SAUSAGE-MEAT

Butchers generally, with an eye to economy, make sausage-meat of bad or tainted pork.

We recommend our readers, as far as possible, never to buy sausage-meat ready made, but to make it themselves, or have it made according to their directions.

A chopping-machine costs very little, and saves a great deal of work, besides chopping much better than can be done by hand.

The proportions are: one pound of lean pork and one pound of lean veal, chopped very fine, well mixed, and both very fresh. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and clove grated, and with cinnamon, if liked.

A yolk of egg may be added to a pound of meat.

It may also be made with one pound of veal and half a pound or less of pork, or with veal only or pork only, according to taste.

Put three ounces of butter in a saucepan, and set it on the fire; when melted, add two carrots and two onions sliced, stir now and then till they begin to turn brown; then add about three pints of warm water, half a pint of vinegar, one clove of garlic, four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a clove, a bay-leaf, six pepper-corns, a little grated nutmeg, and salt. Simmer about an hour, strain, and it is ready for use.

_Another._--Put two quarts of vinegar and about ten quarts of water in a stone or crockery vessel, with four cloves of garlic, a handful of parsley, six cloves, four stalks of thyme, four bay-leaves, half a nutmeg grated, three or four carrots, and three or four onions sliced, a little salt, and two dozen pepper-corns. Stir and mix the whole well, and it is ready for use.

Pieces of mutton, beef, pork, venison, and bear-meat, may be soaked in one of the above preparations from four to six days before cooking them. A piece of tough meat will be more tender and juicy after being soaked.

More or less may be made, according to the size of the piece of meat.

There are many ways of making tea; we might say that every one makes it in his own way; but, after many experiments and much information, we have found the following to be the best:

Warm the teapot either by pouring boiling water in it and emptying it, or by placing it on a corner of the range.

Then put good tea in it (the quantity to be according to the strength and also to the quantity you want), and pour boiling water on the leaves, just enough to wet them; leave thus about one minute, then pour on all the water you want.

Let it steep no longer than about six minutes, and not less than four minutes, before drawing it.

If allowed to steep longer than six minutes, all the astringency of the tea is extracted, and it acts and has a bad effect on the nervous system, besides losing most of its aroma.

Chemists and physiologists generally recommend black tea, as not affecting the nervous system as much as green tea.

Tea being naturally very astringent, should never be served at breakfast.

Taken after dinner, instead of _cafe noir_, it has the same effect, and brandy may be mixed with it as in coffee.

Tea is excellent in damp climates and marshy countries, but it must be taken after a substantial meal.

Drinking warm tea while eating causes the food to pass through the system without nourishing it, or supplying its waste.

Cut several slices of bread of even size, and spread some anchovy-butter on them; cut anchovies in small strips, lengthwise, lay them on the bread also, and then spread over some hard-boiled egg chopped fine, and on it some parsley also chopped fine, finish with capers here and there.

Place the toast or slices of bread on a dish, tastefully arranged all around, a few sprigs of parsley in the middle, and you have a fine _hors-d'oeuvre_.

Sardines, Dutch herrings, or red herrings may be used the same as anchovies.