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

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crumbs of bread, butter, pepper, salt, and the yelk of an egg; close them, and tie each one with a string; put a little water in the dutch-oven, and lay them in with some of the stuffing on the top; let them cook slowly half an hour, basting them with butter; take them out, thicken the gravy, and pour it over them on the dish.

To Fry Egg Plant.

Cut them in slices half an inch thick, sprinkle them with salt, and let them stand a few minutes to extract the bitter taste; wash them in cold water, and wipe them dry; season with salt and pepper, dip them in flour,and fry them in butter.

Very young green cymlings may be fried in the same way as egg plant.

To Stew Mushrooms.

Be careful in gathering mushrooms that you have the right kind; they are pink underneath, and white on the top, and the skin will peel off easily, but it sticks to the poisonous ones.

After you have peeled them, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and put them in a stew pan, with a little water, and a lump of butter; let them boil fast ten minutes, and stir in a thickening of flour and cream. They may be fried in butter, or broiled on a gridiron. They are sometimes very abundant in the fall on ground that has not been ploughed for several years; they appear after a warm rain; they may be peeled, salted, and allowed to stand some hours before cooking.

Salsify, or Oyster Plant.

Scrape the roots, and boil them till soft; mash them, and put in butter, pepper, salt and egg, and flour enough to stick them together; make this in cakes as large as an oyster, and fry them in butter, or, after boiling, you can cut them in slices and stew them in water; then butter and season, and thicken with a little flour and cream.

33 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

Cucumbers.

To fry cucumbers, take off the rinds in long pieces, and quarter of an inch thick; season them with pepper and salt; dip them in flour, and fry them in butter.

Many persons think cucumbers unwholesome, and they certainly are if kept for several days before they are eaten; but if sliced thin, with onions, pepper, salt and good vinegar, they may be eaten without danger.

Lettuce.

Persons that are fond of lettuce may have it nearly all the year, by sowing the different kinds, and keeping it covered through the winter; the most approved way of dressing it, is to cut it fine, and season with oil, mustard, pepper, salt, vinegar, and a hard egg chopped. The essence of ham is also very good to season lettuce.

Where there is a large family, it is a good and economical way to cut the fat of ham in small pieces, fry it, and make a gravy with flour, water and pepper, to eat with lettuce.

Cold Slaw.

Cut hard white cabbage across the leaves, and put it in a deep plate, scald two large spoonsful of vinegar with a piece of butter, some pepper and salt, pour this over the slaw; have an egg boiled hard, chop it fine, and spread it over the top. Some persons like it heated in a pan with vinegar and water, and the yelk of a raw egg mixed through it.

Cauliflowers.

Have a pot with half milk, and the rest water, when this boils, put in the cauliflowers, and let them boil till tender; put in some salt just before you take them up; have ready drawn butter with parsley, to pour over them, or a sauce of cream and butter. Good heads of yellow Savoy cabbage, cooked in this way, resemble cauliflowers.

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To Boil Cabbage with Meat.

In summer you should allow a large head of cabbage an hour to boil, but when it has been tendered by the frost, it will boil in a very short time. Most persons prefer cabbage boiled with ham; the pot should be well skimmed before it goes in, or the grease will penetrate the cabbage, and make it unwholesome; take it up before it boils to pieces. It is very good boiled with corned beef or pork, or with milk and water, with a little salt added.

To Boil Greens.

After skimming the pot that the bacon has been boiled in, put in cabbage sprouts, and let them boil till the stalks are tender; all greens are best boiled in a net. Spinach cooks in a few minutes; some persons prefer it when boiled in salt and water; you should have drawn butter or hard eggs to eat with it when done in this way. There are several kinds of wild greens to be found in the country in the spring, as wild mustard, poke and lambsquarter, which are very good cooked as cabbage sprouts.

String Beans.

String beans, if boiled in salt and water, will require fully two hours; but if boiled in a net, in a pot with bacon, they will not take so long; if they are cooked in the same pot with cabbage, it will injure the flavor; it is a good way to boil a very small piece of pork or bacon, or a ham-bone in the pot with beans; when they are done, season them with cream, butter, salt and pepper.

Lima Beans.

Shell them and wash them in cold water, let them boil about an hour; when done, dip them from the water, and season with salt, pepper, cream or butter; keep them hot till they are sent to table.

Dried Lima beans should be soaked over night, and boiled two hours or longer if they are not soft.

35 HINTS TO HOUSEKEEPERS.

Dried White Beans.

Dried beans or peas should be soaked before boiling; they make very good soup with a small piece of bacon, or salt pork, boiled with them; put them to boil in plenty of water, and after they have boiled an hour, pour it off, and put in cold water, and the meat or bones, and let them boil an hour longer; stir in a little thickening, with pepper, salt, parsley and thyme; mix up some dumplings, and drop in half an hour before the soup is done. Where you have a large family, you should always be provided with dried beans for winter use.

To Keep Green Beans for Winter.

Boil salt and water to make a strong pickle, string the beans, and put them in a tight wooden firkin; sprinkle them with salt as they go in; when the pickle is cold, pour it on, and put on a weight to keep the beans under; they will keep in the cellar till the next spring. They should soak several hours in cold water before they are boiled.

Asparagus.

All persons that have a garden should have an asparagus bed; it is valuable as being one of the first vegetables in the spring. Put the stalks of the same length in bunches together, and tie them with strings; boil it three quarters of an hour in clear water; if you put salt in, it turns it dark; have buttered toast in the bottom of a deep dish; untie the strings, and put the asparagus in; sprinkle it over with pepper and salt, and put butter on.

Asparagus is agreeable in chicken soup.

Peas.

Early peas require about an half hour to boil, and the later kinds rather longer; the water should boil when they are put in; when they are tough and yellow, they

36 DOMESTIC COOKERY AND

may be made tender and green, by putting in a little pearl-ash, or ashes tied up in a rag, just before they are taken up; this will tender all green vegetables, but do not put too much. When done, dip them out, drain and season them with butter, pepper and salt; put a bunch of parsley in the middle of the dish.

Pea Soup.

Leave a pint of peas in the pot, with the water they were boiled in; make a thickening of flour, milk and butter, seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley and thyme; toast two or three slices of bread, cut it up in the tureen; and when the soup has boiled about ten minutes, pour it over.

Children are mostly fond of pea soup, and it seldom disagrees with them; a few slices of fat ham will supply the place of butter.

Cymlings, or Squashes.

In cultivating this vegetable, the small bunch cymling is the best, as it takes so little room in the garden, and comes soon to maturity; if they are so hard that a pin will not run in easily, they are unfit for use. Boil the cymlings till soft, cut them open, and take out the seeds; put them in a colander, and mash them; when the water is drained off, put them in a small pot, and stew them with cream and butter for ten minutes; just as you dish them, season with pepper and salt. If boiled with salt meat, they required but little seasoning.

Pumpkins.

Young pumpkins resemble cymlings, when cooked in the same way. When they are ripe, they should be pared and cut up, and boiled till soft in a good deal of water; take them up as soon as they are done, or they will soak up the water; mash them and season them with salt, pepper and butter. They are good to eat with roast or boiled beef.