Cooking
Content
PREFACE. As this treatise is calculated for the improvement of the rising generation of _Females_ in America, the Lady of fashion and fortune will not be displeased, if many hints are suggested for the more general and universal knowledge of those females in this country, who by the loss of their parents, or other unfortunate circumstances, are reduced to the necessity of going into families in the line of domestics, or taking refuge with their friends or relations, and doing those things which are really essential to the perfecting them as good wives, and useful members of society. The orphan, tho' left to the care of virtuous guardians, will find it essentially necessary to have an opinion and determination of her own. The world, and the fashion thereof, is so variable, that old people cannot accommodate themselves to the various changes and fashions which daily occur; _they_ will adhere to the fashion of _their_ day, and will not surrender their attachments to the _good old way_--while the young and the gay, bend and conform readily to the taste of the times, and fancy of the hour. By having an opinion and determination, I would not be understood to mean an obstinate perseverance in trifles, which borders on obstinacy--by no means, but only an adherence to those rules and maxims which have flood the test of ages, and will forever establish the _female character_, a virtuous character--altho' they conform to the ruling taste of the age in cookery, dress, language, manners, &c. It must ever remain a check upon the poor solitary orphan, that while those females who have parents, or brothers, or riches, to defend their indiscretions, that the orphan must depend solely upon _character_. How immensely important, therefore, that every action, every word, every thought, be regulated by the strictest purity, and that every movement meet the approbation of the good and wise. The candor of the American Ladies is solicitously intreated by the Authoress, as she is circumscribed in her knowledge, this being an original work in this country. Should any future editions appear, she hopes to render it more valuable. [Illustration] DIRECTIONS for CATERING, or the procuring the best VIANDS, FISH, &c. _How to choose Flesh_. BEEF. The large stall fed ox beef is the best, it has a coarse open grain, and oily smoothness; dent it with your finger and it will immediately rise again; if old, it will be rough and spungy, and the dent remain. Cow Beef is less boned, and generally more tender and juicy than the ox, in America, which is used to labor. Of almost every species of Animals, Birds and Fishes, the female is the tenderest, the richest flavour'd, and among poultry the soonest fattened. _Mutton_, grass-fed, is good two or three years old. _Lamb_, if under six months is rich, and no danger of imposition; it may be known by its size, in distinguishing either.
_Veal_, is soon lost--great care therefore is necessary in purchasing. Veal bro't to market in panniers, or in carriages, is to be prefered to that bro't in bags, and flouncing on a sweaty horse. _Pork_, is known by its size, and whether properly fattened by its appearance. _To make the best Bacon_. To each ham put one ounce saltpetre, one pint bay salt, one pint molasses, shake together 6 or 8 weeks, or when a large quantity is together, bast them with the liquor every day; when taken out to dry, smoke three weeks with cobs or malt fumes. To every ham may be added a cheek, if you stow away a barrel and not alter the composition, some add a shoulder. For transportation or exportation, double the period of smoaking. _Fish, how to choose the best in market_. _Salmon_, the noblest and richest fish taken in fresh water--the largest are the best. They are unlike almost every other fish, are ameliorated by being 3 or 4 days out of water, if kept from heat and the moon, which has much more injurious effect than the sun. In all great fish-markets, great fish-mongers gills--if the bright redness is exchanged for stale; but when live fish are bro't flouncing only to elect the kind most agreeable to your strictly examine the a low brown, they are into market, you have palate and the season.
_Shad_, contrary to the generally received opinion are not so much richer flavored, as they are harder when first taken out of the water; opinions vary respecting them. I have tasted Shad thirty or forty miles from the place where caught, and really conceived that they had a richness of flavor, which did not appertain to those taken fresh and cooked immediately, and have proved both at the same table, and the truth may rest here, that a Shad 36 or 48 hours out of water, may not cook so hard and solid, and be esteemed so elegant, yet give a higher relished flavor to the taste. Every species generally of _salt water Fish_, are best fresh from the water, tho' the _Hannah Hill, Black Fish, Lobster, Oyster, Flounder, Bass, Cod, Haddock_, and _Eel_, with many others, may be transported by land many miles, find a good market, and retain a good relish; but as generally, live ones are bought first, deceits are used to give them a freshness of appearance, such as peppering the gills, wetting the fins and tails, and even painting the gills, or wetting with animal blood. Experience and attention will dictate the choice of the best. Fresh gills, full bright eyes, moist fins and tails, are denotements of their being fresh caught; if they are soft, its certain they are stale, but if deceits are used, your smell must approve or denounce them, and be your safest guide. Of all fresh water fish, there are none that require, or so well afford haste in cookery, as the _Salmon Trout_, they are best when caught under a fall or cateract--from what philosophical circumstance is yet unsettled, yet true it is, that at the foot of a fall the waters are much colder than at the head; Trout choose those waters; if taken from them and hurried into dress, they are genuinely good; and take rank in point of superiority of flavor, of most other fish.
_Perch and Roach_, are noble pan fish, the deeper the water from whence taken, the finer are their flavors; if taken from shallow water, with muddy bottoms, they are impregnated therewith, and are unsavory. _Eels_, though taken from muddy bottoms, are best to jump in the pan. Most white or soft fish are best bloated, which is done by salting, peppering, and drying in the sun, and in a chimney; after 30 or 40 hours drying, are best broiled, and moistened with butter, &c. _Poultry--how to choose_. Having before stated that the female in almost every instance, is preferable to the male, and peculiarly so in the _Peacock_, which, tho' beautifully plumaged, is tough, hard, stringy, and untasted, and even indelicious--while the _Pea Hen_ is exactly otherwise, and the queen of all birds. So also in a degree, _Turkey_. _Hen Turkey_, is higher and richer flavor'd, easier fattened and plumper--they are no odds in market. _Dunghill Fowls_, are from their frequent use, a tolerable proof of the former birds. _Chickens_, of either kind are good, and the yellow leg'd the best, and their taste the sweetest. _Capons_, if young are good, are known by short spurs and smooth legs. All birds are known, whether fresh killed or stale, by a tight vent in the former, and a loose open vent if old or stale; their smell denotes their goodness; speckled rough legs denote age, while smooth legs and combs prove them young. _A Goose_, if young, the bill will be yellow, and will have but few hairs, the bones will crack easily; but if old, the contrary, the bill will be red, and the pads still redder; the joints stiff and difficultly disjointed; if young, otherwise; choose one not very fleshy on the breast, but fat in the rump. _Ducks_, are similar to geese. _Wild Ducks_, have redder pads, and smaller than the tame ones, otherwise are like the goose or tame duck, or to be chosen by the same rules. _Wood Cocks_, ought to be thick, fat and flesh firm, the nose dry, and throat clear. _Snipes_, if young and fat, have full veins under the wing, and are small in the veins, otherwise like the Woodcock. _Partridges_, if young, will have black bills, yellowish legs; if old, the legs look bluish; if old or stale, it may be perceived by smelling at their mouths.
_Pigeons_, young, prick easily--old plumper and loose Thrash, Lark, and
have light red legs, and the flesh of a colour, and have red legs, blackish in parts, more hairs, vents--so also of grey or green Plover, Blade Birds, wild Fowl in general.
_Hares_, are white flesh'd and flexible when new and fresh kill'd; if stale, their flesh will have a blackish hue, like old pigeons, if the cleft in her lip spread much, is wide and ragged, she is old; the contrary when young. _Leveret_, is like the Hare in every respect, that some are obliged to search for the knob, or small bone on the fore leg or foot, to distinguish them. _Rabbits_, the wild are the best, either are good and tender; if old there will be much yellowish fat about the kidneys, the claws long, wool rough, and mixed with grey hairs; if young the reverse. As to their being fresh, judge by the scent, they soon perish, if trap'd or shot, and left in pelt or undressed; their taint is quicker than veal, and the most sickish in nature; and will not, like beef or veal, be purged by fire. The cultivation of Rabbits would be profitable in America, if the best methods were pursued--they are a very prolific and profitable animal--they are easily cultivated if properly attended, but not otherwise.--A Rabbit's borough, on which 3000 dollars may have been expended, might be very profitable; but on the small scale they would be well near market towns--easier bred, and more valuable. _Butter_--Tight, waxy, yellow Butter is better than white or crumbly, which soon becomes rancid and frowy. Go into the centre of balls or rolls to prove and judge it; if in ferkin, the middle is to be preferred, as the sides are frequently distasted by the wood of the firkin--altho' oak and used for years. New pine tubs are ruinous to the butter. To have sweet butter in dog days, and thro' the vegetable seasons, send stone pots to honest, neat, and trusty dairy people, and procure it pack'd down in May, and let them be brought in in the night, or cool rainy morning, covered with a clean cloth wet in cold water, and partake of no heat from the horse, and set the pots in the coldest part of your cellar, or in the ice house.--Some say that May butter thus preserved, will go into the winter use, better than fall made butter. _Cheese_--The red smooth moist coated, and tight pressed, square edged Cheese, are better than white coat, hard rinded, or bilged; the inside should be yellow, and flavored to your taste. Old shelves which have only been wiped down for years, are preferable to scoured and washed shelves. Deceits are used by salt-petering the out side, or colouring with hemlock, cocumberries, or safron, infused into the milk; the taste of either supercedes every possible evasion. _Eggs_--Clear, thin shell'd, longest oval and sharp ends are best; to ascertain whether new or stale--hold to the light, if the white is clear, the yolk regularly in the centre, they are good--but if otherwise, they are stale. The best possible method of ascertaining, is to put them into water, if they lye on their bilge, they are _good_ and _fresh_--if they bob up an end they are stale, and if they rise
they are addled, proved, and of no use. We proceed to ROOTS and VEGETABLES--_and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed_. _Potatoes_, take rank for universal use, profit and easy acquirement. The smooth skin, known by the name of How's Potato, is the most mealy and richest flavor'd; the yellow rusticoat next best; the red, and red rusticoat are tolerable; and the yellow Spanish have their value--those cultivated from imported seed on sandy or dry loomy lands, are best for table use; tho' the red or either will produce more in rich, loomy, highly manured garden grounds; new lands and a sandy soil, afford the richest flavor'd; and most mealy Potato much depends on the ground on which they grow--more on the species of Potatoes planted--and still more from foreign seeds--and each may be known by attention to connoisseurs; for a good potato comes up in many branches of cookery, as herein after prescribed.--All potatoes should be dug before the rainy seasons in the fall, well dryed in the sun, kept from frost and dampness during the winter, in the spring removed from the cellar to a dry loft, and spread thin, and frequently stirred and dryed, or they will grow and be thereby injured for cookery. A roast Potato is brought on with roast Beef, a Steake, a Chop, or Fricassee; good boiled with a boiled dish; make an excellent stuffing for a turkey, water or wild fowl; make a good pie, and a good starch for many uses. All potatoes run out, or depreciate in America; a fresh importation of the Spanish might restore them to table use. It would swell this treatise too much to say every thing that is useful, to prepare a good table, but I may be pardoned by observing, that the Irish have preserved a genuine mealy rich Potato, for a century, which takes rank of any known in any other kingdom; and I have heard that they renew their seed by planting and cultivating the _Seed Ball_, which grows on the tine. The manner of their managing it to keep up the excellency of that root, would better suit a treatise on agriculture and gardening than this--and be inserted in a book which would be read by the farmer, instead of his amiable daughter. If no one treats on the subject, it may appear in the next edition. _Onions_--The Madeira white is best in market, esteemed softer flavored, and not so fiery, but the high red, round hard onions are the best; if you consult cheapness, the largest are best; if you consult taste and softness, the very smallest are the most delicate, and used at the first tables. Onions grow in the richest, highest cultivated ground, and better and better year after year, on, the same ground. _Beets_, grow on any ground, but best on loom, or light gravel grounds; the _red_ is the richest and best approved; the _white_ has a sickish sweetness, which is disliked by many. _Parsnips_, are a valuable root, cultivated best in rich old grounds, and doubly deep plowed, _late sown_, they grow thrifty, and are not so prongy; they may be kept any where and any how, so that they do not grow with heat, or are nipped with frost; if frosted, let them thaw in earth; they are richer flavored when plowed out of the ground in April, having stood out during the winter, tho' they will not last long after, and commonly more sticky and hard in the centre.
_Carrots_, are managed as it respects plowing and rich ground, similarly to Parsnips. The yellow are better than the orange or red; middling fiz'd, that is, a foot long and two inches thick at the top end, are better than over grown ones; they are cultivated best with onions, sowed very thin, and mixed with other seeds, while young or six weeks after sown, especially if with onions on true onion ground. They are good with veal cookery, rich in soups, excellent with hash, in May and June. _Garlicks_, tho' used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery. _Asparagus_--The mode of cultivation belongs to gardening; your business is only to cut and dress, the largest is best, the growth of a day sufficient, six inches long, and cut just above the ground; many cut below the surface, under an idea of getting tender shoots, and preserving the bed; but it enfeebles the root: dig round it and it will be wet with the juices--but if cut above ground, and just as the dew is going off, the sun will either reduce the juice, or send it back to nourish the root--its an excellent vegetable. _Parsley_, of the three kinds, the thickest and branchiest is the best, is sown among onions, or in a bed by itself, may be dryed for winter use; tho' a method which I have experienced, is much better--In September I dig my roots, procure an old thin stave dry cask, bore holes an inch diameter in every stave, 6 inches asunder round the cask, and up to the top--take first a half bushel of rich garden mold and put into the cask, then run the roots through the staves, leaving the branches outside, press the earth tight about the root within, and thus continue on thro' the respective stories, till the cask is full; it being filled, run an iron bar thro' the center of the dirt in the cask and fill with water, let stand on the south and east side of a building till frosty night, then remove it, (by slinging a rope round the cask) into the cellar; where, during the winter, I clip with my scissars the fresh parsley, which my neighbors or myself have occasion for; and in the spring transplant the roots in the bed in the garden, or in any unused corner--or let stand upon the wharf, or the wash shed. Its an useful mode of cultivation, and a pleasurably tasted herb, and much used in garnishing viands. _Raddish_, _Salmon_ coloured is the best, _purple_ next best--_white_--_turnip_--each are produced from southern seeds, annually. They grow thriftiest sown among onions. The turnip Raddish will last well through the winter. _Artichokes_--The Jerusalem is best, are cultivated like potatoes, (tho' their stocks grow 7 feet high) and may be preserved like the turnip raddish, or pickled---they like. _Horse Raddish_, once in the garden, can scarcely ever be totally eradicated; plowing or digging them up with that view, seems at times rather to increase and spread them. _Cucumbers_, are of many kinds; the prickly is best for pickles, but generally bitter; the white is difficult to raise and tender; choose the bright green, smooth and proper sized. _Melons_--The Water Melons is cultivated on sandy soils only, above latitude 41 1/2, if a stratum of land be dug from a well, it will bring the first year good Water Melons; the red cored are highest flavored; a hard rine proves them ripe.
_Muskmelons_, are various, the rough skinned is best to eat; the short, round, fair skinn'd, is best for Mangoes. _Lettuce_, is of various kinds; the purple spotted leaf is generally the tenderest, and free from bitter--Your taste must guide your market. _Cabbage_, requires a page, they are so multifarious. Note, all Cabbages have a higher relish that grow on _new unmatured grounds_; if grown in an old town and on old gardens, they have a rankness, which at times, may be perceived by a fresh air traveller. This observation has been experienced for years--that Cabbages require new ground, more than Turnips. _The Low Dutch_, only will do in old gardens. The _Early Yorkshire_, must have rich soils, they will not answer for winter, they are easily cultivated, and frequently bro't to market in the fall, but will not last the winter. The _Green Savoy_, with the richest crinkles, is fine and tender; and altho' they do not head like the Dutch or Yorkshire, yet the tenderness of the out leaves is a counterpoise, it will last thro' the winter, and are high flavored. _The Yellow Savoy_, takes next rank, but will not last so long; all Cabbages will mix, and participate of other species, like Indian Corn; they are culled, best in plants; and a true gardener will, in the plant describe those which will head, and which will not. This is new, but a fact. The gradations in the Savoy Cabbage are discerned by the leaf; the richest and most scollup'd, and crinkled, and thickest Green Savoy, falls little short of a _Colliflour_. The red and redest small tight heads, are best for _slaw_, it will not boil well, comes out black or blue, and tinges, other things with which it is boiled. _BEANS._ _The Clabboard Bean_, is easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell--must be poled. _The Windsor Bean_, is an earlier, good string, or shell Bean. _Crambury Bean_, is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two. _Frost Bean_, is good only to shell. _Six Weeks Bean_, is a yellowish Bean, and early bro't forward, and tolerable. _Lazy Bean_, is tough, and needs no pole. _English Bean_, what _they_ denominate the _Horse Bean_, is mealy when young, is profitable, easily cultivated, and may be grown on worn out grounds; as they may be raised by boys, I cannot but recommend the
more extensive cultivation of them. _The small White Bean_, is best for winter use, and excellent. _Calivanse_, are run out, a yellow small bush, a black speck or eye, are tough and tasteless, and little worth in cookery, and scarcely bear exportation. _Peas_--_Green Peas._ _The Crown Imperial_, takes rank in point of flavor, they blossom, purple and white on the top of the vines, will run, from three to five feet high, should be set in light sandy soil only, or they run too much to vines. _The Crown Pea_, is second in richness of flavor. _The Rondeheval_, is large and bitterish. _Early Carlton_, is produced first in the season--good. _Marrow Fats_, green, yellow, and is large, easily cultivated, not equal to others. _Sugar Pea_, needs no bush, the pods are tender and good to eat, easily cultivated. _Spanish Manratto_, is a rich Pea, requires a strong high bush. All Peas should be picked _carefully_ from the vines as soon as dew is off, shelled and cleaned without water, and boiled immediately; they are thus the richest flavored. _Herbs, useful in Cookery._ _Thyme_, is good in soups and stuffings. _Sweet Marjoram_, is used in Turkeys. _Summer Savory_, ditto, and in Sausages and salted Beef, and legs of Pork. _Sage_, is used in Cheese and Pork, but not generally approved. _Parsley_, good in _soups_, and to _garnish roast Beef_, excellent with bread and butter in the spring. _Penny Royal_, is a high aromatic, altho' a spontaneous herb in old ploughed fields, yet might be more generally cultivated in gardens, and used in cookery and medicines. _Sweet Thyme_, is most useful and best approved in cookery. _FRUITS._ _Pears_, There are many different kinds; but the large Bell Pear, sometimes called the Pound Pear, the yellowest is the best, and in the same town they differ essentially.
_Hard Winter Pear_, are innumerable in their qualities, are good in sauces, and baked. _Harvest_ and _Summer Pear_ are a tolerable desert, are much improved in this country, as all other fruits are by grafting and innoculation. _Apples_, are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful in families, and ought to be more universally cultivated, excepting in the compactest cities. There is not a single family but might set a tree in some otherwise useless spot, which might serve the two fold use of shade and fruit; on which 12 or 14 kinds of fruit trees might easily be engrafted, and essentially preserve the orchard from the intrusions of boys, &c. which is too common in America. If the boy who thus planted a tree, and guarded and protected it in a useless corner, and carefully engrafted different fruits, was to be indulged free access into orchards, whilst the neglectful boy was prohibited--how many millions of fruit trees would spring into growth--and what a saving to the union. The net saving would in time extinguish the public debt, and enrich our cookery. _Currants_, are easily grown from shoots trimmed off from old bunches, and set carelessly in the ground; they flourish on all soils, and make good jellies--their cultivation ought to be encouraged. _Black Currants_, may be cultivated--but until they can be dryed, and until sugars are propagated, they are in a degree unprofitable. _Grapes_, are natural to the climate; grow spontaneously in every state in the union, and ten degrees north of the line of the union. The _Madeira_, _Lisbon_ and _Malaga_ Grapes, are cultivated in gardens in this country, and are a rich treat or desert. Trifling attention only is necessary for their ample growth. Having pointed out the _best methods of judging of the qualities of Viands, Poultry, Fish, Vegetables, &c._ We now present the best approved methods of DRESSING and COOKING them; and to suit all tastes, present the following _RECEIPTS._ _To Roast Beef._ The general rules are, to have a brisk hot fire, to hang down rather than to spit, to baste with salt and water, and one quarter of an hour to every pound of beef, tho' tender beef will require less, while old tough beef will require more roasting; pricking with a fork will determine you whether done or not; rare done is the healthiest and the taste of this age. _Roast Mutton._ If a breast let it be cauled, if a leg, stuffed or not, let be done more gently than beef, and done more; the chine, saddle or leg require more fire and longer time than the breast, &c. Garnish with scraped horse radish, and serve with potatoes, beans, colliflowers, water-cresses, or boiled onion, caper sauce, mashed turnip, or lettuce.
_Roast Veal._ As it is more tender than beef or mutton, it, especially the fat parts, lay it some while to heat gently, baste it well; a 15 hour and a quarter roasting; garnish with lemon. _Roast Lamb._ Lay down to a clear good fire that will not want stirring or altering, baste with butter, dust on flour, baste with the dripping, and before you take it up, add more butter and sprinkle on a little salt and parsley shred fine; send to table with a nice sallad, green peas, fresh beans, or a colliflower, or asparagus. _To stuff a Turkey._ Grate a wheat loaf, one quarter of a pound butter, one quarter of a pound salt pork, finely chopped, 2 eggs, a little sweet marjoram, summer savory, parsley and sage, pepper and salt (if the pork be not sufficient,) fill the bird and sew up. The same will answer for all Wild Fowl. _Water Fowls_ require onions. The same ingredients stuff a _leg of Veal, fresh Pork_ or a _loin of Veal_. _To stuff and roast a Turkey, or Fowl._ One pound soft wheat bread, 3 ounces beef suet, 3 eggs, a little sweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy, dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cramberry-sauce, mangoes, pickles or celery. 2. Others omit the sweet herbs, and add parsley done with potatoes. 3. Boil and mash 3 pints potatoes, wet them with butter, add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, fill and roast as above. _To stuff and roast a Goslin._ Boil the inwards tender, chop them fine, put double quantity of grated bread, 4 ounces butter, pepper, salt, (and sweet herbs if you like) 2 eggs moulded into the stuffing, parboil 4 onions and chop them into the stuffing, add wine, and roast the bird. The above is a good stuffing for every kind of Water Fowl, which requires onion sauce. and easily scorched, paper distance from the fire a pound piece requires one green-parsley and sliced
_To smother a Fowl in Oysters._ Fill the bird with dry Oysters, and sew up and boil in water just sufficient to cover the bird, salt and season to your taste--when done tender, put into a deep dish and pour over it a pint of stewed oysters, well buttered and peppered, garnish a turkey with sprigs of parsley or leaves of cellery: a fowl is best with a parsley sauce. _To stuff a Leg of Veal._ Take one pound of veal, half pound pork (salted,) one pound grated bread, chop all very fine, with a handful of green parsley, pepper it, add 3 ounces butter and 3 eggs, (and sweet herbs if you like them,) cut the leg round like a ham and stab it full of holes, and fill in all the stuffing; then salt and pepper the leg and dust on some flour; if baked in an oven, put into a sauce pan with a little water, if potted, lay some scewers at the bottom of the pot, put in a little water and lay the leg on the scewers, with a gentle fire render it tender, (frequently adding water,) when done take out the leg, put butter in the pot and brown the leg, the gravy in a separate vessel must be thickened and buttered and a spoonful of ketchup added. _To stuff a leg of Pork to bake or roast._ Corn the leg 48 hours and stuff with sausage meat and bake in a hot oven two hours and an half or roast. _To alamode a round of Beef._ To a 14 or 16 pound round of beef, put one ounce salt-petre, 48 hours after stuff it with the following: one and half pound beef, one pound salt pork, two pound grated bread, chop all fine and rub in half pound butter, salt, pepper and cayenne, summer savory, thyme; lay it on scewers in a large pot, over 3 pints hot water (which it must occasionally be supplied with,) the steam of which in 4 or 5 hours will render the round tender if over a moderate fire; when tender, take away the gravy and thicken with flour and butter, and boil, brown the round with butter and flour, adding ketchup and wine to your taste. _To alamode a round_. Take fat pork cut in slices or mince, season it with pepper, salt, sweet marjoram and thyme, cloves, mace and nutmeg, make holes in the beef and stuff it the night before cooked; put some bones across the bottom of the pot to keep from burning, put in one quart Claret wine, one quart water and one onion; lay the round on the bones, cover close and stop it round the top with dough; hang on in the morning and stew gently two hours; turn it, and stop tight and stew two hours more; when done tender, grate a crust of bread on the top and brown it before the fire; scum the gravy and serve in a butter boat, serve it with the residue of the gravy in the dish. _To Dress a Turtle_.
Fill a boiler or kettle, with a quantity of water sufficient to scald the callapach and Callapee, the fins, &c. and about 9 o'clock hang up your Turtle by the hind fins, cut of the head and save the blood, take a sharp pointed knife and separate the callapach from the callapee, or the back from the belly part, down to the shoulders, so as to come at the entrails which take out, and clean them, as you would those of any other animal, and throw them into a tub of clean water, taking great care not to break the gall, but to cut it off from the liver and throw it away, then separate each distinctly and put the guts into another vessel, open them with a small pen-knife end to end, wash them clean, and draw them through a woolen cloth, in warm water, to clear away the slime and then put them in clean cold water till they are used with the other part of the entrails, which must be cut up small to be mixed in the baking dishes with the meat; this done, separate the back and belly pieces, entirely cutting away the fore fins by the upper joint, which scald; peal off the loose skin and cut them into small pieces, laying them by themselves, either in another vessel, or on the table, ready to be seasoned; then cut off the meat from the belly part, and clean the back from the lungs, kidneys, &c. and that meat cut into pieces as small as a walnut, laying it likewise by itself; after this you are to scald the back, and belly pieces, pulling off the shell from the back, and the yellow skin from the belly, when all will be white and clean, and with the kitchen cleaver cut those up likewise into pieces about the bigness or breadth of a card; put those pieces into clean cold water, wash them and place them in a heap on the table, so that each part may lay by itself; the meat being thus prepared and laid separate for seasoning; mix two third parts of salt or rather more, and one third part of cyanne pepper, black pepper, and a nutmeg, and mace pounded fine, and mixt all together; the quantity, to be proportioned to the size of the Turtle, so that in each dish there may be about three spoonfuls of seasoning to every twelve pound of meat; your meat being thus seasoned, get some sweet herbs, such as thyme, savory, &c. let them be dryed an rub'd fine, and having provided some deep dishes to bake it in, which should be of the common brown ware, put in the coarsest part of the meat, put a quarter pound of butter at the bottom of each dish, and then put some of each of the several parcels of meat, so that the dishes may be all alike and have equal portions of the different parts of the Turtle, and between each laying of meat strew a little of the mixture of sweet herbs, fill your dishes within an inch an half, or two inches of the top; boil the blood of the Turtle, and put into it, then lay on forcemeat balls made of veal, highly seasoned with the same seasoning as the Turtle; put in each dish a gill of Madeira Wine, and as much water as it will conveniently hold, then break over it five or six eggs to keep the meat from scorching at the top, and over that shake a handful of shread parsley, to make it look green, when done put your dishes into an oven made hot enough to bake bread, and in an hour and half, or two hours (according to the size of the dishes) it will be sufficiently done. _To dress a Calve's Head._ Turtle fashion. The head and feet being well scalded and cleaned, open the head, taking the brains, wash, pick and cleanse, salt and pepper and parsley them and put bye in a cloth; boil the head, feet and heartslet one and quarter, or one and half hour, sever out the bones, cut the skin and meat in slices, drain the liquor in which boiled and put by; clean the pot very clean or it will burn too, make a layer of the slices, which dust with a composition made of black pepper one spoon, of sweet herbs pulverized, two spoons (sweet marjoram and thyme are most approved) a
tea spoon of cayenne, one pound butter, then dust with flour, then a layer of slices with slices of veal and seasoning till compleated, cover with the liquor, stew gently three quarters of an hour. To make the forced meat balls--take one and half pound veal, one pound grated bread, 4 ounces raw salt pork, mince and season with above and work with 3 whites into balls, one or one an half inch diameter, roll in flour, and fry in very hot butter till brown, then chop the brains fine and stir into the whole mess in the pot, put thereto, one third part of the fryed balls and a pint wine or less, when all is heated thro' take off and serve in tureens, laying the residue of the balls and hard boiled and pealed eggs into a dish, garnish with slices of lemon. _A Stew Pie._ Boil a shoulder of Veal, and cut up, salt, pepper, and butter half pound, and slices of raw salt pork, make a layer of meat, and a layer of biscuit, or biscuit dough into a pot, cover close and stew half an hour in three quarts of water only. A _Sea Pie_. Four pound of flour, one and half pound of butter rolled into paste, wet with cold water, line the pot therewith, lay in split pigeons, turkey pies, veal, mutton or birds, with slices of pork, salt, pepper, and dust on flour, doing thus till the pot is full or your ingredients expended, add three pints water, cover tight with paste, and stew moderately two and half hours. A _Chicken Pie_. Pick and clean six chickens, (without scalding) take out their inwards and wash the birds while whole, then joint the birds, salt and pepper the pieces and inwards. Roll one inch thick paste No. 8 and cover a deep dish, and double at the rim or edge of the dish, put thereto a layer of chickens and a layer of thin slices of butter, till the chickens and one and a half pound butter are expended, which cover with a thick paste; bake one and a half hour. Or if your oven be poor, parboil, the chickens with half a pound of butter, and put the pieces with the remaining one pound of butter, and half the gravy into the paste, and while boiling, thicken the residue of the gravy, and when the pie is drawn, open the crust, and add the gravy. _Minced Pies_, A Foot Pie. Scald neets feet, and clean well, (grass fed are best) put them into a large vessel of cold water, which change daily during a week, then boil the feet till tender, and take away the bones, when cold, chop fine, to every four pound minced meat, add one pound of beef suet, and four pound apple raw, and a little salt, chop all together very fine, add one quart of wine, two pound of stoned raisins, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce mace, and sweeten to your taste; make use of paste No. 3--bake three quarters of an hour. Weeks after, when you have occasion to use them, carefully raise the
top crust, and with a round edg'd spoon, collect the meat into a bason, which warm with additional wine and spices to the taste of your circle, while the crust is also warm'd like a hoe cake, put carefully together and serve up, by this means you can have hot pies through the winter, and enrich'd singly to your company. _Tongue Pie_. One pound neat's tongue, one pound apple, one third of a pound of Sugar, one quarter of a pound of butter, one pint of wine, one pound of raisins, or currants, (or half of each) half ounce of cinnamon and mace--bake in paste No. 1, in proportion to size. _Minced Pie of Beef_. Four pound boild beef, chopped fine; and salted; six pound of raw apple chopped also, one pound beef suet, one quart of Wine or rich sweet cyder, one ounce mace, and cinnamon, a nutmeg, two pounds raisins, bake in paste No. 3, three fourths of an hour. _Observations_. All meat pies require a hotter and brisker oven than fruit pies, in good cookeries, all raisins should be stoned.--As people differ in their tastes, they may alter to their wishes. And as it is difficult to ascertain with precision the small articles of spicery; every one may relish as they like, and suit their taste. _Apple Pie_. Stew and strain the apples, to every three pints, grate the peal of a fresh lemon, add cinnamon, mace, rose-water and sugar to your taste--and bake in paste No. 3. Every species of fruit such as peas, plums, raspberries, black berries may be only sweetened, without spices--and bake in paste No. 3. _Currant Pies_. Take green, full grown currants, and one third their quantity of sugar, proceeding as above. _A buttered apple Pie_. Pare, quarter and core tart apples, lay in paste No. 3, cover with the same; bake half an hour, when drawn, gently raise the top crust, add sugar, butter, cinnamon, mace, wine or rose-water q: s: PUDDINGS. _A Rice Pudding_. One quarter of a pound rice, a stick of cinnamon, to a quart of milk (stirred often to keep from burning) and boil quick, cool and add half
a nutmeg, 4 spoons rose-water, 8 eggs; butter or puff paste a dish and pour the above composition into it, and bake one and half hour. No. 2. Boil 6 ounces rice in a quart milk, on a slow fire 'till tender, stir in one pound butter, interim beet 14 eggs, add to the pudding when cold with sugar, salt, rose-water and spices to your taste, adding raisins or currants, bake as No. 1. No. 3. 8 spoons rice boiled in a quarts milk, when cooled add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, wine, sugar and spices, q: s: bake 2 hours. No. 4. Boil in water half pound ground rice till soft, add 2 quarts milk and scald, cool and add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, 1 pound raisins, salt, cinnamon and a small nutmeg, bake 2 hours. No. 5. _A cheap one_, half pint rice, 2 quarts milk, salt, butter, allspice, put cold into a hot oven, bake 2 and half hours. No. 6. Put 6 ounces rice into water, or milk and water, let swell or soak tender, then boil gently, stirring in a little butter, when cool stir in a quart cream, 6 or 8 eggs well beaten, and add cinnamon nutmeg, and sugar to your taste, bake. N.B. The mode of introducing the ingredients, is a material point; in all cases where eggs are mentioned it is understood to be well beat; whites and yolks and the spices, fine and settled.
_Veal_, is soon lost--great care therefore is necessary in purchasing. Veal bro't to market in panniers, or in carriages, is to be prefered to that bro't in bags, and flouncing on a sweaty horse. _Pork_, is known by its size, and whether properly fattened by its appearance. _To make the best Bacon_. To each ham put one ounce saltpetre, one pint bay salt, one pint molasses, shake together 6 or 8 weeks, or when a large quantity is together, bast them with the liquor every day; when taken out to dry, smoke three weeks with cobs or malt fumes. To every ham may be added a cheek, if you stow away a barrel and not alter the composition, some add a shoulder. For transportation or exportation, double the period of smoaking. _Fish, how to choose the best in market_. _Salmon_, the noblest and richest fish taken in fresh water--the largest are the best. They are unlike almost every other fish, are ameliorated by being 3 or 4 days out of water, if kept from heat and the moon, which has much more injurious effect than the sun. In all great fish-markets, great fish-mongers gills--if the bright redness is exchanged for stale; but when live fish are bro't flouncing only to elect the kind most agreeable to your strictly examine the a low brown, they are into market, you have palate and the season.
_Shad_, contrary to the generally received opinion are not so much richer flavored, as they are harder when first taken out of the water; opinions vary respecting them. I have tasted Shad thirty or forty miles from the place where caught, and really conceived that they had a richness of flavor, which did not appertain to those taken fresh and cooked immediately, and have proved both at the same table, and the truth may rest here, that a Shad 36 or 48 hours out of water, may not cook so hard and solid, and be esteemed so elegant, yet give a higher relished flavor to the taste. Every species generally of _salt water Fish_, are best fresh from the water, tho' the _Hannah Hill, Black Fish, Lobster, Oyster, Flounder, Bass, Cod, Haddock_, and _Eel_, with many others, may be transported by land many miles, find a good market, and retain a good relish; but as generally, live ones are bought first, deceits are used to give them a freshness of appearance, such as peppering the gills, wetting the fins and tails, and even painting the gills, or wetting with animal blood. Experience and attention will dictate the choice of the best. Fresh gills, full bright eyes, moist fins and tails, are denotements of their being fresh caught; if they are soft, its certain they are stale, but if deceits are used, your smell must approve or denounce them, and be your safest guide. Of all fresh water fish, there are none that require, or so well afford haste in cookery, as the _Salmon Trout_, they are best when caught under a fall or cateract--from what philosophical circumstance is yet unsettled, yet true it is, that at the foot of a fall the waters are much colder than at the head; Trout choose those waters; if taken from them and hurried into dress, they are genuinely good; and take rank in point of superiority of flavor, of most other fish.
_Perch and Roach_, are noble pan fish, the deeper the water from whence taken, the finer are their flavors; if taken from shallow water, with muddy bottoms, they are impregnated therewith, and are unsavory. _Eels_, though taken from muddy bottoms, are best to jump in the pan. Most white or soft fish are best bloated, which is done by salting, peppering, and drying in the sun, and in a chimney; after 30 or 40 hours drying, are best broiled, and moistened with butter, &c. _Poultry--how to choose_. Having before stated that the female in almost every instance, is preferable to the male, and peculiarly so in the _Peacock_, which, tho' beautifully plumaged, is tough, hard, stringy, and untasted, and even indelicious--while the _Pea Hen_ is exactly otherwise, and the queen of all birds. So also in a degree, _Turkey_. _Hen Turkey_, is higher and richer flavor'd, easier fattened and plumper--they are no odds in market. _Dunghill Fowls_, are from their frequent use, a tolerable proof of the former birds. _Chickens_, of either kind are good, and the yellow leg'd the best, and their taste the sweetest. _Capons_, if young are good, are known by short spurs and smooth legs. All birds are known, whether fresh killed or stale, by a tight vent in the former, and a loose open vent if old or stale; their smell denotes their goodness; speckled rough legs denote age, while smooth legs and combs prove them young. _A Goose_, if young, the bill will be yellow, and will have but few hairs, the bones will crack easily; but if old, the contrary, the bill will be red, and the pads still redder; the joints stiff and difficultly disjointed; if young, otherwise; choose one not very fleshy on the breast, but fat in the rump. _Ducks_, are similar to geese. _Wild Ducks_, have redder pads, and smaller than the tame ones, otherwise are like the goose or tame duck, or to be chosen by the same rules. _Wood Cocks_, ought to be thick, fat and flesh firm, the nose dry, and throat clear. _Snipes_, if young and fat, have full veins under the wing, and are small in the veins, otherwise like the Woodcock. _Partridges_, if young, will have black bills, yellowish legs; if old, the legs look bluish; if old or stale, it may be perceived by smelling at their mouths.
_Pigeons_, young, prick easily--old plumper and loose Thrash, Lark, and
have light red legs, and the flesh of a colour, and have red legs, blackish in parts, more hairs, vents--so also of grey or green Plover, Blade Birds, wild Fowl in general.
_Hares_, are white flesh'd and flexible when new and fresh kill'd; if stale, their flesh will have a blackish hue, like old pigeons, if the cleft in her lip spread much, is wide and ragged, she is old; the contrary when young. _Leveret_, is like the Hare in every respect, that some are obliged to search for the knob, or small bone on the fore leg or foot, to distinguish them. _Rabbits_, the wild are the best, either are good and tender; if old there will be much yellowish fat about the kidneys, the claws long, wool rough, and mixed with grey hairs; if young the reverse. As to their being fresh, judge by the scent, they soon perish, if trap'd or shot, and left in pelt or undressed; their taint is quicker than veal, and the most sickish in nature; and will not, like beef or veal, be purged by fire. The cultivation of Rabbits would be profitable in America, if the best methods were pursued--they are a very prolific and profitable animal--they are easily cultivated if properly attended, but not otherwise.--A Rabbit's borough, on which 3000 dollars may have been expended, might be very profitable; but on the small scale they would be well near market towns--easier bred, and more valuable. _Butter_--Tight, waxy, yellow Butter is better than white or crumbly, which soon becomes rancid and frowy. Go into the centre of balls or rolls to prove and judge it; if in ferkin, the middle is to be preferred, as the sides are frequently distasted by the wood of the firkin--altho' oak and used for years. New pine tubs are ruinous to the butter. To have sweet butter in dog days, and thro' the vegetable seasons, send stone pots to honest, neat, and trusty dairy people, and procure it pack'd down in May, and let them be brought in in the night, or cool rainy morning, covered with a clean cloth wet in cold water, and partake of no heat from the horse, and set the pots in the coldest part of your cellar, or in the ice house.--Some say that May butter thus preserved, will go into the winter use, better than fall made butter. _Cheese_--The red smooth moist coated, and tight pressed, square edged Cheese, are better than white coat, hard rinded, or bilged; the inside should be yellow, and flavored to your taste. Old shelves which have only been wiped down for years, are preferable to scoured and washed shelves. Deceits are used by salt-petering the out side, or colouring with hemlock, cocumberries, or safron, infused into the milk; the taste of either supercedes every possible evasion. _Eggs_--Clear, thin shell'd, longest oval and sharp ends are best; to ascertain whether new or stale--hold to the light, if the white is clear, the yolk regularly in the centre, they are good--but if otherwise, they are stale. The best possible method of ascertaining, is to put them into water, if they lye on their bilge, they are _good_ and _fresh_--if they bob up an end they are stale, and if they rise
they are addled, proved, and of no use. We proceed to ROOTS and VEGETABLES--_and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed_. _Potatoes_, take rank for universal use, profit and easy acquirement. The smooth skin, known by the name of How's Potato, is the most mealy and richest flavor'd; the yellow rusticoat next best; the red, and red rusticoat are tolerable; and the yellow Spanish have their value--those cultivated from imported seed on sandy or dry loomy lands, are best for table use; tho' the red or either will produce more in rich, loomy, highly manured garden grounds; new lands and a sandy soil, afford the richest flavor'd; and most mealy Potato much depends on the ground on which they grow--more on the species of Potatoes planted--and still more from foreign seeds--and each may be known by attention to connoisseurs; for a good potato comes up in many branches of cookery, as herein after prescribed.--All potatoes should be dug before the rainy seasons in the fall, well dryed in the sun, kept from frost and dampness during the winter, in the spring removed from the cellar to a dry loft, and spread thin, and frequently stirred and dryed, or they will grow and be thereby injured for cookery. A roast Potato is brought on with roast Beef, a Steake, a Chop, or Fricassee; good boiled with a boiled dish; make an excellent stuffing for a turkey, water or wild fowl; make a good pie, and a good starch for many uses. All potatoes run out, or depreciate in America; a fresh importation of the Spanish might restore them to table use. It would swell this treatise too much to say every thing that is useful, to prepare a good table, but I may be pardoned by observing, that the Irish have preserved a genuine mealy rich Potato, for a century, which takes rank of any known in any other kingdom; and I have heard that they renew their seed by planting and cultivating the _Seed Ball_, which grows on the tine. The manner of their managing it to keep up the excellency of that root, would better suit a treatise on agriculture and gardening than this--and be inserted in a book which would be read by the farmer, instead of his amiable daughter. If no one treats on the subject, it may appear in the next edition. _Onions_--The Madeira white is best in market, esteemed softer flavored, and not so fiery, but the high red, round hard onions are the best; if you consult cheapness, the largest are best; if you consult taste and softness, the very smallest are the most delicate, and used at the first tables. Onions grow in the richest, highest cultivated ground, and better and better year after year, on, the same ground. _Beets_, grow on any ground, but best on loom, or light gravel grounds; the _red_ is the richest and best approved; the _white_ has a sickish sweetness, which is disliked by many. _Parsnips_, are a valuable root, cultivated best in rich old grounds, and doubly deep plowed, _late sown_, they grow thrifty, and are not so prongy; they may be kept any where and any how, so that they do not grow with heat, or are nipped with frost; if frosted, let them thaw in earth; they are richer flavored when plowed out of the ground in April, having stood out during the winter, tho' they will not last long after, and commonly more sticky and hard in the centre.
_Carrots_, are managed as it respects plowing and rich ground, similarly to Parsnips. The yellow are better than the orange or red; middling fiz'd, that is, a foot long and two inches thick at the top end, are better than over grown ones; they are cultivated best with onions, sowed very thin, and mixed with other seeds, while young or six weeks after sown, especially if with onions on true onion ground. They are good with veal cookery, rich in soups, excellent with hash, in May and June. _Garlicks_, tho' used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery. _Asparagus_--The mode of cultivation belongs to gardening; your business is only to cut and dress, the largest is best, the growth of a day sufficient, six inches long, and cut just above the ground; many cut below the surface, under an idea of getting tender shoots, and preserving the bed; but it enfeebles the root: dig round it and it will be wet with the juices--but if cut above ground, and just as the dew is going off, the sun will either reduce the juice, or send it back to nourish the root--its an excellent vegetable. _Parsley_, of the three kinds, the thickest and branchiest is the best, is sown among onions, or in a bed by itself, may be dryed for winter use; tho' a method which I have experienced, is much better--In September I dig my roots, procure an old thin stave dry cask, bore holes an inch diameter in every stave, 6 inches asunder round the cask, and up to the top--take first a half bushel of rich garden mold and put into the cask, then run the roots through the staves, leaving the branches outside, press the earth tight about the root within, and thus continue on thro' the respective stories, till the cask is full; it being filled, run an iron bar thro' the center of the dirt in the cask and fill with water, let stand on the south and east side of a building till frosty night, then remove it, (by slinging a rope round the cask) into the cellar; where, during the winter, I clip with my scissars the fresh parsley, which my neighbors or myself have occasion for; and in the spring transplant the roots in the bed in the garden, or in any unused corner--or let stand upon the wharf, or the wash shed. Its an useful mode of cultivation, and a pleasurably tasted herb, and much used in garnishing viands. _Raddish_, _Salmon_ coloured is the best, _purple_ next best--_white_--_turnip_--each are produced from southern seeds, annually. They grow thriftiest sown among onions. The turnip Raddish will last well through the winter. _Artichokes_--The Jerusalem is best, are cultivated like potatoes, (tho' their stocks grow 7 feet high) and may be preserved like the turnip raddish, or pickled---they like. _Horse Raddish_, once in the garden, can scarcely ever be totally eradicated; plowing or digging them up with that view, seems at times rather to increase and spread them. _Cucumbers_, are of many kinds; the prickly is best for pickles, but generally bitter; the white is difficult to raise and tender; choose the bright green, smooth and proper sized. _Melons_--The Water Melons is cultivated on sandy soils only, above latitude 41 1/2, if a stratum of land be dug from a well, it will bring the first year good Water Melons; the red cored are highest flavored; a hard rine proves them ripe.
_Muskmelons_, are various, the rough skinned is best to eat; the short, round, fair skinn'd, is best for Mangoes. _Lettuce_, is of various kinds; the purple spotted leaf is generally the tenderest, and free from bitter--Your taste must guide your market. _Cabbage_, requires a page, they are so multifarious. Note, all Cabbages have a higher relish that grow on _new unmatured grounds_; if grown in an old town and on old gardens, they have a rankness, which at times, may be perceived by a fresh air traveller. This observation has been experienced for years--that Cabbages require new ground, more than Turnips. _The Low Dutch_, only will do in old gardens. The _Early Yorkshire_, must have rich soils, they will not answer for winter, they are easily cultivated, and frequently bro't to market in the fall, but will not last the winter. The _Green Savoy_, with the richest crinkles, is fine and tender; and altho' they do not head like the Dutch or Yorkshire, yet the tenderness of the out leaves is a counterpoise, it will last thro' the winter, and are high flavored. _The Yellow Savoy_, takes next rank, but will not last so long; all Cabbages will mix, and participate of other species, like Indian Corn; they are culled, best in plants; and a true gardener will, in the plant describe those which will head, and which will not. This is new, but a fact. The gradations in the Savoy Cabbage are discerned by the leaf; the richest and most scollup'd, and crinkled, and thickest Green Savoy, falls little short of a _Colliflour_. The red and redest small tight heads, are best for _slaw_, it will not boil well, comes out black or blue, and tinges, other things with which it is boiled. _BEANS._ _The Clabboard Bean_, is easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell--must be poled. _The Windsor Bean_, is an earlier, good string, or shell Bean. _Crambury Bean_, is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two. _Frost Bean_, is good only to shell. _Six Weeks Bean_, is a yellowish Bean, and early bro't forward, and tolerable. _Lazy Bean_, is tough, and needs no pole. _English Bean_, what _they_ denominate the _Horse Bean_, is mealy when young, is profitable, easily cultivated, and may be grown on worn out grounds; as they may be raised by boys, I cannot but recommend the
more extensive cultivation of them. _The small White Bean_, is best for winter use, and excellent. _Calivanse_, are run out, a yellow small bush, a black speck or eye, are tough and tasteless, and little worth in cookery, and scarcely bear exportation. _Peas_--_Green Peas._ _The Crown Imperial_, takes rank in point of flavor, they blossom, purple and white on the top of the vines, will run, from three to five feet high, should be set in light sandy soil only, or they run too much to vines. _The Crown Pea_, is second in richness of flavor. _The Rondeheval_, is large and bitterish. _Early Carlton_, is produced first in the season--good. _Marrow Fats_, green, yellow, and is large, easily cultivated, not equal to others. _Sugar Pea_, needs no bush, the pods are tender and good to eat, easily cultivated. _Spanish Manratto_, is a rich Pea, requires a strong high bush. All Peas should be picked _carefully_ from the vines as soon as dew is off, shelled and cleaned without water, and boiled immediately; they are thus the richest flavored. _Herbs, useful in Cookery._ _Thyme_, is good in soups and stuffings. _Sweet Marjoram_, is used in Turkeys. _Summer Savory_, ditto, and in Sausages and salted Beef, and legs of Pork. _Sage_, is used in Cheese and Pork, but not generally approved. _Parsley_, good in _soups_, and to _garnish roast Beef_, excellent with bread and butter in the spring. _Penny Royal_, is a high aromatic, altho' a spontaneous herb in old ploughed fields, yet might be more generally cultivated in gardens, and used in cookery and medicines. _Sweet Thyme_, is most useful and best approved in cookery. _FRUITS._ _Pears_, There are many different kinds; but the large Bell Pear, sometimes called the Pound Pear, the yellowest is the best, and in the same town they differ essentially.
_Hard Winter Pear_, are innumerable in their qualities, are good in sauces, and baked. _Harvest_ and _Summer Pear_ are a tolerable desert, are much improved in this country, as all other fruits are by grafting and innoculation. _Apples_, are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful in families, and ought to be more universally cultivated, excepting in the compactest cities. There is not a single family but might set a tree in some otherwise useless spot, which might serve the two fold use of shade and fruit; on which 12 or 14 kinds of fruit trees might easily be engrafted, and essentially preserve the orchard from the intrusions of boys, &c. which is too common in America. If the boy who thus planted a tree, and guarded and protected it in a useless corner, and carefully engrafted different fruits, was to be indulged free access into orchards, whilst the neglectful boy was prohibited--how many millions of fruit trees would spring into growth--and what a saving to the union. The net saving would in time extinguish the public debt, and enrich our cookery. _Currants_, are easily grown from shoots trimmed off from old bunches, and set carelessly in the ground; they flourish on all soils, and make good jellies--their cultivation ought to be encouraged. _Black Currants_, may be cultivated--but until they can be dryed, and until sugars are propagated, they are in a degree unprofitable. _Grapes_, are natural to the climate; grow spontaneously in every state in the union, and ten degrees north of the line of the union. The _Madeira_, _Lisbon_ and _Malaga_ Grapes, are cultivated in gardens in this country, and are a rich treat or desert. Trifling attention only is necessary for their ample growth. Having pointed out the _best methods of judging of the qualities of Viands, Poultry, Fish, Vegetables, &c._ We now present the best approved methods of DRESSING and COOKING them; and to suit all tastes, present the following _RECEIPTS._ _To Roast Beef._ The general rules are, to have a brisk hot fire, to hang down rather than to spit, to baste with salt and water, and one quarter of an hour to every pound of beef, tho' tender beef will require less, while old tough beef will require more roasting; pricking with a fork will determine you whether done or not; rare done is the healthiest and the taste of this age. _Roast Mutton._ If a breast let it be cauled, if a leg, stuffed or not, let be done more gently than beef, and done more; the chine, saddle or leg require more fire and longer time than the breast, &c. Garnish with scraped horse radish, and serve with potatoes, beans, colliflowers, water-cresses, or boiled onion, caper sauce, mashed turnip, or lettuce.
_Roast Veal._ As it is more tender than beef or mutton, it, especially the fat parts, lay it some while to heat gently, baste it well; a 15 hour and a quarter roasting; garnish with lemon. _Roast Lamb._ Lay down to a clear good fire that will not want stirring or altering, baste with butter, dust on flour, baste with the dripping, and before you take it up, add more butter and sprinkle on a little salt and parsley shred fine; send to table with a nice sallad, green peas, fresh beans, or a colliflower, or asparagus. _To stuff a Turkey._ Grate a wheat loaf, one quarter of a pound butter, one quarter of a pound salt pork, finely chopped, 2 eggs, a little sweet marjoram, summer savory, parsley and sage, pepper and salt (if the pork be not sufficient,) fill the bird and sew up. The same will answer for all Wild Fowl. _Water Fowls_ require onions. The same ingredients stuff a _leg of Veal, fresh Pork_ or a _loin of Veal_. _To stuff and roast a Turkey, or Fowl._ One pound soft wheat bread, 3 ounces beef suet, 3 eggs, a little sweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy, dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cramberry-sauce, mangoes, pickles or celery. 2. Others omit the sweet herbs, and add parsley done with potatoes. 3. Boil and mash 3 pints potatoes, wet them with butter, add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, fill and roast as above. _To stuff and roast a Goslin._ Boil the inwards tender, chop them fine, put double quantity of grated bread, 4 ounces butter, pepper, salt, (and sweet herbs if you like) 2 eggs moulded into the stuffing, parboil 4 onions and chop them into the stuffing, add wine, and roast the bird. The above is a good stuffing for every kind of Water Fowl, which requires onion sauce. and easily scorched, paper distance from the fire a pound piece requires one green-parsley and sliced
_To smother a Fowl in Oysters._ Fill the bird with dry Oysters, and sew up and boil in water just sufficient to cover the bird, salt and season to your taste--when done tender, put into a deep dish and pour over it a pint of stewed oysters, well buttered and peppered, garnish a turkey with sprigs of parsley or leaves of cellery: a fowl is best with a parsley sauce. _To stuff a Leg of Veal._ Take one pound of veal, half pound pork (salted,) one pound grated bread, chop all very fine, with a handful of green parsley, pepper it, add 3 ounces butter and 3 eggs, (and sweet herbs if you like them,) cut the leg round like a ham and stab it full of holes, and fill in all the stuffing; then salt and pepper the leg and dust on some flour; if baked in an oven, put into a sauce pan with a little water, if potted, lay some scewers at the bottom of the pot, put in a little water and lay the leg on the scewers, with a gentle fire render it tender, (frequently adding water,) when done take out the leg, put butter in the pot and brown the leg, the gravy in a separate vessel must be thickened and buttered and a spoonful of ketchup added. _To stuff a leg of Pork to bake or roast._ Corn the leg 48 hours and stuff with sausage meat and bake in a hot oven two hours and an half or roast. _To alamode a round of Beef._ To a 14 or 16 pound round of beef, put one ounce salt-petre, 48 hours after stuff it with the following: one and half pound beef, one pound salt pork, two pound grated bread, chop all fine and rub in half pound butter, salt, pepper and cayenne, summer savory, thyme; lay it on scewers in a large pot, over 3 pints hot water (which it must occasionally be supplied with,) the steam of which in 4 or 5 hours will render the round tender if over a moderate fire; when tender, take away the gravy and thicken with flour and butter, and boil, brown the round with butter and flour, adding ketchup and wine to your taste. _To alamode a round_. Take fat pork cut in slices or mince, season it with pepper, salt, sweet marjoram and thyme, cloves, mace and nutmeg, make holes in the beef and stuff it the night before cooked; put some bones across the bottom of the pot to keep from burning, put in one quart Claret wine, one quart water and one onion; lay the round on the bones, cover close and stop it round the top with dough; hang on in the morning and stew gently two hours; turn it, and stop tight and stew two hours more; when done tender, grate a crust of bread on the top and brown it before the fire; scum the gravy and serve in a butter boat, serve it with the residue of the gravy in the dish. _To Dress a Turtle_.
Fill a boiler or kettle, with a quantity of water sufficient to scald the callapach and Callapee, the fins, &c. and about 9 o'clock hang up your Turtle by the hind fins, cut of the head and save the blood, take a sharp pointed knife and separate the callapach from the callapee, or the back from the belly part, down to the shoulders, so as to come at the entrails which take out, and clean them, as you would those of any other animal, and throw them into a tub of clean water, taking great care not to break the gall, but to cut it off from the liver and throw it away, then separate each distinctly and put the guts into another vessel, open them with a small pen-knife end to end, wash them clean, and draw them through a woolen cloth, in warm water, to clear away the slime and then put them in clean cold water till they are used with the other part of the entrails, which must be cut up small to be mixed in the baking dishes with the meat; this done, separate the back and belly pieces, entirely cutting away the fore fins by the upper joint, which scald; peal off the loose skin and cut them into small pieces, laying them by themselves, either in another vessel, or on the table, ready to be seasoned; then cut off the meat from the belly part, and clean the back from the lungs, kidneys, &c. and that meat cut into pieces as small as a walnut, laying it likewise by itself; after this you are to scald the back, and belly pieces, pulling off the shell from the back, and the yellow skin from the belly, when all will be white and clean, and with the kitchen cleaver cut those up likewise into pieces about the bigness or breadth of a card; put those pieces into clean cold water, wash them and place them in a heap on the table, so that each part may lay by itself; the meat being thus prepared and laid separate for seasoning; mix two third parts of salt or rather more, and one third part of cyanne pepper, black pepper, and a nutmeg, and mace pounded fine, and mixt all together; the quantity, to be proportioned to the size of the Turtle, so that in each dish there may be about three spoonfuls of seasoning to every twelve pound of meat; your meat being thus seasoned, get some sweet herbs, such as thyme, savory, &c. let them be dryed an rub'd fine, and having provided some deep dishes to bake it in, which should be of the common brown ware, put in the coarsest part of the meat, put a quarter pound of butter at the bottom of each dish, and then put some of each of the several parcels of meat, so that the dishes may be all alike and have equal portions of the different parts of the Turtle, and between each laying of meat strew a little of the mixture of sweet herbs, fill your dishes within an inch an half, or two inches of the top; boil the blood of the Turtle, and put into it, then lay on forcemeat balls made of veal, highly seasoned with the same seasoning as the Turtle; put in each dish a gill of Madeira Wine, and as much water as it will conveniently hold, then break over it five or six eggs to keep the meat from scorching at the top, and over that shake a handful of shread parsley, to make it look green, when done put your dishes into an oven made hot enough to bake bread, and in an hour and half, or two hours (according to the size of the dishes) it will be sufficiently done. _To dress a Calve's Head._ Turtle fashion. The head and feet being well scalded and cleaned, open the head, taking the brains, wash, pick and cleanse, salt and pepper and parsley them and put bye in a cloth; boil the head, feet and heartslet one and quarter, or one and half hour, sever out the bones, cut the skin and meat in slices, drain the liquor in which boiled and put by; clean the pot very clean or it will burn too, make a layer of the slices, which dust with a composition made of black pepper one spoon, of sweet herbs pulverized, two spoons (sweet marjoram and thyme are most approved) a
tea spoon of cayenne, one pound butter, then dust with flour, then a layer of slices with slices of veal and seasoning till compleated, cover with the liquor, stew gently three quarters of an hour. To make the forced meat balls--take one and half pound veal, one pound grated bread, 4 ounces raw salt pork, mince and season with above and work with 3 whites into balls, one or one an half inch diameter, roll in flour, and fry in very hot butter till brown, then chop the brains fine and stir into the whole mess in the pot, put thereto, one third part of the fryed balls and a pint wine or less, when all is heated thro' take off and serve in tureens, laying the residue of the balls and hard boiled and pealed eggs into a dish, garnish with slices of lemon. _A Stew Pie._ Boil a shoulder of Veal, and cut up, salt, pepper, and butter half pound, and slices of raw salt pork, make a layer of meat, and a layer of biscuit, or biscuit dough into a pot, cover close and stew half an hour in three quarts of water only. A _Sea Pie_. Four pound of flour, one and half pound of butter rolled into paste, wet with cold water, line the pot therewith, lay in split pigeons, turkey pies, veal, mutton or birds, with slices of pork, salt, pepper, and dust on flour, doing thus till the pot is full or your ingredients expended, add three pints water, cover tight with paste, and stew moderately two and half hours. A _Chicken Pie_. Pick and clean six chickens, (without scalding) take out their inwards and wash the birds while whole, then joint the birds, salt and pepper the pieces and inwards. Roll one inch thick paste No. 8 and cover a deep dish, and double at the rim or edge of the dish, put thereto a layer of chickens and a layer of thin slices of butter, till the chickens and one and a half pound butter are expended, which cover with a thick paste; bake one and a half hour. Or if your oven be poor, parboil, the chickens with half a pound of butter, and put the pieces with the remaining one pound of butter, and half the gravy into the paste, and while boiling, thicken the residue of the gravy, and when the pie is drawn, open the crust, and add the gravy. _Minced Pies_, A Foot Pie. Scald neets feet, and clean well, (grass fed are best) put them into a large vessel of cold water, which change daily during a week, then boil the feet till tender, and take away the bones, when cold, chop fine, to every four pound minced meat, add one pound of beef suet, and four pound apple raw, and a little salt, chop all together very fine, add one quart of wine, two pound of stoned raisins, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce mace, and sweeten to your taste; make use of paste No. 3--bake three quarters of an hour. Weeks after, when you have occasion to use them, carefully raise the
top crust, and with a round edg'd spoon, collect the meat into a bason, which warm with additional wine and spices to the taste of your circle, while the crust is also warm'd like a hoe cake, put carefully together and serve up, by this means you can have hot pies through the winter, and enrich'd singly to your company. _Tongue Pie_. One pound neat's tongue, one pound apple, one third of a pound of Sugar, one quarter of a pound of butter, one pint of wine, one pound of raisins, or currants, (or half of each) half ounce of cinnamon and mace--bake in paste No. 1, in proportion to size. _Minced Pie of Beef_. Four pound boild beef, chopped fine; and salted; six pound of raw apple chopped also, one pound beef suet, one quart of Wine or rich sweet cyder, one ounce mace, and cinnamon, a nutmeg, two pounds raisins, bake in paste No. 3, three fourths of an hour. _Observations_. All meat pies require a hotter and brisker oven than fruit pies, in good cookeries, all raisins should be stoned.--As people differ in their tastes, they may alter to their wishes. And as it is difficult to ascertain with precision the small articles of spicery; every one may relish as they like, and suit their taste. _Apple Pie_. Stew and strain the apples, to every three pints, grate the peal of a fresh lemon, add cinnamon, mace, rose-water and sugar to your taste--and bake in paste No. 3. Every species of fruit such as peas, plums, raspberries, black berries may be only sweetened, without spices--and bake in paste No. 3. _Currant Pies_. Take green, full grown currants, and one third their quantity of sugar, proceeding as above. _A buttered apple Pie_. Pare, quarter and core tart apples, lay in paste No. 3, cover with the same; bake half an hour, when drawn, gently raise the top crust, add sugar, butter, cinnamon, mace, wine or rose-water q: s: PUDDINGS. _A Rice Pudding_. One quarter of a pound rice, a stick of cinnamon, to a quart of milk (stirred often to keep from burning) and boil quick, cool and add half
a nutmeg, 4 spoons rose-water, 8 eggs; butter or puff paste a dish and pour the above composition into it, and bake one and half hour. No. 2. Boil 6 ounces rice in a quart milk, on a slow fire 'till tender, stir in one pound butter, interim beet 14 eggs, add to the pudding when cold with sugar, salt, rose-water and spices to your taste, adding raisins or currants, bake as No. 1. No. 3. 8 spoons rice boiled in a quarts milk, when cooled add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, wine, sugar and spices, q: s: bake 2 hours. No. 4. Boil in water half pound ground rice till soft, add 2 quarts milk and scald, cool and add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, 1 pound raisins, salt, cinnamon and a small nutmeg, bake 2 hours. No. 5. _A cheap one_, half pint rice, 2 quarts milk, salt, butter, allspice, put cold into a hot oven, bake 2 and half hours. No. 6. Put 6 ounces rice into water, or milk and water, let swell or soak tender, then boil gently, stirring in a little butter, when cool stir in a quart cream, 6 or 8 eggs well beaten, and add cinnamon nutmeg, and sugar to your taste, bake. N.B. The mode of introducing the ingredients, is a material point; in all cases where eggs are mentioned it is understood to be well beat; whites and yolks and the spices, fine and settled.
