WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

It is absolutely necessary for every family to be furnished vrith a pair of scales. It is also advisable for them to have wooden measures.

OF LIQUID MEASURE. Or DRY MEASURE.

Two gills are half a pint. | Haifa gallon Is a quarter of a peck.

Two pints — one quart. One gallon — half a peck.

Four quarts -one gallon. Two gallons— one peck.

I Four gallons — half a bushel.

j Eight gallons — one bushel.

About seventy-five drops of any thin liquid will fill a common sized tea-spoon.

Four table-spoonfuls, or half a gill, will fill a common wine glass.

Four wine glasses will fill a half-pint, or common tumbler, or a large coffee-cup.

Ten eggs generally weigh one pound before they are broken.

A table- spoonful of salt is generally about one ounce.

Soft water should always be used for making soup, unless it b& of green peas, in which case hard water better preserves its ?M!OJ and it is a good general rule to apportion a quart ?i water to a pound of meat, that is to s.iy, Jiesh without bone; but rich soups may have a smaller quantity of water.

Meat tor soup should never be drowned at first with water, but put into the kettle wi h a very small quantity and a piece of butter, merely to keep the meat from burning until the juices are extracted : by which means of stewing the gravy will be drawn from it' before the remainder of the water is added. A single pound will thus afford better and richer soup than treble the quantity saturated with cold water ; but it will take 6 or 8 hours to extract the essence from a few pounds of raw beef. Bouilli beef is rendered very rich and palatable, though a con- siderable quantity of soup may be made from it, by being stewed at first in a little butter and some of its own gravy.

Soup, if meant to be good, should be made of meat that has not been previously cooked; for although family soup of fair quality may be nvide in the manner above stated, yet, if cold meat be used, it will ever be found to have a vapid taste which seasoning cannot disguise, nor impose upon the palate of any person who is accustomed to broths made from raw meat : but, we admit, that if only partially employed, the remains of roast beef, or the bones broiled, and a shank of hnm. will commonly improve the flavor of soups made in the usual manner. The pediments of gravies that have stood to be cold should likewise be avoided, as they occasion the soup to become cloudy. Raw vegetables, with the exception of onions, should not be put down to stew at the same time as the meat, as their flavor will be ex- hausted by too long boiling, and the different sorts should be put down at different times. Onions, either whole or sliced and fried, at once; pot-herbs, carrots, and celery 3 hours afterwards; and turnips, vegetable marrow, asparagus-tops, and those of any delicate kind, only shorily before the soup is ready.

A common mistake in the making of soup is that of allowing it to boil too fast, and for too short a time ; for long and slow boiling is necessary to extract the strength from the meat, which, if boiled fast over a large fire, becomes hard, and will not give out its juices.

BEEF OR MUTTON SOUP. — Boil very gently in a closely covered saucepan, four quarts of water, with two table-spoonfuls of sifted bread raspings, three pounds of beef cut in small pieces, or the same quantity of mat on chops taken from the middle of the neck; season with pepper and salt. a<il two turnips, two carrots, two onions, and one head of celery, all cut small ; let it stew with these ingredients 4 hours, when it will be ready to serve.

30 SOUPS.

BROTH, MUTTON, FOR THE SIOK. — Have a pound and a half of a neck or loin of mutton ; take off the skin and the fat, and put it into a saucepan; cover it with cold water (it will take about a quart to a pound of meat), let it simmer very gently, and skim it well ; cover it up, and set it over a moderate fire, where it may stand, gently stewing, for about an hour ; then strain it off. It should be allowed to become cold, when all the greasy particles will float on the surface, and, becoming hard, can be easily taken off, and the settlings will remain at the bottom.

N. B. — We direct the meat to be done no more than just suffi- ciently to be eaten ; so a sick man may have plenty of good broth for nothing ; as by this manner of producing it, the meat furnishes also a good family meal. This is an inoffensive nourish- ment for sick persons, and the only mutton broth that should be given to convalescents, whose constitutions require replenishing with restorative aliment of easy digestion. The common way of making it with roots, onions, sweet herbs, &c., &c., is too strong for weak stomachs. Plain broth will agree with a deli- cate stomach, when the least addition of other ingredients would immediately offend it.

BROWN GRAVY. — Take fifteen pounds of a leg or shin of beet, cut off the meat in bits, rub the bottom of the pot with butter, put in the meat, let it brown for nearly an hour, turning it con- stantly, break the bone and take out the marrow, which may be kept for a pudding, but it is considered better than butter to brown the meat with; put to it fourteen quarts of cold water, and the bones; when it boils skim it perfectly clean, and add six good-sized red onions, one carrot cut in three, one head of celery, a good handful of whole black and Jamaica pepper mixed ; let this boil very gently ten or twelve hours closely covered, if upon a fire, but if done upon a hot plate, not to be covered; strain it through a cullender, and then through a hair sieve, into a large pan, to be kept for use. Return the meat and bones into the pot with three or four quarts of hot water; let it boil nearly two hours, and strain it off. This makes good stock for gravies, stews, or any made dishes.

This gravy soup keeps perfectly good for three or four weeks. When it is to be boiled to send to table, first boil ver- 'micelli, or macaroni, in a little salt and water, till tender; strain it, and add it to the soup just before serving. This soup is quite pure, and requires no clearing. It is a most convenient thing to have in a house in cold weather, as it is always ready for use ; and, served with dry toast to eat with it, makes an acceptable luncheon.

The trimmings of meat, giblets, and bones, may be boiled with the beef for this soup.

SOUPS. 31

BEEF SOUP. — Crack the bone of a shin of beef, and put it OD to boil in one quart of water to every pound of meat, and a large tea-spoonful of salt to each quart of water. Let it boil two hours, and skim it well. Then add four turnips pared and cut in quarters, four onions pared and sliced, two carrots scraped and cut in slices, one root of celery cut in small pieces, and one bunch of sweet herbs; which should be washed and tied with a thread, a« they are to be taken out when the soup is served. When the vegetables are tender, take out the meat, strain off the soup and return it to the pot again, thicken it with a little flour mixed with water; then add some parsley finely chopped, with more salt and pepper to the taste, and some dumplings, made of a tea-spoonful of butter to two of flour, moistened with a little water or milk. Drop these dumplings into the boiling soup; let them boil five minutes, and serve them with the soup in the tureen.

CHICKEN SOUP. — Cut up two large fine fowls, as if carving them for the table, and wash the pieces in cold water. Take half a dozen thin slices of cold ham, and lay them in a soup-pot, mixed among the pieces of chicken. Season them with a very little cayenne, a little nutmeg, and a few blades of mace, but no salt, as the ham will make it salt enough. Add a head of celery split and cut into long bits, a quarter of a pound of butter divided in two, and rolled in flour. Pour on three quarts of milk. Set the soup-pot over the fire, and let it boil rather slowly.

BROTH, MUTTON. — Take two pounds of scrag of mutton ; to take the blood out, put it into a stewpan. and cover it with cold water; when the water becomes milk-warm, pour it off; then put it in four or five pints of water, with a tea-spoonful of salt, a table-spoonful of best grits, and an onion; set it on a slow fire, and when you have taken all the scum off, put in two or three turnips; let it simmer very slowly for two hours, and strain it through a clean sieve.

CLAM SOTTP. — Wash the shells of the clams and put them in a pot without any water. Cover the pot closely to keep in the steam ; a-* soon as the clams are opened, which will be in a few minutes, take them out of the shells and proceed as directed for oyster soup.

To MAKE EGG DUMPLINGS FOE SOUP.— To half a pint of milk put two well-beaten eggs-, and as much wheat flour as will make a smooth, rather thick batter, free from lumps; drop this batter, a table-spoonful at a time, into boiling soup.

32 WHIPS.

MOCK TURTLE, OR CALF'S HEAP SOUP. — Boil the head until perfectly tender — then take it out, strain the liquor, arid set it away until the next day — then skim off the fat, cut up the meat together with the ligh-ts, and put it into the liquor, put it on the fire, and season it with salt, pepper, cloves, and mace — add onions and sweet herbs, if you like — stew it gently for half an hour. Just before you take it up, add half a pint of white wine. For the balls, chop lean veal fine, with a little salt pork, add the braina/ and season it with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, sweet herbs or curry powder, make it up into balls about the size ol half an egg, boil part in the soup, and fry the remainder, and put them in a dish by themselves.

OYSTER SOUP. — Make your stock of liquor to the quantity of two quarts with any sort offish the place affords; put one pint of oysters into a saucepan, strain the liquor, stew them five minutes in their own liquor; then pound the hard parts of the oyster in a mortar with the yolks of three hard eggs, mix them with some of the soup, then lay them with the remainder of the oysters and liquor in a saucepan, with nutmeg, pepper, and salt Let them boil a quarter of an hour, when they will be done.

NEW ENGLAND CHOWDER. — Have a good haddock, cod, or any other solid fish, cut it in pieces three inches siuare, put a pound of fat salt pork in strips into the pot, set it on hot coals, and frv out the oil. Take out the pork, and put in a layer offish, ovei that a layer of onions in slices, then a layer offish wuh slips ol fat salt pork, then another layer of onions, and so on alternately until your fish is consumed. Mix some fiour with as much wa ter a« will fill the pot ; season with black pepper and salt to your taste, and boil it for half an hour. Have ready some crack- ers soaked in water till they are a little softened; throw them into your chowder five minutes before you take it up. Serve in a tureen.

CLAM SOUP.— Boil a knuckle of veal in as much water as will cover it well. When it has boiled about half or quarter of an hour, open half a peck of clams by placing them over (he fire in a very small quantity of water. Pour the juice ot the clams into the pot which contains the knuckle of veal, Boil the soup three or four hours, seasoning it with a tabie- spoonful of pepper. Add no salt, as the clam juice will have made it salt enough. When the veal is quite tender, cut up the clams in small pieces, (that is to say, each clam in three or more pieces,) and throw them into the soup, with a quarter of a pound of butter chopped into bus. Some persons roll the butter in flour, which they think makes it mix with the cla.D jnice, others use no flour, as they dislike to detect the taste ot

flour not thoroughly cooked. After the clams have been add ed to the soup it should boil half an hour longer. Toast a few slices of bread, cut in pieces, and add the.n to the soup.

TOMATO SOUP. — Wash, scrape, and cut small the red part of three large carrots, three heads of celery, four large onions, and two large turnips, put them into a saucepan, with a table-spoon ful of butter, and half a pound of lean new ham; let them stew very gently for an hour, then add three quarts of brown gravy soup, and some whole black pepper, with eight or ten ripe to- matoes ; let it boil an hour and a half, and pulp it through a sieve; serve it with fried bread cut in dice.

VERMICELLI SOUP. — The day before it is required, make font quarts of good stock, and boil in it one carrot, one turnip, foui onions, one or two parsley roots, three blades of mace, salt, and some white pepper ; strain it, and, before using, take off all the fat; boil in some of the liquor the crumb of three French rolls till soft enough to mash smooth ; boil the soup and stir well in the mashed rolls ; boil it for a quarter of an hour, and, before serving, add the yolks of two eggs beaten with three table- spoonfuls of cream; boil in water two or three ounces of vermi- celli for fifteen or twenty minutes, strain and put it into the tu reen, and pour the soup upon it.

MACARONI SOUP. — Make a good stock with a knuckle of veal, a little sweet majoram, parsley, some salt, white pepper, three blades of mace, and two or three onions; strain and boil it. Break in small bits a quarter of a pound of macaroni, and gently simmer it in milk and water till it be swelled and is tender; strain it, and add it to the soup, which thicken with two table- spoonfuls of flour, rrfixed in half a pint of cream, and stirred gradually into the soup. Boil it a few minutes before serving.

PEA SOUP. — If you make your soup of dry peas, soak them over night in a warm place, using a quart of water to each quart of the peas. Early the next morning boil them an hour. Boil with them a tea-spoonful of saleratus, eight or ten minutes, then take them out of the water they were soaking in, put them into fresh water, with a pound of salt pork, and boil it till the peas are soft, which will be in the course of three or four hours. Green peas for soup require no soaking, and boiling only long enough to have the pork get thoroughly cooked, which will be in the course of an hour.

SOUP A LA JULIENNE, OR VEGETABLE. — GUI various kinds Oj vegetables in pieces, celery, carrots, turnips, onions, &c., and

$4 SOUPS.

having put two ounces of butter in the bottom oF a stew-pan, put the vegetables on the top of the butter, together with any others that may^be in season ; stew or fry them over a slow fire, keeping them stirred, and adding a little of the stock occasion ally : soak small pieces of crust of bread in the remainder of th« broth or stock, and when the vegetables are nearly stewed, add them, and warm the whole up together.

RICE AND MEAT SOUP. — Put a pound of rice and a little pep- per and broth herbs into two quarts of water : cover them close, and simmer very softly ; put in a little cinnamon, two pounds of good ox-cheek, and boil the whole till the goodness is incor- porated by the liquor.

OX-TAIL SOUP. — Two ox-tails, if properly stewed, with a couple of pounds of gravy beef and a bone of ham, will make an excel- lent soup. Cut the tails into joints, and boil very gently for several hours in a sufficient quantity of water, with the beef a'.d ham, carrots, turnips, and celery, two or three onions, a piece of crust of bread, a bunch of sweet herbs, a clove or two, and some peppercorns Take out the tails when tender, and let the beef. &c., boil tour hours longer, then strain the liquor and remove the fat in the same manner as for clear gravy soup. If made without ham-bones, or other flavoring ingredients, it will require the addition of a little ketchup, or some of the prepared sauces, and a glass of wine, with a moderate quantity of cayenne. Add the tails and some pieces of carrot and turnip cut into fancy shapes.

When thickened ox-tail soup is preferred, proceed in the same manner as above, and thicken the broth with brown roux.

MULLIGATAWNEY SOUP. — A calfs head divided, well clean- ed, place with a cow-heel in a well tinned saucepan ; boil them till tender, let them cool, cut the meat from the bones in slices, and fry them in butter, stew the bones of the head and heel for some hours; when well s'ewed, strain, let it get cold and remove the fat. When this is accomplished, cut four onions in slices, flour them, fry them in butter until brown, add a table-spoonful and a half of best curry powder obtainable, cayenne pepper one tea-spoonful with a little salt, turmeric powder sufficient to fill a dessert spoon is sometimes ;idded, but the imp-ovement is not manifest to a refined English palate, the curry powder being deemed all that is necessary ; add these last ingredients to the soup, boil gently for about an hour and a half, add two dessert-spoonfuls of Harvey's sauce ; serve.

OX-TAIL SOUP. — Same as No. 7 ; add about three ox-tails, separated at the joints ; when the meat upon them is tender it ia done ; they must not be over stewed ; add a spoonful of ketchup or Harvey's sauce, and send to table with pieces of the tail in the soup.

THE TABLE LAID.— THE SOUP SERVED.

A dinner party should consist of an equal number of gentlemen and ladies, those being invited who it is thought will like to meet. It is noi necessary to introduce all the members of the part}' to each other ; in a friend's house all talk to e.-ich other without introduction, and without this forming any sub- sequeiit a< quaiiitance, unless such is desired by both parties.

POTAGE A LA REINS (White iSou]>). — Stew four pounds of veal, with a slice of ham, sweet herbs, two carrots, two onions, and a half a tea-spoonful of white peppercorns, in four quarts of water until reduced to about five pints, and strain it. Skin and wash thoroughly a couple of fine fowls, pour the veal broth to them, and boil them gently ;in hour; then lift them out, take oil all the white flesh, am, mince it small. Then let the bodies of the fowls be put again into the stock, and stewed gently for an hour and a half; add salt and cayenne to season, strain it, skim off the fat ; steep in a small portion of it, which should be boiling, four ounces of stale bread, and when it has simmered add it to the flesh of the chickens, and pound them together until they are perfectly blended; then pour the stock to them, and mix them smoothly with it; pass the whole through a sieve, heat it in a clean stew-pan, and stir to it a pint of boiling cream.

KISH.-CAKP, EEL, PIKE.

A fresh tish i- rrenirni/.-ible by the redness of the gills, the brightness of the eyes, and the firmm-s of the llesh. It. is not enough to be iruided by the smell ; it may have laid days on ice without acquiring any noticeable emell ; but the llesh, in such a case, will be dull and flaccid, and care should be taken not to use fish in that condition.

To BOIL COD-FISH. — When this fish is large the head and shoulders are sufficient for a handsome dish, and they con- tain all the choicer portion of it, though not so much substan- tial (ating as the middle of the body, which, in consequence, is generally preferred to them by the frugal housekeeper. Wash the fish, and cleanse the inside, and the backbone in particular, with the most scrupulous care; lay it into the fish-kettle and cover it well with cold water mixed with five ounces of salt to the gallon, and about a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre to the whole. Place it over a moderate fire, clear off the scum perfectly, and let the fish boil gently until it is done. Drain it well and dish it carefully upon a very hot napkin. Serve well-made oyster sauce and plain melted butter with it; or anchovy sauce, when oysters cannot be procured.

Moderate size, twenty to thirty minutes; large, one-half to three-quarters of an hour.

All fish should be thoroughly cleansed and well cooked nothing can be more unwholesome and more unpalatable than fresh fish not sufficiently cooked.

Fresh fish, when boiled, should be placed in cold, and shell- fish in boiling water.

To keep oysters after washing them, lay them in a tub in a cool cellar, with the deep part of the shell undermost. Sprinkle them with salt and Indian meal, then fill the tub with cold water. Change the water every day, and the oysters will keep fresh a fortnight.

Fish should be garnished with horse radish or parsley. The only vegetable served with fish is potatoes.

It is customary to eat fish only at the commencement of the dinner. Fish and soup are generally served up alone, the soup first, before any of the other dishes appear.

To BOIL SALMON, SEA BASS, AND OTHER LARGE FISH. After the fish has been thoroughly cleansed, it may be put on the fire in cold hard water: when it boils, skim it with the greatest care. The cover should be kept on the kettle to prevent soot falling in and discoloring the fish. Fish should be boiled with a handful of salt, and half a tea-cup full of vinegar. It should be subjected to the cooking process until the bones will si parate easily ; but experience alone can determine the precise moment in which it should be served, to insure its being done through- out, and preserved unbroken.

To judge if a large fish be sufficiently boiled, draw up the fish-plate, and with a thin knife try if the fish easily divides from the bone in the thick parts, which it will when done enough. Keep it hot, not by letting it sodden in the- water, but by laying the fish plate cross-ways on the kettle, and cover- ing with a thick cloth. If left in the water after it is ready, fish loses its firmness. Serve fish on a napkin.

It is impossible to dress fish too fresh. Some kinds will bear keeping better than others, but none are improved by it.

Families who purchase a whole salmon, and like it quite fresh, should parboil the portion not required for the day's con- gumption, and lay it aside in the liquor, boiling up the whole together when wanted. By this means the curd will set. and the fish be equally good on the following day. The custom of serving up rich sauces, such as lohster, is unknown in salmon countries ; a little lemon peel or white vinegar being quite suffi- cient, added to melted butter. Salmon should be garnished with parsley and scraped horse radish.

In the frying ofjisk, one great point is to prepare it properly

Take, for instance, a flounder, lay it on a cloth, wipe it thoroughly dry on both sides, then dredge it with Hour, beat up an egg, and lay iron with a brush si rowing on it iinflv-grated bread or biscuit crumbs; have the tat so boiling hot that all the hiss- ing and bubbling must have subsided bet'ore the tish is put in, and let the quantity not be stinted, or the tish. when taken out will be grea>y. The fryingpan must be put upon a clear cinder tire, and not left for a moment until the tish is done at a mode- rate rate, neither too quick nor too slow; and \\hen done, lay it upon a cloth or writing-paper to drain otl'the tat.

Hog's-lard and butter are the materials1 most generally used, a- are also the drippings from roast meat ; for a great prejudice exists in K.ngland against frying with oil. arising no doubt partly from expense a> well as dislike, although it is more delicate than any fatty substance that can be em loved for that purpose. Throughout the southern counties ol Murope nothing else is t>\rr used in the frying f eith T tish or meat of any kind, and dishes thus dressed ever appea superior on the foreign tables to those of our own. The oil. if skimmed when done with, may he employed again until entirely used: and lard, if poured into c<>ld water u hen melted, will harden on the surface. 'I he lar^em-ss of quantity does not therefore occasion additional Cost; and even should meat be fried in it after tish, it will occasion no unpleasant llavor.

In l>ro/l tug _//>//, care should be taken to make the gridiron very hot, and to rub the bars with butter previously to using. Fish prepared tor broiling, after it is wa-hed. should be rubbed well with vinegar, dried in a cloth., and tloured — the vinegar preserung the skin entire, and the tlour preventing it sticking to the bars. A cinder or a charcoal tire is the best, but a little salt thrown on a coal fire will rheck the smoke, and cause it to burn like embers.

In the dressing; of flat fish as cn'Iet*. the fillets should be lifted from the bones, and the spine which runs through the centre of the round sorts should be extracted.

The stewing offn'i. and dressing it in fillets or cutlets, requires considerably more care in the cookery, as well as cost in the in- gredients, than either of the pre\ ions modes ; and as a prelimi- nary to the operation, a gravy should be got ready, to be made in the following manner: — Take out .-ill the bones, cut oil' the heads a-'d tails, and, if this should not be sufficient, add a flounder, an eel. or any small common fish ; stew them with an onion, pepper, salt, and sweot herbs; strain it, and thicken it to the consistence of cream, flavoring with a slight addition of wine or any other sauce. The Fremh employ the commonest sorts of their wine as a marinade, or sauce, both for the boiling and slewing offish.

GOD. — A cod-fish should be firm mid white, the gills red, and the eye lively : a fine fish is very thick about the neck ; if the Hesh is at all flabby it is not good. Cod is in its prime during the months of October and November, if the weather be cold; from the latter end of March to May, cod is also very fine. The length of time it requires for boiling depends on the size of the fish, which varies from one pound to twenty: a small fish, about two or three pounds weight will be sufficiently boiled in a quar- ter of an hour or twenty minutes after the water boils. Prepare a cod for dressing in the following manner: — empty and wash it thoroughly, scrape otf all the scales, cut open the belly, and wash and dry it well, rub a little salt inside, or lay it for an hour in strong brine. The simple way of dressing it is as follows : Tie up the head, and put it into a fish-kettle, with plenty of water and salt in it ; boil it gently, and serve it with oyster sauce. Lay a napkin under the fish, and garnish with slices of lemon, horse- radish, &c.

COD BAKED. — (1) Soak a fine piece of the middle of a fresh cod in melted butter, with parsley and sweet herbs shred very fine ; let it stand over the fire for some time, and then bake it. Let it be of a good color.

COD BAKED. — (2) Choose a fine large cod, clean it well, and open the under part to the bone, and put in a stuffing made with beef suet, parsley, sweet herbs shred fine, an egg. and seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg, mace and grated lemon-peel ; put this inside the cod, sew it up, wrap it in a buttered paper, and bake it ; baste it well with melted butter.

FRIED CoD-Fisrr. — Take the middle or tail part of a fresh cod- fish, and cut it into slices not quite an inch thick, first removing the skin. Season them with a little salt and cayenne pepper. Have ready in one dish some beaten yolk of egg, and in another some grated bread crumbs. Dip each slice of fish twice into the egg. and then twice into the crumbs. Fry them in fresh butter, and serve them up with the gravy about them.

EELS STEWED. — (1) Cut the eels into pieces about four inches long : take two onions, two shallots, a bunch of parsley, thyme, two bay leaves, a little mace, black and Jamaica pepper, a pint of good gravy, the same of Port wine, and the same of vinegar, six anchovies bruised; let all boil together for ten minutes; take out the eels; boil the sauce till reduced to a quart; strain and thicken it with a table-spoonful of flour, mixed smooth in a little cold water. Put in the eels, and boil them till they are tender. Eels may also be roasted with a common stuffing.

EELS STEWED. — (2) Cut the eels into pieces, season -well two pounds and a half with salt and black pepper, put an ounce of butter into a stewpan with a large handful of sorrel, three or four sage leaves, half an onion cut small, a little grated lemon- peel, and one anchovy chopped; put in the eels and pour over half a pint of water, stew them gently for half an hour, shaking them occasionally ; before serving, add a little grated nutmeg, and the juice of half a lemon.

EELS FRIED. — Cut them into pieces of three or four inches long, and then score across in two or three places ; season them with pepper and salt, and dust them with flour, or dip them into an egg beat up, and sprinkle them with finely grated bread crumbs; fry them in fresh lard or dripping. Let them drain and dry upon the back of a sieve before the fire. Garnish with parsley. Sauce.

EELS BAKED. — Skin and clean some eels ; take a shallow pan, and cut the eels in length according to the depth of the pan put them in, letting them stand upright in it; the pan should be filled ; put in a little water, some salt, pepper, shallots cut small, some sweet herbs, and a little parsley cut small ; set them in the oven to bake ; when they are done take the liquor that comes from them, put it into a saucepan, and thicken it with a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a little white wine.

FLOUNDERS BOILED. — (1) Put on a stewpan with a sufficient quantity of water to cover the flounders which are to be dressed ; put in some vinegar and horse-radish ; when the water boils put in the fish, having been first well cleaned, and their fins cut off ; they must not boil too .fast for fear they should break ; when they are sufficiently done, lay them on a fish plate, the tails in the middle. Serve them with parsley and butter.

FLOUNDERS BOILED. — (2) Wash and clean them well, cut the black side of them the same as you do turbot, then put them into a fish-kettle, with plenty of cold water and «, handful of salt ; when they come to a boil, skim them clean, and let them stand by the side of the fire for five minutes, and they are ready.

Otis. — Eaten with plain melted butter *jnd a little salt, you have the sweet delicate flavor of the flounder, which is over- powered by any sauce.

FLOFNDEKS OR PLAICE. FRIED OR BOILED. — Flounders are per haps the most difficult fish to fry very nicely. Clean them well, flour them, and wipe them with a dry cloth to absorb all tha water from them ; flour ^r egg and bread-crumb them.

To FRY TROUT, AND OTHER SMALL FISH. — Wash, gut, and scale them ; then dry them, and lay them on a board, dusting them at the same time with some flour. Fry them finely brown with fresh dripping. Serve with crimp, parsley, and melted butter.

Eels, when fried, should be dipped into egg and crumbs of bread, which materially improvest heir appearance at table.

Select the small eels for boiling, and place them in a small quantity of water ; and when -lone enough, serve with chopped parsley and butter.

CODFISH. — Fresh Cod is good boiled, fried, or made into a chowder. It is too dry a fish to broil. Salt cod should be soak- ed in lukewarm water till the skin will come oft' easily — the* take up the fish, scrape off the skin, and put it in fresh watef and set it on a very moderate tire, where it will keep warm without boiling, as it hardens by boiling. It takes between three and four hours to cook it soft — serve it up with drawn butter.

FISH CAKES — Cold boiled fresh fish, or salt codfish, is nice minced fine, with potatoes, moistened with a little water, and a little butter put in, done up into cakes of the size of common biscuit, and fried brown hi pork fat or butter.

To BROIL A SHAD. — Shad should be well washed and dried- It may be cut in half and broiled, or you may split it open and lay a small quantity of salt over it, and lay it upon a gridiron well buttered. It will broil in about twenty minutes, and should be thoroughly done. Melted butter may be served in a sauce- boat with it. Shad is even more palatable when baked than broiled. To bake Shad it should be stuffed with mashed po- tatoes and chopped parsley. Lay it in the oven on a pan which is well covered with butter chopped in pieces, baste the fish with the butter and add fresh quantities as fast as it is absorbed. Half or three quarters of a pound of butter should be used fora large sized shad.

HALIBUT. — Halibut shoul 1 be cut iiito slices of four pounds each, and may be baked, or fried. The skin on the back must be scored. When baked, use a sufficient quantity of butter to keep it moist. If boiled, lay it in f.he kettle on a strainer, cov- er it with, salted water, boil it slowly half or three quarters of an hour, and skim it well. Garnish it with horse radish, serve it with melted butter. To fry Halibut cut it in slices less than an inch thick; and with this, as with all other fish, take care to have plenty of butter, lard, or oil in the pan, and that it be hot before the fish is put in.

MACKEREL BAKED — Cut off their heads, open them, and tafca out the roes and clean them thoroughly; rub them on the inside with a little pepper and salt, put the roes in again, season them (with a mixture of powdered allspice, black pepper, and salt, well rabbed together), and lay them close in a baking-pan, cover them with equal quantities of cold vinegar and water, tie them down with strong white paper doubled, and bake them for an hour in a slow oven. They will keep for a fortnight.

MACKEREL BOILED. — This fish loses its life as soon as it leave? the sea, and the fresher it is the better. Wash and clean them thoroughly (the fishmongers seldom do this sufficiently), put them into cold water with a handful of salt in it; let them rather sim- mer than boil ; a small mackerel will be done enough in about a quarter of an hour; when the eye starts and the tail splits, they are done; do not let them stand in the water a moment after; they are so delicate that the heat of the water will break them.

MACKEREL BROILED. — Clean a fine large mackerel, wipe it on a dry cloth, and cut a long slit down the back ; lay it on a clean gridiron, over a very clear, slow fire ; when it is done on one side, turn it; be careful that it does not burn; send it up with fennel sauce ; mix well together a little finely minced fennel and parsley, seasoned with a little pepper and salt, a bit of fresh but- ter, and when the mackerel are ready for the table, put some of this into each fish.

BAKED SALMON. — A small salmon may be baked whole. Stuff it with forcemeat made of bread-crumbs, chopped oysters, or minced lobster, butter, cayenne, a little salt, and powdered mace, — all mixed well, and moistened with beaten yolk of egg. Bend the salmon round, and put the tail into the mouth, fasten- ing it with a skewer. Put it into a large deep dish; lay bits of butter on it at small intervals; and set it into the oven. While baking, look at it occasionally, and baste it with the butter. When one side is well browned, turn it carefully in the dish, and add more butter. Bake it till the other side is well browned. Then transfer it to another dish with the gravy that is about it, and send it to table.

If you bake salmon in slices, reserve the forcemeat for the outside. Dip each slice first in beaten yolk of egg, and then in the forcemeat, till it is well coated. If in one large piece, cover H in the same manner thickly with the seasoning.

The usual sauce for baked salmon is melted butter, flavored with the juice of a lemon, and a glass of port wine, stirred in just before the butter is taken from the fire. Serve it up in ?i sauce-boat.

SALMON-. — When salmon is fresh and good, the gills and flesh are of a bright red, the scales clear, and the whole fish is stiff. When just killed there is a whiteness between the flakes, which gives great firmness ; by keeping, this melts down, and the fish becomes richer.

SALMOX, BAKED. — Clean and cut the fish into slices, put it in a dish, and make the following sauce: Melt an ounce of butter, kneaded in flour, in a pint and a half of gravy, w.th two glasses of Port wine, two table-spoonfnls of catsup, twj anchovies and a little cayenne. When the anchovies are dissolved, strain and pour the sauce over the fish, tie a sheet of buttered paper over the dish, and send it to the oven.

SALMON, BOILED. — Put on a fish-kettle, with spring water enough to well cover the salmon you are going to dress, or the salmon will neither look nor taste well. (Boil the liver in a sep- arate saucepan.) When the water boils, put in a handful of salt; take off the scum as soon as it rises ; have the fish well washed ; put it in, and if it is thick, let it boil very gently. Salmon re- quires almost as much boiling as meat; about a quarter of an hour to a pound of fish : but practice only can perfect the cook in dressing salmon. A quarter of a salmon will take almost as long boiling as half a one : you must consider the thickness, not the weight: ten pounds of fine full-grown salmon will be done in an hour and a quarter. Lobster sauce.

ROASTED SALMON. — Take a large piece of fine fresh salmon, cut from the middle of the fish, well cleaned and carefully scaled. Wipe it dry in a clean coarse cloth. Then dredge it with flour, put it on the spit, and place it before a clear bright fire. Baste it with fresh butter, and roast it well ; seeing that it is thorough- ly done to the bone. Serve it up plain ; garnishing the dish with slices of lemon, as many persons like a little lemon-juice with salmon. This mode of cooking salmon will be found ex- cellent. A small one or a salmon-trout may be roasted whole.

SMELTS, TO FEY. — This delicate little fish, when perfectly fresh, must not be washed, but wiped with a clean cloth, and dredged with flour, or brushed over with a feather, dipped into the yolk of an egg beaten, and rolled in a plate of finely grated bread-crumbs, and fried in boiling dripping, or fresh lard. They vary in size, and some will be done sooner than others.' When of a clear yellow brown, take them out carefully, and lay them before the fire upon the back of a sieve to drain and keep hot. Dish them, heads and tails alternately ; garnish with fried parsley. Sauce — melted butter. They may also be bi oiled.

STRIPED AND SEA BASS, are good, fried, boiled, broiled, of made into a chowder.

BLACK FISH, are the best boiled or fried — they will do to broil, but are not so good as cooked in any other way.

In choosing MACKEREL, the gills should be cf a fine red, the eyes full, and the whole fish stiff and bright ; if the gills are of a faint c >lor, the fish limber and wrinkled, they are not fresh. '1 hey are in season in May and June, and may be boiled or fried.

OYSTERS. — To stew Oysters, open them and strain the liquor.

Put to them some grated stale bread, and a little pepper and Mitmeg Throw them into the liquor, and add a glass of white rine. Let them stew but a short time, or they will be hard.

ilave ready some slices of buttered toast with the crust off.

When the oysters are done dip the toast in the liquor, and lay

the pieces round the sides and in the bottom of a deep dish.

Pour the oysters and liquor upon the toast, and send them to

table hot.

To FRY OYSTERS. — Make a batter; then, having washed ycnn oysters and wiped them dry, dip them into the batter, and roll them in some crumbs of bread and mace finely beaten. Fry ' hem as other fish.

FOR OYSTEU PATTIES. — Make some rich puff-paste, and bake it in very small tin patty-pans. When cool, turn them out upon a large dish. Stew some large fresh oysters with a few cloves, a little mace and nutmeg, some yolk of egg boiled Lard and grated, a little butter, and as much of the oyster liquor as will cover them. When they have stewed a little while, take them out of the pan, and set them away to cool. When quite cool, lay two or three oysters in each shell of puff-paste.

FOR PICKLING. — Procure some of the largest sort of oysters, and wash four dozen in their own liquor; wipe them dry, strain the liquor off, add to it a dessert-spoonful of pepper, two blades of mace, three table-spoonfuls of white wine, and four of vine- gar, and if the liquor is not very salt, you may put one table- Spoonful of salt ; simmer the oysters for a few minutes in the liquor, then put them into small jars, and boil up the pickle, gkim it, and when cold, pour it over the ovsters^ keep theoj closely covered.

OYSTERS, FRIED. — (1) Make a natter as for pancakes, seasoned with grated nutmeg, white pepper, and salt, and add some finely grated bread-crumbs ; dip in the oysters, and fry them of a light brown in beef drippings.

Another way is, to dip them into the white of an egg beat up, and roll them in finely grated bread crumbs, seasoned with grated nutmeg, pepper and salt, and fry them as directed.

OYSTERS, FRIED. — (2) The largest and finest oysters are to be chosen for this purpose ; simmer them in their own liquor for a couple of minutes, take them out and lay them on a cloth to drain, beard them and then flour them, egg and bread-crumb them, put them into boiling fat, and fry them a delicate brown.

Obs. — An elegant garnish for made dishes, stewed rump-steaks, boiled or fried fish, &c.; but they are too hard and dry to be eaten.

OYSTEES STEWED. — (1) Stew with a quart of oysters, and their liquor strained, a glass of white wine, one anchovy bruised, sea- soned with white pepper, salt, a little mace, and a bunch of sweet herbs ; let all stew gently a quarter of an hour. Pick out the bunch of herbs, and add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter kneaded in a large table -spoonful of flour, and stew them ten or twelve minutes. Serve them garnished with bread-sippets and cut lemon. They may be stewed simply in their own liquor, seasoned with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg, and thickened with cream, flour, and butter.

OYSTERS STEWED. — (2) Open the oysters and strain the liquor. Put to them some grated stale bread, and a little pepper and nutmeg. Throw them into the liquor, and add a glass of white wine. Let them stew but a very short time, or they will be hard. Have ready some slices of buttered toast with the crust off. When the oysters are done, dip the toast in the liquor, and lay the pieces round the sides and in the bottom of a deep dish. Pour the oysters and liquor upon the toast and send them to table hot.

PICKLED OYSTERS. — Take one hundred oysters out of their liquor, and add to them as much water as there was liquor. Put them over the fire, with salt to the taste, skim them, and aa soon as -they boil take them off. Have ready in a pan one gill of vinegar, one table-spoonful of allspice, one table-spoonful of pepper grains, a little cayenne pepper and mace, half a gill of pepper vinegar and half a gill of common vinegar. They should be pickled the day before they are to be eaten. After standing a few hours, if a scum should have risen on them, take out the oysters and strain the liquor. About six hours before they are to be served, slice a lemon and add to them.

ROASTED OYSTERS. — Wash the shells perfectly clean, put them in pans and set them in the oven, or place them in rows on the top of your kitchen range. Take them up as soon as the shells begin to open, before the liquor is lost; have ready a hot vege- table dish, take out the oysters and serve immediately. Or, the upper shell may be taken off, and the oysters placed on broad lishes in the other shell. The dishes must be well heated, as the oysters should be eaten hot.

BROILED OYSTERS. — Take the largest and finest oysters. See that your gridiron is very clean. Rub the bars with fresh butter, and set it over a clear steady fire, entirely clear from smoke; or on a bed of bright hot wood-coais. Place the oysters on the gridiron, and when done on one side, take a fork and turn them on the other; being careful not to let them burn. Put some fresh butter in the bottom of a dish. Lay the oysters on it, and season them slightly with pepper. Send them to table hot.

OYSTER PIE. — Beard a quart of fine oysters, strain the liquor, and add them to it. Out into thin slices the kidney fat of a loin of veal; season them wi'th white pepper, salt, mace, and grated lemon-peel: lay them on the bottom of a pie-dish, put in the oysters and liquor, with a little more seasoning ; put over them the marrow of two bones. Lay a border ofrpuff paste round the edge of the dish ; cover it with paste, and bake it nearly three- quarters of an hour.

OYSTER SOUP. — Boil in water the crumb of two twopenny rolls, with a few blades of mace, a tea-spoonful of whole white pepper, and four onions cut small. Pick out the spice, and rub the bread and onions through a hair sieve, and then add it to three quarts of well-seasoned strong veal stock. Rub down three ounces of butter, with a tabte-spoonful of flour, and mix it grad- ually with half a pint of the soup, and then stir all well together. AYhen it has boiled a short time, add with the liquor half a hun- dred or more of fine oysters, and let the whole simmer for ten or fifteen minutes. If the soup is not quite salt enough with the liquor of the oysters, a little salt may be added.

To FEX. SOFT CLAMS. — Wash the clams well in plenty ol water, and lay them on a thickly folded napkin to dry out the water; then roil a few at a time in wheat Hour, until they will take up no more. Have a thick-bottomed frying-pan one-third full of boiling hot lard, and salted, (in proportion, a table-spoonful of salt to a pound of lard;) lay the clams in with a fork, one at a time ; lay them close together and fry gently, until one side is a delicate brown, then turn carefully and brown the other ; then take them off on a hot dish.

LOBSTERS AND CRABS. — Put them into boiling water, and boil them from half to three-quarters of an hour, according to tiitir size Boil half a tea-cup of salt with every four pounds of the fish. When cold, crack the shell, and take out the meat, taking care to extract the blue veins, and what is called the lady in the lobster, as they are very unhealthy. If the fish are not eaten cold, warm them up with a little water, vinegar, salt, pepper, and butter.

To DRESS LOBSTERS COLD. — Take the fish out of the shell, divide it into small pieces, mash up the scarlet meat of the lobster, prepare a salad mixture of cayenne pepper, salt, sweet oil, vinegar, and mustard; mix the lobster and the mixture well together, and serve them in the dish in which they were mixed. Lobster is usually dressed at table.

BUTCHER'S MEAT, VENISON, &c.

Meat should be carefully washed and dried with a clean to\v el before it is cooked. Frozen meat should never be cooked on the same day. Lay it in cold water to thaw, and cook it twice the usual time. To make beef tender, squeeze and pinch it with the fingers. When meat is to be kept any time it should be carefully wiped every day.

The best beef-steaks are cut from the ribs or from the inner part of the sirloin. The rump is generally corned or salted and boiled. The legs, head, and tail, make good soup.

The fore-quarter of a calf comprises the neck, breast, and shoulder. 'Ihe hind-quarter consists of the l»in, fillet, and knuckle. Separate dishes are made of the head, heart, liver, and sweetbread.

The fore-quarter of a sheep contains the neck, breast, and shoulder. The hind-quarter consists of the loin and leg. The two loins together are called the chine or saddle. Mutton is more tender if kept a few days.

In cutting up pork you have the spare-rib, shoulder, chine, the loin, middlings, and leg; the head, feet, heart, and liver. The best parts are the loin and the leg, or the hind-quarter.

Pork, as an invariable rule, should be thoroughly cooked. Venison should be kept several days, after being well washed with milk and water and then thoroughly dried.

ROAST BEEF. — When the meat is put on the fire, a little salt should be sprinkled on it, and the bony side turned towards the

46 MEATS.

fire first. When the bones get well heated through, turn the meat, and keep a brisk fire — baste it frequently while roasting. There should be a little water put into the dripping-pan when the meat is put dowrn to roast. If it is a thick piece, allow fif- teen minutes to each pound to roast it in — if thin, less time will be required. The tender-loin, and first and second cuts off the rack, are the best as roasting pieces. The third and fourth cuts are good.

ALAMODE BEEF. — Tie up a round of beef so as to keep it in shape : make a stuffing of grated bread, suet, sweet herbs, quarter of an ounce of nutmeg, a few cloves pounded, yolk of an egg. Cut holes in the beef, and put in the stuffing, leaving about half the stuffing to be made into balls. Tie the beef up in a cloth, just cover it with water, let it boil an hour and a half; then turn it. and let it boil an hour and a half more; then turn out the liquor, and put some skewers across the bottom ol the pot, and lay the beef upon it, to brown; turn it that it may brown on both sides. Pnt a pint of claret and some allspice and cloves into the liquor, and boil some balls made of the stuff ing in it.

BEEF ALAMODE. — Take about eleven pounds of the mouse buttock, or clod of beef, or a blade-bone, or the sticking-piece, or the like weight of the breast of veal ; cut it into pieces oi three or four ounces each ; put three or four ounces of beei drippings, and mince a couple of large onions, and put them into a large deep stew-pan ; as soon as it is quite hot, flour the meat, put it into the stew-pan, keep stirring it with a wooden spoon; when it has been on about ten minutes, dredge it with flour, and keep doing so till you have stirred in as much as you think will thicken it ; then cover it with boiling water (it will take about a gallon), adding- it by degrees, and stirring it together skim it when it boils, and then put in one drachm of ground black pepper, two of allspice, and two bay leaves; set the pan by the side of the fire, or at a distance over it, and let it stew very slowly for about three hours; when you find the meat sufficiently tender, put it into a tureen, and it is ready foi table.

FRIED BEEF'S KIDNEY. — Clean all the fat off the kidney, cut it open and tnke out the fibre which runs through it; put it in a stew-pan with a very little water and some salt, and cook it till it is tender; then season it with pepper and more sa t if re- quired, liour it and fry it in hot lard; add a little flour and watcj to make the gravy.