TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Page.
Miscellaneous observations for the use of the Mistress of a Family,[1]
Different methods of cooking the several kinds of Fish,[1] to 17
Observations on dressing Fish,[17] to 20
On dressing Meats,[20] to 76
On dressing Poultry,[76] to 87
On making Pies,[87] to 93
On making Soups,[93] to 101
On making Gravies and Sauces,[102] to 111
On making Vinegars and Pickles,[112] to 124
On making Stews,[124] to 127
On making Salads and boiling Vegetables,[128] to 131
Small Dishes for Supper,[131]
Forcemeat for Patties, Balls, or stuffing,[132]
Pastry,[133] to 141
Puddings,[142] to 159
Sweet Dishes,[159] to 186
Fruits,[186] to 210
Ices,[210] to 212
Cakes,[212] to 229
French Bread,[229]
To make and preserve Yeast,ibid.
To pot and roast Cheese,[230]
To poach Eggs,[231]
On managing a Dairy,[231] to 235
Home Brewery,[236] to 247
Cookery for the Sick,[247] to 264
Cookery for the Poor,[264] to 268
Useful Directions to give to Servants,[269] to 276

Miscellaneous Observations
FOR THE USE OF
THE MISTRESS OF A FAMILY;
BY WHICH MUCH MONEY WILL BE SAVED, AND THE GENERAL APPEARANCE GREATLY IMPROVED.

The mistress of a family should always remember that the welfare and good management of the house depend on the eye of the superior; and consequently that nothing is too trifling for her notice, whereby waste may be avoided; and this attention is of more importance, now that the price of every necessary of life is increased to an enormous degree.

If a lady has never been accustomed, while single, to think of family management, let her not upon that account fear that she cannot attain it; she may consult others who are more experienced, and acquaint herself with the necessary quantities of the several articles of family expenditure in proportion to the number it consists of.

A minute account of the annual income, and the times of payment, should be taken in writing; likewise an estimate of the supposed amount of each article of expense; and those who are early accustomed to calculations on domestic articles, will acquire so accurate a knowledge of what their establishment requires, as will give them the happy medium between prodigality and parsimony, without acquiring the character of meanness.

Ready money should be paid for all such things as come not into weekly bills; and the best places for purchasing be attended to. In some articles a discount of five per cent. is allowed in London, and other large cities; and those who thus pay are usually best served. Under the idea of buying cheap, many people go to new shops; but it is safest to deal with people of established credit, who do not dispose of bad goods by underselling.

To make people wait for their money injures them greatly, besides that a higher price must be charged: perhaps the irregularity of payment may have much evil influence on the price of various articles, and contribute to the destruction of many families, in gradation downwards.

It is very necessary for a woman to be informed of the prices and goodness of all articles in common use, and of the best times, as well as places, for purchasing them. She should also be acquainted with the comparative prices of provisions, in order that she may be able to substitute those that are most reasonable, when they will answer as well, for others of the same kind, but which are more costly. A false notion of economy leads many to purchase as bargains what is not wanted, and sometimes never is used. Were this error avoided, more money would remain for other purposes. Some things are better for keeping, and, being in constant consumption, should be laid in accordingly; such as paper, soap, and candles. Of these more hereafter.

A proper quantity of household articles should be always ready, and more bought in before the others be consumed, to prevent inconvenience, especially in the country.

A bill of parcels and receipts should be required, even if the money be paid at the time of purchase; and, to avoid mistakes, let the goods be compared with these when brought home.

Though it is very disagreeable to suspect any one’s honesty, and perhaps mistakes have been unintentional, yet it is prudent to weigh meat, sugars, &c. when brought in, and compare with the charge. The butcher should be ordered to send the weight with the meat, and the cook to file these checks, to be examined when the weekly bill shall be delivered.

A ticket should be given by the cook for each loaf, which will on return give the number to be paid for.

Thus regularly conducted, the exact state of money affairs will be known with ease; for it is delay of payment that occasions confusion.

Accounts should be regularly kept, and not the smallest articles omitted to be entered; and if balanced every week and month, the income and outgoings will be ascertained with facility, and their proportions to other be duly observed. Some people approve of keeping in separate purses the money for different purposes, as domestic articles, clothes, pocket, education of children, &c.

Whichever way accounts be kept, some certain method should be adopted and strictly adhered to.

Many families have owed their prosperity full as much to the conduct and propriety of female management, as to the knowledge and activity of the father.

Those who are served with brewer’s beer, or any other thing not paid for on delivery, should have a book for entering the date; which will not only prevent overcharges, but at one view give the annual consumption.

It is much to be feared, that for the waste of many of the good things that God has given for our use, not abuse, the mistress and servants of great houses will hereafter be called to a strict account.

Some part of every person’s fortune should be devoted to charity; by which “a pious woman will build up her house before God, while she that is foolish (i. e. lends nothing to the Lord) pulls it down with her hands.” No one can complain of the want of gifts to the poor in this land; but there is a mode of relief which would add greatly to their comfort, and which being prepared from superfluity, and such materials as are often thrown away, the expense would not be felt. In the latter part of this work some hints for preparing the above are given.

By good hours, especially early breakfast, a family is more regular, and much time is saved. If orders be given soon in the morning, there will be more time to execute them; and servants, by doing their work with ease, will be more equal to it, and fewer will be necessary.

It is worthy of notice, that the general expense will be reduced, if every thing be kept in its proper place, applied to its proper use, and mended, when the nature of an accident will allow, as soon as broken.

An inventory of furniture, linen, and china, should be kept, and the things examined by it twice a year, or oftener, if there be a change of servants; into each of whose care the articles used by him or her, should be intrusted, with a list, as is done with plate. Tickets of parchment with the family name, numbered, and specifying what bed it belongs to, should be sewed on each feather bed, bolster, pillows, and blankets.

Many well meaning servants are ignorant of the best means of managing, and thereby waste as much as would maintain a small family, besides causing the mistress of the house much chagrin by their irregularity; and many families, from a want of method, have the appearance of chance rather than of regular system. To avoid which the following hints may be useful.

All things likely to be wanted should be in readiness; sugars of different qualities should be kept broken, currants washed, picked and dry in a jar; spice pounded, &c.

Where regular noonings or suppers are used (and in every house some preparation is necessary for accidental visitors), care should be taken to have such things in readiness as may be proper for either; a list of several will be subjoined, a change of which will be agreeable, and if properly managed will be attended with no great expense.

Every article should be kept in that place best suited to it, as much waste may thereby be avoided, viz.

Vegetables will keep best on a stone floor if the air be excluded; meat in a cold dry place; sugar and sweetmeats require a dry place; so does salt; candles cold, but not damp; dried meats, hams, &c. the same; all sorts of seeds for puddings, saloop, rice, &c. should be close covered to preserve from insects. Flour should be kept in a cool perfectly dry room, and the bag being tied should be changed upside down and back every week, and well shaken. Soap should be cut with a wire or twine, in pieces that form a long square, when first brought in, and kept out of the air two or three weeks; for if it dry quick, it will crack, and when wet break. Put it on a shelf, leaving a space between, and let it grow hard gradually. Thus, it will save a full third in the consumption. Cheese should be washed and wiped if you wish to preserve it sound, and the shelves be washed; changing the place every three or four weeks; but if it be wanted to ripen, a damp cellar will bring it forward.

Bread is now so heavy an article of expense that all waste should be guarded against, and having it cut in the room will tend much to prevent it; since the scarcity in 1795 and 1800, that custom has been much adopted. It should not be cut until a day old; earthen pans and covers keep it best.

Rolls, muffins, or any sort of bread, may be made to taste new when two or three days old, by dipping it uncut in water, and baking afresh or toasting.

Eggs may be bought cheapest when the hens first begin to lay in the spring, before they sit; in Lent and at Easter they become dear. They may be preserved fresh by dipping them in boiling water, and instantly taking them out, or by oiling the shell; either of which ways is to prevent the air passing through it. They should be kept on shelves with small holes to receive one in each, and be turned every other day.

Carrots, parsnips, and beet roots, should be kept in sand for winter use, and neither they nor potatoes be cleared from the earth.

Store onions preserve best hung up in a dry cold room.

Straw to lay apples on should be quite dry, to prevent a musty taste.

Large pears should be tied up by the stalk.

Tarragon gives the flavour of French cookery, and in high gravies is a great improvement; but should be added only a short time before serving.

Basil, savory, and knotted marjoram, or London thyme, to be used when herbs are ordered; but with discretion, as they are very pungent.

Celery seeds give the flavour of the plant to soups.

Parsley should be cut close to the stalks, and dried on tins in a very cool oven: it preserves its flavour and colour, and is very useful in winter.

Artichoke bottoms which have been slowly dried, should be kept in paper bags; and truffles, morels, lemonpeel, &c. in a dry place ticketed.

In towns, poultry being usually sold ready picked, the feathers, which may occasionally come in in small quantities, are neglected: but orders should be given to put them into a tub free from damp, and as they dry to change them into paper bags, a few in each; they should hang in a dry kitchen to season; fresh ones must not be added to those in part dried, or they will occasion a musty smell, but they should go through the same process. In a few months they will be fit to add to beds, or to make pillows, without the usual mode of drying them in a cool oven, which may be pursued if they are wanted before five or six months.

The best means to preserve blankets from moths is to fold and lay them under the featherbeds that are in use, and they should be shaken occasionally. When soiled, they should be washed, not scoured.

Candles made in cool weather are best; and when their price, and that of soap, which rise and fall together, is likely to be higher, it will be prudent to lay in the stock of both. This information the chandler can always give; they are better for keeping eight or ten months, and will not injure for two years, if properly placed in the cool; and there are few articles that better deserve care in buying, and allowing a due quantity of, according to the size of the family.

The price of starch depends upon that of flour; the best will keep good in a dry warm room for some years; therefore when bread is cheap, it may be bought to advantage, and covered close.

Pickles and sweetmeats should be preserved from air; where the former are much used, small jars of each should be taken from the stock jar, to prevent frequent opening.

Some of the lemons and oranges used for juice should be pared, first to preserve the peel dry; some should be halved, and when squeezed, the pulp cut out, and the outsides dried for grating. If for boiling in any liquid, the first way is best. When these fruits are cheap, a proper quantity should be bought, and prepared as hereafter directed, especially by those who live in the country, where they cannot always be had; and they are perpetually wanted in cookery.

When whites of eggs are used for jelly, or other purposes, contrive to have pudding, custard, &c. to employ the yelks also. Should you not want them for several hours, beat them up with a little water, and put them in a cool place, or they will be hardened and useless. It was a mistake of old, to think that the whites made cakes and puddings heavy; on the contrary, if beaten long and separately, they contribute greatly to give lightness, are an advantage to paste, and make a pretty dish beaten with fruit, to set in cream, &c.

If copper utensils be used in the kitchen, the cook should be charged to be very careful not to let the tin be rubbed off; and to have them fresh done when the least defect appears, and never to put by any soup, gravy, &c. in them, or any metal utensil; stone and earthen vessels should be provided for those purposes, as likewise plenty of common dishes, that the table set may not be used to put by cold meat.

Vegetables soon sour, and corrode metals and glazed red ware, by which a strong poison is produced.

Vinegar by its acidity does the same, the glazing being of lead or arsenic.

In hot weather, when it is difficult to preserve milk from becoming sour, and spoiling the cream, it may be kept perfectly sweet by scalding the new milk very gently, without boiling, and setting it by in the earthen dish or pan that it is done in. This method is pursued in Devonshire, and the milk is not skimmed under twenty four hours, and would equally answer in small quantities for coffee, tea, &c.

Cream already skimmed may be kept twenty four hours if scalded without sugar, and by adding to it as much powdered lump sugar as shall make it pretty sweet will be good two days, keeping it in a cool place. Syrup of cream may be preserved as above in the proportion of a pound and quarter of sugar to a pint of perfectly fresh cream, keep it in a cool place two or three hours; then put it in one or two ounce phials, and cork it close. It will keep good thus for several weeks, and will be found very useful on voyages.

To cool liquors in hot weather, dip a cloth in cold water, and wrap it round the bottle two or three times, then place it in the sun; renew the process once or twice.

The best way of scalding fruits, or boiling vinegar, is in a stone jar on a hot iron hearth, or by putting the vessel into a saucepan of water, called a waterbath.

The beautiful green given to pickles, formerly was made by the use of bell mettle, brass, or copper, and consequently very injurious to the stomach.

If chocolate, coffee, jelly, gruel, bark, &c. be suffered to boil over, the strength is lost.

Marbles boiled in custard, or any thing likely to burn, will, by shaking them in the saucepan, prevent it.

Gravies or soups, put by, should be daily changed into fresh scalded pans. When there is fear of gravy meat being spoiled before it be wanted, season it well, and lightly fry it, which will preserve it two days longer; but the gravy is best when the juices are fresh. A receipt for gravy that will keep a week is given under the article of Sauces.

The cook should be encouraged to be careful of coals and cinders: for the latter there is a new contrivance to sift, without dispersing the dust of the ashes, by means of a covered tin bucket.

Small coal wetted makes the strongest fire for the back, but must remain untouched until it cake. Cinders, lightly wet, give a great degree of heat, and are better than coal for furnaces, ironing stoves, and ovens.

The cook should be charged to take care of jelly bags, tapes for the collared things, &c. which, if not perfectly scalded, and kept dry, give an unpleasant flavour when next used.

Cold water thrown on cast iron, when hot, will cause it to crack.

Hard water spoils the colour of vegetables; a pinch of pearlash, or salt of wormwood, will prevent that effect.

When sirloins of beef, loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify; dripping will baste every thing as well as butter, fowls and game excepted; and for kitchen pies, nothing else should be used.

The fat off a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than suet.

Meat and vegetables that the frost has touched should be soaked in cold water two or three hours before they are used, or more if much iced. When put into hot water or to the fire until thawed, no heat will dress them properly.

Meat should be well examined, when it comes in warm weather; and if flies have touched it, the part must be cut off, and then well washed. In the height of summer, it is a very safe way to let meat that is to be salted lie an hour in the coldest water, rubbing it well there in any part likely to have been flyblown; then wipe it perfectly dry, and have ready salt, and rub it thoroughly into every part, leaving a handful over it besides. Turn it every day, and rub the pickle in, which will make it ready for the table in three or four days; if it is desired to be very much corned, wrap it in a well floured cloth, having rubbed it previously with salt. The latter method will corn fresh beef fit for table the day it comes in; but it must be put into the pot when the water boils.

If the weather permits, meat eats much better for hanging two or three days before it be salted.

The water in which meat has boiled makes an excellent soup for the poor, when vegetables, oatmeal or pease, are added, and should not be cleared from the fat.

Roast beef bones, or shank bones of ham, make fine pease soup, and should be boiled with the pease the day before eaten, that the fat may be removed.

The mistress of the house will find many great advantages in visiting her larder daily, before she orders her bill of fare: she will see what things require dressing, and thereby guard against their being spoiled. Many articles may be re-dressed in a different form from that in which they were first served, and improve the appearance of the table without increasing expense. Many dishes require to be made of dressed meat or fowls. Directions for several are hereafter given.

In every sort of provisions, the best of the kind goes farthest; cutting out most advantageously, and affording most nourishment. Round of beef, fillet of veal, and leg of mutton, bear a higher price; but having more solid meat, deserve the preference. It is worth notice, however, that those joints which are inferior may be dressed as palatably, and being cheaper, ought to be bought in turn; and, when weighed with the prime pieces, the price of the latter is reduced.

In loins of meat, the long pipe which runs by the bone should be taken out, being apt to taint; as likewise the kernels of beef. Rumps and aitchbones of beef are often bruised by the blows the drovers give, and that part always taints: avoid purchasing such.

The shank bones of mutton should be saved, and, after soaking and brushing, may be added to give richness to gravies or soups; and they are particularly nourishing for the sick.

The feet of pork make various good dishes, and should be cut off before the legs be cured. Observe the same of the ears.

Calves’ tongues, salted, make a more useful dish than when dressed with the brains, which may be served without.

Some people like neats’ tongues cured with the root, in which case they look much larger; but should the contrary be approved, the root must be cut off close to the gullet, next to the tongue, but without taking away the fat under the tongue. The root must be soaked in salt and water, and extremely well cleaned before it be dressed as hereafter directed: and the tongue laid in salt for a day and night before pickled.

Great attention is requisite in salting meat; and in the country, where great quantities are cured, it is of still more importance. Beef and pork should be well sprinkled, and a few hours after hung to drain, before it be rubbed with the preserving salts; which mode, by cleansing the meat from the blood, tends to keep it from tasting strong. It should be turned daily, and if wanted soon, rubbed. A salting tub, or lead, may be used, and a cover should fit close. Those who use a good deal of salt meat will find it answer well to boil up the pickle, skim, and, when cold, pour it over meat that has been sprinkled and drained. Salt is so greatly increased in price, from the heavy duties, as to require additional care, and the brine ought not to be thrown away, as is the practice of some, after once using.

In some families great loss is sustained by the spoiling of meat. The best mode to keep that which is to be eaten unsalted is, as before directed, to examine it well; wipe it daily, and pound some charcoal, and throw over it. If meat is brought from a distance in warm weather, the butcher should be charged to cover it close, and bring it early in the morning; but even then, if it be kept on the road, while he serves the customers who are nearest to him, it will probably be flyblown. This is most frequent in the country.

Mutton will keep long by washing with vinegar, and peppering the broad end of the leg; if any damp appears, wipe it immediately. If rubbed with salt lightly, it will not eat the worse. Boiled in seawater, is by some much admired.

Game is often brought in when not likely to keep a day, in the cook’s apprehension; yet may be preserved two or three days, if wanted, by the following method:

If birds, (woodcocks and snipes excepted, which must not be drawn) draw them, pick, and take out the crop; wash them in two or three waters, and rub them with a little salt. Have ready a large saucepan of boiling water, and plunge them in one by one; boil each five minutes, moving it, that the water may go through them. When all are finished, hang them by the heads in a cold place; when drained, pepper the inside and necks. When to be roasted, wash to take off the pepper. The most delicate birds, even grouse, may be kept this way, if not putrid. Birds that live by suction, &c. bear being high; it is probable that the heat might cause them to taint more, as a free passage for the scalding water could not be obtained. Hares ought not to be paunched in the field, as they keep longer, and eat much better without. But that is seldom in the cook’s power to guard against. She should take out the liver and heart, and parboil the former to keep for stuffing, wipe the inside every day, quite dry, put a bunch of parsley, or some pepper, or both; thus it will keep long, especially if the seasoning be rubbed early on the inside to prevent any mustiness of taste, which often is communicated to the stuffing by this omission, and want of extreme nicety in washing it in water and vinegar before it be dressed, while the outside has been preserved fresh by the skin. If old, a hare should be kept as long as possible, except for soup, or jugging; and after soaking, in vinegar, be well larded.

Freshwater fish has often a muddy taste; to take off which, soak it in strong salt and water, or, if of a size to bear it, give it a scald in the same, after extremely good cleaning and washing. The latter for carp or eels.

Turbot will hang three or four days, if lightly rubbed with salt, and be in quite as great perfection as the first day.

Fish may sometimes be bought reasonably by taking more than can be dressed at once; when recourse may be had to pickling, potting, or frying, to keep for stewing a succeeding day.

When thunder or hot weather causes beer to turn sour, half, or a whole teaspoonful of salt of wormwood should be put into a jug, and let the beer be drawn in it as small a time as possible before it be drank.

If the subject of servants be thought ill timed in a book upon family arrangement, it must be by those who do not recollect that the regularity and good management of the heads will be insufficient, if not seconded by those who are to execute orders. It behoves every person to be extremely careful who they take into their employ; to be very minute in investigating the character they receive; and equally cautious to be scrupulously just in giving one to others. Were this attended to, many bad people would be incapacitated from doing mischief, by abusing the trust reposed in them. And it may be fairly asserted, that the robbery, or waste (which is but a milder epithet) of an unfaithful servant, will be laid to the charge of the master or mistress, who, knowing such faults in him, or even having only well grounded suspicions, is led by entreaty or false pity, to slide him into another place. To refuse countenance to the evil, is to encourage the good servant; such as are honest, frugal, and attentive to their duties, should be liberally rewarded: and such discrimination would encourage merit, and inspire servants with a zeal to acquit themselves with fidelity.

On the other side it may be proper to observe, that a retributive justice usually marks persons in that station sooner or later even in this world. Those who are extravagant and idle in their servitude, are ill prepared for the industry and sobriety on which their own future welfare much depends; their faults, and the attendant punishment, come home when they have families of their own, and sometimes much sooner. They will see their wickedness or folly in the conduct of their offspring, whom they must not expect to be better than the examples that are set them.

It was the observation of a sensible woman, that she could always read the fate of her servants when they married from her; those who had been faithful and industrious in her service, continued their good habits in their own families, and became respectable members of the community; those who had been unfaithful servants, never were successful, and not unfrequently were reduced to the parish.

The manner of carving is not only a very essential knowledge in point of doing the honours of the table with grace, but makes a great difference in the family consumption; and, though in large companies, a lady is so much assisted as to make the art of less consequence, yet she should not fail to acquaint herself with an attainment of which she must daily feel the want. Some people haggle meat so as not to be able to help six times from a large tongue, or a piece of beef. It is to be observed that a thin sharp carving knife, and with a very little strength to the management of it, will cut deep thin slices, cause the joint to look neatly, and leave sufficient for a second helping, instead of that disgusting appearance which is sometimes observable. Habit alone can make people carve, or do the honours of a table well; for those who have not had practice, there are very good directions in a little book of Trusler’s.

In the following, and indeed all other receipts, though the quantities may be as accurately set down as possible, yet much must be left to the discretion of the person who uses them. The different taste of people requires more or less of the flavour of spices, garlic, butter, &c. which can never be directed by general rules; and if the cook has not a good taste, and attention to that of her employers, not all the ingredients with which nature or art can furnish her, will give an exquisite relish to her dishes. The proper articles should be at hand, and she must proportion them until the true zest be obtained.

DOMESTIC COOKERY.