Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book Part 24

The flavoring (sugar, lemon, or rose,) may be deferred till the apples are baked, taken out of the oven and mashed. Then mix it in while hot.

Boiled apple sauce is usually spoiled with too much water, rendering it the consistence of thin pap, weak, washy, and mean.

GOOSEBERRY SAUCE.--Get fine full-grown green gooseberries. Pick them over, and top and tail them. Wash them in a cullender or sieve through two waters. Put them into an enameled stew-pan, with only the water remaining on them after was.h.i.+ng, and no sugar till after they are stewed to a mash, and taken from the fire. Then while hot, stir in brown sugar enough to make them very sweet. Serve them up cold. For company, before they are sweetened, press them through a sieve, using only the pulp.

Then add the sugar; and mould the whole in a form.

CURRANT SAUCE.--Take fine ripe currants, and strip them from the stems.

Put them into a pan, and mash them with a large spoon, or a wooden beetle. Stew them in their own juice (no water,) and sweeten them when they are taken from the fire. For company, press the fruit through a sieve before you add the sugar, and shape it in a mould.

It will answer every purpose of regular currant jelly, to eat with game, venison, &c.

RIPE PEACH SAUCE.--Take juicy freestone peaches; pare and stone them, and cut them up. Save all the juice, and stew them in it. When quite soft, take them off the fire, and sweeten them. The flavor will be much improved by stewing with them a bunch of fresh peach leaves, to be taken out when the peaches are done. Or, if you cannot readily obtain the leaves, a handful of the fresh peach kernels, stewed with the fruit, (and to be taken out afterwards,) will answer the purpose.

It is well, even in the sunny side of a city garden, to plant two peach stones; so that when they grow into trees, you may have peach leaves at hand for improving the flavor of custards, and other things. Unless the trees are perfectly healthy, and the leaves green, do not use them.

DRIED PEACH SAUCE.--The richest and best dried peaches, are those that are dried with the skins on. The skins (however thick,) entirely dissolve in cooking, and become imperceptible when the fruit is well stewed. It is a great error to pare peaches for drying. Apples _must_ be pared, for the skin is tougher than that of peaches, and does not dissolve in cooking.

To prepare dried peaches for stewing, pick them over carefully, throwing away all the imperfect pieces. Wash them in two cold waters, and then put them into a stew-pan, (_adding no water_,) and stew them till they are quite soft, and shapeless, and mash easily and smoothly in the pan.

Sweeten them with plenty of brown sugar, as soon as they come off the fire.

DRIED APPLE SAUCE.--Wash the dried apples through a cullender, and put _a very little water_ with them in the stew-pan. Being rather insipid, they require some additional flavor. Add cinnamon, or other spice of any sort you like, and the yellow rind of a fresh lemon or orange, pared very thin and cut into slips. When these apples are well stewed and mashed, sweeten them.

We believe, that when dried peaches can be procured, few will buy dried apples; they are so far inferior; being the poorest of dried fruit.

Dried cherries also are scarcely worth cooking, even if they _have_ been stoned. Being tough and indigestible, they are very unwholesome, except for rough, hard-working people. If the stones are left in, dried cherries are fit for nothing.

DAMSON SAUCE.--Having stewed the damsons in their own juice, till all the stones slip out, (and can be easily removed with a spoon, when taken from the fire,) make them very sweet by stirring in a large portion of brown sugar.

Damsons, cranberries, and gooseberries require more sugar than any other fruit.

FINE PRUNE SAUCE.--Wash a pound of prunes, and stew them in orange juice, adding the yellow rind of an orange, pared so fine as to be transparent--or grate it. Stir them up frequently, and when quite done, and the stones are all loose, sweeten the prunes with plenty of sugar.

Prune sauce is eaten with venison, or any sort of game; or with roast kid or fawn--or with roast pig.

CHESTNUT SAUCE.--Take the large Spanish chestnuts. Cut a slit in the side of each, and roast them well. Peel them, and put them into a saucepan of very rich melted b.u.t.ter. If you use American chestnuts, boil them till quite soft, (trying two or three to ascertain,) then peel, and thicken your melted b.u.t.ter with them. American chestnuts are too small to roast.

PEA-NUT SAUCE.--Having roasted and sh.e.l.led a pint of pea-nuts, or ground-nuts, remove the thin brown skin, and simmer the nuts in melted or drawn b.u.t.ter; adding some fine fresh oysters, omitting the gristle.

VEGETABLES.

All vegetables are best when fresh, as can easily be discovered by the difference between those newly brought from the garden, and those that have been kept in a provision shop till next day, (and perhaps longer,) imbibing the atmosphere of meat, fish, poultry, and a variety of things, each becoming impure from the same causes; not to mention the rats, mice, and insects which run over them at night. You cannot have vegetables in perfection without a country garden. But if obliged to depend upon the market or the provision shops, always have your vegetables washed and laid in cold water before cooking. Some are best when put on to boil in cold water; others require boiling water at the beginning, to give them what the cooks call a quick start. All should be thoroughly done throughout. If hard in the centre they are unpalatable, and very unwholesome; even worse than underdone meat. Use but very little salt in cooking vegetables; too much renders them hard, and overpowers their real taste. Also, it is easy for the lovers of salt to add more when at table. When vegetables are done, and taken out the pot, drain them well through a cullender or sieve, carefully pressing out all the water that is about them. There is generally, in our country, too much water allowed to the vegetables. Merely enough to cover them well, and keep them from burning, is in most cases sufficient. In France, so little water is used in cooking vegetables, that they are rather stewed than boiled, and are the better for it. A puddle of greasy water in the bottom of every vegetable dish is a disgusting sight; and yet how frequently it is seen. If of every-day occurrence, it is a certain indication of a bad cook, or an inefficient mistress, or both.

Almost all green vegetables should be thrown into fast-boiling water, and cooked rapidly; first was.h.i.+ng them carefully, and laying them for half an hour in a large pan of cold water. If found frozen in the winter, be sure to thaw them in cold water. Continue the boiling till they are thoroughly done, and with a steady heat, taking off the sc.u.m as it rises.

It is very usual in the spring to bring early vegetables from the south, for the markets of Philadelphia and New York. By the time they reach us they are faded, withered, tough and unwholesome. It is better to wait a week or two longer till the season is a little more advanced, and the farms and gardens of our neighborhood can supply our own markets, at a far less cost, and with fresher and better vegetables.

The water in which vegetables have been boiled becomes very unwholesome, and should be thrown out immediately.

BOILED POTATOS.--To have boiled potatos in perfection they should all be of a good sort and as nearly as possible of the same size. Till it is time to cook them, let the slight mould or earth that has adhered to the potatos in digging, be carefully washed off, even scrubbing them with a hard brush. This can be done very conveniently, by laying them under the hydrant or pump, was.h.i.+ng them there with a broom, and letting the water run on them.

An iron pot is the best of all things for boiling potatos, as it retains the heat longer than any other utensil. Lay them in it, closely and compactly, and pour in barely sufficient cold water to cover them well, adding a tea-spoonful of salt. Simmer them till nearly done, which you may ascertain by probing all through with a fork. You may quicken the fire for the last five minutes. Pour off all the water from them as soon as they are tender all through. Lift the lid of the pot at one side to allow the steam to pa.s.s off, and set them beside the fire, or on a trevet far above it, till the moisture has escaped; the potatos will then be dry and mealy. Then peel them; or if preferred, send them to table with the skin on, which will keep them hot longer.

If the potatos are old, cut a piece of skin (about the size of a sixpence) from the top and bottom before boiling; or, take off a long slip from each side. In the spring, when quite old, cut out all the blemishes, pare the potatos, and always boil them for mas.h.i.+ng.

ROAST POTATOS.--Potatos for roasting should always be large and fine. If small, "they go all to skin." Select those that are nearest of a size, and wash them very clean, and wipe every one with a cloth. Put them into an oven, and let them roast or bake for more than two hours, turning them with a fork. Dish them in the skins, and send only cold b.u.t.ter to table with them. Bake sweet potatos in the same manner, but much longer.

Small sweet potatos should be boiled; as, when small, they are not worth cooking in any other way; and when roasted there is scarcely any thing of them, but tough shriveled skin.

BAKED POTATOS.--Pare some fine potatos all about the same size, and cover with them the whole bottom of a large deep earthen dish; lay them close together so that they all touch. Bake them under a nice piece of beef, veal, or pork, raised above them on a trivet. The gravy from the meat will drip upon them as soon as it begins to bake. They must bake till they are nicely browned, and till a fork will easily go through them. Have a smaller dish of potatos baked without meat, in a dish by themselves, as potatos pared before baking are much liked. Lay some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter among those that are cooked without any meat.

TO BOIL NEW POTATOS.--Rub each one with a coa.r.s.e cloth to clear off the skin, it being too thin for paring. Wash them well, and cut a small piece off the top and bottom of each potato, to make them boil tender all through. Put no salt in the water, and boil them till soft. Serve them plain, and eat them with cold b.u.t.ter--or, put them into a sauce-pan, and stew them in b.u.t.ter.

MASHED POTATOS.--Having boiled the potatos till tender all through, drain them very dry in a cullender, and mash them smoothly with a potato beetle, a large wooden spoon, or a short-handled wooden ladle. When all are nicely mashed, add gradually plenty of fresh b.u.t.ter, and some cream or rich milk. On no account spoil the potatos by putting any water to them, when mas.h.i.+ng. Put them into a deep dish or mould, and brown them with a salamander.

POTATO CAKES.--After the mashed potatos are mixed with b.u.t.ter in a deep earthen pan, beat them with a wooden spoon to render them very light.

Then make them up into thick flat cakes, about the size of a m.u.f.fin, and brown each with a salamander.

COUNTRY POTATOS.--Having boiled and peeled some fine newly-dug potatos, melt some b.u.t.ter in a sauce-pan, with cream, instead of flour and water, and pour it plentifully into the dish of potatos; seasoning with black pepper and sweet marjoram leaves. Where cream is plenty, this is a very nice way of cooking. Serve them up with the sauce poured over them, and around them. They must be well boiled, and tender all through.

FRIED POTATOS.--The potatos must be raw, large, unblemished, and of a good round shape. First take off a thin paring of the skin. Then, pare the whole potato round and round, (not too thin,) till you have gone through it all, and nothing is left unpared but a little lump in the centre. Then put these continuous rings of potato into a frying-pan, in which is boiling plenty of fresh b.u.t.ter, or b.u.t.ter and lard mixed. Fry them brown and tender, and arrange them handsomely in a dish for breakfast.

_Another Way._--Slice thin a sufficiency of fine raw potatos, and lay them in a pan of cold water to soak for an hour or more. Then pour off that water entirely, and replace it with fresh. Let them remain in this for another hour, or till it is time to cook them. Put them into a frying-pan that has in it plenty of fresh b.u.t.ter or lard, enough, while frying, to keep the potatos near the surface. Fry them till perfectly well done and tender.

Attempting to re-cook cold potatos renders them more hard and tough.

When once cold, potatos always remain indigestible, cook them as you will.

STEWED POTATOS.--Having pared some fine raw potatos, quarter them, and put them into a stew-pan with a little salt, pepper, and some green sweet marjoram stripped from the stalks, and scattered among the potatos. Put them into a stew-pan with milk enough to prevent their burning, and some fresh b.u.t.ter--no water. If you can get cream conveniently, add some to the milk. Cover the pan, and let the potatos stew, till, on trying them with a fork, you find them thoroughly cooked, and soft and tender all through. If not sufficiently done, they are hard, tough, leathery, and unfit to eat.