498
RECEIPTS
FOR
MEATS .- DESSERTS .
RECEIPTS FOR MEATS. Veal Cutlets.- Cutlets are cut either from the fillet or the neck, but chops are taken from the loin. Some persons have deprecated the practice of beating meat, but it is essentially necessary in veal cutlets, which otherwise, especially if merely fried, are very indigestible. They should be cut about a quarter, or, at the most, half an inch in thickness, and well beaten; they will then, when fried, taste like sweetbread, be quite as tender, and nearly as rich. Egg them over, dip in bread-crumbs and savory herbs, fry, and serve with mushroom sauce and fried bacon. Or:-Prepare as above and fry them; lay them in a dish, and keep them hot : dredge a little flour, and put a bit of butter into the pan; brown it, then pour a little boiling water into it, and boil quickly; season with pepper, salt, and ketchup, and pour it over them. Sheep's Head.- A great variety of excellent dishes may be made from a sheep's head, which in India, where veal is not easily procurable, answers all the purposes for mock turtle, rolled head, rich hash, or ragout: the bones make excellent jelly, either savory or sweet. Parboil the head ; cut the meat from the bone; stew the former in a little of the liquor until quite tender ; send it to table with a glass of wine in the gravy, forcemeat-balls and brain-cakes for garnish ; or roll up the pieces seasoned in the inside with a thick covering of chopped herbs well seasoned ; brush the outside with yolk of egg ; dredge it with bread-crumbs; fry it; and send to table with a rich gravy made of the bones, and pickles warmed up in it. To Collar Ribs of Beef. -Take two or three ribs of beef; cut the meat from the bones ; rub it well with salt, brown sugar, and saltpetre ; let it remain a fortnight, turning it every day ; then season it with pepper, mace, cloves, allspice, and a clove of garlic chopped very fine ; cover it well with parsley, thyme, and sweet marjoram ; roll it up very tight, and bind it round with tape; put it into a pot with some water, cover it close up, and send it to the oven to be baked very slowly three or four hours : then take it out, and press it between two boards with weights. Veal Cake.- Bone a breast of veal, and cut it in slices ; cut also slices of ham or lean bacon, and boil six eggs hard ; butter a deep pan, and place the whole in layers one over the other, cutting the eggs in slices, and seasoning with chopped herbs and cayenne pepper, and wetting the herbs with anchovy or other highly-flavored sauce. Cover up the whole, let it bake for four hours, and, when taken from the oven, lay a weight upon it to press it well together. When cold, turn it out. To Preserve Meat in Summer.-Coating meat with dry wheaten flour will retain it sweet for a threefold lengthened period, even in tropical climates, the flour acting as an isolater against air and moisture. Decomposition will not occur at the temperature of freezing : this proves the great advantage of ice-chests for the preservation of food.
DESSERTS . American Blancmange.- Mix two ounces of arrowroot in half a pint of cold water; let it settle for a quarter of an hour; pour off the water and add a tablespoonful of orange or rose-water; sweeten one quart of new milk; boil it with a bit of cinnamon, half the peel of a lemon, and four peach ; pour the boiling milk upon the arrowroot, stirring it all the time; put it into a mould and turn it out the following day. Almond Cheese Cakes.- Blanch and pound four ounces of almonds, and a few bitter, with a spoonful of water; then add four ounces of sugar pounded, a spoonful of cream, and the whites of two eggs well beaten; mix all as quick as possible; put into very small pattypans, and bake, in a rather warm oven, under twenty minutes.
Devonshire Junket.- Put warm milk into a bowl; turn it with rennet ; then put some scalded cream, sugar, and cinnamon on the top, without breaking the curd. Or :-Put some new milk into a china or other basin, or else warm some cold milk to the same heat as new ; add to it a little calf's rennet, and, if approved, a little brandy or rum may also be added ; stir it with a spoon so as to mix the whole perfectly. Place it near the fire, or on a warm stove or hearth, until turned ; but it must not be kept too hot, or it will not turn properly. When turned, put sugar, grated nutmeg, or nutmeg and ground cinnamon, on the top, and scalded or clouted cream, without breaking the curd, and serve. Floating Island.-Mix one pint and a half of thin cream with a quarter-pint of raisin wine, a little lemon-juice, orange-flower water, and sugar ; put into a dish for the middle of the table, and put on the cream a froth, which may be made of raspberry or currant jelly. Or :-Scald a codling before it be ripe, or any sharp apple ; pulp it through a sieve ; beat the whites of two eggs with sugar and a spoonful of orange-flower water; mix in, by degrees, the pulp, and beat together until you have a large quantity of froth; serve it on raspberry cream, or put it on a custard. Apple Pancakes.-Mix two large spoonfuls of flour in a cup of milk or wine; when smooth, add eight eggs, some pounded cinnamon, grated lemon-peel, a handful of currants, and six or eight apples peeled and chopped ; mix it all well together; melt some butter in a fryingpan ; when hot, pour the whole mass in, and fry it on both sides ; serve it, strewed with pounded cinnamon and sugar, very hot. Orange Tartlets.- Squeeze, pulp, and boil tender two Seville oranges ; weigh twice their weight of sugar; beat both together to a paste ; then add the juice and pulp of the fruit, and the size of a walnut of fresh butter, and beat all together. Choose a very shallow dish or small pattypan, line it with a light puff crust, and lay the paste of orange in it. You may ice it.
MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS . The Best Food for Fattening Young Fowls.-The best food for this purpose is potatoes and grains, with rice boiled dry, as for curry; or you can give them bread and milk, barley-meal, or oatmeal and milk, and boiled potatoes mixed with barley-meal. They should be fed three times a day. Small gravel, and a few grains of cayenne pepper or of dried nettle-seed, should be mixed with the food. Chickens may be thus fattened in from eight days to a fortnight, when they will be ready for the table. To Clean Turkey Carpets.-To revive the color of a Turkey carpet, beat it well with a stick till the dust is all got out; then, with a lemon or sorrel juice, take out the spots of ink, if the carpet be stained with any ; wash it in cold water, and afterward shake out all the water from the threads of the carpet. When it is thoroughly dry, rub it all over with the crumb of a hot wheaten loaf; and if the weather is very fine, hang it out in the open air a night or two. To Clean the Back ofthe Grate, the Inner Hearth, andthe Fronts of Cast-iron Stoves.- Boil about a quarter pound of the best black lead with a pint of small-beer and a bit of soap the size of a walnut. When that is melted, dip a painter's brush, and wet the grate, having first brushed off all the soot and dust ; then take a hard brush and rub it till of a beautiful brightness. Permanent Inkfor Marking Linen.-Take of lunar caustic (now called nitrate of silver), one drachm; weak solution of tincture of galls, two drachms. The cloth must be wetted first with the following liquid, viz : salt of tartar, one ounce; water, one ounce and a half; and it must be made perfectly dry before it is written upon.