Transcriber’s Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

NEW SYSTEM
OF
DOMESTIC COOKERY,
FORMED UPON
PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMY,
AND ADAPTED TO THE USE OF
PRIVATE FAMILIES.

BY A LADY.

BOSTON:

Published by William Andrews, No. 1, Cornhill.

Sold by Cushing & Appleton, Salem; Thomas & Whipple, Newburyport; Charles Peirce, Portsmouth; Daniel Johnson, Portland; William Wilkinson, Providence; Increase Cooke & Co. Newhaven; Peter A. Mesier and Brisban & Brannan, Newyork; Samuel F. Bradford and John Conrad & Co. Philadelphia, & E. Morford, Charleston, S. C.

1807.

S. Etheridge, Printer, Charleston.

ADVERTISEMENT.

As the directions which follow were intended for the conduct of the families of the authoress’s own daughters, and for the arrangement of their table, so as to unite a good figure with proper economy, she has avoided all excessive luxury, such as essence of ham, and that wasteful expenditure of large quantities of meat for gravy, which so greatly contributes to keep up the price, and is no less injurious to those who eat, than to those whose penury bids them abstain. Many receipts are given for things which, being in daily use, the mode of preparing them may be supposed too well known to require a place in a cookery book; yet how rarely do we meet with fine melted butter, good toast and water, or well made coffee! She makes no apology for minuteness in some articles, or for leaving others unnamed, because she writes not for professed cooks. This little work would have been a treasure to herself, when she first set out in life, and she therefore hopes it may be useful to others. In that idea it is given to the public, and as she will receive from it no emolument, so she trusts it will escape without censure.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Miscellaneous Observations
FOR THE USE OF
THE MISTRESS OF A FAMILY;
BY WHICH MUCH MONEY WILL BE SAVED, AND THE GENERAL APPEARANCE GREATLY IMPROVED.

The mistress of a family should always remember that the welfare and good management of the house depend on the eye of the superior; and consequently that nothing is too trifling for her notice, whereby waste may be avoided; and this attention is of more importance, now that the price of every necessary of life is increased to an enormous degree.

If a lady has never been accustomed, while single, to think of family management, let her not upon that account fear that she cannot attain it; she may consult others who are more experienced, and acquaint herself with the necessary quantities of the several articles of family expenditure in proportion to the number it consists of.

A minute account of the annual income, and the times of payment, should be taken in writing; likewise an estimate of the supposed amount of each article of expense; and those who are early accustomed to calculations on domestic articles, will acquire so accurate a knowledge of what their establishment requires, as will give them the happy medium between prodigality and parsimony, without acquiring the character of meanness.

Ready money should be paid for all such things as come not into weekly bills; and the best places for purchasing be attended to. In some articles a discount of five per cent. is allowed in London, and other large cities; and those who thus pay are usually best served. Under the idea of buying cheap, many people go to new shops; but it is safest to deal with people of established credit, who do not dispose of bad goods by underselling.

To make people wait for their money injures them greatly, besides that a higher price must be charged: perhaps the irregularity of payment may have much evil influence on the price of various articles, and contribute to the destruction of many families, in gradation downwards.

It is very necessary for a woman to be informed of the prices and goodness of all articles in common use, and of the best times, as well as places, for purchasing them. She should also be acquainted with the comparative prices of provisions, in order that she may be able to substitute those that are most reasonable, when they will answer as well, for others of the same kind, but which are more costly. A false notion of economy leads many to purchase as bargains what is not wanted, and sometimes never is used. Were this error avoided, more money would remain for other purposes. Some things are better for keeping, and, being in constant consumption, should be laid in accordingly; such as paper, soap, and candles. Of these more hereafter.

A proper quantity of household articles should be always ready, and more bought in before the others be consumed, to prevent inconvenience, especially in the country.

A bill of parcels and receipts should be required, even if the money be paid at the time of purchase; and, to avoid mistakes, let the goods be compared with these when brought home.

Though it is very disagreeable to suspect any one’s honesty, and perhaps mistakes have been unintentional, yet it is prudent to weigh meat, sugars, &c. when brought in, and compare with the charge. The butcher should be ordered to send the weight with the meat, and the cook to file these checks, to be examined when the weekly bill shall be delivered.

A ticket should be given by the cook for each loaf, which will on return give the number to be paid for.

Thus regularly conducted, the exact state of money affairs will be known with ease; for it is delay of payment that occasions confusion.

Accounts should be regularly kept, and not the smallest articles omitted to be entered; and if balanced every week and month, the income and outgoings will be ascertained with facility, and their proportions to other be duly observed. Some people approve of keeping in separate purses the money for different purposes, as domestic articles, clothes, pocket, education of children, &c.

Whichever way accounts be kept, some certain method should be adopted and strictly adhered to.

Many families have owed their prosperity full as much to the conduct and propriety of female management, as to the knowledge and activity of the father.

Those who are served with brewer’s beer, or any other thing not paid for on delivery, should have a book for entering the date; which will not only prevent overcharges, but at one view give the annual consumption.

It is much to be feared, that for the waste of many of the good things that God has given for our use, not abuse, the mistress and servants of great houses will hereafter be called to a strict account.

Some part of every person’s fortune should be devoted to charity; by which “a pious woman will build up her house before God, while she that is foolish (i. e. lends nothing to the Lord) pulls it down with her hands.” No one can complain of the want of gifts to the poor in this land; but there is a mode of relief which would add greatly to their comfort, and which being prepared from superfluity, and such materials as are often thrown away, the expense would not be felt. In the latter part of this work some hints for preparing the above are given.

By good hours, especially early breakfast, a family is more regular, and much time is saved. If orders be given soon in the morning, there will be more time to execute them; and servants, by doing their work with ease, will be more equal to it, and fewer will be necessary.

It is worthy of notice, that the general expense will be reduced, if every thing be kept in its proper place, applied to its proper use, and mended, when the nature of an accident will allow, as soon as broken.

An inventory of furniture, linen, and china, should be kept, and the things examined by it twice a year, or oftener, if there be a change of servants; into each of whose care the articles used by him or her, should be intrusted, with a list, as is done with plate. Tickets of parchment with the family name, numbered, and specifying what bed it belongs to, should be sewed on each feather bed, bolster, pillows, and blankets.

Many well meaning servants are ignorant of the best means of managing, and thereby waste as much as would maintain a small family, besides causing the mistress of the house much chagrin by their irregularity; and many families, from a want of method, have the appearance of chance rather than of regular system. To avoid which the following hints may be useful.

All things likely to be wanted should be in readiness; sugars of different qualities should be kept broken, currants washed, picked and dry in a jar; spice pounded, &c.

Where regular noonings or suppers are used (and in every house some preparation is necessary for accidental visitors), care should be taken to have such things in readiness as may be proper for either; a list of several will be subjoined, a change of which will be agreeable, and if properly managed will be attended with no great expense.

Every article should be kept in that place best suited to it, as much waste may thereby be avoided, viz.

Vegetables will keep best on a stone floor if the air be excluded; meat in a cold dry place; sugar and sweetmeats require a dry place; so does salt; candles cold, but not damp; dried meats, hams, &c. the same; all sorts of seeds for puddings, saloop, rice, &c. should be close covered to preserve from insects. Flour should be kept in a cool perfectly dry room, and the bag being tied should be changed upside down and back every week, and well shaken. Soap should be cut with a wire or twine, in pieces that form a long square, when first brought in, and kept out of the air two or three weeks; for if it dry quick, it will crack, and when wet break. Put it on a shelf, leaving a space between, and let it grow hard gradually. Thus, it will save a full third in the consumption. Cheese should be washed and wiped if you wish to preserve it sound, and the shelves be washed; changing the place every three or four weeks; but if it be wanted to ripen, a damp cellar will bring it forward.

Bread is now so heavy an article of expense that all waste should be guarded against, and having it cut in the room will tend much to prevent it; since the scarcity in 1795 and 1800, that custom has been much adopted. It should not be cut until a day old; earthen pans and covers keep it best.

Rolls, muffins, or any sort of bread, may be made to taste new when two or three days old, by dipping it uncut in water, and baking afresh or toasting.

Eggs may be bought cheapest when the hens first begin to lay in the spring, before they sit; in Lent and at Easter they become dear. They may be preserved fresh by dipping them in boiling water, and instantly taking them out, or by oiling the shell; either of which ways is to prevent the air passing through it. They should be kept on shelves with small holes to receive one in each, and be turned every other day.

Carrots, parsnips, and beet roots, should be kept in sand for winter use, and neither they nor potatoes be cleared from the earth.

Store onions preserve best hung up in a dry cold room.

Straw to lay apples on should be quite dry, to prevent a musty taste.

Large pears should be tied up by the stalk.

Tarragon gives the flavour of French cookery, and in high gravies is a great improvement; but should be added only a short time before serving.

Basil, savory, and knotted marjoram, or London thyme, to be used when herbs are ordered; but with discretion, as they are very pungent.

Celery seeds give the flavour of the plant to soups.

Parsley should be cut close to the stalks, and dried on tins in a very cool oven: it preserves its flavour and colour, and is very useful in winter.

Artichoke bottoms which have been slowly dried, should be kept in paper bags; and truffles, morels, lemonpeel, &c. in a dry place ticketed.

In towns, poultry being usually sold ready picked, the feathers, which may occasionally come in in small quantities, are neglected: but orders should be given to put them into a tub free from damp, and as they dry to change them into paper bags, a few in each; they should hang in a dry kitchen to season; fresh ones must not be added to those in part dried, or they will occasion a musty smell, but they should go through the same process. In a few months they will be fit to add to beds, or to make pillows, without the usual mode of drying them in a cool oven, which may be pursued if they are wanted before five or six months.

The best means to preserve blankets from moths is to fold and lay them under the featherbeds that are in use, and they should be shaken occasionally. When soiled, they should be washed, not scoured.

Candles made in cool weather are best; and when their price, and that of soap, which rise and fall together, is likely to be higher, it will be prudent to lay in the stock of both. This information the chandler can always give; they are better for keeping eight or ten months, and will not injure for two years, if properly placed in the cool; and there are few articles that better deserve care in buying, and allowing a due quantity of, according to the size of the family.

The price of starch depends upon that of flour; the best will keep good in a dry warm room for some years; therefore when bread is cheap, it may be bought to advantage, and covered close.

Pickles and sweetmeats should be preserved from air; where the former are much used, small jars of each should be taken from the stock jar, to prevent frequent opening.

Some of the lemons and oranges used for juice should be pared, first to preserve the peel dry; some should be halved, and when squeezed, the pulp cut out, and the outsides dried for grating. If for boiling in any liquid, the first way is best. When these fruits are cheap, a proper quantity should be bought, and prepared as hereafter directed, especially by those who live in the country, where they cannot always be had; and they are perpetually wanted in cookery.

When whites of eggs are used for jelly, or other purposes, contrive to have pudding, custard, &c. to employ the yelks also. Should you not want them for several hours, beat them up with a little water, and put them in a cool place, or they will be hardened and useless. It was a mistake of old, to think that the whites made cakes and puddings heavy; on the contrary, if beaten long and separately, they contribute greatly to give lightness, are an advantage to paste, and make a pretty dish beaten with fruit, to set in cream, &c.

If copper utensils be used in the kitchen, the cook should be charged to be very careful not to let the tin be rubbed off; and to have them fresh done when the least defect appears, and never to put by any soup, gravy, &c. in them, or any metal utensil; stone and earthen vessels should be provided for those purposes, as likewise plenty of common dishes, that the table set may not be used to put by cold meat.

Vegetables soon sour, and corrode metals and glazed red ware, by which a strong poison is produced.

Vinegar by its acidity does the same, the glazing being of lead or arsenic.

In hot weather, when it is difficult to preserve milk from becoming sour, and spoiling the cream, it may be kept perfectly sweet by scalding the new milk very gently, without boiling, and setting it by in the earthen dish or pan that it is done in. This method is pursued in Devonshire, and the milk is not skimmed under twenty four hours, and would equally answer in small quantities for coffee, tea, &c.

Cream already skimmed may be kept twenty four hours if scalded without sugar, and by adding to it as much powdered lump sugar as shall make it pretty sweet will be good two days, keeping it in a cool place. Syrup of cream may be preserved as above in the proportion of a pound and quarter of sugar to a pint of perfectly fresh cream, keep it in a cool place two or three hours; then put it in one or two ounce phials, and cork it close. It will keep good thus for several weeks, and will be found very useful on voyages.

To cool liquors in hot weather, dip a cloth in cold water, and wrap it round the bottle two or three times, then place it in the sun; renew the process once or twice.

The best way of scalding fruits, or boiling vinegar, is in a stone jar on a hot iron hearth, or by putting the vessel into a saucepan of water, called a waterbath.

The beautiful green given to pickles, formerly was made by the use of bell mettle, brass, or copper, and consequently very injurious to the stomach.

If chocolate, coffee, jelly, gruel, bark, &c. be suffered to boil over, the strength is lost.

Marbles boiled in custard, or any thing likely to burn, will, by shaking them in the saucepan, prevent it.

Gravies or soups, put by, should be daily changed into fresh scalded pans. When there is fear of gravy meat being spoiled before it be wanted, season it well, and lightly fry it, which will preserve it two days longer; but the gravy is best when the juices are fresh. A receipt for gravy that will keep a week is given under the article of Sauces.

The cook should be encouraged to be careful of coals and cinders: for the latter there is a new contrivance to sift, without dispersing the dust of the ashes, by means of a covered tin bucket.

Small coal wetted makes the strongest fire for the back, but must remain untouched until it cake. Cinders, lightly wet, give a great degree of heat, and are better than coal for furnaces, ironing stoves, and ovens.

The cook should be charged to take care of jelly bags, tapes for the collared things, &c. which, if not perfectly scalded, and kept dry, give an unpleasant flavour when next used.

Cold water thrown on cast iron, when hot, will cause it to crack.

Hard water spoils the colour of vegetables; a pinch of pearlash, or salt of wormwood, will prevent that effect.

When sirloins of beef, loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify; dripping will baste every thing as well as butter, fowls and game excepted; and for kitchen pies, nothing else should be used.

The fat off a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than suet.

Meat and vegetables that the frost has touched should be soaked in cold water two or three hours before they are used, or more if much iced. When put into hot water or to the fire until thawed, no heat will dress them properly.

Meat should be well examined, when it comes in warm weather; and if flies have touched it, the part must be cut off, and then well washed. In the height of summer, it is a very safe way to let meat that is to be salted lie an hour in the coldest water, rubbing it well there in any part likely to have been flyblown; then wipe it perfectly dry, and have ready salt, and rub it thoroughly into every part, leaving a handful over it besides. Turn it every day, and rub the pickle in, which will make it ready for the table in three or four days; if it is desired to be very much corned, wrap it in a well floured cloth, having rubbed it previously with salt. The latter method will corn fresh beef fit for table the day it comes in; but it must be put into the pot when the water boils.

If the weather permits, meat eats much better for hanging two or three days before it be salted.

The water in which meat has boiled makes an excellent soup for the poor, when vegetables, oatmeal or pease, are added, and should not be cleared from the fat.

Roast beef bones, or shank bones of ham, make fine pease soup, and should be boiled with the pease the day before eaten, that the fat may be removed.

The mistress of the house will find many great advantages in visiting her larder daily, before she orders her bill of fare: she will see what things require dressing, and thereby guard against their being spoiled. Many articles may be re-dressed in a different form from that in which they were first served, and improve the appearance of the table without increasing expense. Many dishes require to be made of dressed meat or fowls. Directions for several are hereafter given.

In every sort of provisions, the best of the kind goes farthest; cutting out most advantageously, and affording most nourishment. Round of beef, fillet of veal, and leg of mutton, bear a higher price; but having more solid meat, deserve the preference. It is worth notice, however, that those joints which are inferior may be dressed as palatably, and being cheaper, ought to be bought in turn; and, when weighed with the prime pieces, the price of the latter is reduced.

In loins of meat, the long pipe which runs by the bone should be taken out, being apt to taint; as likewise the kernels of beef. Rumps and aitchbones of beef are often bruised by the blows the drovers give, and that part always taints: avoid purchasing such.

The shank bones of mutton should be saved, and, after soaking and brushing, may be added to give richness to gravies or soups; and they are particularly nourishing for the sick.

The feet of pork make various good dishes, and should be cut off before the legs be cured. Observe the same of the ears.

Calves’ tongues, salted, make a more useful dish than when dressed with the brains, which may be served without.

Some people like neats’ tongues cured with the root, in which case they look much larger; but should the contrary be approved, the root must be cut off close to the gullet, next to the tongue, but without taking away the fat under the tongue. The root must be soaked in salt and water, and extremely well cleaned before it be dressed as hereafter directed: and the tongue laid in salt for a day and night before pickled.

Great attention is requisite in salting meat; and in the country, where great quantities are cured, it is of still more importance. Beef and pork should be well sprinkled, and a few hours after hung to drain, before it be rubbed with the preserving salts; which mode, by cleansing the meat from the blood, tends to keep it from tasting strong. It should be turned daily, and if wanted soon, rubbed. A salting tub, or lead, may be used, and a cover should fit close. Those who use a good deal of salt meat will find it answer well to boil up the pickle, skim, and, when cold, pour it over meat that has been sprinkled and drained. Salt is so greatly increased in price, from the heavy duties, as to require additional care, and the brine ought not to be thrown away, as is the practice of some, after once using.

In some families great loss is sustained by the spoiling of meat. The best mode to keep that which is to be eaten unsalted is, as before directed, to examine it well; wipe it daily, and pound some charcoal, and throw over it. If meat is brought from a distance in warm weather, the butcher should be charged to cover it close, and bring it early in the morning; but even then, if it be kept on the road, while he serves the customers who are nearest to him, it will probably be flyblown. This is most frequent in the country.

Mutton will keep long by washing with vinegar, and peppering the broad end of the leg; if any damp appears, wipe it immediately. If rubbed with salt lightly, it will not eat the worse. Boiled in seawater, is by some much admired.

Game is often brought in when not likely to keep a day, in the cook’s apprehension; yet may be preserved two or three days, if wanted, by the following method:

If birds, (woodcocks and snipes excepted, which must not be drawn) draw them, pick, and take out the crop; wash them in two or three waters, and rub them with a little salt. Have ready a large saucepan of boiling water, and plunge them in one by one; boil each five minutes, moving it, that the water may go through them. When all are finished, hang them by the heads in a cold place; when drained, pepper the inside and necks. When to be roasted, wash to take off the pepper. The most delicate birds, even grouse, may be kept this way, if not putrid. Birds that live by suction, &c. bear being high; it is probable that the heat might cause them to taint more, as a free passage for the scalding water could not be obtained. Hares ought not to be paunched in the field, as they keep longer, and eat much better without. But that is seldom in the cook’s power to guard against. She should take out the liver and heart, and parboil the former to keep for stuffing, wipe the inside every day, quite dry, put a bunch of parsley, or some pepper, or both; thus it will keep long, especially if the seasoning be rubbed early on the inside to prevent any mustiness of taste, which often is communicated to the stuffing by this omission, and want of extreme nicety in washing it in water and vinegar before it be dressed, while the outside has been preserved fresh by the skin. If old, a hare should be kept as long as possible, except for soup, or jugging; and after soaking, in vinegar, be well larded.

Freshwater fish has often a muddy taste; to take off which, soak it in strong salt and water, or, if of a size to bear it, give it a scald in the same, after extremely good cleaning and washing. The latter for carp or eels.

Turbot will hang three or four days, if lightly rubbed with salt, and be in quite as great perfection as the first day.

Fish may sometimes be bought reasonably by taking more than can be dressed at once; when recourse may be had to pickling, potting, or frying, to keep for stewing a succeeding day.

When thunder or hot weather causes beer to turn sour, half, or a whole teaspoonful of salt of wormwood should be put into a jug, and let the beer be drawn in it as small a time as possible before it be drank.

If the subject of servants be thought ill timed in a book upon family arrangement, it must be by those who do not recollect that the regularity and good management of the heads will be insufficient, if not seconded by those who are to execute orders. It behoves every person to be extremely careful who they take into their employ; to be very minute in investigating the character they receive; and equally cautious to be scrupulously just in giving one to others. Were this attended to, many bad people would be incapacitated from doing mischief, by abusing the trust reposed in them. And it may be fairly asserted, that the robbery, or waste (which is but a milder epithet) of an unfaithful servant, will be laid to the charge of the master or mistress, who, knowing such faults in him, or even having only well grounded suspicions, is led by entreaty or false pity, to slide him into another place. To refuse countenance to the evil, is to encourage the good servant; such as are honest, frugal, and attentive to their duties, should be liberally rewarded: and such discrimination would encourage merit, and inspire servants with a zeal to acquit themselves with fidelity.

On the other side it may be proper to observe, that a retributive justice usually marks persons in that station sooner or later even in this world. Those who are extravagant and idle in their servitude, are ill prepared for the industry and sobriety on which their own future welfare much depends; their faults, and the attendant punishment, come home when they have families of their own, and sometimes much sooner. They will see their wickedness or folly in the conduct of their offspring, whom they must not expect to be better than the examples that are set them.

It was the observation of a sensible woman, that she could always read the fate of her servants when they married from her; those who had been faithful and industrious in her service, continued their good habits in their own families, and became respectable members of the community; those who had been unfaithful servants, never were successful, and not unfrequently were reduced to the parish.

The manner of carving is not only a very essential knowledge in point of doing the honours of the table with grace, but makes a great difference in the family consumption; and, though in large companies, a lady is so much assisted as to make the art of less consequence, yet she should not fail to acquaint herself with an attainment of which she must daily feel the want. Some people haggle meat so as not to be able to help six times from a large tongue, or a piece of beef. It is to be observed that a thin sharp carving knife, and with a very little strength to the management of it, will cut deep thin slices, cause the joint to look neatly, and leave sufficient for a second helping, instead of that disgusting appearance which is sometimes observable. Habit alone can make people carve, or do the honours of a table well; for those who have not had practice, there are very good directions in a little book of Trusler’s.

In the following, and indeed all other receipts, though the quantities may be as accurately set down as possible, yet much must be left to the discretion of the person who uses them. The different taste of people requires more or less of the flavour of spices, garlic, butter, &c. which can never be directed by general rules; and if the cook has not a good taste, and attention to that of her employers, not all the ingredients with which nature or art can furnish her, will give an exquisite relish to her dishes. The proper articles should be at hand, and she must proportion them until the true zest be obtained.

DOMESTIC COOKERY.

FISH.

To boil Turbot.

The turbot kettle must be of a proper size, and in the nicest order. Set the fish in cold water to cover it completely: throw a handful of salt and one glass of vinegar into it; let it gradually boil; be very careful that there fall no blacks, but skim it well, and preserve the beauty of the colour.

Serve it garnished with a complete fringe of curled parsley, lemon, and horseradish.

The sauce must be the finest lobster, and anchovy butter, and plain butter, served plentifully in separate tureens.

To stew Lamprey, as at Worcester.

After cleaning the fish carefully, remove the cartilage which runs down the back, and season with a small quantity of cloves, mace, nutmeg, pepper, and pimento. Put it in a small stewpot, with very strong beef gravy, with port and equal quantity of Madeira or sherry wine.

It must be covered; stew till tender; then take out the lamprey and keep it hot, while you boil up the liquor with two or three anchovies chopped, and some flour and butter: strain the gravy through a sieve, and add lemon juice and some made mustard. Serve with sippets of bread and horseradish.

Eels, soals, and carp, done the same way, are excellent. When there is spawn, it must be fried and put round.

Note. Cyder instead of white wine will do in common.

Eel Pye.

Cut the eels in lengths of two or three inches: season with pepper and salt, and place in the dish, with some bits of butter and a little water, and cover it with paste.

Spitchcock Eels.

Take a large one, leave the skin on, cut it in pieces of four inches long, open it on the belly side, and clean it nicely: wipe it dry, and then wet it with a beaten egg, and strew it over on both sides with chopped parsley, pepper, salt, a very little sage, and a bit of mace pounded fine, and mixed with the seasoning. Rub the gridiron with a bit of suet, and broil the fish of a fine colour.

Serve with anchovy and butter for sauce.

Fried Eels.

If small, they should be curled round and fried, being first dipped in egg and crumbs of bread.

Boiled Eels.

The small ones are preferable. Do them in a small quantity of water, with a good deal of parsley, which should be served up with them and the liquor.

Serve chopped parsley and butter for sauce.

Eel Broth,

Very nourishing for the sick.

As above; but to be stewed two hours, and an onion and peppercorns added: salt to taste.

Collared Eels.

Bone a large eel, but do not skin it: mix pepper, salt, mace, pimento, and a clove or two, in the finest powder, and rub over the whole inside: roll it tight, and bind it with a coarse tape. Boil it in salt and water till enough; then add vinegar, and when cold, keep the collar in pickle. Serve it whole, or in slices, garnished with parsley. Chopped sage, parsley, and a little thyme, knotted marjorum, and savory, mixed with the spices, greatly improve the taste.

Perch and Tench.

Put them in cold water, boil them carefully, and serve with melted butter and soy.

Mackerel.

Boiled, and served with butter and fennel.

Broiled, being split and sprinkled with herbs, pepper and salt; or stuffed with the same, crumbs and chopped fennel.

Collared, as eel above.

Potted. Clean, season, and bake them in a pan, with spice, bayleaves, and some butter: when cold, lay them in a potting pot, and cover with butter.

Pickled. Boil them; then boil some of the liquor, a few peppers, bayleaves, and some vinegar: when cold, pour it over them.

To pickle Mackerel, called Caveach.

Clean and divide, then cut each side in three; or, leaving them undivided, cut each fish in five or six pieces. To six large mackerel, take near an ounce of pepper, two nutmegs, a little mace, four cloves, and a handful of salt, all in finest powder; mix, and, making holes in each bit of fish, thrust the seasoning into them; rub each piece with some of it; then fry them brown in oil; let them stand till cold, then put them into a stone jar, and cover with vinegar: if to keep long, pour oil on the top. This done, they may be preserved for months.

To bake Pike.

Scale it, and open as near the throat as you can; then stuff it with the following: grated bread, herbs, anchovies, oysters, suet, salt, pepper, mace, half a pint of cream, four yelks of eggs; mix all, over the fire, till it thickens, then put it into the fish, sew it up. Butter should be put over in little bits: bake it. Serve sauce of gravy, butter, and anchovy. Note. If, in helping a pike, the back and belly be slit up, and each slice be gently drawn downwards, there will be fewer bones given.

Salmon to boil.

Clean it carefully, boil it gently, and take it out of the water as soon as done; and let the water be warm if the fish be split.

Shrimp or anchovy sauce.

Salmon to pickle.

Boil as above, take the fish out and boil the liquor with bayleaves, peppercorns and salt; add vinegar when cold, and pour over the fish.

Salmon to broil.

Cut slices about an inch thick; season, and put them into papers; twist them, and broil gently. Serve in the papers. Anchovy sauce.

Salmon to pot.

Take a large piece, scale and wipe, but do not wash it; salt it very well: let it lie till the salt be melted and drained from it, then season with beaten mace, cloves, and whole peppers. Lay in a few bayleaves, put it close in a pan, and cover it over with butter, and bake it. When well done, drain it from the gravy, put it in the pots to keep; and when cold, cover with clarified butter.

Thus you may do any firm fish.

Salmon to dry.

Cut the fish down, take out the inside and roe. Rub the whole with common salt, after scaling it; let it hang to drain twenty four hours. Pound three or four ounces of saltpetre, according to the size of the fish, two ounces of bay salt, and two ounces of coarse sugar: rub these, when mixed well, into the Salmon, and lay it on a large dish or tray two days, then rub it well with common salt, and in twenty four hours more it will be fit to dry: but you must dry it well after draining. Either hang in a wood chimney, or in a dry place, keeping it open with two small sticks.

Lobsters to pot.

Boil them half, pick out the meat, cut into small bits: season with mace, white pepper, nutmeg, and salt: press close into a pot and cover with butter: bake half an hour: put the spawn in. When cold, take the lobster out, and with a little of the butter put it into the pots. Beat the other butter in a mortar with some of the spawn; then mix that coloured butter with as much as will be sufficient to cover the pots, and strain it. Cayenne may be added, if approved.

Another way, as at Wood’s Hotel.

Take out the meat as whole as you can; split the tail and remove the gut; if the inside be not watery, add that. Season with mace, nutmeg, white pepper, salt, and a clove or two, in finest powder. Lay a little fine butter at the bottom of a pan, and the lobster smooth over it, with bayleaves between: cover it with butter and bake it gently. When done, pour the whole on the bottom of a sieve, and with a fork lay the pieces into potting pots, some of each sort with the seasoning about it. When cold, pour clarified butter over, but not hot. It will be good next day; or highly seasoned, and thick covered with butter, will keep some time.

The potted lobster may be used cold, or as a fricassee, with a cream sauce, when it looks very nicely, and eats excellently, especially if there be spawn.

Mackerel, herrings, and trout, are good potted as above.

Stewed Lobster, as a very high Relish.

Pick the lobster, put the berries into a dish that has a lamp, and rub them down with a bit of butter, two spoonfuls of any sort of gravy, one of soy or walnut catsup, a little salt and Cayenne, and a spoonful of port. Stew the lobster cut in bits with the gravy as above. It must be dressed at table, and eaten immediately.

Lobster Pie.

Boil two lobsters, or three small; take out the tails, cut them in two, take out the gut, cut each in four pieces and lay them in a small dish. Put in then the meat of the claws, and that you have picked out of the body; pick off the furry parts from the latter, and take out the lady; then take the spawn, beat it in a mortar, likewise all the shells. Set them on to stew with some water, two or three spoonfuls of vinegar, pepper, salt, and some pounded mace. A large piece of butter, rolled in flour, must be added when the goodness of the shells is obtained. Give a boil or two and pour into the dish strained: strew some crumbs over, and put a paste over all. Bake slowly, but only till the paste be done.

Curry of Lobsters or Prawns.

When taken out of the shells, simmer them as above.

Buttered Lobsters.

Pick the meat out; cut it and warm with a little weak brown gravy, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and butter, with a little flour. If done white, a little white gravy and cream.

Hot Crab.

Pick the meat out of a crab, clear the shell from the head, then put the former, with a very small bit of nutmeg, salt, pepper, a bit of butter, crumbs of bread, and three spoonfuls of vinegar, into the shell again, and set it before the fire. You may brown it with a salamander.

Dry toast should be served to eat it upon.

To dress Red Herrings.

Choose those that are large and moist; cut them open, and pour some boiling small beer over them, to soak half an hour. Drain them dry, and make them just hot through before the fire; then rub some cold butter over them and serve. Egg sauce, or buttered eggs and mashed potatoes, should be served with them.

Baked Herrings or Sprats.

Wash and drain without wiping them. Season with Jamaica pepper in fine powder, salt, a whole clove or two: lay them in a pan with plenty of black pepper, an onion, and a few bayleaves. Put half vinegar and half small beer, enough to cover them. Put paper over the pan, and bake in a slow oven. If you like, throw saltpetre over them the night before, to make them look red. Gut, but do not open them.

To smoke Herrings.

Clean and lay them in salt, and a little saltpetre one night; then hang them on a stick, through the eyes, on a row. Have ready an old cask, on which put some sawdust, and in the midst of it a heater red hot; over the smoke fix the stick, and let them remain twenty four hours.

Fried Herrings.

Serve them of a light brown, and onions sliced and fried.

Broiled Herrings.

Floured first, and done of a good colour. Plain butter for sauce. They are very good potted like mackerel.

Soals.

If boiled, they must be served with great care to look perfectly white, and should be much covered with parsley.

If fried, dip them in egg, and cover them with fine crumbs of bread. Set on a fryingpan that is just large enough, and put into it a large quantity of fresh lard or dripping; boil it, and immediately slip the fish into it. Do them of a fine brown. When enough, take them out carefully, and lay them upon a dish turned under side uppermost, and placed slantingly before the fire to drain off the fat. If you wish them to be particularly nice, lay them on clean cap paper, and let lie some minutes.

Observe, that fish never looks well if not fried in plenty of fat, and that boiling hot, before it be put into it. The dripping may serve again with a little fresh. Take care the fat does not become black. Butter makes every thing black that is fried in it. The soals should just fit the inside of the dish, and a fringe of curled parsley garnish the edge completely, which looks beautifully.

Soals that have been fried, eat good cold with oil, vinegar, salt, and mustard. Note. Fine oil gives the finest colour, but is expensive.

Stewed Soals, and Carp,

Are to be done like lampreys.

Soals, in the Portuguese way.

Take one large or two lesser; if the former, cut the fish in two; if they are small, they need only be split. The bones being taken out, put the fish into a pan, with a bit of butter and some lemonjuice: give it a fry; then lay the fish on a dish, and spread a forcemeat over each piece, and roll it round, fastening the roll with a few small skewers. Lay the rolls into a small earthen pan; beat an egg and wet them, then strew crumbs over, and put the remainder of the egg, with a little meat gravy, a spoonful of caper liquor, an anchovy chopped fine, and some parsley chopped, into the bottom of the pan; cover it close, and bake, until the fish be done enough, in a slow oven. Then place the rolls in the dish for serving; cover it to keep it hot until the gravy baked be skimmed: if not enough, a little fresh, flavoured as above, must be prepared and added to it.

The stuffing to be made as on the following page.

Stuffing for Soals baked.

Pound cold beef, mutton, or veal, a little, then add some fat bacon, that has been lightly fried, cut small, and some onions, a little garlick or shalot, some parsley, anchovy, pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Pound all fine with a few crumbs, and bind it with two or three yelks of eggs.

The heads of the fish are to be left on one side of the split part, and kept on the outer side of the roll; and when served, the heads are to be turned towards each other in the dish.

Garnish with fried or dried parsley.

Soal, Cod, or Turbot Pie: another sort of stuffing.

Boil two pounds of eels tender; pick all the flesh clean from the bones; throw the latter into the liquor the eels were boiled in, with a little mace, salt and parsley, and boil till very good, and come to a quarter of a pint, and strain it. In the mean time cut the flesh of the eels fine, likewise some lemonpeel, parsley, and an anchovy: put to them pepper, salt, nutmeg, and some crumbs. Melt four ounces of butter and mix, then lay it in a dish at the bottom: cut the flesh of two or three soals clean from the bones, and fins; lay it on the forcemeat, and pour the eelbroth in. The bones of the soals should be boiled with those of the eels. You may boil them with one or two little eels, and pour it, well seasoned, on the fish, and put no forcemeat.

An excellent way of dressing a large Plaice, especially if there be a roe.

Sprinkle it with salt, and keep it twenty four hours, then wash and wipe it dry: wet it over with eggs; cover with crumbs of bread; make some lard or fine dripping, and two large spoonfuls of vinegar boiling hot, lay the fish in, and fry it a fine colour. Drain it from the fat, and serve with fried parsley round, and anchovy sauce. You may dip the fish in vinegar, and not put it in the pan.

To fry Smelts.

They should not be washed more than necessary to clean. Dry in a cloth, then lightly flour, but shake it off. Dip them in plenty of egg, then into bread crumbs grated fine, and plunge them into a good pan of boiling lard. Let them continue gently boiling, and a few minutes will make them a bright yellow brown. Take care not to take off the light roughness of the crumbs, or their beauty will be lost.

Boiled Carp.

Serve in a napkin, and with the sauce directed for it among sauces.

Cod’s head and shoulders,

Will eat much finer, by having a little salt rubbed down the bone, and along the thick part, even if to be eaten the same day.

Tie it up, and put on the fire in cold water which will completely cover it: throw a handful of salt in it. Great care must be taken to serve it without the smallest speck of black or scum. Garnish with a large quantity of double parsley, lemon, horseradish, and the milt, roe, and liver, and smelts fried, if approved. If the latter, be cautious that no water hang about the fish, or the beauty of the smelts will be taken off, as well as their flavour.

Serve with plenty of oyster or shrimp sauce, and anchovy, and butter.

Some people boil the cod whole; but there is no fish, that is more proper to help, than in a large head and shoulders, the thinner parts being overdone and tasteless before the thick be ready: but the whole fish may be purchased, at times, more reasonably, and the lower half, if sprinkled the least, and hung up, will be in high perfection one or two days: or it may be made salter, and served with egg sauce, potatoes, and parsnips.

Crimp Cod.

Boil, broil, or fry.

Cod sounds boiled.

Soak them in warm water till soft, then scrape and clean; and if to be dressed white, boil them in milk and water, and when tender serve them in a napkin. Egg sauce.

Cod sounds ragout.

Prepare as above, then stew them in white gravy seasoned; cream, butter, and a little bit of flour added before you serve, gently boiling up. A bit of lemonpeel, nutmeg, and the least pounded mace, should give the flavour.

Curry of Cod,

Should be made of sliced cod that has either been crimped, or sprinkled a day to make it firm. Fry it of a fine brown, with onions, and stew it with a good white gravy, a little curry powder, a bit of butter and flour, three or four spoonfuls of rich cream, salt and Cayenne.

Fish Pie.

Cod or Haddock, sprinkled with salt to give firmness, slice and season with pepper and salt, and place in a dish mixed with oysters. Put the oyster liquor, a little broth, and a bit of flour and butter, boiled together, into the dish cold. Put a paste over; and when it comes from the oven, pour in some warm cream. If you please you may put parsley instead of oysters.

Haddock.

Do the same as cod, and serve with the same sauce; or, stuff with forcemeat as page eleventh. Or broil them with stuffing.

Oysters to stew.

Open them and separate the liquor from them, then wash them from the grit: strain the liquor, and put with the oysters a bit of mace and lemonpeel, and a few white peppers. Simmer them very gently, and put some cream, and a little flour and butter.

Serve with sippets.

Scalloped Oysters.

Put them with crumbs of bread, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a bit of butter, in scallop shells or saucers, and bake them before the fire, in a Dutch oven.

Oyster Patties or small Pie.

As you open the oysters, separate them from the liquor, which strain; parboil them, after taking off the beards. Parboil sweetbreads, and cutting them in slices, lay them and the oysters in layers: season very lightly with salt, pepper, and mace. Then put half a teacup of liquor, and the same of gravy. Bake in a slow oven; and before you serve, put a teacup of cream, a little more oyster liquor and a cup of white gravy, all warmed, but not boiled. If for patties, the oysters should be cut in small dice, gently stewed, and seasoned as above, and put into the paste when ready for table.

Fried Oysters, to garnish boiled fish.

Make a batter of flour, milk, and eggs; season it a very little; dip the oysters in it, and fry them a fine yellow brown. A little nutmeg should be put into the seasoning, and a few crumbs of bread into the flour.

To pickle Oysters.

Wash four dozen of oysters in their own liquor; then strain, and in it simmer them till scalded enough: take them out and cover them. To the liquor put a few peppercorns, a blade of mace, a table spoonful of salt, three of white wine, and four of vinegar: simmer fifteen minutes; and when cold, pour it on the oysters, and keep them in a jar close covered.

Another way.

Open the number you intend to pickle: put them into a saucepan, with their own liquor, for ten minutes; simmer them very gently; then put them into a jar, one by one, that none of the grit may stick to them, and cover them, when cold, with the pickle thus made. Boil the liquor with a bit of mace, lemon peel, and black peppers; and to every hundred, put two spoonfuls of the best undistilled vinegar.

They should be kept in small jars, and tied close with bladder, for the air will spoil them.

Stuffing for Pike, Haddock, &c.

Of fat bacon, beefsuet, and fresh butter, equal parts; some parsley, thyme, and savory; a little onion, and a few leaves of scented marjoram, shred finely; an anchovy or two; a little salt and nutmeg, and some pepper.

If you have oysters, three or four may be used instead of anchovies. Mix all with crumbs of bread, and two yelks and whites of eggs, well beaten, and parsley shred fine.

Sprats,

When cleaned, should be fastened in rows by a skewer, run through the heads, and then broiled and served hot and hot.

Sprats baked, as herrings, page [8].

—— fried, as do. page [9].

To dress fresh Sturgeon.

Cut slices, rub egg over, then sprinkle with crumbs of bread, parsley, pepper, salt, and fold in paper, and broil gently.

Sauce; butter, anchovy, and soy.

Thornback, or Skate,

Should be hung one day at least, before it be dressed, and may be served either boiled, or fried in crumbs, being first dipped in egg.

Crimp Skate.

Boiled, and sent up in a napkin; or fried as above.

Maids,

Should be likewise hung one day at least. May be boiled or fried; or if of a tolerable size, the middle may be boiled and the fins fried. They should be dipped in egg, and covered with crumbs.

OBSERVATIONS ON DRESSING FISH.

If the fishmonger does not clean it, fish is seldom very nicely done; but those in great towns wash it beyond what is necessary for cleaning, and by perpetual watering diminish the flavor. When quite clean, if to be boiled, some salt and a little vinegar should be put to the water to give firmness; but cod, whiting and haddock, are far better if a little salted, and kept a day; and if not very hot weather they will be good in two days.

Those who know how to purchase fish, may, by taking more at a time than they want for one day, often get it cheap, and that which will hang by sprinkling, may then be bought to advantage.

The fish must be put into the water while cold, and set to do very gently, or the outside will break before the inner part be done.

The fishplate on which it is done, may be drawn up to see if it be ready; it will leave the bone when it is. It should be then immediately taken out of the water, or it will be woolly. The fishplate should be set crossways over the kettle, to keep hot for serving, and a clean cloth should cover the fish to prevent its losing its colour.

Small fish, nicely fried in egg, and crumbs, make a dish of fish far more elegant than served plain. Great attention should be paid to garnishing fish; plenty of horseradish, parsley, and lemon.

When well done, and with very good sauce, fish is more attended to than almost any other dish. The liver and roe should be placed on the dish, so conspicuously that the lady may see them, and help a part to every one. The sound of the cod, its head, and the head of carp are reckoned the prime parts; and it is a part of necessary attention to help, or at least offer some of the best to one’s friends; nor is it any excuse for the mistress’s negligence, that it is the fashion of the present day for those who sit at her right or left hand to help the company, which she must see they do properly.

If salmon is to be dressed, great care is necessary that it be done enough. No vinegar should be boiled with it.

If fish is to be fried or broiled, it must be wrapt in a nice soft cloth, after it is well cleaned and washed. When perfectly dry, wet with an egg, if the former way, and sprinkle the finest crumbs of bread over it; then having a thick bottomed fryingpan on the fire, with a large quantity of lard or dripping boiling hot, plunge the fish into it, and let it fry middlingly quick, till the colour be a fine brown yellow, and it be judged ready: if the latter take place first, the cook should draw the pan to the side of the fire, lest the colour be spoiled. She should then carefully take it up, and either place it on a large sieve turned upwards, and to be kept for that purpose only, or on the underside of a dish, to drain; and if wanted very nice, a sheet of cap paper must be put to receive the fish, which should look a beautiful colour, and all the crumbs appear distinct; the fish being free from all grease.

Garnish with a fringe of curled raw parsley, or parsley fried, which must be thus done: when washed and picked, throw it again into clean water; when the lard or dripping boils, throw the parsley into it immediately from the water, and instantly it will be green, and crisp, and must be taken up with a slice. This may be done after the fish is fried.

If fish is to be broiled, it must be seasoned and floured, and put on a gridiron that is very clean; and when hot, it should be rubbed with a bit of suet to prevent the fish from sticking. It must be broiled on a very clear fire, that it may not taste of smoke; and not too near, that it may not be scorched.

An excellent imitation of Sturgeon.

Take a fine large, but not an old turkey; pick it most nicely; singe it, and make it very clean; bone, wash, and dry it; tie it across and across, with a bit of mat string, washed clean, as they tie sturgeon. Put into a very nice tin saucepan a quart of water, the same of vinegar, and of white wine, that is not sweet, and a very large handful of salt. Let boil, and skim well, then put in the turkey: when done, take it out and tighten the strings. Let the liquor boil half an hour after, and when cold put it on the turkey. If salt or vinegar be wanting, add when cold. This will keep some months. You eat it with oil and vinegar, or sugar and vinegar. It is more delicate than sturgeon, and makes a pretty variety, if the real is not to be had. Cover it with fennel when brought to table.

ON DRESSING MEATS.

Wash all meats before you dress; if for boiling, the colour will be better for soaking; if for roasting, dry it.

Boiling in a well floured cloth, will make meat white.

Particular charge must be given that the pot be well skimmed the moment it boils, otherwise the foulness will be dispersed over the meat. The more soups or broths are skimmed, the better and cleaner they will be.

The boiler and utensils should be kept delicately clean.

Put the meat in cold water, and flour it well first. If meat be boiled quick it will be hard; but care must be taken that in boiling slow it does not cease, or the meat will be underdone.

If the steam be kept in, the water will not much decrease; therefore when you wish to evaporate, remove the cover of the soup pot.

Vegetables should not be dressed with the meat, except carrots or parsnips with boiled beef.

Weigh the joint, and allow a quarter of an hour to each pound, and about twenty minutes over. If for roasting, it should be put at a good distance from the fire, and brought gradually nearer when the inner part becomes hot, which will prevent its being scorched while yet raw. Meat should be much basted, and when nearly done, floured to make it look frothed.

Veal and mutton should have a little paper put over the fat to preserve it. If not fat enough to allow for basting, a little good dripping answers as well as butter.

The cook should be careful to spit meat so as not to run the spit through the best parts; and she should observe that her spit be well cleaned before, and when she is going to serve, or a black stain appears on the meat. In many joints the spit will pass into the bones, and run along them for some distance, so as not to injure the prime of the meat; and she should have leaden skewers to enable her to balance it; for want of which, ignorant servants often are foiled in the time of serving.

In roasting meat, it is a very good way to put a little salt and water into the dripping pan, and baste for a little while with it before it be done with its own fat or dripping. When dry, dust it with flour, and baste as usual.

Time, distance, basting often, and a clear fire, of a proper size for what is required, are the first articles of a good cook’s attention in roasting.

Old meats do not require so much dressing as young: not that they are sooner done, but they can be eaten with the gravy more in.

Be careful in roasting wild fowls to keep a clear brisk fire. Roast them of a light brown, but not till their gravy runs; they loose their fine flavour if too much done. Tame fowls require more roasting: they are a long time before they are hot through, and must be often basted to keep up a froth, and it makes the colour better. Pigs and geese require a brisk fire, and to be turned quick.

Hares and rabbits require time, and care to turn the two ends to the fire, which are less likely to be done enough than the middle part.

Choose mutton by the fineness of its grain, the deep red of the flesh, and bright whiteness of the fat. For roasting, it should hang as long as it will keep, the hind quarter especially, but not so as to taint; for, whatever fashion may authorize, putrid juices ought not to be conveyed into the stomach.

Mutton, for boiling, will not look of a good colour if it has long hung. Small mutton is preferred.

Great care should be taken to preserve by paper the fat of what is roasted.

To keep Venison.

Preserve the venison dry; wash it with milk and water very clean; dry it with clean cloths, till not the least damp remain. Then dust pounded ginger over every part, which is a good preventive against the fly. By thus managing and watching, it will hang a fortnight. When to be used, wash it with a little lukewarm water, and dry it.

Venison.

A haunch of buck will take about three hours and three quarters roasting; doe, three hours and a quarter. Put a coarse paste of brown flour and water, and a paper over that, to cover all the fat: baste it well with dripping, and keep it at a distance to get hot at the bone by degrees. When nearly done, remove the covering, and baste it with butter, and froth it up before you serve.

Gravy for it should be put into a boat, and not in the dish (unless there be none in the venison), and made thus: cut off the fat from two or three pounds of a loin of old mutton, and set it in steaks on a gridiron for a few minutes, just to brown one side: put them in a saucepan, with a quart of water: cover quite close for an hour, and gently simmer it; then uncover, and stew till the gravy be reduced to a point. Season with only salt.

Currantjelly sauce must be served in a boat.

Formerly pap sauce was eaten with venison, which, as some still like it, may be necessary to direct. Grate white bread, and boil it with port and water, a large stick of cinnamon; and when quite smooth, remove the latter, and add sugar. Claret wine may be used for it.

Make the jelly sauce thus. Beat some currantjelly, and a spoonful or two of port, then set it over the fire till melted. Where jelly runs short, put more wine, and a few lumps of sugar to the jelly, and melt as above.

To make a Pasty of Beef or Mutton, to eat as well as Venison.

Bone a small rump, or a piece of sirloin of beef, or a fat loin of mutton: the former is better than mutton, after hanging several days, if the weather permits. Beat it very well with a rolling pin, then rub ten pounds of meat with four ounces of sugar, and pour over it a glass of port wine, and the same of vinegar. Let it lie five days and nights: wash and wipe the meat very dry, and season it very high with pepper, Jamaica pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Lay in your dish, and to ten pounds put one pound or near of butter, spreading it over the meat. Put a crust round the edges, and cover with a thick one, or it will be overdone before the meat be soaked. It must be done in a slow oven.

Set the bones in a pan in the oven, with no more water than will cover them, and one glass of port wine, a little pepper and salt, that you may have a little rich gravy to add to the pasty when drawn.

Note. Sugar gives a greater shortness, and better flavor to meats than salt, too great a quantity of which hardens; and it is quite as great a preservative.

Haunch, Neck and Shoulders of Venison.

Roast with paste, as directed above, and the same sauce.

Stewed Shoulder.

Let the meat hang till you judge proper to dress it, then take out the bone: beat the meat with a rolling pin. Lay some slices of mutton fat, that has lain a few hours in a little port wine, among it: sprinkle a little black and Jamaica pepper over it, in finest powder: roll it up tight, and fillet it. Set it in a stewpan that will only just hold it, with some mutton or beef gravy, not strong, half a pint of port, and some pepper and pimento. Simmer, close covered, and as slow as you can, for three or four hours. When quite tender, take off the tape, set the meat on a dish, and strain the gravy over. Serve with currantjelly sauce.

This is the best way to dress this joint, unless it be very fat, and then it should be roasted. The bone should be stewed with it.

To prepare Venison for Pasty.

Take the bones out, then season and beat the meat. Lay it in a stone jar in large pieces: pour upon it some plain drawn beef gravy, but not a strong one: lay the bones on top, then set the jar in a waterbath, that is, a saucepan of water over the fire; simmer three or four hours; then leave it in a cold place till next day. Remove the cake of fat, and lay the meat in handsome pieces on the dish: if not sufficiently seasoned, add more pepper, salt, or pimento, as necessary. Put some of the gravy, and keep the remainder for the time of serving. If the venison be thus prepared, it will not require so much time to bake, or such a very thick crust as is usual, and by which the under part is seldom done through.

Venison Pasty.