Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches Part 25

FRENCH MUSTARD.

Mix together four ounces of the very best mustard powder, four salt-spoons of salt, a large table-spoonful of minced tarragon leaves, and two cloves of garlic chopped fine. Pour on by degrees sufficient vinegar (tarragon vinegar is best) to dilute it to the proper consistence. It will probably require about four wine-gla.s.sfuls or half a pint. Mix it well, using for the purpose a wooden spoon. When done, put it into a wide-mouthed bottle or into little white jars. Cork it very closely, and keep it in a dry place. It will not be fit for use in less than two days.

This (used as the common mustard) is a very agreeable condiment for beef or mutton.

TO MAKE CAYENNE PEPPER.

Take ripe chillies and dry them a whole day before the fire, turning them frequently. When quite dry, trim off the stalks and pound the pods in a mortar till they become a fine powder, mixing in about one sixth of their weight in salt. Or you may grind them in a very fine mill. While pounding the chillies, wear gla.s.ses to save your eyes from being incommoded by them. Put the powder into small bottles, and secure the corks closely.

KITCHEN PEPPER.

Mix together two ounces of the best white ginger, an ounce of black pepper, an ounce of white pepper, an ounce of cinnamon, an ounce of nutmeg, and two dozen cloves. They must all be ground or pounded to a fine powder, and thoroughly mixed. Keep the mixture in a bottle, labelled, and well corked. It will be found useful in seasoning many dishes; and being ready prepared will save much trouble.

VEGETABLES

GENERAL REMARKS.

All vegetables should be well picked and washed. A very little salt should always be thrown into the water in which they are boiled. A steady regular fire should be kept up, and they should never for a moment be allowed to stop boiling or simmering till they are thoroughly done. Every sort of vegetable should be cooked till tender, as if the least hard or under-done they are both unpalatable and unwholesome. The practice of putting pearl-ash in the pot to improve the colour of green vegetables should be strictly forbidden, as it destroys the flavour, and either renders them flat and insipid, or communicates a very disagreeable taste of its own.

Every sort of culinary vegetable is infinitely best when fresh from the garden, and gathered as short a time as possible before it is cooked. They should all be laid in a pan of cold water for a while previous to boiling.

When done, they should be carefully drained before they go to table, or they will be washy all through, and leave puddles of discoloured water in the bottoms of the dishes, to the disgust of the company and the discredit of the cook.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

Potatoes that are boiled together, should be as nearly as possible of the same size. Wash, but do not pare them. Put them into a pot with water enough to cover them about an inch, and do not put on the pot lid. When the water is very near boiling, pour it off, and replace it with the same quant.i.ty of cold water, into which throw a good portion of salt. The cold water sends the heat from the surface to the heart, and makes the potatoes mealy. Potatoes of a moderate size will require about half an hour boiling; large ones an hour. Try them with a fork. When done, pour off the water, cover the pot with a folded napkin, or flannel, and let them stand by the fire about a quarter of an hour to dry.

Peel them and send them to table.

Potatoes should not be served up with the skins on. It has a coa.r.s.e, slovenly look, and disfigures the appearance of the dinner; besides the trouble and inconvenience of peeling them at table.

When the skins crack in boiling, it is no proof that they are done, as too much fire under the pot will cause the skins of some potatoes to break while the inside is hard.

After March, when potatoes are old, it is best to pare them before boiling and to cut out all the blemishes. It is then better to mash them always before they are sent to table. Mash them when quite hot, using a potato-beetle for the purpose; add to them a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, and a little salt, and, if convenient, some milk, which will greatly improve them. You may score and brown them on the top.

A very nice way of serving up potatoes is, after they are peeled, to pour over them some hot cream in which a very little b.u.t.ter has been melted, and sprinkle them with pepper. This is frequently done in country houses where cream is plenty. New potatoes (as they are called when quite young) require no peeling, but should be well washed and brushed before they are boiled.

FRIED POTATOES.

Take cold potatoes that have been boiled, grate them, make them into flat cakes, and fry them in b.u.t.ter. They are nice at breakfast. You may mix some beaten yolk of egg with them.

Cold potatoes may be fried in slices or quarters, or broiled on a gridiron.

Raw potatoes, when fried, are generally hard, tough, and strong.

POTATO SNOW.

For this purpose use potatoes that are very white, mealy, and smooth. Boil them very carefully, and when they are done, peel them, pour off the water, and set them on a trivet before the fire till they are quite dry and powdery. Then rub them through a coa.r.s.e wire sieve into the dish on which they are to go to table.

Do not disturb the heap of potatoes before it is served up, or the flakes will fall and it will flatten. This preparation looks well; but many think that it renders the potato insipid.

ROASTED POTATOES.

Take large fine potatoes; wash and dry them, and either lay them on the hearth and keep them buried in hot wood ashes, or bake them slowly in a Dutch oven. They will not be done in less than two hours. It will save time to half-boil them before they are roasted. Send them to table with the skins on, and eat them with cold b.u.t.ter and salt. They are introduced with cold meat at supper.

Potatoes keep best buried in sand or earth. They should never be wetted till they are washed for cooking. If you have them in the cellar, see that they are well covered with matting or old carpet, as the frost injures them greatly.

SWEET POTATOES BOILED.

If among your sweet potatoes there should he any that are very large and thick, split them, and cut them in four, that they may not require longer time to cook than the others. Boil them with the skins on in plenty of water, but without any salt. You may set the pot on coals in the corner. Try them with a fork, and see that they are done all through; they will take at least an hour. Then drain off the water, and set them for a few minutes in a tin pan before the fire, or in the stove, that they may be well dried.

Peel them before they are sent to table.

FRIED SWEET POTATOES.

Choose them of the largest size. Half boil them, and then having taken off the skins, cut the potatoes in slices, and fry them in b.u.t.ter, or in nice dripping.

Sweet potatoes are very good stewed with fresh pork, veal, or beef.

The best way to keep them through the cold weather, is to bury them in earth or sand; otherwise they will be scarcely eatable after October.

CABBAGE.

All vegetables of the cabbage kind should be carefully washed, and examined in case of insects lurking among the leaves. To prepare a cabbage for boiling, remove the outer leaves, and pare and trim the stalk, cutting it close and short. If the cabbage is large, quarter it; if small, cut it in half; and let it stand for a while in a deep part of cold water with the large end downwards. Put it into a pot with plenty of water, (having first tied it together to keep it whole while boiling,) and, taking off the sc.u.m, boil it two hours, or till the stalk is quite tender. When done, drain and squeeze it well. Before you send it to table introduce a little fresh b.u.t.ter between the leaves; or have melted b.u.t.ter in a boat.

If it has been boiled with meat add no b.u.t.ter to it.

A young cabbage will boil in an hour or an hour and a half.

CALE-CANNON.

Boil separately some potatoes and cabbage. When done, drain and squeeze the cabbage, and chop or mince it very small. Mash the potatoes, and mix them gradually but thoroughly with the chopped cabbage, adding b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt. There should be twice as much potato as cabbage.

Cale-cannon is eaten with corned beef, boiled pork, or bacon.

Cabbages may be kept good all winter by burying them in a hole dug in the ground.