CHOWDER.
Cut 4 slices of salt pork in dice, place in kettle and fry, add 6 good-sized onions chopped fine, let fry while preparing 8 potatoes, then add 1 quart boiling water and the potatoes sliced thin. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Boil one-half hour.
Miscellaneous.
BACON, BROILED OR FRIED.
The first essential is to have the bacon with a streak of lean and a streak of fat, and to cut or slice it as thin as possible. Then lay it in a shallow tin and set it inside a hot stove. It will toast evenly and the slices will curl up and be so dry that they may be taken in the fingers to eat. The lard that exudes may be thickened with flour, a cup of sweet new milk and a pinch of black pepper added, and nice gravy made. Or if preferred, the bacon, thinly sliced, may be fried on a hot skillet, just turning it twice, letting it slightly brown on both sides. Too long in the hot skillet, the bacon gets hard and will have a burned taste.
BRAINS.
Lay the brains in salt and water for an hour to draw out the blood. Pick them over and take out any bits of bone and membrane. Cook for half an hour in a small quantity of water. When cooked drain off the water, and to each brain add a little pepper, nearly an even teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of butter and 1 beaten egg. Cook until the egg thickens. Or when the brains are cooked, drain off the water, season with salt, pepper and sage.
PORK AND BEANS.
Pick over and let soak over night 1 quart beans; in the morning wash and drain, and place in a kettle with cold water, with ½ teaspoon soda, boil about twenty minutes, then drain and put in earthen bean dish with 2 tablespoons molasses, season with pepper. In the center of the beans put 1 lb. well-washed salt pork, with the rind scored in slices or squares, rind side uppermost. Cover all with hot water and bake six hours or longer, in a moderate oven. Keep covered so they will not burn on the top, but an hour or so before serving remove the pork to another dish and allow it to brown. Beans should also brown over the top.