Chapter IV: Part 4

Prepare as you would a chicken for roasting. Lay in a pan and pour boiling water over them or, if convenient, steam them. Scald a few large fresh oysters till just plump, season them with cayenne pepper, salt and butter. Pour into the cavity of each bird a few drops of pepper-sauce and then put a large oyster in each. Broil a short time, frequently turning that they may not become dry. If not ready to serve them as soon as they are done, lay in a tin bucket, butter them and sprinkle them again with black pepper, cover the bucket and set it over boiling water till wanted. When laid in the dish, sift browned cracker over the birds, and pour gravy into the dish.--_Mrs. T._

_To Cook Sora, Ortolans, and Other Small Birds._

After they are split open in the back and dressed, lay them in weak salt and water for a short time. Then lay them on a board and roll with a rolling-pin to flatten the breastbone. Put butter, pepper, and salt on them. Lay them on a gridiron and broil slowly. When just done, add more butter and pepper, lay in a flat tin bucket, which set over a vessel of boiling water to keep the birds hot, juicy, and tender till wanted.--_Mrs. T._

SORA, ORTOLANS, ROBINS, AND OTHER SMALL BIRDS.

They should be carefully cleaned, buttered, sprinkled with pepper and salt, and broiled. When they are served, butter them again. If you like, serve each bird on a piece of toast, and pour over them a sauce of red wine, mushroom catsup, salt, cayenne pepper, and celery.

MEATS.

All meats are better in winter for being kept several weeks, and it is well, in summer, to keep them as long as you can without danger of their being tainted. If it is not in your power to keep meat in an ice-house, in summer, keep it in a cool dark cellar, wrapped around with wet cloths, on top of which lay boughs of elderberry. The evaporation from the cloth will keep the meat cool and the elderberry will keep off insects.

If you should unfortunately be obliged to use stale meat or poultry, rub it in and out with soda, before washing it. Tough meats and poultry are rendered more tender by putting a little vinegar or a few slices of lemon in the water in which they are boiled. The use of an acid will save time and fuel in cooking them and will render them more tender and digestible.

If possible, keep the meat so clean that it will not be necessary to wash it, as water extracts the juices. When it is frozen, lay it in cold water to thaw, and then cook quickly, to prevent its losing its moisture and sweetness.

In roasting or boiling, use but little salt at first, as it hardens meat to do otherwise. In roasting, baste frequently, to prevent the meat from hardening on the outside, and try to preserve the juices. If possible, roast the meat on a spit before a large, open fire, after using salt, pepper, butter or lard, and dredging with flour. Where an open fire-place cannot be obtained, however, the meat may be well roasted in a stove or range. Mutton, pork, shote and veal should be well done, but beef should be cooked rare.

In boiling, put on salt meat in cold water, but fresh meat in hot. Remember also that salt meat requires more water and a longer time to cook than fresh. Boil slowly, removing the scum that rises when it begins to simmer. Keep a tea-kettle of boiling water at hand to replenish the water in the pot, as it boils away. Do not let the meat boil too hard or too long, as this will toughen it and extract the juices. Add salt to fresh meat, just before it is done.

Lardering beef, veal, and poultry is a great improvement, keeping it moist whilst cooking and adding richness to the flavor. Lardering consists in introducing slips of clear fat bacon or salt pork, into the surface of meat, by means of a pin, sharp at one end and cleft into four divisions at the other. This pin may be obtained at any hardware store.

As the housekeeper is sometimes hurried in preparing a dish, it will save time and trouble for her to keep on hand a bottle of meat-flavoring compounded of the following ingredients.

2 chopped onions.
3 pods of red pepper (chopped).
2 tablespoonfuls brown sugar.
1 tablespoonful celery seed.
1 tablespoonful ground mustard.
1 teaspoonful turmeric.
1 teaspoonful black pepper.
1 teaspoonful salt.

Put all in a quart bottle and fill it up with cider vinegar. A tablespoonful of this mixed in a stew, steak, or gravy, will impart not only a fine flavor, but a rich color. Keeping this mixture on hand will obviate the necessity of the housekeeper looking through various spice boxes and packages to get together the requisite ingredients for flavoring, and will thus save her time and trouble.

HOW TO SELECT MEATS.

Good and wholesome meat should be neither of a pale rosy or pink color, nor of a deep purple. The first denotes the diseased condition, the last proves the animal has died a natural death. Good meat has more of a marble look, in consequence of the branching of the veins which surround the adipose cells. The fat, especially of the inner organs, is always firm and suety and never moist, while in general the fat from diseased cattle is flabby and watery and more often resembles jelly or boiled parchment. Wholesome meat will always show itself firm and elastic to the touch, and exhibit no dampness, while bad meat will appear soft and moist, in fact, often more wet, so that the liquid substance runs out of the blood when pressed hard. Good meat has very little smell and diffuses a certain medicinal odor. This can be distinctly proved by cutting the meat through with a knife and smelling the blade or pouring water over it. Lastly, bad meat has the peculiarity that it shrinks considerably in the boiling, wholesome meat rather swells and does not lose an ounce in weight.

OBSERVATIONS ON PORK, CURING BACON, ETC.

Hogs weighing from 150 to 200 pounds are the most suitable size for family use. They should not exceed twelve months in age, as they are much more tender from being young. They should be well kept and should be corn-fed several weeks before being killed. After being properly dressed, they should hang long enough to get rid of the animal heat. When they are ready to be cut up, they should be divided into nine principal parts, two hams, two shoulders, two middlings, the head or face, jowl and chine. The hog is laid on its back to be cut up. The head is cut off just below the ears, then it is split down on each side of the backbone, which is the chine. This is divided into three pieces, the upper portion being a choice piece to be eaten cold. The fat portion may be cut off to make lard. Each half should then first have the leaf fat taken out, which is done by cutting the thin skin between it and the ribs, when it is easily pulled out. Just under this, the next thing to be removed is the mousepiece or tenderloin, lying along the edge, from which the backbone was removed, commencing at the point of the ham. This is considered the most delicate part and is used to make the nicest sausage. Just under this tenderloin are some short ribs about three inches long, running up from the point of the ham which are known as the griskin. This is removed by a sharp knife being run under it, taking care to cut it smooth and not too thick. When broiled, it is as nice as a partridge.

The ribs are next taken out of the shoulder and middling, though some persons prefer leaving them in the middling. In this case seven should be taken from the shoulder, by a sharp knife cutting close to the ribs, which make a delicious broil. Then cut off the ham as near the bone as possible, in a half circle. The shoulder is then cut square across just behind the leg. The feet are then chopped off with a sharp axe or cleaver. From the shoulder, they should be cut off leaving a stump of about two inches. From the ham, they should be cut off at the joint, as smoothly as possible, and then you may proceed to salt the meat.

In order to impart redness to the hams, rub on each a teaspoonful of pulverized saltpetre before salting. If the weather is very cold, warm the salt before applying it. First rub the skin side well with salt and then the fleshy side, using for the purpose a shoe-sole or leather glove. No more salt should be used than a sufficiency to preserve the meat, as an excess hardens the meat. A bushel of salt is sufficient for a thousand pounds of meat. For the chine and ribs a very light sprinkling of salt will suffice.

The meat as salted should be packed with the skin side down, where it should remain from four to six weeks, according to the weather. If the weather is mild, four weeks will answer. Should the weather be very cold and the pork in an exposed place, it will freeze, and the salt, failing to penetrate the meat, will be apt to injure it.

After it has taken salt sufficiently, the old Virginia mode is to break the bulk, shake off the salt, rub the joint pieces (hams and shoulders) with good, green-wood ashes (hickory preferred). Then rebulk it and let it remain two weeks longer, when it should be hung up with the joints down and the other pieces may be hung up for smoking at the same time. It is not necessary that the smoke-house should be very tight, but it is important that the pork should not be very close to the fire.

A smothered fire made of small billets of wood or chips (hickory preferred), or of corn cobs, should be made up three times a day till the middle of March or first of April, when the joint pieces should be taken down and packed in hickory or other green-wood ashes, as in salt, where they will remain all the summer without danger of bugs interfering with them.

This recipe has been obtained from an old Virginia family, famous for their skill in this department of housekeeping. This mode of curing makes the best bacon in the world, far superior to what are generally called Virginia cured hams.

Shoat (which I must explain to the uninitiated is a term applied in the South to a young pig past the age when it may be cooked whole) should be kept up and fattened on buttermilk, several weeks before being killed, as this makes the flesh extremely delicate. It is best killed when between two and three months old. It should then be divided into four quarters. It is more delicate and wholesome eaten cold.

PORK STEAK.

Remove the skin, beat without breaking into holes; scald with boiling water, wipe dry and broil. When brown lay in a hob dish. Sprinkle over pepper, salt, a little sage, chopped onion, and parsley; then butter profusely.

Grate over all hard biscuit or crackers that have been browned and serve.--_Mrs. S. T._

SPARE-RIBS.

Pork chop and pork cutlet may be cooked in the same way, omitting the onion if not liked.--_Mrs. T._

PORK SPARE-RIB.

With stuffing of sage and onions, roasted spare-rib, done over the potatoes, affords a good substitute for goose.

SPARE-RIBS.

Always parboil spare-ribs: then broil with pepper and salt; cut in pieces three or four bones each.--_Mrs. W._

_Spare-Ribs._

Cut them into pieces of two or three ribs each; put them into a covered stewpan and boil or stew until perfectly done. Just before you take them out, add salt, pepper, and minced parsley.

Put on the cover and simmer until well seasoned.

Take them out of the pan, drain and dry them. For one moment let them scorch on a gridiron over a bed of hot coals; lay on a hot dish; butter each one; pepper added; sift over browned cracker and serve.--_Mrs. S. T._

TO COOK SPARE-RIBS AND GRISKIN OR SHORT-RIBS.

Put them on in a small quantity of water and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes. Gash them with a knife; sprinkle with pepper and put them on a hot gridiron as near the fire as possible; broil quickly, but not too brown. Have some butter melted and pour over the meat and shut it up in the dish. These are good for breakfast.--_Mrs. P. W._

TO COOK BACKBONE OR CHINE.

Cut the chine in three pieces; the large end must be about a foot long, the remainder cut in half. Put it in a pot of water and boil for two hours; then put it in a pan, baste and set it in the stove to brown. Peel some Irish potatoes and put them in the pot; boil till done, mash them up and season with pepper, a little salt, and some of the gravy dripping out of the chine while baking; spread them in the dish, then lay the chine on top. The largest piece is generally put aside to eat cold, and is very nice. Turnips are good, cooked in the same way as potatoes, with the chine.

The chine and ham of a hog are nice, corned like beef.--_Mrs. P. W._

BACKBONE PIE.

Take the smallest end of the backbone, cut in pieces two or three inches long; put in water and boil until done. Make nice rich pastry as for chicken pie; line the sides of a baking dish with the pastry, put in the bones, adding some water in which they were boiled; also salt, butter, and pepper to taste, with bits of pastry.

Cover top of baking-dish with pastry; put in stove and brown nicely.--_Mrs. G. B._

TO COOK A HAM OF PORK.

Wash off the salt and put it in a pot of water; boil from four to six hours, according to size. Do not take off the skin, as it preserves the juice and is much better cold. It is also nice to slice and broil with pepper and butter over it.--_Mrs. P. W._

LEG OF PORK STUFFED.

Make deep incisions in the meat parallel to the bone, trim it so as to leave the skin longer than the flesh; then boil some potatoes, and when they are done, mash them with a piece of butter, cayenne pepper and salt, an onion finely chopped, and a little rubbed sage.

With this dressing fill the incisions, draw the skin down and skewer it over to keep the dressing from falling out. Season the outside of the meat with salt, cayenne pepper and sage.

Roast it slowly; when done, pour the gravy in a pan, skim off the fat and add some browned flour wet in a little cold water, and boil up once.

Serve with apple or cranberry sauce.--_Mrs. A. M. D._

TO DRESS CHINE.

Rub the large end with salt and saltpetre, and it will keep some time, or you may boil it fresh. Cut the bones of the other end apart, sprinkle with flour and a little salt: add one teacup of water, and stew.

It will make two large dishes.--_Mrs. W._

ROAST CHINE.

Chine should always be parboiled and stewed before roasting, to take away the gross taste which the melted fat frying from it gives. After this lay in the pan with one pint water in which it was boiled, from which all the fat has been skimmed. Put in this several whole leaves of sage, to be removed before serving--just to get the flavor; minced onion, and parsley.

Baste and brown quickly that it may not dry.

This is only stewed chine browned.--_Mrs. S. T._

PORK ROYAL.

Take a piece of shoulder of fresh pork, fill with grated bread and the crust soaked, pepper, salt, onion, sage and thyme: a bit of butter and lard. Place in a pan with some water; when about half done, place around it some large apples; when done, place your pork on a dish, with the apples round it; put flour and water on your pan, flour browned, some thyme and sage; boil, strain through a very small colander over your pork and apples.

SEASONING FOR SAUSAGE.

18 pounds meat.
9 pounds back fat.
2 ounces sage.
4 ounces black pepper.
12 ounces salt.--_Mrs. J. P._

EXCELLENT RECIPE FOR SAUSAGE.

12 pounds of the lean of the chine.
6 pounds " " fat.
5 tablespoonfuls salt.
6 " sage.
2 " thyme.
5 " pepper.
3 " sweet marjoram.

Mix well together.--_Mrs. S. M._

SAUSAGE MEAT.

25 pounds lean pieces cut from the shoulder and tenderloin.
15 pounds fat from the back of the chine.
1 pound salt; a half pound of black pepper.
4 ounces allspice.
1 ounce sage.

Cut the fat in small pieces and then chop it; chop the lean very fine: mix all together, kneading in the seasoning. Press it down in small pots and pour melted lard over the top.--_Mrs. J. D._

SWEETBREAD OF HOG.

This nice morsel is between the maw and ruffle piece inside of the hog. Put them in soak for a day; parboil them and then gash them and stew them in pepper, butter, one teacup of milk and a little vinegar.

Or they are very nice fried or broiled.--_Mrs. P. W._

SOUSE CHEESE.

Lay the meat in cold water as cut from the hog. Let it stand three or four days, shifting the water each day. Scrape it and let it stand a day or two longer, changing the water often, and if it should turn warm, pour a little salt in the water. The oftener it is scraped, the whiter will be the souse. Boil in plenty of water to cover it, replenishing when needed. When tender enough, put it in milk-warm water, and when cold in salt water. Boil the head until the bones will almost fall out. Clean one dozen or more ears and boil also; while hot, chop very fine, and season with pepper and salt.

Put in a mold or bowl with a weight on top. The feet may be soused whole, or cut up with the head and ears; but it is not so nice. Clean them by dipping in boiling water and scraping; do not hold them to the fire to singe off the hair. One head and one dozen ears will make a good-sized cheese.--_Mrs. W._

TO MAKE SOUSE FROM HOG'S FEET.

As soon as the hog is cleaned, cut off the feet and throw them in a tub of cold water with a handful of salt; let them remain covered in water until you are ready to clean them, which should be done as soon as possible, as they will be much whiter. To get the hoof off, put the feet in hot water (not above the hoof); as soon as they get hot enough, slip a knife between the foot and hoof, and slip it off; then scrape the foot nicely, and throw into a tub of clear water; do this for several days. When you have scraped and changed the water for a week, then wash them clean and put them on to boil. First put them in a clean pot with a thin gruel made of corn meal; boil until half done. Wash them off, and put on in clear hot water, and boil till done, then take them up and throw them into a firkin of clean salt and water; keep closely covered to prevent them from molding. They are now ready to fry, which should be done by splitting the foot in half and fried in egg batter.--_Mrs. P. W._

TO CURE LARD.

As soon as it is taken from the hog, cut in small pieces, wash clean, press out the water, and put in the pot to boil, with one gallon of water to a vessel holding four gallons. Boil briskly until nearly done, or until the cracklins begin to brown, then cook slowly to prevent burning. The cracklins should be of a light brown and crisp, and will sink to the bottom when done. This is Leaf Lard.

The fat off of the backbone is also very nice, done in the same way, and does not require soaking, unless bloody. The fat from the entrails can also be made into nice lard by soaking for a day or two in fresh water, changing it frequently, and throwing a handful of salt in the tub of water to draw out the blood and impurities. When ready to render, wash in warm water twice and boil in more water than you do for leaf lard. The cracklins will not become crisp, but remain soft, and will sink to the bottom; they are used for making soap.

VIRGINIA MODE OF CURING HAMS.

Put one teaspoonful saltpetre on the fleshy side of each ham. Salt _not too heavily_ for five weeks; if the weather is freezing cold, six weeks; then brush the hams well, and rub them with hickory ashes; let them lie for one week, then hang and smoke them for six weeks with green hickory chips. After brushing, pack them in hickory ashes in a bulk.--_Mrs. P. C. M._

TO CURE BACON.

Pack the meat in salt and allow it to remain five weeks. Then take the hams up, wash off, and wipe dry. Have some sacks made of about seven-eighths shirting, large enough to hold the hams and tie above the hock. Make a pot of sizing of equal portions of flour and corn meal, boil until thick, and dip each sack until the outside is well coated with sizing. Put the hams in bags, and tie tight with a strong twine and hang by the same in the smoke-house.

CURING BACON.

One peck salt to five hundred pounds pork. To five gallons water:

4 pounds salt.
1 pound sugar.
1 pint molasses.
1 teaspoonful saltpetre.

Mix, and after sprinkling the fleshy side of the ham with the salt, pack in a tight barrel. Hams first, then shoulders, middlings. Pour over the brine; leave the meat in brine from four to seven weeks.--_Mrs. Dr. J._

FOR CURING HAMS.

For five hundred pounds hams.

1 peck and 1½ gallons fine Liverpool salt.
1¾ pounds saltpetre.
1 quart hickory ashes well sifted.
1 quart molasses.
2 teacups cayenne pepper.
1 teacup black pepper.

Mix these ingredients well together in a large tub, rub it into each ham with a brick, or something rough to get it in well. Pack in a tight, clean tub and weigh down. Let the hams remain six weeks; then take them out and rub each one on the fleshy side with one tablespoonful black pepper to avoid skippers. Hang in the meat house, and smoke with green hickory for from ten to twelve hours a day for six weeks, not suffering the wood to blaze. On the 1st of April, take them down and pack in any coal ashes or pine ashes well slaked. Strong ashes will rot into the meat.--_Mrs. R. M._

AN IMPROVEMENT TO HAMS.

Sometimes very good bacon is found to be of a bad color when cooked. This may be remedied by keeping it in ashes (hickory is best) for a few weeks before using. Must then be hung up, with ashes adhering, until needed. This also prevents skippers.--_Mrs. S. T._

TO BOIL A HAM WEIGHING TEN POUNDS.

Let it soak for twenty-four hours, changing the water two or three times. Boil it slowly eight or ten hours: when done, put it into a dish, as nearly as possible the shape of a ham, taking care first to take out the bone--turn the rind down. When cold, turn it out into a large dish, garnish with jelly and ornamental paper. Serve with the rind on. To be eaten cold.--_Mrs. W. C. R._

TO BOIL HAM.

Put in the water one pint vinegar, a bay leaf, a little thyme, and parsley.

Boil slowly for two hours, if it weighs ten pounds; then bake. Soak all hams twenty-four hours before cooking.--_Mrs. M._

_To Boil Ham._

The day before you wish to boil a ham, scrape, wash and wipe it dry, and put it in the sun. At night put it into water and soak till next morning. Then lay it with the skin down in a boiler of cold water, and boil slowly for five hours. If the ham is large, boil six hours. When perfectly done and tender, set the boiler aside, with the ham and liquor undisturbed, until cold. Then take off the skin, sprinkle black pepper over thickly, and sift over crackers first browned and pounded; for special occasions, place at equal distances over the ham, scraped horseradish in lozenge shape, and edged with curled parsley. This mode keeps the ham juicy.--_Mrs. S. T._

BAKED HAM.

First of all, soak an old ham overnight, having first washed and scraped it. Next morning put in a boiler of milk-warm water with the skin side down. Boil slowly for four or five hours, according to size, and if a very large ham, six hours. When done, set aside the boiler with the ham and liquor in it, to remain until cold, when the skin must be taken off, and it must be trimmed of a nice shape. Sprinkle over two tablespoonfuls black pepper. Lay the ham on a grating or twist in the baking-pan, in which pour a pint of water, and set it in a hot oven. This mode prevents the frying so disagreeable to the taste. After the ham is heated through, and the pepper strikes in, sift over cracker; return to the oven and brown, then decorate with scraped horseradish and parsley, and serve.--_Mrs. S. T._

BAKED HAM OR TONGUES.

Boil the ham and grate some powdered cracker thickly over it; first rubbing it with beaten yolk of egg. Bake with butter. Lay slices of currant jelly around the tongue, and garnish the ham with parsley.--_Mrs. R._

_Baked Ham._

Most persons boil ham, but it is much better if baked properly. Soak it for an hour in clean water and wipe dry; next spread it all over with a thin batter, put it into a deep dish with sticks under it to keep it out of the gravy. When it is fully done, take off the skin and batter crusted upon the flesh side and set it away to cool.--_Mrs. B. J. B._

STUFFED AND BAKED HAM.

After your ham is boiled, take the skin off. Take pepper, allspice, cloves and mace, well pounded; add a little bread crumbs, and a little brown sugar; mix with a little butter and water.

Gash your ham and take out plugs; fill in with the mixture. Rub the ham with an egg beaten, and grate on bread crumbs and white sugar.

Put in the oven and brown.--_Mrs. D. R._

TO STUFF FRESH CURED HAM.

Boil the ham.
Take one-half pound grated cracker or bread.
½ pound butter.
1 teaspoonful spice.
1 teaspoonful cloves.
1 teaspoonful nutmeg.
1 teaspoonful ginger.
1 teaspoonful mace.
3 spoonfuls sugar.
Celery-seed or celery.
6 eggs, beaten light.
1 spoonful mustard.

Mix all well together and moisten with cream, if too stiff. Whilst the ham is hot, make holes to the bone and fill with this mixture. Put in the stove to brown.

SPICED HAM.

Salt the hams for two days; put them in a keg and for each ham add:

½ cup molasses.
1 tablespoonful spice.
1 tablespoonful black pepper.
A pinch of saltpetre.

Let them stand four days, turning each day, then hang them up.--_Mrs. D. R._

BROILED HAM.

To have this dish in a perfection, ham must first be soaked, then boiled nearly done, and set aside to take slices from, as wanted. Cut rather thin, lay on a gridiron over hot coals; when hot through, lay on a dish, and pepper well. Pour over fresh butter melted, and serve. If a raw ham is used, the slices must be cut thicker, dropped in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes, then broiled as above.--_Mrs. S. T._

FRIED HAM.

The slices are always taken from a raw ham, but are most delicate when first simmered a short time: five minutes in a stewpan, dried with a clean cloth and put in a hot frying-pan, first removing the skin. The pan must be hot enough to scorch and brown both ham and gravy quickly. Lay the slices on a hot dish, pour into the gravy half a teacup new milk, pepper, and minced parsley; boil up and serve.--_Mrs. S. T._

SHOULDER OF BACON.

This piece is not used until cured or smoked, it is then boiled with cabbage or salad, as you would the middling. It is inferior to the ham or middling.--_Mrs. P. W._

BACON AND GREENS.

The middling is generally used for this purpose: cut a piece about a foot square, boil three hours.

Take a good head of cabbage, cut, quarter, and wash clean; press the water out as dry as you can. Boil them one or two hours with half a pod of red pepper; put them on a dish and the middling on top. You can fry the cabbage next day, and make a savory dish, but it does not suit dyspeptics. The thin part of the middling is used for frying, and is called "breakfast bacon."--_Mrs. P. W._

FRIED BACON.

Dip the ham or slices of middling in bread crumbs. Put in a frying-pan with chopped parsley and pepper. Just before taking off the fire, pour to the gravy a cup of cream.--_Mrs. W._

JOWL AND TURNIP SALAD.

This is an old Virginia dish, and much used in the spring of the year.

The jowl, which must have been well smoked, must be washed clean, and boiled for three hours. Put in the salad, and boil half an hour; if you boil too long, it will turn yellow. It is also good broiled for breakfast with pepper and butter over it.

The jaw-bone should be removed before sending to the table; this is easily done by running a knife around the lip and under the tongue. The jowl and salad should always be served with fresh poached eggs.--_Mrs. P. W._

PICKLED PORK EQUAL TO FRESH.

Let the meat cool thoroughly; cut into pieces four to six inches wide, weigh them and pack them as tight as possible in a barrel, salting very slightly. Cover the meat with brine made as strong as possible. Pour off a gallon of brine and mix with it one tablespoonful saltpetre for every 100 pounds meat and return it to the barrel. Let it stand one month, then take out the meat, let it drain twelve hours. Put the brine in an iron kettle, and one quart treacle or two pounds sugar, and boil until perfectly clear. When it is cold, return the meat to the barrel and pour on the brine. Weight it down and keep it covered close, and you will have the sweetest meat you ever tasted.

HOW TO COOK SALT PORK.

Many people do not relish salt pork fried, but it is quite good to soak it in milk two or three hours, then roll in Indian meal and fry to a light brown. This makes a good dish with mashed turnips, or raw onions cut in vinegar; another way is to soak it over night in skimmed milk and bake like fresh pork; it is almost as good as fresh roast pork.

HAM TOAST.

Mince about one pint boiled lean ham.

Add the yolks of three eggs well beaten, two tablespoonfuls cream, and a little cayenne pepper.

Stir all on the fire until it thickens, and spread on hot toast with the crust cut off.--_Mrs. J. T. B._

HAM TOAST.

Chop very fine two spoonfuls of lean ham that has been cooked; take two spoonfuls veal gravy; a few bread crumbs.

Put all together in a stewpan and heat it. Have ready a toast buttered, spread the above upon it, strew a few bread crumbs over it and brown it before the fire.--_Mrs. S._

HAM RELISH.

Cut a slice of dressed ham, season it highly with cayenne pepper and broil it brown; then spread mustard over it, squeeze on it a little lemon juice, and serve quickly.

POTTED TONGUE OR HAM.

Remove all skin, gristle, and outside parts from one pound of the lean of cold boiled tongue or ham.

Pound it in a mortar to a smooth paste with either one-quarter pound of the fat, or with two ounces fresh butter. Season with cayenne, pounded mace and allspice.

Press it well into pots and cover with clarified butter or fat.

TO ROAST SHOAT.

The hind-quarter is considered best. Cut off the foot, leaving the hock quite short. Wash well and put into boiling water; simmer until done, adding salt and pepper just before lifting from the kettle; salt put in sooner hardens and toughens. Place the meat in a baking-pan and score across, in the direction in which it is to be carved. Skim several ladlefuls from the top of the kettle and pour over; after this has dried off, sprinkle over a little salt and pepper, cover with an egg beaten stiff, sift over powdered cracker, and set to brown. Lay around sweet potatoes first parboiled, then cut in thick slices. Serve with minced parsley and thyme, both on the meat and in the gravy.--_Mrs. S. T._

TO ROAST A FORE QUARTER OF SHOAT.

Put it on in hot water, boil for half an hour; take it out, put in a pan, gash it across with a sharp knife, in diamond shapes, grease it with lard and dredge with flour, pepper and a little salt. Peel some good Irish potatoes, lay them around the pan and set in the stove to brown, basting frequently. This meat should be cooked done, as it is not good the least rare. Grate some bread crumbs over it and serve.--_Mrs. P. W._

TO BARBECUE SHOAT.

Lay the shoat in water till ready for use; if small, it will cook in an hour. Put in the oven with two spoonfuls of water, a piece of lard, and dredge with flour. When ready for use, pour in half a teacup of walnut catsup, and, if not fat, a piece of butter.

SHOAT JOWL.

The upper half of the head is what is generally used for what is called "The Pig's-head Stew." Another nice dish may be made of the under jaw or jowl by parboiling until the jaw-bone can be taken out; always adding pepper and salt just before it is done. When perfectly tender, score across; pepper and salt again, cover with beaten egg, then with cracker. Set in a pan with some of the water in which it was boiled. Put in a hot oven and brown.--_Mrs. S. T._

ROAST PIG.

When roasted whole, a pig should not be under four nor over six weeks old. In town, the butcher prepares for roasting, but it is well to know, in the country, how this may be done. As soon as the pig is killed, throw it into a tub of cold water, to make it tender; as soon as cold, take it by the hind leg, and plunge into scalding, not boiling water (as the last cooks the skin so that the hair can with difficulty be removed), shake it about until the hair can be removed by the handful. When all that is possible has been taken off in this way, rub from the tail up to the end of the nose with a coarse cloth. Take off the hoofs, scrape and wash the ears and nose until perfectly clean. The nicest way to dress it is to hang it by the hind legs, open and take out the entrails; wash well with water, with a little soda dissolved in it; rinse again and again, and leave hanging an hour. Wrap in a coarse cloth wrung out of cold water and lay on ice or in a cool cellar until next morning, when, if the weather is warm, it must be cooked. It should never be used the same day that it is killed.

First prepare the stuffing of the liver, heart and haslets of the pig, stewed, seasoned, and chopped. Mix with these an equal quantity of boiled potatoes mashed; add a large spoonful of butter, with some hard-boiled eggs, parsley and thyme, chopped fine, pepper and salt.

Scald the pig on the inside, dry it and rub with pepper and salt, fill and sew up. Bend the fore legs under the body, the hind legs forward, under the pig, and skewer to keep in position. Place in a large baking-pan, pour over one quart of boiling water. Have a lump of fresh butter tied up in a clean rag; rub it all over the pig, then sprinkle over pepper and salt, putting some in the pan with a bunch of herbs; invert over it a baking-pan while it simmers, and steam until entirely done. Underdone pork, shoat, or pig, is both unpalatable and unwholesome. Remove the pan, rub over with the butter and baste often. When of a fine brown, cover the edges of a large dish with a deep fringe of curled parsley; first sift over the pig powdered cracker, then place it, kneeling, in the green bed. Place in its mouth an orange or a red apple; and, if eaten hot, serve with the gravy in a tureen or sauce-boat. It is much nicer cold; served with little mounds of grated horseradish amongst the parsley.--_Mrs. S. T._

TO STEW PIG'S HEAD AND JOWL.

Clean the head and feet; take out the bone above the nose; cut off the ears, clean them nicely. Separate the jowl from the head; take care of the brains to add to the stew. Put the head, jowl, feet and part of the liver in water sufficient to keep well covered; boil until quite done. Split the feet to put on the dish; hash the head and liver; but do not spoil the jowl, which must be put in the middle of the dish and surrounded with the feet and hash. Put all of the hash, jowl and feet in the pot and season with a cup of cream, a lump of butter, pepper and salt, a tablespoonful walnut catsup, an onion chopped fine, a stalk of celery.

A teaspoonful mustard improves it.

Stew half an hour; thicken the gravy with grated bread.--_Mrs. P. W._

SHOAT'S HEAD.

Get a shoat's head and clean it nicely. Boil and chop in pieces. Season with:

2 tablespoonfuls tomato catsup.
2 tablespoonfuls walnut catsup.
2 cups water.
A little flour.
1 large spoonful butter.
Pepper and salt.

Have two or three hard-boiled eggs, cut them in half and lay on the top of the head; set it in the oven to bake.

Veal or mutton head, can be cooked in the same way, but are not so nice.--_Mrs. R._

SHOAT'S HEAD, TO STEW.

Clean the head and feet; and put them on to parboil with the liver. Then split up the head, through the nose, taking out the bones. Cut the meat from the feet and chop up with the liver, season this with pepper and salt.

Lay the head open and fill it with this mince and the yolks of some hard-boiled eggs: if this does not fill the head, add some grated bread crumbs or crackers and butter.

Sew up the head and bind it with thread; put it in the pot with the water it has been parboiled in and let it stew slowly. Take up the head, and add to the gravy a lump of butter, rolled in flour, some browning and some walnut catsup. Pour this over the head, which should be brown. If the shoat is not very small, use bread and butter instead of the liver.--_Mrs. R._

TO HASH PIG'S HEAD.

Take head, feet, and haslet of pig; boil them until done, then cut them up fine, taking out the bones.

Add black pepper, salt, a little sage.
2 onions chopped fine.
A little red pepper.
1 teaspoonful mace.
1 teaspoonful cloves.

Put it back in the same vessel with liquor and cook till done, then thicken with a little flour. Add two hard-boiled eggs and one cup walnut catsup.--_Mrs. Dr. J._

BEEF AND VEAL.

In selecting beef, see that the flesh is firm and of a clear red, and the fat of a yellowish white. In buying a quarter of beef, it is better to have it cut up by the butcher, if you are living in town. The hind quarter is considered better, and sells higher than the fore quarter. If a roasting piece is desired, the sirloin from the hind quarter is usually preferred. It is not generally known, however, that the second cut of the rib-roast from the fore quarter is the finest roast from the beef.

When the bone has been removed, and the meat skewered in the shape of a round, by the butcher, it is well to roast it on a spit before an open fire. If the latter cannot be obtained, however, plunge the beef for a moment in boiling water, then rub well with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and place on a little grate or trivet which will readily go in a baking-pan. In this pour about a pint of the water in which the beef was scalded. Place it in a very hot oven, with an inverted tin plate on top of the roast. Remove this plate often to baste the meat. When nearly done, which will be in about two hours for a roast of six pounds, baste several times and bake a nice brown. Season the gravy with minced onion, parsley and thyme, add a little salt and pepper and a tablespoonful of the meat flavoring of which a receipt was given in the general directions about meat. Serve the gravy in a sauce-tureen, so that each person may choose whether to eat the beef with gravy or with the juice that escapes from the meat while it is being carved. The latter mixed with grated horseradish is preferred to gravy by some persons.

Every portion of the beef, from head to feet, is useful and delicious when properly prepared.

The rounds and rump pieces are generally used for beef _à la mode_.

Fresh beef from the ribs, boiled with turnips, is considered a nice dish by some persons.

For steak, nothing is so nice as tenderloin or porter-house steak. I take this occasion to protest against the unwholesome custom of frying steak in lard. When inconvenient to broil, it may be deliciously cooked by being first beaten till tender, then laid in a hot frying-pan, closely covered, and cooked without lard or butter, in its own juices. When scorched brown on both sides, but not hard, remove the pan from the fire, pepper and salt the steak, and put a large tablespoonful of fresh butter on it. Press this in with a knife and fork, turning the steak, so that each side may absorb the butter. Serve on a hot dish. The whole process will not consume five minutes. Some persons think it best to add the salt after the steak is done, though many good housekeepers salt and pepper the steak before broiling it. Beefsteak should be cooked rare; it is a great mistake to cook it till hard and indigestible.

The parts most suitable for soup are the head, neck, shank, and all the unsightly parts. After the bones are broken and the meat boiled from them, the liquor is used for soup, while the meat, picked or cut to pieces, will make an excellent stew seasoned with potatoes, turnips, sweet herbs, one tablespoonful of butter and the same of meat flavoring.

It is well always to keep brine on hand for corning beef. All the parts not desirable for roast or steak had better be corned.

The beef, after being dressed, should be hung up by the hind legs, with a smooth, round piece of timber sufficiently strong to hold the weight, passed through the legs at the hock, or run between the tendon and bone, with short pegs to keep the legs stretched apart. Then with a sharp axe, standing behind the suspended beef, split it down the backbone, severing it in half. Then pass a knife through the ribs, leaving two or three short ribs on the hind-quarter. Sever the backbone with an axe. Then cut with a sharp knife straight across the parallel line with the spinal bone, which piece must be divided into two pieces, the sirloin and steak. Then take off two rounds, or three, according to the size of the animal, cutting with a sharp knife, and cutting the bone with a meat saw or axe, as near the joints as possible, which leaves the shin-bone.

The fore quarter then is divided into four pieces, after taking off the shoulder, which may be divided into three or more pieces.

The loin of veal is the nicest part, and is always roasted.

The fillets and knuckles may be stewed and roasted.

The latter is nicest for soup.

The breast may be stewed or roasted.

The cutlets are nicest from the legs or fillet.

The head is a dish for soup, stew or pie.

Sweetbreads from the throat make a delicious dish, much prized by epicureans.

The feet, boiled till the bones drop out, make a delightful dish, fried in batter, while the water in which they are boiled makes excellent jelly.

Veal, to be eaten in its perfection, should be killed when from four to six weeks old.

BEEF.

The sirloin, or fore and middle ribs, are best for roasting.

The steaks are best cut from the ribs, or the inner part of the sirloin; shank, tail and head make nice soup.--_Mrs. W._

TO ROAST BEEF.

Lay the meat on some sticks in a dripping-pan or other vessel, so that it will not touch the water which it is necessary to have in the bottom. Season with salt and pepper, and put in the oven three or four hours before it is wanted for the table. Baste it often with the water in the bottom of the pan, renewing it as often as it gets low. This makes sweet, juicy roast beef. The great secret of it is, not to have the meat touch the water in the bottom of the pan, and to baste it often. Tough, unpromising pieces of beef are best cooked by steaming them an hour and a half or so and then putting them in the oven and roasting as much longer.

Crackers, first browned and then pounded, should always be kept to sift over roast meats: and curled parsley to garnish with. Grated horseradish is also excellent with the roast.--_Mrs. S. T._

RIB ROAST OF BEEF.

Get, from the butcher, a rib-roast--the second cut is best--and get him to take out the bones, and roll and skewer it: if this is not convenient, it can be done at home with a sharp knife. Before roasting, take out the wooden skewers put in at market, unroll, season well with salt and pepper and anything else liked, and roll again tightly, fastening securely with the iron skewer pins. Put it in a pan on a little iron griddle or trivet, made for the purpose to keep it just over the pint of water in the pan. Pepper and salt freely, dredge with flour and baste. Some persons like half a teacup of pepper vinegar, poured over just before it is done; and minced onion, thyme and parsley added to the gravy, which should be brown.--_Mrs. B._

TO ROAST BEEF.

The sirloin is the nicest for the purpose.

Plunge the beef in boiling water and boil for thirty minutes: then put it in the stove-pan; skim the top of the water in which it has been boiled, and baste the roast, after dredging it with flour; pepper and salt to taste. Baste frequently, and roast till done.--_Mrs. P. W._

BEEF À LA MODE.

Take, from a round of fresh beef, the bone; beat the meat all over slightly to make tender. Grate a loaf of bread, mix with it equal quantities of--

Thyme and parsley, rubbed fine.
1 onion.
The marrow from the bone.
¼ pound suet.
Pepper and salt, cloves and nutmeg to the taste.

Mix these ingredients with three eggs well beaten: fill the place from whence came the bone, and what is left rub all over the round: fasten well with a tape, tied round to keep in shape. Cover the pan with slices of bacon, lay the beef upon them, baste with butter: pour in the pan a pint of water. Cover closely and stew gently for six hours; when thoroughly done, take out the beef, skim the fat from the gravy, strain into a saucepan, set it on the stove and stir into it one teacup Port wine. Let it come to a boil and send to the table in a sauce tureen. You may, for supper, dish cold: dress with vegetable flowers, whites of eggs boiled hard and chopped fine.--_Mrs. J. W. S._

_Beef à la Mode._

Take a round or a rump piece of beef, take out the bone, the gristle and all the tough pieces about the edges. Fill the cavities from which the bone was taken, with suet, and fat salt pork.

Press this so as to make it perfectly round, pass around a coarse, strong piece of cloth, so as to hold it firmly in shape. If the round is six inches thick, the cloth must be six inches wide, leaving the top and bottom open. With a larding needle, fill this thickly with strips of fat pork, running through from top to bottom and about one inch apart each way. Set this in a baking-pan, pour over:

1 teacup boiling water,
1 teacup boiling vinegar; mixed.

Add to this one heaping tablespoonful brown sugar and a bunch of herbs.

Sprinkle over the beef liberally with salt and black pepper; chop one small onion fine, and lay over top of the beef. Simmer this for two or three hours, basting frequently and keeping an inverted tin plate over the beef except when basting. If the gravy stews down too much, add stock or broth of any kind. Turn it over, and let the top be at the bottom. When it is done and tender, skim the fat from the gravy. Pour over:

2 tablespoonfuls celery vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls pepper.
2 tablespoonfuls made mustard.
1 wineglassful acid fruit jelly.

Simmer and bake for two hours longer, frequently basting, that it may be soft and seasoned through and through. Take the beef from the pan and remove the cloth; place in a large flat dish, pour over the gravy, and over this one teacup of mushroom sauce. Sift finely powdered cracker over the top and garnish with grated or scraped horseradish and parsley.--_Mrs. S. T._

_Beef à la Mode._

To 10 pounds of beef, 4 onions chopped up.
1 tablespoonful allspice, 1 teaspoonful mace.
Red pepper and salt to the taste.
1 pint strong vinegar.

Rub the beef in the mixture for three or four days, then cook, with all these ingredients. The H piece is generally the part taken for this purpose.--_Mrs. M. B._

BOILED BEEF AND TURNIPS.

The brisket or breast of beef is nicest for boiling. Keep sufficiently covered in water, boiling three hours, or until tender.

Peel and slice half a dozen turnips and put with beef, boiling until soft enough to mash with a spoon, which will require about thirty minutes. Dress with one teacup of milk, pepper and salt to the taste.

Stew together a short time and put in bottom of dish with beef on the top.--_Mrs. P. W._

TO COLLAR BEEF.

Take a flank of fresh beef, stew it with pepper, salt, allspice, saltpetre, thyme, and sage.

Then roll as hard as you can, and wind a string around it; then boil till done. It must be served up cold, cut in slices.--_Mrs. M. P._

ROLLED BEEFSTEAK.

Beat a large tender steak thoroughly and carefully.

Sprinkle over salt, pepper, sage, minced onion, minced parsley, and bits of butter.

Have ready some mealy Irish potatoes mashed fine, and seasoned with a little butter and salt. Spread over all, and roll up tightly: fasten the ends and sides securely with skewer pins. Place in a pan with such broth or gravy as may be on hand; if none, two teacups of boiling water, and one small minced onion, pepper, salt, and one slice of pork.

Simmer and baste as you would a roast duck. Sift over it browned cracker, pounded fine. Very nice.--_Mrs. S. T._

BEEFSTEAK BROILED.