The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, by Catherine Beecher This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book Designed as a Supplement to Her Treatise on Domestic Economy Author: Catherine Beecher Release Date: June 23, 2017 [EBook #54965] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK *** Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

MISS BEECHER’S

DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK:

DESIGNED AS A

SUPPLEMENT

TO HER

TREATISE ON DOMESTIC ECONOMY

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET.

1846.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by

Harper & Brothers,

In the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New-York.



iii

PREFACE.

The following objects are aimed at in this work:

First, to furnish an original collection of receipts, which shall embrace a great variety of simple and well-cooked dishes, designed for every-day comfort and enjoyment.

Second, to include in the collection only such receipts as have been tested by superior housekeepers, and warranted to be the best. It is not a book made up in any department by copying from other books, but entirely from the experience of the best practical housekeepers.

Third, to express every receipt in language which is short, simple, and perspicuous, and yet to give all directions so minutely as that the book can be kept in the kitchen, and be used by any domestic who can read, as a guide in every one of her employments in the kitchen.

Fourth, to furnish such directions in regard to small dinner-parties and evening company as will enable any young housekeeper to perform her part, on such occasions, with ease, comfort, and success.

Fifth, to present a good supply of the rich and elegant dishes demanded at entertainments, and yet to set forth a large variety of what is both healthful and good, in connexion with warnings and suggestions which it is hoped may avail to promote a more healthful fashion in regard both to entertainments and to daily table supplies. No book of this kind will sell without receipts for the rich articles which custom requires, and in furnishing them, the writer has aimed to follow the example of Providence, which scatters profusely both good and ill, and combines therewith the caution alike of experience, revelation, and conscience, “choose ye that which is good, that ye and your seed may live.”

Sixth, in the work on Domestic Economy, together withiv this, to which it is a Supplement, the writer has attempted to secure in a cheap and popular form, for American housekeepers, a work similar to an English work which she has examined, entitled the Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy, by Thomas Webster and Mrs. Parkes , containing over twelve hundred octavo pages of closely-printed matter, treating on every department of Domestic Economy; a work which will be found much more useful to English women, who have a plenty of money and well-trained servants, than to American housekeepers. It is believed that most, in that work, which would be of any practical use to American housekeepers, will be found in this work and the Domestic Economy.

Lastly, the writer has aimed to avoid the defects complained of by most housekeepers in regard to works of this description, issued in this country, or sent from England, such as that, in some cases, the receipts are so rich as to be both expensive and unhealthful; in others, that they are so vaguely expressed as to be very imperfect guides; in others, that the processes are so elaborate and fussing as to make double the work that is needful; and in others, that the topics are so limited that some departments are entirely omitted, and all are incomplete.

In accomplishing these objects, the writer has received contributions of the pen, and verbal communications, from some of the most judicious and practical housekeepers, in almost every section of this country.

v

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. Nourishing and unstimulating Food. Nourishing and stimulating food. Food that stimulates without nourishing. Food that is entirely Undigestible. Food that is unhealthful in nature, or made so by cooking. Liquid aliments, or drinks. Other liquid aliments, or drinks, 1 CHAPTER II. MARKETING—CARE AND USES OF MEATS. Selection and uses of meats. Modes of cooking and using the different parts of animals. Beef. Veal. Mutton. Pork. Marketing. On the Cure of Meats. Directions for cutting up a Hog. To try out Lard. Directions for salting down Pork. Mr. H. H.’s Receipt for Curing Hams. To prepare Cases for Sausages. Sausage Meat. Bologna Sausages. Another Receipt for Sausage Meat. Pickle for Beef, Pork, Tongues, or Hung Beef. Another by measure, and with less trouble. To salt down Beef to keep the year round. To Cleanse Calf’s Head and Feet. To Prepare Rennet, 26 CHAPTER III. BOILED MEATS. To cook a Ham (very fine). Smoked Boiled Tongues. A la Mode Beef. Another à la Mode Beef. To Boil a Leg of Veal or Mutton. Pot Pie, of Beef, Veal, or Chicken. Calf’s Head. Curried Dishes. To Prepare Curry Powder. Veal Stew. Another Veal Stew (very fine). To Stew Birds. A fine Mutton Stew. A Sausage Stew. To Bake Beef. Beef, or Mutton and Potatoe Pie. To Cook Pigeons. Beef or Veal Stewed with Apples (very good). vi To Boil a Turkey. To Boil Corned Beef, 36 CHAPTER IV. ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. General Remarks. Roast Beef. Roast Lamb. Roast Mutton. Roast Veal. To Roast a Fillet or Leg of Veal. Baked, or Roasted Pig. To Roast a Spare Rib. Roast Turkey. Roast Goose. Roast Chickens. Roast Ducks. Mutton and Beef Pie. Chicken Pie. Mutton Haricot. To Cook a Shoulder of Lamb. Rice Chicken Pie. Potatoe Pie, 43 CHAPTER V. FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. General Remarks. A nice Way of Cooking Calf’s or Pig’s Liver. Fried Veal Cutlets. Fricassee Chickens. Meats Warmed over. A nice Way of Cooking Cold Meats. A Hash of Cold Meat for Dinner (very good). Cold Meat Turnovers. Head Cheese. Souse. Tripe. Force Meat Balls (another Hash.) To Prepare Cold Beef Steaks. A nice Way of Cooking Cold Boiled Ham. Another way of Cooking Cold Ham. A Veal Hash. Veal Balls (another Hash). Broiled Meats. General Remarks. Broiled Ham. Broiled Veal Cutlets. Broiled Mutton Chops. Broiled Pork Steaks. Beef Steaks. Beef Liver. To Poach Eggs. To Boil Eggs. A Salt Relish. Egg Frizzle (very good). Frizzled Beef. Veal Cheese. A Codfish Relish. Another Way. Salt Herrings, 50 CHAPTER VI. SOUPS. French Vegetable Soup. Plain Calf’s Head Soup. An Excellent Simple Mutton Soup. Pea Soup. Portable Soup. A Rich Mock Turtle Soup. Another Dry Pea Soup. Clam Soup. Oyster Soup. Veal Soup. Macaroni Soup (Mrs. F.’s Receipt). Southern Gumbo (Mrs. L.’s Receipt). Giblet Soup, 57 CHAPTER VII. FISH. Directions for making Chowder. To Fry Fish. To Boil Fish. To Broil Fish. Baked Fish. Cod Sounds and Tongues. To vii Cook Salt Codfish. To Cook Cold Codfish. To Cook Oysters. Lobsters. Scolloped Oysters. Pickled Oysters. To Crimp Fresh Fish. To Cook Eels. To Cook Scollops. A Good Way of Using Cold Fresh Fish. To Cook Clams, 62 CHAPTER VIII. ON THE PREPARATION OF HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. To prepare Gravy for a Cold Beef Hash, or Steak Hash. Gravy for a Mutton Hash, or Venison Hash. To prepare a Veal Hash. Common Gravies. Drawn Butter, or Melted Butter. Another Mode of preparing Drawn Butter. Drawn Meat Gravies, or Brown Gravies. Nice Article to use for Gravy, or Soup. Burnt Butter for Fish, or Eggs. Sauce for Salad, or Fish. Wine Sauce for Mutton or Venison. Oyster Sauce. Lobster Sauce. Apple Sauce. Celery Sauce for Boiled Fowls. Celery Vinegar. Essence of Celery, to flavor Soup. Herb Spirit. Soup Powder. Soy. Tomato Catsup. Mushroom Catsup. Walnut Catsup, 66 CHAPTER IX. VEGETABLES. Potatoes. Boiled Potatoes. Other Modes of Cooking Potatoes. Turnips. Asparagus. Beets. Parsnips and Carrots. Onions. Jerusalem Artichokes. Squashes. Cabbage and Cauliflowers. Peas. Sweet Corn. Succatosh. Beans. Egg Plant. Baked Beans. Tomatoes. Greens. Cucumbers. Macaroni. Another Way. To Cook Hominy. Macaroni Pudding, to eat with Meat. Salad. Mode of Dressing Salad. Mushroom. Celeriac. Salsify, or Vegetable Oyster. Southern Mode of Cooking Rice. Common Mode of Cooking Rice. Best Mode of Cooking Tomatoes. Sweet Potatoes. Artichokes. Stewed Egg Plant, 73 CHAPTER X. OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. On Constructing and Heating an Oven. How to know when an Oven is at the right Heat. How to know when Bread is Sour, or Heavy. How to treat Bread when taken from the Oven. Yeast. Potatoe Yeast. Home-made Yeast, which will keep good a Month. Home-brewed Yeast more easily made. Hard Yeast. Rubs, or Flour Hard Yeast. Milk Yeast. Wheat Bread of Distillery, or Brewer’s Yeast. Wheat Bread of Home-brewed Yeast. Baker’s Bread. Wheat Bread of Potatoe Yeast. Potatoe Bread. Cream Tartar Bread. Eastern Brown Bread. Rye Bread. Rice viii Bread.—No. 1. Rice Bread.—No. 2. Apple Bread. Pumpkin Bread. Walnut Hill’s Brown Bread. French Rolls, or Twists. Raised Biscuit. Very Nice Rusk. Potatoe Biscuit. Crackers. Hard Biscuit. Sour Milk Biscuit. A good Way to use Sour Bread, 83 CHAPTER XI. BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. General Directions for Griddle and other Breakfast Cakes. Buckwheat Cakes wet with Water. Extempore Buckwheat Cakes. Buckwheat Cakes wet with Milk. Griddle Cakes of Unbolted Wheat. Best Rice Griddle Cakes. A very delicate Omelet. Wheat Waffles. Miss B.’s Waffles (without yeast). Rice Waffles. Good Cakes for Tea, or Breakfast. Fried Rice for Breakfast. Fried Hominy. Rye Drop Cake (excellent). Wheat Drop Cake. Corn Griddle Cakes with Yeast. Pilgrim Cake. Sour Milk Corn Cake. Corn Muffins (from the South). Corn Griddle Cakes with Eggs. Sachem’s Head Corn Cake. Royal Crumpets. Bachelor’s Corn Cake. Mrs. W.’s Corn Cake. Corn Muffins. Savoy Biscuit. Cream Cakes. Wheat Muffins. Albany Breakfast Cakes. Sally Lunn. Cream Tea Cakes. Buttermilk Short Cakes. Wafers. Pennsylvania Flannel Cakes. Kentucky Corn Dodgers. Ohio Corn Cake. Scarborough Puffs. Cream Griddle Cakes. Crumpets. Fine Cottage Cheese, 94 CHAPTER XII. PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. General Directions in regard to Puddings and Custards. Little Girl’s Pie. Little Boy’s Pudding. Children’s Fruit Dumpling. Birth-day Pudding. Children’s Boiled Fruit Pudding. English Curd Pie. Fruit Fritters. Common Apple Pie. Plain Custard. A Richer Custard. Another Custard. Mush, or Hasty Pudding. Stale Bread Fritters (fine). To prepare Rennet. Rennet Custard. Bird’s Nest Pudding. A Minute Pudding of Potatoe Starch. Tapioca Pudding. Sago Pudding. Cocoanut Pudding (Plain). New England Squash, or Pumpkin Pie. Ripe Fruit Pies. Batter Pudding. Mock Cream. Bread Pudding. Sunderland Pudding. An Excellent Apple Pie. Boiled Apple Pudding. Spiced Apple Tarts. Boiled Indian Pudding. Baked Indian Pudding. Rice Balls, or German Pudding. Apple Custard. Rhubarb Pie. Plain Macaroni or Vermacelli Puddings. Green Corn Pudding. Bread Pudding for Invalids, or Young Children. Plain Rice Pudding, without Eggs. Another Sago Pudding. Oat Meal Mush. Modes of Preparing Apples for the Table. Fruit Custards. Modes of Preparing Rice for the Dinner or Tea Table. Rice and Meat Pudding. Modes of preparing Dishes with Dry ix Bread, or Bread so old as to be not good for the table, 104 CHAPTER XIII. RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. Ellen’s Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart. Nottingham Pudding. Rice Plum Pudding. Eve’s Pudding (the best kind). Baked English Plum Pudding. A Boiled English Plum Pudding. Almond Cheese Cake. Cocoanut Pudding. Arrowroot Pudding. Ground Rice Pudding. Mrs. O.’s Pumpkin Pie. Cracker Plum Pudding (excellent). Minced Pie. Marlborough Pudding. Orange, or Lemon Pudding. Sweet Potatoe Pudding. Quince Pudding. Paste for Puddings and Pies. Healthful Pie Crusts. Paste made with Butter. Directions for making Paste. Puff Paste. Sauces for Puddings. Liquid Sauce. Hard Sauce. A Healthful Pudding Sauce. An excellent Sauce for Boiled Rice, 121 CHAPTER XIV. PLAIN CAKES. General Directions for Making Cake. Rose Butter. Directions for Cleansing Currants. Frosting for Cake. Cake Frosting (another, which is harder). Good Child’s Cake. Ginger Snaps. Child’s Feather Cake. Best Molasses Gingerbread. Sponge Gingerbread. Cider Cake. Cup Cake without Eggs. Cream Cake without Eggs. Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs. Fruit Cake without Eggs. Drop Cake. Sugar Gingerbread (rich). Sugar Gingerbread (plainer). Sponge Cake. Bridget’s Bread Cake (excellent). Doughnuts. Cookies (plain). French Cake. Walnut Hill’s Doughnuts. Cocoanut Cup Cake. Cocoanut Sponge Cake. Lemon Cake.—No. 1. Gingernuts. Honey Cake. New Year’s Cookies. Boston Cream Cake. Almond, Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake. Caraway Cakes. Fruit Drop Cakes. Dr. B.’s Loaf Cake. Fancy Cakes. Fried Curd Cakes. Wine Cake. Egg Rusk. Citron Tea Cakes. French Biscuit (Mrs. Dr. C.), 130 CHAPTER XV. RICH CAKES. Old Hartford Election Cake (100 years old). Raised Loaf Cake. Mrs. H.’s Raised Wedding Cake (very fine). Yeast for the above Cake. Fruit Cake, or Black Cake. Pound Cake. French Loaf Cake. Portugal Cake. Golden Cake. Silver Cake. Shrewsbury Cake. Queen’s Cake. Crullars. Lemon Cake.—No. 2. Almond Cake. Lemon Drop Cakes. Jelly Cake. Cocoanut x Drops. Sugar Drops, 146 CHAPTER XVI. PRESERVES AND JELLIES. General Directions for making Preserves and Jellies. To Clarify Syrup for Sweetmeats. Brandy Peaches. Peaches (not very rich). Peaches (very elegant). To preserve Quinces Whole. Quince Jelly. Calf’s Foot Jelly. To preserve Apples. Pear. Pineapple (very fine). Purple Plum.—No. 1. To preserve Oranges. Purple Plum.—No. 2. White, or Green Plum. Citron Melon. Strawberries. Blackberry Jam. To preserve Currants to eat with Meat. Cherries. Currants. Raspberry Jam.—No. 1. Raspberry Jam.—No. 2. Currant Jelly. Quince Marmalade. Preserved Watermelon Rinds. Preserved Pumpkin, 153 CHAPTER XVII. PICKLES. To Pickle Tomatoes. To Pickle Peaches. To Pickle Peppers. To Pickle Nasturtions. To Pickle Onions. To Pickle Gherkins. To Pickle Mushrooms. To Pickle Cucumbers. Pickled Walnuts. Mangoes. Fine Pickled Cabbage. An excellent Way of Preparing Tomatoes to eat with Meat. To Pickle Martinoes. A convenient Way to Pickle Cucumbers. Indiana Pickles. To Pickle Cauliflower, or Brocoli, 165 CHAPTER XVIII. ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS AND EVENING PARTIES. Ice Cream. Directions for freezing Ice Cream. Philadelphia Ice Cream. Another Ice Cream. Strawberry Ice Cream. Ice Cream without Cream. Fruit Ice Cream. Rich Custards. Wine Cream Custard. Almond Custard. A Cream for Stewed Fruit. Currant, Raspberry, or Strawberry Whisk. Lemonade Ice, and other Ices. Lemon and Orange Cream. Vanilla Cream. A Charlotte Russe. A Plainer Charlotte Russe. A Superior Omelette Souflée. Almond Cheese Cake. Flummery. Chicken Salad. Gelatine, or American Isinglass Jelly. Oranges in Jelly. Jelly Tarts. Sweet Paste Jelly Tarts. An Apple Lemon Pudding. Buttermilk Pop. Wheat Flour Blanc Mange. Orange Marmalade. A simple Lemon Jelly (easily made). Cranberry. Fruits Preserved without Cooking. Apple Ice (very fine). Lemon, or Orange Ice Cream. Cream Tarts. Whip Syllabub. Trifles. Nothings. Apple Snow. Iced Fruit. Ornamental Froth. To Clarify Isinglass. Blanc Mange. Calf’s Foot Blanc Mange. Variegated xi Blanc Mange. Jaune Mange. Ivory Dust Jelly. Apple Jelly. Another Lemon Jelly. Orange Jelly. Floating Island. Another Syllabub. An Ornamental Dish. Carrageen Blanc Mange (Irish Moss). A Dish of Snow. To Clarify Sugar. To Prepare Sugar for Candies. Sugar Kisses. Almond Macaroons. Filbert Macaroons. Cocoanut Drops. Candied Fruits. Another Way. To make an Ornamental Pyramid for a Table, 165 CHAPTER XIX. TEMPERANCE DRINKS. Ginger Beer Powders, and Soda Powders. Currant Ice Water. Sarsaparilla Mead. Effervescing Fruit Drinks. Effervescing Jelly Drinks. Summer Beverage. Simple Ginger Beer. Orange, or Lemon Syrup. Acid Fruit Syrups. Imitation Lemon Syrup. Superior Ginger Beer. Lemon Sherbet. Orange Sherbet. Sham Champagne. Coffee. Fish Skin for Coffee. Chocolate. Cocoa and Shells. Tea. Ochra. Children’s Drinks. White Tea. Boy’s Coffee. Strawberry Vinegar. Royal Strawberry Acid. Delicious Milk Lemonade. Portable Lemonade, 183 CHAPTER XX. RECEIPTS FOR FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. General Remarks on the Preparation of Articles for the Sick. An Excellent Relish for a Convalescent. Several Ways of Preparing Chickens for the Sick. Milk Porridge. Rice Gruel, and Oatmeal Gruel. Arrowroot and Tapioca Gruels. Dropped Egg. Wheat Gruel for Young Children with weak stomachs, or for Invalids. Another Panada. Herb Drinks. Other Simple Drinks. Cream Tartar Whey. Simple Wine Whey. A great Favorite with Invalids. A New Way of making Barley Water. Panada. Arrowroot Blanc Mange. Rice Flour Blanc Mange. Another Receipt for American Isinglass Jelly. Tapioca Jelly. Caudle. Sago Jelly. Spiced Chocolate. Barley Water. Water Gruel. Beef Tea. Tomato Syrup. Arrowroot Custard for Invalids. Sago for Invalids. Rice Jelly. Sassafras Jelly. Buttermilk Whey. Alum Whey. Another Wine Whey. Mulled Wine. Tamarind Whey. Egg Tea and Egg Coffee (very fine). Cranberry Tea. Apple Tea. Egg and Milk. Sago Milk. Tapioca Milk. Bread and Milk. Egg Gruel. Ground Rice Gruel. Oatmeal Gruel. Simple Barley Water. Compound Barley Water. Cream Tartar Beverage. Seidlitz Powders. Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and Summer Complaint. Remarks on the Combinations of Cooking, 191 CHAPTER XXI. ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. Articles used in Making Cheese. Mode of Preparing the Rennet. To Make Cheese. To Scald the Curd. Directions for making xii Butter, 204 CHAPTER XXII. ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK, 209 CHAPTER XXIII. THE PROVIDING AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES, 217 CHAPTER XXIV. SUGGESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO PROVIDING A SUCCESSIVE VARIETY OF FOOD. Directions for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables, 223 CHAPTER XXV. ON BREAD MAKING, 227 CHAPTER XXVI. DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER AND EVENING PARTIES. Setting the Table. Taking up the Dinner. Tea Parties and Evening Company, 234 CHAPTER XXVII. ON SETTING TABLES, AND PREPARING VARIOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD FOR THE TABLE, 243 CHAPTER XXVIII. ON SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, AND MODE OF DOING WORK. Directions for the Cook. Directions for the Chambermaid. Odds xiii and Ends, 247 CHAPTER XXIX. ON A PROPER SUPPLY OF UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES FOR HOUSEKEEPING. Kitchen Furniture, 252 CHAPTER XXX. SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO HIRED SERVICE, 269 CHAPTER XXXI. ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES, 273 CHAPTER XXXII. WORDS OF COMFORT FOR A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER, 276 CHAPTER XXXIII. FRIENDLY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS, 280 CHAPTER XXXIV. MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND SUPPLEMENTARY RECEIPTS. Weights and Measures. Avoirdupois Weight. Apothecaries’ Weight. On Purchasing Wood. Items of Advice. To make nice Crayons for Blackboards. Some excellent Cheap Dishes. Stewed Beef. Tomato Beef. A good Way to use Cold Rice. To prepare Good Toast. A Good Pudding. Loaf Pudding. A Plain Lemon Pudding. An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs. Pork and Potato Balls. Oyster Pie. Green Corn Patties (like Oysters). Ohio Wedding Cake (Mrs. K.). Best Way of making Corn Cakes of all Sorts. Molasses Candy. To make Simple Cerate. Best Remedy for Burns. Ginger Tea. Indian Bannock. Egg and Bread. Floating Island. A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers, 283

xiv

1

THE

DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH.

A work has recently been republished in this country, entitled, “ A Treatise on Food and Diet; by Dr. J. Pereira. Edited by Dr. Charles A. Lee .” “The author of this work,” says Dr. Lee, “is well known throughout Europe and America, as one of the most learned, scientific, and practical men of the age;—a physician of great experience and accurate observation, and a highly successful writer. To the medical profession he is most favorably known as the author of the best work on the Materia Medica which has appeared in our language.”

This work contains the principles discovered by Leibig, Dûmas, and Brossingault, and applies them practically to the subject of the proper selection of food. All the opinions, expressed in what follows, are sanctioned by the above work, by Dr. Combe, and by most of the distinguished practitioners of our age and country.

In selecting food, with reference to health, the following principles must be borne in mind.

First, that there are general rules in regard to healthful food and drink, which have been established, not by a few, but by thousands and thousands of experiments, through many ages, and in an immense variety of circumstances. It is these great principles, which must2 be the main dependance of every mother and housekeeper, to guide her in selecting healthful food and drinks for her children and family. These rules are furnished by medical writers and practitioners.

Secondly, there are occasional exceptions to these general rules, and when such occur, two errors should be avoided. One is, giving up all confidence in the deductions of a wide experience, established by extensive experiments, and assuming that we have no rules at all, and that every person must follow the guidance of mere appetite, or his own limited experience. The other is, making the exception into a general rule, and maintaining that every person must conform to it.

For example, it is found by general experience, that milk is a very safe and healthful article of food, and that alcoholic drinks are very unhealthful. But there are cases which seem to be exceptions to this rule; for some children never can eat milk without being made sick, and there are cases known where men have lived to a very advanced age and in perfect health, who have daily used alcoholic drinks, even to the point of intoxication.

Still, it is very unwise to throw away the general rule and say, that it is just as well for children to drink alcoholic drinks as to use milk,—and as unwise to claim that every person must give up the use of milk because a few are injured by it.

The true method is, to take the general rules obtained by abundant experience for our guide, and when any exceptions are found, to regard them as exceptions, which do not vacate the general rule, nor make it needful to conform all other cases to this exception.

It will be the object of what follows, to point out the general rules, which are to regulate in the selection of drinks and diet, leaving it to each individual to ascertain, by experiments, what are, and what are not the exceptions.

In the first place, then, it is a general rule that man needs a variety of aliment, so that it is unfavorable to health to be confined to only one kind of food.

The various textures of the human body are com3posed of chemical compounds, which differ from each other, both as to ingredients, and as to modes of combination. It is true, that every portion of the body may be resolved to a few simple elements, of which oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen are the chief. But the bodily organs have not the power of forming all the various animal tissues from these simple elements. Instead of this, they must be introduced into the body in various complex and different combinations, as they exist in the forms of gluten, fibrine, albumen, caseine, and other animal and vegetable compounds.

Thus the sugar, starch, and oils, found in certain kinds of food, supply the carbon which sustain the combustion ever carried on in the lungs by the process of breathing, and which is the grand source of animal heat. On the contrary, the blood, muscles, skin, cartilages, and other parts of the body, are daily nourished and renewed, some by the gluten contained in wheat, others by the albumen of eggs, others by the caseine of milk, and others by the fibrine of animals. All these are found in a great variety of articles used as food. When received into the stomach, the organs of digestion and assimilation prepare, and then carry them, each to its own appropriate organ, and then the excreting organs throw off the surplus.

In order, then, to have every portion of the body properly developed, it is necessary to take such a variety of food, that from one source or another, every organ of the body shall be sustained by its appropriate nourishment. The experiments which prove this, have been conducted on a great scale, and the method and results are detailed in the work of Dr. Pereira.

This fact exhibits one cause of the craving, sometimes felt for certain kinds of food, which usually is the call of nature for some ingredient, that the daily round of aliment does not supply. The statistics furnished in the work of Dr. Pereira, from various armies, prisons, almshouses, and asylums, show, that, where many hundreds are fed on the same diet, the general health of the multitude is better sustained by a considerable variety and4 occasional changes, than by a more restricted selection. Experiments on dogs and other animals, also, have been tried on a large scale, which prove that there is no kind of food, which, alone, will preserve full and perfect health; while every kind (except the food containing gluten, which is the chief ingredient of wheat and other bread-stuffs), when given exclusively, eventually destroys life. The exclusive use of wheat bread and potatoes, as found by experiment, will sustain life and health more perfectly, for a great length of time, than any other kinds of food.

The above fact is a striking exhibition of the beneficence of Providence, in providing such an immense variety of articles of food. And no less so is the instinct of appetite, which demands not only a variety, but is wearied with one unchanging round.

Having ascertained that it is needful to health, that a due variety of food should be secured, we next proceed to examine the principles that are to guide us in the selection.

It is found that the articles used for food and drink may be arranged in the following classes:—

First, articles that furnish no other stimulation to the animal functions than is secured by the fresh supply of nutrition. All food that nourishes the body, in one sense, may be called stimulating, inasmuch as it imparts renewed energies to the various bodily functions. In this sense even bread is a stimulant. But the more common idea attached to the word stimulant is, that it is a principle which imparts a speed and energy to the organs of the system above the ordinary point secured by perfect and appropriate nourishment. The first class, then, are those articles that serve to nourish and develop perfectly every animal function, but do not increase the strength and speed of organic action above the point of full nourishment. The bread-stuffs, vegetables, fruits, sugar, salt, acid drinks, and water are of this class.

Secondly, those articles, which serve to nourish perfectly all the animal system, and at the same time increase the strength and speed of all functional action.5 All animal food is of this class. All physiologists and medical men agree in the fact, that the pulse and all the organs of the body, are not only nourished, but are quickened in action by animal food, while speed and force are reduced by confining the diet to farinaceous, vegetable, and fruit diet.

Thirdly, those articles which impart no nourishment at all to the body, but act solely to stimulate all the organs to preternatural action. Alcoholic drinks, condiments, and aromatic oils are of this description.

Fourthly, articles that are neither nourishing nor stimulating, but pass out of the system entirely undigested and unassimilated. The bran of coarse bread is an example.

Fifthly, articles that, either from their nature or modes of combination and cooking, are difficult of digestion, unhealthful, and, of course, tend to weaken the organic powers by excessive or unnatural action. Animal oils, either cooked or rancid, and many articles badly cooked, are of this kind.

NOURISHING AND UNSTIMULATING FOOD.

The following presents a list of the articles which are found to be healthful and nourishing, and not stimulating, except as they supply the nourishment needed by the various bodily functions.

The first and most important of these are called the farinaceous substances. Of these, wheat stands at the head, as the most nutritive, safe, and acceptable diet to all classes and in all circumstances. This can be used in the form of bread, every day, through a whole life, without cloying the appetite, and to an extent which can be said of no other food.

Wheat is prepared in several forms, the principal of which are the common Fine Wheat Flour, the Unbolted, or Graham Flour, and Macaroni, Vermicelli, and Cagliari Pastes. The last are flour paste prepared, or cut into various shapes and dried.

Wheat flour is made into bread of two kinds, the fer6mented, or spongy breads, and the unfermented, or hard breads.

The spongy breads are made by using either yeast, or the combination of an acid and alkali. In yeast bread, the fermentation of the particles of diffused yeast evolve carbonic acid. This expands the flour in a spongy form, in which it is retained by the tenacity of the gluten of the flour, until baking hardens it. Corn meal and some other bread-stuffs cannot be raised thus, because they do not contain gluten sufficient to hold the carbonic acid as it evolves.

When an alkali and acid are used to raise bread, their combination evolves carbonic acid by a more sudden process than the yeast fermentation. The lightness produced by eggs is owing to their adhesive porosity when beaten and mixed with flour and baked.

Bread is also made of rice, rye, Indian meal, and barley. These varieties of bread-stuffs are useful in various ways. In cases when persons are troubled with looseness of bowels, rice bread, rice gruel, and rice water for drink, prevent the necessity of resorting to medicine. In cases where the opposite difficulty exists, a diet of unbolted wheat, or rye mush with salt and molasses will remedy the evil. These articles also can, all of them, be formed into a great variety of combinations that are at once healthful, and acceptable to the palate.

The next class of healthful and unstimulating articles are the amylaceous, or starchy articles of diet. Of these Sago, Tapioca, Arrow Root, and the Lichens, are those in most frequent use. These are nourishing and remarkably easy of digestion. They are very much used for invalids, and for young children when first weaned.

The next most valuable articles of food are the vegetables. Of these the Potato is at once the most healthful, and most universally relished. In the form of Starch, it makes, when cooked, a light and agreeable article for the sick, and is convenient to housekeepers as forming a fine minute pudding to meet an emergency.

Of the great variety of vegetables that are furnished at market, or from our gardens, almost all are palatable7 and healthful to a stomach that is strong. Peas, Beans, Onions, and cooked Cabbage and Turnips, usually are not good for persons whose powers of digestion have been weakened.

The next most valuable articles of food are the Fruits. Almost all kinds of fruit, when fully ripe, are healthful to those who are not suffering from weakness of digestion. Grapes, Apples, Peaches, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Currants, are least likely to prove injurious. The skins and seeds of all fruits consist of woody matter, that is perfectly undigestible, and should never be taken in large quantities. It is the skins and seeds of the grape that make raisins so often injurious to young children. If the skins and stones can be removed, nothing can be found that is more safe and healthful, in moderate quantities, than raisins and grapes.

The next articles of healthful unstimulating food are the Saccharine substances, Sugar, Molasses, and Honey. On this point, Dr. Pereira remarks, “The injurious effects which have been ascribed to sugar are more imaginary than real. The fondness of children for saccharine substances may be regarded as a natural instinct; since nature, by placing it in the mother’s milk, evidently intended it to form a part of their nourishment. Instead, therefore, of repressing this appetite for sugar, it ought rather to be gratified in moderation. The popular notion, of its having a tendency to injure the teeth, is totally unfounded. During the sugar season of the West Indies, every negro on the plantations, every animal, and even the dogs, grow fat. And no people on earth have finer teeth than the negroes of Jamaica. It is probable that this erroneous notion has been propagated by frugal housewives, in order to deter children from indulging in an expensive luxury. Sugar is readily digested by a healthy stomach. In dyspeptics, it is apt to give rise to flatulence and acidity of stomach.”

These remarks, without other considerations, may lead to erroneous conclusions. There is no doubt that both children and adults are often injured by the use of sugar, but it is not because it is unhealthful in its nature, but8 because it is used in excess or in an improper manner. In the “Domestic Economy,” pg. 105, it is shown that highly concentrated food is not favorable to digestion, because it cannot be properly acted on by the muscular contractions of the stomach, and is not so minutely divided as to enable the gastric juice to act properly. Now Sugar, Candy, and the like, are highly concentrated nourishment, and should not be used except when mixed with other food. The reason, then, why children are injured by sugar is, that they eat it too frequently, in too large quantities, and unmixed with other food. A stick or two of pure candy, eaten with crackers or bread, never would injure any healthy child. It is too often the case, that candies are mixed with unhealthful coloring matter, or with nuts and other oily substances, that make them injurious.

The next article of healthful, unstimulating food, is jellies and preserved fruits. As it has been shown that uncooked fruits and sugar are both healthful, it may not seem surprising that jellies and fruits cooked in sugar, when eaten moderately, with bread or crackers, are regarded as among the most nourishing and healthful of all aliments. When they prove injurious, it is owing either to the fact that they are taken alone, or with rich cream, or else are taken in too great quantities. Eaten moderately, as a part of a meal, they are safe and nourishing to all, except persons of poor digestion. Healthful stomachs need not be governed by rules demanded by the invalid, which has too often been attempted.

The preceding presents a vast variety of articles suitable for food, containing in abundance all the principles demanded for the perfect development of all the animal functions, and which physiologists and medical men unitedly allow to be healthful. These can be combined by the cook in an endless variety of agreeable dishes, involving no risk to a healthful stomach, when taken in proper quantities and in a proper time and manner.

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NOURISHING AND STIMULATING FOOD.

The second general division of food, embraces articles which serve perfectly to nourish and develop every animal organ, but, at the same time, increase the speed and strength of all functional action beyond the point which is attained by the system, when fully and perfectly nourished by vegetables, fruits, and bread-stuffs. There is no dispute among physiologists and physicians as to the fact, that animal food produces chyle which is more stimulating to the various organs, than that which is formed from an exclusive vegetable diet. The only question debated is, whether this increase of stimulus is favorable, or unfavorable to health and long life.

Those who maintain that it is unfavorable, say, that all other things being equal, that machine must wear out the soonest which works the fastest; that, it is proved, both by analysis and by facts, that a vegetable diet contains every principle needed for the perfect development of the whole bodily system, as much so as animal food; and that the only difference is the stimulation in the animal food, which makes the system work faster, and of course, wear out sooner.

To this it is replied, that the exact point of stimulation, which is most safe and healthful, cannot be determined, and that it is as correct to assume, that to be the proper medium, which is secured by a mixed diet, as to assume that the proper point is that, which is secured by an exclusive vegetable diet. Moreover, the fact that the teeth and digestive organs of man, which seem to be fitted both for vegetable and animal food, and the fact that the supplies of food on the earth make it needful to adopt sometimes animal, and sometimes vegetable diet, and sometimes a mixture of both, furnish an à priori argument in favor of a mixed diet.

In deciding which kinds of animal food are most healthful, several particulars are to be regarded. The flesh of young animals is more tender than that of the old ones, but yet they usually are not so easily digested. Beef, and Mutton, and Venison, when tender, are con10sidered the meats which are most easily digested, and best for weak stomachs. Venison is more stimulating than Beef and Mutton. These meats, when tough, are not so easily digested as when tender.

All meats are made more tender and digestible by hanging.

Solid meats, properly cooked, are more easily digested than soups and broths. For it is found that these liquids are never digested till the water is absorbed, leaving a solid mass more undigestible than was the solid meat. When useful to invalids, it is because they supply the loss of the withdrawn fluids of the body, but not because more easily digested. The white meats, such as Chicken and Veal, are best for invalids, because less stimulating than dark meats.

Liver contains so much oil that it is not good for invalids or dyspeptics.

The digestibility and healthfulness of meat depends very much upon the mode of cooking. Boiled meats are most easily digested, when properly boiled. Roasting, broiling, and baking, are healthful modes of cooking, but frying is a very pernicious mode of preparing meats, the reason of which will be explained hereafter.

Though there is a disagreement of opinion among practitioners and physiologists, as to the propriety of using any animal food, they are all agreed in regard to certain general principles that should regulate its use. They are as follows:—Less animal food should be used in warm climates than in cold, and less, also, in summer than in winter. The reason of this is, that heat is stimulating to the system, and as meat diet is also stimulating, when heat increases, meat, as a diet, should decrease, or fevers may ensue.

Another principle is, that the proportions of meat diet should depend somewhat on the constitution and circumstances. When a person is of full habit, or inclined to inflammatory attacks of any kind, the proportion of animal food should be much less than in other cases.

On the contrary, when there is a state of the system11 that demands gentle stimulus, an increase of meat diet is sometimes useful.

Persons subject to cutaneous eruptions are sometimes entirely cured by long abstinence from animal food, and all kinds of oily substances.

FOOD THAT STIMULATES WITHOUT NOURISHING.

The articles which come under this head, are usually called the condiments. In regard to these, Dr. Pereira remarks,—

“The relish for flavoring, or seasoning ingredients, manifested by almost every person, would lead us to suppose that these substances serve some useful purpose beyond that of merely gratifying the palate. At present, however, we have no evidence that they do. They stimulate, but do not seem to nourish. The volatile oil they contain is absorbed, and then thrown out of the system, still possessing its characteristic odor.”

The articles used for food of this kind, are the sweet herbs employed for seasoning, such as Thyme, Summer Savory, and the like, and the spices, such as Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and Ginger. Mustard, Horseradish, Water Cresses, Garlic, and Onions, contain these stimulating oils, combined with some nourishing food.

“Condiments,” says Dr. Beaumont, “particularly those of a spicy kind, are non-essential to the process of digestion in a healthy state of the system. They afford no nutrition. Though they may assist the action of a debilitate stomach for a time, their continual use never fails to produce an indirect debility of that organ. They affect it as alcohol and other stimulants do—the present relief afforded is at the expense of future suffering. Salt and Vinegar are exceptions when used in moderation. They both assist in digestion, Vinegar by rendering muscular fibre more tender, and both together, by producing a fluid having some analogy to the gastric juice.”

FOOD THAT IS ENTIRELY UNDIGESTIBLE.

There is no kind of food used which consists exclusively of indigestible matter. But it often is the case,12 that a certain amount of indigestible matter is mixed with nourishing food, and serves, by its mechanical aid, to promote the healthful action of the stomach and bowels. This is the reason why unbolted flour is deemed more healthful than fine flour, and is consequently preferred for dyspeptics. But where there is too great a quantity of such indigestible matter, or where it is not properly combined with digestible food, it proves injurious and often dangerous. This is the case when the skins and seeds of fruits are swallowed, which always pass off entirely undigested.

FOOD THAT IS UNHEALTHFUL IN NATURE, OR MADE SO BY COOKING.

The most injurious food, of any in common use, is the animal oils, and articles cooked with them. On this subject, Dr. Pereira remarks:—“Fixed oil, or fat, is more difficult of digestion, and more obnoxious to the stomach, than any other alimentary principle. Indeed, in concealed forms, I believe it will be found to be the offending ingredient in nine-tenths of the dishes which disturb weak stomachs. Many dyspeptics who avoid fat meat, butter, and oil, unwittingly eat it in some concealed form. Liver, the yolk of eggs, and brains, such individuals should eschew, as they abound in oily matter.”

“The influence of heat on fatty substances effects chemical changes, whereby they are rendered more difficult of digestion, and more obnoxious to the stomach. Hence those culinary operations in which fat or oil is subjected to high temperatures, are objectionable.”

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“Fixed oils give off, while boiling, carbonic acid, an inflammable vapor, and an acrid oil, called Acroleon, while the fatty acids of the oil are, in part, set free. It has always appeared to me that cooked butter proves more obnoxious to the stomach than cooked Olive oil. This I ascribe to the facility with which, under the influence of heat, the acrid, volatile acids of butter are set free. The fat of salt pork and bacon is less injurious to some dyspeptics than fresh animal fats. This must depend on some change effected by curing.”

“In many dyspeptics, fat does not become properly chymified. It floats on the stomach in the form of an oily pellicle, becoming odorous, and sometimes highly rancid, and in this state excites heartburn, disagreeable nausea, eructations, and sometimes vomiting. It appears to me, that the greater tendency which some oily substances have than others to disturb the stomach, depends on the greater facility with which they evolve volatile, fatty acids, which are for the most part exceedingly acrid and irritating. The distressing feelings excited in many dyspeptics by mutton fat, butter, and fish oils, are, in this way, readily accounted for. Butter contains no less than three volatile, fatty acids, namely—the butyric, capric, and capröic. Fats, by exposure to the air, become rancid, and in this state are exceedingly obnoxious to the digestive organs. Their injurious qualities depend on the presence of volatile acids, and in part also on non-acid substances.”

These statements show the reasons why the fried food of all kinds is injurious. Fat is an unhealthful aliment, and when heated becomes still more so. This mode of cooking, then, should be given up by every housekeeper, who intends to take all reasonable means of preserving the health of her family. There are an abundance of other modes of preparing food, without resorting to one which involves danger, especially to children and invalids, whose powers of digestion are feeble.

The most common modes of preparing unhealthful food, is by frying food, and by furnishing bread that is heavy, or sour, or so newly baked, as to become clammy and indigestible when chewed. Though there are many stomachs that can for a long time take such food without trouble, it always is injurious to weak stomachs, and often renders a healthful stomach a weak one. A housekeeper that will always keep a supply of sweet, light bread on her table, and avoid oily dishes, oily cooking, and condiments, will double the chances of good health for her family.

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Minuteness of division is a great aid to easy digestion. For this reason food should be well chewed before swallowing, not only to divide it minutely, but to mix it with the saliva, which aids in digestion.

The cooking of food, in most cases, does not alter its nature; it only renders it more tender, and thus more easily divided and digested.

When a person is feverish and loathes food, it should never be given, as the stomach has not sufficient gastric juice to secure its digestion. The practice of tempting the sick by favorite articles, should therefore be avoided.

LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS.

“Water” says Dr. Pereira, “is probably the natural drink of all adults. It serves several important purposes in the animal economy:—firstly, it repairs the loss of the aqueous part of the blood, caused by evaporation, and the action of the secreting and exhaling organs; secondly, it is a solvent of various alimentary substances, and, therefore, assists the stomach in digestion, though, if taken in very large quantities, it may have an opposite effect, by diluting the gastric juice; thirdly, it is a nutritive agent, that is, it assists in the formation of the solid parts of the body.”

The health of communities and of individuals is often affected by the nature of the water used for drink, and it is therefore important to know how to secure pure and good water.

Rain water is the purest of all water, purer than the best spring water. Of course every person who fears that the water used is the cause of any evil, can obtain that which is known to be pure and good. The cheapest mode of obtaining good rain water, is to have a large cistern dug in the vicinity of some large building, with conducting spouts. This can be lined with water lime, and the water thus obtained, when cooled with ice, is as pure as any that can be found.

A distinguished medical writer, Dr. Cheyne, remarking on the effects of foreign substances in water, states these facts:—

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“At the Nottingham Assizes, July, 1836, it was proved on trial, at which I was a witness, that dysentery, in an aggravated form, was caused in cattle by the use of water contaminated with putrescent vegetable matter, produced by the refuse of a starch manufactory. The fish were destroyed, and all the animals that drank of this water became seriously ill, and many died. It was shown, also, that the mortality was in proportion to the quantity of starch made at different times, and that when the putrescent matter (of the manufactory) was not allowed to pass to the brook, the fish and frogs returned, and the mortality ceased among the cattle.”

Dr. Barry, an English physician, states, that when the troops at Cork were supplied with water from the river Lee, which, in passing through the city, is rendered unfit for drinking by the influx from sewers, Mr. Bell suspected that a dysentery, prevailing at the time, arose from this cause. Upon assuming the care of the troops, he had a number of water carts to bring water from a spring, and did not allow the use of river water, and very shortly the dysentery disappeared.

Sir James McGregor states, that, at one time in the Spanish war, when during three months 20,000 dead bodies were interred at Ciudad Rodrigo, all those exposed to emanations from the soil, and who were obliged to use water from sunken wells, were affected by low malignant fevers, or dysenteries.

This shows that burying in large towns affects the health of the inhabitants, first by emanations from the soil, and secondly by poisoning the water percolating through that soil.

Many such facts as these, show the importance of keeping wells and cisterns from the drainings of sinks, barn-yards, and from decayed dead animals. And it is probable that much sickness in families and communities has been caused by neglecting to preserve the water pure, that is used for drink and cooking.

Water is sometimes rendered unhealthful by being conducted through lead pipes, or kept in lead reservoirs, or vessels. It is found that the purer the water, the16 more easily it is affected by the lead through which it passes. When the water has certain neutral salts in it, they are deposited on the surface of the lead, and thus protect from its poisonous influence. Immersing a very bright piece of lead for some hours in water, will show whether it is safe to use lead in conducting the water. If the lead is tarnished, it proves that the water exerts a solvent power, and that it is unsafe to employ lead in carrying the water.

The continued use of water containing lead, gives rise to the lead cholic, or painter’s cholic, and if the water is still drank, palsy succeeds. One indication of this disease is a narrow leaden blue line on the edge of the gums of the front teeth.

The following are methods to be employed in purifying water:—

The most thorough and effectual way of obtaining perfectly pure water, from that which is noxious, is, to distill it, collecting only the steam.

In cases where water is injured by the presence of animal or vegetable matter, boiling sometimes removes much of the evil.

Two grains of powdered alum to every quart of water, will often serve to remove many impurities.

Filtering through fine sand and powdered charcoal, removes all animal and vegetable substances which are not held in chemical solution.

Sea water serves both as a cathartic and emetic, and the only mode of obtaining pure water from it is by distillation.

The impure water used often at sea, is owing wholly to the casks in which it is carried. When new, the water imbibes vegetable ingredients from the cask, which become putrid. Water, if carried to sea in iron casks, if good and pure, always continues so. Cistern water is often impure, when held in new wooden cisterns, owing to vegetable matter absorbed by the water.

Dr. Lee remarks,17 “We are satisfied that impure water is more frequently the cause of disease than is generally supposed. It has been thought that decaying vegetable matter, received into the stomach, was innoxious, owing to the antiseptic properties of the gastric juice. But this opinion is evidently erroneous. An immense number of facts could be adduced, to show that this is the frequent cause of disease. The British army ‘Medical Reports,’ and our own Medical Journals, contain many facts of a similar kind. The fever which carried off so many of the United States Dragoons, on a visit to the Pawnees, was occasioned chiefly by drinking stagnant water, filled with animal and vegetable matter. We know that calculus diseases are most frequent in countries that abound in lime water.”

OTHER LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS.

The other drinks in most common use are arranged thus,—

1. The Mucilaginous, Farinaceous, or Saccharine drinks.

These are water chiefly, with substances slightly nutritive, softening, and soothing. Toast water, Sugar water, Rice water, Barley water, and the various Gruels, are of this kind.

2. The Aromatic and Astringent drinks.

These include Tea, Coffee, Chicory, Chocolate, and Cocoa.

The following remarks on these drinks are taken from the work of Dr. Pereira.

“The peculiar flavor of tea depends upon the volatile oil, which has the taste and smell of tea. Alone, it acts as a narcotic, but when combined (as in tea) with tannin, it acts as a diuretic and diaphoretic (i. e. to promote the flow of urine and perspiration). Its astringency, proved by its chemical properties, depends upon the presence of tannin. Of this quality we may beneficially avail ourselves in some cases of poisoning, as by poisonous mushrooms, by opium, or laudanum.”

“The peculiar influence of tea, especially the green variety, over the nervous system, depends upon the vegetable oil referred to. The influence is analogous to18 that of foxglove; for both green tea and foxglove occasion watchfulness, and act as sedatives on the heart and bloodvessels. Strong green tea produces, on some constitutions, usually those popularly known as nervous, very severe effects. It gives rise to tremor, anxiety, sleeplessness, and most distressing feelings.”

“As a diluent and sedative, tea is well adapted to febrile and inflammatory disorders. To its sedative influence should be ascribed the relief of headache sometimes experienced.”

On this subject, Dr. Lee remarks, “Green tea undoubtedly possesses very active medicinal properties; for a very strong decoction of it, or the extract, speedily destroys life in the inferior animals, even when given in very small doses. The strongly marked effects of tea upon persons of a highly nervous temperament, in causing wakefulness, tremors, palpitations, and other distressing feelings, prove, also, that it is an agent of considerable power. It not unfrequently occasions vertigo, and sick headache, together with a sinking sensation at the pit of the stomach, shortly after eating. It is also opposed to active nutrition, and should, therefore, be used with great moderation by those who are thin in flesh. From its astringent properties it often is useful in a relaxed state of bowels.”

“We are satisfied that green tea does not, in any case, form a salubrious beverage to people in health, and should give place to milk, milk and water, black tea, milk and sugar, which, when taken tepid, form very agreeable and healthy drinks.”

Coffee.19 “The infusion, or decoction of coffee, forms a well known favorite beverage. Like tea, it diminishes the disposition to sleep, and hence it is often resorted to by those who desire nocturnal study. It may also be used to counteract the stupor induced by opium, alcoholic drinks, and other narcotics. In some constitutions it acts as a mild laxative, yet it is usually described as producing constipation. The immoderate use of coffee produces various nervous diseases, such as anxiety, tremor, disordered vision, palpitation, and feverishness.”

Chicory, or Succory. This is the roasted root of the Wild Endive, or Wild Succory. It is prepared like coffee, and some prefer its flavor to that of coffee.

Chocolate. This is prepared by roasting the seeds of the Cacoa, or Cocoa, then grinding them and forming them into cakes. “Chocolate, though devoid of the disagreeable qualities of tea and coffee, which disturb the nervous functions, yet is difficult of digestion, on account of the large quantity of oil which it contains, and is, therefore, very apt to disturb the stomach of dyspeptics.”

Cocoa. This is made of the nuts and husks of the cocoa, roasted and ground, and is somewhat less oily than chocolate, and being rather astringent, is adapted to looseness of the bowels. The shells alone are often used to make a drink, which is less rich than the Cocoa, and especially adapted to weak digestive powers.

The seeds of the vegetable called Ochra, roasted and prepared like coffee, are said to equal it in flavor.

3. Acidulous Drinks.

“The employment of vegetable acid, as an aliment, is necessary to health. It seems pretty clearly established, that complete and prolonged abstinence from succulent vegetables, or fruits, or their preserved juices, as articles of food, is a cause of scurvy.”

“Water, sharpened with vegetable acids, oftentimes proves a most refreshing beverage, allaying thirst, and moderating excessive heat. Various acids form cooling, refreshing, and antiscorbutic drinks, and are well adapted for hot seasons, and for febrile and inflammatory cases.”

These drinks are prepared by dissolving vegetable acids or acidulous salts in water, sweetening and flavoring it. Also, by decoctions of acid fruits, which promote secretions in the alimentary canal, and act as laxatives.

The carbonated or effervescing drinks belong to this class. They owe their sparkling briskness to carbonic acid gas confined in the liquid.

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4. Drinks containing Gelatine and Osmazome.

Gelatine is that part of animal and vegetable matter that forms jelly.

Osmazome is that principle in meats which impart their flavor.

Beef Tea, Mutton, Veal, and Chicken Broths are the principal drinks of this description, and usually are prepared for invalids.

5. Emulsive, or Milky Drinks.

Animal milk is the principal drink of this class, and as this is the aliment of a large portion of young children, the necessity of guarding against abuses connected with the supplies furnished should be generally known.

A great portion of the milk furnished in New York and other large cities, is obtained from cows fed on distillery slops, and crowded in filthy pens, without regard to ventilation or cleanliness. Thus deprived of pure air and exercise, and fed with unhealthy food, their milk becomes diseased, and is the cause of extensive mortality among young children. Many cows, also, are fed on decayed vegetables, and the sour and putrid offals of kitchens, and these, also, become thus diseased.

A work on this subject, by R. M. Hartly, Esq., of New York, has been published, which contains these facts. Of five hundred dairies near New York and Brooklyn, all, except five or six, feed their cows on distillery slops. And the reason is, that it yields more milk at a cheaper rate than any other food. But it soon destroys the health of the animals, and after most of their fluids are, by this process, changed to unhealthy milk, and the cows become diseased, they are sent to a cattle market and a new supply obtained.

The physicians in New York, in a body, have testified to the unhealthiness of this practice, but as yet no inspectors have been secured to preserve the public from this danger, while the great mass of the people are ignorant or negligent on the subject. Chemists have analyzed this unhealthful milk, and find that, while pure milk is alkaline, slop milk is acid, and also contains less than half the nourishment contained in pure milk.21 Scarcely any cream rises on slop milk, and what does collect can never be turned into butter; but, by churning, only changes to froth. We have inspectors of flour, meat, fish, and most other food, and every town and city supplied by milk carts ought to have inspectors of milk; and where this is not done, every mistress of a family should narrowly watch her supplies of milk, and ascertain the mode in which the cows are fed.

In cases where children, or adults, find that milk troubles the stomach, it is often owing to its richness, and water should then be mixed with it. Infants generally require diluted milk, a little sweetened, as cow’s milk is, when good, considerably richer than mother’s milk. The fact that oil is placed among the articles most difficult to digest, shows the mistake of many, who give diluted cream instead of milk, supposing it to be better for infants. In all ordinary cases, where an infant is deprived of the mother’s nourishment, the milk of a new milch cow, diluted with one-third, or one-fourth water, and sweetened a little with white sugar, is the safest substitute. Sometimes oat-meal gruel, or arrowroot, are found to agree better with the child’s peculiar constitution.

6. Alcoholic Drinks.

Beer, Wine, Cider, and Distilled Liquors, are the chief of the alcoholic drinks.

“To persons in health,” says Dr. Pereira, in his “Elements of Materia Medica,” “the dietical employment of wine is either useless or pernicious.“ Dr. Beaumont, in his celebrated experiments on St. Martin,1 found that wines, as well as distilled spirits, invariably interfered with the regularity and completeness of digestion, and always produced morbid changes in the mucous membrane of the stomach. And this, too, was the case when neither unpleasant feelings nor diminished appetite indicated such an effect.

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Dr. Bell, of Philadelphia, remarks thus: “The recorded experience of men in all situations and climates, under all kinds of labor and exposure, prove that abstinence from alcoholic drinks gives increased ability to go through the labors of the farm and the workshop, to resist heat and cold, to encounter hardships on sea and land, beyond what has ever been done under the unnatural excitement of alcohol, followed, as it is, by depression and debility, if not by fever and disease. The observation and testimony of naval and military surgeons and commanders are adverse to the issue of alcoholic drinks to men in the army and navy.”

The reports from all our chief state prisons also prove that intemperate men can be instantly deprived of all alcoholic drinks, not only without danger, but with an immediate improvement of the health.

Wine is often useful as a medicine, under the direction of a physician, but its stimulating, alcoholic principle, makes it an improper agent to be drank in health. The same is true of cider and strong beer. Some wine, beer, and cider drinkers do, by the force of a good constitution, live to a good old age, and so do some persons, also, who live in districts infected by a malaria, which destroys the health and life of thousands. But these exceptions do not prove that either wine, or malaria are favorable to health, or long life. They are only exceptions to a general rule.

Meantime, the general rule is established by an incredible amount of experience and testimony, that alcoholic drinks, in no cases, are needed by those in health, and that the indulgence in drinking them awakens a gnawing thirst and longing for them, that leads the vast majority of those who use them, to disease, debility, poverty, folly, crime, and death.

In this detail of the various drinks that may be used by man, we find that pure water is always satisfying, safe, and sufficient. We find that acid and effervescing drinks, so acceptable in hot weather, are also demanded23 by the system, and are safe and healthful. We find that milk and broths are also healthful and nourishing.

Black tea, also, when taken weak and not above blood heat, is a perfectly safe and agreeable warm drink.

Chocolate and cocoa are nourishing and safe to persons who can bear the oil they contain; and shells are perfectly healthful and safe to all.

In the vast variety of drinks provided for man, we find very few that are not safe and healthful. Green tea and coffee, as ordinarily used, are very injurious to very many constitutions. They contain but very little nourishment, except what is added by the milk and sugar, and training a family of children to love them (for no child loves them till trained to do it) is making it probable that all of them will be less healthful and comfortable, and certain that some will be great sufferers. Training children to drink tea and coffee is as unreasonable and unchristian, as training them to drink foxglove and opium would be—the only difference is, that in one case it is customary, and the other it is not; and custom makes a practice appear less foolish and sinful.

There is no need, at this period of the world, to point out the wickedness and folly of training children to love alcoholic drinks.

In regard to the use of green tea and coffee, one suggestion will be offered. These are drinks which contain very little nourishment, and their effect is to stimulate the nervous system without nourishing it. They are, also, usually drank hot, and heat also is a stimulant to the nerves of the mouth, teeth, throat, and stomach, inducing consequent reacting debility. For it is the unvarying law of the nervous system, that the reacting debility is always in exact proportion to the degree of stimulation.

It is in vain to expect that the great multitudes, who have been accustomed, from childhood, to drink hot tea and coffee, once, twice, and sometimes thrice a day, will give up such a favorite practice. But it is hoped that some may be induced to modify their course, by reducing the strength and the heat of their daily potations.24 It will be found by housekeepers that, if once a month the daily quantity of tea, or coffee is slightly reduced, the taste will imperceptibly accommodate; and that, in the course of six or eight months, the habits of a family, by these slight monthly variations, may be changed so as that, eventually, they will love weak tea and coffee as much as they once loved the strong.

Young housekeepers, who are just beginning to rear a family of children, will perhaps permit one plea for the young beings, whose fate in life so much depends on their physical training. It is the weak and delicate children who are the sufferers, where the habits of a family lead them to love stimulating drinks. The strong and healthy children may escape unharmed, the whole evil falls on those, who are least able to bear it. Oh mother, save the weak lambs of your fold! Save them from those untold agonies that result from rasped and debilitated nerves, worn out by unhealthful stimulus! And set before your household the Divine injunction—“We, then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

In regard to the selection of food, a housekeeper can have small excuse for ever risking the health of her family by providing unhealthy food, or cooking it in an unhealthful manner. Innumerable dishes, and enough to furnish a new variety for every day of the year, can be made of food that is safe and healthful, and cooked in a healthful manner.

Avoid condiments, fats, and food cooked in fats, and always provide light and sweet yeast bread, is the rule which shuts out almost everything that is pernicious to health, and leaves an immense variety from which to select what is both healthful and grateful to the palate.

There are some directions in regard to times and manner of taking food, that are given more at large, with the reasons for them, in the “Domestic Economy,” but which will briefly be referred to, because so important.

Eating too fast is unhealthful, because the food is not properly masticated, or mixed with the saliva, nor has25 the stomach sufficient time to perform its office on the last portion swallowed before another enters.

Eating too often is unhealthful, because it is weakening and injurious to mix fresh food with that which is partly digested, and because the stomach needs rest after the labor of digesting a meal. In grown persons four or five hours should intervene between each meal. Children, who are growing fast, need a luncheon of simple bread between meals.

Eating too much is unhealthful, because the stomach can properly digest only that amount which is needed to nourish the system. The rest is thrown off undigested, or crowded into parts of the system where it is injurious.

Eating food when too hot is injurious, as weakening the nerves of the teeth and stomach by the stimulus of heat.

Eating highly seasoned food is unhealthful, because it stimulates too much, provokes the appetite too much, and often is indigestible.

Badly cooked food is unhealthful, because it is indigestible, and in other ways injurious.

Excessive fatigue weakens the power of digestion, and in such cases, a meal should be delayed till a little rest is gained.

Bathing should never follow a meal, as it withdraws the blood and nervous vigor demanded for digestion, from the stomach to the skin.

Violent exercise should not follow a full meal, as that also withdraws the blood and nervous energies from the stomach to the muscles.

Water, and other drinks, should never be taken in large quantities, either with, or immediately after a meal, as they dilute the gastric juice, and tend to prevent perfect digestion. But it is proper to drink a moderate quantity of liquid while eating.

Where there is a strong constitution and much exercise in the open air, children and adults may sometimes violate these and all other laws of health, and yet remain strong and well.

But all, and especially those, who have delicate con26stitutions, and are deprived of fresh air and exercise, will have health and strength increased and prolonged by attending to these rules.

CHAPTER II.

MARKETING—CARE AND USES OF MEATS.

Beef.

1. Cheek. 2. Neck. 3. Chuck Rib, or Shoulder having four Ribs. 4. Front of the Shoulder, or Shoulder Clod, sometimes called Brisket. 5. Back of the Shoulder. 6. Fore Shin, or Leg. 7,7. Plate pieces; the front one is the Brisket, and the back one is the Flank, and is divided again into the Thick Flank, or Upper Sirloin, and the Lower Flank. 8. Standing Ribs, divided into First, Second, and Third Cuts. The First Cut is next to the Sirloin, and is the best. 9. Sirloin. 10. Sirloin Steak. 11. Rump, or Etch Bone. 12. Round, or Buttock. 13. Leg, or Hind Shank.

Veal.

1. Head and Pluck. 2. Rack and Neck. 3. Shoulder. 4. Fore Shank, or Knuckle. 5. Breast. 6. Loin. 7. Fillet, or Leg. 8. Hind Shank, or Knuckle.

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Mutton.

1. Shoulder. 2, 2. Neck, or Rack. 3. Loin. 4. Leg. 5. Breast.

A Chine is two Loins.

A Saddle of Mutton is two Legs and two Loins.

Pork.

1. Leg. 2. Hind Loin. 3. Fore Loin. 4. Spare Rib. 5. Hand. 6. Spring.

A Lamb is divided into two fore quarters and two hind quarters.

Venison. In this country nothing is used but the hind quarter. Two legs and two loins are called a Saddle.

SELECTION AND USES OF MEATS.

In selecting beef, the best parts are cut from the thick portion, from the shoulder to the rump, and these are the most expensive parts, including sirloin, sirloin steaks, and first, second, and third cuts of the fore quarter. The best steaks are made by sawing up these pieces. Steaks from the round or buttock are tougher and not so sweet as steaks from rib pieces. The best steaks are from the sirloin and sirloin steak. Steaks that have large bits of bone should be cheaper, as the bone is so28 much loss. A roasting piece cut close to the fore shoulder is always tough and poor. Tough steaks must be pounded with a steak hammer.

MODES OF COOKING AND USING THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF ANIMALS.

Beef.

The Sirloin is to be roasted, and it is considered the best piece for steaks. The piece next forward of the Sirloin is about as good as any for roasting.

The Rump is to be corned, or cooked à la mode.

The Round is used for corning, or à la mode.

The Edge or Etch Bone is corned, or for soup.

The Hock or Shin is used for soups.

The Rib pieces of the fore quarter are used as roasting pieces. The first cut, which is next the Sirloin, is the best, and the others are better for corning.

The Head is used for mince pies, and the Tongue for smoking. The Legs are used for soups.

The remaining pieces are used for salting down, stews, soups, and mince pies, according to various tastes.

The Tallow is to be tried up for candles.

Veal.

The Loin is used for roasting.

The Fillet (which is the leg and hind flank) is used for cutlets, or to stuff and boil, or to stuff and roast.

The Chump end of the loin is used for roasting.

The Knuckles are used for broths.

The Neck is used for stews, pot pies, and broths, as are most of the remaining pieces.

Many persons roast the fore quarter, which is divided into two pieces, called the brisket, or breast, and the rack.

Mutton.

The Leg is boiled, or stuffed and roasted.

The Loin is roasted.

The rest are for boiling, or corning.

The Loin is chopped into pieces for broiling, called Mutton Chops.

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The Leg is often cut into slices and broiled.

Many cure and smoke the leg, and call it smoked venison.

Pork.

The Shoulder and Ham are used for smoking.

The Spare Rib is used for roasting, and often is used as including all the ribs.

The Shoulder sometimes is corned and boiled.

That which is to be salted down must have all the lean taken out, which is to be used for sausages, or broiling.

The Feet use for jelly, head cheese, and souse.

MARKETING.

In selecting Fish, take those that are firm and thick, having stiff fins and bright scales, the gills bright red, and the eyes full and prominent. When Fish are long out of water they grow soft, the fins bend easily, the scales are dim, the gills grow dark, and the eyes sink and shrink away. Be sure and have them dressed immediately, sprinkle them with salt, and use them, if possible, the same day. In warm weather put them in ice, or corning, for the next day. Shell Fish can be decided upon only by the smell. Lobsters are not good unless alive, or else boiled before offered for sale. They are black when alive, and red when boiled. When to be boiled, they are to be put alive into boiling water, which is the quickest and least cruel way to end life.

In selecting Beef, take that which has a coarse, loose grain, which easily yields to the pressure of finger, or knife; which is a purplish red, and has whitish fat. Ox Beef is best. If the lean is purplish and the fat very yellow, it is bad Beef. If it is coarse-grained and hard to break or cut, it is tough. Stall-fed has lighter fat than grass-fed Beef.

If meat is frozen, lay it in cold water to thaw. A piece of ten pounds, or more, will require all night to thaw. Beef and Mutton improve by keeping. Meat is better for not being frozen, except fresh Pork.

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In selecting Veal, take that which is firm and dry, and the joints stiff, having the lean a delicate red, the kidney covered with fat, and the fat very white. If you buy the head, see that the eyes are plump and lively, and not dull and sunk in the head. If you buy the legs, get those which are not skinned, as the skin is good for jelly, or soup.

In choosing Mutton, take that which is bright red and close grain, with firm and white fat. The meat should feel tender and springy on pressure. Notice the vein in the neck of the fore quarter, which should be a fine blue.

In selecting Pork, if young, the lean can easily be broken when pinched, and the skin can be indented by nipping with the fingers. The fat also will be white and soft. Thin rind is best.

In selecting Hams, run a knife along the bone, and if it comes out clean, the ham is good, but if it comes out smeared, it is spoilt. Good Bacon has white fat and the lean adheres closely to the bone. If the Bacon has yellow streaks, it is rusty, and not fit to use.

In selecting Poultry, choose those that are full grown, but not old. When young and fresh killed, the skin is thin and tender, the joints not very stiff, and the eyes full and bright. The breast bone shows the age, as it easily yields to pressure if young, and is tough when old. If young, you can with a pin easily tear the skin. A goose, when old, has red and hairy legs, but when young, they are yellow and have few hairs. The pinfeathers are the roots of feathers, which break off and remain in the skin, and always indicate a young bird. When very neatly dressed they are all pulled out.

Poultry and birds ought to be killed by having the neck cut off, and then hung up by the legs to bleed freely. This makes the flesh white and more healthful.

ON THE CARE OF MEATS.

Beef and Mutton are improved by keeping as long as they remain sweet. If meat begins to taint, wash it31 and rub it with powdered charcoal and it removes the taint. Sometimes rubbing with salt will cure it.

Corn-fed Pork is best. Pork made by still-house slops is almost poisonous, and hogs that live on offal never furnish healthful food.

Measely Pork has kernels in it, and is unhealthful.

A thick skin shows that the Pork is old, and that it requires more time to boil.

If your Pork is very salt, soak it some hours.

Take all the kernels out, that you will find in the round, and thick end of the flank of Beef, and in the fat, and fill the holes with salt. This will preserve it longer.

Salt your meat, in summer, as soon as you receive it.

A pound and a half of salt rubbed into twenty-five pounds of Beef, will corn it so as to last several days, in ordinary warm weather.

Do not let Pork freeze, if you intend to salt it.

Too much saltpetre spoils Beef.

In winter, meat is kept finely, if well packed in snow, without salting.

Directions for cutting up a Hog.

Split the Hog through the spine, take off each half of the head behind the ear, then take off a piece front of the shoulder and next the head, say four or five pounds, for sausages.

Then take out the leaf which lies around the kidneys, for lard.

Then, with a knife, cut out the whole mass of the lean meat, except what belongs to the shoulder and the ham.

Then take off the ham and the shoulder. Then take out all the fat to be used for lard, which is the loose piece, directly in front of the ham.

Next cut off a narrow strip from the spring, or belly, for sausage meat. Cut up the remainder, which is clear Pork, for salting, in four or five strips of nearly equal width. Take off the cheek, or jowl, of the head for smoking with the ham; and use the upper part for boiling, baking, or head cheese.

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The feet are boiled and then fried, or used for jelly. It is most economical to try up the thin flabby pieces for lard to cook with.

The leaf fat try by itself, for the nicest cooking.

Clean all the intestines of the fat for lard. That which does not readily separate from the larger intestines use for soap grease.

Of the insides, the liver, heart, sweet-breads, and kidneys, are sometimes used for broiling or frying. The smaller intestines are used for sausage cases.

In salting down, leave out the bloody and lean portions, and use them for sausages.

To try out Lard.

Take what is called the leaves and take off all the skin, cut it into pieces an inch square, put it into a clean pot over a slow fire, and try it till the scraps look a reddish brown, taking great care not to let it burn, which would spoil the whole. Then strain it through a strong cloth, into a stone pot, and set it away for use.

Take the fat to which the smaller intestines are attached (not the large ones), and the flabby pieces of pork not fit for salting, try these in the same way, and set the fat thus obtained where it will freeze, and by spring the strong taste will be gone, and then it can be used for frying.

Directions for salting down Pork.

Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. Put down one layer of Pork and cover that with salt, half an inch thick. Continue thus till the barrel is full. Then pour in as much strong pickle as the barrel will receive. Always see that the Pork does not rise above the brine. When a white scum, or bloody-looking matter rises on the top, scald the brine and add more salt.

Leave out bloody and lean pieces for sausages.

The Pork ought to be packed as tight as possible, and always kept under the brine. Some use a stone for33 this purpose. In salting down a new supply, take the old brine, boil it down and remove all the scum, and then use it to pour over the Pork.

Mr. H. H.’s Receipt for Curing Hams.

Take an ounce of saltpetre for each ham, and one pint of molasses to every pound of saltpetre.

Then take a quarter of a pound of common salt for every pint of molasses used.

Heat the mixture till it nearly boils, and smear the meat side with it, keeping the mixture hot and rubbing it in well, especially around the bones and recesses.

Let the hams lie after this from four to seven days, according to the size of the hams.

Then place them in a salt pickle, strong enough to bear an egg, for three weeks. Then soak eight hours in fresh water.

Then hang in the kitchen, or other more convenient place, to dry for a fortnight. Then smoke from three to five days, or till well smoked.

Then wrap them up in strong tar paper, tying it close.

Then tie them tight in bags of coarse unbleached cotton, stuffing in shavings, so that no part of the paper touches the cotton. Hang them near the roof in a garret, and they will never give you any trouble.

To prepare Cases for Sausages.

Empty the cases, taking care not to tear them. Wash them thoroughly, and cut into lengths of two yards each. Then take a candle rod, and fastening one end of a case to the top of it, turn the case inside outward. When all are turned, wash very thoroughly and scrape them with a scraper made for the purpose, keeping them in warm water till ready to scrape. Throw them into salt and water to soak till used. It is a very difficult job to scrape them clean without tearing them. When finished they look transparent and very thin.

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Sausage Meat.

Take one-third fat and two-thirds lean pork and chop them, and then to every twelve pounds of meat, add twelve large even spoonfuls of pounded salt, nine of sifted sage, and six of sifted black pepper. Some like a little summer savory. Keep them in a cool and dry place.

Bologna Sausages.

Take equal portions of veal, pork, and ham, chop them fine, season with sweet herbs and pepper, put them in cases, boil them till tender, and then dry them.

Another Receipt for Sausage Meat.

To twenty-five pounds of chopped meat, which should be one-third fat and two-thirds lean, put twenty spoonfuls of sage, twenty-five of salt, ten of pepper, and four of summer savory.

Pickle for Beef, Pork, Tongues, or Hung Beef.

Mix, in four gallons of water, a pound and a half of sugar or molasses, and of saltpetre two ounces. If it is to last a month or two, put in six pounds of salt; if you wish to keep it over the summer, use nine pounds of salt. Boil all together gently, and skim, and then let it cool.

Put the meat in the vessel in which it is to stand, pour the pickle on the meat till it is covered, and keep it for family use.

Once in two months boil and skim the pickle, and throw in two ounces of sugar and half a pound of salt.

When tongues and hung beef are taken out, wash and dry the pieces, put them in paper bags and hang in a dry, warm place. In very hot weather, rub the meat well with salt before it is put in the pickle, and let it lie three hours for the bloody portion to run out. Too much saltpetre is injurious.

Another by measure, and with less trouble.

For every gallon of cold water, use a quart of rock salt, a tablespoon heaping full of saltpetre, six heaping ta35blespoonfuls of brown sugar, and two quarts of blown salt. No boiling is needed; keep it as long as there is salt undissolved at the bottom. When scum rises scald it, and add more sugar, salt, and saltpetre. Keep weights on the meat to keep it under.

In very hot weather fresh meat will often spoil if it is put in cold pickle. At such times put the meat into hot pickle and boil it for twenty minutes, and the meat will keep a month or more. If you save the pickle, add a little more salt to it.

To salt down Beef to keep the year round.

To one hundred pounds of beef, take four quarts of rock salt pounded very fine, four ounces of saltpetre made very fine, four pounds of brown sugar, all well mixed.

Scatter some over the bottom of the barrel, lay down one layer, and over that scatter the proportion of salt belonging to such a portion of the meat, allowing rather the most to the top layers. Pack all down very close, and if any scum should rise, sprinkle a pint or more of salt over the top.

To Cleanse Calf’s Head and Feet.

Wash clean, and sprinkle pounded rosin over the hair, dip in boiling water and take out immediately, and then scrape them clean. Then soak them in water four days, changing the water every day.

To Prepare Rennet.

Take the stomach of a new-killed calf, and do not wash it, as it weakens the gastric juice. Hang it in a cool and dry place five days or so, then turn the inside out and slip off the curds with the hand. Then fill it with salt, with a little saltpetre mixed in, and lay it in a stone pot, pouring on a teaspoonful of vinegar, and sprinkling on a handful of salt. Cover it closely and keep for use.

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After six weeks, take a piece four inches square and put it in a bottle with five gills of cold water and two gills of rose brandy, stop it close, and shake it when you use it. A tablespoonful is enough for a quart of milk.

In boiling meats it is important to keep the water constantly boiling, otherwise the meat will soak up the water.

If it is necessary to add more water, be careful that it be boiling water.

Be careful to remove the scum, especially when it first begins to boil, and a little salt thrown in aids in raising the scum.

Put the meat into cold water, let it heat very gradually forty minutes or so, and reckon the time of boiling from the time it commences boiling. Allow about twenty minutes for boiling for each pound of fresh meat, and twenty-four for salt meats.

Do not let the meat remain long, after it is done, as it injures it. Put a plate in the bottom to prevent the part that touches from cooking too much.

Be sure not to let the fire get hot, so as to make a hard boiling, especially at first. The more gently meat boils the more tender it is, and the more perfectly the savory portion is developed and retained. If the meat is fat, skim it and save the fat for other purposes.

Put salt into the water about in the proportion of a great spoonful to a gallon.

To cook a Ham (very fine).

Boil a common-sized ham four or five hours, then skin the whole and fit it for the table; then set it in an oven for half an hour, then cover it thickly with pounded rusk or bread crumbs, and set it back for half an hour.

Boiled ham is always improved by setting it into an oven for near an hour, till much of the fat fries out, and this also makes it more tender. Save the fat for frying meat.

Smoked Boiled Tongues.

Soak them in cold water all night, then wash them and boil for four or five hours, according to the size. When cooked, take off the skin and garnish with parsley.

À la Mode Beef.

Take a round of beef, cut it full of holes entirely through it, roll strips of raw salt pork in a seasoning made of thyme, cloves, and pepper and salt, half a teaspoonful of each; then draw these strips through the holes in the beef.

Put some small onions, say half a dozen, with a quarter of a pound of butter into a sauce-pan with two great spoonfuls of milk and stew them till soft, put your beef and these onions in a pot, (you can stew the onions in the pot instead of the sauce-pan if you prefer it,) pour on hot water just enough to cover it, and let it cook slowly four or five hours. Just before taking it up, add a pint of wine, either Port or Claret. The onions can be cooked separately if preferred.

Another à la Mode Beef.

If you have about five pounds of beef, take one pound of bread, soak it in water, pour off the water and mash it fine, adding a bit of butter the size of half a hen’s egg, salt, mace, pepper, cloves, half a teaspoonful each, pounded fine.

Mix all with a tablespoonful of flour and two eggs.

Then cut holes through the beef and put in half of this seasoning, and put it in a bake-pan with boiling water enough to cover it.

Put the pan lid, heated, over it, and a few coals on it,38 and let it stew two hours, then take it up and spread the other half of the dressing on the top, and add butter the size of a hen’s egg, heat the pan lid again hot enough to brown the dressing, and let it stew again an hour and a half.

When taken up, if the gravy is not thick enough, add a teaspoonful of flour wet up in cold water, then add a couple of glasses of white wine to the gravy, and a bit of butter as large as a walnut.

To Boil a Leg of Veal or Mutton.

Make a stuffing of bread, and a quarter as much of salt pork, chopped fine and seasoned with sweet herbs, pepper and salt. Make deep gashes, or what is better, take out the bone with a carving knife, and fill up with stuffing, and sew up the opening with strong thread. When there is a flap of flesh, lap it over the opening and sew it down.

Put it into a large pot and fill it with water, putting in a tablespoonful of salt, and let it simmer slowly three hours. If it is needful to add water, pour in boiling water. When it is done take it up, and save the broth for next day’s dinner.

Pot Pie, of Beef, Veal, or Chicken.

The best way to make the crust is as follows. Peel, boil, and mash a dozen potatoes, add a teaspoonful of salt, two great spoonfuls of butter, and half a cup of milk, or cream. Then stiffen it with flour, till you can roll it. Be sure to get all the lumps out of the potatoes. Some persons leave out the butter.

Some roll butter into the dough of bread, others make a raised biscuit with but little shortening, others make a plain pie crust. But none are so good and healthful as the potato crust.

To prepare the meat, first fry half a dozen slices of salt pork, and then cut up the meat and pork, and boil them in just water enough to cover them, till the meat is nearly cooked. Then peel a dozen potatoes, and slice39 them thin. Then roll the crust half an inch thick, and cut it into oblong pieces. Then put alternate layers of crust, potatoes, and meat, till all is used. The meat must have salt and pepper sprinkled over each layer. The top and bottom layer must be crust. Lastly, pour on the liquor in which the meat was boiled, until it just covers the whole, and let it simmer till the top crust is well cooked, say half or three quarters of an hour. If you have occasion to add more liquor, or water, it must be boiling hot, or the crust will be spoilt. The excellence of this pie depends on having light crust, and therefore the meat must first be nearly cooked before putting it in the pie, and the crust must be in only just long enough to cook, or it will be clammy and hard. When nearly done, the crust can be browned, with hot coals on a bake-lid. Great care is needed not to burn the crust, which should not be put where the fire reached the pot on the bottom.

Calf’s Head.

Take out the brains and boil the head, feet, and lights, in salted water, just enough to cover them, about two hours. When they have boiled nearly an hour and a half, tie the brains in a cloth and put them in to boil with the rest. They should previously be soaked half an hour in cold water. When the two hours have expired, take up the whole, and mash the brains fine, and season them with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and a glass of Port or Claret, and use them for sauce. Let the liquor remain for a soup the next day. It serves more handsomely to remove all the bones.

Curried Dishes.

Chickens and veal are most suitable for curries. Boil the meat till tender, and separate the joints. Put a little butter in a stew-pan with the chickens, pour on a part of the liquor in which the meat was boiled, enough nearly to cover it, and let it stew twenty minutes more.

Prepare the curry thus: for four pounds of meat, take a tablespoonful of curry powder, a tea-cup of boiled rice,40 a tablespoonful of flour, and another of melted butter, a tea-cup of the liquor, and half a teaspoonful of salt, mix them, and pour them over the meat and let it stew ten minutes more.

Rice should be boiled for an accompaniment.

To Prepare Curry Powder.

One ounce of ginger, one ounce of mustard, one of pepper, three of coriander seed, three of tumeric, half an ounce of cardamums, quarter of an ounce of Cayenne pepper, quarter of an ounce of cinnamon, and quarter of an ounce of cummin seed. Pound them fine, sift them, and cork them tight in a bottle.

Veal Stew.

Cut four pounds of veal into pieces three inches long and an inch thick, put it into the pot with water enough to cover it, and rise an inch over. Add a teaspoonful of salt, and put in four or five good slices of salt pork, and half a tea-cup of rice, butter the size of a hens egg, and season with pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, and let it simmer slowly till the rice is quite soft, allowing half an hour to heat and an hour to simmer. If there is too little water, pour in boiling water.

Adding a little curry turns it into a dish of curried veal, of which many are very fond. Be sure and skim it well, just before it begins to simmer.

Another Veal Stew (very fine).

Cut four pounds of veal into strips three inches long and an inch thick, peel twelve large potatoes and cut them into slices an inch thick, then spread a layer of veal on the bottom of the pot, and sprinkle a little salt and a very little pepper over it, then put a layer of potatoes, then a layer of veal seasoned as before. Use up the veal thus, and over the last layer of veal put a layer of slices of salt pork, and over the whole a layer of potatoes. Pour in water till it rises an inch over the whole, and cover it as close as possible, heat it fifteen minutes and simmer it an hour.

Ten minutes before taking up, put in butter the size of a hen’s egg, stir in a thin batter made of two tablespoonfuls of flour. Many add sweet herbs to the salt and pepper.

To Stew Birds.

Wash and stuff them with bread crumbs, seasoned with pepper, salt, butter, or chopped salt pork, and fasten them tight. Line a stew-pan with slices of bacon, add a quart of water and a bit of butter the size of a goose egg, or else four slices of salt pork.

Add, if you like, sliced onions and sweet herbs, and mace. Stew till tender, then take them up and strain the gravy over them. Add boiling water if the liquor is too much reduced.

A fine Mutton Stew.

Take three quarts of peeled and sliced potatoes, three large onions, peeled and sliced, and mutton and ham cut into slices. Make layers first of potatoes, salted, and then with the mutton, sprinkled with salt, pepper, gravy, or butter, and mushroom or tomato catsup, two tea-cups of water, and the ham in small quantities. Cover tight and stew for an hour and a half. Watch, and add boiling water if needed, as there must be a good supply of gravy at the bottom.

A Sausage Stew.

Make a thick layer of slices of peeled potatoes, put on a little salt, and then cut up sausages over the potatoes. Continue alternate layers of potatoes and sausages, the top layer being potatoes, pour in a little water and some gravy, or butter, and if you have bits of ham mix them with the sausages.

To Bake Beef.

Take ten pounds of the buttock, rub it with salt and let it lie a day or two, then wash it, and make openings in the beef and insert bits of salt pork dipped in a mixture of powdered pepper, cloves, and fine minced onions,42 cover it, and let it bake four or five hours. Put a pint of water and teaspoonful of salt in the baking pan and baste occasionally. Make a gravy of the drippings.

Beef, or Mutton and Potato Pie.

Take a deep dish, butter it, and put in it a layer of mashed potatoes, seasoned with butter, pepper, salt and minced onions. Take slices of beef, or mutton, and season them with pepper and salt, lay them with small bits of salt pork over the potatoes. Then fill the dish with alternate layers, as above described, having the upper one potatoes. Bake an hour, or an hour and a half.

To Cook Pigeons.

Pigeons are good stuffed and roasted, or baked. They are better stewed thus:—Stuff them like turkeys, put them in a pot, breast downwards, and cover them with salted water an inch above the top, and simmer them two hours if tender, and three if tough. When nearly done, stir in a bit of butter the size of a goose egg, for every dozen pigeons. Take them up and add a little flour paste to the gravy, with salt and pepper, and pour some of it over them, and put the rest in a gravy dish.

Beef, or Veal Stewed with Apples (very good).

Rub a stew-pan with butter, cut the meat in thin slices, and put in, with pepper, salt, and apple sliced fine; some would add a little onion. Cover it tight, and stew till tender.

To Boil a Turkey.

Make a stuffing for the craw, of chopped bread and butter, cream, oysters, and the yolks of eggs. Sew it in, and dredge flour over the turkey, and put it to boil in cold water, with a spoonful of salt in it, and enough water to cover it well. Let it simmer for two hours and a half, or if small, less time. Skim it while boiling. It looks nicer if wrapped in a cloth dredged with flour.

Serve it with drawn butter, in which are put some oysters.

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To Boil Corned Beef.

Put the beef in water enough to cover it, and let it heat slowly, and boil slowly, and be careful to take off the grease. Many think it much improved by boiling potatoes, turnips, and cabbage with it. In this case the vegetables must be peeled, and all the grease carefully skimmed as fast as it rises. Allow about twenty minutes of boiling for each pound of meat.

CHAPTER IV.

ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS.

General Remarks.

Be sure you have your spit and tin oven very clean and bright, and for this end wash them, if possible, before they get cold. If they stand, pour boiling water on to them.

Have a fire so large as to extend half a foot beyond the roaster each side.

When meat is thin and tender, have a small, brisk fire. When your meat is large, and requires long roasting, have large solid wood, kindled with charcoal and small sticks. Set the meat, at first, some distance from the place where it is to roast, so as to have it heat through gradually, and then move it up to roast.

Slow roasting, especially at first, and still more for large pieces, is very important.

Allow about fifteen minutes for each pound of most kinds of meat, and if it is cold weather, or the meat fresh killed, more time is required, probably twenty minutes for each pound.

When the meat is nearly done, stir up the fire to brown it. The meat should be basted a good deal, especially the first part of the time.

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Let meat be spitted so as to be equally balanced. When the meat is nearly done, the steam from it will be drawn toward the fire.

A pale brown is the proper color for a roast.

Some dredge on flour and baste, a short time before roasted meats are done.

Whenever fresh lard is used instead of butter, in the dripping-pan, or to rub on meats, more salt must be used.

Flour thickening in gravies must be wet up with very little water till the lumps are out, and then made thin. Never dredge flour into gravies, as it makes lumps. Strain all gravies.

Roast Beef.

The sirloin, and the first and second cuts of the rack, are the best roasting pieces.

Rub it with salt; set the bony side to the fire to heat awhile, then turn it, and have a strong fire; and if thick, allow fifteen minutes to the pound; if thin, allow a little less. If fresh killed, or if it is very cold, allow a little more time. Half an hour before it is done, pour off the gravy, thicken it with brown flour, and season it with salt and pepper. It is the fashion to serve roast beef with no other gravy than the juice of the meat.

Roast Lamb.

The fore and hind quarter of lamb are used for roasting. Rub on a little softened butter, and then some salt and pepper, heat the bony side first, t