Prepare and cook it the same as [quail].
Potted Fish
- 3 shad or 6 small mackerel
- 1⁄3 cup salt
- 1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1⁄6 cup whole cloves
- 1⁄6 cup peppercorns
- 1⁄6 cup whole allspice
- 1 onion, sliced
- Vinegar to cover
Clean the fish, remove the head, tail, fins, skin, and large bones. The small bones will be dissolved in the vinegar. Cut the fish into pieces for serving. Mix the salt, pepper, and spices. Pack the fish in layers in a small stone crock or deep agate-ware utensil, sprinkling the salt and adding pieces of onion between the layers. Pour over it vinegar to completely cover it. In the absence of a tight-fitting cover, use heavy, buttered paper tied on. Bake it for five or six hours in an insulated oven, the stones heated until the [paper test] shows a delicate brown. Potted fish will keep well if put into a cold place and kept covered with vinegar. It makes a good relish for lunch or tea.
Pork and Beans
- 1 cup beans
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 1 tablespoon butter, or
- 1⁄8 lb. salt pork
- Water to cover
Cook the beans for four or more hours, as directed in the recipe for [dried navy beans]. Put them into a baking-dish, add the other ingredients, gashing the pork frequently and laying it on top. Put it into an insulated oven with stones that will turn white tissue paper a golden brown. Bake them for eight hours or more.
Baked Potatoes
Select potatoes of equal size, so that they will all bake in the same length of time; wash them and bake them in an insulated oven with the stones heated till the paper is a golden brown as explained in the test on [page 225]. Good-sized potatoes (eight ounces) should bake about forty-five minutes. Lay them on a rack to prevent them from touching the hot stone. They will bake better than in an ordinary oven.