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Title: The New-England Cookery, or the art of dressing all kinds of flesh, fish, and vegetables,...
Author: Emerson, Lucy
Publisher: Montpelier: Josiah Parks

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> DIRECTIONS for procuring the best FLESH, VEGETABLES, &c.

How to choose Flesh.

BEEF. The large stall fed ox beef is the best, it has a coarse open grain, and oily smoothness; dent it with your finger and it will immediately rise again; if old, it will be rough and spungy, and the dent remain.

Cow Beef is less boned, and generally more tender and juicy than the ox, in America, which is used to labor.

Mutton, grass-fed, is good two or three years old.

Lamb, if under six months is rich, and no danger of imposition; it may be known by its size, in distinguishing either.

Veal, is soon lost---great care therefore is necessary in purchasing. Veal bro't to market in panniers, or in carriages, is to be preferred to that bro't in bags, and flouncing on a sweaty horse.

Pork, is known by its size, and whether properly fattened by its appearance.

> Fish, how to choose the best in market.

Salmon, the noblest and richest fish taken in fresh water---the largest are the best. They are unlike almost every other fish, are ameliorated by being 3 or 4 days out of water, if kept from heat and the moon, which has much more injurious effect than the sun.

In all great fish-markets, great fish-mongers strictly examine the gills - if the bright redness is exchanged for a low brown, they are stale; but when live fish are brought flouncing into market,


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you have only to select the kind most agreeable to your palate and the season.

Shad, contrary to the generally received opinion are not so much richer flavored, as they are harder when first taken out of the water; opinions vary respecting them. I have tasted Shad thirty or forty miles from the place where caught, and really conceived that they had a richness of flavor, which did not appertain to those taken fresh and cooked immediately, and have proved both at the same table, and the truth may rest here, that a Shad 36 or 48 hours out of water, may not cook so hard and solid, and be esteemed so elegant, yet give a higher relished flavor to the taste.

Every species generally of salt water Fish, are best fresh from the water, though the Hannah Hill, Black Fish, Lobster, Oyster, Flounder, Bass, Cod, Haddock, and Eel, with many others, may be transported by land many miles, find a good market, and retain a good relish; but as generally, live ones are bought first, deceits are used to give them a freshness of appearance, such as pepperingthe gills, wetting the fins and tails, and even painting the gills, or wetting with animal blood. Experience and attention will dictate the choice of the best. Fresh gills, full bright eyes, moist fins and tails, denotes their being fresh caught; if they are soft, it is certain they are stale, but if deceits are used, your smell must approve or denounce them, and be your safest guide.

Of all fresh water fish, there are none that require, or so well afford haste in cookery, as the Salmon Trout, they are best when caught under a fall or cateract - from what philosophical circumstance is yet unsettled, yet true it is, that at the foot of a fall the waters are much colder than at the head; Trout choose those waters; if taken


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from them and hurried into dress, they are genuinely good; and take rank in point of superiority of flavor, of most other fish.

Perch and Roach, are noble pan fish, the deeper the water from whence taken, the finer are their flavors; if taken from shallow water, with muddy bottoms, they are impregnated therewith, and are unsavory.

Eels, though taken from muddy bottoms, are best to jump in the pan.

Most white or soft fish are best bloated, which is done by salting, peppering and drying in the sun, and in a chimney; after 30 or 40 hours drying, are best broiled, and moistened with butter, &c.

> Poultry---how to choose.

Chickens, of either kind are good, and the yellow leg'd the best, and their taste the sweetest.

Capons, if young are good, are known by short spurs and smooth legs.

A Goose, if young, the bill will be yellow, and will have but few hairs, the bones will crack easily; but if old, the contrary, the bill will be red, and the pads still redder; the joints stiff and difficultly disjointed; if young, otherwise; choose one not very fleshy on the breast.

Ducks, are similar to geese.

Wild Ducks, have redder pads, and smaller than the tame ones, otherwise are like the goose or tame duck, or to be chosen by the same rules.

Wood Cocks, ought to be thick, fat and flesh firm, the nose dry, and throat clear.

Snipes, if young and fat, have full veins under the wing, and are small in the veins, otherwise like the Woodcock.

Partridges, if young, will have black bills, yellowish legs; if old, the legs look bluish; if old or


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stale, it may be perceived by smelling at their mouths.

Pigeons, young, have light red legs, and the flesh of a color, and prick easily - old have red legs, blackish in parts, more hairs, plumper and loose vents - so also of grey or green Plover, Black Birds, Thrash, Lark, and wild Fowl in general.

Hares, are white flesh'd and flexible when new and fresh kill'd; if stale, their flesh will have a blackish hue, like old pigeons, if the cleft in her lip spread much, is wide and ragged, she is old; the contrary when young.

Leveret, is like the Hare in every respect, that some are obliged to search for the knob, or small bone on the fore leg or foot, to distinguish them.

Rabbits, the wild are the best, either are good and tender; if old there will be much yellowish fat about the kidneys, the claws long, wool rough, and mixed with gray hairs; if young the reverse. As to their being fresh, judge by the scent, they soon perish, if trap'd or shot, and left in pelt or undressed; their taint is quicker than veal, and the most sickish in nature; and will not, like beef or veal be purged by fire.

The cultivation of Rabbits would be profitable in America, if the best methods were pursued - they are a very prolific and profitable animal - they are easily cultivated if properly attended, but not otherwise. - A Rabbit's borough, on which 8000 dollars may have been expended, might be very profitable; but on a smaller scale they would be well near market towns - easier bred, and more valuable.

Butter -- Tight, waxy, yellow butter is better than white or crumbly, which soon becomes rancid frowy. Go into the centre of balls or rolls to prove and judge it; if in firkin, the middle is to be


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preferred, as the sides are frequently distasted by the wood of the firkin - altho' oak are used for years. New pine tubs are ruinous to the butter. To have sweet butter in dog days, and thro' the vegetable seasons, send stone pots to honest, neat, and trusty dairy people, and procure it pack'd down in May, and let them be brought in, in the night, or cool rainy morning, covered with a clean cloth wet in cold water, and partake of no heat from the horse, and set the pots in the coldest part of your cellar, or in the ice-house. Some say that May butter thus preserved, will go into the winter use, better than fall made butter.

Cheese -- The red smooth moist coated, and tight pressed, square edged Cheese, are better than white coat, hard rinded, or bilged; the inside should be yellow and flavored to your taste. Old shelves which have only been wiped down for years are preferable to scoured and washed shelves. Deceits are used by salt-petreing the out side, or colouring with hemlock, cocumberries, or safron, infused into the milk; the taste of either supercedes every possible evasion.

Eggs -- Clear, thin shell'd, longest oval and sharp ends are best; to ascertain whether new or stale - hold to the light, if the white is clear, the yolk regularly in the centre they are good - but if otherwise they are stale. The best possible method of ascertaining, is to put them into water, if they lie on their bilge, they are good and fresh - if they bob up on end they are stale, and if they rise they are addled, proved, and of no use.

> We proceed to ROOTS and VEGETABLES - and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed.

Potatoes, take rank for universal use, profit and


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easy acquirement. The smooth skin, known by the name of Howe's Potatoe, is the most mealy and richest flavor'd; the yellow rusticoat next best; the red, and red rusticoat are tolerable; and the yellow Spanish have their value - those cultivated from imported seed on sandy or dry loomy lands, are best for table use; though the red or either will produce more in rich, loomy, highly manured garden grounds; new lands and a sandy soil, afford the richest flavor'd; and most mealy Potatoe much depends on the ground on which they grow - more on the species of Potatoes planted - and still more from foreign seeds - and each may be known by attention to connoisseurs; for a good Potatoe comes up in many branches of cookery, as herein after prescribed.---All Potatoes should be dug before the rainy seasons in the fall, well dryed in the sun, kept from frost and dampness during the winter, in the spring removed from the cellar to a dry loft, and spread thin, and frequently stirred and dried, or they will grow and be thereby injured for cookery.

A roast Potatoe is brought on with roast Beef, a Stake, a Chop, or Fricassee; good boiled with a boiled dish; make an excellent stuffing for a turkey, water or wild fowl; make a good pie, and a good starch for many uses. All potatoes run out or depreciate in America; a fresh importation of the spanish might restore them to table use.

It would swell this treatise too much to say every thing that is useful to prepare a good table, but I may be pardoned by observing, that the Irish have preserved a genuine mealy rich Potatoe, for a century, which takes rank of any known in any other kingdom; and I have heard that they


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renew their seed by planting and cultivating the Seed Ball, which grows on the vine. The manner of their managing it to keep up the excellency of that root, would better suit a treatise on agriculture and gardening than this - and be inserted in a book which would be read by the farmer, instead of his amiable daughter. If no one treats on the subject, it may appear in the next edition.

Onions - The Medeira white is best in market, esteemed softer flavored, and not so fiery, but the high red, round hard onions are the best; if you consult cheapness, the largest are best; if you consult taste and softness, the very smallest are the most delicate, and used at the first tables. Onions grow in the richest, highest cultivated ground, and better and better year after year, on the same ground.

Beets, grow on any ground, but best on loom, or light gravel grounds; the red is the richest and best approved; the white has a sickish sweetness, which is disliked by many.

Parsnips, are a valuable root, cultivated best in rich old grounds, and doubly deep plowed, late sown, they grow thrifty, and are not so prongy; they may be kept any where and any how, so that they do not grow with heat, or are nipped with frost; if frosted let them thaw in earth; they are richer flavored when plowed out of the ground in April, having stood out during the winter, though they will not last long after and commonly more sticky and hard in the centre.

Carrots, are managed as it respects plowing and rich ground, similarly to Parsnips. The yellow are better than the orange or red; middling siz'd, that is, a foot long and two inches thick at the top end, are better than overgrown ones; they are cultivated best with onions, sowed very thin, and


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mixed with other seeds, while young, or six weeks after sown, especially if with onions on true onion ground. They are good with veal cookery, rich in soups, excellent with hash, in May and June.

Garlicks, Though used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery.

Asparagus - The mode of cultivation belongs to gardening; your business is only to cut and dress, the largest is best, the growth of a day sufficient, six inches long, and cut just above the ground; many cut below the surface, under an idea of getting tender shoots, and preserving the bed; but it enfeebles the root: dig round it and it will be wet with the juices - but if cut above ground, and just as the dew is going off, the sun will either reduce the juice, or send it back to nourish the root - it is an excellent vegetable.

Parsley, of the three kinds, the thickest and branchiest is the best, is sown among onions, or in a bed by itself, may be dried for winter use; tho' a method which I have experienced is much better - In September I dig my roots, procure an old thin stave dry cask, bore holes an inch diameter in every stave, 6 inches asunder round the cask and up to the top - take first a half bushel of rich garden mould and put into the cask, then run the roots through the staves, leaving the branches outside, press the earth tight about the root within, and thus continue on through the respective stories, till the cask is full; it being filled, run an iron bar through the centre of the dirt in the cask, and fill it with water, let it stand on the south and east side of a building till frosty nights, then remove it. (by slinging a roap round the cask) into the cellar; where, during the winter, I clip with my scissars the fresh parsley, which


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my neighbors or myself have occasion for; and in the spring transplant the roots in the bed in the garden, or in any unused corner - or let stand upon the wharf or the wash shed. It is an useful mode of cultivation, and a pleasurable tasted herb, and much used in garnishing viands.

Raddish, Salmon colored is the best, purple next best - white - turnip - each are produced from southern seeds, annually. They grow thriftiest sown among onions. The turnip Raddish will last well through the winter.

Artichokes - The Jerusalem is best, are cultivated like potatoes, (tho' their stocks grow 7 feet high) and may be preserved like the turnip raddish, or pickled - they like,

Horse Raddish, once in the garden, can scarcely ever be totally eradicated; plowing or digging them up with that view, seems at times, rather to increase and spread them.

Cucumbers, are of many kinds; the prickly is best for pickles, but generally bitter; the white is difficult to raise and tender; choose the bright green, smooth and proper sized.

Melons - The Water Melon is cultivated on sandy soils only, above latitude 41 1-2, if a stratum of land be dug from a well, it will bring the first year good Water Melons; the red cored are highest flavored; a hard rine proves them ripe.

Muskmelons, are various, the rough skinned is best to eat; the short, round, fair skinned, is best for Mangoes.

Lettuce, is of various kinds; the purple spotted leaf is generally the tenderest, and free from bitter - Your taste must guide your market.

Cabbage, requires a page, they are so multifarious. Note, all cabbages have a higher relish that grow on new unmanured grounds; if grown in an


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old town and on old gardens, they have a rankness, which at times, may be perceived by a fresh air traveller. This observation has been experienced for years - that Cabbages require new ground, more than Turnips.

The Low Dutch, only will do in old gardens.

The Early Yorkshire, must have rich soils, they will not answer for winter, they are easily cultivated, and frequently bro't to market in the fall, but will not last the winter.

The Green Savoy, is fine and tender; and although they do not head like the Dutch or Yorkshire, yet the tenderness of the out leaves is a counterpoise, it will last through the winter, and are high flavored.

The Yellow Savoy, takes next rank, but will not last so long; all Cabbages will mix, and participate of other species, like Indian Corn; they are culled, best in plants; and a true gardener will, in the plant describe those which will head, and which will not. This is new, but a fact.

The gradations in the Savoy Cabbage are discerned by the leaf; the richest and most scollup'd, and crinkled, and thickest Green Savoy, falls little short of a Collisflower.

The red and redest small tight heads, are best for slaw, it will not boil well, comes out black or blue, and tinges other things with which it is boiled.

> BEANS.

The Clabboard Bean, is easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell - must be poled.

The Windsor Bean, is an earlier, good string, or shell Bean.

Crambury Bean, is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two.

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Frost Bean, is good only to shell.

Six Weeks Bean, is a yellowish Bean, and early brought forward, and tolerable.

Lazy Bean, is tough, and needs no pole.

English Bean what they denominate the Horse Bean, is mealy when young, is profitable, easily cultivated, and may be raised on wornout grounds; I cannot but recommend the more extensive cultivation of them.

The small White Bean, is best for winter use, and excellent.

Calivanse, are run out, a yellow small bush, a black speck or eye, are tough and tasteless, and little worth in cookery, and scarcely bear exportation.

> Peas - Green Peas.

The Crown Imperial, takes rank in point of flavor, they blossom, purple and white on the top of the vines, will run from three to five feet high, should be set in light sandy soil only, or they run too much to vines.

The Crown Pea, is second in richness of flavor.

The Rondekaval, is large and bitterish.

Early Carlton, is produced first in the season - good.

Marrow Fats, green, yellow, and is large, easily cultivated, not equal to others.

Sugar Pea, needs no bush, the pods are tender and good to eat, easily cultivated.

Spanish Manratto, is a rich Pea, requires a strong high bush.

All Peas should be picked carefully from the vines as soon as dew is off, shelled and cleaned without water, and boiled immediately; they are thus the richest flavored.

> Herbs, useful in Cookery.

Thyme, is good in soups and stuffings.

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Sweet Marjoram, is used in Turkeys.

Summer Savory, ditto, and in Sausages and salted Beef, and legs of Pork.

Sage, is used in Cheese and Pork, but not generally approved.

Parsley, good in soups, and to garnish roast Beef, excellent with bread and butter in the spring.

Penny Royal, is a high aromatic, although a spontaneous herb in old ploughed fields, yet might be more generally cultivated in gardens, and used in cookery and medicine.

Sweet Thyme, is most useful and best approved in cookery.

> FRUITS.

Pears, There are many different kinds; but the large Bell Pear, sometimes called the Pound Pear, the yellowist is the best, and in the same town they differ essentially.

Hard Winter Pear, are innumerable in their qualities, are good in sauces, and baked.

Harvest and Summer Pear are a tolerable desert, are much improved in this country, as all other fruits are by grafting and inoculation.

Apples, are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful in families, and ought to be more universally cultivated, excepting in the compactest cities. There is not a single family but might set a tree in some otherwise useless spot, which might serve the two fold use of shade and fruit; on which 12 or 14 kinds of fruit trees might easily be engrafted, and essentially preserve the orchard from the intrusion of boys, &c. which is too common in America. If the boy who thus planted a tree, and guarded and protected it in a useless corner, and carefully engrafted different fruits, was to be indulged free access into orchards, whilst the neglectful boy


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was prohibited - how many millions of fruit trees would spring into growth - and what a saving to the union. The nett saving would in time extinguish the public debt, and enrich our cookery.

Currents, are easily grown from shoots trimmed off from old bunches, and set carelessly in the ground; they flourish in all soils, and make good jellies - their cultivation ought to be encouraged.

Black currents, may be cultivated - but until they can be dried, and until sugars are propagated, they are in a degree unprofitable.

Grapes, are natural to the climate; grow spontaneously in every state in the union, and ten degrees north of the line of the union. The Madeira, Lisbon, and Malaga Grapes, are cultivated in gardens in this country, and are a rich treat or desert. Trifling attention only is necessary for their ample growth.

Having pointed out the best methods of judging of the qualities of Viands, Poultry, Fish, Vegetables, &c. We now present the best approved methods of DRESSING and COOKING them; and to suit all tastes, present the following

> RECEIPTS.

To Roast Beef.

THE general rules are, to have a brisk hot fire to hang down rather than to spit, to baste with salt and water, and one quarter of an hour to every pound of beef, though tender beef will require less, while old tough beef will require more roasting; pricking with a fork will determine you whether done or not; rare done is the healthiest and the taste of this age.

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Roast Mutton.

If a breast let it be cauled, if a leg, stuffed or not, let it be done more gently than beef, and done more; the chine, saddle or leg require more fire and longer time than the breast, &c. Garnish with scraped horse redish, and serve with potatoes, beans, collisflowers, water-cresses, or boiled onions, caper sauce, mashed turip, or lettuce.

Roast Veal.

As it is more tender than beef or mutton, and easily scorched, paper it, especially the fat parts, lay it some distance from the fire a while to heat gently, baste it well; a 15 pound piece requires one hour and a quarter roasting; garnish with green parsley and sliced lemon.

Roast Lamb.

Lay down to a clear good fire that will not want stirring or altering, baste with butter, dust on flour, baste with the dripping, and before you take it up, add more butter and sprinkle on a little salt and parsley shred fine; send to table with a nice sallad, green peas, fresh beans, or a colisflower, or asparagus.

To roast Mutton, Venison fashion.

Take a hind quarter of fat mutton, and cut the legs like a haunch; lay it in a pan with the back side of it down; pour a bottle of red wine over it, and let it lie twenty four hours; then spit it, and baste it with the same liquor and butter all the time it is roasting, at a good quick fire and two hours and a half will do it. Have a little good gravy in a boat, and current jelly in another.

To roast a Breast of Mutton with Forc'd-meat.

A breast of mutton dressed thus is very good; the forc'd-meat must be put under the skin at the


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end, and then the skin pinned down with thorns; before you dredge it, wash it over with a bunch of feathers dipt in eggs. Garnish with lemon; and put good gravy in the dish.

To stuff a Turkey.

Grate a wheat loaf, one quarter of a pound butter, one quarter of a pound salt pork, finely chopped, two eggs, a little sweet marjoram, summer savory, parsley and sage, pepper and salt (if the pork be not sufficient,) fill the bird and sew it up.

The same will answer for all Wild Fowl.
Water Fowls require onions.
The same ingredients stuff a leg of Veal, fresh Pork, or a loin of veal,

How to stuff and roast a Turkey, or Fowl.

One pound soft wheat bread, 3 ounces beef suet, 3 eggs a littlesweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew it up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy; dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cramberry sauce, mangoes, picles or cellery.

2. Others omit the sweet herbs, and add parsley done with potatoes.

3. Boil and mash 3 pints potatoes, wet them with butter, add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, fill and roast as above.

To stuff and roast a Goslin.

Boil the inwards tender, chop them fine, put double quantity of grated bread, 4 ounces butter, pepper, salt, (and sweet herbs if you like) 2 eggs moulded into the stuffing, parboil 4 onions and


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chop them into the stuffing, add wine, and roast the bird.

The above is a good stuffing for every kind of Water Fowl which requires onion sauce.

To smother a Fowl in Oysters.

Fill the bird with dry Oysters, and sew it up and boil it in water just sufficient to cover the bird, salt and season to your taste - when done tender, put into a deep dish and pour over it a pint of stewed oysters, well buttered and peppered, garnish a turkey with sprigs of parsley or leaves of cellery: a fowl is best with a parsley sauce.

To stuff a leg of Veal,

Take one pound of veal, half pound pork (salted,) one pound grated bread, chop all very fine, with a handful of green parsley, pepper it, add 3 ounces butter and 3 eggs, (and sweet herbs if you like them,) cut the leg round like a ham and stab it full of holes, and fill in all the stuffing; then salt and pepper the legand dust on some flour; if baked in an oven, put into a sauce pan with a little water, if potted, lay some scewers at the bottom of the pot, put in a little water and lay the leg on the scewers, with a gentle fire render it tender, (frequently adding water,) when done take out the leg, put butter in the pot and brown the leg,the gravy in a seperate vessel must be thickened and buttered and a spoonful of ketchup added.

To stuff a leg of Pork to bake or roast.

Corn the leg 48 hours and stuff it with sausage meat and bake in an oven two hours and an half or roast.

To alamode a round of Beef.

To a 14 or 16 pound round of beef, put one


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ounce salt-petre, 48 hours after stuff it with the following: one and an half pound of beef, one pound salt pork, two pound grated bread, chop all fine and rub in half pound butter, salt, pepper and cayenne, summer savory, thyme; lay it on scewers in a large pot, over three pints hot water (which it must occasionally be supplied with,) the steam of which in 4 or 5 hours will render the round tender if over a moderate fire; when tender, take away the gravy and thicken with flour and butter, and boil, brown the round with butter and flour, adding ketchup and wine to your taste.

To alamode a round.

Take fat pork cut in slices or mince, season it with pepper, salt, sweet marjoram and thyme, cloves, mace and nutmeg, make holes in the beef and stuff it the night before cooked; put some bones across the bottom of the pot to keep from burning, put in one quart clarret wine, one quart water and one onion; lay the round on the bones, cover close and stop it round the top with dough; hang on in the morning and stew gently two hours; turn it, and stop tight and stew two hours more; when done tender, grate a crust of bread on the top and brown it before the fire; scum the gravy and serve in a butter boat, serve it with the residue of the gravy in the dish.

To make the best Bacon.

To each ham put one ounce saltpetre, one pint bay salt, one pint molasses, shake together 6 or 8 weeks, or when a large quantity is together, bast them with the liquor every day; when taken out to dry, smoke three weeks with cobs or malt fumes. To every ham may be added a cheek if you stow away a barrel and not alter the composition, some


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add a shoulder. For transportation or exportation, double the period of smoaking.

To dress a Calves Head. Turtle fashion.

The head and feet being well scalded and cleaned, open the head, taking the brains, wash, pick and cleanse, salt and pepper and parsley them and put bye in a cloth; boil the head, feet and hartslet one and a quarter, or one and an half hour, sever out the bones,cut the skin and meat in slices, strain the liquor on which boiled and put by; clean the pot very clean or it will burn too, make a layer of the slices, which dust with a composition mode of black pepper one spoon, of sweet herbs pulverized, two spoons (sweet marjoram and thyme are most approved) a tea spoon of cayenne, one pound butter, then dust with flour, then a layer of slices with slices of veal and seasoning till completed, cover with the liquor, stew gently three quarters of an hour. To make the forced meat balls - take one and an half pound veal, one pound grated bread, 4 ounces raw salt pork, mince and season with above and work with 3 whites into balls, one or one and an half inch diameter, roll in flower, and fry in very hot butter till brown, then chop the brains fine and stir into the whole mess in the pot, put thereto, one third part of the fryed balls and a pint of wine or less, when all is heated through take off and serve in tureens, laying the residue of the balls and hard boiled and pealed eggs into a dish, garnish with slices of lemon.

To roast a Pig.

Spit your pig, and lay it down to a clear fire, kept good at both ends: put into the belly a few sage leaves, a little pepper and salt, a small crust of bread, and a bit of butter: then sew up the


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belly: flour it all over very well, and do so till the eyes begin to start. When you find the skin is tight and crisp, and the eyes are dropped, put two plates into the dripping pan, to save what gravy comes from it: put a quarter of a pound of butter into a clean coarse cloth, and rub all over it till the flour is quite taken off; then take it up into your dish, take the sage &c. out of the belly and chop it small; cut off the head, open it and take out the brains, which chop, and put the sage and brains into half a pint of good gravy, with a piece of butter rolled in flour; then cut your pig down the back, and lay it flat in the dish: Cut off the two ears, and lay one upon each shoulder; take off the under jaw, cut it in two, and lay one upon each side; put the head between the shoulders; pour the gravy out of the plates into your sauce, and then into the dish; send it up to table garnished with lemon, and if you please, pap sauce in a bason.

> OF BOILING.

General rules to be observed in Boiling.

BE very careful that your pots and covers are well tinned, very clean, and free from sand. Mind that your pot really boils all the while; otherwise you will be disappointed in dressing any joint, though it has been a proper time over the fire. Fresh meat should be put in when the water boils, and salt meat whilst it is cold. Take care likewise to have sufficient room and water in the pot, and allow a quarter of an hour to every pound of meat, let it weigh more or less.

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To boil Beef or Mutton.

When your meat is put in, and the water boils, take care to scum it very clean, otherwise the scum will boil down, stick to your meat; and make it look black. Send up your dish with turnips, greens, potatoes, or carrots. If it is a leg or loin of mutton, you may also put melted butter and capers in a boat.

To boil a leg of Pork.

A leg of pork must lie in salt six or seven days; after which put it into a pot to be boiled, without using any means to freshen it. It requires much water to swim in over the fire, and also to be fully boiled; so that care should be taken that the fire do not slacken while it is dressing. Serve it up with melted butter, mustard, buttered turnips, carrots, or greens.

N.B. The other joints of the swine are most commonly roasted.

To boil Pickled Pork.

Wash the pork and scrape it clean. Put it in when the water is cold, and boil it till the rhind is tender. It is to be served up always with boiled greens, and is commonly a sauce of itself to roasted fowls or veal.

To boil Veal.

Let the water boil, and have a good fire when you put in the meat; be sure to scum it very clean. A knuckle of veal will take more boiling in proportion to its weight, than any other joint, because the beauty is to have all the gristles soft and tender.

You may either send up boiled veal with parsley and butter: or with bacon and greens.

Parsley Sauce.

Tie parsley up in a bunch, and boil it till soft; shred it fine, and mix it with melted butter.

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To boil a Calf's Head.

The head must be picked very clean, and soaked in a large pan of water a considerable time before it is put into the pot. Tie the brains up in a cloth, and put them into the pot at the same time with the head; scum the pot well; then put in a piece of bacon, in proportion to the number of people to eat thereof. You will find it to be enough by the tenderness of the flesh about that part that joined to the neck. When enough, you may grill it before the fire, or serve with melted butter, bacon, and greens; and with the brains beat up with a little butter, salt, pepper, vinegar, or lemon, sage, and parsley, in a separate plate, and the tongue slit and laid in the same plate, or serve the brains whole, and the tongue slit down the middle.

To boil Lamb.

A leg of Lamb of five pounds will not be boiled in less than an hour and a quarter; and if, as it ought to be, it is boiled in a good deal of water, and your pot be kept clean scum'd, you may dish it up as white as a curd. Send it to table with stewed spinach; and melted butter in a boat.

To boil a Neat's Tongue.

A dried tongue should be soaked over night; when you dress it, put it into cold water, and let it have room; it will take at least four hours. A green tongue out of the pickle need not be soaked, but it will require nearly the same time. An hour before you dish it up, take it out and blanch it, then put it into the pot till you want it; this will make it eat the tenderer.

To boil a Ham.

A ham requires a great deal of water, therefore put it into the copper cold, and let it only simmer


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for two hours, and allow a full quarter of an hour to every pound of ham; by this means your ham will eat tender and well.

A dry ham should be soaked in water over night; a green one does not require soaking. Take care they are well cleaned before you dress them.

Before you send a ham to table take off the rind, and sprinkle it over with bread crumbs, and put it in an oven for a quarter of an hour: or you may crisp it with a hot salamander.

To boil a Haunch of Venison.

Salt the haunch well, and let it lay a week; then boil it with a cauliflower, some turnips, young cabbages, and beet-roots; lay your venison in the dish, dispose the garden things round it in separate plates, and send it to table.

To boil a Turkey, Fowl, Goose, Duck, &c.

Poultry are first boiled by themselves, and in a good deal of water; scum the pot clean, and you need not be afraid of their going to table of a bad colour. A large turkey with a forc'd meet in his craw will take two hours: one without an hour and a half; a hen turkey, three quarters of an hour; a large fowl, forty minutes; a small one, half an hour; a large chicken, twenty minutes; a small one, a quarter of an hour. A full grown goose salted, an hour and a half; a large duck near an hour.

Sauce for a boiled Turkey. Take a little water a bit of thyme, an onion, a blade of mace, a little lemon-peel, and an anchovy: boil these together and strain them through a sieve, adding a little melted butter.

Sauce for a Fowl. Parceley and butter; or white oyster sauce.

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To boil a Cod.

Gut and wash the fish very clean inside and out, and rub the back bone with a handful of salt; put it upon a fish plate, and boil it gently till it is enough; and remember always to boil the liver along with it. Garnish with scraped horse-radish, small fried fish, and sliced lemon.

Sauce. Oyster sauce, shrimp sauce, or lobster sauce with plain melted butter, in different boats, and mustard.

To boil a Cod's Head.

After tying your cod's head round with pack-thread, to keep it from flying, put a fish-kettle on the fire, large enough to cover it with a little water; put in some salt, vinegar, and some horse-radish sliced; when your water boils, lay your fish upon a drainer, and put it into the kettle; let it boil gently till it rises to the surface of the water, which it will do, if your kettle is large enough: then take it out, and set it to drain: slide it carefully off your drainer into your fish plate. Garnish with lemon and horse-radish scraped.

Have oyster sauce in one bason, and shrimp sauce in another.

For dressing dried Codfish.

Put the fish first into cold water and wash it, then hang it over the fire and soak it six hours in scalding water, then shift it into clean warm water, and let it scald for one hour, it will be much better than to boil.

To boil Salmon.

Let it be well scraped and cleansed from scales and blood; after it has lain about an hour in salt and spring water, put it into a fish-kettle, with a proportionate quantity of salt and horse-radish, and


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a bunch of sweet herbs. Put it in while the water is luke warm, and boil it gently till enough, or about half an hour, if it be thick; or twenty minutes if it be a small piece. Pour off the water, dry it well, and dish it neatly upon a fish plate, in the centre, and garnish the dish with horse-radish scraped, (as done for roast beef,) or with fried smelts or gudgeons, and with slices of lemon round the rim.

The sauce to be melted butter, with and without anchovy; or shrimp or lobster sauce in different basons.

To boil Mackerel.

Having cleaned the mackerel well, and soaked them for some time in spring water, put them and the roes into a stew-pan, with as much water as will cover them, and a little salt. Boil a small bunch of fennel along with them, and when you send them up, garnish with the roes, and the fennel shred fine.

Sauce. --Grated sugar in a saucer; melted butter, and green gooseberries boiled, in different basons; or, parsley and butter with a little vinegar, or lemon.

To boil Garden Stuff: French Beans.

Take your beans and string them, cut in two and then across, when you have done them all, sprinkle them over with salt, stir them together, as soon as your water boils put them in and make them boil up quick, they will be soon done and they will look of a better green than when growing in the garden; if they are very young, only break off the ends, then break in two and dress them in the same manner.

To boil broad Beans.

Beans require a great deal of water, and it is not best to shell them till just before they are ready to


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go into the pot, when the water boils put them in with some picked parsley and some salt, make them boil up quick, when you see them begin to fall they are done enough, strain them off, garnish the dish with boiled parsley and send plain butter in a cup or boat.

To boil green Peas.

When your peas are shelled and the water boils, which should not be much more than will cover them, put them in with a few leaves of mint, as soon as they boil put in a piece of butter as big as a walnut, and stir them about, when they are done enough, strain them off, and sprinkle in a little salt, shake them till the water drains off, send them hot to the table with melted butter in a cup or boat.

To boil Asparagus.

First cut the white ends off about six inches from the head, and scrape them from the green part downward very clean, as you scrape them, throw them into a pan of clear water, and after a little soaking, tie them up in small even bundles, when your water boils, put them in, and boil them quick; but by over boiling they will loose their heads: cut a slice of bread for a toast, and toast it brown on both sides; when your asparagus is done, take it up carefully; dip the toast in the asparagus water, and lay it in the bottom of your dish; then lay the heads of the asparagus on it, with the white ends outwards; pour a little melted butter over the heads; cut an orange into small pieces, and stick them between for garnish.

To boil Cabbage.

If your cabbage is large, cut it into quarters; if small, cut it in halves; let your water boil, then put in a little salt, and next your cabbage with a little more salt upon it; make your water boil as


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soon as possible, and when the stalk is tender, take up your cabbage into a cullender, or sieve, that the water may drain off, and send it to tables as hot as you can. Savoys are dressed in the same manner.

> OF FRYING.

To fry Beef Steaks.

Cut the lean by itself, and beat it well with the back of a knife, fry the steaks in just as much butter as will moisten the pan, pour out the gravy as it runs out of the meat, turn them often and do them over a gentle fire; then fry the fat by itself, and lay upon the lean: --For sauce, put to the gravy a glass of red wine, half an anchovy, a little nutmeg, a little beaten pepper, and a shallot cut small; give it two or three little boils, season it with salt to your palate, pour it over the steak, and send them to table.

To fry Tripe.

Cut your tripe into pieces about three inches long, dip them into the yolk of an egg, and a few crumbs of bread, fry them of a fine brown, and then take them out of the pan, and lay them in a dish to drain. Have ready a warm dish to put them in, and send them to table, with butter and mustard in a cup.

To fry Sausages with Apples.

Take half a pound of sausages and six apples; slice four about as thick as a crown, cut the other two in quarters, fry them with the sausages of a fine light brown, and lay the sausages in the middle of the dish, and the apples round. Garnish with the quartered apples.

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To fry Beef Collops.

Cut your beef in thin slices, about two inches long, lay them upon your dresser, and hack them with the back of a knife; grate a little nutmeg over them, and dust on some flour; lay them into a stew-pan, and put in as much water as you think sufficient for sauce; shred half an onion, and a little lemon-peel very fine, and a bundle of sweet herbs, and a little pepper and salt: Roll a piece of butter in flour, and set them over a clear fire till they begin to simmer; shake them together often, but don't let them boil up; after they begin to simmer, ten minutes will do them; take out your herbs, and dish them up. Garnish the dish with pickles and horse-radish.

To make Scotch Collops.

Dip the slices of lean veal in the yolks of eggs, that have been beaten up with melted butter, a little salt some grated nutmeg, and grated lemon-peel. Fry them quick; shake them all the time, to keep the butter from oiling. Then put to them some beef gravy, and some mushrooms, or forced-meat balls. Garnish with sausages and sliced lemon, and slices of broiled or fried bacon.

Observe, If you would have the collops white,do not dip them in eggs. And when fried tender but not brown, pour off the liquor quite clean; put in some cream to the meat and give it just a boil up.

To fry Veal Cutlets.

Cut a neck of veal into stakes, and fry them in butter; and having made a strong broth of the scrag end, boiled with two anchovies, some nutmeg, some lemon peel, and parsley shred very small, and browned with a little burnt butter, put the cutlets and a glass of white wine into this liquor.


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Tost them up together: thicken with a bit of butter rolled in flour, and dish all together; squeeze a Seville Orange over, and strew as much salt on as shall give a relish.

To fry Mutton Cutlets.

Take a handful of grated bread, a little thyme and parsley, and lemon-peel shred very small, with some nutmeg, pepper, and salt, then take a loin of mutton, cut it into steaks, and let them be well beaten; then take the yolks of two eggs, and rub the steaks all over. Strew on the grated bread with these ingredients mixed together. For the sauce, take gravy with a spoonful or two of claret and a little anchovy.

To fry Eggs as round as Balls.

Having a deep frying-pan, and three pints of clarified butter, heat it as hot as for fritters, and stir it with a stick, till it runs round like a whirlpool; then break an egg into the middle, and turn it round with your stick, till it be as hard as a poached egg; the whirling round of the butter will make it as round as a ball; then take it up with a slice, and put it into a dish before the fire; they will keep hot half an hour, and yet be soft; so you may do as many as you please. You may poach them in boiling water in the same manner.

To fry Trout.

Dry them in a cloth, flour them, and fry them in butter till they are of a fine brown; fry some parsley green and crisp, melt anchovy and