| A joint of beef | weighing 20 lbs. | 4 | hours. |
| „ | 10 lbs. | 2½ | „ |
| „ | 6 lbs. | 2 | „ |
| A joint of veal | 10 lbs. | 3½ | „ |
| „ | 4 lbs. | 2 | „ |
| A joint of mutton | 10 lbs. | 2 | „ |
| „ | 6 lbs. | 1½ | „ |
| „ | 4 lbs. | 1 | „ |
| A joint of fresh pork | 8 lbs. | 4 | „ |
| „ | 4 lbs. | 1¾ | „ |
| A haunch of buck venison | „ | 4 | „ |
| A neck of buck | „ | 1½ to 2 | „ |
| A joint of venison | 10 lbs. | 2½ | „ |
| „ | 6 lbs. | 1½ | „ |
| (Venison should be rather under than over done.) | |||
| A large turkey | 2 | „ | |
| A medium-sized one | 1¼ | „ | |
| A turkey poult | 1 | „ | |
| A capon | 1 | „ | |
| A poularde | 1¼ | „ | |
| A large fowl | ¾ | „ | |
| A goose | 1 to 1¼ | „ | |
| A gosling | ¾ | „ | |
| A pigeon | ½ | „ | |
| A hare | 1½ | „ | |
| A leveret | ¾ | „ | |
| A rabbit | ½ | „ | |
| A pheasant | ½ | „ | |
| A partridge | 20 | minutes. | |
| Cock of the wood, or black game, | 1 to 1¼ | hour. | |
| Grouse | ½ | „ | |
| Woodcock | ½ | „ | |
| Snipe | 20 | minutes. | |
| Golden plover | 20 | „ | |
| Teal | 15 | „ | |
| Quail | 20 | „ | |
| Larks | 20 | „ | |
| Ortolans | 15 | „ | |
| Fig-pecker | 15 | „ | |
CHAPTER X.
BOILING.
All meats should be boiled slowly, in sufficient water; and a ham should not be allowed to boil until a very short time before it is taken out of the pot, in which it has been allowed to simmer slowly for four, five, or six hours, according to its size, age, &c. When meats are boiled fast, the outside is hardened before the inside is warm; in addition to which the meat becomes discoloured.
It is usual in boiling as well as in roasting, to allow a quarter of an hour’s boiling to every pound of meat. The rule usually is a good one, but there are several exceptions, that will task the discretion and science of a cook.
If the joint be large and thick, such as buttock or round of beef, more than a quarter of an hour must be allowed for each pound. If, however, the joint be a small or a thin one, such as a neck of lamb, somewhat less than a quarter of an hour for each pound will suffice. During the process of boiling meat or fish, the scum which arises should be skimmed off, otherwise the meat or fish will be discoloured. The majority of cookery books direct that fresh meat should be put into water when it boils, and salt meat when the water is cold; but the better opinion seems now to be that fresh and salted meats should be put into cold water, and allowed to become hot gradually. The five constituent properties of the flesh of animals used by man are—fibrine, gelatine, osmazone, fat, and albumen. Gelatine is soluble only in boiling or very hot water, whereas osmazone is very soluble, even in cold water, and contains the sapid principle of all meats. Fat is insoluble in water, but the heat melts it, when it floats in a liquid form on the surface.
Albumen resembles the white of an egg. It is soluble in cold or lukewarm water, and coagulates at a less temperature than that of boiling water. Albumen abounds in the blood, and exists in portions of the flesh of animals. It is the albumen, in coagulating after having been dissolved, which causes the scum to rise in the liquid in which a joint has been boiled. It is evident that if the meat be put in a vessel with boiling water, or if the water being cold be boiled too quickly, the albumen in the first case by coagulating on the surface of the water, and in the second in the interior of the joint of meat, prevents the gelatine and osmazone from dissolving. Though boiling does not require so much nicety and care as roasting, yet it is seldom perfectly performed. It requires patient watchfulness and vigilance. “It is natural,” says Count Rumford, “to suppose that many of the finer and more volatile parts of food must be carried off by the steam when the boiling is violent. The water should be heated gradually until it boils, for the slower the meat boils the more juicy and tender will it be. Meat freshly killed takes longer to boil than when it has been properly hung, and meat killed in cold or frosty weather takes longer to boil than meat killed in summer. Meat or poultry should not be allowed to remain in the water after they are done, as they soon become sodden.”
It is usual to boil lamb, veal, and pork longer than beef or mutton. Of course all vessels in which meat is boiled, should be clean and wholesome. Vessels of copper, brass, and lead must be avoided in cookery, unless the inside be well tinned. The best saucepans are of iron, tinned in the inside. I would observe, that salmon requires nearly as much boiling as meat, that is to say, about a quarter of an hour to every pound of fish. Turbot, salmon, john-dory, cod-fish, haddocks, brill, skate, and the large Dover and West of England black soles, are best boiled. Other kinds of sea-fish are best fried or filleted, or done in the French fashion, such as filets de turbot, sauce suprême, or escalopes de turbot, aux truffes à la Royale. Cod-fish, besides being boiled or fried, may be served in twenty ways—à la hollandaise, à la Sainte Ménéhould, à la Perigeaux, à la provençale. As to salmon, the same observation may be made. It may be served à la Saint Cloud, à la génevoise, à la vénitienne, à la Royale, in filets aux anchois, à la d’Artois, à la Sainte Ménéhould, en papillotes, à la d’uxelle; but, unless you have a superior cook, salmon is best plain boiled.