Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt-Book Part 39

Fresh venison, pheasants, partridges, grouse, or any other game, (also canvas-back ducks,) cut up and stewed with a mixture of Madeira wine, orange, or lemon-juice, sugar, nutmeg, and a little b.u.t.ter will be found very fine. The birds should first be half roasted, and the gravy saved to add to the stew.

NEW WAY OF DRESSING TERRAPINS.--In buying terrapins, select those only that are large, fat, and thick-bodied. Put them whole into water that is boiling hard at the time, and (adding a little salt) boil them till thoroughly done throughout. Then, taking off the sh.e.l.l, extract the meat, and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also _all the entrails_. They are disgusting, unfit to eat; and are no longer served up in cooking terrapin for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stew-pan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh b.u.t.ter to stew it well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully covered that none of the flavour may escape; but shake it over the fire while stewing. In another pan, make a sauce of beaten yolk of egg, highly flavoured with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace, and enriched with a large lump of fresh b.u.t.ter. Stir this sauce well over the fire, and when it has _almost_ come to a boil, take it off. Send the terrapin to table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce _separately_ in a sauce-tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by those who prefer the genuine flavour of the terrapin when simply stewed with b.u.t.ter.

This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland and Virginia, and will be found superior to any other.

No dish of terrapins can be good unless the terrapins themselves are of the best quality. It is mistaken economy to buy poor ones. Besides being insipid and tasteless, it takes more in number to fill a dish. The females are the best.

A TERRAPIN POT-PIE.--Take several fine large terrapins, the fattest and thickest you can get. Put them into a large pot of water that is boiling hard; and boil them half an hour or more. Then take them out of the sh.e.l.l, pulling off the outer skin and the toe-nails. Remove the sand-bag and the gall, taking care not to break it, or it will render the whole too bitter to be eaten. Take out also the entrails, and throw them away; as the custom of cooking them is now, very properly, exploded. Then cut up all the meat of the terrapins, taking care to save all the liquid that exudes in cutting up, and also the eggs. Season the whole with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, adding a little salt; and lay among it pieces of fresh b.u.t.ter slightly rolled in flour.

Have ready an ample quant.i.ty of paste, made in the proportion of a pound of b.u.t.ter to two large quarts (or pounds) of flour, or a pound and a half of b.u.t.ter to three quarts of flour, and rolled out thick. b.u.t.ter the inside of an iron pot, and line the sides with paste, till it reaches within one-third of the top. Then put in the pieces of terrapin, with the eggs, b.u.t.ter, &c., and with all the liquid. Lay among the terrapin, square pieces of paste. Then pour in sufficient water to stew the whole properly. Next, cover all with a circular lid, or top-crust of paste, but do not fit it so closely that the gravy cannot bubble up over the edges while cooking. Cut a slit in the top-crust. Place the pot-pie over a good fire, and boil it till the whole is thoroughly done, which will be from three-quarters to an hour, (after it comes to a boil;) taking care not to let it get too dry, but keeping a kettle of _hot_ water to replenish it if necessary. When done, take it up in a deep dish, and serve it hot. Then let every one add what seasoning they choose.

It may be much improved by mixing among the pieces of terrapin (before putting them into the pie) some yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced. They will enrich the gravy.

A BEEF-STEAK POT-PIE.--Take a sufficiency of tender beef-steaks from the sirloin, removing all the fat and bone. Season them slightly with pepper and salt; adding also some nutmeg. Put them into a pot with plenty of water, and par-boil them. Meanwhile, make a large portion of paste, (a pot-pie with but little paste is no better than a mere stew,) and roll it out thick. If you use suet for shortening, allow to every two quarts or two pounds of flour a large half-pound of suet, divested of the skin and strings, and minced as finely as possible with a chopping-knife.

Sprinkle in a very little salt. Mix the suet with the flour in a large pan, rubbing it fine with your hands, and adding gradually sufficient cold water to make a stiff dough. Then transfer the lump of dough to the paste-board; knead it well with your hands; and beat it hard on all sides with the rolling-pin. Next roll it out into sheets. Line the sides of a pot with a portion of the dough. Then put in the beef; adding for gravy the liquid in which it was boiled, and a little hot water. Also, some potatoes sliced or quartered. Intersperse the meat with square slices of paste. Finish by covering it with a lid of paste, having a slit in the top: but do not fit the lid too closely. Then placing the pot over the fire, let it boil from three-quarters to an hour, (after it comes to a boil,) replenishing it, if necessary, with more hot water.

This will be found an excellent family dish.

CHICKEN POT-PIE.--Cut up, and par-boil a pair of large fowls, seasoning them with pepper, salt, and nutmeg. You may add some small slices of cold ham; in which case add _no salt_, as the ham will make it salt enough. Or you may put in some pieces of the lean of fresh pork. You may prepare a suet-paste; but for a chicken pot-pie it is best to make the paste of b.u.t.ter, which should be fresh, and of the best quality. Allow to each quart of flour, a small half-pound of b.u.t.ter. There should be enough for a great deal of paste. Line the sides of the pot, two-thirds up, with paste. Put in the chickens, with the liquor in which they were parboiled. You may add some sliced potatoes. Intersperse the pieces of chicken with layers of paste in square slices. Then cover the whole with a lid of paste, not fitting very closely. Make a slit in the top, and boil the pie about three-quarters of an hour or more.

This pie will be greatly improved by adding some clams to the chickens while par-boiling, omitting salt in the seasoning, as the clams will salt it quite enough.

BROILED MUSHROOMS.--Take the largest and finest fresh mushrooms. Peel them, and cut off the stems as closely as possible. Lay the mushrooms on their backs, upon a large flat dish; and into the hollow or cup of each put a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, and season it with a little black pepper.

Set a clean gridiron over a bed of clear hot coals, and when it is well heated, put on the mushrooms, and broil them thoroughly. The gridiron should be one with grooved bars, so as to retain the gravy. When the first gridiron-full of mushrooms is well broiled, put them with their liquor into a hot dish, and keep them closely covered while the rest are broiling. This is an excellent way of cooking mushrooms.

AN EASY WAY TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS.--Take two quarts of small freshly-gathered mushrooms. With a sharp-pointed knife peel off, carefully, their thin outside skin; and cut off the stalks closely.

Prepare eight little bags of very thin clear muslin, and tie up in each bag six blades of mace; six slices of root-ginger; and a small nutmeg (or half a large one) broken small, but not powdered. Have ready four gla.s.s jars, such as are considered to hold a quart. Lay a bag of spice in the bottom of each; then put in a pint of the mushrooms, laying a second bag of spice on the top. Have ready a sufficiency of the best cider-vinegar, very slightly seasoned with salt; allowing to each quart of vinegar but a salt-spoon of salt. Fill up the jars with the vinegar, finishing at the top with two table-spoonfuls of sweet oil. Immediately close up the jars, corking them tightly; and pasting thick paper, or tying a piece of leather or bladder closely down over the corks.

These mushrooms will be found very fine; and as they require no cooking, are speedily and easily prepared. When a jar is once opened, it will be well to use them fast. They may be put up in small jars, or in gla.s.s tumblers, such as hold but a pint altogether; seeing that the proportions of spice in each jar or tumbler are duly divided, as above.

Keep them in a very dry place.

If you wish the mushrooms to be of a dark colour when pickled, add half a dozen cloves to each bag of spice; but the clove-taste will most likely overpower that of the mushrooms. On no account omit the oil.

If you cannot obtain b.u.t.ton-mushrooms, cut large ones into four quarters, first peeling them and removing the stems.

BREAKFAST ROLLS.--These rolls must be mixed the night before, near bed-time. Sift three quarts of flour into a deep pan, and cut up into it a half-pint cup-full (or a quarter of a pound) of fresh b.u.t.ter. Rub the b.u.t.ter with your hands into the flour till thoroughly incorporated, and add a very small tea-spoonful of salt. Make a hole in the middle of the flour, and pour in four large table-spoonfuls of excellent yeast. Have ready sufficient warm milk; a pint will generally be enough, (heated but not boiling,) to make it into a light dough. Add the milk gradually; and then knead the dough. Put it into a pan, cover it with a clean thick cloth, and set it in a warm place. Early in the morning, add to the dough a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or sal-eratus, or a large tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved in a little warm water. Mix it well in, and knead the dough over again. Then divide it into equal portions, and make each portion into an _oval-shaped_ roll. Draw a deep mark along the top-surface of each with a knife. Put them into a hot oven, and bake them brown.

If intended for tea, mix them in the forenoon; and previous to baking, make out the dough into _round cakes_, p.r.i.c.king them with a fork.

BUCKWHEAT BATTER PUDDING.--Mix early in the day, a quart of buckwheat meal with a large tea-cup full of Indian meal or of wheat flour; and add a tea-spoonful of salt. Have ready some water, warm but not boiling; and stir it gradually into the pan of meal till it makes a thick batter.

Then add two large table-spoonfuls of fresh strong yeast from the brewer's. Of home-made yeast you will require three or four spoonfuls.

Stir the whole very hard; cover the pan and set it near the fire to rise. When quite light, and covered with bubbles, melt a small tea-spoonful of soda or pearl-ash in a little warm water, and stir it into the batter. This, added to the yeast, will make the mixture light enough for a pudding without eggs. Have ready on the fire, a pot of boiling water. Dip in the pudding-cloth, then shake it out, spread it into a bread pan, and dredge it with flour. Pour the batter into the cloth as soon as you have added the soda, and tie it tightly, leaving a vacancy of about one-third, to allow for the swelling of the pudding.

Put it into the pot while the water is boiling hard, and boil the pudding fast during an hour or more; buckwheat meal requiring much less time than indian or wheat. While boiling, turn the pudding several times in the water. When done, turn it out on a dish, and send it to table hot. Eat it with b.u.t.ter and sugar, or mola.s.ses.

This is a good plain pudding; but the batter must be _perfectly_ light before it is tied up in the cloth; and if the water boils away, replenish the pudding-pot with _boiling_ water from a kettle. To put _cold_ water into a boiling pot will most certainly spoil whatever pudding is cooking in it, rendering it heavy, flat, and unfit to eat.

If you intend having buckwheat cakes at breakfast, and this pudding at dinner, mix at once sufficient batter for both purposes, adding the soda at the last, just before you put the pudding into the cloth.

Yeast-powders will be still better than soda; real yeast having previously been used when first mixing the batter. To use yeast-powders, dissolve the contents of the blue paper (super-carbonate of soda) in a little warm water, and stir it into the batter. Then, directly after, melt in another cup the powder from the white paper, (tartaric acid,) and stir that in also.

BUCKWHEAT PORRIDGE.--Boil a quart of rich milk, and when it has come to a hard boil, stir in, gradually, as much buckwheat meal as will make it of the consistence of very thick mush, adding a tea-spoon of salt, (not more,) and a table-spoonful of fresh b.u.t.ter. Five minutes after it is thick enough, remove it from the fire. If the milk is previously boiling hard, and continues to boil while the meal is going in, but little more cooking will be necessary.

Send it to table hot, and eat it with b.u.t.ter and sugar, or with mola.s.ses and b.u.t.ter.

This is sometimes called a Five Minute Pudding, from its being made so soon. It is very good for children, as a plain dessert; or for supper.

Before it goes to table, you may season it with powdered ginger, or nutmeg.

APPLE TAPIOCA.--Take a quart bowl, and half fill it with tapioca: then fill it very nearly to the top with cold water, allowing a little s.p.a.ce for the tapioca to swell in soaking. Cover it, and let it stand all night. In the morning, pare and core six or eight fine pippin or bell-flower apples. Put them into a preserving kettle; filling up the holes from whence the cores were extracted with powdered sugar, and the grated yellow rind of one large lemon, or two small ones; and also the juice. Stew among the apples additional sugar, so as to make them agreeably sweet. Add about half enough of water to cover them. This will be sufficient to keep them from burning. Stew them gently till about half done; turning them carefully several times. Then put in the tapioca, and let it simmer with them till perfectly clear, and the apples are tender and well done throughout; but not long enough for them to break and fall to pieces. The tapioca will form a fine clear jelly all round the apples.

This is a nice dessert for children. And also, cooling and nourishing for invalids.

Quinces may be done in the same manner. They require more cooking than apples. For quinces, it is best to use, as flavouring, the grated yellow rind, and the juice of very ripe oranges.

TERRA FIRMA.--Take a piece of rennet about four inches square, and wash it in two or three cold waters to get off all the salt. Then wipe it dry, put it into a cup, and pour on sufficient lukewarm water to cover it well. Let it stand four or five hours, or all night. Then stir the rennet-water into three pints of rich unskimmed milk, flavoured with rose or peach-water. Cover the pan of milk, and set it on the hearth near the fire, till it forms a very firm curd. Then take it out, (draining off the whey,) put it into a clean sieve, (under which set a pan to receive the droppings,) and with the back of a broad flat wooden ladle, press all the remaining whey out of the curd. Next put the ma.s.s of curd into a deep bowl to mould it; and set it on ice till tea-time.

Then transfer it to a deep gla.s.s bowl or dish, and pour all round it some cream sweetened well with sugar, and flavoured with rose or peach like the curd. On the curd lay circles of small sweetmeats, such as preserved strawberries, raspberries, or gooseberries. You may add to the cream that is to surround it, white wine and nutmeg.

TO USE COLD PUDDING.--If you have a large piece of boiled pudding left after dinner, (such as plum pudding, indian pudding, or batter pudding,) and you wish to cook it next day, tie it up in a cloth, and put it into a pot of boiling water, and keep it boiling hard for half an hour or more. It will be found as good as on the first day, and perhaps rather better; and it will be far more palatable, as well as more wholesome than if sliced, and fried, or broiled. Eat it with the same sauce as on the preceding day.

TO KEEP EGGS.--Break some glue into pieces, and boil it in sufficient water to make a thin solution. While warm, dip a brush into it, and go carefully over every egg. They must all be quite fresh. When the eggs are thoroughly glazed with the glue, spread them out to dry. When quite dry, pack them in kegs or boxes, with dry wood-ashes or saw-dust, (of which there must be a plentiful portion,) putting a thick layer of the ashes or saw-dust at the bottom and top of the keg. This is an excellent way of keeping eggs for sea-voyages, and is well worth the trouble.

Before using them, soak them in warm water to get off the coating of glue.

Eggs of parrots and other tropical birds preserved in this manner, and the glue-coating soaked off in _cold_ water, it is said have afterwards been hatched in the usual way; and the young birds have lived.

FINE FRENCH MUSTARD.--Take a sufficient quant.i.ty of green tarragon leaves, (picked from the stalks) and put them into a wide-mouthed gla.s.s jar till it is half full; pressing them down hard. Then fill up the jar with the best cider-vinegar, and cork it closely. Let it infuse a week or two. Then pour off the vinegar into a pitcher, remove all the tarragon from the jar, and put in an equal quant.i.ty of fresh leaves of the plant, and pour back the same vinegar from the pitcher. Cork it again, and let the last tarragon remain in the jar. In another fortnight the vinegar will be sufficiently flavoured with tarragon to use it for French mustard, or for other purposes. Then peel a clove of garlic, (not more than _one_,) and mince it as fine as possible. Mix it into four ounces (a quarter of a pound) of the best mustard-powder, in a deep white pan. Take a jill, or two large wine-gla.s.ses of the tarragon vinegar, (strained from the leaves,) pour it into a mug, and mix with it thoroughly an equal quant.i.ty of salad oil. Then with the mixture of vinegar and oil, moisten the mustard-powder, gradually, (using a wooden spoon,) till you get it a very little thicker than the usual consistence of made mustard. Put it into small clean, white jars, and cork them closely.

If you find that the above quant.i.ty of oil and vinegar will make the mustard too thin, you need not use the whole of the liquid. If the mustard seems too thick, dilute it gradually with a little more of the oil and vinegar.

This mustard is very superior to the common preparation, and is universally liked; particularly with beef and mutton. It must be kept closely corked. It is usual to bring it to table in the little white jar, with a small spoon beside it.

The herb tarragon may be had green and fresh in July and August. It is much used in French cookery, as a seasoning for stews, soups, &c.

Tarragon vinegar is very good with boiled cabbage or greens. The tarragon leaves of the second infusion should be kept remaining in the jar, pouring off the vinegar from them as it is wanted. A small quant.i.ty may be kept in a cruet; retaining the leaves at the bottom.

A WASHINGTON PUDDING.--Pick, and wash clean half a pound of Zante currants; drain them, and wipe them in a towel, and then spread them out on a flat dish, and place them before the fire to dry thoroughly.