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Title: The Great Western Cook Book, or Table Receipts, Adapted to Western Housewifery.
Author: Collins, Anna Maria
Publisher: New York: A. S. Barnes & Company

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> CHAPTER I.
SOUPS AND BROTHS.

To excel in making rich and palatable soup or broth, requires more judgment in the combination of its component parts than the variety of its flavors; and more care and pains-taking in conducting its process, than in selecting its ingredients. A rich and nutricious soup may be made with little or no expense; for in most cases it is real economy to convert the broth in which your meat or poultry has been boiled, into soup, especially if you have a young family. No dish is more wholesome and acceptable to children than well-seasoned soup. In the first place, (take no offence, madam!) it is highly necessary that your vessel should be perfectly clean; a little smut might pass incog. in a dish of roasted beef or broiled mackerel, but never in soup. Soup must be prepared in a perfectly neat kettle, the top should fit closely, or the most essential qualities of the soup will evaporate, as the juices of the meat are extracted. An open kettle will give the most delicious of its flavors to the surrounding


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atmosphere, instead of condensing them within, and though you be ever so neat and fastidious, there will always be a collection of impurities which must be carried off by scum, especially if limestone water be used.

Place your kettle over a slow fire, where it will gradually warm for at least half an hour without boiling. During this process it will become penetrated and cleansed from the small clots of blood and other matters to be carried off by the scum, which will rise profusely, and which should be constantly taken off. When the half hour has expired, quicken the fire, let your soup boil, still continuing to remove the scum as it rises, until it is entirely clear; then place it where it will remain boiling slowly. It is decidedly erroneous to purpose extracting the most nutricious qualities of a fowl or beef-shank by hard boiling. They must, of course, escape with the steam. Never throw in salt until it has boiled. This will also clarify it, and it is proper to remove the scum as long as it presents itself to the surface. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, those designed to be thickened must be a little thicker than rich cream. Thickened soups require more seasoning than clear. Bread crumbs are most excellent thickening, especially if toasted to a light brown, and it is both wholesome and savory. Rice may also be used in most compounds, or browned flour.

An invited dinner-party should invariably be presented with a plate of soup as a first course, and


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no doubt it would be a judicious arrangement to have soup make its regular appearance at every day's dinner.

OBSERVATION.--In preparing soups, always cut the pieces of meat you send in the tureen small enough to be eaten without introducing a knife and fork into the soup plate.

CALIFORNIA SOUP.

Take a leg of beef, weighing about ten pounds, and, after breaking the bones, put it into a soup-pot quite large enough to hold it, just cover it with cold water, and heat it gradually till it nearly boils. This should take not less than an hour. Skim it attentively while any scum rises, then pour in a little cold water and let it come to a boil again, skimming it till perfectly clear. Let it boil for eight or ten hours, and strain it through a hair sieve into a brown stone pan, and set it where it will soon become cool.

Next day remove every particle of fat from the top of it, and pour it through a fine sieve into a stewpan, taking care not to disturb the settling at the bottom of the stone pan. The stewpan should be of copper, well tinned. Put in an ounce of whole black pepper, and let it boil briskly on a quick fire, taking off the scum if any rises. When it is reduced to about a quart, set it over a gentler fire in a smaller vessel, till it is reduced to the consistence of a very thick syrup. Be very particular now that it does not burn, for a moment's carelessness may ruin the compound. Cool a little of it in


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a spoon, and if it has the consistence of jelly it is done; if not, boil it till it has.

Put it away in small dry vessels, or, if you wish to preserve it more than six months, in bladders, such as are used for German sausages. If you prefer it in cakes, turn it into a shallow dish; and when it is cold, turn it out and weigh the cake, and divide it with a paste-cutter into half ounce or ounce pieces. Place them in a warm room, and turn them frequently till they are quite dry, which will take a week or ten days. When well hardened and kept in a dry place, they may be preserved for several years in any climate.

BEEF BROTH.

Desire the butcher to crack a shin of beef in two or three places, wash it very clean, and add to it any trimmings of meat, game, or poultry you may happen to have. Cover them in cold water, stir it up carefully from the bottom, and the moment it begins to simmer, skim it well. On the clearness of this broth depends the goodness of the soups, sauces, and gravies of which it is the basis. When it seems perfectly clear, add some cold water to make the scum rise again, and then skim it until the surface of the broth is quite clear, and no more scum rises. Then put one common sized carrot, a head of celery, two turnips, and two onions, cover it close, and set it where it will simmer very gently for four or five hours. Strain it through a sieve into


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a clean, dry, stone pan, and set it in the coolest place you can find.

This is a good foundation for all sorts of soups and sauces, brown or white.

CLEAR GRAVY SOUP.

Cut half a pound of ham into slices, and lay them at the bottom of a large stewpan, with two or three pounds of lean beef and as much veal; break the bones and lay them on the meat, take off the outer skins of two large onions and two turnips, wash clean and cut into pieces two large carrots and two heads of celery; put in a few cloves and a little mace, and cover the stewpan close and set it over a smart fire. Turn the meat when it begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, and as soon as there is a brown glaze at the bottom, cover the meat with hot water. When it is coming to a boil, pour in half a pint of cold water, take off the scum, and then put in another half pint of cold water, skim it again, and repeat this process till no more scum rises.

Then set it to boil gently for four hours, strain it through a clean napkin, or a fine sieve, into a clean stone vessel, and let it remain till cold, when you must remove all the fat. When you pour it off, be careful not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the pan.

This is the basis of all gravy soups, which are called by the name of the vegetables used.

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MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

Take the upper from the lower part of a calf's head, and put both in a gallon of water and boil till tender.

Strain the liquor, let it stand till next day, and take off the fat. Hang it over the fire three-quarters of an hour before serving it, and season it with salt, cloves, pepper, mace, and sweet herbs, tied in a bag. Add half a pint of rich gravy. Darken it with browned flour or fried sugar. Then put in the yolks of eight eggs boiled hard, the juice of two lemons, and force-meat balls. When ready to serve, add half a pint of wine.

GUMBO SOUP.

Put a shin of veal and an old fowl into a soup-pot with two carrots, two turnips sliced, an onion whole, and six quarts of water; let it boil gently five hours. Take the chicken out and cut it up into small pieces; cut two onions in slices, and fry them brown in butter, then take out the onion and put in the chicken, and fry it brown. Put the onions into a saucepan, and shake a little flour into the hot butter, stirring it all the time, and take care that it does not oil or burn. Then put it in with the chicken, strain the soup into it, and let it boil for a half-hour.

Mix three table-spoonsful of gumbo in half a pint of cold water, stir this in the soup while the


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soup is boiling, but it must not boil after the gumbo is put in.

There should be, on the table, a dish of boiled rice; a spoonful of which should be served with each plate of soup.

It adds greatly to this soup, to mix with it three quarts of oysters, including the liquor, and let it boil up once, before the gumbo is put in.

CALF'S HEAD SOUP.

Get a calf's head with the skin on, take out the brains, wash the head several times in cold water, let it soak about an hour in spring-water, then lay it in a stewpan and cover it with water and a half-gallon over. Take off the scum as it rises, let it boil gently for one hour, take it up, and when almost cold, cut the head into pieces about an inch long, also the tongue--add the brains. When the head is taken out, put in a knuckle of veal and as much beef, add the trimmings and bones of the head, skim it well, cover it close, and let it boil five hours. Then strain it off, and let it stand till next morning, and take off the fat. Set a large stewpan on the fire with half a pound of good, fresh butter, twelve ounces of onions sliced, four ounces of green sage; chop it a little; let these fry one hour; then rub in half a pound of flour; then, by degrees, add the broth, till it is the thickness of cream. Season it with quarter of an ounce of ground allspice and half an ounce of black pepper,


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ground very fine. Salt to your taste. The rind of one lemon, peeled very thin. Let it simmer very gently for one hour and a half, then strain it through a hair sieve; do not rub your soup to get it through the sieve; it will make it grouty; if it does not run through easily, knock your spoon against the side of your sieve. Put it in a clean saucepan with the head, and season it by adding to each gallon of soup, half a pint of wine, (either claret or Madeira,) two table-spoonsful of lemon juice; let it simmer gently till the meat is tender; this may take from half an hour to an hour. Take care it is not overdone. Stir it frequently to keep the meat from sticking to the bottom of the stewpan, and when the meat is quite tender, the soup is ready.

SOUPE á LA JARDINIERE.

Wash a leg of lamb or veal, of moderate size, and put it into four quarts of cold water. Boil it gently, and when the scum rises, take it off carefully. Take of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, and turnips, a tea-cupful of each, chopped fine. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Carrots should be put in first, as they require most time for boiling, and onions last.

This soup must be boiled three hours.

PEASE SOUP.

To a quart of split pease put three quarts of cold, soft water, with half a pound of bacon, not very fat, or roast-beef bones. Wash two heads of celery,


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two onions, peeled, a sprig of savory, or parsley; set it on the fire and let it simmer very gently, stir every quarter of an hour, to keep the pease from sticking to the soup-pot, until the pease are tender, which will be in about three-quarters of an hour. Then work the whole through a hair sieve, put it into a clean stewpan with half a tea-spoonful of black pepper, ground. Let it boil again ten minutes, and if any fat arises, skim it off.

ASPARAGUS SOUP.

This is made with the points of asparagus, in the same manner as the green pease soup. Let half the asparagus be rubbed through a sieve, and the other half be cut in pieces about an inch long, and boiled till done enough, and sent up in the soup. To make two quarts, there must be a pint of heads to thicken it, and half a pint cut in. Take care to preserve these green, and a little crisp.

This soup is sometimes made, by adding the asparagus heads to common pease soup.

SOUP--ROUGH AND READY.

Crack a shin-bone well, boil it in five or six quarts of water four hours. Take half a head of white cabbage, three carrots, two turnips, and three onions; chop them up fine, and put them into the soup with pepper and salt, and boil it two hours. Take out the bone and gristle half an hour before serving it.

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OYSTER SOUP.

Take a pound or two of veal, boil it in a gallon of water till it is reduced to two quarts, then add the juice of a quart of oysters. Season it with pepper and salt to your taste. Put in the oysters fifteen minutes before serving it. Ten minutes before taking it up, put in ten crackers. Add half a pint of milk after it stops boiling.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

Take a nice fowl and a shin of veal, two carrots, a turnip and an onion, a little salt, and put them into four quarts of water. Boil this three hours. Put into it two teacups full of vermicelli, and boil it an hour. Before serving, take out the bones and vegetables.

CARROT SOUP.

Scrape and wash half a dozen large carrots, peel off the red outside, which is the only part that should be used; put it into a gallon stewpan with one head of celery and a sliced onion. Take two quarts of beef, veal, or mutton broth, put it to the roots, cover the pan close, and set it on a slow fire for two hours and a half; boil it for two or three minutes, then rub it through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon, and add as much broth as will make it of the proper thickness. Put it into a clean stewpan, make it hot, season it with salt, and send it up with some toasted bread, cut in small pieces.

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PLAIN GREEN-PEA SOUP, WITHOUT MEAT.

Take a quart of green pease, keeping half a pint of the youngest, put them on in boiling water and boil them till they are tender. Then pour off the water, and set it by to make the soup with. Pound the pease to a mash, in a mortar. Boil the young pease separately, to put into the soup when finished. Put into the mashed pease two quarts of the water they were boiled in, stir all well together, and let it boil for about five minutes, and then rub it through a hair sieve.

This will be a thick and fine vegetable soup.

JULIENNE SOUP.

This is a French dish, and takes its name from the months of June and July; and to make it in reality, as originally made, a small quantity of every description of vegetables should be used, including lettuce, sorrel, tarragon; however, some few sorts of vegetables mixed together make a most estimable soup. Weigh half a pound of the vegetables, in fair proportions to each other; that is, carrots, turnips, onions, celery, and leeks; which, cut into small fillets an inch in length, and of the thickness of a running needle; when done, wash, dry, and pan them in butter and sugar as before--proceeding the same with the soup, adding, just before it is done, a little sorrel, cabbage, lettuce and pease, if handy, but it would be excellent without either.

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> CHAPTER II.
FISH.

As we have not a very great variety of fish in our beautiful Western rivers, our chapter on this subject will not be very long. It is best always to put fish in cold water to boil.

First, let them soak in clear salt and water. Always fry fish in lard. Parsley is the most appropriate herb to garnish with.

Let the lard be hot enough to brown it in a few minutes; it destroys the flavor to soak it in grease.

Wipe the fish quite dry, dip it in bread-crumbs or flour, just before laying it in the fryingpan.

CHOWDER.

Cut the fish in pieces of an inch thick and two inches square. Take half a dozen large slices of salt pork, and lay in the bottom of an iron pot, and fry till crisped. Take the pork out of the fat, and chop it fine. Put in the pot a layer of fish, a layer of split crackers, some of the chopped pork, black and red pepper, and onion chopped fine, then another layer of fish, split crackers, &c. Continue this till all the fish is used. Barely cover the fish with water, and slowly stew it till it is tender. Then take out the fish, and thicken the gravy with


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pounded cracker, and season it with mushroom catsup, and the juice of a lemon. Pour the gravy over the fish, after it has boiled up once. Garnish it with slices of lemon.

CODFISH PIE

Put the fish in cold water to soak, the night before wanted; then boil it well, and pick it into small pieces; set it on a fish drainer to get cold. Boil four eggs hard, peel and slice them very thin; the same quantity of onion sliced thin. Line the bottom of a pie-dish with a layer of potatoes sliced thin; then a layer of onions, then of fish, and of eggs, and so on till the dish is full. Season each layer with a little pepper, then mix a tea-spoonful of mustard and a little mushroom catsup in a gill of water, put it in the dish, and put on top an ounce of fresh butter, broke in bits. Cover it with puff-paste, and bake in one hour.

BOILED PERCH.

Clean them carefully, and put them in a fish-kettle with as much cold spring-water as will cover them, and a handful of salt. Set them on a quick fire till they boil, and when they boil, set them on one side to boil gently for about ten minutes or more, according to their size.

TO COOK SALT COD.

Soak the fish in spring-water, the night before it is to be dressed. In the morning take it out and


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put it in a vessel of clean water, add a tea-spoonful of saleratus, change the water again just before dinner, and let it barely simmer; it will not bear boiling.

TO COOK COLD CODFISH.

Pick it up very fine put it in a clean pan, add an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, some black pepper, a little cream, and salt, mash them well together, roll them in balls, and fry in hot lard.

TO STEW OYSTERS.

Take a quart of oysters, lay them out of the liquor, into cold water, take the liquor and strain it through a sieve, add an equal quantity of water, put it in a saucepan, then a tea-spoonful of black pepper, an ounce of sweet butter, then lay the oysters in, let them simmer a few minutes, have ready a deep dish with some nice slices of toasted bread, then pour the oysters over them.

FRIED PERCH.

Clean them, lay them in salt and water, and let them remain an hour or so, wipe them perfectly dry, dip them in flour, have your lard properly heated, that is to say, boiling. Fry them a light brown.

SALMON FRIED.

Is fried the same way.

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FRIED OYSTERS.

Dip the oysters in nice, grated crackers, or crumbs, and drop them in hot fat. Lay them to drain on a sieve.

> CHAPTER III.
BOILING.

IT is absolutely necessary to keep the water boiling, after you have commenced. If the meat or joint continues in the water after it ceases to boil, it will absorb the water, and lose its sweetness and natural flavor.

When it is necessary to add more water, be very particular to let it be boiling, as it is a great disadvantage to suspend this process.

When your meat first begins to boil, take the scum off carefully, and add the salt immediately, as it greatly accelerates the clarification of the water. Fresh meat should always be put in boiling water. Salt meat should be put in cold water and heated by degrees.

Never boil meat hard, particularly at the beginning, and it is decidedly best, never to permit it to boil rapidly. Always keep the kettle, or pot, covered, so that the genuine taste may not be lost.

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TO BOIL HAM.

Put it in soak the night before. Give it plenty of water room, and put it in while the water is cold. Skim it well and keep it simmering gently. A middling sized ham will be done in four or five hours. If not to be cut cold, it will cut the shorter and tenderer for being boiled still longer. Pull off the skin carefully, and preserve it as whole as possible--it will serve to keep it moist. Grate a crust of bread over it.

TO BOIL TONGUE.

A tongue is so hard, whether prepared by drying or pickling, that it requires much more cooking than a ham; nothing of its weight takes so long to dress it properly. A tongue that has been salted and dried, should be put to soak, (if it is old and very hard,) twenty-four hours before it is wanted, in plenty of water. A green one, fresh from the pickle, requires soaking only a few hours. Put your tongue into a plenty of cold water, let it be an hour gradually warming, and give it from three and a half to four hours, very slowly simmering.

TO BOIL FOWLS.

All fowls are boiled exactly in the same manner, only allowing time according to their size. They must be well washed in warm water, and then


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dredged well with flour. Set on a clean pot, over a good clear fire, have pure, clean water enough to cover the fowl well. The slower it boils, the whiter and plumper it will be. Take care to remove the scum carefully as it rises. Of course, sufficient salt is thrown in to make it savory. They are always sent to the table with an appropriate sauce.

TO BOIL HOMINY.

Wash two quarts of hominy in cold water, then put it in a large pot, fill it up with cold water, and let it boil gently all day long; when pretty dry, take a wooden mallet and pound it while warm, add salt enough to make it palatable, then take it out in a stone pan. Season it with fresh butter while warm, as much as you intend to use at the present; that you put by, will be excellent for breakfast. Fry it in hot lard, without stirring it; turn it out whole in a dish.

Hominy should never be stirred while boiling or frying.

This is one of the most substantial and wholesome dishes in the West, and can be always had. During the winter months, it should never be absent from the table; for no dish can supply its place.

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> CHAPTER IV.
SAUCES AND GRAVIES.

TO PREPARE MELTED BUTTER.

CUT two ounces of butter into little bits; put it in the stewpan with a large tea-spoonful of flour, arrow-root, or potatoe starch, and two table-spoonsful of milk. When thoroughly mixed, add six table-spoonsful of water, hold it over the fire and shake it round every minute, till it just begins to simmer, then let it stand quietly and boil up, till it is the thickness of good cream. If the butter oils, put a spoonful of cold water to it and stir it; if it is very much oiled, pour it backward and forward from the stewpan to the sauceboat, till it is right again.

THICKENING FOR GRAVY, SAUCE, OR SOUP.

Put some fresh butter into a stewpan over a slow fire: when it is melted, add flour sufficient to make it the thickness of paste; stir it well together, with a wooden spoon, fifteen or twenty minutes, till it is quite smooth and yellow. This must be done gradually. When cold, it should be thick enough to cut with a knife. Always add this thickening to your


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gravy or soup, according to the consistency you would wish them to have. It will keep a fortnight in summer, and longer in winter.

GRAVY FOR ROAST MEAT.

Most joints will afford sufficient trimmings to make half a pint of plain gravy, which you may color with a little burnt sugar.
For those that do not, about half an hour before you think the meat will be done, mix half a tea-spoonful of salt in a quarter of a pint of boiling water. Drop this by degrees on the brown part of the meat, set a dish under to catch it, and set it by. Let it cool, and remove the fat from the top, and when the meat is ready, warm it, and pour it into the dish.

GRAVY FOR BOILED MEAT.

This may be made with parings and trimmings; or pour half a pint of the liquor in which the meat was boiled into the dish with it, and pierce the inferior part of the joint with a sharp skewer.

TURTLE SAUCE.

Put into the stewpan a pint of beef gravy, thickened; add to this a wine-glassful of Madeira, the juice and peel of half a lemon, an eschallot quartered, a few grains of cayenne pepper, and let them simmer together five minutes, and then strain them through a fine, hair sieve.

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TOMATO SAUCE.

Take fifteen ripe tomatoes, take off the stalk, cut them in half, and squeeze them just enough to get all the water and seeds out. Put them in a stewpan with a capsicum and two or three table-spoonsful of beef gravy; set them on a slow stove for an hour, or till properly melted; then rub them through a hair sieve into a clean stewpan, and add a little pepper and salt, and let them simmer together five minutes.

Some add to this an onion or eschallot, a clove or two, and a little vinegar.

APPLE SAUCE.

Pare and core three good sized baking apples, put them into a saucepan with two table-spoonsful of cold water. Cover the saucepan close, and set it on a trivet, over a slow fire for two hours, more or less, as some apples are much more easily cooked than others. When the apples are done enough, pour off the water and let them stand a few minutes to get dry, then put in a small piece of butter and a tea-spoonful of powdered sugar. Some add grated lemon peel.

TO MIX MUSTARD.

Mix it very gradually in a mortar, so you can rub it well together. Take an ounce of mustard, three table-spoonsful of milk or cream, half a tea-spoonful of salt, and the same of sugar.

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EGG SAUCE.

Boil three eggs about fifteen minutes, and put them into cold water until you want them. Cut them up neatly, using only two of the whites, and pour on them a pint of melted butter, and stir them together. This is an agreeable accompaniment to roast or boiled poultry, or salt fish.

LEMON SAUCE.

Pare a lemon, slice it in thin slices, and divide the slices into small pieces, and put them into a quarter of a pint of melted butter.

CELERY SAUCE, FOR BOILED FOWLS.

Cut a half-dozen heads of white celery into small pieces, and slice two onions; put them in a stewpan with a small lump of butter. Stew them over a slow fire till quite tender, then put in two spoonsful of flour, half a pint of water, salt and pepper, and a little cream, or milk. Boil it a quarter of an hour, and pass it through a hair sieve with the back of a spoon. When celery is not in season, a small quantity of celery-seed will impregnate the sauce with the celery flavor.

CURRANT JELLY SAUCE, FOR VENISON.

Put some currant jelly into a stewpan. When it is melted, pour it into a sauceboat.

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SALAD MIXTURE.

Boil a couple of eggs fifteen minutes, and put them in a basin of water a few minutes. The yolks must be quite cold and hard. Rub them through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and mix them with a table-spoonful of water or rich cream. Then add two table-spoonsful of oil or melted butter. When these are well mixed, add by degrees a tea-spoonful of salt, or powdered loaf-sugar, the same of mustard, and, when these are smoothly united, add, very gradually, three table-spoonsful of vinegar, and rub it with the other ingredients till it is thoroughly incorporated with them; cut up the white of the egg, and garnish the top with it. This is a good sauce for any kind of salad, and is delicious when mixed with minced turkey or chicken, and celery.

Let the sauce remain in the bottom of the bowl, and do not stir the salad in it till it is to be eaten.

SAUCE FOR BOILED TRIPE, OR CALF'S HEAD.

Strong vinegar a table-spoonful, a tea-spoonful of mustard, the same quantity of brown sugar and black pepper, stirred into half a pint of melted butter.

MINT SAUCE, FOR VEAL OR MUTTON.

Take two table-spoonsful of green mint, half a tea-cupful of vinegar, and two table-spoonsful of pounded loaf sugar, and mix them well together.

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IMITATION OF CAPERS.

Gather green peas while young and tender, pickle them with vinegar, put them away in tight bottles in a dry place, and they will make a good sauce as capers.

MY UNCLE'S SAUCE.

Take some bits of ham, beef, and veal, cut up with them some celery, onions, carrots, and parsnips, pour some boiling water over them, and let it stand till cool; add a glass of Madeira, some cloves, and slices of lemon. Boil it on a slow fire till the meat is done, strain it, and chop a little parsley in it just before it is used.

FISH SAUCE.

Take walnuts when they are old enough to pickle, slice them, and between every layer of walnuts, throw a handful of salt. Stir it every day for two weeks. Then strain the liquor, let it settle, pour off the clear and boil it with a pound of anchovies to each pint; skim it, and when it is cool boil it again; add a pint of Port wine, one of good vinegar, to each pint of the liquor, also half an ounce each of mace and cloves, some sliced horse-radish, and a head of garlic, to a quart of the liquor, and some grains of