OX-TAIL SOUP.
Ingredients.—2 ox-tails, 2 slices of ham, 1 oz. of butter, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 3 onions, 1 leek, 1 head of celery, 1 bunch of savoury herbs, 1 bay-leaf, 12 whole peppercorns, 4 cloves, a tablespoonful of salt, 2 tablespoonfuls of ketchup, ½ glass of port wine, 3 quarts of water. Mode.—Cut up the tails, separating them at the joints; wash them, and put them in a stewpan, with the butter. Cut the vegetables in slices, and add them, with the peppercorns and herbs. Put in ½ pint of water, and stir it over a sharp fire till the juices are drawn. Fill up the stewpan with the water, and, when boiling, add the salt. Skim well, and simmer very gently for 4 hours, or until the tails are tender. Take them out, skim and strain the soup, thicken with flour, and flavour with the ketchup and port wine. Put back the tails, simmer for 5 minutes, and serve. Time.—4½ hours. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart. Seasonable in winter. Sufficient for 10 persons.
OX-TAILS, Stewed.
Ingredients.—2 ox-tails, 1 onion, 3 cloves, 1 blade of mace, ¼ teaspoonful of whole black pepper, ¼ teaspoonful of allspice, ½ a teaspoonful of salt, a small bunch of savoury herbs, thickening of butter and flour, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup. Mode.—Divide the tails at the joints, wash, and put them into a stewpan with sufficient water to cover them, and set them on the fire; when the water boils, remove the scum, and add the onion cut into rings, the spice, seasoning, and herbs. Cover the stewpan closely, and let the tails simmer very gently until tender, which will be in about 2½ hours. Take them out, make a thickening of butter and flour, add it to the gravy, and let it boil for ¼ hour. Strain it through a sieve into a saucepan, put back the tails, add the lemon-juice and ketchup; let the whole just boil up, and serve. Garnish with croûtons or sippets of toasted bread. Time.—2½ hours to stew the tails. Average cost, 9d. to 1s. 6d., according to the season. Sufficient for 8 persons. Seasonable all the year.
OYSTER, Forcemeat for Roast or Boiled Turkey.
Ingredients.—½ pint of bread-crumbs, 1½ oz. of chopped suet or butter, 1 faggot of savoury herbs, ¼ saltspoonful of grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, 2 eggs, 18 oysters. Mode.—Grate the bread very fine, and be careful that no large lumps remain; put it into a basin with the suet, which must be very finely minced, or, when butter is used, that must be cut up into small pieces. Add the herbs, also chopped as small as possible, and seasoning; mix all these well together, until the ingredients are thoroughly mingled. Open and beard the oysters, chop them, but not too small, and add them to the other ingredients. Beat up the eggs, and, with the hand, work altogether, until it is smoothly mixed. The turkey should not be stuffed too full: if there should be too much forcemeat, roll it into balls, fry them, and use them as a garnish. Sufficient for 1 turkey.
OYSTER KETCHUP.
Ingredients.—Sufficient oysters to fill a pint measure, 1 pint of sherry, 3 oz. of salt, 1 drachm of cayenne, 2 drachms of pounded mace. Mode.—Procure the oysters very fresh, and open sufficient to fill a pint measure; save the liquor, and scald the oysters in it with the sherry; strain the oysters, and put them in a mortar with the salt, cayenne, and mace; pound the whole until reduced to a pulp, then add it to the liquor in which they were scalded; boil it again five minutes, and skim well; rub the whole through a sieve, and, when cold, bottle and cork closely. The corks should be sealed. Seasonable from September to April.
Note.—Cider may be substituted for the sherry.