"Domestic cookery, useful receipts, and hints to young housekeepers" by Elizabeth E. Lea, 1845

22 DOMESTIC COOKERY AND

water in the bottom; baste and turn it frequently, so that every part may have the fire. A very large piece of beef will take three hours to roast; when it is done, pour the gravy out in a skillet, let it boil, and thicken it with flour mixed with water; if it is too fat, skim off the top, which will be useful for other purposes.

Beef Alamode.

Take part of a round of beef, bone it, and make holes for the stuffing, which is made of bread, suet, thyme, parsley, chopped onions, mace, cloves, pepper, salt and a raw egg; stuff the meat, bind it with tape, and put it in a dutch-oven, with a plate in the bottom to keep it from burning; just cover it with water, and let it boil from three to four hours according to the size.

Make gravy with some of the water it was boiled in, seasoned with claret and butter, and thickened with flour. If you wish it to taste of any other sort of wine, add a glass to the gravy.

To Bake a Beef's Heart.

After washing the heart, make a rich stuffing with bread and suet, highly seasoned; fill it with this, and put it in a dutch oven, or the dripping pan of a stove, with half a pint of water, let it bake an hour and a half; the gravy will not need any thickening, as some of the stuffing will fall out. Put the gravy round the dish.

To Roast Veal.

Veal should be well seasoned, and rubbed with lard; when it begins to brown, baste it with salt and water; a large loin will take from two to three hours to roast, the thin part of the forequarter an hour; it should be well done; thicken and boil up the gravy.

Lamb and mutton do not require to be rubbed with lard, as they are generally fatter than veal; make the gravy as for veal. A quarter of lamb will roast in an hour; a loin of mutton in two hours.

23 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

To Roast Pork.

After washing the pork, cut the skin in squares or strips; season it with salt and pepper, and baste it with salt and water, thicken, and boil up the gravy.

To Cook Pigeons.

Pigeons should be roasted about fifteen minutes before a quick fire; as the meat is dry, they should have a rich stuffing, and be basted with butter.

You may bake them in a dutch oven or stew them in a pot, with water enough to cover them, and some crumbs of bread or flour dusted over them; let them cook slowly half an hour; mix together flour and water, with salt, pepper, and parsley to season, and a lump of butter; stir this in and let it boil up, put them in a deep dish, and pour the gravy over. Pigeons make a very nice pie in the same way as chickens.

To Bake a Stuffed Leg of Veal.

Cut off the shank, and make holes round the bone for stuffing, which should be of bread and butter, the yelk of an egg, and seasoning; fill the holes with this, and spread it over the top, with little pieces of the fat of ham; dust salt and pepper over, put it in the dutch oven, or dripping pan, and bake it brown; put a pint of water in the bottom, and if it should dry up, put in more; when it is done, dust in some flour for the gravy.

Baking in a stove requires more water in the dripping pan, as the heat is greater and dries it up; care should be taken to turn it often. If done carefully, meat is almost as good roasted in the stove as before the fire. If you let the gravy boil over in the stove, it makes an unpleasant smell through the house, and spoils the flavor of the meat.

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To Bake Fowls.

Season and stuff them the same as for roasting; put them in a dutch oven or stove, with a pint of water; when they are half done, put in the giblets; when these are done, chop them with a knife, and put in thickening and a lump of butter.

If chickens are young, split them down the back, and put them in a dutch oven, with a plate in the bottom, and a pint of water when they are done; stir in a spoonful of flour, mixed in half a pint of milk, a piece of butter, salt, pepper, and parsley; let it boil up and dish them.

To Fry Chickens.

After cutting up the chickens, wash and drain them; season them with salt and pepper, rub each piece in flour, and drop them separately in a frying pan or dutch oven of hot lard; when brown, turn the other side to fry; make a thickening of rich milk, flour, a piece of butter, salt, and chopped parsley; take up the chicken on a dish; put in the thickening, stir it, and let it boil a few minutes; then pour it over the chicken.

Chickens Fried in Batter.

Make a batter of two eggs, a tea cup of milk, a little salt, and thickened with flour; have the chickens cut up, washed and seasoned; dip the pieces in the batter separately, and fry them in hot lard; when brown on both sides, take them up on a dish, and make a gravy as for fried chickens.

Lard fries much nicer than butter, which is apt to burn.

Rabbits and Squirrels.

Rabbits and squirrels, or birds, may be fried as chickens, or stewed in a pot with a little water. If you make

25 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

a pie of rabbits or squirrels, they should be stewed first to make them tender, and then made in the same way as chicken pie. Rabbits are very good cooked with chopped onions, in a pot with a little water, and thickening of milk and flour stirred in when they are nearly done. Squirrels make very good soup.

To Broil Chickens.

Split the chickens down the back; season them, and put them on the gridiron over clear coals; cover them over with a plate, which will make them cook faster; baste with melted butter; be careful not to let them burn. Make gravy of the giblets, boiled in water and chopped fine; put in butter, thicken and season it; pour this in a dish, and put the chickens on the top.

Beef Steak.

Choose the tenderest part of beef, cut it an inch thick, broil it gently over good coals, covered with a plate; have butter, salt, pepper, and a little water in a dish; and when you turn the beef, dip it in this; be careful to have as much of the juice as you can. When done, put it in a warm dish, and pour the basting over, with some more butter.

To Fry Beef with Kidney.

Cut the kidney in small pieces; take out all the strings, and let it soak several hours in salt and water; wash and drain it; season some pieces of beef, and put them in a frying pan, with hot lard or drippings of any kind; dust a little flour over; when it is fried on both sides, take it up in a dish; mix a spoonful of flour in some water with salt and pepper, and pour in; when it has boiled, pour it over the beef.

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To Fry Liver.

Liver should be cut across the grain in slices about half an inch thick; pour boiling water over it, drain and season it with pepper and salt; flour each piece and drop it in a frying pan of hot bacon drippings; do not fry it any longer than it is done, or it will be hard. Take it up in a dish, make gravy as for beef, and pour over it.

Veal Cutlets.

Cut the veal in slices near an inch thick; wash, drain, and season it; beat up an egg, and have ready some pounded crackers or bread crumbs; dip the slices first in the egg, and then in the bread, and fry them in hot lard; mix a gravy of flour and water, with salt, pepper and parsley; when the veal is taken up, pour it in; let it boil a few minutes and pour it over the dish, and grate a little nutmeg over.

To Fry Veal, Lamb or Pork.

Cut up the meat in thin slices, and season it, dip it in flour and drop it in a pan of hot lard; when brown, take it up, and make gravy with flour, milk, parsley, pepper and salt, which stir in.

To Stew Veal, Lamb or Pork.

Cut the meat small, season it, and put it in a pot with water enough to cover it; let it cook for half an hour, then pour in thickening of flour and milk, with parsley and thyme, and a piece of butter, if the meat is not fat. Take it up in a deep dish.

Chicken Stewed with New Corn.

Cut up the chickens as for pies, season them well, have green corn cut off the cob; put a layer of chicken