POULTRY AND GAME

["Spring chickens bring a high price, and are considered delicacies, but they are so insipid, and have so little on them, that we think the purchase of them, when very young, a mere fashionable extravagance, and a waste of money that might be better employed in something that had really a fine flavor, and that when divided was more than a morsel for each person. We wonder that any but invalids should care for spring chickens. It is better to wait till the young chickens grow into nice plump fowls, that were well fed, and have lived long enough to show it. A fine full-grown young fowl, has a clear white skin, that tears easily when tried with a pin. It has a broad fleshy breast, the legs are smooth, and the toes easily broken when bent back. Fowls with whitish legs are considered the best for boiling; those with dark legs the best for roasting. The finest of all fowls are capons. They grow very large and fat, and yet are as tender as young chickens, have a fine delicate rich flavor of their own, and are well worth their cost. The great Bucks county fowls are profitable because they are large; but they are never very plenty in market, being difficult to raise. The best poultry feels heavy in proportion to its size. Hen turkeys are best for boiling.", "Ducks and geese (particularly the latter) are so tough when old, that it is often impossible to eat them; therefore buy none that are not young. Geese are generally kept alive too long, for the sake of their feathers, which they always shed in August, and for which there is always a demand. And geese are not expensive to keep, as in summer they feed on grass, and will graze in a field like sheep. The feet and legs of an old goose are red and hard. So is her bill. The skin is rough, coarse, and tough, and full of hairs. Let nothing induce you to buy an old goose. You would find it too tough to carve, and too tough to eat. And no cooking can make her tender.", "Poultry should be drawn, or emptied (taking care not to break the gall) as soon almost as killed. Then let it be well washed, inside and out, and wiped dry. In picking it, carefully remove every plug or vestige of feathers, and singe off the hairs, by holding the bird to the fire, with a lighted piece of writing paper. Brown paper will give it something of an unpleasant taste. Newspaper is worse, on account of the printing-ink.", "If poultry is brought from market frozen, you need not hasten to thaw it, before it is actually wanted for use. Till then, put it in a cold place, and let it remain frozen. It will keep the better. When you thaw it, by all means use only _cold_ water. Any frozen poultry, or meat, thawed in warm water, will most certainly spoil. Let it be remembered that any food which has been frozen requires a much longer time to cook.", "BOILED TURKEY.--For boiling, choose a fine fat hen turkey. In drawing it, be careful not to break the gall, or a bitter taste will be communicated to the whole bird. In picking, remove every plug and hair, and then singe it with _writing-paper_. Wash it very clean, and then wipe it dry, inside and out. In trussing, draw the legs into the body, having cut them off at the first joint. Let the turkey look as round and plump as possible. Fill the breast with a very nice forcemeat, or stuffing, made of a quarter of a pound of grated bread-crumbs, mixed with two large table-spoonfuls or two ounces of fresh butter, or finely minced suet, seasoned with a little pepper and salt, a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace mixed together, a table-spoonful of sweet herbs[C] (sweet basil and sweet marjoram) chopped small if green, and powdered if dry; and the crumbled yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Add the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a fresh lemon, and mix the whole very well. Skewer the liver and gizzard under the pinions, having first cut open the gizzard and cleared it of sand or gravel.", "[C] The herbs summer savory and thyme (like the spices cloves and allspice) are now seldom used in good cookery.", "It is no longer customary to mix stuffing or forcemeat with beaten raw egg for the purpose of binding the ingredients together. Leave them loose, without this binding, and the forcemeat will be much lighter, better flavored, and more abundant. It will not fall out if a packthread, or very _small_ twine is wound carefully round the body, (to be removed before serving up,) and it may be secured by sewing it with a needle and thread.", "Put the turkey into a large pot with plenty of cold water, and boil it gently, for two hours or more, in proportion to its size; carefully removing all the scum as it rises. It will be whiter if boiled in a large clean cloth, or in a coarse paste, (the paste to be thrown away afterwards,) and take care that it is thoroughly done. Serve up boiled turkey with oyster sauce, celery sauce, or cauliflower sauce. Sweet sauce is rarely eaten with boiled things--unless with puddings.", "Boiled turkey should be accompanied by a ham or tongue.", "To ascertain if boiled poultry is done, try the thickest parts with a large needle. If the needle goes through, and in and out easily, it is sufficient.", "A turkey (boiled or roast) for a family dish, may be stuffed with nice sausage meat, in which case it requires no other stuffing. Surround it on a dish with fried sausage cakes, about the size of a dollar, but near an inch thick.", "It is very convenient to keep always in the house, during the winter months, one or two large jars of nice home-made sausage-meat, well covered. The best time for making sausage-meat is in November. After March, sausages are seldom eaten.", "OYSTER TURKEY.--(_French dish._)--Prepare a fine young hen turkey, for boiling; skewering the liver and gizzard under the pinions. Fill the body well with fine large fresh oysters, having removed their hard part or gristle. Add to the oysters a tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace, and a tea-spoonful of celery seed or minced celery, and a piece of fresh butter dredged with flour. With this, stuff the turkey very full; securing the stuffing with packthread. Put the turkey into a large block-tin kettle, and let it stew in the oyster liquor only, without any water. Strain the oyster liquor before you put it in. Set the kettle into an outer kettle full of boiling water. This will cook the turkey very nicely. For such purposes, nothing is so convenient as the utensil called in French a _bain marie_, (pronounced _bine marée_.) This is a permanent double kettle with two covers, and a large tube or spout outside, for pouring in fresh hot water, without opening the lid and letting out the steam. They are to be had of all sizes at the furnishing stores in New York and Philadelphia, and are so excellent for stewing without water, that no family should be without them.", "When the turkey is well boiled and quite done, keep it warm by wrapping it closely in a cloth, putting a dish cover over it, and placing it near the fire. A fine oyster gravy will be found in the kettle. Add to it some fresh butter, dredged with flour, and some mace and nutmeg, and some celery seed. Give it one boil up, and send it to table as sauce for the turkey. This is a very nice way of cooking a small turkey.", "A pair of oyster chickens may be thus prepared, and stewed in the above manner in a _bain marie_, or double kettle.", "ROAST TURKEY.--Take a fine large turkey, full-grown and fat, draw and singe him carefully, saving the giblets (neck, heart, gizzard, and liver,) for the gravy. After he is drawn, wash the inside well, wipe it dry, and sprinkle it with black pepper. Make a large quantity of stuffing or forcemeat. It increases his apparent size, and besides is generally liked. Mince small some cold boiled ham, in equal portions of fat and lean: grated lemon rind, minced sweet herbs, fresh butter, or finely minced suet. Add plenty of grated bread-crumbs or crumbled rusk; also, hard-boiled yolk of egg crumbled. Moisten the mixture with lemon juice and some good white wine. Stuff the turkey well with this forcemeat, sewing it up, or winding a small cord round the body to secure the filling. Roast it before a clear and substantial fire, basting it well with fresh butter. When done, take it up and keep it hot.", "Cut up the giblets and put them into a small sauce-pan, with a very little water, and stew them while the turkey is roasting; adding a piece of fresh butter dredged with flour. When done, remove the pieces of neck, &c., retaining those of the heart, liver, and gizzard. Stir into the gravy, after it comes from the fire, the yolk of a beaten egg. Having skimmed the gravy in the dripping-pan, add it to the gravy that has been made of the giblets, and send it to table in a sauce-boat. Accompany the turkey with an oval dish, or tureen of cranberry sauce, made very sweet.", "A roast turkey may be stuffed with oysters, or with chestnuts boiled, peeled, and mashed with butter. If with chestnuts, thicken the gravy with whole boiled chestnuts. If with oysters, send oyster-sauce to table with the turkey. If chestnuts cannot be obtained, any roasted poultry is good stuffed with well-boiled sweet potatos, mashed with plenty of butter or meat drippings.", "The legs of turkeys are never helped to any one at table. They are always sent away on the dish.", "A BONED TURKEY.--For this purpose you must have a fine, large, tender turkey; and after it is drawn, and washed, and wiped dry, lay it on a clean table, and take a very sharp knife, with a narrow blade and point. Begin at the neck; then go round to the shoulders and wings, and carefully separate the flesh from the bone, scraping it down as you proceed. Next loosen the flesh from the breast, and back, and body; and then from the thighs. It requires care and patience to do it nicely, and to avoid tearing or breaking the skin. The knife should always penetrate quite to the bone; scraping loose the flesh rather than cutting it. When all the flesh has been completely loosened, take the turkey by the neck, give it a pull, and the whole skeleton will come out entirely from the flesh, as easily as you draw your hand out of a glove. The flesh will then fall down, a flat and shapeless mass. With a small needle and thread, carefully sew up any holes that have accidentally been torn in the skin.", "Have ready a large quantity of stuffing, made as follows:--Take three sixpenny loaves of stale bread; grate the crumb; and put the crust in water to soak. When quite soft, break them up small into the pan of grated bread-crumbs, and mix in a pound of fresh butter, cut into little pieces. Take two large bunches of sweet marjoram; the same of sweet basil; and one bunch of parsley. Mince the parsley very fine, and rub to a powder the leaves of the marjoram and basil. You should have two large heaping table-spoonfuls of each. Chop, also, two very small onions or shalots, and mix them with the herbs. Pound to powder a quarter of an ounce of mace; and two large nutmegs. Mix the spices together, and add a tea-spoonful of salt, and a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper. Then mix the herbs, spices, &c., thoroughly into the bread-crumbs, and add, by degrees, four hard-boiled eggs crumbled fine.", "Take up a handful of this filling; squeeze it hard, and proceed to stuff the turkey with it--beginning at the wings; next do the body; and then the thighs. Stuff it very hard; and, as you proceed, form the turkey into its natural shape, by filling out, properly, the wings, breast, body, &c. When all the stuffing is in, sew up the body and skewer the turkey into the usual shape in which they are trussed; so that, if skillfully done, it will look almost as if it had not been boned. Tie it round with tape, and bake it three hours or more; basting it occasionally with fresh butter. Make a gravy of the giblets, chopped, and stewed slowly in a little water. When done, add to it the gravy that is in the dish about the turkey, (having first skimmed off the fat,) and enrich it with a glass of white wine, and two beaten yolks of eggs, stirred in just before you take it from the fire.", "If the turkey is to be eaten cold at the supper-table, drop table-spoonfuls of currant or cranberry jelly all over it at small distances, and in the dish round it.", "A very handsome way of serving it up cold is, after making a sufficiency of nice clear calves'-foot jelly, (seasoned, as usual, with wine, lemon, cinnamon, &c.,) to lay the turkey in the dish in which it is to go to table, and setting it under the jelly-bag, let the jelly drip upon it, so as to form a transparent coating all over it; smoothing the jelly evenly with the back of a spoon, as it congeals on the turkey. Apple jelly may be substituted.", "Large fowls may be boned and stuffed in the above manner: also, a young roasting pig.", "ROAST GOOSE.--A goose for roasting should be young, tender, and fat; so tender, that the skin can easily be torn by a pin; the bill and legs smooth and of a light yellow color, and the toes breaking when bent under. If the skin is thick and tough, and the bill and legs a dark reddish yellow, rough and hairy, do not buy the goose. It is old, and no cooking can make it eatable. A goose, from its profusion of feathers, looks like a large bird when walking about; but when plucked and prepared for the spit, it will be found very deceptive. It is much more hollow than a turkey; and, except the breast, there is but little eating on it. In large families it is usual to have a pair of roast geese, one not being sufficient. Geese are not good except for roasting, or in a pie.", "In preparing a goose for cooking, save the giblets for the gravy. After the goose has been drawn, singed well, washed and wiped, inside and out; trussed so as to look round and short; make a quantity of stuffing, (as its hollow body will require a great deal.) For this purpose, parboil two good sized onions, and a large bunch of green sage. Mince both the sage and onions, seasoning them with a small salt-spoon of salt, half as much black pepper, and still less cayenne. Add a hard-boiled egg finely minced (yolk and white;) the chopped egg giving a nice smoothness to the sage and onion. If your goose is large, take two chopped eggs.", "To make the stuffing very mild, (if preferred so,) add a handful of finely grated bread-crumbs; or two or three fine juicy chopped apples. Fill the body and craw with this stuffing, and secure it with a needle and thread from falling out. Set the goose before a clear, steady fire--having a little warm water in the dripping-pan to baste it till the gravy begins to fall. Keep it well basted all the time it is roasting. It must be thoroughly done all through. Roast it according to its size, from an hour and a half to two hours or more.", "Boil the giblets in a sauce-pan by themselves, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and having among them a bit of butter dredged with flour. When done, remove the neck, and retain the heart, liver, and gizzard, cut into pieces, and served in the gravy, which should be well skimmed. Also, skim carefully the fat off the gravy in the bottom of the dripping-pan. Put the two gravies together, and serve them up in a gravy tureen. To eat with the goose, have plenty of apple-sauce, made of fine juicy apples, stewed very dry, well sweetened, and flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon; or with some rose-water and nutmeg stirred in after the sauce is taken from the fire. Rose-water evaporates in cooking, and should never boil or be kept on the fire. A _bain marie_, or double kettle, is excellent for stewing fruit; putting the fruit inside, and the water outside.", "For a family dinner a goose is very good stuffed with well-boiled potatos, mashed smooth, with plenty of fresh butter or gravy. Sweet potatos make an excellent stuffing. So do boiled chestnuts, mashed with butter or gravy.", "GOOSE PIE.--The old fashioned goose pie made with a standing crust, (the flour being mixed with boiling water, and therefore unfit for eating,) is now obsolete. They were generally sent as Christmas presents. Besides the goose, they contained chickens, pigeons, (all boned,) and various other things. They had standing sides like an oval wall, covered with a lid of the same paste, having, on the top, a knob, by which to lift off. These pies were expected to remain good a week; but generally the gravy became sour in a few days, even in winter, and however carefully kept from the air. The following is a receipt to make a fine goose pie for immediate use, and with a nice eatable paste.", "Take a fine plump young goose, and parboil it, (in as little water as will cover it,) saving the gravy. Having removed the skin, cut all the flesh from the bones. Make a nice light short paste, allowing a large half pound of fresh butter to each quart of flour. For a goose pie you will require two quarts of flour and one pound of butter. Line a deep pie-dish with one sheet of paste, reserving the other sheet for the lid, which should be rolled out thick. Put in the pieces of goose, seasoned with pepper only, interspersing among it the best part of a smoked tongue, cut in thick round slices. Make a nice forcemeat into balls, about the size of a hickory nut, and add them to the filling of the pie; and some chestnuts boiled and peeled; or some round slices of boiled sweet potato. Having made a gravy of the giblets stewed, pour that over the other ingredients, filling the pie well, and heaping it high in the middle. Add a few bits of fresh butter dredged in flour. Pour in the gravy, and lay on the top the lid of the pie rolled out thick, ornamenting the edges handsomely. Cut a cross slit in the top, and fit into it a flower, or tulip cut out of paste. This pie is for dinner company, and to be eaten warm.", "You may make a similar pie of a pair of fine ducks, either tame or wild. Canvas-backs and red necks are excellent for this purpose. To eat with it, have mashed potato, browned all over with a salamander.", "On the shores of our southern rivers, where canvas-backs and other fine wild ducks are abundant, a pie affords an agreeable variety to the usual modes of cooking them.", "A GIBLET PIE.--Clean, very nicely, the giblets of two geese or four ducks. Put them into a stew-pan, with a sliced onion; a bunch of tarragon, or sweet marjoram and sage; half a dozen pepper-corns; and four or five blades of mace. Add a very little water; cover the pan closely, and let them stew till the giblets are tender. Then take them out, and save all the gravy; having strained it from the seasoning articles. Make a rich paste, and roll it out into two sheets. With one sheet cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Put in the giblets--mixing among them a few raw potatos sliced very thin, the chopped yolks of some hard-boiled eggs, and some bits of butter rolled in flour. Pour the gravy over the giblets, &c. Cover the pie with the other sheet of paste, and notch the edges. Bake it brown, and send it to table hot.", "A pigeon pie may be made in a similar manner: also, a rabbit pie.", "ROAST DUCKS.--Take a pair of fine fat ducks, and having prepared them nicely for the spit, put them, for a few minutes, into boiling water to loosen the skin, which must be peeled entirely off, to have them very nice and tender. Wash their insides by pouring water through them, and wipe the outside all over with a dry cloth. Fill the body and craw of one duck with a seasoning of sage and onion, as for a goose. In case some of the company should have a dislike to onion, fill the other duck with a forcemeat of bread-crumbs, sweet herbs, &c., as for turkey. Place them before a quick fire, but not so near as to scorch. Roast them well, basting them all the time. Skim the fat off, and pour over the ducks their own gravy, mixed with what has been made of the necks, livers, hearts, and gizzards, stewed in a small sauce-pan with some butter dredged with flour. Send to table with the ducks either cranberry or apple sauce, made thick and sweet.", "Let them be thoroughly roasted, which will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter.", "WILD DUCKS.--To remove the fishy or sedgy taste so often found in wild ducks, parboil them with a large carrot, cut in pieces, and placed in the body of each. When the ducks are half boiled, take out the carrot and throw it away. It will have imbibed all the unpleasant taste, and taken it away from the ducks. Then cook them as you please.", "BOILED DUCK.--Prepare for cooking a fine plump tame duck, and lay it five or six minutes in warm water. Then put it into a clean large bowl or deep dish, and pour over it a pint of rich boiling milk, in which has been melted two table-spoonfuls of nice fresh butter. Let the duck soak in the milk three hours, or till it has absorbed nearly all the liquid. Next, dredge the duck well with flour. Boil it in cold water for half an hour, till tender all through. Have ready a quantity of onion sauce made with milk and butter, and flavored with powdered mace or nutmeg. Cover the duck all over with the onion sauce, so as to smother it entirely. Then send it to table hot. This is a French dish, (_canard bouilli_.)", "DUCKS AND PEAS.--Stuff a fine plump pair of ducks with potato stuffing, made of boiled potatos mashed very smooth with fresh butter; or, if for company, make a fine forcemeat stuffing, as for a turkey. Bake the ducks in an iron oven or bake-pan; and when nearly done, put in with them a quart of very young green peas, and a few bits of fresh butter, seasoning slightly with black pepper. When the peas and ducks are all quite done, serve them all up on one large dish.", "FRICASSEED DUCKS.--Half roast a pair of ducks. Then cut them apart, as for carving. If they are _wild_ ducks, parboil them with a large carrot (cut to pieces) inside of each, to draw out the fishy or sedgy taste. Having thrown away the carrot, cut the ducks into pieces, as for carving. Put them into a clean stew-pan, and season them with pepper and salt. Mix in a deep dish a very small onion minced fine, a table-spoonful of minced or powdered tarragon leaves, (for which you may substitute sage and sweet marjoram, if you cannot procure tarragon,) and two or three large tomatos, scalded, peeled, and quartered, or two large table-spoonfuls of thick tomato catchup. Put in, also, two table-spoonfuls of fresh butter rolled in grated bread-crumbs, and a glass of port wine, claret, or brandy, with a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace. Cover the pieces of duck with this mixture, and then add barely as much water as will keep the whole from burning. Cover the pan closely, and let the fricassee stew slowly for an hour, or till the duck, &c., are thoroughly done.", "Venison or lamb cutlets may be fricasseed in this manner. Likewise, tame fat pigeons, which must previously be split in two. This, also, is a very nice way of dressing hares or rabbits.", "TO ROAST CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.--Having trussed the ducks, put into each a thick piece of soft bread that has been soaked in port wine. Place them before a quick fire and roast them from three quarters to an hour. Before they go to table, squeeze over each the juice of a lemon or orange, and serve them up very hot with their own gravy about them. Eat them with currant jelly. Have ready also, a gravy made by stewing slowly in a sauce-pan the giblets of the ducks in butter rolled in flour, and as little water as possible. Serve up this additional gravy in a boat.", "CANVAS-BACK DUCKS DRESSED PLAIN.--Truss the ducks without washing, but wipe them inside and out with a clean dry cloth. Roast them before a rather quick fire for half an hour. Then send them to table hot, upon a large dish placed on a heater. There must also be heaters under each plate, and currant jelly on both sides of the table, to mix with the gravy, on your plate; claret or port wine also, for those who prefer it as an improvement to the gravy.", "TO STEW CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.--Put the giblets into a sauce-pan with a very little water, and a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a very little salt and cayenne. Let them stew gently to make a gravy, keeping the sauce-pan covered. In the mean time, half roast the ducks, saving the gravy that falls from them. Then cut them up, put them into a large stew-pan, with the gravy (having first skimmed off the fat,) and merely water enough to keep them from burning. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let them stew gently till done. Towards the last, (having removed the giblets) pour over the ducks the gravy from the small sauce-pan, and stir in a large glass of port wine, and a glass of currant jelly. Send them to table as hot as possible.", "Any ducks may be stewed as above. The common wild duck, teal, &c., should always be parboiled with a large carrot in the body to extract the fishy or sedgy taste. On tasting this carrot before it is thrown away, it will be found to have imbibed strongly that disagreeable flavor.", "BROILED CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.--To eat these ducks with their flavor and juices in perfection, they should be cooked immediately after killing. If shot early in the morning, they will be found delicious, if broiled for breakfast. If killed in the forenoon, let them be on that day's dinner table. When they can be obtained quite fresh they want nothing to improve the flavor. Neither do red-necks, or the other water fowl that are found in such abundance on the shores of the Chesapeake.", "As soon as the ducks have been plucked, singed, drawn, and washed, split them down the back, (their heads, necks, and legs having been cut off,) rub with chalk the bars of a very clean gridiron, and set it over a bed of bright lively wood-coals. This gridiron (and all others) should have grooved bars, so as to save as much of the gravy as possible. Broil the ducks well and thoroughly, turning them on both sides. They will generally be done in half an hour. Dish them in their own gravy. The flesh should have no redness about it when dished. To half broil them on the gridiron, and to finish the cooking on a hot plate, set over a heater on the table, renders the ducks tough, and deadens the natural taste, for which no made-up sauce can atone. You may lay a few bits of nice butter on them after they are dished.", "TERRAPIN DUCKS.--Take a fine large plump duck. Cut it in small pieces, and stew it in merely as much water as will cover it well, and keep it from burning. Let it stew gently, and skim it well. When it is done take it out, and cut all the meat off the bones in little bits. Return the meat to the stew-pan, and lay it in its own gravy. Add the yolks of half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, and make them into little balls with beaten white of egg, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter divided into eight bits, each bit dredged with flour, the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon or orange, and a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg. Let it stew or simmer gently till it comes to a boil, keeping it covered. When it has boiled, stir in while hot two beaten yolks of raw egg, and two large wine glasses of sherry or Madeira. Set it over the fire again for two or three minutes, keeping it covered. Then serve it up in a deep dish with a cover.", "For company, you must have two ducks, and a double portion of all the above ingredients.", "ROAST FOWLS.--Stuff two fowls with a nice forcemeat, made in the best manner, or with good sausage meat, if in haste. Another nice stuffing for roast fowls is boiled chestnuts, stewed in butter, or in nice drippings. Mushrooms cut up and stewed in a very little butter, make a fine stuffing for roasted fowls. Secure the stuffing from falling out by winding a twine or tape round the body of the fowl, or sewing it. Roast the fowls before a very clear fire, basting them with butter. When the fowls are done, set them away to be kept warm, while you finish the gravy, having saved the heart, gizzard, and liver, to enrich it. Skim it well from the fat and thicken it with a very little browned flour. Send it to table in a sauce-boat. Serve up with roast fowls, dried peach sauce, or cranberry. Make all fruit sauces very thick and sweet. If watery and sour, they seem poor and mean.", "Full-grown fowls require, (at least,) an hour for roasting. If very large, from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half.", "Nothing can be done with old tough fowls but to boil them in soup, till they are reduced to rags. The soup, of course, should be made chiefly of meat. The fowls will add nothing to its flavor but something to its consistence.", "Capons are cooked in the same manner as other fowls. They are well worth their cost.", "BOILED FOWLS.--Take a fine plump pair of young (but full-grown) fowls, and prepare them for boiling. Those with white or light yellow legs are considered the best. Make a nice forcemeat stuffing, and fill their bodies with it, and fasten the livers and gizzards under the pinions. For boiled poultry they are not wanted in the gravy. Having trussed the fowls, and picked and singed them carefully, put them into a large pot containing equal quantities of boiling water and cold water. This will make it lukewarm. Let them boil steadily for an hour after the simmering has commenced, carefully removing the scum.", "Serve them up with egg sauce, celery sauce, parsley sauce, or oyster sauce--or, with cauliflower or broccoli sauce.", "For boiled fowls, you may make a nice stuffing of fresh oysters, cut in small pieces, but not minced. Omit the gristle. Mix them with an equal portion of hard-boiled eggs chopped, but not minced fine. Add plenty of grated bread-crumbs, and season with powdered mace. Mix in, also, some bits of fresh butter. Where onions are liked, you may substitute for the oysters some onions boiled and minced.", "Fowls boil very nicely in a _bain marie_, or double kettle, with the water outside. They require a longer time, but are excellent when done. To quicken the boiling of a double kettle, put a handful of salt in the outside water.", "Small chickens, of course, require a shorter time to cook.", "PULLED FOWL.--This is a side dish for company. Select a fine tender fowl, young, fat, full-grown, and of a large kind. When quite done take it out of the pot, cover it, and set it away till wanted. Then, with a fork, pull off in flakes all the flesh, (first removing the skin,) and with a chopper break all the bones, and put them into a stew-pan, adding two calves' feet split, and the hock of a cold ham, a small bunch of parsley and sweet marjoram, and a quart of water. Let it boil gently till reduced to a pint. Then take it out. Have ready, in another stew-pan, the bits of pulled fowl. Strain the liquor from the bones, &c., over the fowl, and add a piece of fresh butter, (the size of a small egg,) rolled in flour, and a tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg, mixed. Mix the whole together, and let the pulled fowl stew in gravy for ten minutes. Serve it hot.", "A turkey may be cooked in this manner, and will make a fine dish. For a turkey allow four calves' feet.", "FRIED CHICKENS.--Cut up a pair of nice young fowls, flatten and quarter them, and season them with cayenne and powdered mace, rubbing it in well. Put some lard into a heated frying pan over the fire, or if you have plenty of nice fresh butter use that in preference. When the lard or butter boils, and has been skimmed, put in the pieces of chicken, and fry them brown on one side. Then turn them, and sprinkle them thickly all over with chopped parsley, or sweet marjoram, and fry them brown on the other side. You may fry with them a few thin slices of cold ham. Before serving them up drain off the lard you have used for frying.", "When there is no dislike to onions, they may be fried nicely with boiled onions cut in rings, and laid over the pieces of chicken.", "BROILED CHICKENS.--These are very dry and tasteless if merely split and broiled plain, which is the usual way. It seems to be supposed by many that no chicken is too poor for broiling, and therefore it is often difficult to get more than two or three small mouthfuls of flesh off their bones. On the contrary, poor chickens are not worth broiling or cooking in any way. To have broiled chickens good, choose those that are fat and fleshy. Having cleaned them well, and washed them, and wiped them dry, split and divide them into four quarters; flattening the bones with a steak mallet. They will be much improved by stewing or boiling in a little water for ten minutes. Then draining them and saving the liquor for gravy. Boil in this the neck, feet, heart, gizzard and liver. Strain it after boiling, and save the liver to mash into the gravy. Season the gravy with grated carrot and minced parsley, or sweet marjoram, and a little cayenne, adding a small piece of fresh butter dredged in flour. Have ready plenty of fine bread-crumbs, seasoned with nutmeg, and in another pan four yolks of eggs well beaten. The quarters of the chickens having become quite cold, dip each one first into the egg, and then into the crumbs. Set the gridiron over a clear fire, and broil the chicken well, first laying down the inside. Having prepared the gravy as above, give it a short boil, then send it to table in a sauce-boat with the chickens.", "The excellence of chickens broiled in this way amply repays the trouble. This is a breakfast dish.", "Serve up with the broiled chicken a dish of mashed potato cakes, browned with a salamander or red-hot shovel.", "FRICASSEED CHICKEN.--Have ready a pair of fine plump full-grown fowls nicely prepared for cooking. Strip off all the skin, and carve the fowls neatly. Reserve all the white meat and best pieces for the fricassee, putting them in a dish by themselves, and save all the inferior pieces or black meat to make the gravy. Season with pepper and salt slightly, and add a bunch of sweet herbs cut small, and four small bits of fresh butter dredged with flour. Put the black meat, herbs, &c., into a stew-pan. Pour in a pint and a half of water, and stew it gently, skimming off every particle of fat. When reduced to less than one half, strain the gravy. Arrange the pieces of white meat in a very clean stew-pan, and pour over them the gravy of the inferior parts; add mace, nutmeg, and a little cayenne. Mix into half a pint of boiling cream, a large tea-spoonful of arrow-root, and shake the pan briskly round, while adding the beaten yolks of two fresh eggs, mixed with more cream, (two table-spoonfuls.) Shake it gently over the fire till it begins to simmer again, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle in an instant. Watch it carefully.", "This is a fine side-dish for company. There is no better way of fricasseeing fowls. A fricassee is not a fry, but a stew.", "Accompany this fricassee with a dish of asparagus tops, green peas, or lima beans. Also, mashed potatos.", "CHICKENS STEWED WHOLE.--Having trussed a pair of fine fat young fowls or chickens, (with the liver under one wing, and the gizzard under the other,) fill the inside with large oysters, secured from falling out by fastening tape round the bodies of the fowls. Put them into a tin butter kettle with a close cover. Set the kettle into a larger pot or saucepan of boiling water, (which must not reach quite to the top of the kettle,) and place it over the fire. Keep it boiling till the fowls are well done, which they should be in about an hour after they begin to simmer. Occasionally take off the lid to remove the scum, and be sure to put it on again closely. As the water in the outside pot boils away, replenish it with more _hot_ water from a tea-kettle that is kept boiling hard. When the fowls are stewed quite tender, remove them from the fire; take from them all the gravy that is about them, and put it into a small sauce-pan, covering closely the kettle in which they were stewed, and leaving the fowls in it to keep warm. Then add to the gravy two table-spoonfuls of butter rolled in flour, two table-spoonfuls of chopped oysters, the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs minced fine, half a grated nutmeg, four blades of mace, and a small tea-cup of cream. Boil this gravy about five minutes. Put the fowls on a dish and send them to table, accompanied by the gravy in a sauce-boat. This is an excellent way of cooking chickens. They do well in large _bain marie_.", "FOWL AND OYSTERS.--Take a fine fat young fowl, and having trussed it for boiling, fill the body and craw with oysters, seasoned with a few blades of mace, tying it round with twine to keep them in. Put the fowl into a tall strait-sided jar, and cover it closely. Then place the jar in a kettle of water, set it over the fire, and let it boil at least an hour and a half after the water has come to a hard boil. When it is done take out the fowl, and keep it hot while you prepare the gravy, of which you will find a quantity in the jar. Transfer this gravy to a saucepan, enrich it with the beaten yolks of two eggs mixed with three table-spoonfuls of cream, and add a large table-spoonful of fresh butter rolled in flour. If you cannot get cream, you must have a double portion of butter. Set this sauce over the fire, stirring it well, and when it comes to a boil, add twenty-five oysters. In five minutes take it off, put it into a sauce-boat, and serve it up with the fowl, which cooked in this manner will be found excellent.", "Clams may be substituted for oysters, but they should be removed from the fowl before it is sent to table. Their flavor being drawn out in the gravy, the clams themselves will be found tough, tasteless, and not proper to be eaten.", "FRENCH CHICKEN PIE.--Parboil a pair of full-grown, but fat and tender chickens. Then take the giblets, and put them into a small sauce-pan with as much of the water in which the chickens were parboiled as will cover them well, and stew them for gravy; add a bunch of sweet herbs and a few blades of mace. When the chickens are cold, dissect them as for carving. Line a deep dish with thick puff paste, and put in the pieces of chicken. Take a nice thin slice of cold ham, or two slices of smoked tongue, and pound them one at a time in a marble mortar, pounding also the livers of the chickens, and the yolks of half a dozen hard-boiled eggs. Make this forcemeat into balls, and intersperse them among the pieces of chicken. Add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour, and then (having removed the giblets) pour on the gravy. Cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste, rolled out thick; and notch the edges handsomely; placing a knot or ornament of paste on the centre of the top. Set it directly into a well-heated oven, and bake it brown. It should be eaten warm.", "This pie will be greatly improved by a pint of mushrooms, cut into pieces. Also by a small tea-cup of cream.", "Any pie of poultry, pigeons, or game may be made in this manner.", "CHICKEN GUMBO.--Cut up a young fowl as if for a fricassee. Put into a stew-pan a large table-spoonful of fresh butter, mixed with a tea-spoonful of flour, and an onion finely minced. Brown them over the fire, and then add a quart of water, and the pieces of chicken, with a large quarter of a peck of ochras, (first sliced thin, and then chopped,) and a salt-spoon of salt. Cover the pan, and let the whole stew together, till the ochras are entirely dissolved, and the fowl thoroughly done. If it is a very young chicken, do not put it in at first; as half an hour will be sufficient to cook it. Serve it up hot in a deep dish.", "You may add to the ochras an equal quantity of tomatos cut small. If you use tomatos, no water will be necessary, as their juice will supply a sufficient liquid.", "[D]FILET GUMBO.--Cut up a pair of fine plump fowls into pieces, as when carving. Lay them in a pan of cold water, till all the blood is drawn out. Put into a pot, two large table-spoonfuls of lard, and set it over the fire. When the lard has come to a boil, put in the chickens with an onion finely minced. Dredge them well with flour, and season slightly with salt and pepper; and, if you like it, a little chopped marjoram. Pour on it two quarts of boiling water. Cover it, and let it simmer slowly for three hours. Then stir into it two heaped tea-spoonfuls of sassafras powder. Afterwards, let it stew five or six minutes longer, and then send it to table in a deep dish; having a dish of boiled rice to be eaten with it by those who like rice.", "[D] Pronounced Fee_lay_.", "This gumbo will be much improved by stewing with it three or four thin slices of cold boiled ham, in which case omit the salt in the seasoning. Whenever cold ham is an ingredient in any dish, no other salt is required.", "A dozen fresh oysters and their liquor, added to the stew about half an hour before it is taken up, will also be an improvement.", "If you cannot conveniently obtain sassafras-powder, stir the gumbo frequently with a stick of sassafras root.", "This is a genuine southern receipt. Filet gumbo may be made of any sort of poultry, or of veal, lamb, venison, or kid.", "TOMATO CHICKEN.--Take four small chickens or two large ones, and cut them up as for carving. Put them into a stew-pan, with one or two large slices of cold boiled ham cut into little bits; eight or ten large tomatos; an onion sliced; a bunch of pot-herbs,(cut up;) a small green pepper, (the seeds and veins first extracted;) half a dozen blades of mace; a table-spoonful of lard or of fresh butter, rolled in flour; or a handful of grated bread-crumbs. Add a tumbler or half a pint of water. Cover the sauce-pan closely with a cloth beneath the lid; set it on hot coals, or over a moderate fire; and let it stew slowly till the chickens are thoroughly done, and the tomatos entirely dissolved. Turn it out into a deep dish.", "Rabbits may be stewed in this manner. Also, veal steaks, cut thin and small.", "TURKEY AND CHICKEN PATTIES.--Take the white part of some cold turkey or chicken, and mince it very fine. Mince also some cold boiled ham or smoked tongue, and then mix the turkey and ham together. Add the yolks of some hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced; a very little cayenne; and some powdered mace and nutmeg. Moisten the whole with cream or fresh butter. Have ready some puff-paste shells, that have been baked empty in patty-pans. Place them on a large dish, and fill them with the mixture.", "Cold fillet of veal minced, and mixed with chopped ham, and grated yolk of egg, and seasoned as above will make very good patties.", "CHICKEN RICE PUDDING.--Parboil a fine fowl, and cut it up. Boil, till soft and dry, a pint of rice; and while warm, mix with it a large table-spoonful of fresh butter. Beat four eggs very light; and then mix them, gradually, with the rice. Spread a coating of the fresh butter, &c., over the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Place on it the pieces of the parboiled fowl, with a little of the liquid in which it was boiled--seasoned with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour and a little cream. Cover the dish closely with the remainder of the rice; set the pudding immediately into the oven and bake it brown.", "Cold chicken or turkey, cooked the day before, may be used for this purpose. The pudding may be improved by the addition of a few very thin, small slices of cold ham, or smoked tongue.", "RICE CROQUETTES.--Boil half a pound of rice till it becomes quite soft and dry. Then mix with it two table spoonfuls of rich (but not strong) grated cheese, a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and sufficient fresh butter to moisten it. Mince very fine, six table-spoonfuls of the white part of cold chicken or turkey, the soft parts of six large oysters, and a few sprigs of tarragon or parsley; add a grated nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a lemon. Mix the whole well, moistening it with cream or white wine. Take of the prepared rice, a portion about the size of an egg, flatten it, and put into the centre a dessert-spoonful of the mixture; close the rice round it as you would the paste round a dumpling-apple. Then form it into the shape of an egg. Brush it over with some beaten yolk of egg and then dredge it with pounded crackers. In this way make up the whole into oval balls. Have ready, in a sauce-pan over the fire, a pound of boiling lard. Into this throw the croquettes, two at a time, so as to brown them. Let them brown for a few minutes; then take them out with a perforated skimmer. Drain them from the lard, and serve them up hot, garnished with curled parsley.", "CHICKEN POT-PIE.--Cut up and parboil a pair of large fowls, seasoning them with pepper, salt, and nutmeg. You may add some small slices of cold ham; in which case use _no salt_, as the ham will make it salt enough. Or you may put in some pieces of the lean of fresh pork. You may prepare a suet-paste; but for a chicken pot-pie it is best to make the paste of butter, which should be fresh, and of the best quality. Allow to each quart of flour, a small half-pound of butter. There should be enough for a great deal of paste. Line the sides of the pot, two-thirds up, with paste. Put in the chickens, with the liquor in which they were parboiled. You may add some sliced potatos. Intersperse the pieces of chicken with layers of paste in square slices. Then cover the whole with a lid of paste, not fitting very closely. Make a cross-slit in the top, and boil the pie about an hour or more.", "Instead of ham, you may add some clams to the chicken, omitting salt in the seasoning, as the clams will salt it quite enough.", "CHICKEN CURRY.--Having skinned a pair of fine chickens, cut them into six pieces each, that is, two wings, two pieces of the breast, and two legs cut off at the joint. Put into a stew-pan two boiled onions chopped, and four ounces or four table-spoonfuls of fresh butter. Shake the pan till the contents begin to simmer; then add four table-spoonfuls of curry-powder and mix it well in; also, four table-spoonfuls of grated cocoa-nut. Mix all well in the stew-pan, and then put in the pieces of chicken. Cover the pan, and let all stew moderately for half an hour, stirring it round occasionally; and, if getting too dry, add a little hot water. Also, towards the last, the grated yellow rind of a lemon and the juice. It should stew till the chicken is quite tender, and till the flesh parts easily from the bones. Serve it up hot, in a covered dish, and send half a pound of boiled rice in a separate dish, _uncovered_. This is a dish for company.", "Young ducks, or a young hen turkey, or a pair of rabbits, may be cooked in the same manner. Also, lamb or veal.", "For curried oysters, take a hundred large fresh ones, and proceed as above.", "RICE PIE.--Pick clean a quart of rice, and wash it well through two or three waters. Tie it in a cloth, put it into a pot of boiled milk, and boil it till perfectly soft. Then drain and press it till as dry as possible, and mix with it two ounces of fresh butter. Take a small tin butter-kettle; wet the inside, put in the rice, and stand it in a cool place till quite cold. Then turn it carefully out of the kettle, (of which it will retain the form,) rub it over with the beaten yolk of an egg, and set it in an oven till lightly browned. Cut out from the top of the mass of rice an oval lid, about two inches from the edge, so as to leave a flat rim or border all round. Then excavate the mould of rice, leaving a standing crust all round and at the bottom, about two inches thick. Have ready some hot stewed oysters or birds, or brown or white fricassee. Fill up the pie with it, adding the gravy. Lay on the lid, and decorate it with sprigs of green curled parsley, stuck in all round the crack where the lid is put on.", "This pie may be filled with curried chicken.", "COUNTRY CAPTAIN.--This is an East India dish, and a very easy preparation of curry. The term \"country captain,\" signifies a captain of the native troops, (or Sepoys,) in the pay of England; their own country being India, they are there called generally the country troops. Probably this dish was first introduced at English tables by a Sepoy officer.", "Having well boiled a fine full-grown fowl, cut it up as for carving. Have ready two large onions boiled and sliced. Season the pieces of chicken with curry powder or turmeric; rubbed well into them, all over. Fry them with the onion, in plenty of lard or fresh butter, and when well-browned they are done enough. Take them up with a perforated skimmer, and drain through its holes. It will be a great improvement to put in, at the beginning, three or four table-spoonfuls of finely grated cocoa-nut. This will be found an advantage to any curry.", "Serve up, in another dish, a pint of rice, well picked, and washed clean in two or three cold waters. Boil the rice in plenty of water, (leaving the skillet or sauce-pan uncovered;) and when it is done, drain it very dry, and set it on a dish before the fire, tossing it up with two forks, one in each hand, so as to separate all the grains, leaving each one to stand for itself. All rice for the dinner table should be cooked in this manner. Persons accustomed to rice never eat it watery or clammy, or lying in a moist mass. Rice should never be covered, either while boiling, or when dished.", "We recommend this \"country captain.\"", "CURRIED EGGS.--Boil six fresh eggs till they are hard enough for salad, and then set them away to get cold. Mix together, in a stew-pan, three ounces (or three large table-spoonfuls) of nice fresh butter, and three dessert-spoonfuls of curry powder. Shake them together for five minutes over a clear but moderate fire. Then throw in two boiled onions finely minced, and let them cook, gently, till quite soft, adding three ounces or three large spoonfuls of grated cocoa-nut. Cut the eggs into rather thick slices. Put them into the mixture, with a small tea-cupful of thick cream, or if you cannot obtain cream, with two more spoonfuls of butter dredged with flour. Let the whole simmer together, but when it approaches coming to a boil, take it immediately off the fire and serve it up hot. This is a nice side-dish for company.", "PARTRIDGES PEAR FASHION--(_French dish._)--Your partridges should be fine and fat, and of the same size. For a large dish have three or four. Truss them tight and round, and rub over them a little salt and cayenne, mixed. Cut off one of the legs and leave the other on, fill them with a nice forcemeat. Make a rich paste of flour, butter, and beaten egg, using as little water as possible. Be sure to make enough of paste to cover each partridge entirely over, and roll it out evenly, and rather thick than thin. Put a sufficient portion of paste nicely round each partridge, pressing it closely and smoothly with your hand, and forming it into the shape of a large pear. Leave one leg sticking out at the top to resemble the stem, having cut off the foot. Set them in a pan, and bake them in a dutch oven. In the mean time, make in a small sauce-pan, a rich brown gravy of the livers, and other trimmings of the partridges, and some drippings of roast veal or roasted poultry. It will be better still if you reserve one or two small partridges to cut up, and stew for the gravy. Season it with a little salt and cayenne. When it has boiled long enough to be very thick and rich, take it off, strain it, and put the liquid into a clean sauce-pan. Add the juice of a large orange, made very sweet with powdered white sugar. Set it over the fire, and when it comes to a boil, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs. Let it boil two or three minutes longer; then take it off, and keep it hot till the partridges and their paste are thoroughly well baked. When done, stand up the partridges in a deep dish, and serve up the gravy in a sauce-boat. Ornament the partridge-pears by sticking some orange leaves into the end that represents the stalk. This is a nice and handsome side dish, of French origin.", "Pigeons and quails may be dressed in this manner.", "SALMI OF PARTRIDGES--(_French dish._)--Having covered two large or four small partridges with very thin slices of fat cold ham, secured with twine, roast them; but see that they are not too much done. Remove the ham, skin the partridges, cut them into pieces, and let them get quite cold. Partridges that have been roasted the preceding day are good for this purpose. Cut off all the meat from the bones, season it with a little cayenne, and put it into a stew-pan. Mix together three table-spoonfuls of sweet oil, a glass of excellent wine, (either red or white,) and the grated peel and juice of an orange. Pour this gravy over the partridges, and let them stew in it during ten minutes; then add the beaten yolk of an egg, and stew it about three or four minutes longer. All the time it is stewing, continue to shake or move the pan over the fire. Serve it up hot.", "ROASTED PARTRIDGES, PHEASANTS, AND QUAILS.--Make a stuffing of fat bacon finely minced, and boiled chestnuts or grated sweet potatoe boiled, mashed, and seasoned with pepper only. Fill the birds with this. Cover them with thin slices of bacon, and wrap them well in young vine leaves. Roast them well, and serve them up in the bacon and vine leaves, to be taken off when they come to table. For company, have orange sauce to eat with them. If you roast pigeons, &c., without a covering of bacon and vine leaves, do them with egg and bread-crumbs all over.", "If these birds have a bitter taste when cooked, do not eat them. It is produced by their feeding on laurel berries in winter, when their food is scarce. Laural berries are poisonous, and people have died from eating birds that have fed on them.", "BIRDS WITH MUSHROOMS.--Take two dozen reed-birds, (or other nice small birds,) and truss them as if for roasting. Put into each a button mushroom, of which you should have a heaping pint after the stalks are all removed. Put the birds and the remaining mushrooms into a stew-pan. Season them with a very little salt and pepper, and add either a quarter of a pound of fresh butter (divided into four, and slightly rolled in flour,) or a pint of rich cream. If cream is not plenty, you may use half butter and half cream, well mixed together. Cover the stew-pan closely, and set it over a moderate fire, to stew gently till the birds and mushrooms are thoroughly done and tender all through. Do not open the lid to stir the stew, but give the pan, occasionally, a hard shake. Dip in hot water a large slice of toast with the crust trimmed off. When the birds are done lay them on the toast with the mushrooms around.", "If you cannot get button-mushrooms, divide large ones into quarters.", "Plovers are very nice stewed with mushrooms.", "BIRDS IN A GROVE--(_French dish._)--Having roasted some reed-birds, larks, plovers, or any other small birds, such as are usually eaten, mash some potatos with butter and cream. Spread the mashed potato thickly over the bottom, sides, and edges of a deep dish. Nick or crimp the border of potatoe that goes round the edge, or scollop it with a tin cutter. You may, if you choose, brown it by holding over it a salamander, or a red-hot shovel. Then lay the roasted birds in the middle of the dish, and stick round them and among them, very thickly, a sufficient number of sprigs of curled or double parsley.", "THATCHED HOUSE PIE--(_French dish._)--Rub the inside of a deep dish with two ounces of fresh butter, and spread over it two ounces of vermicelli. Then line the dish with puff-paste. Have ready some birds seasoned with powdered nutmeg, and a very little salt and pepper. Place them with the breast downward. They will be much improved by putting into each a mushroom or an oyster chopped fine. Lay them on the paste. Add some gravy of roast veal, (cold gravy saved from veal roasted the preceding day will do very well,) and cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste. Bake it in a moderate oven, and when done, turn it out _carefully_ upon a flat dish, and send it to table. The vermicelli, which was originally at the bottom, will now be at the top, covering the paste like thatch upon a roof. Trim off the edge, so as to look nicely. You may, if you choose, use a larger quantity of vermicelli. The yellow sort will be best for this purpose.", "BIRDS PREPARED FOR LARDING.--Cut a thin slice of fresh veal, and fill the bird with it, adding a bit of fat bacon. Tie a string round the body to keep in the stuffing, and roast the bird head downward. The gravy of the meat will diffuse a pleasant taste all through the bird.", "After being well roasted, let it get cold, and then lard it all over the breast with lardons or regular slips of fat bacon, put in with a larding needle, and left standing in rows. It is more easy to lard poultry or game when cold, rather than warm. Lardons should be set very close and evenly.", "BIRD DUMPLINGS.--Take a large tender beef steak, trim off all the fat, and remove the bone. Make a large sheet of nice suet paste. Lay the beef steak upon it, seasoned with pepper and a very little salt. In the centre of the meat place either a partridge, a quail, a plover, or any nice game, or three or four reed-birds--season with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add some bits of excellent fresh butter, dredged with flour. Inclose the birds completely in the steak, so that the game flavor may pervade the whole. Close the crust over all, so as to form a large dumpling. Tie it in a cloth. Put it into a pot of fast-boiling water, and boil it well, turning it several times with a fork. Dish it very hot.", "If game is not convenient, a fine tame fat pigeon may be substituted.", "TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.--Be very careful in plucking these to pull out the feathers as carefully and handle them as lightly as possible; for the skin is very easily torn or broken. Do not draw them, for epicures have decided, that the trail, (as they call the intestines,) is the most delicious part of the bird, and should by all means be saved for eating. Having wiped the outside carefully with a soft cloth, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid along upon the breast. Keep the legs bent from the knees, retaining that posture by means of a splinter skewer. Suspend the birds to a bird-spit, with their feet downward. Melt some fresh butter in the dripping-pan, and baste them with it, having first dredged the birds with flour. Before the trail begins to drop, (which it will do as soon as they are well heated,) lay a thick round of very nice toast, (with the crust pared off,) buttered on both sides, and placed in the dripping-pan beneath, so as to catch the trail as it falls; allowing a slice of toast to each bird, with the trail spread equally over it. Continue the basting, letting the butter fall back from them into the basting spoon. When the birds are done, which will be in less than half an hour at a brisk fire--carefully transfer the toasts to a very hot dish; place the birds upon them, and pour some gravy round the toast.", "Snipes require less cooking than woodcocks. These birds are very fashionable; but we do not think either of them superlative. They seldom appear except at supper parties.", "PLOVERS.--This is a very nice bird, with a peculiar and pleasant flavor. They abound near our large bays and estuaries in the vicinity of the ocean. There are two sorts, the green plover and the gray. Roast them plain; basting them only with butter. Or fill them with a forcemeat, and go entirely over the outside, first with beaten egg, and then roll each plover in finely grated bread-crumbs.", "If very fat, stew them plain in butter rolled in flour. Then serve them up in their own gravy, enriched with a beaten egg. They make a nice breakfast dish, either roasted or stewed. And are excellent in pies.", "REED BIRDS.--Reed birds and rice birds are the same. They are very small, (only a mouthful on each side of the breast,) but very delicious, and _immensely fat_ in the summer and autumn. They are brought to market with a lump of fat skewered on the outside, and are sold by the dozen strung on a stick like cherries.", "To cook them, roast them on a bird-spit, basting with their own fat, as it drips. A nice way for retaining the whole flavor is to tie each bird closely in a vine leaf, and bake them in a dutch oven. Or wrap them in double vine leaves, and roast them in the ashes of a wood fire. Remove the vine leaves before the birds are dished.", "ROASTED PIGEONS.--Take fine fat _tame_ pigeons, and clean and truss them nicely. Four pigeons, at least, are requisite to make a dish. Prepare a stuffing or forcemeat of finely minced veal, and an equal quantity of cold-boiled ham, seasoned with powdered mace and a very little cayenne. Also, two slices of bread and butter soaked in as much milk as they will absorb. Fill their bodies with this, (tying a string round to keep it in,) and roast the pigeons till thoroughly done; basting with fresh butter or lard.", "Or you may stuff the pigeons with chopped mushrooms, seasoned with a little cayenne, and putting into each a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour.", "Or you may stuff them with sweet potatos, boiled well, and mashed with plenty of fresh butter. Or with chestnuts, boiled, peeled, and mashed with butter.", "Wild pigeons are generally too poor to roast. In places where they abound, it has been found very profitable to catch them in nets, clip their wings, and put them into inclosures, feeding them well with corn so as to make them fat. They will then bring as high a price as tame pigeons.", "MELTED BUTTER.--_For Sauces._--This is frequently called Drawn Butter. For this purpose none should be used but fresh butter of the very best quality. It is usually sent to table with boiled fish and boiled poultry. Also, with boiled mutton, lamb, and veal. It is never served up with any thing roasted, fried or broiled. Numerous sauces are made with melted butter. If mixed with too much flour and water, and not enough of butter, it will be very poor, particularly if the water is in too large proportions. To prepare it properly, allow a quarter of a pound of nice butter, to a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Mix the butter and flour thoroughly, _before_ it goes on the fire. Then add to it four large table-spoonfuls of milk, or hot water, well mixed in. Hold it over the fire in a small sauce-pan, kept for the purpose. One lined with what is called porcelain or enamel is best. Take care there is no blaze where the sauce-pan is held. Cover it, and shake it over the fire till it boils. Then having skimmed it, add three or four hard-boiled eggs chopped small, and give it one more boil up; or season it with any other ingredient with which you wish to distinguish the sauce.", "CLARIFIED BUTTER.--For this purpose use none but the very best fresh butter, such as is made in summer, when the cows are well pastured. Cut up the butter, put it into an enameled or porcelain stew-pan, and melt it gently over a clear and moderate fire. When it simmers, skim it thoroughly, draw it from the fire, and let it stand five minutes, that the milk or sediment may sink to the bottom. Then pour it clear from the sediment through a muslin strainer, or a fine clean hair sieve. Transfer to jars with close covers, and keep them in a cool dry place. If well prepared, and originally very good, this butter will answer for sauces, stews, &c., and continue good a long time. In France, where they do not _salt_ any butter, large quantities are melted in this way for winter use.", "COLORING FOR SAUCES.--_For Pink Sauce._ Take a few chips of red alkanet root, (to be had at the druggist's.) Pick it clean, and tie it in a very thin muslin bag. Put the alkanet into the mixture, and let it infuse in the boiling drawn butter. It will communicate a beautiful pink color, which you may heighten, by pressing the bag a little. When done, take out the bag, and stir the alkanet color evenly through the sauce. The alkanet has no taste, and is very cheap. Beet juice will color a tolerable red.", "_For Green Sauce._--Pound some fresh spinach leaves, till you extract a tea-cup or more of the clear green juice. Stir it into the melted butter while boiling.", "_For Yellow Sauce._--Tie up a very little turmeric powder in a muslin bag. Let it boil in the butter. When done, take it out of the sauce-pan, and stir the yellow coloring evenly through the sauce.", "_For White Sauce._--Make this with cream instead of milk.", "_For Brown Sauce._--Stir in plenty of French mustard.", "_For Wine Sauce._--Stir in, just before you take the sauce from the fire, a large wine-glass or more of _very good_ white wine, and grate in half a large nutmeg, adding the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a lemon. The wine must be of excellent quality, otherwise it will give a bad taste to the sauce.", "WHITE THICKENING--(_French Roux._)--Cut up a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter, and put it into a well tinned or enameled sauce-pan. Set it over a moderate fire, and melt it slowly, shaking it round frequently, and taking care to skim it well. When no more scum appears on the surface, let it settle a few minutes; then pour it off from the sediment at the bottom. Wash the sauce-pan or get another clean one. Return the melted butter to it, and set it again over the fire. Then dredge in gradually sufficient sifted flour to make it very thick and smooth, stirring it well after each addition of flour. Do not allow it to brown in the slightest degree, but keep it perfectly white to the last; simmering, but not actually boiling, and take care that there is no smoke about the fire.", "To thicken white sauces, or soups, stir in a table-spoonful or two of this roux, pronounced _roo_. In French cooking it passes for cream.", "Browned thickening is made in the same manner; but with butter and browned flour, and is used for brown soups and gravies.", "BROWNING.--This is to enrich the taste and improve the color of gravies, stews, and soups. Mix a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar with two ounces of fine fresh butter; and, having stirred them well together, put them into a sauce-pan over the fire, and simmer till it begins to froth; then diminish the heat a little. When its color becomes a fine dark brown, add two glasses of port wine, and three or four blades of mace, powdered. When it comes to a boil, take it off, and stir it into whatever you intend to color.", "Another browning is mushroom catchup, or walnut catchup. They communicate a slightly acid taste. So also does French mustard. Stir it in at the last. Its tarragon flavor is very generally liked.", "BROWNED FLOUR.--Sift some fine flour, spread it on a large dish, or clean tin-pan. Place it before the fire, so as to brown but not to scorch or burn. It will color first at the edges; therefore watch it, and keep it evenly mixed with the white flour from the centre. When all is nicely browned, set it to cool, and then put it away for use in a large clean bottle or jar, well corked. Flour may be browned in an oven, after baking is over, taking care to stir it well.--Have two dredging boxes. One for browned flour and one for white. It is convenient also to have dredging-boxes for powdered herbs. The cost of these boxes is very trifling, and it saves time and trouble to have things ready when wanted. A small sieve for powdered white sugar is indispensable.", "LOBSTER SAUCE.--This sauce is for fresh salmon or turbot, or sheep's-head fish. Also for salmon-trout, blue-fish, or the lake white-fish.", "Put a large hen lobster into a hard-boiling pot of highly-salted water, that the animal may die immediately. Continue the boiling with a steady heat, and in about three quarters, or an hour, the lobster will be done. When cold, extract all the meat from the shell, and cut it into small bits. Pound the coral, or red substance, in a marble mortar, with some fresh butter, or plenty of salad oil; and a little cayenne. Add the coral to the cut-up lobster, and put the whole into a stew-pan, with some powdered mace and nutmeg, and a large table-spoonful of sweet oil. Divide into four bits a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, each bit rolled in flour. If your butter is not fresh and very good, omit it entirely and substitute a larger quantity of oil. As bad butter spoils every thing, never on any account, use it. Set the sauce-pan over the fire, and let it boil up once. Then take it off, and while very hot, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs.", "Crab sauce is made in the same manner. Prawn sauce also.", "SHRIMP SAUCE.--Shrimps are the smallest shell-fish of the lobster species. Put them into salted boiling water. They are done when they have turned entirely red. When cold, pull off the heads, and peel off the shells from the bodies; or _squeeze_ out the meat with your fingers. Have ready some nice drawn butter, and thicken it with the shrimps, either chopped or whole. Season the sauce with mace or nutmeg powdered, and give it one boil up. Shrimp sauce is eaten with salmon and other fine fish.", "PICKLED SHRIMPS.--Having boiled, in salted water, three quarts or more of shrimps, and taken them from the shells, boil two quarts of the best cider vinegar, and season it well with blades of mace and pepper-corns, and pour it hot on the shrimps, in a stone jar. Cork the jar, and seal the cork with the usual red cement for pickle jars: a mixture of one-third beeswax with two-thirds powdered rosin, and some fine brickdust, all melted together.", "OYSTER SAUCE.--Take a pint of the liquor of _fresh_ oysters, and strain it into a sauce-pan. If your oysters are salt, and you can get no others, boil a pint of milk instead of the oyster liquor, seasoning with powdered nutmeg and mace, and enriching it with fresh butter dredged with flour. When it has come to a boil, put in the oysters (having removed from each the gristle, or hard part.) Let them simmer, but take them from the fire without letting them come to a boil, which will shrivel them, and render them tough and tasteless. A new fashion is to season oyster sauce with the grated yellow rind and juice of a fresh lemon. Others stir in a glass of sherry or Madeira. If you use wine or lemon, you must not make the sauce with milk, as it will curdle. Use in this case the oyster liquor, if it is fresh, thickened well with finely grated bread-crumbs. The small, highly-flavored oysters, abounding on the coast of New England, are excellent for sauce, or soups.", "CLAM SAUCE.--Make this of half milk and half clam liquor, seasoned with whole mace, and whole pepper. Use only the soft part of the clams, cut up small, and simmer them from the beginning; adding bits of butter dredged all over with flour Clams require longer cooking than oysters.", "EGG SAUCE.--Boil four eggs from eight to twelve minutes. Then lay them in a pan of fresh water, and let them remain till quite cold. Peel off the shells, and take out the eggs. Chop the yolks and whites separately; mix them, lightly, into half a pint of melted fresh butter, made in the proportion of a quarter of a pound of butter to two large table-spoonfuls of flour, and four of milk and hot water. Add some powdered mace, or nutmeg. Egg sauce is eaten with boiled fish and poultry.", "Instead of milk or water, you can use for melted butter, some of the water in which chicken or turkey was boiled, or some veal gravy.", "CELERY SAUCE.--Split and cut up into short slips a bunch of celery, having taken off the green leaves from the tops. The celery must have been well washed, and laid an hour in cold water. Take a pint of milk, and cut up in it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter that has been well dredged with flour. Set it over the fire in a sauce-pan, and add the celery gradually; also three or four blades of mace broken up. Boil all slowly together, till the celery is quite soft and tender, but not dissolved. The green tops of the celery, (strewed in, when it begins to simmer,) will improve the flavor. Celery sauce is served up with boiled turkey, boiled fowls, and with any sort of fresh fish, boiled or fried.", "MINT SAUCE.--This is only used for roast lamb in the spring. When the lambs are grown into sheep, the mint is too old for sauce. But they harmonize very pleasantly when both are young.", "Take a large bunch of fine fresh green mint, that has been washed well. Strip the leaves from the stems, and mince them small. Put it into a pint bowl, and mix with it gradually some of the best cider vinegar. This sauce must not be the least liquid, but as thick as horse-radish sauce or thicker. Make it very sweet, with the best brown sugar. Mix it well, and transfer to a small tureen, or a little deep dish with a tea-spoon in it. Serve it up always with roast lamb, putting a tea-spoonful on the rim of your plate.", "A quart or more of mint sauce, made as above, but with a larger proportion of sugar and vinegar, will keep very well for several weeks, in a jar well corked.", "HORSE-RADISH.--Wash clean some roots of horse-radish, wipe them dry, and scrape off the outside. Then grate the sticks of horse-radish with a large grater. Put some of the grated horse-radish into a large saucer, or small deep plate, and moisten it with good cider vinegar, but do not put so much vinegar as will render it liquid. Send it to table with roast beef or mutton.", "CAULIFLOWER SAUCE.--Have ready some very rich good melted or drawn butter, made with milk and flavored with nutmeg. Thicken it with plenty of ready-boiled cauliflower, cut into little sprigs or blossoms. Give it one boil up after the cauliflower is in, and send it to table with any sort of boiled poultry. It will be found very nice. For a boiled turkey it is far superior to celery sauce, and well suited to dinner company.", "BROCCOLI SAUCE.--Make some nice drawn butter with milk. Flavor it with powdered mace. Pound some spinach in a mortar to extract the juice. Strain the spinach juice, and stir a small tea-cupful into the butter to give it a fine green color. Have ready some well-boiled broccoli. Divide one or two heads of the broccoli into tufts or sprigs. Put them into the melted butter, and when it comes to a boil, take it off, and transfer it to a sauce-boat. Serve it up with boiled poultry or fresh fish.", "PARSLEY SAUCE.--Strip from the stalks the leaves of some fresh green parsley; allow plenty of it. Chop it slightly; and while the drawn butter is hot, stir into it the parsley, till the butter looks very green. Serve it up with boiled fowls, rabbits, or boiled fish. The appearance of parsley sauce will be much improved by stirring in some spinach juice. The whole will be then a fine green.", "CRIMPED PARSLEY.--Pick the small sprigs of parsley from the large stalks. Wash it, and then throw it into clean cold water. After the meat or fish that it is to accompany has been fried and taken out of the pan, give the fat that remains a boil up, and lay the parsley into it. It will crimp and still continue green, if not kept frying too long. Take it out, drain it, and place it before the fire a few minutes, to dry it from the fat. Dish it laid on the top of the fish or steaks.", "FENNEL SAUCE.--The fennel should be young and fresh. Take a large handful, or more, and having washed it clean, strip the leaves from the stems, and boil it till quite tender. Put it into a sieve, and press the water well from it. Mince it very small, and stir it into drawn butter.", "It is served up with boiled fish.", "Instead of melted butter, you may put the fennel into veal gravy, thickened with butter dredged with flour.", "SAGE AND ONION SAUCE.--Take a bunch of fresh sage leaves. Wash and drain them. Pick them from the stems, and put them to boil in a small sauce-pan, with just water enough to cover them. Boil them fast about ten minutes. Take them out, and press them in a sieve to drain them dry. Then mince or chop them small. Have ready two onions, boiled tender in another sauce-pan; chop them also, and mix them well with the minced sage. While warm, mix in a small bit of nice butter--season with pepper. Put this sauce into a little tureen, and serve it up with roast goose, roast duck, or roast pork, that has been stuffed with potato, bread, or other stuffing. The sage and onion sauce is for those who prefer their flavor to any other seasoning for those dishes.", "This sauce will be greatly improved if moistened with some of the gravy of the duck or goose.", "FINE ONION SAUCE.--Peel some nice mild onions, and boil them in plenty of milk, skimming them well. When done, take them out of the milk, (saving it,) and slice them very thin, cutting the slices across, so as to make the pieces of onion very small. Return them to the sauce-pan of milk, (adding some fresh butter dredged with flour;) season them with powdered mace or nutmeg, and give the onions another boil, till they are soft enough to mash, and to thicken the milk all through. Eat this sauce with steaks, cutlets, rabbits, or chickens.", "PLAIN ONION SAUCE.--Peel some very small onions, and boil them whole in milk, (seasoned slightly with pepper and salt,) and put in some bits of butter rolled in flour. Let them boil till tender all through, but not till they loose their shape. Eat them with any sort of boiled meat.", "NASTURTION SAUCE.--This is eaten with boiled mutton; is superior to caper sauce, and costs almost nothing, if you have nasturtions in your garden. Gather the green seeds as soon as they are full grown, and throw them (without the stems) into a jar of cider vinegar. They require no cooking, but keep a muslin bag of spice in the jar, (mace and nutmeg broken small, and a little piece of root ginger.) To use them for sauce, make some nice drawn butter, and as it simmers throw in plenty of nasturtions from the jar. The seeds, when gathered, should be full grown, but by no means hard; and the color a fine green. If there is the slightest brown tinge, the nasturtion seeds are too old, and should be kept for planting.", "MUSHROOM SAUCE.--Have ready some excellent drawn butter, and thicken it with small button mushrooms that have been pickled. Or, take freshly-gathered mushrooms of good size, rub off the outer skin with a clean flannel, and cut off the stems close to the flaps. Wash the mushrooms in a cullender. Have ready some bits of fresh butter dredged all over with flour. Lay them among the mushrooms, (which, if very large, should be quartered,) and put them into a stew-pan. Cover the pan, and let them stew till the mushrooms are all tender. When you take off the lid to try them, replace it immediately, keeping in as much of the aroma as possible. If fresh, they will yield a great deal of juice. When done, transfer them to a sauce-tureen, and serve them up with any nice dish of meat or poultry.", "The best mushrooms are found in pure open air or rather high ground, and where there is no swamp or woodland. On the upper side of their top they are not white, but of a pale grayish tint; the under side is invariably light red, pinkish, or pale salmon color, which in a few hours, or after being gathered, turns brown. The false mushrooms are poisonous. They are entirely white above and below. The fungi that grow in forests or marshes can never be mistaken for real mushrooms. They are of various colors, chiefly bright yellow and red, and originate in foul air. By boiling a silver tea-spoon with your mushrooms, you may test their goodness. If the silver turns black, throw the mushrooms away. An onion will also blacken from the same cause. Mushrooms should be cooked as soon as possible. If kept two or three days, worms will be found in them. Never give mushrooms to children. Even in their best state they are not wholesome. The taste for mushrooms is an acquired one, and it is best not to acquire it.", "TOMATO SAUCE.--Scald some large ripe tomatos, to make them peel easily. Then quarter them, and press them through a sieve to divest them of their seeds. Put the juice into a stew-pan, adding some bits of fresh butter dredged with flour; add finely grated bread-crumbs, and season with a little pepper, and, if liked, a little onion boiled and minced. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let the tomatos simmer slowly till it comes to a boil. Continue the boiling ten minutes longer. Serve it up in a sauce-tureen. It will be mellowed and improved by stirring in (as soon as it comes to a boil) a table-spoonful or a lump of white sugar.", "TARRAGON SAUCE.--Put into a sauce-pan a large half pint of any nice gravy that is at hand. After it has boiled five minutes, have ready a handful of fresh green tarragon leaves, minced, and moistened with plenty of cider vinegar. Add this to the gravy, and let it simmer five minutes. Then take it out, and serve it up with any kind of boiled poultry.", "TO MAKE GRAVY.--Take two pounds of the lean of veal, or of very nice beef. Cut it into small bits, and lay it in a sauce-pan with only as much water as will cover it. Stew it slowly, (skimming it well) till the meat is all rags. Then strain the gravy, and thicken it with some bits of fresh butter dredged all over with browned flour, and give it another simmer. You may flavor it with any seasoning you like.", "For made gravies, you can use any small pieces of fresh meat that has never been cooked, and the feet of calves and pigs. Boil in it also such vegetables as you like, cut small. Strain out every thing before it goes to table. For gravies, use nothing that has been cooked before. They will not add to its goodness, but only render it flat and washy.", "White gravy is made with fresh veal boiled in milk; and after straining, thickened arrow-root, or rice flour, mixed with fresh butter, if real cream cannot be obtained.", "MUSHROOM CATCHUP.--Let the mushrooms be large and freshly-gathered, for they soon become worm-eaten if not speedily salted. They should be well examined. Cut off the stalks of four quarts of nice mushrooms. Put the flaps into a deep earthen pan, and break them up with your hands. Strew among them half a pound of salt, reserving the largest portion of it for the top. Let them stand for three days, stirring them gently every morning. The fourth day, put them into a sieve, and draw off the liquor without pressing the mushrooms. When all the liquor has drained through, measure it, allowing to each quart a tea-spoon of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a nutmeg broken up. Put the whole into a porcelain kettle, and boil it slowly till reduced one half. Then pour it into a clean white-ware pitcher, cover it with a folded napkin, and keep it in a cool dry place till next day. Then, through a funnel, pour it gently from the sediment into small bottles. Finish with a tea-spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each. Cork the bottles tightly, and seal the corks.", "The next time you make catchup, proceed as above with the new mushrooms, and other ingredients; and, when it is done, strain it, and put it into a clean kettle. Then add to it a quart of _last year's_ mushroom catchup, and boil it a quarter of an hour. Then bottle it as above.", "This double catchup is very fine.", "WALNUT CATCHUP.--Take two hundred walnuts or butter-nuts, while the green shell is still so soft that you can pierce it with the head of a pin. Bruise them to small pieces, in a marble mortar. Transfer them to a broad stone-ware pan, and stew among them six handfuls of salt. Stir them three times a day, for ten days or two weeks. Then squeeze and strain them through a cloth, pressing them very dry, till no more juice comes out. Boil up the liquor with two quarts of cider vinegar, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of nutmegs broken up, and two roots of ginger cut small, and half a dozen shalots or small onions, peeled and cut up, and a large bunch of sweet herbs. Let the whole boil for half an hour. Then pour off the liquor into a large pitcher, leaving out the bunch of sweet herbs. Pour off the liquor (through a funnel,) into small bottles, having first put into the bottom of each bottle a portion of the spice. Fill the bottle up to the top with the catchup, finishing with a tea-spoonful of salad oil, which will greatly assist in keeping the catchup good. Cork the bottles very closely, and seal the corks.", "TOMATO CATCHUP.--Take a peck of large ripe tomatos. In the middle States they are in perfection the last of August. Late in the autumn they are comparatively insipid and watery. Cut a slit down the side of every tomato. Put them into a large preserving kettle without any water. Their own juice is sufficient. On no account boil tomatos in brass or copper, their acid acting on those metals produces verdigris, and renders them poisonous. Boil them till they are quite soft, and easily mashed, stirring them up frequently from the bottom. Press and mash them through a hair sieve, till all the pulp has run out into the pan below, leaving in the sieve only the skins and seeds. Season the liquid with a little salt, some cayenne, and plenty of powdered nutmeg and mace. Mix it well, and when cold put up the catchup in small jars, the covers pasted all round with bands of white paper. This catchup, when done, should be very thick and smooth.", "LEMON CATCHUP.--Take six fine large ripe lemons, and roll them under your hand to increase the quantity of juice. Grate off all the yellow rind, and squeeze the juice into a pitcher, removing all the seeds. Prepare two ounces of finely scraped horse-radish, and two ounces of minced shalots, or very small onions. Put them into a pint of boiling vinegar, in which half an ounce of bruised ginger and a quarter of an ounce of mace have been simmered for five minutes. Add to this the lemon-juice and the grated peel, and two grated nutmegs. Boil all together for half an hour, and then transfer it with all the ingredients to a glass jar with a lid. Paste a band of strong white paper round the lower part of the lid. Set it in a dry cool place, and leave it undisturbed for three months. Then, through a funnel, pour off the liquid into small bottles, putting a tea-spoonful of salad oil at the top of each. Cork and seal them.", "CUCUMBER CATCHUP.--For a small quantity of this catchup, take twelve fine full-grown cucumbers, and lay them an hour in cold water. Then pare them, and grate them down into a deep dish. Grate also two small onions, and mix them with the grated cucumber. Season the mixture to your taste with pepper, salt, and vinegar, making it of the consistence of very thick marmalade or jam. When thoroughly amalgamated, transfer it to a glass jar. Cover it closely, tying over it a piece of bladder, so as to render it perfectly air-tight.", "It will be found very nice, (when fresh cucumbers are not in season,) to eat with beef or mutton. And if properly made, and securely covered, will keep well. It should be grated very fine, and the vinegar must be of very excellent quality--real cider vinegar.", "CAMP CATCHUP.--Take a pint or quart of strong ale or porter, and a pint of white wine; half a dozen shalots, or very small onions, peeled and minced; half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of nutmeg, broken up; and two large roots or races of ginger, sliced. Put all together, over a moderate fire, into a porcelain-lined kettle, and boil it slowly till one-third of the liquid is wasted. Next day transfer it to small bottles, putting a portion of the seasoning in the bottom of each, and filling them to the top with the liquid. Finish with a tea-spoonful of salad oil at the top. Cork the bottles with good corks, and seal them. In a dry place this catchup will keep for years.", "TARRAGON VINEGAR.--The fresh leaves of the tarragon plant are in perfection in July and August, and impart a new and pleasant taste to soups, hashes, gravies, &c. To use it fresh, wash a bunch of tarragon in cold water. Afterwards strip off the green leaves, chop or mince them, and boil a tea-spoonful or more in the dish you intend to flavor. The best way of keeping tarragon is to strip off as many fresh leaves as will half fill a glass jar that holds a quart. Pour on as much _real_ cider vinegar as will fill up the jar. Cover it closely, and let the tarragon infuse in it for a week, shaking the jar every day. Then pour off that vinegar carefully, and throw away the tarragon leaves that have been steeping in it. Wash that jar, or take another clean one, put into it the same quantity of fresh tarragon leaves, and fill up with the same vinegar in which you have infused the first supply. Let the second leaves remain in the jar of vinegar. A tarragon bush is well worth planting; even in a small city garden.", "Tarragon is the chief ingredient of French mustard.", "FINE FRENCH MUSTARD.--Take a jill or two large wine-glasses of tarragon vinegar, (strained from the leaves,) and mix with it an equal quantity of salad oil, stirring them well together. Pound in a mortar, two ounces of mustard seed till it becomes a fine smooth powder, and mix it thoroughly. Add to it one clove of garlic (not more) peeled, minced and pounded. Make the mixture in a deep white-ware dish. If the mustard affects your eyes, put on glasses till you have finished the mixture. When done, put it up in white bottles, or gallipots. Cork them tightly, and seal the corks. Send it to table in those bottles.", "This mustard is far superior to any other, the tarragon imparting a peculiar and pleasant flavor.", "It is excellent to eat with any sort of roast meat, particularly beef or mutton, and an improvement to almost all plain sauces, stews, soups, &c.", "French mustard is to be purchased very good, at all the best grocery stores.", "SAUCE ROBERT.--Peel five large onions, and parboil them to take off some of the strength. Cut them into small dice, and put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four, and dredged with flour. When they are well browned, pour on them half a pint of beef or veal gravy, and let it simmer for a quarter of an hour. Season it slightly with cayenne. Just before it goes to table, stir in a table-spoonful of French mustard.", "This is a good sauce for any sort of roast meat, or poultry.", "GREEN MAYONNAISE.--This is a fine accompaniment to cold poultry, which must be cut into small pieces as for chicken salad, using only the white meat. To begin the mayonnaise. Put into a shallow pan the yolks only of three fresh eggs, having strained out the specks. Having beaten them till light and thick, add, by degrees, a half pint of salad oil, stirring it in gradually, so that no oil whatever is to be seen on the surface. Then add two table-spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar. Next a few drops of shalot vinegar, or a _very small_ onion minced as finely as possible. If you have at hand any clear meat gravy (for instance, veal,) stir in two or three table-spoonsful. Add the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a lemon. Pound as much spinach as will yield a small tea-cupful of green juice. Give it a short boil up, to take off the rawness, and mix it with the mayonnaise. When cool, pour it over the dish of cold poultry.", "EPICUREAN SAUCE.--Pound in a mortar five or six anchovies; a heaped table-spoonful of minced tarragon leaves; a shalot, or very small onion, two or three pickled gherkins, finely minced; the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a large table-spoonful of French mustard. If you have no good butter, mix a sufficient portion of olive oil to moisten it well. Let the whole be thoroughly mixed. Put it into a bowl, and set it on ice till wanted. Then mould it into pats of equal size. Arrange them on small glass or china plates, and send them to table for dinner company, to eat with the cheese.", "EAST INDIA SAUCE FOR FISH.--Mix well together a jill of India soy; a jill of chili vinegar; half a pint of walnut catchup, and a pint of mushroom-catchup. Shake the whole hard, and transfer it to small green bottles, putting a tea-spoonful of sweet oil at the top of each, and keep the sauce in a cool dry place. If you have not a fish castor, bring the store sauces to table in the small bottles they are kept in. When eating fish, mix a little of this with the melted butter on your plate.", "CURRY POWDER.--Curry powder originates in India, where it is much used as a peculiar flavoring for soups, stews, and hashes. With curry dishes, boiled rice is always served up, not only in a separate dish, but also heaped round the stew in a thick even border. To make curry powder, pound in a marble mortar three ounces of turmeric, three ounces of coriander seed, and a quarter of an ounce of cayenne; one ounce of mustard, one ounce of cardamoms, a half ounce of cummin seed, and half an ounce of mace. Let all these ingredients be thoroughly mixed in the mortar, and then sift it through a fine sieve, dry it for an hour before the fire, and put it into clean bottles, securing the corks well. Use from two to three table-spoonfuls at a time, in proportion to the size of the dish you intend to curry.", "It may be mixed into the gravy of any of the preceding receipts for stews. Two ounces of finely grated cocoa-nut is a pleasant improvement to curried dishes, and is universally liked.", "The curry powder you buy is frequently much adulterated with inferior articles. The best curry powder imported from India is of a dark green color, and not yellow or red. It has among its ingredients, tamarinds, _not_ preserved, as we always get them--but raw in the shell. These tamarinds impart a pleasant acid to the mixture. For want of them use a lemon.", "MADRAS CURRY POWDER.--Pound separately, and sift, six ounces of coriander seed, three of turmeric, one of black pepper, two of cummin, one of fennel seed, and half an ounce of cayenne. Mix all together, put them into a glass jar or bottle, and seal the cover.", "With less turmeric, you may use ginger or sassafras.", "Curry powder may be added to any stew of meat, poultry, or game. Boiled rice must always accompany a dish of curry.", "The ingredients indispensable to all curries (and you may make a curry of any nice meat, or poultry, or even of oysters) is a very pungent powder, prepared for the purpose with turmeric. Also onions and boiled rice. In India there is always something acid in the mixture, as lemons, sour apple juice, or green tamarinds. The turmeric has a peculiar flavor of its own.", "STORE SAUCES.--The celebrated English sauces, for fish and game, Harvey's sauce, (which is the best,) Quin's, Reading's, Kitchener's, Soyer's, &c., are all very good, and keep well, if genuine. They are imported in small sealed bottles, and are to be had of all the best grocers. To make them at home, is so troublesome and expensive, that it is better to buy them. They are, however, very nice, and are generally introduced at dinner parties; a little being mixed on your plate with the melted butter. If you have no fish castors, bring these sauces to table in their own bottles, to be carried round by a servant.", "FINE PINK SAUCE.--Take a pint of excellent port wine, the juice and grated yellow rinds of four large lemons, two dozen blades of mace and a large nutmeg, broken up; with a quarter of an ounce of prepared cochineal, or a small tea-spoonful of alkanet chips. Add a table-spoonful of fresh salad oil. Mix the whole well in a wide-mouthed glass jar with a lid. Let the ingredients infuse a fortnight; stirring it several times a day. Then strain it, pour it through a funnel into small bottles, and seal the corks. It will give a fine pink color to drawn butter. Eat it with any sort of fish or game.", "Alkanet produces a much finer color than cochineal, but it must unite with some substance of an oily nature to give out its color to advantage. It is very cheap, and very beautiful, and to be had at the druggist's. Infuse it tied in a thin muslin bag.", "WINE SAUCE FOR VENISON OR GAME.--Take the half of a sixpenny loaf of bread. Cut off all the crust. Put the crumb (or soft part) into a bowl, and pour on sufficient good port wine to steep it. Soak the bread in the wine till dissolved. Then add two heaped table-spoonsful of fresh butter, and two heaped spoonsful of sugar; seasoning with powdered mace and nutmeg, and the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon. Beat all together till very smooth. Put it into a sauce-pan, and give it one boil up; taking it off as soon as it comes to a boil. Send it to table hot. It is a fine company sauce for venison, or hare, or any sort of game.", "FINE PUDDING SAUCE.--Take a large half-pint cup of the best fresh butter, and the same quantity of powdered loaf-sugar. Put them together in an earthen pan, and beat them to a light thick cream. Then mix a jill or wine-glass of boiling water, and a large wine-glass of the best brandy, with the grated yellow rind and juice of a large lemon or orange; and a small nutmeg, grated. Mix these ingredients, gradually, with the beaten butter and sugar; and transfer the sauce to a small tureen, putting a spoon or ladle into it.", "If designed for sauce to a plum-pudding or any other large one, you will require a pint of butter, a pint of sugar, half a pint of boiling water with half a pint of brandy, two lemons or oranges, and a _large_ nutmeg, or two small ones. Divide the sauce in two tureens. A boiled pudding for company requires no finer sauce than this.", "Where _real_ cream is plenty, a bowl of it well sweetened with sugar, and flavored with nutmeg, is nice for any boiled pudding. If you add wine or lemon juice to cream sauce, previously mix the acid with the sugar, and make it very sweet before you put them to the cream, lest it should curdle.", "VANILLA SAUCE.--Split and break up a small stick of vanilla, and boil it in a very little milk, till all the vanilla flavor is extracted. Then strain it through very fine muslin, and stir it into the cream. Give it one boil up in a small porcelain sauce-pan; and sweeten it well with white sugar.", "PLAIN SAUCE FOR PUDDING.--Stir together (as in making pound cake) equal quantities of fresh butter and white sugar. This is the usual proportion; but if you can stir or beat it easily, try a little less butter, and a little more of the sugar. Grate in some nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a fresh lemon, and send it to table heaped on a small plate, with a tea-spoon near it.[E]", "[E] The butter and sugar sauce is very nice flavored and colored with the juice of strawberries or raspberries.", "Many persons prefer, with plain puddings, cold butter on a butter plate, and sugar from the sugar-bowl; mixing it for themselves on their own plate. This is best for boiled fruit pudding or dumplings; and for egg or batter puddings, molasses or syrup is very good; and costs but little.", "CRANBERRY SAUCE.--Pick the cranberries clean, seeing that no stems, sticks, or dead leaves are left among them. Put them into a cullender, or sieve, and wash them through two waters. Cook them in a porcelain-lined, or enameled stew-pan, without any additional water. The water that remains about them after washing is quite sufficient for stewing them properly. No stewed fruit should be too thin or liquid. Keep a steady heat under the cranberries, stirring them up from the bottom frequently: and when they are soft, mash them with the back of the spoon. When they are quite shapeless, take them off the fire, and while they are very hot, stir in, gradually, an ample quantity of nice _brown_ sugar. They require much sweetening. Season them with nothing else. Their natural flavor is sufficient (if well sweetened) and cannot be improved by spice, lemon, or any of the usual condiments. Always buy the largest and ripest cranberries. The best things are cheapest in the end.", "In stewing any sort of fruit, do not add the sugar till the fruit is done, and taken from the fire. If sweetened at the beginning, much of the strength of the sugar evaporates in cooking; besides rendering the fruit tough and ha