Read Ebook: The American Housewife Containing the Most Valuable and Original Receipts in All the Various Branches of Cookery; and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner by Anonymous

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e fire with the oysters. Mix a heaping table spoonful of flour with a little water, and stir it into the liquor as soon as it boils. Season it with salt, pepper, and a little walnut, or butternut vinegar, if you have it, if not, common vinegar may be substituted. Put in a small lump of butter, and turn it as soon as it boils up again on to buttered toast, cut into small pieces.

If you make your soup of dry peas, soak them over night, in a warm place, using a quart of water to each quart of the peas. Early the next morning boil them an hour. Boil with them a tea spoonful of saleratus, eight or ten minutes, then take them out of the water they were soaking in, put them into fresh water, with a pound of salt pork, and boil it till the peas are soft, which will be in the course of three or four hours. Green peas for soup require no soaking, and boiling only long enough to have the pork get thoroughly cooked, which will be in the course of an hour.

Take beef or veal soup, and let it get perfectly cold, then skim off every particle of the grease. Set it on the fire, and let it boil till of a thick glutinous consistence. Care should be taken that it does not burn. Season it highly with salt, pepper, cloves and mace--add a little wine or brandy, and then turn it on to earthen platters. It should not be more than a quarter of an inch in thickness. Let it remain until cold, then cut it in pieces three inches square, set them in the sun to dry, turning them frequently. When perfectly dry, put them in an earthen or tin vessel, having a layer of white paper between each layer. These, if the directions are strictly attended to, will keep good a long time. Whenever you wish to make a soup of them, nothing more is necessary, than to put a quart of water to one of the cakes, and heat it very hot.

They should be put into boiling water, and if you wish to have them soft, boil them only three minutes. If you wish to have them hard enough to cut in slices, boil them five minutes. Another way which is very nice, is to break the shells, and drop the eggs into a pan of scalding hot water, let it stand till the white has set, then put the pan on a moderate fire, when the water boils up, the eggs are cooked sufficiently. Eggs look very prettily cooked in this way, the yelk being just visible through the white. If you do not use the eggs for a garnish, serve them up with burnt butter. See receipt for making, No. 42.

Beat the eggs to a froth, and to a dozen of eggs put three ounces of finely minced boiled ham, beef, or veal; if the latter meat is used, add a little salt. Melt a quarter of a pound of butter, mix a little of it with the eggs--it should be just lukewarm. Set the remainder of the butter on the fire, in a frying or tin pan, when quite hot, turn in the eggs beaten to a froth, stir them until they begin to set. When brown on the under side, it is sufficiently cooked. The omelet should be cooked on a moderate fire, and in a pan small enough, to have the omelet an inch thick. When you take them up, lay a flat dish on them, then turn the pan upside down.

Break the eggs into a pan, beat them to a froth, then put them into a buttered tin pan, set the pan on a few coals, put in a small lump of butter, a little salt, let them cook very slowly, stirring them constantly till they become quite thick, then turn them on to buttered toast.

Fish for boiling or broiling are the best the day after they are caught. They should be cleaned when first caught, washed in cold water, and half a tea cup of salt sprinkled on the inside of them. If they are to be broiled, sprinkle pepper on the inside of them--keep them in a cool place. When fish is broiled, the bars of the gridiron should be rubbed over with a little butter, and the inside of the fish put towards the fire, and not turned till the fish is nearly cooked through--then butter the skin side, and turn it over--fish should be broiled slowly. When fresh fish is to be boiled, it should either be laid on a fish strainer, or sewed up in a cloth--if not, it is very difficult to take it out of the pot without breaking. Put the fish into cold water, with the back bone down. To eight or ten pounds of fish, put half of a small tea cup of salt. Boil the fish until you can draw out one of the fins easily--most kinds of fish will boil sufficiently in the course of twenty or thirty minutes, some kinds will boil in less time. Some cooks do not put their fish into the water till it boils, but it is not a good plan, as the outside gets cooked too much, and breaks to pieces before the inside is sufficiently done. Fish for frying, after being cleaned and washed, should be put into a cloth to have it absorb the moisture. They should be dried perfectly, and a little flour rubbed over them. No salt should be put on them, if you wish to have them brown well. For five or six pounds of fish, fry three or four slices of salt pork--when brown, take them up, and if they do not make fat sufficient to fry the fish in, add a little lard. When the fish are fried enough, take them up, and for good plain gravy, mix two or three tea spoonsful of flour with a little water, and stir it into the fat the fish was fried in--put in a little butter, pepper, and salt, if you wish to have the gravy rich--add spices, catsup and wine--turn the gravy over the fish. Boiled fish should be served up with drawn butter, or liver sauce, Fish, when put on the platter, should not be laid over each other if it can be avoided, as the steam from the under ones makes those on the top so moist, that they will break to pieces when served out.

Great care and punctuality is necessary in cooking fish. If not done sufficiently, or if done too much, they are not good. They should be eaten as soon as cooked. For a garnish to the fish, use parsely, a lemon, or eggs boiled hard, and cut in slices.

Fry three or four slices of pork till brown--cut each of your fish into five or six slices, flour, and put a layer of them in your pork fat, sprinkle on pepper and a little salt--add cloves, mace, and sliced onions if you like--lay on several bits of your fried pork, and crackers previously soaked soft in cold water. This process repeat till you get in all the fish, then turn on water enough to just cover them--put on a heated bake pan lid. When the fish have stewed about twenty minutes, take them up, and mix a couple of tea spoonsful of flour with a little water, and stir it into the gravy, also, a little butter and pepper. Half a pint of white wine, spices, and catsup, will improve it. Bass and cod make the best chowder--black fish and clams make tolerably good ones. The hard part of the clams should be cut off, and thrown away.

Soak bread in cold water till soft--drain off the water, mash the bread fine, mix it with a table spoonful of melted butter, a little pepper and salt--a couple of raw eggs makes the dressing cut smoother--add spices if you like. Fill the fish, with the dressing, sew it up, put a tea cup of water in your bake pan, and a small piece of butter--lay in the fish, bake it from forty to fifty minutes. Fresh cod, bass, and shad, are suitable fish for baking.

Fresh cod is good boiled, fried, or made into a chowder. It is too dry a fish to broil. Salt cod should be soaked in lukewarm water till the skin will come off easily--then take up the fish, scrape off the skin, and put it in fresh water, and set it on a very moderate fire, where it will keep warm without boiling, as it hardens by boiling. It takes between three and four hours to cook it soft--serve it up with drawn butter. Cold salt codfish is nice minced fine, and mixed with mashed potatoes, and warmed up, with just water enough to moisten it, and considerable butter. It makes a nice dish for breakfast, prepared in the following manner. Pull the fish into small pieces, soak it an hour in warm water, then drain off the water, put a little milk and butter to it, stew it a few minutes, and serve it up with soft boiled eggs.

Soak them four or five hours in lukewarm water--then take them out of the water, scrape off the skin, cut them once in two, and stew them in a little milk. Just before they are taken up, stir in butter, and a little flour.

Is nice cut in slices, salted and peppered, and broiled or fried. The fins and thick part is good boiled.

Bass are good fried, boiled, broiled, or made into a chowder.

Are the best boiled or fried--they will do to broil, but are not so good as cooked in any other way.

Fresh shad are good baked or boiled, but better broiled. For broiling, they should have a good deal of salt and pepper sprinkled on the inside of them, and remain several hours before broiling. The spawn and liver are good boiled or fried. Salt shad and mackerel, for broiling, should be soaked ten or twelve hours in cold water. Salt shad, for boiling, need not be soaked only long enough to get off the scales, without you like them quite fresh--if so, turn boiling water on them, and let them soak in it an hour--then put them into fresh boiling water, and boil them twenty minutes. To pickle shad, mix one pound of sugar, a peck of rock salt, two quarts of blown salt, and a quarter of a pound of salt-petre. Allow this quantity to every twenty-five shad. Put a layer of the mixture at the bottom of the keg, then a layer of cleaned shad, with the skin side down. Sprinkle on another layer of salt, sugar, and salt-petre, and so on till you get in all the shad. Lay a heavy weight on the shad, to keep it under the brine. If the juice of the shad does not run out so as to form brine sufficient to cover them, in the course of a week, make a little brine, and turn on to them.

Sturgeons are good boiled or baked, but better fried. Before baking it, boil it about fifteen minutes, to extract the strong oily taste, and when baked, to eight or ten pounds of it put a quart of water into the pan, and bake it till tender. The part next to the tail is the best for baking or frying. Sturgeons are very nice, cooked in the following manner. Cut it in slices nearly an inch thick--fry a few slices of pork--when brown, take them up, and put in the sturgeon. When a good brown color, take them up, and stir in a little flour and water, mixed smoothly together. Season the gravy with salt, pepper, and catsup--stir in a little butter, and wine if you like, then put back the sturgeon, and let it stew a few minutes in the gravy. While the sturgeon is cooking, make force meat balls of part of the sturgeon and salt pork--fry and use them as a garnish for the fish.

Cold boiled fresh fish, or salt codfish, is nice minced fine, with potatoes, moistened with a little water, and a little butter put in, done up into cakes of the size of common biscuit, and fried brown in pork fat or butter.

Take a little uncooked fish, chop it fine, together with a little raw salt pork, mix it with one or two raw eggs, a few bread crumbs, and season the whole with pepper and spices. Add a little catsup if you like--do them up into small balls, and fry them till brown.

Put them into boiling water, and boil them from half to three quarters of an hour, according to their size. Boil half a tea cup of salt with every four pounds of the fish. When cold, crack the shell, and take out the meat, taking care to extract the blue veins, and what is called the lady in the lobster, as they are very unhealthy. If the fish are not eaten cold, warm them up with a little water, vinegar, salt, pepper, and butter. The following way of dressing lobsters looks very prettily. Pick out the spawn and red chord, mash them fine, rub them through a sieve, put in a little butter and salt. Cut the lobsters into squares, and warm it, together with the spawn, over a moderate fire. When hot, take it up, and garnish it with parsely. The chord and spawn are a handsome garnish for any kind of fish.

Are nice boiled, and then fried, or boiled and pickled, in the same manner as oysters. Take them out of the shells--when boiled, pick out the hearts, and throw the rest away, as the heart is the only part that is healthy to eat. Dip the hearts in flour, and fry them in lard till brown. The hearts are good stewed, with a little water, butter, salt, and pepper.

Eels, if very large, are best split open, cut into short pieces, and seasoned with salt and pepper, and broiled several hours after they have been salted. They are good cut into small strips, and laid in a deep dish, with bits of salt pork, seasoned with salt and pepper, and covered with pounded rusked bread, then baked half an hour. Small eels are the best fried.

Trout are good boiled, broiled, or fried--they are also good stewed a few minutes, with bits of salt pork, butter, and a little water. Trout, as well as all other kinds of fresh water fish, are apt to have an earthy taste--to remove it, soak them in salt and water a few minutes, after they are cleaned.

Wash and put them in a pot, with just water enough to prevent the shells burning at the bottom of the pot. Heat them till the shells open--take the clams out of them, and warm them with a little of the clam liquor, a little salt, butter, and pepper. Toast a slice or two of bread, soak it in the clam liquor, lay it in a deep dish, and turn the clams on to it. For clam pancakes, mix flour and milk together to form a thick batter--some cooks use the clam liquor, but it does not make the pancakes as light as the milk. To each pint of the milk, put a couple of eggs, and a few clams--they are good taken out of the shells without stewing, and chopped fine, or stewed, and put into the cakes whole. Very large long clams are good taken out of the shells without stewing, and broiled.

Strain the oyster liquor, rinse the bits of shells off the oysters, then turn the liquor back on to the oysters, and put them in a stew pan--set them where they will boil up, then turn them on to buttered toast--salt, pepper, and butter them to your taste. Some cooks add a little walnut catsup, or vinegar. The oysters should not be cooked till just before they are to be eaten.

Take those that are large, dip them in beaten eggs, and then in flour, or fine bread crumbs--fry them in lard, till of a light brown. They are a nice garnish for fish. They will keep good for several months if fried when first caught, salted and peppered, then put into a bottle, and corked tight. Whenever they are to be eaten, warm them in a little water.

Mix equal quantities of milk and oyster juice together. To a pint of the liquor when mixed, put a pint of wheat flour, a few oysters, a couple of eggs, and a little salt. Drop it by the large spoonful into hot lard.

Line a deep pie plate with pie crust--fill it with dry pieces of bread, cover it over with puff paste--bake it till a light brown, either in a quick oven or bake pan. Have the oysters just stewed by the time the crust is done--take off the upper crust, remove the pieces of bread, put in the oysters, season them with salt, pepper, and butter. A little walnut catsup improves the pie, but is not essential--cover it with the crust.

Pound rusked bread or crackers fine--butter scollop shells or tins, sprinkle on the bread crumbs, then put in a layer of oysters, a small lump of butter, pepper, salt, and a little of the oyster juice--then put on another layer of crumbs and oysters, and so on till the shells are filled, having a layer of crumbs at the top. Bake them till a light brown.

The best way to cook Irish potatoes, is to pare and put them in a pot, with just boiling water enough to prevent their burning, and a little salt. Cover them tight, and let them stew till you can stick a fork through them easily. If any water remains in the pot, turn it off, put the pot where it will keep moderately warm, and let the potatoes steam a few moments longer. The easiest way to cook them, is to put them in boiling water, with the skins on, and boiled constantly till done. They will not be mealy if they lie soaking in the water without boiling. They are more mealy to peel them as soon as tender, and then put back in the pot without any water, and set in a warm place where they will steam, with the lid of the pot off. Old and poor potatoes are best boiled till soft, then peeled and mashed fine, with a little salt, butter, and very little milk put in--then put into a dish, smoothed over with a knife, a little flour sprinkled over it, and put where it will brown. Cold mashed, or whole boiled potatoes, are nice cut in slices, and fried with just butter or lard enough to prevent their burning. When brown on both sides, take them up, salt and butter them. Most potatoes will boil in the course of half an hour--new ones will boil in less time. Sweet potatoes are better baked than boiled.

Take the white mealy kind of potatoes--pare them, and put them into just boiling water enough to cover them--add a little salt. When boiled tender, drain off the water, and let them steam till they break to pieces--take them up, put two or three at a time compactly together in a strong cloth, and press them tight, in the form of a ball--then lay them in your potatoe dish carefully, so as not to fall apart.

White turnips require about as much boiling as potatoes. When tender, take them up, peel and mash them--season them with a little salt and butter. Yellow turnips require about two hours boiling--if very large, split them in two. The tops of white turnips make a good salad.

Beets should not be cut or scraped before they are boiled, or the juice will run out, and make them insipid. In summer, they will boil in an hour--in winter, it takes three hours to boil them tender. The tops in summer are good boiled for greens. Boiled beets cut in slices, and put in cold spiced vinegar for several days, are very nice.

Wash them, and split them in two--lay them in a stew pan, with the flat side down, turn on boiling water enough to cover them--boil them till tender, then take them up, and take off the skin, and butter them. Many cooks boil them whole, but it is not a good plan, as the outside gets done too much, before the inside is cooked sufficiently. Cold boiled parsnips are good cut in slices, and fried brown.

Peel and put them in boiling milk, When boiled tender, take them up, salt them, and turn a little melted butter over them.

Scrape and put them in boiling water, with a table spoonful of salt to a couple of dozen. When boiled tender, take them up, salt and butter each one.

Summer squashes, if very young, may be boiled whole--if not, they should be pared, quartered, and the seeds taken out. When boiled very tender, take them up, put them in a strong cloth, and press out all the water--mash them, salt and butter them to your taste. The neck part of the winter squash is the best. Cut it in narrow strips, take off the rind, and boil the squash in salt and water till tender--then drain off the water, and let the pumpkin steam over a moderate fire for ten or twelve minutes. It is good not mashed--if mashed, add a little butter.

Trim off the loose leaves of the cabbage, cut the stalky in quarters, to the heart of the cabbage--boil it an hour. If not boiled with corned beef, put a little salt in the water in which they are boiled. White cauliflowers are the best. Take off the outside leaves, cut the stalk close to the leaves, let them lie in salt and cold water for half an hour before boiling them--boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, according to their size. Milk and water is the best to boil them in, but clear water does very well. Put a little salt in the pot in which they are boiled.

Cut the white part of the stalks off, and throw it away--cut the lower part of the stalks in thin slices if tough, and boil them eight or ten minutes before the upper part is put in. Lay the remainder compactly together, tie it carefully in small bundles, and boil it from fifteen to twenty minutes, according to its age. Boil a little salt with them, and a quarter of a tea spoonful of saleratus, to two or three quarts of water, to preserve their fresh green color. Just before your asparagus is done, toast a slice of bread, moisten it with a little of the asparagus liquor, lay it in your asparagus dish, and butter it--then take up the asparagus carefully with a skimmer, and lay it on the toast, take off the string, salt it, and turn a little melted butter over the whole.

Peas should be put into boiling water, with salt and saleratus, in the proportion of a quarter of a tea spoonful of saleratus to half a peck of peas. Boil them from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to their age and kind. When boiled tender, take them out of the water with a skimmer, salt and butter them to the taste. Peas to be good should be fresh gathered, and not shelled till just before they are cooked.

Corn is much sweeter to be boiled on the cob. If made into sucatosh, cut it from the cobs, and boil it with Lima beans, and a few slices of salt pork. It requires boiling from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to its age.

French beans should have the strings taken off--if old, the edges should be cut off, and the beans cut through the middle. Boil them with a little salt, from twenty-five to forty minutes, according to their age. A little saleratus boiled with them preserves their green color, and makes them more healthy. Salt and butter them when taken up. Lima beans can be kept the year round, by being perfectly dried when fresh gathered in the pods, or being put without drying into a keg, with a layer of salt to each layer of beans, having a layer of salt at the bottom of the keg. Cover them tight, and keep them in a cool place. Whenever you wish to cook them, soak them over night, in cold water--shell and boil them, with a little saleratus. White beans for baking, should be picked over carefully to get out the colored and bad ones. Wash and soak them over night in a pot, set where they will keep lukewarm. There should be about three quarts of water to three pints of the beans. The next morning set them where they will boil, with a tea spoonful of saleratus. When they have boiled four or five minutes, take them up with a skimmer. Put them in a baking pot. Gash a pound of pork, and put it down in the pot, so as to have the beans cover all but the upper surface--turn in cold water till you can just see it at the top. They will bake in a hot oven, in the course of three hours--but they are better to remain in it five or six hours. Beans are good prepared in the same manner as for baking, and stewed several hours without baking.

White mustard, spinach, water cresses, dandelions, and the leaves and roots of very small beets, are the best greens. Boil them with a little salt and saleratus in the water. If not fresh and plump, soak them in salt and water half an hour before cooking them. When they are boiled enough, they will sink to the bottom of the pot.

To be in perfection, salads should be fresh gathered, and kept in cold water for an hour before they are put on the table. The water should be drained from them, and if you have not any salad oil, melt a little butter and put it in a separate dish--if turned over the salad, it will not be crispy.

To be healthy they should not be picked longer than a day before they are to be eaten. They should be kept in cold water, and fifteen or twenty minutes before they are to be eaten, pare and slice them into fresh cold water, to take out the slimy matter. Just before they are put on the table, drain off the water. Put them in a deep dish; sprinkle on a good deal of salt and pepper--cover them with vinegar. Cucumbers are thought by many people to be very unhealthy, but if properly prepared, they will not be found to be any more unwholesome than most other summer vegetables.

Cut off the lower part of the stem, as it is apt to have an earthy taste. Peel and put them in a saucepan, with just water enough at the bottom, to prevent their burning to the pan. Put in a little salt, and shake them occasionally while stewing, to prevent their burning. When they have stewed quite tender, put in a little butter and pepper--add spices and wine if you like. They should stew very slowly till tender, and not be seasoned till just before they are taken up. Serve them up on buttered toast.

Boil them a few moments to extract the bitter taste--then cut them in thick slices; sprinkle a little salt between each slice. Let them lie half an hour--then fry them till brown in lard.

This is an excellent vegetable, but is little known. The stalks of it can hardly be distinguished from celery, and it is much easier cultivated. The roots are nice boiled tender, cut in thin slices, and put in soup or meat pies; or cooked in the following manner, and eaten with meat. Scrape and cut them in slices. Boil them till very tender--then drain off the water. Sprinkle a little salt over them--turn in milk enough to cover them. When they have stewed about four or five minutes, turn them into a dish, and add a little butter.

The best way to cook it is to parboil it, then cut it in slices, dip it into a beaten egg, and fine bread crumbs, and fry it in lard. It is very good boiled, then stewed a few minutes in milk, with a little butter and salt. Another way which is very good, is to make a batter of wheat flour, milk and eggs; cut the Salsify in thin slices, put them into the batter with a little salt; drop this mixture into hot fat, by the large spoonful. When a light brown, they are cooked sufficiently.

If very ripe will skin easily; if not, pour scalding water on them, and let them remain in it four or five minutes. Peel and put them in a stew pan, with a table spoonful of water, if not very juicy; if so, no water will be required. Put in a little salt, and stew them for half an hour; then turn them into a deep dish with buttered toast. Another way of cooking them, which is considered very nice by epicures, is to put them in a deep dish, with fine bread crumbs, crackers pounded fine, a layer of each alternately; put small bits of butter, a little salt, and pepper on each layer--some cooks add a little nutmeg and sugar. Have a layer of bread crumbs on the top. Bake it three quarters of an hour.

Take an equal quantity of young tender ocra chopped fine, and ripe tomatoes skinned, an onion cut into slices, a small lump of butter, a little salt and pepper. Put the whole in a stew pan, with a table spoonful of water, and stew it till tender.

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