The English Housekeeper: Or, Manual of Domestic Management / Containing advice on the conduct of household affairs and practical instructions concerning the store-room, the pantry, the larder, the kitchen, the cellar, the dairy; the whole being intended for the use of young ladies who undertake the superintendence of their own housekeeping

by Anne Cobbett

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction	[iii]
CHAPTER I.
General observations relating to Housekeeping, with remarks on the fitting up of a House, and conducting its affairs. On the choice and management of Servants.	[1]
CHAPTER II.
The Store Room; the mode of fitting up, and the uses of it	[14]
CHAPTER III.
The Pantry; the uses of it, with Receipts for Cleaning Plate and Furniture.	[18]
CHAPTER IV.
The Larder; with Directions for Keeping and Salting Meat. Seasons for Meat, Poultry, Game, Fish and Vegetables	[23]
CHAPTER V.
The Kitchen, with observations upon the fitting it up	[35]
CHAPTER VI.
Directions for Jointing, Trussing and Carving, with plates of Animals and various Joints	[44]
CHAPTER VII.
General Instructions for Boiling, followed by Directions for Boiling various Joints	[59]
CHAPTER VIII.
General Instructions for Roasting, followed by Directions for Roasting particular Joints	[67]
CHAPTER IX.
Directions for Baking	[81]
CHAPTER X.
Directions for Broiling	[83]
CHAPTER XI.
Directions for Frying	[87]
CHAPTER XII.
General Instructions for the making of Soups and Broths, and Directions relating to particular sorts	[92]
CHAPTER XIII.
Instructions for Boiling, Frying, Baking, Pickling and Potting Fish	[114]
CHAPTER XIV.
General Instructions for Made Dishes, and Directions relative to particular Dishes	[133]
CHAPTER XV.
Stuffing and Forcemeat	[187]
CHAPTER XVI.
Gravies and Sauces	[191]
CHAPTER XVII.
Seasonings	[206]
CHAPTER XVIII.
General and particular Instructions for Cooking Vegetables, and also for Mixing Salads	[210]
CHAPTER XIX.
General Instructions for making Pastry, with particular Directions relating to Meat, Fish, and Fruit Pies	[227]
CHAPTER XX.
General and particular Directions for making Puddings	[245]
CHAPTER XXI.
Directions for making Bread, Cakes, Biscuits, Rolls and Muffins	[268]
CHAPTER XXII.
General Observations on Confectionary, and particular Instructions for making Jellies, Creams	[283]
CHAPTER XXIII.
General and particular Instructions for making Preserves	[303]
CHAPTER XXIV.
Instructions for making Pickles	[318]
CHAPTER XXV.
Instructions for making Vinegars	[324]
CHAPTER XXVI.
Instructions for making Essences	[328]
CHAPTER XXVII.
Instructions for making Catsups	[329]
CHAPTER XXVIII.
General Remarks upon the Cellar, followed by Directions for Brewing Beer, and the making of Wines and Cordials	[332]
CHAPTER XXIX.
General Observations relating to the fitting up, and the care of the Dairy, with Directions for making Cheese and Butter	[348]
CHAPTER XXX.
Observations upon Cooking for the Sick, and Receipts for Broths, Jellies, Gruels	[354]
CHAPTER XXXI.
Medical Recipes	[365]
CHAPTER XXXII.
Various Receipts	[375]
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Observations relating to, and Directions for Cooking for the Poor	[382]

THE ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPER.

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CHAPTER I.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

It would be impossible to give rules for the management of a domestic establishment, because they would necessarily be subject to many and various exceptions, produced by various circumstances. But a few general observations, accompanied by remarks on the most important matters in domestic life, may not be unacceptable to young housekeepers.

In the young and thoughtless, a spirit of emulation, leading them to vie with those who are richer than themselves, is often the source of domestic unhappiness, by causing so much to be sacrificed to appearance, as to circumscribe the means of enjoying the substantial comforts of life. It sometimes manifests itself in houses, equipages, and retinues of servants; but amongst persons of moderate income, for whose use this work is principally intended, it is commonly displayed in costly furniture and expensive entertainments. Many young married women conceive the notion, that unless they have as fine a house, as expensive furniture, plate, china, and glass, as some others have, and give as fine entertainments as others give; in short, unless they make the appearance of living quite as well as their richer neighbours, they will not be held in equal estimation. It is not that they derive any real pleasure from the false appearance which they make; indeed, expensive furniture is but an annoyance to its possessor, if there be not a sufficient number of good servants to keep it in order. Where the whole family concur in this sort of pride, no mortification arises from difference of opinion, but the unanimity tends only to accelerate the ruin.

The young housekeeper should consider the serious consequences that are likely to result from setting out in a style of lavish expenditure, and she should remember that, while it is easy to extend, it is extremely difficult to reduce, her establishment. One expensive article requires another to correspond with it, and one expensive entertainment imposes the necessity of other equally expensive entertainments; for it requires no small share of moral courage to risk the loss of consequence which may result by its being surmised that we are not so well off, as we have been supposed to be. And when the time comes, as sooner or later it assuredly must, when the means are not adequate to the demands, what sacrifices are made, and what unseemly contrivances are resorted to, in order to keep up, to the last, a poor remnant of "appearance!" and, when this can no longer be effected, then comes the humiliation, with all the bitter feelings attendant upon retrenchment; of all which feelings, the bitterest is, the dread of being degraded in the world's estimation. To endure privations with resignation, to feel the want of habitual comforts, yet be grateful for the blessings which are left to us, is the duty of every Christian, and is the less arduous when the reverse of fortune which has befallen us, has not been produced by any fault of our own. But if, in addition to the distresses of adversity, the wife and the mother be doomed to writhe under the pang of self-reproach, great indeed must be her suffering, and one for which I can suggest no adequate relief. To the young and generous-minded, the hardest portion which accompanies reverses of fortune, is, the change which they sometimes produce in the behaviour of acquaintances. When we are become poorer than we were, and have lost the ability to entertain guests in the accustomed manner, it is painful to perceive some of those very people who have been the most hospitably entertained, and who, in our prosperity, have appeared the most attached to us, turn from us and our difficulties, while they banish from their minds the recollection of past kindness. To meet with indifference in those whose smiles have courted ours; to feel that we have thrown away sincere friendship upon mere heartlessness, is hard to be endured, even by the faultless, but how intolerable must it be, when aggravated by the consciousness that we have incurred it by our own misconduct. To the experienced, this is one of the severest vicissitudes of life; what, then, must it be to us, before we have acquired that equanimity of mind, which falls only to the lot of those who have passed through the ordeal of the world, and who have been amply compensated for the desertion of the many, by the sincerity, the warmth of heart, and the steadfastness of the few.

Houses and furniture properly belong to the extraordinary expenses of the household. When a young woman is called upon to exercise her judgment in the choice of a house, she must pause before she rejects one which, though she may consider it rather too small, might, nevertheless, be made to accommodate the family well enough, and might be fitted up at a less cost than a larger one. Such a house would require fewer servants, and would certainly present a better appearance, than one that is rather too large for the quantity, or for the style of its furniture, and is, perhaps, larger than is actually required for the number of its inhabitants. It is easier to remove from a small to a large house, when circumstances require it, than it is to remove from a large to a small one. It is so easy to increase our wants, and so difficult to reduce them, that young persons should begin the world with caution, and not multiply their wants, lest, in time, they lack the means of gratifying them.