The Cooking Manual of Practical Directions for Economical Every-Day Cookery Part 1

The Cooking Manual of Practical Directions for Economical Every-Day Cookery.

by Juliet Corson.

PREFACE.

This book is intended for the use of those housekeepers and cooks who wish to know how to make the most wholesome and palatable dishes at the least possible cost. In cookery this fact should be remembered above all others; A GOOD COOK NEVER WASTES. It is her pride to make the most of everything in the shape of food entrusted to her care; and her pleasure to serve it in the most appetizing form. In no other way can she prove her excellence; for poor cooks are always wasteful and extravagant.

Housekeepers can safely make this book a guide for those of their cooks who are willing to learn new and good methods of cooking familiar foods.

Lest it should be said that undue preference is given to foreign ways of cooking, the author begs her readers to remember how much of the success of any dish depends upon its taste; if it is well-flavored, and palatably seasoned, the eaters of it do not closely criticise its component parts. It is just there that benefit is derived from European culinary skill; the judicious use of a few inexpensive sweet herbs, and savory sauces, will raise a side dish, made from the cheapest cut of meat, in gustatory excellence far above a badly cooked porterhouse steak, or a large but poorly flavored roast. Because the art of utilizing every part of food is eminently French, the NEW YORK COOKING SCHOOL plan has been to adapt foreign thrift to home kitchen use. To provide enough at each meal; to cook and serve it so as to invite appet.i.te; to make a handsome and agreeable dish out of the materials which the average cook would give away at the door, or throw among the garbage; all are accomplishments that our American wives and daughters will be glad to learn from their European sisters.

The day has pa.s.sed for regarding cooking as a menial and vulgar labor; and those who give some thought to their daily food usually gain in vigor and cheerfulness. It is a truism that food is concentrated force.

The manipulation of a motive power capable of invigorating both body and mind, is an occupation worthy to employ intelligence and skill. In countries where the people depend upon meagre supplies this art is brought to perfection. The _pot-au-feu_ of France and Switzerland, the _olla podrida_ of Spain, the _borsch_ of Poland, the _tschi_ of Russia, the _macaroni_ of Italy, the _crowdie_ of Scotland, all are practical examples of this fact. In no country in the world is there such an abundance of food as in America; all the needful ingredients for making these national dishes, or their equivalents, can be found in the markets of our cities, and most of them are the products of this country. This being true, there is no reason why American cookery should be so comparatively limited--why the question of "what shall we have for dinner to-day?" should be the despair of the inexperienced housekeeper.

If in no other land is there such profusion of food, certainly in none is so much wasted from sheer ignorance, and spoiled by bad cooking. In Europe provinces would live upon what towns waste here. The very herbs of the field in the hands of a skilful cook can be transformed into palatable and nutritious viands. The plainest and cheapest materials can be prepared for the table in an appetizing and satisfactory form. Let our readers test this fact by cooking according to the receipt any dish named in the chapter upon "CHEAP DISHES WITHOUT MEAT," and the author will stake her culinary reputation that the food so prepared will be both palatable and nourishing.

Many persons regard the practice of serving several dishes at a meal as troublesome and expensive. The first objection may hold good; but the best results in any direction are never gained without trouble. The second is wholly untenable; soup, fish, vegetables, and bread, are all less costly than heavy joints of meat; if hunger can be partly satisfied on them, and it is true that a thick slice of bread and a bowl of soup will content the hungriest stomach, less meat will be required, and consequently less expense incurred. This is an excellent reason why the housewife should not spend the bulk of her market money on a large roast of beef, or a leg of mutton, but should rather divide the amount among the different dishes of soup, fish, a _ragout_, or stew of some cheap cut of meat, and a few vegetables; and now and then indulge in a plain pudding, or a little fruit for dessert. With judicious marketing and proper cooking, the food of our well-to-do cla.s.ses might be made far better than two-thirds of that now served on the tables of the wealthy; and the poor might learn that their scrag-end of mutton would furnish them with at least three dishes. To forward in some measure this result, the present collection of COOKING SCHOOL receipts is offered to the public, with the a.s.surance that every one given has been tested by the author, and is complete in every detail, as economical as care and use can make it, and plain enough for ordinary households. The quant.i.ties mentioned in the various receipts are calculated to serve for a family of eight persons, when two or more dishes const.i.tute a dinner, with the addition of soup; of course when only one dish is to form the meal, with bread and vegetables, a larger quant.i.ty must be allowed.

Communications from all parts of the country state that the principles of kitchen economy as taught in the NEW YORK COOKING SCHOOL and widely disseminated by the press, have been put into practice in many families, to the great improvement of health and temper; for an illy fed man can neither be strong nor cheerful; the hours spent at table should be full of harmony and content, or the meal will fail to meet the requirements of the body. The question of the hour is "How well can we live, if we are moderately poor?" The author of THE COOKING SCHOOL MANUAL is doing her best to answer it satisfactorily. She has worked earnestly in a comparatively new field of labor, and she prays that strong hands may unite in the effort to show how excellent a thing it is to make the best and most of the bountiful supply our country's teeming bosom bears at every harvest tide.

THE COOKING MANUAL.

CHAPTER I.

MARKETING.

In order to market intelligently and economically, we must bear in mind the three great divisions of foods generally accepted in their consideration, and endeavor to adapt them to the requirements of our households; if we remember that carbonaceous, or heat-giving foods, such as the inner part of the cereals, fat meat, milk, honey, liver, grapes, peas, beans, potatoes, beets, carrots, and parsnips, are the best diet for hard steady workers, and for invalids suffering from wasting diseases; that nitrogenous, or flesh-forming foods, such as lean meat, unbolted flour, oatmeal, eggs, cheese, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, spinach, asparagus, and artichokes, are most suitable for those who work rapidly but with intervals of rest; and that brain-workers should subsist chiefly on light and digestible articles, such as fish, oysters, fruits, game, and vegetables containing mineral salts in excess; we can arrange the daily marketing so as to give a pleasant variety and at the same time satisfy all appet.i.tes.

Buy only small quant.i.ties of perishable things such as green vegetables, fruit, fish, eggs, cream, and fresh b.u.t.ter; buy dry groceries and preserved stores in quant.i.ties large enough to ent.i.tle you to wholesale prices; and pay cash in order to avail yourself of the lowest market price. Make your purchases as early in the day as possible in order to secure a choice of fresh articles; and trade with respectable dealers who give full weight and honest measure.

=Meats.=--While meats are in season all the year, they are better at stated times; for instance, pork is prime in late autumn and winter; veal should be avoided in summer for sanitary reasons; and even our staples, beef and mutton, vary in quality. The flesh of healthy animals is hard and fresh colored, the fat next the skin is firm and thick, and the suet or kidney-fat clear white and abundant; if this fat is soft, scant and stringy, the animal has been poorly fed or overworked. Beef should be of a bright red color, well marbled with yellowish fat, and surrounded with a thick outside layer of fat; poor beef is dark red, and full of gristle, and the fat is scant and oily. Mutton is bright red, with plenty of hard white fat; poor mutton is dull red in color, with dark, muddy-looking fat. Veal and pork should be bright flesh color with abundance of hard, white, semi-transparent fat; when the fat is reddish and dark, the meat is of an inferior quality; veal and pork should be eaten very fresh. When meat of any kind comes into the house it should be hung up at once in some cool, dark place, and left until wanted.

=Poultry.=--Fresh poultry may be known by its full bright eyes, pliable feet, and soft moist skin; the best is plump, fat, and nearly white, and the grain of the flesh is fine. The feet and neck of a young fowl are large in proportion to its size, and the tip of the breast-bone is soft, and easily bent between the fingers; the body of a capon is large, fat, and round, the head comparatively small, and the comb pale and withered; a young c.o.c.k, has short, loose, soft spurs, and a long, full, bright red comb; old fowls have long, thin necks and feet, and the flesh on the legs and back has a purplish shade; chickens, capons, and fowls, are always in season.

Turkeys when good are white and plump, have full b.r.e.a.s.t.s and smooth legs, generally black, with soft, loose spurs; hen turkeys are smaller, fatter, and plumper, but of inferior flavor; full grown turkeys are the best for boning and boiling, as they do not tear in dressing; old turkeys have long hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on the legs and back. About March they deteriorate in quality.

Turkey-poults are tender, but lack flavor.

Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent fat, soft breast-bone, tender flesh, leg joints which will break by the weight of the bird, fresh colored and brittle beaks, and windpipes that break when pressed between the thumb and fore-finger. They are best in fall and winter.

Young pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full, fresh colored legs; when the legs are thin, and the breast is very dark, the birds are old. Squabs are tender and delicious.

The giblets of poultry consist of the head, neck, wings, feet, gizzard, heart, and liver; and make good soup, frica.s.sees, pies, and various _entrees_, or side dishes.

=Game.=--Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of the breast is firm and plump, the skin clear; and if a few feathers be plucked from the inside of the leg and around the vent, the flesh of freshly killed birds will be fat and fresh colored; if it is dark, and discolored, the game has been hung a long time. The wings of good ducks, geese, pheasants, and woodc.o.c.k are tender to the touch; the tips of the long wing feathers of partridges are pointed in young birds, and round in old ones. Quail, snipe, and small birds should have full tender b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Young rabbits and hares have short necks, thick knees, and forepaws which can be easily broken; old ones are very poor.

Buffalo meat is somewhat similar in appearance to beef, save that the flesh is darker, and the fat redder; it is tender and juicy when it has been kept long enough, say about two months in winter; the tongue, when cured, is excellent.

Venison should be tender, and very fat, or it will be dry and tasteless.

Bear meat, when fat and tender, is savory and nourishing.

=Fish.=--Sea fish, and those which live in both salt and fresh water, such as salmon, shad, and smelts, are the finest flavored; the muddy taste of some fresh water species can be overcome by soaking them in cold water and salt for two hours or more before cooking; all kinds are best just before sp.a.w.ning, the flesh becoming poor and watery after that period.

Fresh fish have firm flesh, rigid fins, bright, clear eyes, and ruddy gills.

Oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels, should be eaten very fresh, as they soon lose their flavor after being removed from the sh.e.l.l.

Lobsters and crabs should be chosen by their brightness of color, lively movement, and great weight in proportion to their size.

=Vegetables.=--All juicy vegetables should be very fresh and crisp; and if a little wilted, can be restored by being sprinkled with water and laid in a cool, dark place; all roots and tubers should be pared and laid in cold water an hour or more before using. Green vegetables are best just before they flower; and roots and tubers are prime from their ripening until spring germination begins.

=Fruit.=--All fruit should be purchased ripe and sound; it is poor economy to buy imperfect or decayed kinds, as they are neither satisfactory nor healthy eating; while the mature, full-flavored sorts are invaluable as food.

=Sweet Herbs.=--Sweet and savory herbs are absolutely indispensable to good cooking; they give variety and savory flavors to any dish into which they enter, and are nearly all of some decided sanitary use; the different kinds called for in the various receipts further on in this work can be bought at almost any grocery store, or in the market; but we advise our readers to obtain seeds from some good florist and make little kitchen gardens of their own, even if the s.p.a.ce planted be only a box of mould in the kitchen window. Sage, thyme, summer savory, sweet marjoram, tarragon, sweet basil, rosemary, mint, burnet, chervil, dill, and parsley, will grow abundantly with very little care; and when dried, and added judiciously to food, greatly improve its flavor. Parsley, tarragon and fennel, should be dried in May, June, and July, just before flowering; mint in June and July; thyme, marjoram, and savory in July and August; basil and sage in August and September; all herbs should be gathered in the sunshine, and dried by artificial heat; their flavor is best preserved by keeping them in air-tight tin cans.

Bay leaves can be procured at any drug store, or German grocery, at a very moderate expense; they have the flavor of laurel.

An excellent and convenient spice-salt can be made by drying, powdering, and mixing by repeated siftings the following ingredients: one quarter of an ounce each of powdered thyme, bay leaf, and pepper; one eighth of an ounce each of rosemary, marjoram, and cayenne pepper, or powdered capsic.u.ms; one half of an ounce each of powdered clove and nutmeg; to every four ounces of this powder add one ounce of salt, and keep the mixture in an air-tight vessel. One ounce of it added to three pounds of stuffing, or forcemeat of any kind, makes a delicious seasoning.

=A bouquet of Sweet herbs.=--The bouquet, or f.a.got, of sweet herbs, so often called for in foreign cooking, is made as follows: wash three or four sprigs of parsley, lay in their midst one sprig of thyme, and two bay leaves; fold the parsley over the thyme and bay leaves, tie it in a cork-shaped roll, about three inches long and one inch thick. The bouquet is used for seasoning soups, sauces, stews, and savory dishes in general, and is removed when the dish is served.

CHAPTER II.

SOUPS.

=Soup= is the most satisfactory and nourishing of all dishes when it is properly made. Its value depends upon what is put into it, but even in its most economical form it const.i.tutes a hearty meal when eaten with bread and vegetables. It can be made from the merest sc.r.a.ps and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of meat; from the heads, tails, and feet of animals; from the bones and skin of fish; and from cereals and vegetables alone. Pot liquor in which meat has been boiled should always be saved and used for soup the next day, when by the removal of all fat, by careful skimming, and the addition of a few vegetables or some dumplings, rice, or macaroni, it will make a palatable broth. Experiments made by French chemists prove that the delicacy and richness of soup may be increased by first soaking the meat in tepid water enough to cover it, and adding this to the second water in which the meat is put over the fire, just as it reaches the boiling point.

1. =General Stock.=--PART I.--Where there is a family of any size it is well to keep a clean pot or sauce-pan on the back of the stove to receive all the clean sc.r.a.ps of meat, bones, and remains of poultry and game, which are found in every kitchen; but vegetables should not be put into it, as they are apt to sour. The proper proportions for soup are one pound of meat and bone to one and a half quarts of cold water; the meat and bones to be well chopped and broken up, and put over the fire in cold water, being brought slowly to a boil, and carefully skimmed as often as any sc.u.m rises; and being maintained at a steady boiling point from two to six hours, as time permits; one hour before the stock is done, add to it one carrot and one turnip pared, one onion stuck with three cloves, and a bouquet of sweet herbs.

PART II.--When the soup is to be boiled six hours, two quarts of cold water must be allowed to every pound of meat; this will be reduced to one quart in boiling. Two gills of soup are usually allowed for each person at table when it is served as the first part of the dinner, and meats are to follow it. Care should be taken that the stock-pot boils slowly and constantly, from one side, as rapid and irregular boiling clouds and darkens the stock as much as imperfect skimming. Stock should never be allowed to cool in the stock-pot, but should be strained into an earthen jar, and left standing to cool uncovered, and all the fat removed, and saved to clarify for drippings; the stock is then ready to heat and use for soup, or gravy. When stock has been darkened and clouded by careless skimming and fast boiling, it can be clarified by adding to it one egg and the sh.e.l.l, mixed first with a gill of cold water, then with a gill of boiling soup, and stirring it briskly into the soup until it boils; then remove it to the back of the fire where it will not boil, and let it stand until the white and sh.e.l.l of the egg have collected the small particles clouding the soup; then strain it once or twice, until it looks clear.

2. =Flavoring, thickening, and coloring soups.=--The flavor of soup stock may be varied by using in it a little ham, anchovy, sausage, sugar, or a calf's foot. Herbs in the sprig, and whole spices should be used in seasoning, as they can easily be strained out. All delicate flavors, and wine, should be added to soup just before serving it, unless the contrary is expressly directed in the receipt, because boiling would almost entirely evaporate them: one gill of wine is usually allowed to every three pints of soup.

Soups which precede a full dinner should be less rich than those which form the bulk of the meal. Corn starch, arrow root, and potato flour are better than wheat flour for thickening soup. The meal of peas and beans can be held in suspension by mixing together dry a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and flour, and stirring it into the soup; a quarter of a pint of peas, beans, or lentils, is sufficient to make a quart of thick soup.

Two ounces of macaroni, vermicelli, pearl barley, sago, tapioca, rice, or oatmeal, are usually allowed for each quart of stock.

If you wish to darken soup use a teaspoonful of caramel; but avoid burnt flour, carrot, and onion, as all these give a bad flavor. Caramel can be made from the following receipt; melt half a pound of loaf sugar in a thick copper vessel, stirring it frequently with a wooden spoon, and boiling it slowly until it a.s.sumes a rich brown color, but do not let it burn; when brown enough add one quart of cold water, stir well, and boil gently at the side of the fire for twenty minutes; then cool, strain, and bottle tight. In using the caramel add it just as you are about to serve the soup, or sauce colored with it.

3. =Clear Soup, or Consomme.= (_Two quarts for eight persons._)--This is made by straining two quarts of stock, which has been cooled and freed from fat, through a piece of flannel or a napkin until it is bright and clear; if this does not entirely clear it, use an egg, as directed for clarifying soup; then season it to taste with salt, using at first a teaspoonful, and a very little fine white pepper, say a quarter of a saltspoonful; and color it to a bright straw color with caramel, of which a scant teaspoonful will be about the proper quant.i.ty. _Consomme_ is sent to the table clear, but sometimes a deep dish containing poached eggs, one for each person, with enough _consomme_ to cover them, accompanies it.