The Virginia Housewife Part 8

Steep your sounds as you do the salt cod, and boil them in a large quant.i.ty of milk and water; when they are very tender and white, take them up, and drain the water out and skin them; then pour the egg sauce boiling hot over them, and serve them up.

TO STEW CARP.

Gut and scale your fish, wash and dry them well with a clean cloth, dredge them with flour, fry them in lard until they are a light brown, and then put them in a stew pan with half a pint of water, and half a pint of red wine, a meat spoonful of lemon pickle, the same of walnut catsup, a little mushroom powder and cayenne to your taste, a large onion stuck with cloves, and a slick of horse-radish; cover your pan close up to keep in the steam; let them stew gently over a stove fire, till the gravy is reduced to just enough to cover your fish in the dish; then take the fish out, and put them on the dish you intend for the table, set the gravy on the fire, and thicken it with flour, and a large lump of b.u.t.ter; boil it a little, and strain it over your fish; garnish them with pickled mushrooms and sc.r.a.ped horse-radish, and send them to the table.

TO BOIL EELS.

Clean the eels, and cut off their heads, dry them, and turn them round on your fish plate, boil them in salt and water, and make parsley sauce for them.

TO PITCHc.o.c.k EELS.

Skin and wash your eels, then dry them with a cloth, sprinkle them with pepper, salt, and a little dried sage, turn them backward and forward, and skewer them; rub a gridiron with beef suet, broil them a nice brown, put them on a dish with good melted b.u.t.ter, and lay around fried parsley.

TO BROIL EELS.

When you have skinned and cleansed your eels as before, rub them with the yelk of an egg, strew over them bread crumbs, chopped parsley, sage, pepper, and salt; baste them well with b.u.t.ter, and set them in a dripping pan; serve them up with parsley and b.u.t.ter for sauce.

TO SCOLLOP OYSTERS.

When the oysters are opened, put them in a bowl, and wash them out of their own liquor; put some in the scollop sh.e.l.ls, strew over them a few bread crumbs, and lay a slice of b.u.t.ter on them, then more oysters, bread crumbs, and a slice of b.u.t.ter on the top; put them into a Dutch oven to brown, and serve them up in the sh.e.l.ls.

TO FRY OYSTERS.

Take a quarter of a hundred of large oysters, wash them and roll them in grated bread, with pepper and salt, and fry them a light brown; if you choose, you may add a little parsley, shred fine. They are a proper garnish for calves' head, or most made dishes.

TO MAKE OYSTER LOAVES.

Take little round loaves, cut off the tops, sc.r.a.pe out all the crumbs, then put the oysters into a stew pan with the crumbs that came out of the loaves, a little water, and a good lump of b.u.t.ter; stew them together ten or fifteen minutes, then put in a spoonful of good cream, fill your loaves, lay the bit of crust carefully on again, set them in the oven to crisp. Three are enough for a side dish.

POULTRY, &c.

TO ROAST A GOOSE.

Chop a few sage leaves and two onions very fine, mix them with a good lump of b.u.t.ter, a tea-spoonful of pepper, and two of salt, put it in the goose, then split it, lay it down, and dust it with flour; when it is thoroughly hot, baste it with nice lard; if it be a large one, it will require an hour and a half, before a good clear fire; when it is enough, dredge and baste it, pull out the spit, and pour in a little boiling water.

TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A GOOSE.

Pare, core and slice some apples; put them in a sauce pan, with as much water as will keep them from burning, set them over a very slow fire, keep them closely covered till reduced to a pulp, then put in a lump of b.u.t.ter, and sugar to your taste, beat them well, and send them to the table in a china bowl.

TO BOIL DUCKS WITH ONION SAUCE.

Scald and draw your ducks, put them in warm water for a few minutes, then take them out and put them in an earthen pot; pour over them a pint of boiling milk, and let them lie in it two or three hours; when you take them out, dredge them well with flour, and put them in a copper of cold water; put on the cover, let them boil slowly twenty minutes, then take them out, and smother them with onion sauce.

TO MAKE ONION SAUCE.

Boil eight or ten large onions, change the water two or three times while they are boiling; when enough, chop them on a board to keep them a good colour, put them in a sauce pan with a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter and two spoonsful of thick cream; boil it a little, and pour it over the ducks.

TO ROAST DUCKS.

When you have drawn the ducks, shred one onion and a few sage leaves, put them into the ducks with pepper and salt, spit and dust them with flour, and baste them with lard; if your fire be very hot, they will roast in twenty minutes; and the quicker they are roasted, the better they will taste. Just before you take them from the spit, dust them with flour and baste them. Get ready some gravy made of the gizzards and pinions, a large blade of mace, a few pepper corns, a spoonful of catsup, a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle; strain it and pour it on the ducks, and send onion sauce in a boat.

TO BOIL A TURKEY WITH OYSTER SAUCE.

Grate a loaf of bread, chop a score or more of oysters fine, add nutmeg, pepper and salt to your taste, mix it up into a light forcemeat with a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, a spoonful or two of cream, and three eggs; stuff the craw with it, and make the rest into b.a.l.l.s and boil them; sew up the turkey, dredge it well with flour, put it in a kettle of cold water, cover it, and set it over the fire; as the sc.u.m begins to rise, take it off, let it boil very slowly for half an hour, then take off your kettle and keep it closely covered; if it be of a middle size, let it stand in the hot water half an hour, the steam being kept in, will stew it enough, make it rise, keep the skin whole, tender, and very white; when you dish it, pour on a little oyster sauce, lay the b.a.l.l.s round, and serve it up with the rest of the sauce in a boat.

N.B. Set on the turkey in time, that it may stew as above; it is the best way to boil one to perfection. Put it over the fire to heat, just before you dish it up.

TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A TURKEY.

As you open the oysters, put a pint into a bowl, wash them out of their own liquor, and put them in another bowl; when the liquor has settled, pour it off into a sauce pan with a little white gravy, and a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle--thicken it with flour and a good lump of b.u.t.ter; boil it three or four minutes, put in a spoonful of good cream, add the oysters, keep shaking them over the fire till they are quite hot, but don't let them boil, for it will make them hard and appear small.

TO ROAST A TURKEY.

Make the forcemeat thus: take the crumb of a loaf of bread, a quarter of a pound of beef suet shred fine, a little sausage meat or veal sc.r.a.ped and pounded very fine, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to your taste; mix it lightly with three eggs, stuff the craw with it, spit it, and lay it down a good distance from the fire, which should be clear and brisk; dust and baste it several times with cold lard; it makes the froth stronger than basting it with the hot out of the dripping pan, and makes the turkey rise better; when it is enough, froth it up as before, dish it, and pour on the same gravy as for the boiled turkey, or bread sauce; garnish with lemon and pickles, and serve it up; if it be of a middle size, it will require one hour and a quarter to roast.