Chapter III: Part 3

After the chickens are cleaned and trussed fold them in a nice white cloth, put them in a large stew-pan and cover them with boiling water; boil them gently, and skim carefully as long as any scum rises; let them simmer slowly as that will make them plump and white, while fast boiling will make them dark and lose flavor. When done lay them on a hot dish, and pour celery, oyster, or egg sauce over them. Serve some also in a boat, as it keeps hot longer than when poured over the fowls. Boiled tongue or ham should be served with boiled chicken. If the chicken is not very tough, an hour or an hour and a quarter is sufficient to boil it.

COUNTRY FRIED CHICKENS

Take a young, fat chicken, cut it up, pepper and salt it, dredge it over with flour, and set it by while you mix a cup of lard, and some slices of fat bacon in a frying pan. Let the lard get very hot, then drop in a few pieces of the chicken, always allowing room in the pan for each piece to be turned without crowding. As fast as you fry the pieces, put them on a dish over hot water to keep the heat in them while you make the gravy. Pour off some of the grease the chicken was fried in, and then dredge into the frying pan some flour, let this brown nicely and then pour into it a cup of sweet milk, little at a time; let it froth up, and then place your chicken back into the gravy for three minutes. If you like the chicken brown and dry, pour the gravy under it on the dish for serving.

BOILED CHICKENS WITH STUFFING

Truss and stuff the chicken as for roasting, dredge it all over with wheat flour, and put it in a pot of boiling water; take the pot off the fire for five minutes after the chicken is put in, or the skin will crack; then let it boil gently according to its age and weight, an old fowl requiring twice as long to boil as a young one; allow fifteen minutes to the pound. Take off all the scum as it rises, and when done serve with hard-boiled egg sauce, or parsley, or oyster sauce. This is a nice way to cook a fat old chicken, as it is much more tender and nourishing than baked, for if the chicken is old baking toughens it.

STEW, OR FRICASSEE OF CHICKEN

Clean and wash the chicken, cut it up as for frying, lay it in a stew-pan with water to cover it; add a teaspoonful of salt and half as much pepper; set it to boil very gently, take off all scum as it rises. When the chicken is tender, which will be in an hour, take a teacup of butter, a tablespoonful of flour worked in it, and a bunch of parsley, put them in the stew-pan with the chicken; let all stew twenty minutes, and serve on toasted bread. Egg-balls around the toast add much to the beauty of this dish.

CHICKEN FRICASSEE A LA MARENGO

Cut the chicken up as for a fricassee, put it in a sauce-pan with a wineglassful of salad oil, and allow it to cook rather briskly for twenty minutes; then put in with it a quarter of a pound of truffles cut up, a bunch of parsley, six chives or small green eschalots, a bruised clove of garlic, and pepper and salt; let them stew for twenty minutes; then pour off the oil and take out the parsley. If only one chicken is used, throw in half a pint of button mushrooms, a ladleful of brown gravy sauce, and the juice of a lemon. Garnish this dish with pieces of fried bread and large crayfish.

ROAST CHICKENS

Draw them and stuff with rich bread and butter stuffing; baste them with butter and a little fat bacon, seasoned with sweet herbs; brown nicely, and serve with their own gravy made by sifting in a tablespoonful of flour and a cup of hot water; add a little chopped parsley, and serve with hard-boiled eggs on the dish with the chickens.

CHICKEN SAUTE WITH OYSTER SAUCE

Cut up the chicken as for frying, roll each piece in salt, pepper, and sifted flour, and fry a light brown. Pour off most of the grease the chicken was fried in, and in the same pan put three dozen oysters with a pint of their juice, and a spoonful of lemon juice. Let them simmer a few minutes, and serve with pieces of fried bread around the dish.

COLD CHICKEN ESCALLOPED

Mince cold chicken without the skin, wet it with gravy or hot water (gravy is best), and season with salt and pepper. To the minced meat of one chicken, put two ounces of sweet, fresh butter, cut small. Rub tin or silver scallop pans with butter, strew over the bottom powdered cracker, lay the minced chicken in, strew cracker over the top, and bake in a hot oven long enough to brown the top. Serve with celery or pickle.

TO BROIL A CHICKEN

Clean it as usual and split it down the back, break the breast-bone with a stroke of the potato beetle, spread it out flat and lay it on the gridiron over clear coals; put the inside of the chicken to the fire first. Put a tin cover over it, let it broil quickly until nearly done, then turn it and finish without the cover. When nicely browned take it on a dish, season it with salt and pepper, and butter it freely; turn it once or twice in the butter and serve it hot.

CHICKEN CURRY

Cut up the chicken and stew as usual for the table. When done add a tablespoonful of curry powder. Serve rice with the dish.

CHICKEN PIE, A LA REINE

Cut two chickens up as for frying, lay some veal cut in small pieces in the bottom of your pie dish, cut up over the veal a slice of fat ham; on this place your chickens; place hard-boiled yolks of eggs in among the chicken. Take half a pint of white sauce, made with butter, flour, and milk or water; pour this over the chickens, season with a cup of chopped mushrooms, some parsley, pepper and salt (a good pie can be made if you omit the mushrooms and ham, but not so rich as this recipe); now cover your pie with a good paste, and bake for an hour or two.

PLAIN CHICKEN PIE

Take two nice chickens, or more if they are small, cut them up as for frying, and put them in a pot to stew with some slices of fat meat. Let them cook for half an hour, then add a few onions and four Irish potatoes sliced small, so that in cooking they may be thoroughly dissolved in the gravy. Season with pepper, salt, a little parsley, and a quarter of a pound of sweet butter. When it is cooked well there should be gravy enough to cover the chickens. If you want it very nice, beat up two eggs, and stir into the stew with half a pint of milk. Line a five-quart pan with a crust made like soda biscuit, only more shortening; put in the chickens and gravy; then cover with a top crust. Bake until the crust is done and you will have a good chicken pie.

CHICKEN POT PIE

Cut up a chicken, parboil it, save the liquor it was boiled in. Wash out the kettle, or take another one, and in it fry three or four slices of fat salt pork, and put it in the bottom of the dish in which the pie is to be made; then put in the chicken and the liquor, also a piece of butter the size of a teacup, and sprinkle in some pepper; cover with a light crust and bake an hour.

BONED TURKEY

Chop up one pound of white veal, with a pound of fat bacon; season high with chopped mushrooms, parsley, pepper, salt, and a bunch of sweet herbs; when chopped fine, pound them in a mortar or pass them through a sausage grinder; add to this the yolks of three eggs, and place it by in a basin for use. Peel a pound of truffles, and cut up a boiled smoked tongue, a pound of fat bacon, or a pound of calf’s udder or veal. Next bone a turkey, or two fine capons, or fowls, and draw the skin from the legs and pinions inside. Take the turkey on a napkin--it is now limp and boneless--cut slices from the thick breast and place it on the skin where it seems to be thin, distribute the flesh of the fowl as evenly as you can on the skin; season it slightly with pepper and salt. Spread a layer of the prepared force-meat in the basin, let it be an inch thick; then place the cut-up tongue, bacon and veal, lay a row of chopped truffles and a layer of the force-meat until the skin is covered, or as full as it will hold. It must be sewed up the back, the ends tied, like a cushion, or roly-poly; to do this you must butter a cloth and put it tightly over the turkey skin, as it will be quite too tender to stand the cooking, etc., unless supported by a napkin. Tie it up tightly and place it in a round stewpan with the bones and any trimmings of veal or poultry at hand, add to it two boiled calf’s feet, or an ounce of gelatine, two onions stuck with four cloves, a bunch of parsley, six green onions, a bunch of sweet basil, and a bunch of thyme, two blades of mace, and a dozen pepper corns, or whole peppers; moisten all with half a pint of wine or brandy. Warm this up and put in your tied-up gelatine, pour over it as much white veal stock as will cover it well, put it back in the stove to simmer gently for two hours and a half; let the gelatine get cold in its own seasoning, and then take it out and put it under a weight while you remove the stock or gravy; take off all the cold grease from the surface and clarify with eggs in the usual way. When the gelatine is quite cold, remove the weight, take it from its napkin, wipe it and glaze it, and place it on a dish. Decorate it with the strained gravy, which should have been placed on ice as soon as clarified and strained. It will now be a firm jelly; if not, put it on ice again, and trim the boned turkey or fowls with it.

Gelatines of turkeys, geese, capons, pheasants, partridges, etc., are made in the same way. This is from the finest source, and will repay any one who tries to make this magnificent dish. It has never, to my knowledge, been given in an American cook-book, as it was obtained from one who was _Chef de Cuisine_ to a crowned head of Europe.

WILD TURKEY

If the turkey is old, or tough, it must be boiled one hour before being stuffed for baking. Then stuff it with oysters, bread and butter, and season with pepper and salt; baste with butter, and the juice of the turkey. Make the gravy by putting in the pan a pint of oysters, or button mushrooms, throw in a cup of cream, or milk, salt and pepper, and send to table hot, with the turkey.

A PLAIN WAY TO COOK A TURKEY BY ROASTING

Make a dressing to suit you; there are several to choose from in this book, made from bread, or forcemeat. Stuff the turkey, season it with salt, pepper, and a little butter, dredge it with flour and put it in the oven; let the fire be slow at first, and hotter as it begins to cook. Baste frequently with butter; when the turkey is well plumped up, and the steam draws toward the fire, it is nearly done; then dredge again with flour, and baste with more butter until it is a nice brown. Serve with gravy and bread sauce; some like chestnuts stewed in the turkey gravy, and served with it. A very large turkey will take three hours to roast, one of eight pounds will take two hours.

ROAST TURKEY A LA PERIGORD

For this purpose choose a fine young hen turkey; make an incision at the back of the neck, and through this take out the entrails, as the turkey looks so much nicer than when otherwise cut. Cut away the vent, and sew up the place with coarse thread; singe off the hairs and scald the legs to get off the black skin, if the skin is black, as it sometimes is. The neck should be cut off close into the back, and the crop left entire; some cooks can do this and some think it too much trouble. Break the breast bone and take it out. Lay a little salt on the turkey, and cover it up, while you prepare the stuffing. Wash three pounds of truffles, if the hen turkey is a large one; if it is small two pounds will do. Peel the truffles and slice them; throw them into water, and scald them; add two pounds of fat ham, or bacon, also the turkey liver, and a quarter of a pound of veal liver; season this with pepper, salt, nutmeg, chopped thyme, and a clove of garlic. Set the stew-pan, containing all these ingredients, on a slow fire, and let them cook for an hour, stirring them occasionally, with a wooden spoon. Mash them all up and let it get cool; when cool, stuff the turkey full of the truffle dressing, and fill the crop also; sew it up carefully, and tie it with a string, then truss the turkey, and if time allows, put it away for the next day. It should then be roasted, keeping it well basted with the liquor the truffles were boiled in, and butter added to it.

BOILED TURKEY AND CELERY SAUCE

Draw a fine, young turkey hen, and remove the angular part of the breast bone; take two pounds of fat veal dressing and stuff the turkey with it. Put over the fire to cook the veal, bones, and turkey giblets, to make some white soup stock; season this and let it boil until you want to put the turkey on to cook. Now truss your turkey and put it in a boiling pot with a carrot, two onions, a head of celery, and a bunch of sweet herbs; now pour over the turkey the stock from the veal and giblets; cover with it, if enough; if not, put in water to cover it and set it to boil; when it has boiled one hour, put it on the back of the stove, and let it simmer and braise, until dinner. Take off any strings that may look badly; dish it up. Pour over it a well-made _puree_ of celery, or oyster sauce, and send to table. This is an elegant mode of serving turkey.

BOILED TURKEY WITH OYSTER SAUCE

Clean and truss it the same as for baking. Stuff the turkey with oysters, bread crumbs, butter and mace, all mixed and seasoned. Put it on the fire in a kettle of water not hot, but slightly warm; do not drop it into boiling water or it will break the skin and spoil the appearance of the turkey. Cover it close, and when the scum rises take it off. Let the boiling continue for one hour, then put the pot containing the turkey on the coolest part of the stove, and let it simmer for half an hour. Serve with oyster sauce in a sauce boat.

DUCK ROASTED

Pick, draw and singe the duck; wash it out carefully and stuff it with potatoes, mashed with butter, onions, and parsley. Put it down to a good fire or in a hot oven, pour in a cup of water; let it roast for half an hour if it is fat and tender, longer if tough. As soon as the duck is cleaned, boil the giblets, and before serving, chop them up fine with some of the gravy from the duck, two tablespoonfuls of catsup, a lump of butter, and a little brown flour. Have lemons cut on side dishes, or serve with brown duck sauce No. 1. See sauces for meats, ducks, etc.

DUCKS, TAME AND WILD

Tame ducks are prepared for the table the same as young geese, that is, stuffed with bread, butter, pepper and onion, or with mashed and seasoned Irish potatoes. Wild ducks should be fat, the claws small and supple; the hen is the more delicate. Do not scald wild ducks, but pick them clean and singe over a blaze. Draw and wipe them well inside with a cloth; rub pepper and salt inside and out; stuff each duck well with bread and butter stuffing. If the ducks are at all fishy, use onion in the stuffing, and baste very freely. It is well to parboil them in onion and water before stuffing; throw away the water and then proceed to stuff and roast them. Put in the pan a teacup of butter, baste well with this, and when nearly done, dredge flour over the ducks, and brown them nicely. For the gravy you must boil the giblets; while the ducks are cooking mince these fine; add pepper, salt, and a teaspoonful of browned flour. Take a glass of wine and a large spoonful of currant jelly; heat them and serve with the ducks, mixed with the giblets, or serve it in a dish alone; as you like.

CANVAS-BACK DUCKS

These are cooked the same as wild ducks, without onion however, in the basting, as they have no disagreeable taste. Serve wine and currant jelly with canvas-back ducks.

TO STEW DUCKS WITH GREEN PEAS

Truss the ducks as for baking and boiling, and put them away in the pantry; then put two ounces of butter in a stew-pan on the fire, stir in two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir until it becomes brown or a fawn color; then pour in a pint of broth or gravy made from veal, or from water in which the ducks or chickens have been boiled. Stir this while cooking, and when it boils, put in the ducks; let them cook for half an hour, or until done or nearly so, then add a quart of green peas, an onion chopped, and a sprig of parsley; allow these to stew gently until done; remove the parsley and the ducks, and if there is too much sauce, cook it down a little; dish up, pour the peas and gravy over the ducks and serve.

ROASTED DUCK

Clean, draw and truss the duck, or ducks, wash them nicely, salt and pepper them, and get ready a sage and onion stuffing (see roast goose) or stuff with mashed potatoes, or bread, butter, onions, pepper and salt mixed, and bound together with an egg.

BROILED TEAL DUCK

Split the duck like a partridge down the back, broil on clear coals, butter freely, and serve on buttered toast; pepper and salt when broiled, just before putting on the butter; if salted before it extracts the fine flavor.

WILD DUCKS

There are several kinds of ducks South, and some are very fine. Truss wild ducks and lay them in a pan to bake with a small onion in the body; put butter over them, with a bunch of celery, a little pepper and salt; cook slowly and garnish with lemon. Wild ducks should be wiped dry after they are drawn, and rubbed on the inside with pepper and salt, except the canvas-back, which should be left to its own delicious flavor.

WILD GEESE

Wild geese should be cooked rare, and stuffed with a dressing of bread, butter, and a small quantity of pungent seasoning, such as onion, cayenne, or mustard.

ROAST GOOSE, WITH SAGE AND ONION

Draw a fine fat goose, stuff it with a seasoning of the following mixture: Take four onions, peel them and boil them ten minutes in plenty of water to take from them the strong taste. When the onions have boiled take them from the fire, chop fine, and add to them a large spoonful of sage leaves dried and powdered, then add a cupful of stale white bread crumbs, a teaspoon of black pepper, a little cayenne, and a teaspoon of salt. Mix all together with a cup of milk or beef water, and stuff the goose with it. Put it in the oven and brown it nicely; baste often with butter; when done dish it with its own rich brown gravy, and send to table with a boat of apple sauce.

GOOSE, WITH CHESTNUTS A LA CHIPOLITA

Get the goose ready as usual. To prepare the stuffing take sixty large chestnuts, peel them by scalding, then put them in a stew pan with two ounces of butter, one onion chopped fine, and a sprig of parsley; chop and mix all together and stuff the goose with it; mix with the chestnuts one pint of good broth, and stew them down in it before stuffing the goose. Boil down the gravy very much, and when the goose is served, add the juice of two oranges, half a pound of currant jelly, and a lemon peel in the gravy. Pour this over the goose when it goes to the table.

GAME, VENISON, ETC.

Venison is the finest game we have South. The haunch or saddle is always roasted; it requires constant attention, and should be turned and basted frequently while cooking. Cover the fat with thick white paper while cooking; when nearly done, take off the paper and baste well with claret wine, butter and flour. Currant jelly is the usual accompaniment of roasted venison, and is preferred by some to wine, in cooking it.

VENISON STEAK

Venison steak is good fried or broiled. If to be broiled, season with pepper, salt, and butter, and cook quickly on a hot gridiron. If the meat is not fat, make a gravy for it of wine, flour, and butter. Serve hot.

VENISON PASTY

This is a pie made from the bones, meat, etc., of venison, after the steak and haunch are taken off. Cut up and stew, or braise the parts of meat intended for the pie; season with pepper, salt, port wine, butter, and if liked, mushrooms; stew all until tender, then make a paste and finish like chicken pie. This is better to eat cold than hot and should be rich enough to be a solid jelly when cold.

SQUIRREL, OR YOUNG RABBIT PIE

Cut up two or three young squirrels or rabbits; put them in a saucepan to cook with two ounces of butter, a handful of chopped mushrooms, a bunch of parsley and two shallots chopped; season with pepper and salt, and a little thyme or sweet herbs; cook them a light brown. Throw in a glass of white wine, a half cup of brown gravy from veal or chicken, and the juice of half a lemon. Toss all up on the fire fifteen or twenty minutes, and it is ready to be put in the pie. If you have no gravy on hand, add to the rabbits a cup of sweet milk, and a piece of butter, as large as a hen’s egg. Make a nice paste, line the sides of the pan, pour in the stewed rabbit, and cover with paste. Bake until a light brown, and eat cold or hot. It is almost as good as venison pie.

HARE OR RABBIT ROASTED

If the hares and rabbits are young, the ears will be tender. Clean the rabbits and wash them through several waters. If to be roasted, they must be stuffed with grated bread crumbs, suet or butter, a chopped onion, the liver of the rabbit chopped, and a lemon peel grated. Moisten with eggs and a little claret. Put this in the rabbit and sew it up; baste with butter, and cook for two hours. Make the gravy with the drippings in the pan, a little cream or milk, and flour. If the rabbits are old, they are good stewed slowly with sweet herbs, wine, water, and chopped onions, and thickened with flour and butter.

CEDAR, OR CAROLINA RICE BIRDS

These are very small, but make a delicious pie by stewing them with butter and sweet herbs, and baking them in a light paste, with plenty of gravy.

PARTRIDGE OR QUAILS

Are nice roasted or broiled, and served on toast. If baked they require constant basting.

PIGEON PIE. VERY NICE

Take six pigeons, truss them, and stuff them with their own livers, a little bacon, some butter, parsley, and rolled cracker or a small piece of bread; salt to taste; cover the bottom of the baking dish with slices of veal or beef; season with chopped parsley, mushrooms, pepper, salt, and butter. Place the pigeons on this, and cover with a nice pie crust. When the pigeons are placed in the pan, lay between each two pigeons the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Be sure and have enough gravy to keep the pie very moist. This can be done by adding plain beef-stock or water as the pie bakes. Parboil the pigeons a little, also the beef, before putting them in the pan, and then keep the water they were boiled in to fill up the pie.

ROAST PIGEONS

Truss them when plucked and drawn, lay thin slices of fat bacon on their breasts; bake them three-quarters of an hour, and then make a gravy with their giblets, which should have been boiling for the purpose. Chop up the livers, etc., brown them and serve with the pigeons. Thin the gravy with the stock the liver was boiled in.

TO ROAST A SUCKING PIG

In selecting a pig for the table, one four weeks old is to be preferred. Let the pig be prepared in the usual way by the butcher, that is scalded, drawn, etc. Stuff it with a mixture of two or three onions, say half a pint when sliced and chopped, and a dozen leaves of sage, pepper and salt; set this to simmer on the fire, then throw in half a pint of bread crumbs if the pig is small--if a large one, put a pint of crumbs--a quarter of a pound of butter, and the yolks of four eggs. Cook this and stuff the pig with it; sew the pig up and put it in the oven to roast; baste it often with a brush or swab dipped in olive oil, dust a little sugar over it, and brown it evenly. Take off the head before serving, take out the brains, put them in a stew pan; add to them some chopped parsley, pepper, and salt, a cup of the gravy from the pig, and the juice of a lemon. Stir this over the fire, and send it to the table hot in a separate boat.

VEGETABLES

IRISH POTATOES, MASHED AND BROWNED

Boil them without peeling; peel them while hot, mash them up with sweet butter, a little milk, pepper and salt. Many like them better when mashed and smoothed over with a knife blade, and slightly browned in the oven. They can be kept hot in this way if the meal is kept back for a guest, which is convenient on some occasions.

STEWED IRISH POTATOES. A NICE BREAKFAST DISH

Wash, peel, and slice six potatoes; throw them for a few moments into cold, salted water, take them out in five minutes and place them in a stew pan on the fire; cover them with cold water; when tender, throw off all the water, pour over them half a cup of sweet milk, a little salt, pepper, and chopped parsley, and thicken them with a spoonful of butter, rolled in flour, or a teaspoonful of flour, beaten in carefully to prevent it from lumping; stew a few moments and serve in a covered dish.

PUFFS

Very nice potato puffs may be made by mashing seven or eight potatoes smoothly, and mixing in with them two well-beaten eggs, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, also well-beaten, and a cup of milk. Pour it into a pan and bake in a hot stove.

FRIED POTATOES

Wash and pare a sufficient quantity for the meal. Slice them in the machine, taking care to bear down lightly, so as to have the slices very thin. Have ready a vessel of very hot lard, and drop the sliced potatoes into it, letting them remain till they begin to brown. Take them out with a wire ladle, scatter a little fine salt over them, and serve while hot. Success depends almost entirely upon having the lard sufficiently hot. If the potatoes do not brown, but absorb fat, and are limp and greasy, be sure the lard must be made hotter. Properly fried, they may be eaten with relish when cold, as they are crisp and palatable.

FRIED POTATOES

Pare and cut the potatoes in thin slices; throw them as you cut them into salted water to cool, and make them crisp. Put them piece by piece on a dry towel and wipe dry, then drop them into boiling fat, enough to float them. As they brown dip them out with a skimmer, and salt them a little.

POTATO CROQUETS

Take six boiled potatoes (cold mashed potatoes will do), add three tablespoonfuls of grated ham, a little pepper, salt, and chopped parsley, also, the yolks of three eggs; form into balls, dip in egg and roll in bread crumbs; fry in hot lard; garnish with parsley.

SWEET POTATOES

Are good baked plain in their skins; or boiled, peeled and sliced, served with butter; or boiled, and then sliced in a pan, butter and sugar thrown over them, and baked in the stove. Some persons like them boiled and mashed with butter, and browned in the oven like Irish potatoes.

TURNIPS, TO COOK

Boil or steam them after peeling; when they are quite tender, you must mash them like potatoes, and season with pepper, salt and butter.

ONIONS BOILED AND FRIED

Trim and peel them, and boil them in water until quite tender, then dish them. Season with salt, pepper and butter. Many like them cut in slices and fried a light brown; they are good on a beefsteak when washed in two or three waters after being sliced, then put into hot lard and some of the beefsteak gravy, fried gently until a light color, and served around the steak.

GREEN CORN ON THE COB

Get it as fresh from the field as possible, and if you desire it boiled on the cob you must (when it is well silked) throw it into boiling salted water. Corn requires only fifteen minutes boiling; too long boiling takes out the sweetness from the grain.

STEWED GREEN CORN

Take a dozen fresh, tender ears of corn; cut it off the cob, and put it in a stew pan with a quart of cold water. No salt at first. Let it cook half an hour and then stir in a lump of fresh butter, a spoonful of flour, and salt and pepper to taste. If too dry, add a cup of sweet milk, or water, if the milk is not convenient.

GREEN CORN FRITTERS

Beat three eggs with a cup of milk; to this add a pint of boiled green corn grated; throw in flour enough to make a batter thick enough to drop from a spoon; salt and pepper to taste, beat it very hard, and drop into boiling lard one spoonful at a time. This is a great luxury and a good substitute for oysters during the hot season.

SUCCOTASH, OR CORN AND BEANS MIXED

Boil for half an hour two pints of green shelled beans, or the same amount of string beans; then pour off the water, cut the corn from two dozen ears, put it in the pot among the beans; add salt and pepper, and cover them with boiling water. Let it boil for half an hour, and add a lump of butter as big as a hen’s egg, rolled in flour; let this boil up once and it is done.

CORN OYSTERS

One pint of grated green corn, one cup of flour, one dessertspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper and an egg. Mix all together, and drop and fry in hot lard. This is a nice breakfast dish.

ROASTING EAR PUDDING

Cut as much corn from the cob as you require; a dozen ears make a large pudding. To every three ears allow an egg, a spoonful of butter, a little pepper and salt, to suit your taste; fill and cover it with sweet milk. Let this bake an hour.

OKRA AND CORN FRICASSEE

Put a pint of cut okra in a frying pan in which there is a cupful of hot lard, or the fat of side meat; let it fry a little, then cut into it a pint and a half of corn; fry it until it is thoroughly cooked, pour off some of the grease, and dredge in a little flour, and a half cup of milk; pepper and salt, to taste, must be added just before dishing it up.

A NICE WAY TO COOK OKRA OR GOMBO

Take a pint of young tender okra, chop it up fine, add to it half as much skinned, ripe tomatoes, an onion cut up in slices, a tablespoonful of butter, a little salt and pepper, and a spoonful of water; stew all together till tender, and serve with meat or poultry.

SALSIFY FRIED IN BATTER

Scrape the salsify, throw it for a few moments into cold water, then parboil it, drain it and cut into lengths of three inches; allow it now to steep until cold, in a bowl with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, one of French vinegar, pepper and salt; let it remain in this, occasionally turning it until ready to fry it. Then make a batter with eggs, milk, and flour; dip the salsify in this batter, and fry in hog’s lard; fry parsley with it and serve.

TOMATOES STUFFED

Take five large tomatoes, slice off that part which joins the stalk, cut out a little of their pulp, take out the seeds, and strain them; chop up the pulp with a handful of parsley, a slice of fat bacon, a slice of ham, and a cup of bread crumbs; fry all these, and season with butter, pepper, salt, thyme, and the yolks of two eggs; take it off the fire as soon as the eggs are beaten in, and stuff the tomatoes. Bake them for half an hour, pour some brown sauce or gravy over them and serve.

TOMATOES TO BROIL

Take ripe, red tomatoes, place them on the gridiron, broil, and turn until done through; then serve them whole, so that they can be seasoned at the table.

STEWED TOMATOES, WITH OR WITHOUT SUGAR

Pour boiling water over six or eight large, ripe tomatoes, let them remain in it a few minutes to scald the skins, then take them out and skin them. Chop them up and put them to stew with a little salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter; then add a spoonful of rolled cracker or toasted bread, and a tablespoonful of sugar, if liked; if not, omit the sugar, and let them stew gently, for half an hour longer.

TO COOK SPINACH

Wash in two or three waters, as the grit adheres very closely to spinach; when well washed, boil it one half hour in clear water; add a little soda, if it does not look a nice green. When soft, drain it well and chop very fine--it cannot be too fine; add butter, salt if needed, and pepper to taste; garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in fancy shapes; or, in early spring, it is nice to poach two or three eggs, and lay on the freshly cooked spinach.

ASPARAGUS ON TOAST

The fresher this vegetable is the better; and in picking and washing it, all stalks not crisp and tender should be thrown aside. Cut off nearly all the horny white parts, tie the rest in neat bunches, and boil in salted water for twenty minutes or half an hour; then take it out, let it drain a minute and lay on buttered toast, the heads all one way; cover with rich drawn butter sauce.

ASPARAGUS WITH CREAM

When cream is plentiful, cut the asparagus in inch pieces, boil, and then throw it into rich hot cream, with seasoning of pepper and salt.

STEWED MUSHROOMS ON TOAST

Pull out the stems of the mushrooms, and peel them; melt a tablespoonful of butter in a stew pan, throw into the butter a little salt, pepper, and powdered mace (if liked), lay the mushrooms in this, upper side down, and stew till they are tender, which will be in about twenty minutes. Fry a slice of bread until it is a light brown, and then arrange the mushrooms over it. Serve hot.

EGG PLANT

Parboil egg plant, slice it and dip each piece in beaten egg and roll it in pounded cracker; then drop it in hot lard and fry brown. Season with salt and pepper. They are delicious cooked this way, and taste like soft-shelled crabs. Another way is to parboil them, mash them up and season with eggs, onions, pepper, salt and butter; then place the mixture back in the shell, and bake. Serve in their shells.

ANOTHER WAY TO COOK EGG PLANT

Parboil, slice them, and without rolling them in anything drop them into boiling lard; season with salt and pepper. Some like them mashed and added to a batter of eggs, flour and milk, seasoned with pepper and salt, and then dropped like fritters into hot lard.

BURR ARTICHOKES

Get them young or they are not tender, wash them in salted water, and put them to boil. Boil until you can pull off a leaf easily; salt them and serve with drawn-butter sauce, with vinegar in it, or mustard and oil, as preferred.

SNAP BEANS, STEWED AND BOILED

Pick and snap them when green and tender, cut them small, and throw into boiling water; let them cook gently for two hours; then stir in a half cup of broth, and a cup of milk; let them stew in this for half an hour longer; season with salt and pepper to taste. Many like them cooked with a piece of lean side bacon. They require several hours boiling, if not very young. Put the beans in first, and when half done, put in a pound or so of bacon to an ordinary mess of beans.

GREEN ENGLISH PEAS, TO STEW

Shell a quart of green peas for a small mess. Wash them in cold water, and put them on to cook in a stew pan with a pint of boiling water, or enough to cover them. Let them cook half an hour, and then stir in a large lump of butter rolled in flour; let this cook a few minutes, and add a teaspoonful of white sugar, same of salt and pepper, and serve while hot. Do not let them cook dry. Lamb and green peas is a favorite dish in the spring of the year.

MARROWFAT PEAS

This is a late sort of green pea, and is much richer in taste than the earlier ones, but not so delicate. They must be dressed like the early peas, by boiling in water, and when soft, pour off the water. They are sometimes a little strong if the water is not changed. Fill up with milk, or milk and water, and boil a little longer, then season with butter, pepper and salt, and thicken with a teaspoon of flour stirred in among the peas.

LIMA, OR BUTTER BEANS

Shell them, and lay them in cold water for an hour or so before cooking; this renders them more delicate and mealy. When ready to cook, put them in a stew pan in boiling water enough to cover them; let them boil fast and keep them covered while cooking; examine them in an hour, and if soft, pour off nearly all the water and stir in a lump of butter, some pepper and salt. Lima beans and sweet corn make the finest succotash, although string beans are generally used.

SQUASH, STEWED

If not very young, you must peel the squashes, steam or boil them until tender, and season them with sweet milk or cream, and a little butter, pepper and salt; let them stew down in this until they are thick, and of the consistence of mashed potatoes. Another way is to take them from the steamer, mash them with a cut-up onion, and a slice or two of ham; then stew them down thick, adding pepper and salt to taste.

STEWED SUMMER SQUASH

Gather them while young and tender. Peel, cut them up, take out the seeds, and put them on to boil; let them cook rapidly until very tender. Drain them well in a colander, and mash with a wooden spoon. Put this pulp in a stew pan with a small piece of butter, a gill of cream, and a little pepper and salt; cook this, and stir constantly until the squash is dry. Serve very hot.

PUMPKIN WITH SALT MEAT

This is very good cooked with salt meat and brown sugar. Slice the pumpkin and put it in the oven with brown sugar, or good molasses; slice some smoked meat and lay it in among the pumpkin; cook it tender. It is better than many things with more reputation.

CAULIFLOWER, WITH WHITE SAUCE

Remove the green stalks, and if the heads are large, divide them into quarters; wash and boil them with a little pepper, butter and salt; serve with drawn butter or white sauce, when they become soft and tender.

STEWED CABBAGE

Cold cabbage left from dinner can be drained from the pot liquor in which it was boiled, and then simmered for half an hour in water, or milk and water; pour off all the water when it is tender, and stir in the pot a lump of butter or clarified drippings; let it cook gently, then throw in a cup of milk or cream; thicken it with flour, and season with pepper and salt. Serve with the cream gravy poured over the cabbage.

BEETS BOILED

Wash the beets clean, but do not trim the roots, or they will bleed and lose their sweetness. If the beets are young and tender, they are nice cooked whole, and then stewed in a little butter, with sugar, salt and vinegar added. Let them simmer in this batter for twenty minutes, and serve. If the beets are large, boil, and slice them when cooked, and season with vinegar, pepper and salt, or slice them, and serve with butter.

PARSNIP FRITTERS

Boil the parsnips in salted water until they are done; make a batter of an egg, a spoonful of milk and flour, pepper and salt, and when the parsnips are cool enough to handle cut them in rounds, dip them in the batter and drop them into hot lard; fry a light brown, turn them and fry the other side. When brown on both sides, drain them from the grease. They are good, mashed like turnips.

MACARONI IN A MOULD

Boil macaroni till it is tender, line a mould with it, fitting it in closely. Make a mince of any kind of meat, raw or cooked; season with sweet herbs, butter, pepper, chopped eschalot, and a couple of eggs; fill the mould with this and boil for twenty minutes. Serve with white sauce No. 10 put around the macaroni.

MACARONI AND GRATED CHEESE

Take a quarter of a pound of macaroni, break into lengths, and throw it into cold water to soak, an hour or so after breakfast. Boil it an hour, take it out of the pot and put in the bottom of the pan a layer of the boiled macaroni and then a layer of grated cheese; strew over the top a teaspoonful of salt and some lumps of butter as big as a nutmeg. Then fill up the pan with new milk and bake until browned on top, but never let it get dry; it is better to put water in, if your milk has given out, than to let it get the least dry. This is a rich dish when well made, but a poor one if badly made, and served dry.

EGGS, OMELETS, ETC.

_In choosing eggs_ hold each one up to the light; if fresh, the white will be clear and the yolk distinct; if they are not good, they will have a clouded appearance.

_Eggs for boiling_ must be as fresh as possible; they may be kept fresh for several weeks by packing them in bran. Lay the small end of the egg downward in the box. You may also keep them for months by greasing them with melted lard, or beef fat, or in a weak brine of lime water and salt; strong lime water will eat the shell, and if _very_ strong will cook the eggs. Add to a common bucket of water a pint of salt and a pint of lime; stir it well, and it is ready to receive the eggs.

_Omelets_ require a thick bottomed pan, as an ordinary pan is too thin and would scorch the eggs before they could be properly cooked. For turning omelets, eggs, fried parsley, etc., have a skimmer spoon with a flat, thin blade, with holes, to let the fat from the fry.

TO BOIL EGGS IN THEIR SHELLS, SOFT OR HARD

Wash the eggs clean, drop them as wanted in a stewpan of boiling water; if you desire them soft, let them boil just three minutes by the watch; if only the yolk is to be soft five minutes will do it; but if wanted very hard for salad, sandwiches, etc., let them boil ten or fifteen minutes. Then put them in cold water, to make them peel easily. If soft-boiled eggs are kept in the shell before eating them, they will harden very much from the heat of the shell.

EGGS, AU GRATIN, FOR LENT

Boil the eggs hard, peel and cut them in slices, and lay them in a deep dish in close circular rows. Make a sauce of a tablespoonful of butter, the yolks of four eggs, a little grated cheese and half a cup of sweet milk. Stir this over the fire until it thickens, pour it over the eggs, strew some bread crumbs on the top, and bake for about ten minutes; then send to table hot.

POACHED EGGS WITH TOAST AND ANCHOVY PASTE

Toast six pieces of bread, shape them round, before browning; keep them where they will be hot until you poach the eggs. Take a tin dipper, half fill it with boiling water, and drop it gently into the pot again, holding it so that none of the water from the pot can get into the dipper; keep it firm by holding it yourself or getting it held for you, and break a nice fresh egg into the dipper; let it stand until the white is firm. Lay each egg on one of the slices of toast, use butter and salt on the toast for both egg and toast; break each egg in this way until your six eggs and six pieces of toast are used; butter very freely, and serve hot. Anchovy paste may be spread on the toast before the eggs are put on, but it is a nice dish without it and very suitable for a delicate breakfast.

POACHED EGGS AND HAM

Poach your eggs in a tin dipper, as directed, and when done put them on round slices of broiled or fried ham. Many prefer this to fried ham and eggs.

EGGS WITH BROWNED BUTTER AND VINEGAR

Put four ounces of butter into an omelet pan over the fire; as it begins to sputter, break the eggs into it without disturbing the yolks, season with pepper and salt; fry the eggs carefully and remove them on to the dish in which they are to be served. Put two ounces more butter in the pan, fry it of a brown color; put to the butter two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, pour it over the eggs and serve.

OMELETTE AU NATUREL

Break eight eggs into a bowl; add a teaspoonful of salt, half as much pepper, beat up the whole very hard and throw in a tablespoonful of water. Have the omelet-pan on the fire with a cup of sweet butter heated to a gentle heat (fierce heat would scorch the eggs); pour the eggs into the heated butter; raise it as it cooks, with a skimmer-spoon, turn in the brown edges, or turn one half over the other, as it keeps in the lusciousness of the omelet. Keep gently rolling it, as it cooks, until, when done, it is round like a small roly-poly pudding. Omelette au naturel is the basis of all omelets, for, by substituting different seasonings, you have all the varieties of them. Parsley and onion chopped fine and mixed with the eggs is one variety; grated ham and parsley is another; sugar makes another class, and so on.

A NICE OMELET WITH GREEN ONION

Beat the whites and yolks of six eggs separately, put in a tablespoonful of butter, a spoonful of chopped green onion and one of fine-cut parsley, and mix with the eggs; then put it into a thick-bottomed pan, in which you have placed a half cup of butter. Roll it up as it cooks, and tilt the pan on one side, that the omelet may cook on the other side; roll up again as it cooks. Do not let it get hard and brown, but keep it soft. Keep on rolling as well as you can; a little practice will make you perfect. When the eggs cook, butter, pepper and salt them, and turn on a dish.

OMELET FOR ONE PERSON

Beat two eggs--yolks and whites separately; in a bowl put a tablespoonful of water, a little parsley, a teaspoonful of butter, and a little green onion, if liked; beat the eggs into this, and whisk all very rapidly for a few minutes; then pour it into a pan, where there is a tablespoonful of butter just hot enough to color the eggs; cook them very slowly, and roll up the omelet as it cooks until it is like a rolled pancake; pepper and salt it at the last moment of cooking, as putting in salt too soon makes eggs tough.

OMELET WITH PARMESAN CHEESE

Break six eggs into a bowl, add a gill of cream, four ounces of grated cheese, some pepper and a little salt; beat the whole together, pour into a pan, roll up and bake as directed. Butter it well before sending to table.

OMELET WITH SUGAR

Beat six eggs, whites and yolks separately, with seven spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Flavor with lemon, and bake like a pudding for ten or fifteen minutes, or just long enough to set the eggs. Longer baking will spoil the jelly-like consistency of the omelet.

OMELETTE SOUFFLE

Beat six eggs, the whites and yolks separately; put to the yolks four dessertspoonfuls of white sugar powdered, and the yellow rind of a lemon chopped very fine; mix them thoroughly, whip the whites to a high froth and add them to the yolks. Put quarter of a pound of butter into the pan, over a brisk fire, and as soon as it is completely melted pour in the mixture; stir it that the butter may be completely incorporated with the eggs. When it is so, put it in a buttered dish and set it over hot embers or ashes, strew powdered sugar over the top and color it with a hot shovel; this may be done in the oven. Serve as soon as possible, as it soon falls and so the appearance is spoiled.

OMELETTE SOUFFLE IN A MOULD

Break six fresh eggs, separate the whites from the yolks, put with the yolks three spoonfuls of rice flour and a tablespoonful of orange-flower water; stir these well together, whip the whites of the eggs to a high froth, and mix them with the yolks. Pour the mixture into a buttered mould, about half full; bake it in a moderate oven for half an hour. When done turn it on to a dish and serve quickly. This omelet must be clear and shake like a jelly.

A DELICIOUS OMELET