IN this our little work, we more particularly address ourselves to Cook Maids in small families, where two maid servants only are kept, and where, consequently, all the business of the kitchen falls upon the cook, both as regards cleaning and cooking. In such families, it is true, the mistress in the house will take a part in the business of cooking upon herself; a most laudable custom, both as regards economy, and the real interests of the cook maid. To such mistresses, particularly the younger portion, it is hoped our little book will not be unacceptable. Cooking is neither a mean, nor a simple art. To make the best and the most of everything connected with the sustenance of a family, requires not only industry and experience, but also considerable mental capacity, or, at any rate, an aptness to learn.

One of the principal, if not the principal, requisite, in a cook, is order--that faculty by which a person is enabled to keep all things in their proper places. Without order there can be no cleanliness, another indispensable requisite in a cook: to be always cleaning, is not to be clean. There are some foolish, fussy women, who, with all the disposition on earth to be clean, not having order, dirty one thing as fast as they clean another. Nor is order an essential requisite, as regards the cleanliness of a kitchen, and of kitchen utensils, only; in dressing food, without order there can be no good cooking.

We have said, that the mistress will take a part in a small family in the business of cooking. We, perhaps, should have rather said, ought to take a part; for we are sorry to say, that there is too much reason to believe, that good housewifery is much neglected in the educating of young ladies now-a-days. If a mistress be really not acquainted with the general principles of cooking, she ought to do one of two things--either to make herself acquainted with them as an humble learner, or to keep out of the kitchen altogether; for her ignorant interference with a good cook maid will do no good, but may do a great deal of harm. And while on this subject we must give a word of friendly advice to the unfortunate cook, who may happen to fall in with an ignorant, irritable mistress. Let her take care to refrain from going into a passion with her: if the mistress scolds, let the maid be mild; and above all, let her not scold again, or answer in an angry or insulting manner. This is a hard thing to do, we are aware, particularly where a servant feels herself injured; but if she can do it, she will not only gain the victory over her mistress, but she will also feel a consciousness, a happy consciousness ing left undone those things which she ought not to have done, and of having done those things which she ought to have done. But if the tempers and habits of the mistress and maid are incompatible to that good understanding which ought always to subsist between the employer and the employed, the best course for the servant to do is, to give notice and leave. Let not this, however, be done in anger: before giving warning, let her consult her pillow.

It has been well observed, that it behoves every person to be extremely careful whom she takes into her service; to be very minute in investigating the character she receives, and equally cautious and scrupulously just in giving one to others. Were this attended to, many bad people would be incapacitated for doing mischief, by abusing the trust reposed in them. It may be fairly asserted, that the robbery, or waste, which is but a milder epithet for the unfaithfulness of a servant, will be laid to the charge of that master or mistress, who knowing, or having well-founded suspicions, of such faults, is prevailed upon by false pity, or entreaty, to slide him, or her, into another place. There are, however, some who are unfortunately capricious, and often refuse to give a character, because they are displeased that a servant leaves their service; but this is unpardonable, and an absolute robbery; servants having no inheritance, and depending on their fair name for employment. To refuse countenance to the evil, and to encourage the good servant, are actions due to society at large; and such as are honest, frugal and attentive to their duties, should be liberally rewarded, which would encourage merit, and inspire servants with zeal to acquit themselves well.

Servants should always recollect, that everything is provided for them, without care and anxiety on their part. They run no risks, are subject to no losses, and under these circumstances, honesty, industry, civility, and perseverance, are in the end sure to meet with their reward. Servants possessing these qualifications, by the blessing of God, must succeed. Servants should be kind and obliging to their fellow-servants; but if they are honest themselves, they will not connive at dishonesty in others. They who see crimes committed and do not discover them, are themselves legally and morally guilty. At the same time, however, well recollect, that tittle-tattling and tale-bearing, for the sake of getting in your mistress's good graces, at the expense of your fellow-servants, is, to the last degree, detestable. A sensible mistress will always discourage such practices.

We have known servants imagine, that because their employers are kind to them, that because they do not command them to do this or that, but rather solicit them, that, therefore, they cannot do without them, and instead of repaying their good-nature and humanity by gratitude and extra attention, give themselves airs, and become idle and neglectful. Such conduct cannot be too much condemned, and those servants, who practise it, may depend upon it, that, sooner or later, they will have cause to repent. Let it be remembered, that vice as well as virtue has its reward, though of a very different character.

The first person, perhaps, with any pretensions to learning and philosophy, who studied the dressing of meat, for food, as a science, was a gentleman of the name of Thompson, who was afterwards created Count Romford, by one of the German princes. This excellent and ingenious individual lived in the last century. He demonstrated, by experiments, the principles which in our foregoing remarks we have merely asserted. We are about to give an abstract of some of his observations and experiments on this subject, which are so simply and clearly detailed, that they are perfectly intelligible to every common intellect, and we are sure will be read with interest and advantage, not only by cooks, but also by all classes of persons interested in the health and welfare of society at large.

The process by which food is most commonly prepared for the table--BOILING--is so familiar to every one, and its effects are so uniform, and apparently so simple, that few have taken the trouble to inquire how, or in what manner, these effects are produced; and whether any and what improvements in that branch of cookery are possible. So little has this matter been made an object of inquiry, that few, very few indeed, it is believed, among the millions of persons who for so many ages have been daily employed in this process, have ever given themselves the trouble to bestow one serious thought on the subject.

The cook knows from experience, that if his joint of meat be kept a certain time immersed in boiling water it will be done, as it is called in the language of the kitchen; but he be asked what is done to it? or how, or by what agency, the change it has undergone has been effected? if he understands the question, it is ten to one but he will be embarrassed; if he does not understand it, he will probably answer, without hesitation, that "the meat is made tender and eatable by being boiled." Ask him if the boiling of the water be essential to the success of the process? he will answer, "without doubt." Push him a little farther, by asking him whether, were it possible to keep the water equally hot without boiling, the meat would not be cooked as soon and as well, as if the water were made to boil? Here it is probable that he will make the first step towards acquiring knowledge, by learning to doubt.

When you have brought him to see the matter in its true light, and to confess, that in this view of it, the subject is new to him, you may venture to tell him (and to prove to him, if you happen to have a thermometer at hand,) that water which just boils is as hot as it can possibly be made in an open vessel. That all the fuel which is used in making it boil with violence is wasted, without adding in the smallest degree to the heat of the water, or expediting or shortening the process of cooking a single instant: that it is by the heat--its intensity--and the time of its duration, that the food is cooked; and not by boiling or ebullition or bubbling up of the water, which has no part whatever in that operation.

Should any doubts still remain with respect to the inefficacy and inutility of boiling, in culinary processes, where the same degree of heat may be had, and be kept up without it, let a piece of meat be cooked in a Papin's digester, which, as is well known, is a boiler whose cover (which is fastened down with screws) shuts with so much nicety that no steam can escape out of it. In such a closed vessel, boiling (which is nothing else but the escape of steam in bubbles from the hot liquid) is absolutely impossible; yet, if the heat applied to the digester be such as would cause an equal quantity of water in an open vessel to boil, the meat will not only be done, but it will be found to be dressed in a shorter time, and to be much tenderer, than if it had been boiled in an open boiler. By applying a still greater degree of heat to the digester, the meat may be so much done in a very few minutes as actually to fall to pieces, and even the very bones may be made soft.

Were it a question of mere idle curiosity, whether it be the boiling of water, or simply the degree of heat that exists in boiling water by which food is cooked, it would doubtless be folly to throw away time in its investigation; but this is far from being the case, for boiling cannot be carried on without a very great expense of fuel; but any boiling hot liquid (by using proper means for confining the heat) may be kept boiling hot for any length of time, without any expense of fuel at all.

The waste of fuel in culinary processes, which arises from making liquids boil unnecessarily, or when nothing more would be necessary than to keep them boiling hot, is enormous; there is not a doubt but that much more than half the fuel used in all the kitchens, public and private, in the whole world, is wasted precisely in this manner.

But the evil does not stop here. This unscientific and slovenly manner of cooking renders the process much more laborious and troublesome than otherwise it would be; and (what by many will be considered of more importance than either the waste of fuel, or the increase of labour to the cook) the food is rendered less savoury, and very probably less nourishing, and certainly less wholesome.

It is natural to suppose that many of the finer and more volatile parts of food (those which are best calculated to act on the organs of taste) must be carried off with the steam, when the boiling is violent: but the fact does not rest on these reasonings: it is proved to a demonstration, not only by the agreeable fragrance of the steam that rises from vessels in which meat is boiled, but also from the strong flavour and superior quality of soups which are prepared by a long process over a very slow, gentle fire. But the volatile parts of food are not only delightful to the organs of taste--the Editor has no doubt that they are also stimulating and refreshing to the stomach.

In many countries where soups constitute the principal part of the food of the inhabitants, the process of cooking lasts from one meal time to another, and is performed almost without either trouble or expense. As soon as the soup is served up, the ingredients for the next meal are put into the pot (which is never suffered to cool, and does not require scouring;) and this pot, which is of cast iron, or of earthenware, being well closed with its thick wooden cover, is placed by the side of the fire, where its contents are kept simmering for many hours, but are seldom made to boil, and never but in the gentlest manner possible.

Were the pot put in a close fire-place (which might easily be constructed, even with the rudest materials, with a few bricks or stone, or even with sods, like a camp-kitchen,) no arrangement for cooking could well be imagined more economical or more convenient.

Soups prepared in this way are uncommonly savoury, and there is little doubt that the true reason why nourishing soups and broths are not more in use among the common people in most countries, is because they do not know how good they really are, nor how to prepare them; in short because they are not acquainted with them. There is another important reason which the Editor must add--the common people for the most part cannot spare time from their labour to stay at home and attend to them.

To form a just idea of the enormous waste of fuel that arises from making water boil and evaporate unnecessarily in culinary processes, we have only to consider how much heat is expended in the formation of steam. Now it has been proved by the most decisive and unexceptionable experiments that have ever been made by experimental philosophers, that if it were possible that the heat which actually combines with water, in forming steam (and which gives it wings to fly up into the atmosphere,) could exist in the water, without changing it from a dense liquid to a rare elastic vapour, this water would be heated by it to the temperature of red-hot iron.

Many kinds of food are known to be most delicate and savoury when cooked in a degree of heat considerably below that of boiling water; and it is more than probable that there are others which would be improved by being exposed to a heat greater than that of boiling water.

In many of the seaport towns of our New England States, it has been a custom, time immemorial, among people of fashion, to dine one day in the week (Saturday) on salt fish, and a long habit of preparing the same dish has, as might have been expected, led to very considerable improvements in the art of cooking it. We have often heard foreigners who have partaken of these dinners, declare that they never tasted salt fish dressed in such perfection. The secret of this cooking is to keep the fish a great many hours in water, which is just scalding hot, but which is never made actually to boil.

The Count being desirous of finding out whether it was possible to roast meat with a much gentler heat than that usually employed, put a shoulder of mutton in a machine contrived for drying potatoes: the result, which we give in the Count's own words, was as follows:

"After trying the experiment for three hours, and finding it showed no signs of being done, it was concluded that the heat was not sufficiently intense, and, despairing of success, it was abandoned to the cookmaids.

In our foregoing remarks we have endeavoured to explain the leading principles upon which the art of cookery is founded--principles with which the young cook should become thoroughly acquainted. We now proceed to lay down a series of rules or maxims, relative to the dressing of meat, and the general management of the kitchen. These rules should be well studied, and the most important of them committed to memory. By doing this a cook will save a great deal of trouble and loss of time, and she will also, by her knowledge of the general principles of the art, be enabled to vary, and probably improve the receipts, which she may have occasion to consult. In short, when she knows what must be always done, and what must never be done, she is, in a great measure, mistress of her art, inasmuch as the details will be easily acquired by practice.

Inferior joints of the best animals should always be preferred to the prime joints of the ill-fed or diseased beasts. Inferior joints of good meat such as stickings, legs and shins of beef, shoulders of mutton and veal, may, if well dressed, be made as nourishing and palatable as the superior joints and may be bought much cheaper; but no cooking however well executed, will ever make bad meat good. Ill-conditioned beasts, too, are for the most part unhealthy.

21. Beef.--Ox beef is considered, truly, the best. Bull beef is coarse, tough, and has a strong, disagreeable smell and taste. Next to ox beef, that of a young heifer (if spayed the better) is preferred. Some persons, indeed, think it is the best. It is the most delicate and tender of all description of beef. Cow beef, particularly a young cow that has not had more than two or three calves, is very good. The grain is closer, and the fat whiter, than ox beef. Good beef has a fine, smooth, open grain, interlarded with thin streaks of delicate fat; and is of a deep healthy looking red colour. When the fat is of a dirty yellow colour, the meat is not good: it indicates its having been fed upon artificial food, such as oil cake. Grass-fed meat, or that fed upon hay and corn meal, is the best. When beef is old, a horny streak runs between the fat and lean; the harder this is, the older the meat. The flesh is not good flavoured, and eats tough.

22. Mutton.--Good mutton is firm in the grain; of a bright red colour; the lean delicately interlarded with thin streaks of fat; the fat itself being of a brightish white, tinted with a delicate pink. The fat of rotten mutton, in which the sheep was afflicted with a liver disease, is always of a dead white, and the flesh is of a pale colour. Such mutton is both unwholesome and unsavoury. The best way to detect this kind of mutton, is to examine the liver before it is removed from the sheep. If the liver be without bladders, or other marks of disease, the mutton is sound. Ewe mutton is not so good as wether mutton; the flesh is generally paler, and the texture finer. The best mutton is that which is fed upon the natural grasses. This is the reason why the Welsh and mountain Scotch muttons are so firm, short, and sweet. The sheep have liberty to choose their own food. Mutton fed on rape and turnips does not eat so well, nor near so well, as the grass-fed. Ram mutton has a strong, and, in some seasons of the year, an exceedingly disagreeable flavour. It is said that wether mutton, to be eaten in perfection, should be five years old; but it is scarcely ever kept to that age. In wether mutton there is a knob of fat on the part of the leg, where in the ewe you will find a part of the udder.

23. Venison when young has the cleft of the haunch smooth and close, and the fat is clear, bright and thick. In old venison, the cleft is wide and tough. If, after running a long, narrow, sharp knife into the lean of venison, it comes out without smelling, the venison is sweet. Some persons like it a little gone, and others a good deal. This state of putrescency is called by gourmands haut gout, high tasted; we should rather say at once, stinking. Venison requires more keeping than any other sort of meat to make it tender, unless it be dressed immediately it is killed, that is, before it is cold.

24. Veal.--This meat, to be truly good, delicate, fine flavoured, and tender, ought not to be more than five or six weeks old, and, of course, fed exclusively upon the milk of the mother. Writers on cookery gravely tell us, that the whiteness of veal is partly caused by the calf licking chalk. This is nonsense. The chalk is given to prevent calves from scouring, not to make their flesh white. However, whiteness is no proof of veal being good and juicy; it is caused by frequent bleeding. The flesh of the bull calf is said to be the firmest, but not so white. The fillet of the cow calf is sometimes preferred for the udder. The kidney of good veal is well covered with healthy looking fat, thick and firm. The bloody vein in the shoulder should look blue; if it be of any other colour, the meat is stale. Fresh veal is dry and white. When it is spotty and clammy it is stale. The kidney is gone when the fat or suet upon it is not firm. The kidney goes first.

25. Lamb that is fresh will have the veins bluish in the neck and fore-quarter. If there be a faint smell under the kidney it is not fresh. When the eyes are sunk in the head, it is a sure sign the lamb has been killed too long. Grass lamb, which is the only lamb that is in perfection, comes in in April, but it is better in May and June; that is to say, when men with hard hands can afford to eat it, and when there are green peas to eat with it. House lamb, for those who can afford to pay for it, and like to eat it, may be obtained all the year round.

26. Pork.--The quality of this kind of meat depends in a great measure upon its feeding. If grossly fed, it is bad, for the pig will eat any thing in the absence of delicate food. Dairy-fed pork we are told is the best: it is good, but we think not the best. To our taste, that is to be preferred in every respect which is fed not merely on dairy food, but upon good wholesome corn meal, whether of barley, oats, peas, or beans. Cookery writers tell us, that "if the rind is tough, and cannot easily be impressed by the finger, the meat is old;" and they add, that a thin rind is a merit in all pork." These directions are no guide whatever to the choice of pork: the rind may be made thin by dressing, but there are those, and no bad judges either, who prefer thick rinds. Moubray, on Poultry, &c., says, "the western pigs from Berks, Oxford, and Bucks, possess a decided superiority over the eastern of Essex, Sussex, and Norfolk; not to forget another qualification of the former, at which some readers may smile, a thickness of the skin, whence the crackling of the roasted pig is a fine gelatinous substance, which may be easily masticated, whilst the crackling of the thin-skinned breeds is roasted into good block tin, the reduction of which would almost require teeth of iron." So much for thin rinds. When pork is fresh, the flesh will be smooth and dry; when stale, clammy. What is called measly pork is to be avoided as a poison. It may be known by the fat being full of kernels, and by the general unwholesomeness of its appearance.

27. Bacon is good when the fat is almost transparent and of a delicate transparent pink tinge. The lean should adhere to the bone, be of a good colour, and tender. Yellow streaks in bacon show it is becoming rusty; when all is yellow, all is rusty and unfit to eat. Bacon and hams are frequently spoilt in the curing. Taste a little of the lean, and you will be able to judge whether it be too salt or not.

28. Hams are the best part of the pig when properly cured, perfectly sweet, and not too salt. To ascertain whether a ham is tainted, run a sharp knife under the bone, and if it comes out with a pleasant smell, and clean, the ham is good.

Summary of Directions.--Choose meat that has a clear red liver, free from knots and bladders, with kidneys firm, close, and well surrounded with firm, hard fat; the skirts which line the ribs should be full and fat. Meat possessing these qualifications may be depended on as of the first quality; but if the kidney or kernels of an animal have spots resembling measles, as is too frequently the case with pork, the meat is unwholesome.

We have said thus much on the choice of meats, but persons who keep up what is called an establishment, will do best to trust to their butcher, porkman, fishmonger, and poulterer, and not to choose at all, excepting tradesmen, taking care to deal only with the most respectable in the neighbourhood.

Poultry of all kinds are preferred of a short thick make, broad and plump in the breast and thick in the rump and fat in the back. The spurs should be short as indicating youth, and the comb red as indicating health. The beak, bill, and claws, in a young bird will be tender, and the skin of the legs comparatively smooth; the contrary are certain indications of an old bird. But the best test of a fowl, as respects its age, is to try the two bones which run by the side of the belly to the vent; if these are gristly and easily broken at the end, the fowl is young. To judge of the age of geese or ducks, little or no dependence is to be placed upon the colour of the legs and bills--this varies according to complexion; but if the bills and feet have coarse red streaks, or a tinge of red in them, the bird is old. In young geese and ducks the above marks are not to be seen, and the webs will be smooth and thin.

29. Rabbits, young and in good condition, will be fat about the kidneys, and by the side of the belly. The flesh should be white, and if young, the legs will break easily.

30. Fowls are plentiful from August to January; chickens come in about April, tame ducks in May, continue through the summer months, and go out in October. Young geese may be dressed in the latter end of May and through the summer, but a goose is not thoroughly ripe till after stubbling, that is, about Michaelmas. Turkey poults are in season from May onwards, but turkeys are in high season about Christmas.

31. Rabbits and Pigeons may be had the year round; wild rabbits are best in the winter season; young pigeons may be had in February, and till September; wood-pigeons in December and January.

32. Game.--Hares, partridges and pheasants from September through the winter: the game season closes with February. All kinds of water fowl are most plentiful in keen, dry weather, especially in cold weather, after snow; also larks, wood-cocks, snipes, &c.

33. Eggs.--New eggs have always a rough fresh-looking shell, but this appearance may be effected by artificial means, and the purchaser be cheated with rotten ones, instead of getting fresh. A new-laid egg will sink in water, bad ones are more or less buoyant; but this is a tedious way of testing eggs. The best way is to form a sort of tube with the left hand, holding with the right hand the egg, close and opposite to this tube, in the light. If the egg is good the meat will look clear, and partly transparent; if bad, it will look dark with black spots in it.

34. Fish should be broad and thick of their kind, their eyes bright, gills red, and the scales close and shining: fish should feel firm to the touch and stiff. Stale fish have always a loose, limber feel, especially about the vent; their eyes are sunk and dim, the scales loose and flabby, and the whole has a dingy, disagreeable appearance. Lobsters and crabs are to be judged by their weight; if they feel light, they have wasted themselves by long keeping.

35. Seasons of Fish.--There are some kinds of fish absolutely poisonous eaten out of season; such are salmon, and skate. The following will give some idea of the seasons of fish, but they vary according to the weather. Cod comes in about October, and goes out about February; it is sometimes good for a short time about August. Salmon comes in in February, is in high season during May, June, and July, declines in August, and is quite out in September. Pickled salmon is good from May till September. Herrings are in season as long as they are full of roe; when shotten, they are worthless. Sprats are best in frosty weather. Lobsters and crabs are plentiful in the spring and early part of the summer. Haddock, flounders, muscles, come in in September or October, and are out about April or May. Jacks or pikes, eels, perch, tench, carp, and other fresh water fish, become plentiful about April or May, according to the weather. Eels are never out of season, but in cold weather are hardly to be procured. Hallibut is in season from the beginning of May until the end of September.

36. A great deal has to be done before the cook can commence the operation of cooking. She has to truss her fowls and prepare her fish, butcher's meat, and vegetables, with other things not necessary to mention here. Never wash butcher's meat except for the purpose of cleansing it of blood, which would otherwise disfigure it when dressed. Few joints require this operation; heads, hearts and scrags always require to be well washed before they are cooked, but if they or any thing else are intended for roasting or frying, they should first be rendered perfectly dry, by rubbing with a coarse cloth, or otherwise. Salt rubbed in with warm water will speedily remove the blood and cleanse the meat. Hares must be always well washed with salt and water, or milk and water.

38. All kinds of poultry should be killed the first thing in the morning, when their crops are empty. They should be plucked while they are warm; be sure take out all the flues, and let the hair be singed off with white paper. It is recommended to crop fowls and pigeons immediately you have them; but there is a difference of opinion as to the time of drawing them; some say they should be drawn as soon as killed, or at least as soon as bought, which prevents the disagreeable flavour so often perceived in chickens; others say, and indeed the generality of cooks are of this opinion, that they should not be drawn till just before they are dressed, as it is apt to make them dry: we are of opinion that poultry should be drawn soon after they are killed; we do not believe that this makes them dry, though we are sure that to leave them undrawn will be apt to make them stink.

40. Be careful to take away the gall-bladder from the liver without breaking it, for if one drop of the gall escapes, the whole liver is spoilt. The gizzard consists of two parts, with a stomach or bag in the middle, containing gravel and undigested food; one part of the skin by which the two parts of the gizzard are united is rather narrower than the other; slit this with a knife, and turning the gizzard inside out, remove the stomach bag and trim round the gizzard, but avoid cutting the skin by which it is joined in the middle.

41. In trussing poultry, cut off the neck about two joints from its commencement at the shoulders, but be sure to leave half an inch, or more, of the skin longer than the part of the neck remaining, for the purpose of wrapping over on being tied.

44. Before dressing, a little flour should be dusted over fowls Poulterers, to make the bird look plump, often break the breast bone; this is a bad practice--it lets the air into the fowl, and drys the meat; it often breaks the gall-bladder, and, of course, spoils the fowl, and it always renders the bone troublesome. The head of capon, we ought to observe, is often twisted under the wing in the same way as a pheasant's.

56. Fish, in cleaning, should have every particle of the entrails very carefully removed. If the blood has settled down the back-bone, or elsewhere, it should be carefully taken away, and care should be taken not to break the gallbladder of the liver. Some fish must be slit in order to clean them; others may have their entrails drawn out at the gills, which should be always done when it is practicable. Mackerel, perch, &c. are cleaned in this way. Flat fish may be so cleaned, but it is usual to make a slanting slit on one side, just below the gill, in order to put in the finger and remove the clotted blood from the back-bone. Fishes with scales should be scraped from the tail to the head, till all the scales are removed; others, such as soles and eels, are skinned. The cook ought not to depend upon the cleaning of fish by the fishmonger, but carefully examine them before dressing.

57. Eels are remarkably tenacious of life, and appear to suffer after they are cut into several pieces. In order to take the sense of feeling entirely from this fish, it is only necessary, before it is skinned, to pierce the spinal marrow, just at the back of the skull, right through, when all feeling in the eel will instantly cease, though it has the appearance of being alive. Then raise the skin, at the part cut or pierced, draw it back over the mouth and head, secure the head with a strong fork to a table, or dresser, and draw back the whole skin. To prevent the eel from slipping through your hands, rub them with salt, and you will then draw off the skin easily. Eels, except very small ones, require to be slit all the way from the vent to the gills, and the inside of the back-bone should be rubbed with salt. The liver, roe or melt, are much esteemed, and should be therefore preserved.

58. Fish without Scales, &c.--Cod, mackerel, whiting, and some other fish, being without scales, need nothing doing to them except drawing them and washing or wiping. Sprats, for broiling, should have a long bird-skewer run through their eyes, or a common knitting-needle. Neither sprats nor the silver-stringed herring, which is the best, should ever be drawn. They should be wiped dry and clean. Fish for frying, should not be washed if it be possible to avoid it. If they require washing, it should be done an hour or two before they are fried, and wrapped up in a coarse cloth till they are thoroughly dry.

59. Turbot, Plaice, Flounders, &c., having been gutted and wiped, should be sprinkled with salt, and hung up for several hours before dressing.

60. Cod, having been drawn and washed, will eat firmer if it be sprinkled with salt some time before putting it into the fish-kettle, with cold water, where it may remain an hour or two before boiling, or it may be hung up like plaice, &c.

61. Oysters, if fresh from the sea, that is, uncleansed by the fishmonger, should, as soon as received, be laid in a pan or tub, with the flat shell upwards, and the whole fish covered with spring water; to which put a pint of salt to every two gallons of water. In a few hours the fish will have cleansed themselves, and become fit for use. If they are required to be kept longer, the water should be taken away at night, and renewed in the morning; but they are never better than after they have been in the water from six to ten hours. There are persons who recommend that they should always be kept under water, which they say should be renewed every twelve hours. Such persons forget that oysters, in their natural state, are not under water when the tide is out. Some writers recommend fresh water, but for what reason we know not, except to spoil the fish. Others order them to be sprinkled with flour, or oatmeal, for the purpose of making the fish white. We believe it has no such effect--much less will it feed them. Clear fresh spring water with a little salt, is the best; in this they will soon scour themselves, and become delicately white. Oysters should be opened very carefully--be turned round on the shell--the lower shell preserves the liquor best, and then served immediately; but they are better when eaten and opened at table. Every moment the oyster is kept after it is opened, injures it in quality and flavour. If served on the flat side of the shell, the liquor should be preserved and used for flavouring.--N. B. Oysters when taken fresh from the clean sea, that is, from beds devoid of mud, require no cleansing; but, on the contrary, we are assured on good authority, are much better without it. The process of cleansing deprives the fish of its flavour to a certain extent, and very much weakens the delicious liquor in the shell.

62. Vegetables, particularly green, in preparing for dressing, require great attention in point of cleanliness. If vegetables for boiling can be gathered perfectly clean, immediately before being put in the pot, they preserve their colour much better without washing. But this will seldom be the case, particularly with those purchased of the greengrocer. When they are a little stale, which is almost always the case, if not gathered in your own garden, putting them in water for a few hours will refresh them. Salt and water should be used for the purpose of bringing out the slugs, or caterpillars, in which summer cauliflowers and cabbage very often abound. Every drop of cold water, if possible, should be shaken out of them before boiling. Green peas, broad beans and French beans, ought not to be washed. Turnip greens, if quite clean and fresh, are better not washed; but it otherwise they must be washed through several waters.

63. Asparagus, Artichokes, Spinach, &c.--Scrape the stalks of asparagus clean, tie them up with tape, in bundles of twenty-five or thirty each; cut off the ends of the stalks to an equal length. If quite fresh they need not be washed. Artichokes require thorough washing, and should be soaked two hours or so in water before dressing. Spinach should be picked leaf by leaf; washed in three or four waters, and thoroughly drained. Celery should be well soaked.

64. Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes should be well scrubbed with a birch broom, besom, or scrubbing brush, and washed very clean just before boiling; but they should never be the least wetted till they are about to be dressed. Some persons like them best boiled in the skins; they are best peeled before boiling when they are old or specky.

65. Carrots, Parsnips, Beetroots, and Turnips.--Carrots and parsnips should be well washed and scrubbed, but not scraped, as it is apt to injure the flavour. After boiling, rub the skins with a coarse cloth. For soups, &c., they should be scraped. Beetroots should be washed and scrubbed very clean, but if the red sort be scraped, or cut with a knife, the colour will escape. When done, carefully rub with a rough cloth. Wash and peel turnips.

Having given directions for the preparations for cooking, we now proceed to Cooking itself; and shall begin with

In our general directions we have given pretty full instructions on the art of making broths, stews, &c., which instructions are of themselves sufficient to enable a young cook, possessed of diligence and common sense, to prepare the different varieties of these dishes, without the assistance of particular receipts. We give, however, the following.