by the fire. This makes them mealy.—Mrs. S. T. 247

Creamed Potatoes.

Peel and boil white mealy potatoes, till perfectly done. Take out one at a time from the saucepan, which must be left on the fire. With a large spoon, mash perfectly fine; add salt, a heaping tablespoonful butter and a teacup rich milk. Stir rapidly ten or fifteen minutes and send hot to the table. It is much lighter when well creamed and beaten.—Mrs. S. T.

Potato Snow.

Peel and boil in a saucepan, six large mealy white potatoes. Add a little salt to the water. Take them out one by one, leaving the saucepan on the fire. Rub through a sieve into a deep dish, letting it fall in a mound. Do not touch with a spoon or the hand. Have a sauce-boat of melted butter to serve with it at table.—Mrs. S. T.

Irish Potato Chips.

Shave the raw potatoes with a cabbage cutter. Drop the pieces, one at a time, into boiling lard, and fry a rich brown. Sprinkle a little salt over them.—Mrs. R. L. O.

To Fry Sliced Potatoes.

Peel and slice thin. Dry well in a cloth. Fry in lard, stirring till crisp. Take up and lay on a sieve to drain. Sprinkle a little salt over them.—Mrs. R.

Potato Cakes.

Mash potatoes, just boiled. Add salt, pepper, butter, and cream, make into cakes, and fry brown on both sides.—Mrs. P. W.

Potato Pudding.

May be made by putting potatoes prepared exactly as above directed, in a pudding dish, and baking.—Mrs. S. T.

Potato Hash.

Cut cold boiled potatoes in slices. Put in a pan with boiling 248 water, adding pepper, salt, and butter. Stew till thick, and serve.—Mrs. Dr. G.

To Boil Sweet Potatoes.

Boil large, smooth potatoes till quite done. Peel and slice lengthwise. Pour melted butter over them. Some persons like a dressing of pepper, salt, butter, and cream. Others prefer butter, sifted sugar, and grated nutmeg.

To Fry Sweet Potatoes.

Parboil and cut in thick slices, sprinkling over them pepper, salt, and sugar. Fry with a slice of fat pork. Take from the pan, sift over them pounded cracker, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

To Cook Inferior Sweet Potatoes.

Boil till nearly done. Cut in thick slices; put a layer in the bottom of a baking dish. Put pepper, salt, sugar, bits of butter, and a teaspoonful vinegar on this layer, and so on till the dish is filled, leaving a layer of seasoning for the top. Pour over it a teacup rich milk. Put a tin plate on top and bake a few minutes. Put grated cracker, on top.—Mrs. S. T.

To Dress Yams.

Steam them till done, peel and slice them. Put in a buttered baking-dish a layer of yam, on which put sugar and some lumps of butter. Fill up the dish in this way, and when full, pour over it milk or cream, and bake brown.—Mrs. Dr. P. C.

To Stew Egg-plants.

Put them on whole in a plenty of water, and let them simmer till tender. Then take off the skin and divide them. Mash them well in a deep dish, adding a large spoonful butter and some grated bread crumbs. Grate bread crumbs on top, and brown it.

Purple egg-plants are best.—Mrs. M. 249

To Fry Egg-plant.

Cut the egg-plant in thick slices, carefully paring each piece. Throw it in salt and water, and let it remain there several hours. Take from the water, drain and wipe. Then butter the slices of egg-plant, dip in beaten egg, then in grated cracker, and fry a light brown. Pepper, grate more cracker over them, and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

Egg-plant Pudding.

Quarter the egg-plant and lay it in salt and water the overnight, to extract the bitterness. The next day, parboil, peel and chop fine, and add bread crumbs (one teacup to a pint of egg-plant), eggs (two to a pint of egg-plant), salt, pepper, and butter to taste; enough milk to make a good batter.

Bake in an earthen dish twenty minutes.—Mrs. R. L. O.

To Bake Egg-plant.

Parboil the egg-plant. Take out the meat and mix it with butter, pepper, salt, and bread crumbs. Fill the hulls with this mixture and bake a dark brown. Cucumbers may be prepared by the same recipe.

Burr Artichokes.

Strip off the coarse outer leaves, cut the stalk, and lay several hours in cold water. Then put in boiling water, with their leaves downward. Keep covered with a plate. Boil steadily two or three hours. Serve with butter, pepper, salt, mustard, and vinegar.—Mrs. R.

To Stew Parsnips.

Peel and slice parsnips. Boil them in a covered vessel with slices of nice pork, until done, adding salt and pepper to taste.—Mrs. G. B.

To Fry Parsnips.

Peel and parboil the parsnips. Slice lengthwise, and fry with fat pork, sprinkling over them salt, pepper, and sugar. Grate 250 bread crumbs over it and serve. Salsify may be cooked the same way.—Mrs. S. T.

To Cook Parsnips.

Boil the parsnips till thoroughly done. Serve with salt, pepper, butter, and cream; or mash the parsnips, mix with an egg batter, and season as before.

To Cook Salsify.

Wash, trim, scrape the roots and cut them up fine. Boil till tender, mash and season with pepper, salt, bread crumbs, butter, and milk. Put in a dish and bake brown.—Mrs. A. P.

To Stew Salsify.

Scrape and throw at once in water to prevent from turning dark. Boil till tender in a closely covered vessel. Drain off the water and cut the salsify in pieces half an inch long. Throw in a saucepan with

Just before serving, add the yolk of an egg, beaten up and mixed with a little water. The seasoning above given is for one quart salsify.—Mrs. S. T.

Another Way to Stew Salsify.

Prepare the salsify exactly as in the foregoing recipe. Boil till tender, drain and cut in pieces, half an inch long, and then stew in milk. Just before serving, add a tablespoonful of butter, rolled in a teaspoonful flour. Let it boil up once. Pepper and salt it, grate cracker over it and serve.—Mrs. S. T.

To Fry Salsify.

Prepare as for stewing. When perfectly tender, run through a colander. Add grated cracker, two eggs, well beaten, one 251 tablespoonful vinegar, one tablespoonful butter, one teaspoonful salt, one teaspoonful sugar, a little pepper. Make into oval cakes, roll in grated cracker, and fry a light brown.—Mrs. S. T.

To Boil Cabbage with Bacon.

Quarter a head of hard white cabbage, examine for insects, lay in salt and water several hours. An hour before dinner, drain and put in a pot in which bacon has been boiling—a pod of red pepper boiled with it will make it more wholesome and improve the flavor of both bacon and cabbage.—Mrs. S. T.

Cabbage Boiled without Bacon.

Prepare exactly as directed in the foregoing recipe.

Boil an hour in a large pot of boiling water. Drain, chop fine, add a tablespoonful butter, the same of cream, the same of pepper-vinegar, and salt and pepper to your taste.—Mrs. S. T.

Cabbage Pudding.

Boil nice, hard, white cabbage with good bacon.

When thoroughly done, chop fine and add a large lump of butter, one teacup rich milk, three eggs beaten light, two teaspoonfuls mixed mustard; pepper and salt to the taste.

Pour in a buttered deep dish; put on top dusted pepper, bits of fresh butter, and grated cracker or stale bread.

Bake a light brown.—Mrs. M. C. C.

Cabbage Pudding.

Boil the cabbage till tender, chop fine and add four eggs, well beaten, one pound bread crumbs, one teacup melted butter, milk enough to make it as thick as mush, salt and pepper to the taste. Bake in a dish till the eggs and milk are cooked.—Mrs. McD.

Warm Slaw.

Cut the cabbage very fine and sprinkle over it a tablespoonful flour. Put a piece of butter, the size of an egg, in the oven 252 to melt. Salt and pepper the cabbage and put it in the oven with the butter. Mix half a teacup of cream with the same quantity of vinegar, pour it over the cabbage and heat thoroughly.—Mrs. S. G.

Warm Slaw.

Cut the cabbage (hard red is best) as for cold slaw. Put in a saucepan one-quarter pound butter, two gills water, three gills vinegar, one teaspoonful salt, and a little cayenne pepper. If you like, add a garlic, minced fine. When this mixture has come to a boil, pour it boiling hot over the cabbage, and cover it five or ten minutes, when it will be ready for use.

Warm Slaw.

Wash the cabbage, cut fine and put on the fire with enough water to keep it from burning.

When sufficiently tender, have ready a dressing made of vinegar, pepper, salt, mustard, a spoonful of butter rolled in flour, and beaten eggs, all thoroughly mixed. Stir this quickly in the cabbage and let it boil up.—Mrs. Col. W.

Fried Cabbage.

Reserve some cabbage from dinner. Set it away till next morning. Chop fine, season with pepper and salt, and fry brown with a slice of fat bacon.

Cauliflower.

Remove the outside leaves. Cut in four parts, tie them together, put in boiling water and let them simmer till the stalk is thoroughly tender, keeping it covered with water, and removing the scum. Boil two hours, drain well and serve with melted butter. You may cook broccoli by the same recipe, except that you cut it in two pieces instead of four.—Mrs. R.

Spinach.

Pick and soak several hours in cold water. Drain and shake 253 each bunch. Throw in boiling water and boil till tender. Take up with a perforated skimmer. Put in a saucepan with a heaping tablespoonful butter; pepper and salt to taste. Stir in three hard-boiled eggs, chopped up. Let it simmer, stirring frequently. Put in a deep dish and cover with nicely poached eggs, buttered, peppered, and salted. Sea-kale may be prepared by the same recipe.—Mrs. S. T.

Turnip Salad.

Pick early in the morning. Wash one peck and put in cold water. Have ready a pot of boiling water in which a piece of bacon has boiled several hours, and the amount of water become much reduced. Take out the bacon, put in the salad, put the bacon back on top of the salad, and boil till very tender. Dip from the pot with a perforated skimmer, lay in a deep dish, skim the fat from the liquor and pour over the salad. Cover with nicely poached eggs. Cover and send to the table hot. Any other kind of salad might be cooked by this recipe.—Mrs. S. T.

Turnips.

Boil and mash through a colander. Season with a cup cream, spoonful butter, pepper, and salt, and stew quite dry. Then you may bake them.—Mrs. Col. W.

To Stew Turnips.

Peel five or six turnips and put on to boil, adding a little salt to the water. When thoroughly done, mash fine through a colander, season with a teacup of cream, or milk, a tablespoonful butter, red and black pepper, and a little more salt, if needed. Stew two or three minutes. Cabbage prepared the same way is very nice.—Mrs. C. M. A.

Resipee for cukin kon-feel Pees.

Gether your pees 'bout sun-down. The folrin day, 'bout leven o'clock, gowge out your pees with your thum nale, like 254 gowgin out a man's eye-ball at a kote house. Rense your pees, parbile them, then fry 'em with som several slices uv streekt middlin, incouragin uv the gravy to seep out and intermarry with your pees. When modritly brown, but not scorcht, empty intoo a dish. Mash 'em gently with a spune, mix with raw tomarters sprinkled with a little brown shugar and the immortal dish ar quite ready. Eat a hepe. Eat mo and mo. It is good for your genral helth uv mind and body. It fattens you up, makes you sassy, goes throo and throo your very soul. But why don't you eat? Eat on. By Jings. Eat. Stop! Never, while thar is a pee in the dish.—Mozis Addums.

Cornfield or Black Eye Peas.

Shell early in the morning, throw into water till an hour before dinner, when put into boiling water, covering close while cooking. Add a little salt, just before taking from the fire. Drain and serve with a large spoonful fresh butter, or put in a pan with a slice of fat meat, and simmer a few minutes. Dried peas must be soaked overnight, and cooked twice as long as fresh.—Mrs. S. T.

To Boil Dried Peas.

Soak in boiling water the night before. Then next day parboil and drain. Put in fresh water with a piece of middling or ham, and boil till tender.—Mrs. Col. W.

To Boil Dried Lima, or other Beans.

Soak overnight. Next morning, soak in fresh water till two hours before dinner, when boil steadily in a covered saucepan two hours. Drain and add a large spoonful fresh butter, and a little salt.—Mrs. S. T.

Corn Put up in Brine.

Late as possible in the fall prepare tender roasting ears for winter use. Strip off the outer shuck, leaving the inner, silky ones next to the grain. Have ready a nice clean wooden firkin 255 or tub, properly scalded and sunned. Sprinkle salt over the bottom. Pack closely with corn. Wash a large flat rock and lay on the top, when nearly full. Pour strong brine over the corn, covering it well. The day before using, strip off the shuck and silk, place in a bucket of cold water (renewing the water once, or twice), and let it stand till ready to use it. Two ears soaked thus, and shaved into a pot of soup with other vegetables, will impart a delicious flavor.—Mrs. S. T.

PICKLES AND CATSUPS.

For pickles and catsups, use the best cider vinegar, it being not only more wholesome than other kinds of vinegar, but the only sort that will keep pickles or catsup for any length of time.

In making catsup, or in scalding pickles in vinegar, if a brass kettle is used, it must be scoured with sand and ashes, washed and wiped dry, and then scoured with vinegar and salt. By attending to these directions, the brass kettle may be safely used—though the pickles or catsup must be poured from it the instant it is taken from the fire, or they will canker.

In making pickles, it is a good rule to allow two pounds of sugar to each gallon of vinegar for sour pickle, though a larger proportion must be allowed for sweet pickle.

Vinegar for pickling should be spiced and set to sun from spring to autumn. Never put pickle in a jar that has been used for butter or lard. Examine often to see if the pickle is well covered with vinegar, and if any of it has turned soft, remove it. Keep it in a dry, airy closet, and be careful not to let it freeze. Pickle is generally considered best when from six months to a year old. Some housekeepers use the same vinegar (with a slight addition) from year to year, by draining the pickle as they take it out of the jar. 256

Pickle Vinegar.

This ought to be prepared several months before using, and always kept on hand ready for use.—Mrs. S. T.

Pickle Vinegar.

Make in May, and sun all summer.—Mrs. D. R.

Vinegar for Pickles.

Cucumbers (sliced), snaps, gherkins, muskmelons, cabbage, onions, or anything to be put into the spiced vinegar, must be previously boiled tender in strong vinegar and salt—well pressed out—and then put into the pickle vinegar, will soon be ready for use.—Mrs. J. J. C.

Yellow Pickle Vinegar.

The liquid should be mixed in the spring, and set in the sun.—Mrs. T. M. C. 258

Ingredients to One Gallon Green Pickle.

Preparing Pickles.

Vegetables for pickle should be kept in cold and strong brine till they turn yellow: then put vine-leaves in the bottom of the kettle, then a layer of vegetables and a layer of leaves till full. Pour on them, boiling salt and water and let them boil until a bright green. Take them, while hot, and place in weak vinegar for a whole week. Then add them to the spiced vinegar. Afterwards rub on them a little turmeric. Prepare the spiced vinegar in May, and expose to the sun every day for some time.—Mrs. R.

Yellow Pickle.

Pound all together and stir into the hot cider vinegar for several minutes. Prepare your vegetables by quartering the cabbage and scalding them in brine; cover them and leave until 259 cold; squeeze dry and hang in the sun; when bleached, throw in plain vinegar, then into the spiced vinegar.—Mrs. P.

Yellow Pickle.

Pound them all before putting in the vinegar, add one pound scraped horseradish, half-dozen lemons sliced.

Scald two dozen onions, sprinkle them with salt, and let them stand a day; drain off the water and wash well with the vinegar. Add them to your spiced vinegar. Cut your cabbage and scald them in strong salt water till you can run a straw through them; drain them for a day and put into plain vinegar for two weeks; let them drain again a day or two before putting into the prepared vinegar. Put two tablespoonfuls turmeric in the plain vinegar to turn the cabbage yellow.—Mrs. J. T. A.

Yellow Pickle.

One peck cabbage cut up. Lay in a jar, sprinkling with salt; leave it twenty-four hours; squeeze out and put in a kettle with half a dozen onions chopped, cover with vinegar, add one ounce turmeric, and boil one hour. Then add:

Boil till clear.—Mrs. S. B.

Yellow Pickle.

Should be prepared months before using. Cabbage to be pickled should be boiled or scalded in salt and water until the leaves can be turned back so as to sprinkle salt between them; then must be dried in the sun. Shake all the salt out when dry, and soak in plain vinegar, with a little turmeric sprinkled on each layer of cabbage. After ten days, drain them and put in the spiced vinegar.—Mrs. S. T.

Yellow Pickled Cabbage.

Take one peck of quartered cabbage; slice them and put a layer of cabbage and one of salt; let it remain over night. In the morning squeeze them and put on the fire with four chopped onions, and cover with vinegar; boil for an hour, then add the spices mentioned above, and let it boil an hour longer; when cold it is ready for use.—Mrs. W. H. M.

A quick way to make Yellow Pickle.

Two gallons chopped cabbage, sprinkle one handful salt through it, and let stand over night. Squeeze it out dry and put into a kettle. Add one ounce of celery-seed, one ounce of turmeric, one quarter-pound of mustard-seed, (black and white mixed), five pounds brown sugar, with vinegar enough to cover the whole well.

Boil until the cabbage is tender. Put it in stone jars and keep it closely covered. It is fit for use the day after it is made.—Mrs. J. C. W.

Yellow Pickle.

Put these in one and one-half gallons best cider vinegar, and set in the sun. This can be prepared during the winter, if you choose. Quarter your cabbages (small heads about the size of a large apple are best), and put in a tub. Make a strong brine, 262 boil and pour over while hot. Let them stand twenty-four hours and then repeat. On the third day spread them on a board or table, salt them slightly, and let them stand in the hot sun four days, taking care that no dew shall fall on them. Put in a jar, and pour on your prepared vinegar boiling hot. This pickle will not be ready for the table till it has softened and absorbed the vinegar. You can judge of this by your taste. To make quick pickle by this recipe, you simply salt your cabbage for one night, pouring off in the morning the water drawn out by the salt. Then put in the kettle with the spices and vinegar, and boil until a straw will go through.—Mrs. J. B. D.

Cabbage Pickle for Present Use.

Boil the cabbage in salt and water till tender; lay them on dishes, drain or press them in a towel.

Boil together two gallons strong vinegar.

Pour it over the cabbage boiling hot. If you have no garlic, use one pint onions chopped fine.—Mrs. H.

Cut Cabbage Pickle.

Fill the jar with cut cabbage. To every gallon of cabbage put one handful horseradish.

Salt your cabbage first as for slaw, and let it stand two or three hours. Put in a porcelain kettle and cover with weak vinegar; put turmeric enough to color, boil it till tender, then drain off the weak vinegar, and cover it with strong cider vinegar, and mix the spices well through it; add three or more tablespoonfuls turmeric, and boil the whole fifteen minutes very hard. When cold, it is ready for use.—Mrs. S. M.

Chopped Cabbage Pickle.

Cut the cabbage as for slaw, pour over it enough boiling brine to cover it. Chop and scald a few onions in the same way, cover both, and leave twenty-four hours; then squeeze in a cloth until free from brine. If it should taste very salt, soak in clear water for a few hours and squeeze again. Loosen and mix the cabbage and onions thoroughly. To one-half gallon cabbage put:

Chopped celery and nasturtiums, if they can be had. Mix 264 all, and cover with cold vinegar. If necessary, add more vinegar after it has stood awhile.—Mrs. C. N.

Green Pickle.

Put the pickles in a strong brine, strong enough to bear an egg. Three weeks is long enough for them to remain in brine, if you wish to make your pickle early in the fall; but they will keep several months, indeed all the winter, by having them always well covered with the brine.

When ready to make your pickle, drain off every drop of brine, and pour boiling water over the pickles. Repeat this for three mornings in succession. Then pour off this last water, and soak the pickles two days in cold water, changing the water each morning. Next, pouring off this water, scald the pickles three mornings in weak vinegar, weakening the vinegar by putting two quarts of water to one of vinegar. This is the time for greening the pickles, by putting in the jar or keg a layer of pickle, then sprinkling in a little powdered alum, and so on, till the vessel is filled; then pouring on the weakened vinegar. Only use the alum the first morning; but the other mornings pour off the vinegar and pour on a fresh quantity. All this is necessary, if you wish to have pickle perfectly free from the brine, and in a condition to keep. Fill your jars with the pickle thus prepared, and pour over them the best of vinegar, after seasoning it and letting it boil a few minutes. Seasoning to one gallon vinegar:

265

Green Pickles.

Put the pickle in strong brine for two days; then boil the brine and pour it over them hot. Repeat this twice. Then pour over them boiling vinegar and water mixed, three successive times, at intervals of two days. For a three-gallon jar take:

Take half of the beaten spices and mix with the latter ingredients, also three cups of brown sugar; stuff the mangoes with this. Add the rest to the vinegar with five pounds of sugar, and pour on the pickle hot.

This makes very superior pickle.—Miss S. S. V.

Green Pickle [3 gallons].

Prepare the cucumbers as follows: gather cucumbers, snaps, etc., and put them in a large stone jar, pouring over them a strong brine which has been boiled and skimmed—hot, but not boiling; cover with an old table-cloth to keep the steam in. Let them stand about a week, then take and soak twenty-four hours in cold water. Next put them in a large kettle lined with grape leaves, and fill, covering with weak vinegar. Sprinkle in a dessertspoonful of powdered alum, and cover with grape leaves, setting on the stove until a beautiful bright green. Put in a jar and pour this vinegar over them and let them stand until next day; then dry the pickles with a cloth, and have ready the jar, putting in a layer of the pickles with a layer of the seasoning before mentioned; fill with strong cider vinegar. Tie up closely, and keep in a warm, dry place.

The spices must be bruised or beaten tolerately fine before putting with pickles; and a little salad oil added is an improvement.—Mrs. P. McG.

Cucumbers or other small Pickles.

Add the garlic and horseradish when cold. Add two pounds sugar, which must be boiled in the vinegar and poured over the spices. One teaspoonful red pepper will improve it. Boil the 267 vegetables in plain vinegar before putting in the spiced vinegar.

Gherkins and snaps are made in the same way as cucumbers—Mrs. S.

Pickled Cucumbers.

Boil all together until the cucumbers are tender, and they will be ready for use in a week or so. To green the fruit: line your brass kettle with grape-leaves, and then pour weak vinegar on the cucumbers, cover with leaves, and boil a little while.—Mrs. E. I.

Cucumber Pickle.

After greening the cucumbers, put them in plain vinegar for a few days. Then boil the spices in one gallon of the vinegar, and pour it over the pickle boiling hot. Do this twice; it will be ready for use in a week.—Mrs. P. W.

Boiled Cucumber Pickle.

Take fresh cucumbers (size for eating), put them in brine for a few days; take them out, and put them in vinegar to soak for two days. Then wipe them dry, cut them in pieces one inch thick. Make a seasoning of a mixture of allspice, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and whole black pepper, about two ounces to seventy-five cucumbers. Add celery-seed, and onion chopped fine.

Take a large stone jar, put a layer of cucumber and a layer of the mixture, with plenty of brown sugar (about eight pounds to a large jar). In this way fill the jar, then cover it with strong vinegar: tie the mouth up securely, put the jar in a pot of cold water, and boil until the cucumber is tender, and they will be ready for use in a few days.—Mrs. C. C. McP.

Pickled Cucumbers.

Put them in a wooden or stone vessel, pour over strong salt and water boiling hot, put a weight on to keep them under the pickle. After three days, pour it off, boil, and turn it over again: let stand three days again; then take them out and let them lie one night in plain cold water; next day put them over the fire, but do not let them boil, allowing one tablespoonful alum to one gallon vinegar; mace, cinnamon, peppercorns, white and black mustard-seed and grated horseradish, one tablespoonful each to every gallon vinegar, and one teaspoonful turmeric, and two and one-half pounds sugar. Fold a double piece of linen, and a soft, thick brown paper, and tie the 269 jars tight; throw in the vinegar and keep in a dry place. A bladder and linen cloth are nice to be over the pots.—Mrs. G. P.

Sweet Cucumber Pickle.

Slice cucumbers and soak in brine a week; then soak in salt water until the salt is extracted sufficiently. Boil in strong alum water half an hour, then in ginger tea half an hour. Make a syrup of one quart good vinegar, one pint water, three pounds sugar, to four pounds cucumbers; season with mace, cinnamon, cloves, and celery-seed. Put in the cucumbers and boil till the syrup is thick enough. Add some sliced ginger.—Mrs. S. M.

Cucumber Sweet Pickle.

First lay the cucumbers in salt and water for one week or ten days; next cut them in slices quarter of an inch thick. Then soak out the salt and boil them in alum water half an hour, and afterwards in ginger tea for one hour. Then make a syrup of one pint water, one quart vinegar, three pounds sugar to every four pounds cucumbers. Flavor with cloves, mace, and cinnamon. Boil all together until the syrup is sufficiently thickened.—Mrs. A. C.

To Pickle Ripe Cucumbers.

Take them yellow, but not too ripe, scrape the seeds well out; lay them in salt and water twenty-four hours, then make syrup same as for peaches; in a week scald the vinegar again.—Mrs. C.

Green Tomato Pickle.

Slice green tomatoes and onions; sprinkle each layer with salt; let them stand until next day, then press all the juice out, and season very highly with red and black pepper, celery, mustard seed, a little turmeric, and some sugar; cover with vinegar, and cook until tender.—Mrs. M. D.

Green Tomato Pickle.

Slice and chop green tomatoes, until you have one gallon. 270 Chop one dozen large onions. Mix and sprinkle four large spoonfuls of salt upon them, let it stand one night; next day drain off all the water, and have one quart strong vinegar, two pounds sugar, spices and pepper to your taste. Put in the vinegar, and put with the tomatoes in a porcelain kettle; boil half an hour. Place in the jar for keeping and cover closely. Three or four days afterwards, boil again for a few minutes and put away for use.—Mrs. L. P.

Green Tomato Pickle.

Sprinkle with salt, and lay by twenty-four hours; then drain them.

Put all in a kettle, with vinegar enough to cover; boil till tender.—Mrs. S. B.

To make Green Tomato Sauce.

Put all of the spices in the vinegar, and boil one hour. Then put in the tomatoes, which you must slice the night before, and put one layer of salt and one of tomatoes. Drain the water off, and boil the tomatoes in the spiced vinegar till done.—Mrs. Dr. S.

Green Tomato Sauce.

Peel and slice the tomatoes. To two gallons add:

Beat all the spices, except the mustard-seed, and boil together until thick as marmalade.—Mrs. S. T.

Green Tomato Sauce.

Mix thoroughly and boil till done.—Mrs. P. McG. 272

Sweet Tomato Pickle.

Peel small tomatoes with a sharp knife; scald in strong ginger tea until clear. To four pounds tomatoes, two pounds sugar, not quite one quart vinegar; cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, to taste.

Scald the tomatoes and pour on boiling hot.—Mrs. J. H. F.

Sweet Tomato Pickle.

Boil green tomatoes in strong ginger tea for ten minutes. Then take out, and to every two pounds add one quart of vinegar, one pound sugar, cinnamon, cloves and mace to your taste.—Mrs. P.

Sweet Tomato Pickle.

Slice one gallon green tomatoes, and put a handful salt to each layer of tomatoes. Let them stand twelve hours, then drain off the liquor, and add to them two green peppers, and from two to four onions, sliced; take two quarts vinegar, half a pint molasses, two tablespoonfuls mustard, one teaspoonful allspice, and one of cloves; heat it until it begins to boil, then put in tomatoes, onions, and peppers; let them boil ten minutes: pour into a stone jar, and seal tight. In a fortnight they will be ready for use.—Mrs. Dr. P. C.

To make Piccalilli.

To one-half bushel nicely chopped tomatoes, which must be squeezed dry, add two dozen onions, chopped fine, one dozen green peppers, chopped, one box ground mustard, one large root horseradish, nearly one pint salt, four tablespoonfuls ground cloves, four tablespoonfuls allspice.

Mix thoroughly in a stone jar and cover with vinegar, making a hole in the centre to let the vinegar to the bottom.—Mrs. B.

Ripe Tomato Pickle.

Puncture the tomato with a thorn or straw. Put a layer of tomatoes, with onions cut up. Sprinkle salt on them, then put 273 another layer of tomatoes and onions, with salt sprinkled over them. When you have filled the jar or vessel with tomatoes, let them remain about a week, then lay them in dishes to drain. Give each tomato a gentle squeeze, to get the salt water out. Put them in a jar and cover with strong vinegar. Boil a small quantity of vinegar with pepper, horseradish, and such other spices as you like, and pour it over the tomatoes. To two gallons of tomatoes, use a box of mustard dissolved in the vinegar.—Mrs. C. C.

Tomato Marmalade or Sauce for Meats.

Scald and peel fully ripe tomatoes, then cut them up, if large. To twelve pounds add six pounds sugar, one tablespoonful beaten cloves, one tablespoonful spice and one tablespoonful cinnamon.

Boil all in a kettle until the syrup becomes the thickness of molasses. Then add one quart of strong vinegar and boil for ten minutes. Put away in quart jars—Mrs. McG.

Hyden Salad.

Boil the whole one-half hour.—Mrs. H. D.

Hyden Salad.

Cut one gallon cabbage as for slaw, one-half gallon green tomatoes. Cut up one pint green pepper, taking out the seed carefully 274 and cutting up the pod (do not use the seed), one quart onions cut up, and the water pressed from them and thrown away.

Mix all these, and sprinkle through them 2 tablespoonfuls salt, and let them stand over night. Then take:

Beat all fine, and mix with the salad; pour over the whole three quarts good vinegar, and simmer for twenty minutes. Ready for use very soon, and very good.—Mrs. C. M. A.

Hyden Salad.

Sprinkle salt, and let it stand overnight; next morning, pour boiling water over, and squeeze dry. Take:

275

Hyden Salad.

Add to all these:

Mix all well together, add one-half gallon good vinegar, and boil slowly twenty minutes. Take the seed out of the green pepper. Make late in the summer.—Mrs. R.

Hyden Salad.

Beat the spice well, mix all together well, and boil fifteen minutes. 276

Black peppers can be used instead of the green, one tablespoonful ground.—Mrs. E. C. G.

Oil Mangoes.

Beat the ingredients together in a mortar, and mix the mustard with as much olive oil as will make a paste. Then after the mangoes have been in brine two weeks, and greened as you would cucumbers, stuff them; if any filling is left, sprinkle between the layers in the jar. Pour over as much boiling vinegar as will cover them.—Mrs. T. C.

To Make Oil Mangoes.

Put the mangoes in strong brine for five days. Wash them, and remove the seed.

Stuffing for the same.

Mix these ingredients with as little oil as possible, stuff the mangoes with it, adding scraped horseradish and one blade of garlic. Pour cold vinegar over them, and one pound salt. Press 277 the mangoes under the vinegar, and watch them closely. It is well to scald the vinegar in the spring.—Mrs. H. T.

To Green Mangoes.

After taking them from the brine, lay them in a kettle with grape-vine leaves between each layer of mangoes; a little alum sprinkled on each layer. Let them simmer all day, changing the leaves if necessary. If not green enough, put them on the second day.—Mrs. E.

Mangoes.

To a three-gallon jar of mangoes prepared for the vinegar, take:

Take half the beaten spices, and mix with the latter ingredients, also three cups of brown sugar; besides, put one teaspoonful brown sugar in each mango before you put in the stuffing.

It takes five pounds of sugar for a three-gallon jar. The balance of the sugar mix with the spice and vinegar enough to cover the pickle.—Mrs. H. C.

Stuffing for Sixty Mangoes.

Mix all these well together, throwing in little bits of mango or cucumbers.

Peach Mangoes.

Pour boiling salt water over the peaches—let them stand two days; take them out and slit them on one side, and put them in turmeric vinegar for two days. Extract the seed, stuff and sew them up, and put in the prepared vinegar. Prepare the stuffing as follows: chop some of the peaches from the turmeric vinegar, add a large quantity of mustard-seed, celery-seed, a good deal of brown sugar—one pound to two and a half pounds peaches; ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, turmeric, and any other spices, if you like. Onions chopped fine. Vinegar to be seasoned the same way; and any of the stuffing left may be put in the vinegar.—Mrs. C. C.

Peach Mangoes.

Remove the stones from large white Heath peaches by cutting in halves. Stuff them with white mustard-seed, a little pounded mace, turmeric, and celery-seed. Sew them up, and drop them in with the yellow cabbage.—Mrs. H. T.

Peach Mangoes.

Pour boiling salt water over the peaches, let them stand two days; then take them out, slit them on the side, and put them in turmeric vinegar for two days or longer. Take them out, extract the seed, stuff them, sew them up, and put into the prepared vinegar. To prepare the stuffing:

Chop up some of the peaches, add a large quantity of white 279 mustard-seed, a good deal of brown sugar, some ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, turmeric, celery-seed, also a great deal of chopped onion. Vinegar, seasoned with same ingredients. Quantity of spices can be regulated by your taste.—Miss S.

Peach Mangoes.

Take large plum peaches, sufficient quantity to fill the jar. Peel nicely, and take out the stones. Have ready the stuffing in proportion to the peaches. Mince fine some soft peaches, preserved orange peel, preserved ginger, coriander-seed, celery-seed, a small quantity mace, cinnamon, candied strawberries, if you have them, and pickled cherries. Sew the peaches up, after stuffing them, and fill the jar. Then to every pound coffee sugar add one-half pint vinegar, allowing the above quantity to two pounds fruit. Make a syrup of the sugar and vinegar, and pour on the peaches, boiling-hot. Repeat this for three mornings; the fourth morning put them all on together, and boil a short time; add a few spices, cinnamon, and ginger to the syrup when you make it. They will be ready for use in a few weeks.—Mrs. R.

Pepper Mangoes.

With a sharp knife take the cap out of the pod, then scrape out the seed. Lay the pods in weak salt and water for one hour.

Take hard cabbage, chop them very fine, and to every quart of cabbage, add

Mix all this well together, drain the peppers, and stuff them with the mixture, and replace the cap.

Pack them closely in a stone jar, with the small end downwards. Do this until the jar is filled; then pour on them strong 280 cold vinegar. They are ready for use in three weeks. You can use spices and sugar, if preferred.—Mrs. W. A. S.

To Pickle Walnuts.

After the walnuts have been in brine six weeks, scrape and wipe them with a coarse towel. Put them in plain vinegar, and let them remain for a week or two. Drain them well—place in a jar, and pour over them vinegar spiced and prepared as for yellow pickles, omitting the turmeric and lemons, and using black pepper instead of white.—Mrs. S. T.

Walnut Pickle.

The walnuts must be quite green and tender. First soak them in fresh water, then rub off with a coarse towel. The walnuts must be kept in brine a week, and then soaked in clear water for several hours. Boil them in vinegar a little while—this time put water in the vinegar; then put them in good strong vinegar, a portion of which must be boiled and poured over them four successive mornings. Season with cinnamon, mace, cloves, and add two pounds sugar to one gallon vinegar, or in proportion to quantity of pickle.—Mrs. C. C.

Walnut Pickle.

Gather the nuts about the 10th or 20th of June, when they are sufficiently tender to be pierced with a pin; pour boiling salt water on, and let them be covered with it nine days, changing it every third day. Put them on dishes to air, until they are black; then soak out the salt, and put them in weak vinegar for a day or two; put into the jar, and pour on hot the following pickled vinegar:

Walnut Pickle.

Put the walnuts in salt water for five or six weeks; then in fresh water for twenty-four hours; boil in weak vinegar and water until soft enough to run a straw through. Then rub them with a coarse towel; make a strong liquor of vinegar, horseradish, garlic, and mace; pour on, and leave them till ready for use, in two or three weeks.—Mrs. T.

To Pickle Martinas.

Take one gallon pot full of martinas. Make a brine strong enough to bear an egg; keep them covered for ten days. Take them out and wash them in cold water, then put them in cold vinegar. Let them remain for ten days; drain them, and put them in the jar intended for use. In half a gallon of vinegar scald a large handful of horseradish, scraped fine.

Pour them over the pickle, and fill with cold vinegar.—Mrs. S. D.

Pickled Martinas.

Put three gallons of martinas in very strong brine, keep covered for ten days, then wash them in cold water, and put them in vinegar to stand ten more days; then drain and put them in the jar intended for them. In three pints of vinegar, scald: 282

Pour it over the martinas, and fill up with cold vinegar.—Miss E. T.

To Pickle Martinas.

Put the martinas in a strong brine of salt and water, let them remain a week or ten days. Then wash them, and put them in cold vinegar, to soak the salt and greenish taste out of them. When ready to pickle, lay them out to drain; scald the following ingredients in a gallon of vinegar, and pour over them in a jar; if not full, fill up with cold vinegar.

The spices to be beaten, but not too fine. This quantity fills a two-gallon jar.—Mrs. J. J. M.

Chow-Chow Pickle.

Cut the onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage in small pieces; pack them down overnight in salt, lightly; in the morning pour off the brine, and put them to soak in weak vinegar two days; drain again, and mix the spices. Boil half a gallon vinegar and three pounds sugar, and pour over them hot. Mix two boxes ground seed.—Mrs. R. A.

Chow-Chow.

Slice all very fine, and put in a few whole cucumbers, one pint small red and green peppers; sprinkle one pint salt over them, and let them stand all night; then add:

Cover all with one gallon and one pint of strong vinegar, and boil thirty minutes.—Miss E. T.

Chow-Chow.

284

Sprinkle one pint salt on, and let them stand all night; the cucumbers not peeled, but sliced one inch thick, the onions also sliced. In the morning drain off the brine, and add to the pickles:

Cover with vinegar, and boil till tender, a half-hour or more. When cold, ready for use.—Mrs. C. N.

Chow-Chow Pickle.

The cabbage and onions must stand in strong salt and water two hours, then place in a brass kettle, with the vinegar and spices, and sugar; boil until syrup is formed. Excellent.—Mrs. J. H. F.

Chow-Chow.

The recipe is for one gallon pickle; for more, the quantities must be increased, of course. The ingredients consist of:

Cut the cabbage, onions and cucumbers into small pieces, and pack them down in salt one night; then put in vinegar, poured over hot. Do this three mornings. The third morning, mix one box ground mustard with one-quarter pint salad oil. To be mixed in while warm.—Mrs. O. B.

Leesburg Chow-Chow.

Cut these up, and pack in salt for a night. Drain off, and then soak in vinegar and water for two days. Drain again. Mix with this, then:

Pour over one and a half gallons boiling hot vinegar. Boil this vinegar for three mornings; the third morning, mix with two boxes mustard, three pounds brown sugar, and half-pint sweet oil.—Mrs. J. B. D. 286

Sweet Pickle Peaches.

Powder cloves, mace, and allspice, and mix well together.

To every pound fruit add one-quarter pound sugar, one gill vinegar, one teaspoonful of the mixed spices. Boil all together, and when the fruit is done, take from the syrup, and lay on dishes. Let the syrup cook thoroughly. Put the fruit in jars, and pour on the syrup. Cover when cool.—Mrs. D. R.

To Pickle Peaches.

Mace, cloves, cinnamon; boil the ingredients every day, for six days, and pour over the peaches.—Mrs. F. D. G.

Spiced Peaches.

Take nine pounds ripe peaches, rub them with a coarse towel, and halve them. Put four pounds sugar and one pint good vinegar in the kettle with cloves, cinnamon, and mace. When the syrup is formed, throw in the peaches a few at a time; when clear, take them out and put in more. Boil the syrup till quite rich; pour it over the peaches.

Cherries can be pickled in the same way.—Mrs. C. C.

Peaches to Pickle.

Make a syrup with one quart vinegar and three pounds sugar; peel the peaches and put them in the vinegar, and let boil very little. Take out the fruit, and let the vinegar boil half an hour, adding cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.—Mrs. A. H.

Pickled Peaches

Take peaches pretty ripe, but not mellow; wipe with flannel as smooth as possible; stick a few cloves in each one. One pound sugar to one pint vinegar. Allow three pounds sugar and three pints vinegar to one pan peaches. Scald the vinegar, then put 287 on the peaches; boil till nearly soft, then take out and boil the vinegar a little longer, and pour over the fruit.—Mrs. G. P.

Pickled Peaches.

Put the peaches in strong brine, and let them remain three or four days; take them out, and wipe them dry; put them in a pot with allspice, pepper, ginger, and horseradish; boil some turmeric in your vinegar. Pour it on hot.—Miss E. T.

Peach, Pear, Quince and Apple Pickle.

Dissolve sugar and vinegar together; put a small quantity of fruit; boil until you can stick a straw through it. Season with cinnamon and mace. Rescald the vinegar, and pour over the fruit for nine mornings.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Sweet Pickle. (Honolulu Melon.)

Put all to boil, then drop in the melons, as much as the vinegar will cover, and boil fifteen minutes. Put them in jars, and every day, for two or three days, pour off the vinegar, boil it over, and pour on the pickles until they seem done.—Mrs. M. W. T.

Cantaloupe Pickle.

Cut up ripe melons into small square pieces, peel and scrape out the soft pulp and seeds, soak one night in alum water, and then boil in strong ginger tea. Then to each pound of fruit add three-quarters of a pound loaf sugar, mace, cinnamon, and white ginger to the taste, and cover with best cider vinegar. Boil till it can be pierced with a straw, then set aside, and the next 288 day pour off, and boil the syrup until it thickens a little, and return to the fruit boiling-hot.—Mrs. F. F. F.

Cantaloupe Pickle.

Pare and cut in small pieces, cover with vinegar; pour off and measure, and to each pint put three-quarters of a pound brown sugar; cloves and mace to your taste.

Boil the syrup, put in the fruit and boil until clear; then take out the fruit, boil a few minutes longer, and pour it on the pickles, hot. When cold, it is ready for use.—Mrs. E. I.

Cantaloupe Pickle.

Take four or five cantaloupes, quarter, and cover with vinegar; to stand twenty-four hours. Then measure off the vinegar, leaving out one quart. To each quart, add three pounds brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and mace to the taste. Place the spiced vinegar over the fire, and when it has boiled awhile, drop in the fruit, cooking it thirty or forty minutes.—Mrs. R. P.

Ripe Muskmelon Pickles.

Take hard melons, after they are sufficiently ripe to be well flavored. Slice them lengthwise, scrape out the seed, and lay the melon in salt over night; wash and wipe dry, put them in alum water one hour, wash and wipe them again; cut them in slices and pack in jars. Pour over them a syrup of vinegar seasoned with cinnamon and cloves; put three or four pounds of sugar to one gallon vinegar, and boil until it is right thick.—Mrs. A. C.

Sweet Watermelon Pickle.

Trim the rinds nicely, being careful to cut off the hard coating with the outer green. Weigh ten pounds rind and throw it in a kettle, and cover with soft water; let this boil gently for half an hour, take it off and lay it on dishes to drain. Next morning put one quart vinegar, three pounds brown sugar, one 289 ounce cinnamon, one ounce mace, the white of one egg well beaten and thrown on top of the liquid (to clear it as you would jelly), three teaspoonfuls turmeric, all together in a kettle, and boil for a few minutes; skim off what rises as scum with the egg. Throw in the rind, and boil for twenty minutes. The peel of two fresh lemons will give a nice flavor, though not at all necessary.—Mrs. L. W. C.

Watermelon Pickle.

Peel the rind and cut in pieces; boil in ginger tea till clear, then throw in cold water overnight. Next morning make a syrup and preserve the rind; just before taking off the fire, pour in the vinegar.—Mrs. A. T.

Watermelon Rind Pickle.

Ten pounds melon, boil in water until tender. Drain the water off. Make a syrup of two pounds sugar, one quart vinegar, one-half ounce cloves, one ounce cinnamon; boil all this and pour over rind boiling-hot; drain off the syrup and let it come to a boil; then pour it over the melons.—Mrs. C. C. McP.

Pickle of Watermelon Rind.

Cut in pieces and soak the rind in weak salt and water for twenty-four hours—of course having first peeled off the outside. To seven pounds rind put three pounds sugar; scald well in ginger tea, and make a syrup of the sugar and vinegar, enough to cover the rind. Season the syrup with mace and ginger, and boil the rind in it till tender. A delicious pickle.—Mrs. Dr. P. C.

Pickled Plums.

Put a layer of plums and spice alternately; scald the vinegar and sugar together; pour it on the plums; repeat for two or three days, the last time scalding plums and syrup together.—Mrs. W.

To Pickle Damsons.

Take seven pounds damsons, wash and wipe them dry, three pounds sugar, one-half ounce cinnamon, half-ounce mace, half-ounce cloves, half-ounce allspice.

With one quart strong vinegar and the sugar make a syrup, and pour it over the fruit boiling-hot. Let it stand twenty-four hours; repeat the boiling next day, and let it remain twenty-four hours longer; then put all on the fire together and cook till the fruit is done.—Miss D. D.

Sweet Pickle.

Boil in three quarts of vinegar four or five pounds sugar, one ounce cinnamon, one ounce allspice, one ounce mace, one-half ounce cloves, and pour all over fourteen pounds damsons or peeled peaches.—Mrs. O. B.

German Pickle.

Make a syrup with vinegar, sugar and spices, then drop in a few of the damsons at a time. Scald them until the skins crack, laying each quantity in a dish till all are done. Fill the jars three-fourths full, and pour in the syrup.—Mrs. R. L. P. 291

Damson Pickle.

Spices to be beaten fine; put them in the jar, sprinkling the spice through in layers. Boil one quart vinegar with the sugar, and pour over the fruit and spices. Repeat the scalding of the vinegar for four days.—Mrs. C. N.

Composition Pickle.

all finely chopped. Let them stew several hours, then drain off the water. Add:

Ragoût Pickle.

Boil all well together, and it is ready for use.—Miss E. T.

Kentucky Pickle.

Take green tomatoes, cabbage, and onions, about equal quantities—grind them in a sausage machine. Salt, and put the mixture in a bag, and let it hang all night or until the juice has run from it—then season with red and black pepper, mustard-seed, celery-seed, cloves, sugar.

Pack in jars, and cover with strong cold vinegar.—Mrs. M. D.

French Pickles.

Slice the tomatoes and lay them in salt for twelve hours; pour off the brine.

Slice the onions, and put a layer of onions, tomatoes, spices and sugar into a bell-metal kettle, until the ingredients are all in. Pour in vinegar until well covered, and boil for one hour.—Mrs. Dr. S.

French Pickle.

Chop up cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and pepper; sprinkle salt over it, and let it stand an hour or so, and pour off the liquor. Add spices and vinegar, boil all together until you can stick a straw through the cabbage and tomatoes. This, as you see, will only make a small quantity when boiled down.—Mrs. M. McN.

Spanish Pickle.

Slice the whole, and sprinkle over with one pint salt, allow them to remain over night, then drain them. Put the whole into a preserving kettle, and add the following ingredients: sliced horseradish according to your judgment, one ounce mace, one ounce white pepper, one ounce turmeric, one ounce white mustard-seed, half an ounce cloves, half an ounce celery-seed, four tablespoonfuls of dry mustard, one and a half pounds brown sugar. Cover the whole with vinegar, and boil it one hour.—Mrs. J. J. M.

Onion Pickle.

Peel and scald the onions in strong salt water twenty-five or thirty minutes; take them out and lay on dishes in the sun, a 294 day or two, then put them in vinegar prepared as for cabbage pickle.—Mrs. Dr. J.

Pickled Onions.

Pour boiling water over the onions and let them stand until the brine gets cooled; then change the brine for nine mornings, warming it every day. The ninth day put them in fresh water, and let them soak one day and night. Then put the spices and vinegar on the fire, and let them come to a boil, and drop in the onions in a few minutes; add sugar to your taste.—Mrs. A. H.

Lemon Pickle.

Rasp the lemons a little and nick them at one end; lay them in a dish with very dry salt, let them be near the fire, and covered. They must stand seven or eight days, then put in fresh salt, and remain the same time; then wash them well, and pour on boiling vinegar, grated nutmeg, mace, and whole pepper. Whenever the salt becomes damp, it must be taken out and dried. The lemons will not be tender for nearly a year. The time to pickle them is about February.—Mrs. A.

Pickling Fifty Lemons.

Grate off the yellow rind, cut off the end, and pack in salt for eight days. Set them in a hot oven, in dishes; turning until the salt candies on them. Place them in a pot and pour on two gallons vinegar (boiling) to which has been added two pounds white mustard-seed, two tablespoonfuls mace, one pound ginger, four tablespoonfuls celery-seed, one pound black pepper, two pounds sugar, one handful horseradish scraped.

All the spices, except mustard-seed, must be pulverized.—Mrs. H. P. C.

Apple Pickle.