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INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. The compiler of "Useful Receipts and Hints to Young Housekeepers" entering, early in life, on a train of duties, was frequently embarrassed by her ignorance of domestic addairs. For, whilst receipt books for elegant preparations were often seen, those connected with the ordinary but far more useful part of the household duties, were not easily procured; thus situated, she applied to persons of experience and embodied the information collected in a book, to which, since years have matured her judgment, she has added much that is the result og her own experiements. Familiar, then, witht he fifficulties a young housekeeper encounters, when she finds herself in the reality the mistress of an establishment, the suthor offers to her young country-woman, this humble little volume, with the belief, that, by attention to its contents, many of the cares attendant on a country or city life, may be materially lessened. With a hope that the directions are such as to be understood by the most inexperienced it is respectfully submitted to those who feel an interest in domestic affairs.
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DOMESTIC COOKERY AND USEFUL RECEIPTS. MEATS AND POULTRY To Boil Fresh Meat. In boiling fresh meat, care is necessary to have the water boiling all the time in the pot; if the pot is not well scummed, the appearance of the meat will be spoiled. Mutton and beef are preferred, by some, a little rare; but pork and veal should always be well done. A round of beef that is stuffed, will take more than three hours to boil, and if not stuffed, two hours or more, according to the size; slow boiling is the best. A leg or fore quarter of mutton will boil in an hour and a half; a quarter of lamb, unless very large, will boil in an hour. Veal and pork will take rather longer to boul than mutton. All boiled fresh meat should have drawn butter poured over it, after it is dished, and be garnished with parsley. The liquor that fresh meat, or ppultry, is boiled in, should be saved; as an addition of vegetables, herbs, and dumplings make a nourishing soup of it; and if you do not want it for your own family, many poorer one will be glad to get it. A large turkey will take two hours to boil, a small one half that time; secure the legs to keep them from bursting out; turkeys should be blanched in warm milk and water; stuff them and rub their breasts with butter; flour a cloth and pin them in. A large chicken that is stuffed should boil an hour, and small ones half that time. The eater should boil when all poultry is put in. 2
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6 DOMESTIC COOKERY AND To Boil a Ham. A large ham should boil three or four hours very slowly; it should be put in cold water and be kept covered during the whole process; a small ham will boil in two hours. All bacon requires much the same management, and if you boil cabbage or greens with it, skim all the grease off the pot before you put them in. Beef Tongue. If the tongue is dry, let it soak for several hours, put it to boil in cold water, and keep it boiling slowly, for two hours; but if it is just out of the pickle, the water should boil when it goes in. Corned beef or pickled beef, or pork, required longer boiling than that which is dry; you can tell when it is done by the bones coming out easily. Pour drawn butter over it when dished. Drawn Butter. Put half a pint of water in a skillet, rub a quarter of a pound of butter in a large spoonful of flour; when the water boils, stir it in and let it boil a few minutes; season it with parsley, chop fine. Stuffing, or Dressing. Stuffing for poultry is made of bread and butter, an egg, salt, pepper, chopped parsley or thyme, mixed together; if the bread is dry, it should have a little boiling water poured on it. Chickens in Paste Make a crust as for pies, and roll it out in cakes large enough to cover a chicken. The chickens, or pigeons,