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

27 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

in the bottom of a stew pan, and a layer of corn, and so till you fill all in; sprinkle in salt, pepper, and parsley; and put a piece of butter in; cover it with water, and put on a crust, with slits cut in it; let it boil an hour. When done, lay the crust in a deep dish; dip out the chicken and corn, and put it on the crust; stir in a thickening of milk and flour; when this boils up, pour it in with the corn and chicken. Chicken and corn boiled together in a pot, makes very nice soup, with dumplings.

To Fry Ham.

Slice the ham, and if it is very salt, pour boiling water on it, and let it soak a while, then fry it with a small piece of lard; when done, dish it, mix together flour, milk, parsley and pepper; let it boil, and pour it over the ham.

To Warm up Cold Meat.

The bones of fresh meat cracked and boiled with a few potatoes, and dumplings, and an onion, makes a very good soup; if you have tomatoes, they are an agreeable addition. The bones of turkeys or chickens may be done in the same way there is a small family. Cold mutton, pork, or veal, sliced, and warmed up with the drawn butter that is left from dinner, with a little water, is very good for breakfast.

VEGETABLES.

To Boil Green Corn.

Pick out ears near the same size, and have the water boiling when you put them in; half an hour is long enough for young corn; that which is old and hard will take an hour or more; if young corn is boiled too long, it becomes hard and indigestible.

28 DOMESTIC COOKERY AND

To Fricasee Corn.

Cut green corn off the cob, put it in a pot, and just cover it with water; let it boil half an hour; mix a a spoonful of flour with half a pint of rich milk, pepper, salt, parsley, thyme, and a piece of butter; let it boil a few minutes, and take it up in a deep dish. Corn will do to cook in this way when too old to boil on the cob.

To Keep Corn for Winter.

When boiled, cut the corn off the cob, and spread it on dishes; set these in the oven to dry after the bread comes out. If you have no oven, it can be dried in a stove of moderate heat, or round a fire. When perfectly dry, tie it up in muslin bags, and hang them in a dry place; when you use it, boil it till soft in water; mix flour, milk, butter, pepper and salt together, and stir in.

Hommony.

Large hommony, after it is washed, must be put to soak over night; if you wish to have it for dinner, put it to boil early in the morning, or it will not be done in time; eat it as a vegetable.

Small hommony will boil in an hour; it is very good at breakfast or supper to eat with milk or butter, or to fry for dinner.

Both large and small hommony will keep good in a cool place several days. Be careful that the vessel it is cooked in is perfectly clean, or it will darken the hommony.

To Fry Hommony.

Put a little lard in your frying pan, and make it hot, mash and salt the hommony; put it in, and cover it over with a plate; let it cook slowly for half an hour or longer if you like it very brown; when done, turn it out in a plate. If you do not like it fried, mash it well, with a little water, salt, and butter, and warm it in a frying pan.

29 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

To Boil Potatoes.

When the potatoes are old, pare them, put them in plenty of water, and boil them till you can run a fork through easily; if you wish to have them whole, pour off all the water, throw in some salt, and let them stand a few minutes over coals, to let the steam go off; they will then be white and mealy.

It is a mistaken notion to boil potatoes in but little water, as they are sure to turn dark and taste strong; in cold weather they may be kept pared several days in a pan of water, by changing the water every day, and will be whiter. If you like mashed potatoes, take them up when barely done, sprinkle them with salt, and mash them, put in a spoonful of cream and a small lump of butter; keep them hot till they are taken to table.

In the summer when potatoes are young, put them in a small tub, with a little water, and rub them with a piece of brick, to break the skin; you can then peel enough for dinner with a knife in a few minutes. When they are older, boil them with the skins on, and squeeze them separately in a cloth to make them mealy. New potatoes are nice with cream and butter over them.

To Fry Potatoes.

Cold potatoes are very good fried for breakfast with scraps of bacon; if they have been mashed, make them out in cakes with a little flour, and fry them brown, or slice them.

Sweet Potatoes.

To boil sweet potatoes, put them in a pot with plenty of water; let them boil fast till you can run a fork through the largest; then pour off the water, and leave them in the pot a quarter of an hour; you can then peal the skin off or leave it on. Some prefer them baked in a dutchoven; they should have a quick heat; large potatoes will take an hour to bake. 4

30 DOMESTIC COOKERY AND

Tomatoes.

If you wish to bake tomatoes in the oven with bread, pour boiling water on, and skin them; cut them in small pieces, season with salt and pepper, and put them in a pan with crumbs of bread and butter; cover the pan with a plate, and bake three quarters of an hour; when done, mash them, and take them out on a dish.

To Fry Tomatoes.

Slice them, season with pepper and salt, and fry in hot butter; if they are green, dip them in flour after being seasoned.

To Stew Tomatoes.

Wash and pour boiling water over them; peel off the skins, and cut them up; season them with pepper and salt; rub the inside of a pot with butter, and boil them in their own juice for half an hour, stir in enough crumbs of bread to thicken them, and a piece of butter; let them cook slowly ten minutes longer; be careful that the bread does not burn.

Tomato Omelet.

Pour boiling water on the tomatoes, skin and cut them fine; to one quart of this, put two chopped onions, and a lump of butter the size of an egg; let them boil half an hour, then mash them; put in grated bread, pepper, salt, and the yelks of two eggs.

To Bake Tomatoes.

Take out the inside of large tomatoes, make a stuffing of bread, butter, pepper, salt and an egg; fill them with this, and set them in a deep pie-plate; let them bake slowly half an hour.

31 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

To Put up Tomatoes for Winter.

Gather a quantity of tomatoes, wash, scald, skin and cut them up; season them highly with pepper and salt, and put them in a large stone jar; set this in the oven with your bread, andd leave it till it is cold; stir them, and set them in the oven every time you bake for several weeks; when the juice is nearly dried up, put a piece of white paper over the jar, melt some lard and pour on it. When you use them, stew them with bread, butter and water.

Tomato Jelly, to eat with Roast Meat.

Wash the tomatoes, and put them in a bell-metal kettle, with a little water, let them boil thirty minutes; take them out, and strain them through a sieve, till you get all the pulp; let it settle and pour off the top; put the thick part in deep plates, and set them in the oven after the bread is drawn; season it with pepper and salt to your taste, and put it away in a jar. It can either be eaten cold, or warmed up with crumbs of bread and butter. Some persons slice tomatoes, and dry them on dishes in an oven.

Tomato Catsup.

Take a peck of ripe tomatoes, wash and cut them in pieces, put them in your preserving kettle, and boil them till very soft; then mash them well, and strain them through a hair sifter; season with salt, cayenne, black pepper, pounded cloves, and mustard seed; let it boil till half of it is boiled away; when cold, bottle it, and put a tea cup of strong vinegar to each bottle. Cork them, and tie skins over the corks.

Baked Egg Plant.

Boil them whole ten minutes, then cut them in half, and take out the seeds; fill them with a stuffing of