 Preface of The American Housewife This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Judd Niven The American Housewife by Anonymous Preface The writer does not deem any apology necessary for adding another to the long list of gastronomic works, provided she has accomplished the desirable object of producing a cookbook which shall commend itself to all persons of true taste, that is to say, those whose taste has not been videated by a mode of cooking contrary to her own. Although not a eudé or a kitchener, she does profess to have sufficient knowledge of the culinary art as practiced by good American cooks, to instruct those not versed in this truly interesting science. The inefficiency of most works of this kind are well known to all experienced housekeepers. They being generally a mere compilation of receipts by those who have no practical knowledge of the subject and are consequently unable to judge of their correctness, or to give the necessary directions for putting the ingredients together in the right manner. A conviction that a good practical cookbook was much needed induced the writer to exert herself to supply the deficiency. She does not pretend to infallibility, but having taken a great deal of pains to have each receipt as correct and nice as possible, she trusts that they will generally give satisfaction. The mode of cooking is such as is generally practiced by good American housekeepers, and the receipts embrace all the various branches of the culinary science from preparing the most simple vegetables or broths to making the most delicate cake, creams, sweet meats, etc. The writer has endeavored to combine both economy and that which will be agreeable to the palate, but she has never suffered the former to supersede the latter. This book is intended for all classes of society embracing receipts both for rich and plain cooking and written in such a plain manner that the most unskilled need not air. Placed in the hands of any servant of common capacity who can read, it will set aside the necessity of those frequent applications for directions with which the patience of housekeepers is often tried. The experienced cook may smile at the minuteness of the directions, but if she has witnessed as much good food spoiled by improper cooking as the writer of these receipts, she will not think she has been too explicit. In regard to the seasoning of food, it has been found impossible to give any exact rules as so much depends upon the quality of the seasoning and food. The cook should be careful not to have the natural flavor of the food overpowered by the seasoning and where a variety of spices are used, no one of them should predominate. Independent of the receipts for cookery, we have annexed a collection of miscellaneous receipts relative to housekeeping, which together with the copious illustrations and directions for carving, we trust will render it of superior usefulness. In conclusion, the writer would give her sincere thanks to those of her friends who have kindly furnished her with their choice and valuable receipts and to those into whose hands the book may fall, she would ask a fair trial of them before passing judgment. Please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jud Niven The American Housewife by Anonymous Chapter 1 1. Observations Respecting Meat Meat to be in perfection should be kept a number of days when the weather will admit of it. Beef and mutton should be kept at least a week in cold weather and poultry three or four days. If the weather is hot it will keep but a short time. It should be kept in a cool, airy place away from the flies and if there is any danger of it spoiling a little salt should be rubbed over it. When meat is frozen it should be put into lukewarm water and not taken out till the frost is extracted. If there is any frost in it when put to the fire it will not cook well. The best way to boil it is to put it in cold water and boil it gently with just water enough to cover it as it hardens by furious boiling. The part that is to be put up on the table should be down in the pot as the scum that rises is apt to make the meat look dark. The scum should be taken off as soon as it rises. The liquor in which all kinds of fresh meat is boiled makes a good soup when thickened and seasoned. Boiling is the cheapest way of cooking meat provided you make a soup of the liquor. If not it is the dearest as most of the gelatin is extracted by the process of boiling which is the most nourishing part and if not used for soup is completely lost. In roasting meat only the juices and fat are extracted but not lost as the juices make good gravy and the fat is good for various culinary purposes. When it is put down to roast there should be a little water in the dripping pan. For broiling the bars of the gridiron should be perfectly clean and greased with lard or butter otherwise the meat will retain the impression of the bars. The bars of the gridiron should be concave and terminate in a trough to catch the juices or they will drop in the fire and smoke the meat. A good fire of hot coals is necessary to have the meat broil as quick as possible without burning. The gridiron should be put on the fire and well heated before the heat is laid on it. The dish should be very hot on which broiled meat is put and it should not be seasoned till taken up. If you wish to fry meat cut a small piece of pork into slices and fry them a light brown then take them up and put in your meat which should be perfectly dry. When the meat is sufficiently fried take it up, remove the frying pan from the fire to cool when so turn in a little cold water for the gravy. Put it on the fire. When it boils stir in a little mixed flour and water let it boil then turn it over the meat. If not rich enough add butter and ketchup if you like. 2. Roast Beef The tenderloin and first and second cuts off the rack are the best roasting pieces. The third and fourth cuts are good. When the meat is put to the fire a little salt should be sprinkled on it and the bony side turn towards the fire first. When the bones get well heated through turn the meat and keep a brisk fire basted frequently while roasting. There should be a little water put into the dripping pan when the meat is put down to roast. If it is a thick piece allow 15 minutes to each pound to roast it in. If thin less time will be required. 3. Beef Steak The tenderloin is the best piece for broiling. A steak from the round or shoulder clawed is good and comes cheaper. If the beef is not very tender it should be laid on a board and pound it before broiling or frying it. Wash it in cold water then lay it on a gridiron. Place it on a hot bed of coals and broil it as quick as possible without burning it. If broiled slow it will not be good. It takes from 15 to 20 minutes to broil a steak. For 7 or 8 pounds of beef cut up about a quarter of a pound of butter. Heat the platter very hot that the steak is to be put on. Lay the butter on it. Take up the steak salt and pepper it on both sides. Beef steak to be good should be eaten as soon as cooked. A few slices of salt pork broiled with the steak makes a rich gravy with very little butter. There should always be a trough to catch the juices of the meat when broiled. The same pieces that are good broiled are good for frying. Fry a few slices of salt pork, brown then take them up and put in the beef. When brown on both sides take it up. Take the pan off from the fire to let the fat cool. When cool turn in half a teacup of water. Mix a couple of teaspoonfuls of flour with a little water. Stir it into the fat. Put the pan back on the fire. Stir it till it boils up. Then turn it over the beef. 4. Alamoed Beef The round of beef is the best piece to alamoed. The shoulder clawed is good and comes lower. It is also good stewed without any spices. For 5 pounds of beef soak about a pound of bread in cold water till soft. Then drain off the water. Mash the bread fine. Put in a piece of butter of the size of a hen's egg. Half a teaspoonful of salt. The same quantity of ground cloves, all spice and pepper. Half a nutmeg, a couple of eggs and a tablespoonful of flour. Mix the whole well together. Then cut gashes in the beef and fill them with about half of the dressing. Put the meat in a bake pan with lukewarm water enough to cover it. Set it where it will stew gently for a couple of hours. Cover it with a heated bake pan lid. When it has stewed a couple of hours, turn the reserve dressing on top of the meat. Heat the bake pan lid hot enough to brown the dressing. Stew it an hour and a half longer. After the meat has taken up, if the gravy is not thick enough, mix a teaspoonful or two of flour with a little water and stir it into the gravy. Put in a little butter, a wine glass of wine and turn it over the meat. 5. Beef Liver Liver is very good fried, but the best way to cook it is to broil it ten minutes with four or five slices of salt pork. Then take it, cut it into small strips together with the pork. Put it in a stew pan with a little water, butter and pepper. Stew it for four or five minutes. 6. To Corn Beef To every gallon of cold water, put a quart of rock salt, a ounce of salt peter, quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Some people use molasses, but it's not as good. No boiling is necessary. Put the beef in the brine. As long as any salt remains at the bottom of the cask, it is strong enough. Whenever any scum rises, the brine should be scalded, skimmed and more sugar, salt and salt peter added. When a piece of beef is put in the brine, rub a little salt over it. If the weather is hot, cut a gash to the bone of the meat and fill it with salt. Put a heavy weight on the beef in order to keep it under the brine. In very hot weather, it is difficult to corn beef and cold brine before it spoils. On this account, it is good to corn it in the pot when boiled. It is done in the following manner. To six or eight pounds of beef, put a tea cup of salt, sprinkle flour on the side that is to go up on the table, and put it down in the pot. Turn the water into the pot after the beef is put in. Boil it a couple of hours, then turn in more cold water and boil it an hour and a half longer. The saddle is the best part to roast. The shoulder and leg are good roasted, but the best mode to cook the latter is to boil it with a piece of salt pork. A little rice boiled with it improves the looks of it. Mutton for roasting should have a little butter rubbed on it and a little salt and pepper sprinkled on it. Some people like cloves and allspice. Put a small piece of butter in the dripping pan and baste it frequently. The bony side should be turned towards the fire first and roasted. For boiling or roasting mutton, allow a quarter of an hour to each pound of meat. The leg is good cut in gashes and filled with a dressing and baked. The dressing is made of soaked bread, a little butter, salt and pepper, and a couple of eggs. A pint of water with a little butter should be put in the pan. The leg is also good cut into slices and broiled. It is good corned a few days and then boiled. The rack is good for broiling. It should be divided each bone by itself, broiled quick and buttered, salted and peppered. The breast of mutton is nice baked. The joints of the brisket should be separated. The sharp ends of the ribs sawed off. The outside rubbed over with a little piece of butter, salt it and put it in a bake pan with a pint of water. When done, take it up and thicken the gravy with a little flour and water and put in a small piece of butter. A tablespoon full of ketchup, cloves and allspice improve it but are not essential. The neck of mutton makes a good soup. Parsley or celery heads are a pretty garnish for mutton. 8. Veal The loin of veal is the best piece for roasting. The breast and rack are good roasted. The breast also is good made into a pot pie and the rack cut into small pieces and broiled. The leg is nice for frying. And when several slices have been cut off for cutlets, the remainder is nice boiled with a small piece of salt pork. Veal for roasting should be salted, peppered and a little butter rubbed on it and basted frequently. Put a little water in the dripping pan and unless the meat is quite fat a little butter should be put in. The filet is good baked. The bone should be cut out and the place filled with a dressing made of bread soaked soft and cold water. A little salt, pepper, a couple of eggs and a tablespoon full of melted butter put in. Then sew it up, put it in your bake pan with about a pint of water. Cover the top of the meat with some of the dressing. When baked sufficiently, take it up. Thicken the gravy with a little flour and water well mixed. Put in a small piece of butter and a little wine and ketchup if you like the gravy rich. 9. Veal Cutlets Fry three or four slices of pork until brown. Then take them up, then put in slices of veal, about an inch thick, cut from the leg. When brown on both sides, take them up. Stir half a pint of water into the gravy. Then mix two or three teaspoonfuls of flour with a little water and stir it in. Soak a couple of slices of toasted bread in the gravy. Lay them on the bottom of the platter. Place the meat and pork over it, then turn on the gravy. A very nice way to cook the cutlets is to make a batter with half a pint of milk an egg beaten to a fourth, and flour enough to render it thick. When the veal is fried brown, dip it into the batter, then put it back into the fat and fry it until brown again. If you have any batter left, it is nice to drop by the large spoonful into the fat and fry until brown, then lay it over the veal. Thicken the gravy and turn it over the whole. It takes about an hour to cook this dish. If the meat is tough, it will be better to stew it half an hour before frying it. 10. Calf's Head Boil the head two hours together with the lights and feet. Put in the liver when it has boiled an hour and twenty minutes. Before the head is done, tie the brains in a bag and boil them with it. When the brains are done, take them up, season them with salt, pepper, butter and sweet herbs or spices if you like. Use this as a dressing for the head. Some people prefer part of the liver and feet for dressing. They are prepared like the brains. The liquor that the calf's head is boiled in makes a good soup, seasoned in a plain way like any other veal soup or seasoned turtle fashion. The liquor should stand until the next day after the head is boiled in order to have the fat rise and skimmed off. If you wish to have your calf's head look brown, take it up when tender, rub a little butter over it, sprinkle on salt, pepper and allspice, sprinkle flour over it and put before the fire with a dutch oven over it or in a brick oven where it will brown quick. Warm up the brains with a little water, butter, salt and pepper. Add wine and spices if you like. Serve it up as a dressing for the head. Calf's head is also good baked. Have it, rub butter over it, put it in a pan with about a quarter of water then cover it with a dressing made of bread soaked soft, a little butter, an egg and season it with salt, pepper and powdered mace. Slice up the brains and lay them in the pan with the head. Bake it in a quick oven and garnish it with slices of lemon or forced meatballs. 11. Forced Meatballs Chop a pound or two of veal fine. Mix it with one or two eggs, a little butter or raw pork chopped fine. Season it with salt and pepper or curry powder. Do them up into balls about the size of half an egg and fry them brown. 12. Calf's Feet Boil them with the head until tender then split and lay them round the head or dredge them with flour after they've been boiled tender and fried them brown. If you wish for gravy for them, when you have taken them up, stir a little flour into the fat they were fried in. Season it with salt, pepper and mace. Add a little butter and wine if you like then turn it over the feet. 13. Calf's Liver and Heart Are good broiled or fried, some people like the liver stuffed and baked. 14. Collops Cut part of a leg of veal into pieces, three or four inches broad. Sprinkle flour on them, fry them in butter until brown, then turn in water enough to cover the veal. When it boils, take off the scum, put in two or three onions, a blade of mace, a little salt and pepper. When stewed tender, take up the meat, thicken the gravy with flour and water, mix smoothly together, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, then turn it over the collops. Garnish them with the lemon cut in thin slices. 15. Pla Boil a piece of lean veal till tender. Take it up, cut it into strips three or four inches long, put it back into the pot with the liquor it was boiled in, with a tea cup of rice to three pounds of veal. Put in a piece of butter of the size of a hen's egg. Season it with salt, pepper and sweet herbs if you like. Stew it gently till the rice is tender and the water nearly stewed away. A little curry powder in this converts it into a curry dish. 16. A Fillet of Veal Cut off the shank of a leg of veal and cut gashes in the remainder. Make a dressing of bread, soak soft in cold water and mashed. Season it with salt, pepper and sweet herbs. Chop a little raw pork fine. Put it in the dressing and if you have not pork, use a little butter instead. Fill the gashes in the meat with part of the dressing. Put it in a bake pan with just enough water to cover it. Put the remainder of the dressing on top of the meat and cover it with a heated bake pan lid. For six pounds of veal, allow two hours steady baking. A leg of veal is nice prepared in this manner and roasted. 17. Lamb The four and hind quarters are good roasting pieces. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the lamb. Turn the bony side towards the fire first. If not fat, rub a little butter on it and put a little in the dripping pan. Based it frequently. These pieces are good stuffed like a fillet of veal and roasted. The leg is also good cooked in the same manner, but it is better boiled with a pound of salt pork. Allow 15 minutes boiling to each pound of meat. The breast of lamb is good roasted, broiled or corned and boiled. It is also good made into a pot pie. The four quarter with the ribs divided is good broiled. The bones of this as well as all the kinds of meat when put down to broil should first be put towards the fire and brown before the other side is broiled. A little salt, pepper and butter should be put on it when you take it up. Lamb is very apt to spoil in warm weather. If you wish to keep a leg several days, put it in brine. It should not be put with pork as fresh meat is apt to injure it. Lamb's head, feet and heart are good boiled till tender. Then cut off the flesh from the head. Cut up the heart and split the feet in two. Put the whole into a pan with a pint of the liquor they were boiled in. Together with a little butter, pepper, salt and a half a teacup of tomato ketchup. Thicken the gravy with a little flour. Stew the whole for a few moments. Pepper, grass or parsley are a pretty garnish for this dish. End of Chapter 1 Recording by Judd Niven www.juddniven.com shoulder of lamb grilled The shoulder of lamb is good roasted plain, but is better cooked in the following manner. Score it in checkers about an inch long. Rub it over with a little butter and the yolk of an egg. Then dip it into finely pounded breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on salt, pepper and sweet herbs. Roast it till of a light brown. This is good with plain gravy, but better with a sauce made in the following manner. Take a quarter of a pint of the drippings from the meat. Mix it with the same quantity of water. Set it on the fire. When it boils up, thicken it with a little flour and water mixed. Put in a tablespoonful of tomato ketchup, the juice and grated rind of a lemon. Season it with salt and pepper. 19. Lamb's Fry The heart and sweet bread are nice fried plainly, or dipped into a beaten egg and fine breadcrumbs. They should be fried in lard. 20. Turkey Take out the innards. Wash both the inside and outside of the turkey. Prepare a dressing made of bread, soaked soft in cold water. The water should be drained from the bread and the bread mashed fine. Melt a small piece of butter and mix it with the dressing, or else put in salt-pork chopped fine. Season it with salt and pepper, add sweet herbs if you like. An egg in the dressing makes it cut smoother. Any kind of cooked meat is nice minced fine and mixed with the dressing. If the innards are used they ought to be boiled very tender, as it is very difficult to cook them through while the turkey is roasting. Fill the crop and body of the turkey with the dressing, sew it up, tie up the legs and wings, rub on a little salt and butter. Roast it from two to three hours according to its size. 25 minutes to every pound is a good rule. The turkey should be roasted slowly at first and basted frequently. A little water should be put into the dripping pan when the meat is put down to roast. For a gravy to the turkey, take the liquor that the innards are boiled in, put into it a little of the turkey drippings, set it where it will boil, thicken it with a little flour and water previously mixed smooths. Season it with salt, pepper and sweet herbs if you like. Drawn butter is used for boiled turkey. A turkey for boiling should be prepared in the same manner as one for roasting. If you wish to have it look white, tie it up in a cloth unless you boil rice in the pot. If rice is used put in two thirds of a teacup. A pound or two of salt pork, boiled with the turkey, improves it. If you wish to make a soup of the liquor in which the turkey is boiled, let it remain until the next day, then skim off the fat. Heat and season it. 21. Goose If a goose is tender under the wing, and you can break the skin easily by running the head of a pin across the breast, there is no danger of its being tough. A goose should be dressed in the same manner and roasted the same lengths of time as a turkey. 22. Chickens Chickens for roasting or boiling should have a dressing prepared like that for turkeys. Half a teacup of rice boiled with the chickens makes them look white. They will be less liable to break if the water is cold when they are put in. A little salt pork boiled with the chickens improves them. If you do not boil pork with them they will need salt. Chickens for broiling should be split, the innards taken out, and the chicken washed inside and out. Put the bony side down on the gridiron and broil it very slowly until brown. Then turn it and brown it on the other side. About 40 minutes is required to broil a common-sized chicken. For roast chicken, boil the liver and gizzards by themselves and use the water for gravy to the chickens. Cut the innards in slices and put them in the gravy. 23. Freakasy The chickens should be jointed, the innards taken out and the chickens washed. Put them in a stew pan with the skin side down, on each layer sprinkle salt and pepper. Put in three or four slices of pork, just cover them with water and let them stew till tender. Then take them up, mix a little flour and water together and thicken the liquor they were stewed in. Add a piece of butter of the size of a hen's egg. Then put the chickens back in the stew pan and let them stew four or five minutes longer. When you have taken up the chickens, soak two or three slices of toast in the gravy, then put them in your platter. Lay the chickens over the toast and turn the gravy on them. If you wish to brown the chickens, stew them without the pork till tender, then fry the pork brown, take it up, put in the chickens and then fry until a light brown. 24. Pigeons Take out the innards and stuff the pigeons with a dressing prepared like that for turkeys. Lay them in a pot with the breast side down. Turn in more than enough water to cover them. When stewed nearly tender, put in a quarter of a pound of butter to every dozen of pigeons. Mix two or three teaspoons full of flour with a little water and stir into the gravy. If you wish to brown them, put on a heated bake pan lid an hour before they are done, or else take them up when tender and fry them in pork fat. They are very good split open and stewed with a dressing made and warmed up separately with a little of the gravy. Tender pigeons are good stuffed and roasted. It takes about two hours to cook tender pigeons and three hours tough ones. Roasted pigeons should be buttered when put to the fire. 25. Ducks Are good stewed like pigeons or roasted. Two or three onions in the dressing of wild ducks takes out the fishy taste they are at to have. If ducks or any other files are slightly injured by being kept long, dip them in weak salarators water before cooking them. 26. Baked or Roasted Pig A pig for roasting or baking should be small and fat. Take out the innards and cut off the first joint of the feet and boil them till tender, then chop them. Prepare a dressing of bread soaked soft, the water squeezed out and the bread mashed fine. Season it with salt, pepper and sweet herbs, add a little butter and fill the pig with the dressing. Rub a little butter on the outside of the pig to prevent its blistering. Bake or roast it from two hours and a half to three hours. The pan that the pig is baked in should have a little water put in it. When cooked take out a little of the dressing and gravy from the pan, mix it with the chopped innards and feet. Put in a little butter, pepper and salt and use this for a sauce to the pig. Expose the pig to the open air two or three minutes before it is put on the table to make it crispy. 27. Sweet Bread, Liver and Heart A very good way to cook the sweet bread is to fry three or four slices of pork till brown, then take them up and put in the sweet bread and fry it over a moderate fire. When you have taken up the sweet bread mix a couple of teaspoons full of flour with a little water and stir it into the fat. Let it boil then turn it over the sweet bread. Another way is to par boil them and let them get cold. Then cut them in pieces about an inch thick. Dip them in the yolk of an egg and fine bread crumbs. Sprinkle salt, pepper and sage on them before dipping them in the egg. Fry them a light brown. Make a gravy after you have taken them up by stirring a little flour and water mixed smooth into the fat. Add spices and wine if you like. The liver and heart are good cooked in the same manner or broiled. 28. Pressed Head Pig's head is good baked with beans or corned and smoked. It is also nice prepared with spices in the following manner. Boil the ears, forehead and rind. The cheek is good but it is better corned and smoked, till the meat will almost drop from the bones. Take them up. When cold cut the meat in strips about an inch long. Warm it in a little of the liquor in which the meat was boiled. Season it with salt, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Put it while hot in a strong bag. Put a heavy weight upon it and let it remain till perfectly cold. When you wish to eat it cut it in thin slices. 29. Sauce Take pig's ears and feet. Clean them thoroughly then soak them in salt and water for several days. Boil them tender and split them. They are then good fried. If you wish to sauce them when cold turn boiling vinegar on them spiced with peppercorns and mace. Clothes improve the taste but it turns them a dark colour. Add a little salt. They will keep good pickled five or six weeks. Fry them in lard. 30. Tripe After being scarred should be soaked in salt and water seven or eight days changing the water every other day. Then boil it till tender which will take eight or ten hours. It is then fit for broiling, frying or pickling. It is pickled in the same manner as sauce. 31. Sausages Chop fresh pork very fine, the lean and fat together. There should be rather more of the lean than the fat. Season it highly with salt, pepper, sage and other sweet herbs if you like them. A little saltpeter tends to preserve them. To tell whether they are seasoned enough do up a little into a cake and fry it. If not seasoned enough add more seasoning and fill your skins which should be previously cleaned thoroughly. A little flour mixed in with the meat tends to prevent the fat from running out when cooked. Sausage meat is good done up in small cakes and fried. In summer when fresh pork cannot be procured very good sausage cakes may be made of raw beef which are fine with salt pork and seasoned with pepper and sage. When sausages are fried they should not be pricked and they will cook nicer to have a little fat put in the frying pan with them. They should be cooked slowly. If you do not like them very fat take them out of the pan when nearly done and finish cooking them on a gridiron. Bologna sausages are made of equal weight each of ham, veal and pork, chopped very fine, seasoned high and boiled in casings till tender then dried. 32. Ham A ham that weighs ten pounds should be boiled four or five hours. If very salt the water should be changed. Before it is put on the table take off the rind. If you wish to ornament it put whole cloves or pepper in the form of diamonds over it. The Virginia method of curing hams which is considered very superior is to dissolve two ounces of salt pita, two teaspoons full of salaratus in a salt pickle as strong as possible for every sixteen pounds of ham. Add molasses in the proportion of a gallon to a hog's head of brine. Then put in the hams and let them remain three or four weeks. Then take them out of the brine and smoke them with the hogs downwards to preserve the juices. They will smoke tolerably well in the course of a month but they will be much better to remain in the smokehouse two or three months. Ham's cured in this manner are very fine flavoured and will keep good a long time. 33. Tongues Cut off the roots of the tongues. They are not good smoked but they make nice pies. Take out the pipes and veins, boil them till tender, mince them fine, season the meat with salt, cloves, mace and cinnamon, put in a little sugar and molasses, moisten the hole with brandy, put it in a cool place and it will keep good several months in cold weather and is good to make pies of at any time with the addition of apples chopped fine and a little butter melted. For the remainder of the tongues make a brine in the following manner. To a gallon of cold water put a quart of rock salt, an ounce of salt pita, quarter of a pound of sugar and a couple of tablespoons full of blown salt. Put in the tongues, let them remain in it a week and then smoke them eight or ten days. 34. Curries Chickens, pigeons, mutton chops, lobsters and veal all make good curries. If the curry dish is to be made of fouls they should be jointed. Boil the meat till tender in just sufficient water to cover it and add a little salt. Just before the meat is boiled enough to take up fry three or four slices of pork till brown. Take them up and put in the chickens. Let them brown then add part of the liquor in which they were boiled, one or two teaspoons full of curry powder and the fried pork. Mix a teaspoon full of curry powder with a tea cup of boiled rice or a little flour and water mixed. Turn it on to the curry and let it stew a few minutes. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of The American Housewife This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ruth Golding The American Housewife by Anonymous Chapter 3 35. Chicken Pie Joint the chickens which should be young and tender. Boil them in just sufficient water to cover them. When nearly tender take them out of the liquor and lay them in a deep pudding dish lined with pie crust. To each layer of chicken put three or four slices of pork, add a little of the liquor in which they were boiled and a couple of ounces of butter cut into small pieces. Sprinkle a little flour over the whole, cover it with nice pie crust and ornament the top with some of your pastry. Bake it in a quick oven one hour. 36. Beef and Mutton Pie Take tender meat, pound it out thin and broil it ten minutes. Then cut off the bony and gristly parts, season it highly with salt and pepper, butter it and cut it into small pieces. Line a pudding dish with pastry, put in the meat and to each layer add a teaspoon full of tomato catsup, together with a tablespoon full of water. Sprinkle over flour and cover it with pie crust and ornament as you please with pastry. Cold roast or boiled beef and mutton make a good pie by cutting them into bits and seasoning them highly with salt and pepper. Put them into a pie dish, turn a little melted butter over them or gravy and pour in water till you can just see it at the top. 37. Chicken and Feel Pot Pie If the pie is to be made of chickens, joint them. Boil the meat until about half done. Take the meat out of the liquor in which it was boiled and put it in a pot with a layer of crust to each layer of meat, having a layer of crust on the top. The meat should be seasoned with salt and pepper. Cover the whole with the boiled meat liquor. If you wish to have the crust brown, keep the pot covered with a heated bake pan lid. Keep a tea kettle of boiling water to turn in as the water boils away. Cold water makes the crust heavy. The crust for the pie is good like that made for fruit pies with less shortening, but raised pie crust is generally preferred to any other. It is made in the following manner. Mix together three pints of flour, a teacup of melted butter, a teaspoon full of salt, then turn in half a teacup of yeast. Add cold water to make it sufficiently stiff to roll out. Set it in a warm place to rise, which will take seven or eight hours unless brewer's yeast is used. When risen, roll it out and cut it into small cakes. Potato pie crust is very nice. To make it, boil eight or nine small potatoes, peel and mash them fine, mix with them a piece of butter of the size of a hen's egg, a teaspoon full of salt, a tumbler full of milk, and flour to render it of the right consistency to roll out. When rolled out, cut them into cakes and put them with the meat. If you happen to have unbaked wheat dough, very good crust may be made of it by working into it a little lukewarm melted butter. Let it remain after you have rolled and cut it into cakes about ten or fifteen minutes before putting it with the meat. 38. To Frizzle Beef Take beef that is fresh, smoked and tender. Shave it off thin, put it in a stew pan with water enough to cover it. Let it stew ten or fifteen minutes. Three or four minutes before it is taken up, mix a little flour and water together and stir in to thicken the water. Add a little butter and pepper. This makes a good dish for breakfast. Eggs are a nice accompaniment to it. 39. Warmed Over Meats Boiled or roasted veal makes a nice dish, chopped fine and warmed up, with just sufficient water to moisten it, and a little butter, salt and pepper added. A little nutmeg and the grated rind of a lemon improve it. None of the white part of the lemon should be used. When well heated through, take it up on a platter and garnish it with a couple of lemons cut in slices. Fresh or corned beef is good minced fine with boiled potatoes and warmed up with salt, pepper and a little water. Add butter just before you take it up. Some people use the gravy that they have left the day before for the meat, but it is not as good when warmed over, and there is no need of it being wasted as it can be clarified and used for other purposes. Boiled onions or turnips are good mixed with minced meat instead of potatoes. Veal, lamb and mutton are good cut into small strips and warmed with boiled potatoes cut in slices, pepper, salt, a little water. Add butter just before you take it up. Roasted beef and mutton, if not previously cooked too much, are nice cut in slices and just scorched on a gridiron. Meat, when warmed over, should be on the fire just long enough to get well heated through. If on the fire long, most of the juices of the meat will be extracted and render it very indigestible. Cold fowls are nice jointed and warmed with a little water, then taken up and fried in butter till brown. A little flour should be sprinkled on them before frying. Thicken the water that the fowls were warmed in. Add a little salt, pepper and butter and turn it over the fowls. Forty, a ragu of cold veal. Cut boiled or roasted veal in nice slices, flour and fry them in butter till a light brown. Then take them up and turn a little hot water into the butter they were fried in. Mix a little flour and water together and stir it into the gravy. Season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg or katsup and lemon juice. Put in the meat and stew it till very hot. Stew two or three onions with it, if you like. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of The American Housewife This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ruth Golding. The American Housewife by Anonymous. Chapter 4 41. Drawn Butter Mix two or three teaspoons full of flour with a little cold water. Stir it till free from lumps. Thin it and stir it into half a pint of boiling water. Let it boil two or three minutes, then cut up about a quarter of a pound of butter into small pieces and put it with the flour and water. Set it where it will melt gradually. If carefully mixed it will be free from lumps. If not, strain it before it is put on the table. If the butter is to be eaten on fish, cut up several soft-boiled eggs into it. A little curry powder sprinkled into it will convert it into curry sauce. 42. Burnt Butter Put a couple of ounces of butter into a frying pan. Set it on the fire. When of a dark brown colour, put in half a teacup full of vinegar, a little pepper and salt. This is nice for fish, salad or eggs. 43. Roast Meat Gravy Meat, when put down to roast should have about a pint of water in the dripping pan. A little while before the meat is done, stir up the drippings, put it in a skillet and set it where it will boil. Mix two or three teaspoons full of flour smoothly with a little water and stir it in the gravy when it boils. Lamb and veal require a little butter in the gravy. The gravy for pork and geese should have a little of the dressing and sage mixed with it. If you wish to have your gravies look dark, scorch the flour that you thicken them with, which is easily done by putting it in a pan, setting it on a few coals and stirring it constantly till it is a dark brown colour, taking care that it does not burn. Enough can be burnt at once to last a long time. 44. Sauce for Cold Meat, Fish or Salad Boil a couple of eggs three minutes, then mix it with a mustard spoonful of made mustard, a little salt, pepper, half a teacup of salad oil or melted butter and half a teacup of vinegar. A tablespoon full of katsup improves it. 45. Wine Sauce for Venison or Mutton Warm half a pint of the drippings or liquor the meat was boiled in. Mix a couple of teaspoons full of scorched flour with a little water and stir it in when the gravy boils. Season it with salt, pepper and cloves. Stir a tablespoon full of current jelly in and just before you take it from the fire half a tumbler of wine. Many people prefer melted current jelly to any other sauce for venison or mutton. 46. Rice Sauce Boil one onion and half a teacup of rice with a blade of mace till very soft, in just water enough to cover it. Then stir in half a pint of milk, a little salt, and strain it. This is a nice accompaniment to gain. 47. Oyster Sauce Take the juice of the oysters and to a pint put a couple of sticks of mace, a little salt and pepper. Set it on the fire. When it boils stir in a couple of teaspoons full of flour mixed with milk. When it has boiled several minutes stir in half a pint of oysters, a piece of butter of the size of a hen's egg. Let them scald through then take them up. 48. White Celery Sauce for Boiled Poetry Take five or six heads of celery, cut off the green tops, cut up the remainder into small bits, and boil it till tender in half a pint of water. Mix two or three teaspoons full of flour smoothly with a little milk, then add half a teacup more of milk, stir it in, add a small lump of butter and a little salt. When it boils take it up. 49. Brown Sauce for Poetry Peel two or three onions, cut them in slices, flour and fry them brown in a little butter, then sprinkle in a little flour, pepper, salt and sage. Add half a pint of the liquor the poultry was boiled in and a tablespoon full of katsup. Let it boil up, then stir in half a wine glass of wine if you like. 50. Savory Jelly for Cold Meat Boil lean beef or veal till tender. If you have any beef or veal bones, crack and boil them with the meat, they should be boiled longer than the meat, together with a little salt pork, sweet herbs and pepper and salt. When boiled sufficiently, take it off, strain it, and let it remain till the next day. Then skim off the fat, take up the jelly, and scrape off the dregs that adhere to the bottom of it. Put in the whites and shells of several eggs, several blades of mace, a little wine and lemon juice, set it on the fire, stir it well till it boils, then strain it till clear through a jelly bag. 51. Liver Sauce for Fish Boil the liver of the fish, then mash it fine, stir it into drawn butter, put in a little cayenne or black pepper, a couple of teaspoons full of lemon juice, and a tablespoon full of katsup. 52. Sauce for Lobsters Boil a couple of eggs three minutes, mix them with the spawn of the lobster and a teaspoon full of water. When rubbed smooth, stir in a teaspoon full of mixed mustard, half a tea cup of salad oil, or the same quantity of butter melted, a little salt, pepper, and five tablespoons full of vinegar. 53. Chicken Salad Boil a chicken that weighs not more than a pound and a half. When very tender, take it up, cut it in small strips, and make the following sauce, and turn over it. Boil four eggs three minutes, then take them out of the shells, mash and mix them with a couple of tablespoons full of olive oil or melted butter. Two-thirds of a tumbler of vinegar, a teaspoon full of mixed mustard, a teaspoon full of salt, a little pepper, and essence of celery if you have it. If not, it can be dispensed with. 54. Sauce for Turtle or Calf's Head To half a pint of hot melted butter or beef gravy, put the juice and grated rind of half a lemon, a little sage, basil, or sweet marjoram, a little cayenne or black pepper, and salt. Add a wine glass of white wine just before you take it up. 55. Apple and Cranberry Sauce Pair and quarter the apples. If not tart, stew them in cider. If tart enough, stew them in water. When stewed soft, put in a small piece of butter and sweeten it to the taste with sugar. Another way which is very good is to boil the apples without pairing them with a few quince's and molasses in new cider till reduced to half the quantity. When cool, strain the sauce. This kind of sauce will keep good several months. It makes very good plain pies with the addition of a little cinnamon or cloves. To make cranberry sauce, nothing more is necessary than to stew the cranberries till soft, then stir in sugar and molasses to sweeten it. Let the sugar scald in it a few minutes. Strain it, if you like. It is very good without straining. 56. Pudding Sauce Stir to a cream a teacup of butter with two of brown sugar. Then add a wine glass of wine or cider. Flavour it with nutmeg, rose water, or essence of lemon. If you wish to have it liquid, heat two thirds of a pint of water, boiling hot. Mix two or three teaspoons full of flour with a little water, and stir it into the boiling water. As soon as it boils up well, stir it into the butter and sugar. 57. Tomatoes Soy Take ripe tomatoes and prick them with a fork. Lay them in a deep dish, and to each layer put a layer of salt. Let them remain in it four or five days, then take them out of the salt, and put them in vinegar and water for one night. Drain off the vinegar, and to each peck of tomatoes put half a pint of mustard seed, half an ounce of cloves, and the same quantity of pepper. The tomatoes should be put in a jar with a layer of sliced onions to each layer of the tomatoes, and the spices sprinkled over each layer. In ten days they will be in good eating order. 58. Tomato Katsup To a gallon of ripe tomatoes put four tablespoons full of salt, four of ground black pepper, three tablespoons full of ground mustard, half a tablespoon full of allspice, half a spoonful of cloves, six red peppers ground fine. Simmer the whole slowly with a pint of vinegar, three or four hours, then strain it through a sieve, bottle, and cork it tight. The katsup should be made in a tin utensil, and the later in the season it is made the less liable it will be to spoil. 59. Mushroom Katsup Put a layer of fresh mushrooms in a deep dish, sprinkle a little salt over them, then put in another layer of fresh mushrooms, and salt, and so on till you get in all the mushrooms. Let them remain several days, then mash them fine, and to each quart put a tablespoon full of vinegar, half a teaspoon full of black pepper, and a quarter of a teaspoon full of cloves. Turn it into a stone jar, set the jar in a pot of boiling water, and let it boil two hours, then strain it without squeezing the mushrooms. Boil the juice a quarter of an hour, skim it well, let it stand a few hours to settle, then turn it off carefully through a sieve, bottle, and cork it tight. Keep it in a cool place. 60. Walnut Katsup Procure the walnuts by the last of June, keep them in salt and water for a week, then bruise them, and turn boiling vinegar on them. Let them remain covered with vinegar for several days, stirring them up each day, then boil them a quarter of an hour with a little more vinegar. Strain it through a thick cloth, so that none of the coarse particles of the walnuts will go through. Season the vinegar highly with cloves, allspice, pepper, and salt. Boil the whole a few minutes, then bottle and cork it tight. Keep it in a cool place. 61. Curry Powder Mix an ounce of ginger, one of mustard, one of pepper, three of coriander seed, the same quantity of turmeric, a quarter of an ounce of cayenne pepper, half an ounce of cardamom, and the same of cumin seed and cinnamon. Pound the whole fine, sift, and keep it in a bottle, caught tight. 62. Essence of Celery Steep an ounce of celery seed in half a pint of brandy or vinegar. A few drops of this will give a fine flavour to soups and sauce for fouls. End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of The American Housewife This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Stuart Bell The American Housewife by Anonymous Chapter 5 63. Soup Herb Spirit Those who like a variety of herbs and soup will find it very convenient to have the following mixture. Take, when in their prime, thyme, sweet marjoram, sweet basil, and summer savoury. When thoroughly dried, pound and sift them. Steep them in brandy for a fortnight. The spirit will then be fit for use. 64. Plain Veal Soup A leg of veal, after enough has been cut off of cutlets, makes a soup nearly as good as carves head. Boil it with a cup two thirds full of rice, a pound and a half of pork. Season it with salt, pepper and sweet herbs if you like. A little celery boiled in it gives the soup a fine flavour. Some people like onions, carrots and parsley boiled in it. If you wish for balls in the soup, chop a veal and a little raw, salt pork fine. Mix it with a few breadcrumbs and a couple of eggs. Season it with salt and pepper, add little curry powder if you like, do it up into small balls and boil them in the soup. The veal should be taken up before the soup is seasoned. Just before the soup is taken up, put in a couple of slices of toast cut into small pieces. If you do not like your soup fat, let the liquor remain till the day after you have boiled the meat and skim off the fat before heating the liquor. The shoulder reveal makes a good soup. 65. Mock turtle or carves head soup. Boil the head until perfectly tender. Then take it out, strain the liquor and set it away until the next day. Then skim off the fat, cut up the meat together with the lights and put it into the liquor, put it on the fire and season it with salt, pepper, cloves and mace. Add onions and sweet herbs if you like, stew it gently for half an hour. Just before you take it up, add half a pint of white wine. For the balls, chop lean veal fine with a little salt pork, add the brains and season it with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, sweet herbs or curry powder. Make it up into balls about the size of half an egg, boil part in the soup and fry the remainder and put them in a dish by themselves. 66. Beef or black soup. The shank of beef is the best part for soup. Cold roast beef bones and beef steak make very good soup. Boil the shank four or five hours in water enough to cover it. Half an hour before the soup is put on the table, take up the meat, thicken the soup with scorched flour mixed with cold water, season it with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, a little walnut or tomato ketchup improves it, put in sweet herbs or herb spirit if you like. Some cooks boil onions in the soup, but as they are very disagreeable to many persons, it is better to boil and serve them up in a dish by themselves. Make force meat balls of part of the beef and pork, season them with mace, cloves, pepper and salt and boil them in the soup 15 minutes. 67. Chicken or turkey soup. The liquor that a turkey or chicken is boiled in makes a good soup. If you do not like your soup fat, let the liquor remain till the day after the poultry has been boiled in it, then skim off the fat, set it where it will boil. If there was not any rice boiled with the meat, put in half a tea cup full when the liquor boils or slice up a few potatoes and put in. Season it with salt and pepper, sweet herbs and a little celery boiled in it improves it. Toast bread or crackers and put them in the soup when you take it up. 68. Oyster soup. Separate the oysters from the liquor, to each quarter of the liquor put a pint of milk or water, set it on the fire with the oysters. Mix a heaping tablespoon full of flour with a little water and stir it into the liquor as soon as it boils. Season it with salt, pepper and a little walnut or butternut vinegar if you have it, if not common vinegar may be substituted. Put in a small lump of butter and turn it as soon as it boils up again onto buttered toast cut into small pieces. 69. Pea soup. If you make your soup of dry peas, soak them overnight in a warm place using a quarter of water to each quarter of the peas. Early the next morning boil them an hour. Boil with them a teaspoon full of Salaratus, eight or ten minutes, then take them out of the water they were soaking in, put them into fresh water with a pound of salt pork and boil it till the peas are soft which will be in the course of three or four hours. Green peas for soup require no soaking and boiling only long enough to have the pork get thoroughly cooked which will be in the course of an hour. 70. Portable soup. Take beef or veal soup and let it get perfectly cold, then skim off every particle of the grease. Set it on the fire and let it boil till of a thick glutinous consistency. Care should be taken that it does not burn. Season it highly with salt, pepper, cloves and mace, add a little wine or brandy and then turn it onto earthen platters. It should not be more than a quarter of an inch in thickness. Let it remain until cold then cut it in pieces three inches square, set them in the sun to dry turning them frequently. When perfectly dry put them in an earthen or tin vessel having a layer of white paper between each layer. These if the directions are strictly attended to will keep good a long time. Whenever you wish to make a soup of them nothing more is necessary than to put a quart of water to one of the cakes and heat it very hot. 71. To boil eggs. They should be put into boiling water and if you wish to have them soft boil them only three minutes. If you wish to have them hard enough to cut in slices boil them five minutes. Another way which is very nice is to break the shells and drop the eggs into a pan of scalding hot water. Let it stand till the white is set then put the pan on a moderate fire. When the water boils up the eggs are cooked sufficiently. Eggs look very prettily cooked in this way the yolk being just visible through the white. If you do not use the eggs for a garnish serve them up with burnt butter. See receipt for making number 42. 72. Omelette. Beat the eggs to a froth and to a dozen of eggs put three ounces of finely minced wild ham, beef or veal. If the later meters used add a little salt. Melt a quarter of a pound of butter mix a little of it with the eggs it should be just luke warm. Set the remainder of the butter on the fire in a frying or tin pan. When quite hot turn in the eggs beaten to a froth stir them until they begin to set. When brown on the underside it is sufficiently cooked. The omelette should be cooked on a moderate fire and in a pan small enough to have the omelette an inch thick. When you take them up lay a flat dish on them then turn the pan upside down. 73 poached eggs. Break the eggs into a pan beat them to a froth then put them into a buttered tin pan. Set the pan on a few coals put in a small lump of butter a little salt. Let them cook very slowly stirring them constantly until they become quite thick then turn them onto buttered toast. End of chapter 5. Recording by Stuart Bell, Cambridge, UK. Chapter 74. Directions for broiling, boiling and frying fish. Fish for boiling or broiling are the best the day after they are caught. They should be cleaned when first caught washed in cold water and half a tea cup of salt sprinkled on the inside of them. If they are to be broiled sprinkle pepper on the inside of them. Keep them in a cool place. When fish is broiled the bars of the gridiron should be rubbed over with a little butter and the inside of the fish put towards the fire and not turned till the fish is nearly cooked through. Then butter the skin side and turn it over. Fish should be broiled slowly. When fresh fish is to be boiled it should either be laid on a fish drainer or sewed up in a cloth. If not it is very difficult to take it out of the pot without breaking. Put the fish into cold water with the backbone down. To eight or ten pounds of fish put half a small tea cup of salt. Boil the fish until you can draw out one of the fins easily. Most kinds of fish will boil sufficiently in the course of twenty or thirty minutes. Some kinds will boil in less time. Some cooks do not put their fish into the water till it boils but it is not a good plan as the outside gets cooked too much and breaks to pieces before the inside is sufficiently done. Fish for frying after being cleaned and washed should be put into a cloth to have it absorb the moisture. They should be dried perfectly and a little flour rubbed over them. No salt should be put on them if you wish to have them brown well. For five or six pounds of fish fry three or four slices of salt pork. When brown take them up and if they do not make fat sufficient to fry the fish in add a little lard. When the fish are fried enough take them up and for good plain gravy mix two or three teaspoons full of flour with little water and stir it into the fat the fish was fried in. Put in a little butter, pepper, and salt if you wish to have the gravy rich. Add spices, katsup, and wine. Turn the gravy over the fish. Boiled fish should be served up with drawn butter or liver sauce. See directions for making each, numbers forty one and fifty one. Fish when put on the platter should not be laid over each other if it can be avoided as the steam from the under ones makes those on the top so moist that they will break the pieces when served out. Great care and punctuality is necessary in cooking fish. If not done sufficiently or if done too much they are not good. They should be eaten as soon as cooked. For a garnish to the fish use parsley, a lemon, or eggs boiled hard and cut in slices. Chapter seventy five. Chowder. Fry three or four slices of pork till brown. Cut each of your fish into five or six slices. Flour and put a layer of them in your pork fat. Sprinkle on pepper and a little salt. Add cloves, mace, and sliced onions if you like. Lay on several bits of your fried pork and crackers previously soaked soft in cold water. This process repeat till you get in all the fish then turn on water enough to just cover them. Put on a heated big pan lid. When the fish have stood about twenty minutes take them up and mix a couple of teaspoons full of flour with a little water and stir it into the gravy also a little butter and pepper. Half a pint of white wine, spices, and katsup will improve it. Bass and cod make the best chowder. Blackfish and clams make tolerably good ones. The hard part of the clams should be cut off and thrown away. Seventy-six. Stuffed and baked fish. Soak bread in cold water till soft. Drain off the water. Mash the bread fine. Mix it with a tablespoon full of melted butter. A little pepper and salt. A couple of raw eggs mix the dressing cut smoother. Add spices if you like. Fill the fish with the dressing. Sew it up. Put a tea cup of water in your bake pan and a small piece of butter. Lay in the fish. Bake it from forty to fifty minutes. Fresh cod, bass, and shad are suitable fish for baking. Seventy-seven. Codfish. Fresh cod is good boiled, fried, or made into a chowder. It is too dry a fish to broil. Salt cod should be soaked in lukewarm water till the skin will come off easily. Then take up the fish, scrape off the skin and put it in fresh water and set it on a very moderate fire where it will keep warm without boiling as it hardens by boiling. It takes between three and four hours to cook it soft. Serve it up with drawn butter. Cold salt codfish is nice minced fine and mixed with mashed potatoes and warmed up with just water enough to moisten it and considerable butter. It makes a nice dish for breakfast. Prepared in the following manner. Pull the fish into small pieces. Soak it an hour in warm water. Then drain off the water. Put a little milk and butter to it. Stew it a few minutes and serve it up with soft boiled eggs. Seventy-eight. Cod sounds and tongues. Soak them four or five hours in lukewarm water. Then take them out of the water, scrape off the skin, cut them once and two and stew them in a little milk. Just before they are taken up, stir in butter and a little flour. Seventy-nine. Halibut. Is nice cut in slices, salted and peppered and broiled or fried. The fins and thick part is good boiled. Eighty. Striped and sea bass. Bass are good fried, boiled, broiled or made into a chowder. Eighty-one. Blackfish. Are the best boiled or fried. They will do to broil, but are not so good as cooked in any other way. Eighty-two. Shad. Fresh shad are good baked or boiled, but better broiled. For broiling they should have a good deal of salt and pepper sprinkled on the inside of them and remain several hours before broiling. The spawn and liver are good boiled or fried. Salt shad and mackerel for broiling should be soaked ten or twelve hours in cold water. Salt shad for boiling need not be soaked only long enough to get off the scales without you like them quite fresh. If so, turn boiling water on them and let them soak in it an hour. Then put them into fresh boiling water and boil them twenty minutes. To pickle shad, mix one pound of sugar, a peck of rock salt, two quarts of blown salt and a quarter of a pound of salt peter. Allow this quantity to every twenty-five shad. Put a layer of the mixture at the bottom of the keg, then a layer of cleaned shad with the skin side down. Sprinkle on another layer of salt, sugar, and salt peter. And so on till you get in all the shad. Lay a heavy weight on the shad to keep it under the brine. If the juice of the shad does not run out so as to form brine sufficient to cover them in the course of a week, make a little brine and turn on to them. Eighty-three, sturgeons. Sturgeons are good boiled or baked, but better fried. Before baking it, boil it about fifteen minutes to extract the strong oily taste and when baked, two-eight or ten pounds of it put a quart of water into the pan and bake it till tender. Sea directions for baking fish, number seventy-six. The part next to the tail is the best for baking or frying. Sturgeons are very nice cooked in the following manner. Cut it in slices nearly an inch thick. Fry a few slices of pork. When brown, take them up and put in the sturgeon. When a good brown color, take them up and stir in a little flour and water. Mix smoothly together. Season the gravy with salt, pepper, and catsup. Stir in a little butter and wine, if you like. Then put back the sturgeon and let it stew a few minutes in the gravy. While the sturgeon is cooking, make forced meatballs of part of the sturgeon and salt pork. Fry and use them as a garnish for the fish. Eighty-four, fish cakes. Cold boiled fresh fish, or salt cod fish, is nice minced vine with potatoes, moistened with a little water and a little butter put in, done up into cakes of the size of common biscuit, and fried brown and pork fat or butter. Eighty-five, fish forced meatballs. Take a little uncooked fish. Chop it fine, together with a little raw salt pork. Mix it with one or two raw eggs, a few breadcrumbs, and season the whole with pepper and spices. Add little catsup, if you like. Do them up into small balls, and fry them till brown. Eighty-six, lobsters and crabs. Put them into boiling water, and boil them from half to three-quarters of an hour, according to their size. Boil half a tea cup of salt with every four pounds of the fish. When cold, crack the shell, and take out the meat, taking care to extract the blue veins, and what is called the lady and the lobster, as they are very unhealthy. If the fish are not eaten cold, warm them up with a little water, vinegar, salt, pepper, and butter. The following way of dressing lobsters looks very prettily. Pick out the spawn, and red cord, mash them fine, rub them through a sieve, put in a little butter and salt. Cut the lobsters into squares, and warm it together with the spawn over a moderate fire. When hot, take it up, and garnish it with parsley. The cord and spawn are a handsome garnish for any kind of fish. Eighty-seven, scallops. Are nice-boiled, and then fried, or boiled, and pickled, in the same manner as oysters. Take them out of the shells. When boiled, pick out the hearts, and throw the rest away, as the heart is the only part that is healthy to eat. Dip the hearts in flour, and fry them in lard till brown. The hearts are good stewed, with a little water, butter, salt, and pepper. Eighty-eight, eels. Eels, if very large, are best split open, cut into short pieces, and seasoned with salt and pepper, and broiled several hours after they have been salted. They are good cut into small strips, and laid in a deep dish, with bits of salt-pork, seasoned with salt and pepper, and covered with pounded rust bread, then baked half an hour. Small eels are the best fried. Eighty-nine, trout. Trout are good boiled, broiled, or fried. They are also good stewed a few minutes, with bits of salt-pork, butter, and a little water. Trout, as well as all other kinds of freshwater fish, are apt to have an earthy taste. To remove it, soak them in salt and water a few minutes after they are cleaned. Ninety, clams. Wash and put them in a pot, with just water enough to prevent the shells burning at the bottom of the pot. Heat them till the shells open. Take the clams out of them, and warm them with a little of the clam liquor, a little salt, butter, and pepper. Toast a slice or two of bread, soak it in the clam liquor, lay it in a deep dish, and turn the clams onto it. For clam pancakes, mix flour and milk together to form a thick batter. Some cooks use the clam liquor, but it does not make the pancakes as light as the milk. To each pint of the milk, put a couple of eggs and a few clams. They are good taken out of the shells without stewing, and chopped fine, or stewed, and put into the cake's hole. Very large, long clams are good taken out of the shells without stewing, and broiled. Ninety one, stewed oysters. Strain the oyster liquor. Rinse the bits of shells off the oysters, then turn the liquor back onto the oysters, and put them in a stew pan. Set them where they will boil up, then turn them onto buttered toast. Salt, pepper, and butter them to your taste. Some cooks add a little walnut katsup, or vinegar. The oysters should not be cooked till just before they are to be eaten. Ninety two, to fry oysters. Take those that are large. Dip them in beaten eggs, and then in flour, or fine breadcrumbs. Fry them in lard till of a light brown. They are a nice garnish for fish. They will keep good for several months if fried, when first cut, salted, and peppered, then put into a bottle, and corked tight. Whenever they are to be eaten, warm them in a little water. Ninety three, oyster pancakes. Mix equal quantities of milk and oyster juice together. To a pint of this liquor, when mixed, put a pint of wheat flour, a few oysters, a couple of eggs, and a little salt. Drop it by the large spoonful into hot lard. Ninety four, oyster pie. Line a deep pie plate with pie crust. Fill it with dry pieces of bread. Cover it over with puff paste. Bake it till a light brown, either in a quick oven, or bake pan. Have the oysters just stewed by the time the crust is done. Take off the upper crust. Remove the pieces of bread. Put in the oysters. Season them with salt, pepper, and butter. A little walnut katsup improves the pie, but is not essential. Cover it with the crust. Ninety five, scalloped oysters. Pound rust bread, or crackers, fine. Butter, scalloped shells, or tins, sprinkle on the breadcrumbs, then put in a layer of oysters. A small lump of butter, pepper, salt, and a little of the oyster juice. Then put on another layer of crumbs and oysters. And so on, till the shells are filled. Having a layer of crumbs at the top. Bake them till a light brown. End of Section Six Chapter Seven of The American Housewife This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The American Housewife by Anonymous Chapter Seven Vegetables Section 96 Potatoes The best way to cook Irish potatoes is to pair and put them in a pot with just boiling water enough to prevent their burning and a little salt. Cover them tight and let them stew till you can stick a fork through them easily. If any water remains in the pot, turn it off. Put the pot where it will keep moderately warm and let the potatoes steam a few moments longer. The easiest way to cook them is to put them in boiling water with the skins on and boiled constantly till done. They will not be mealy if they lie soaking in the water without boiling. They are more mealy to peel them as soon as tender and then put back in the pot without any water and set in a warm place where they will steam with the lid of the pot off. Old and poor potatoes are best boiled till soft, then peeled and mashed fine with a little salt, butter and very little milk put in, then put into a dish smoothed over with a knife, a little flour sprinkled over it and put where it will brown. Cold mashed or whole boiled potatoes are nice cut in slices and fried with just butter or lard enough to prevent their burning. When brown on both sides take them up, salt and butter them. Most potatoes will boil in the course of half an hour, new ones will boil in less time. Sweet potatoes are better baked than boiled. Section 97 Potato Snowballs Take the white mealy kind of potatoes, pair them and put them into just boiling water enough to cover them, add a little salt. When boiled tender, drain off the water and let them steam till they break to pieces. Take them up, put two or three at a time compactly together in a strong cloth and press them tight in the form of a ball. Then lay them in your potato dish carefully so as not to fall apart. Section 98 Turnips White turnips require about as much boiling as potatoes. When tender, take them up, peel and mash them, season them with a little salt and butter. Yellow turnips require about two hours boiling. If very large, split them in two. The tops of white turnips make a good salad. Section 99 Beets Beets should not be cut or scraped before they are boiled or the juice will run out and make them insipid. In summer, they will boil in an hour. In winter, it takes three hours to boil them tender. The tops in summer are good boiled for greens. Boiled beets cut in slices and put in cold spiced vinegar for several days are very nice. Section 100 Parsnips and Carrots Wash them and split them in two. Lay them in a stew pan with the flat side down. Put on boiling water enough to cover them. Boil them till tender. Then take them up and take off the skin and butter them. Many cooks boil them whole but it is not a good plan as the outside gets done too much before the inside is cooked sufficiently. Cold boiled parsnips are good cut in slices and fried brown. Section 101 Onions Peel and put them in boiling milk. Water will give but it is not as good. When boiled tender, take them up, salt them and turn a little melted butter over them. Section 102 Artichokes Scrape and put them in boiling water with a tablespoon full of salt to a couple of dozen. When boiled tender, which will be in about two hours, take them up, salt and butter each one. Section 103 Squashes Summer squashes, if very young, may be boiled whole. If not, they should be paired, quartered and the seeds taken out. When boiled very tender, take them up, put them in a strong cloth and press out all the water. Mash them, salt and butter them to your taste. The next part of the winter squash is the best. Cut it in narrow strips, take off the rind and boil the squash in salt and water till tender. Then drain off the water and let the pumpkin steam over a moderate fire for 10 or 12 minutes. It is good not mashed, if mashed add a little butter. Section 104 Cabbage and Cauliflower Trim off the loose leaves of the cabbage, cut the stocky in quarters to the heart of the cabbage, boil it an hour. If not boiled with corned beef, put a little salt in the water in which they are boiled. White cauliflower are the best. Take off the outside leaves, cut the stock close to the leaves. Let them lie in salt and cold water for half an hour before boiling them. Boil them 15 or 20 minutes according to their size. Milk and water is the best to boil them in, but clear water does very well. Put a little salt in the pot in which they are boiled. Section 105 Asparagus Cut the white part of the stalks off and throw it away. Cut the lower part of the stalks in thin slices if tough and boil them 8 or 10 minutes before the upper part is put in. Lay the remainder compactly together, tie it carefully in small bundles and boil it from 15 to 20 minutes according to its age. Boil a little salt with them and a quarter of a teaspoonful of Salaratis to 2 or 3 quarts of water to preserve their fresh green colour. Just before your asparagus is done, toast a slice of bread, moisten it with a little of the asparagus liquor. Lay it in your asparagus dish and butter it. Then take up the asparagus carefully with a skimmer and lay it on the toast. Take off the string, salt it and turn a little melted butter over the whole. Section 106 Peas Peas should be put into boiling water with salt and Salaratis in the proportion of a quarter of a teaspoonful of Salaratis to half a peck of peas. Boil them from 15 to 30 minutes according to their age and kind. When boiled tender, take them out of the water with a skimmer, salt and butter them to the taste. Peas to be good should be fresh gathered and not shelled till just before they are cooked. Section 107 Sweet Corn Corn is much sweeter to be boiled on the cob. If made into sucatosh, cut it from the cobs and boil it with lima beans and a few slices of salt pork. It requires boiling from 15 to 30 minutes according to its age. Section 108 To cook various kinds of beans. French beans should have the strings taken off. If old, the edges should be cut off and the beans cut through the middle. Boil them with a little salt from 25 to 40 minutes according to their age. A little Salaratis boiled with them preserves their green color and makes them more healthy. Salt and butter them when taken up. Lima beans can be kept the year round by being perfectly dried when fresh gathered in the pots or being put without drying into a kig with a layer of salt to each layer of beans having a layer of salt at the bottom of the kig. Cover them tight and keep them in a cool place. Whenever you wish to cook them, soak them overnight in cold water. Shell and boil them with a little Salaratis. White beans for baking should be picked over carefully to get out the colored and bad ones. Wash and soak them overnight in a pot set where they will keep lukewarm. There should be about 3 quarts of water to 3 pints of the beans. The next morning set them where they will boil with a teaspoon full of Salaratis. When they have boiled 4 or 5 minutes take them up with a skimmer. Put them in a baking pot. Gash a pound of pork and put it down in the pot so as to have the beans cover all but the upper surface till you can just see it at the top. They will bake in a hot oven in the course of 3 hours but they are better to remain in it 5 or 6 hours. Beans are good prepared in the same manner as for baking and stewed several hours without baking. Section 109. Greens. White mustard, spinach, watercresses, dandelions and the leaps and roots of very small beets are the best greens. Boil them with a little salt and Salaratis in the water. If not fresh and plump, soak them in salt and water half an hour before cooking them. When they are boiled enough they will sink to the bottom of the pot. Section 110. Salads. To be in perfection, salads should be fresh gathered and kept in cold water for an hour before they are put on the table. The water should be drained from them and if you have not any salad oil melt a little butter and put it in a separate dish. If turned over the salad it will not be crispy. Section 111. Cucumbers. To be healthy they should not be picked longer than a day before they are to be eaten. They should be kept in cold water and 15 or 20 minutes before they are to be eaten, pair and slice them into fresh cold water to take out the slimy matter. Just before they are put on the table drain off the water. Put them in a deep dish, sprinkle on a good deal of salt and pepper cover them with vinegar. Cucumbers are thought by many people to be very unhealthy but if properly prepared they will not be found to be any more unwholesome than most other summer vegetables. Section 112. To stew mushrooms. Cut off the lower part of the stem as it is apt to have an earthy taste. Peel and put them in a saucepan with just water enough at the bottom to prevent their burning to the pan. Put in a little salt and shake them occasionally while stewing to prevent their burning. When they have stewed quite tender put in a little butter and pepper add spices and wine if you like. They should stew very slowly till tender and not be seasoned till just before they are taken up. Serve them up on buttered toast. Section 113. Eggplant. Boil them a few moments to extract the bitter taste then cut them in thick slices. Sprinkle a little salt between each slice, let them lie half an hour then fry them till brown in lard. Section 114. Celery Act. This is an excellent vegetable but is little known. The stalks of it can hardly be distinguished from celery and it is much easier cultivated. The roots are nice boiled tender, cut in thin slices and put in soup or meat pies or cooked in the following manner and eaten with meat. Scrape and cut them in slices, boil them till very tender then drain off the water. Sprinkle a little salt over them, turn in milk enough to cover them. When they have stewed about 4 or 5 minutes turn them into a dish and add a little butter. Section 115. Salcify or vegetable oyster. The best way to cook it is to par boil it after scraping off the outside then cut it in slices dip it into a beaten egg and fine bread crumbs and fry it in lard. It is very good boiled then stewed a few minutes in milk with a little butter and salt. Another way which is very good is to make a batter of wheat flour, milk and eggs. Cut the salcify in thin slices after having been boiled tender. Put them into the batter with a little salt. Drop this mixture into hot fat by the large spoonful. When they are light brown they are cooked sufficiently. Section 116. Tomatoes. If very ripe will skin easily if not pour scalding water on them and let them remain in it 4 or 5 minutes. Peel and put them in a stew pan with a tablespoon full of water if not very juicy. If so no water will be required. Put in a little salt and stew them for half an hour. Then turn them into a deep dish with buttered toast. Another way of cooking them which is considered very nice by Epicures is to put them in a deep dish with fine bread crumbs. Crackers pound it fine, a layer of each alternately. Put small bits of butter, a little salt and pepper on each layer. Some cooks add a little nutmeg and sugar. Have a layer of bread crumbs on the top. Bake it 3 quarters of an hour. Section 117. Gumbo. Take an equal quantity of young tender okra chopped fine and ripe tomatoes, skinned and onion cut into slices, a small lump of butter, a little salt and pepper. Put the whole in a stew pan with a tablespoon full of water and stew it till tender. Section 118. Southern Manor of Boiling Rice. Pick over the rice, rinse it in cold water a number of times to get it perfectly clean. Drain off the water then put it in a pot of boiling water with a little salt. Allow as much as a quart of water to a tea cup of rice as it absorbs the water very much while boiling. Boil it 17 minutes then turn the water off very close. Set the pot over a few coals and let it steam 15 minutes with the lid of the pot off. The beauty of rice boiled in this way is that each kernel stands out by itself while it is quite tender. Great care is necessary to be used in the time of boiling and steaming it as a few moments variation in the time makes a great deal of difference in the looks of it. The water should boil hard when the rice is put in and not suffered to stop boiling till turned off to have the rice steamed. The water that the rice is boiled in makes good starch for muslin if boiled a few minutes by itself. End of Chapter 7 Chapter 8 of The American Housewife This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Nick Number The American Housewife by Anonymous Chapter 8 119. Directions for Pickling Vinegar for pickling should be good but not of the sharpest kind. Brass utensils should be used for pickling. They should be thoroughly cleaned before using and no vinegar should be allowed to cool in them as the rust formed by so doing is very poisonous. Boil alum and salt in the vinegar in the proportion of half a tea cup of salt and a tablespoon full of alum to three gallons of vinegar. Stone and wooden vessels are the only kinds of utensils that are good to keep pickles in. Vessels that have had any grease in will not do for pickles as no washing will kill the grease that the pot is absorbed. All kinds of pickles should be stirred up occasionally. If there is any soft ones among them they should be taken out, the vinegar scalded and turned back while hot. If very weak throw it away and use fresh vinegar. Whenever any scum rises the vinegar needs scalding. If you do not wish to have all your pickles spiced it is a good plan to keep a stone pot of spiced vinegar by itself and put in a few of your pickles a short time before they are to be eaten. 120. To Pickle Peppers Procure those that are fresh and green. If you do not like them very fiery cut a small slit in them and take the seeds out carefully with a small knife so as not to mangle the pepper. Soak them in salt and water eight or nine days changing the water each day. Keep them in a warm place. If you like them stuffed chop white cabbage fine season it highly with cloves, cinnamon, mace and fill the peppers with it. Add nasturtians if you like. Sew them up carefully and put them in cold spiced vinegar. Tomatoes when very small and green are good pickled with the peppers. 121. Mangoes Procure muskmelons as late in the season as possible. If pickled early they are not apt to keep well. Cut a small piece from the side that lies upon the ground while growing. Take out the seeds and if the citron or nutmeg melons are used for mangoes the rough part should be scraped off. The long common muskmelons make the best mangoes. Soak the melons in salt and water three or four days then take them out of the water, sprinkle on the inside of the melons, powdered cloves, pepper, nutmeg, fill them with small strips of horseradish, cinnamon and small string beans. Flag root, nasturtians and radish tops are also nice to fill them with. Fill the crevices with American mustard seed. Put back the pieces of melon that were cut off and bind the melon up tight with white cotton cloth, sew it on. Lay the melons in a stone jar with the part that the covers are on up. Put into vinegar for the mangoes, alum, salt and peppercorns in the same proportion as for cucumbers. Heat it scalding hot then turn it onto the melons. Barberries or radish tops pickled in bunches are a pretty garnish for mangoes. The barberries preserve their natural color best by being first dried. Whenever you wish to use them turn boiling vinegar on them and let them lie in it several hours to swell out. 122. To Pickle Butternuts and Walnuts The nuts for pickling should be gathered as early as July unless the season is very backward. When a pin will go through them easily they are young enough to pickle. Soak them in salt and water a week then drain it off. Rub them with a cloth to get off the roughness. To a gallon of vinegar put a teacup of salt, a tablespoon full of powdered cloves and mace mixed together, half an ounce of allspice and peppercorns. Boil the vinegar and spices and turn it while hot onto the nuts. In the course of a week scald the vinegar and turn it back on them while hot. They will be fit to eat in the course of a fortnight. 123. Peaches and Apricots Take those of a full growth but perfectly green. Put them in salt and water strong enough to bear up an egg. When they have been in a week take them out and wipe them carefully with a soft cloth. Lay them in a pickle jar. Put to a gallon of vinegar half an ounce of cloves the same quantity of peppercorns, sliced ginger and mustard seed. Add salt and boil the vinegar then turn it onto the peaches scalding hot. Turn the vinegar from them several times. Heat it scalding hot and turn it back while hot. 124. To Pickle Cabbage and Cauliflower Purple cabbages are the best for pickling. Pull off the loose leaves, quarter the cabbages, put them in a keg and sprinkle a great deal of salt on each one. Let them remain 5 or 6 days. To a gallon of vinegar put an ounce of mace, one of peppercorns and cinnamon. Cloves and allspice improve the taste of the cabbages but they turn it a dark color. Heat the vinegar scalding hot, put in a little alum and turn it while hot onto the cabbages. The salt should remain that was sprinkled on the cabbages. Turn the vinegar from the cabbages 6 or 7 times. Heat it scalding hot and turn it back while hot to make them tender. Cauliflower are pickled in the same manner. Cauliflower is cut into bunches and pickled with beet roots sliced look very prettily. 125. East India Pickle Chop cabbage fine leaving out the stalks together with 3 or 4 onions, a root of horseradish and a couple of green peppers to each cabbage. Soak the whole in salt and water 3 or 4 days. Spice some vinegar very strong with mace, cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Heat it scalding hot, add alum and salt and turn it onto the cabbage, onions and pepper which should previously have all the brine drained from them. This pickle will be fit to eat in the course of 3 or 4 weeks. 126. French Beans and Radish Pods Gather them while quite small and tender. Keep them in salt and water till you get through collecting them, changing the water as often as once in 4 or 5 days. Then scald them with hot salt and water, let them lie in it till cool, then turn on hot vinegar spiced with peppercorns, mace and allspice. The radish top, if pickled in small bunches, are a pretty garnish for other pickles. 127. Nasturtian Take them when small and green, put them in salt and water, change the water once in 3 days. When you have done collecting the nasturtians, turn off the brine and pour on scalding hot vinegar. 128. Samfire Procure a samfire that is fresh and green, let it lay in salt for 3 days, then take it out and for a peck of samfire, spice a gallon of vinegar with a couple of dozen of peppercorns, add half a teacup of salt, heat the vinegar scalding hot and turn it on to the samfire while hot. Cover it close. In the course of 10 days, turn the vinegar from the samfire, heat it scalding hot and turn it back. 129. Onions Peel and boil them in milk and water 10 minutes. To a gallon of vinegar, put half an ounce of cinnamon and mace, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, a small teacup of salt, and half an ounce of alum. Heat the vinegar together with the spices scalding hot and turn it on to the onions, which should previously have the water and milk drained from them. Cover them tight till cold. 130. Artichokes Soak the artichokes in salt and water for several days, then drain and rub them till you get all the skin off. Turn boiling vinegar on them with salt, alum, and peppercorns in it in the same proportion as for cucumbers. Let them remain a week, then turn off the vinegar, scald it, and turn it back while hot on to the artichokes. Continue to turn boiling vinegar on to the artichokes till thoroughly pickled. 131. Cucumbers Gather those that are small and green and have a quick growth. Turn boiling water on them as soon as picked. Let them remain in it 4 or 5 hours, then put them in cold vinegar with alum and salt in the proportion of a tablespoonful of the former and a teacup of the latter to every gallon of vinegar. When you have done collecting the cucumbers for pickling, turn the vinegar from the cucumbers, scald and skim it till clear, then put in the pickles, let them scald without boiling for a few minutes. Then turn them while hot into the vessel you intend to keep them in. A few peppers or peppercorns improve the taste of the cucumbers. Cucumbers to be brittle need scalding several times. If the vinegar is weak, it should be thrown away and fresh put to the cucumbers with more alum and salt. Another method of pickling cucumbers, which is good, is to put them in salt and water as you pick them, changing the salt and water once in 3 or 4 days. When you have done collecting your cucumbers for pickling, take them out of the salt and water, turn on scalding hot vinegar with alum, salt and peppercorns in it. 132. Gherkins Put them in strong brine, keep them in a warm place. When they turn yellow, drain off the brine and turn hot vinegar on them. Let them remain in it till they turn green, keeping them in a warm place. Then turn off the vinegar, add fresh scalding hot vinegar spiced with mace, allspice and peppercorns. Add alum and salt in the same proportion as for cucumbers. 133. To Pickle Oysters Take the oysters from the liquor, strain and boil it. Rinse the oysters if there are any bits of the shells attached to them. Put them into the liquor while boiling. Boil them one minute, then take them out of it, and to the liquor put a few peppercorns, cloves and a blade or two of mace. Add a little salt in the same quantity of vinegar as oyster juice. Let the whole boil 15 minutes, then turn it on to the oysters. If you wish to keep the oysters for a number of weeks, bottle and cork them tight as soon as cold. 134. To Pickle Mushrooms Peel and stew them with just water enough to prevent their sticking at the bottom of the pan. Shake them occasionally to prevent their burning. When tender, take them up and put them in scalding hot vinegar spiced with mace, cloves and peppercorns. Add a little salt. Bottle and cork them tight if you wish to keep them long. 155. To Pickle Oysters