Choice Dishes At Small Cost | by A. G. Payne
The present book is addressed to that large class of persons who are unable to have the assistance of a staff of well-trained servants. There are hundreds of thousands of households in England where the mistress, who is possessed of every refinement of taste, is compelled to personally superintend the domestic arrangements, in order to ensure that amount of comfort and cleanliness which, coupled with economy, are essential to their very existence.
| Title | Choice Dishes At Small Cost |
| Author | A. G. Payne |
| Publisher | Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. |
| Year | 1882 |
| Copyright | 1882, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. |
| Amazon | Larousse Gastronomique |
Preface- The present book is addressed to that large class of persons who are unable to have the assistance of a staff of well-trained servants. There are hundreds of thousands of households in England where t...
- Introduction. Housekeeping
- It will, I think, be universally admitted as a fact, that many of our continental neighbours live, not only much more economically, but better than we do. The daily cost of living of a family abroad, ...
- Housekeeping. Continued
- I do not know of any maxim so important in economical housekeeping as to arrange to-day what we shall have to-morrow, and as a rule, unless the weather is exceptional, to get in to-day what we want fo...
- No. 1. How To Boil And Simmer
- It may seem a contradiction to say so, but the great art of boiling meat properly is not to let the meat boil. When we speak of boiling meat, we mean that the meat is to be eaten, for very often meat ...
- No. 2. How To Stew
- Stewing is a process often confounded by very ignorant persons with boiling for a long time, and sometimes, by even moderate cooks, with simmering. The latter are not so very far from the mark, bu...
- No. 3. How To Roast
- Roasting, or cooking meat by hanging it in front of an open fire, is not so common a process now as it was some twenty years ago, as nearly all modern houses are fitted with shut-up stoves. The adv...
- No. 4. How To Bake
- It is very easy to bake a joint in a large bakers' oven, but not so easy in a little oven in which one side is a great deal hotter than the other, and which also has a trick of very often suddenly get...
- No. 5. How To Grill Or Broil
- To grill or broil is to cook over the top of a clear fire where the meat is exposed to the heat and occasional flame of the fire. This flame is caused by the fat dropping into the fire and catching al...
- No. 6. How To Fry
- I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that ninety-nine out of a hundred of our English women cooks, say, of ten to twenty years' experience, have never fried anything in their lives. If, however,...
- No. 7. How To Fry Bread
- I have put fried bread under a separate heading on purpose to call attention to the economy of using up stale pieces of bread, by frying them for soups, hashes, etc. I daresay you know that generally ...
- No. 8. How To Steam
- Cooking by steam in small private houses is generally confined to potatoes and puddings. Potatoes are cooked in what is called a steamer. This is fitted on tight to a saucepan. Puddings are very often...
- No. 9. How To Boil Vegetables
- In boiling meat, the great point was not to let it boil. In boiling vegetables, the great point is not to let the boiling stop. All vegetables, with three exceptions, must be thrown into boiling water...
- No. 10. How To Make Stock, Broth, Bouillon or Consomme
- Broth, Stock, Bouillon or Consomme, for they are all one and the same thing, is really the simplest and the most delicious kind of soup. It is the pure juice of the meat, and a few simple vegetables; ...
- How To Make Soup Stock No. 1
- First, put the rabbit into cold water, with about a tablespoonful of salt to a quart, to soak for a couple of hours, or longer. This gets rid of the blood, and makes the meat whiter and more tender. ...
- How To Make Soup Stock No. 2. Quick And Cheap
- A bright clear stock inferior to the above can be made by placing in a saucepan a few sticks of celery, one carrot, one turnip, a little parsley - i.e., two or three sprigs - one onion with four clove...
- How To Make Soup Stock No. 3
- Act precisely as in making Stock No. 1, only, instead of putting in the knuckle of veal, use - say, three-pennyworth of bones - fresh ones from the butcher's - or any bones you may have by you - such ...
- How To Make Soup Stock No. 4, Or Greasy Stock
- By greasy stock I mean the liquor that has boiled - say, a leg of fat pork, or a piece of bacon, or a pig's head. This stock, although it is so greasy, is just what is wanted for making pea-soup and l...
- No. 5. How To Make Fish Stock
- Never throw away the water in which fish has been boiled: it is valuable for making fish sauce, and also soup maigre. Therefore, in boiling fish, when the stock is or may be wanted, be careful about n...
- No. 11. How To Thicken Soup
- The expression is often met with in cookery books Thicken with a little butter and flour, or Thicken with a little arrowroot; but this expression requires some little explanation for novices. Besi...
- No. 12. Brown And White Stock Thickening
- Suppose you want to thicken some good stock-say No. 3 - to make some brown gravy. Take a tin, and place in it equal weights of butter and flour, or, perhaps, rather more of the latter. Put it in the o...
- No. 13. How To Thicken With Flour, Corn-Flour, Etc
- In thickening anything witli flour, corn-flour, arrowroot, etc., the chief point to be considered is, how to avoid getting the gravy, or whatever is thickened, lumpy. Suppose we are going to thicken, ...
- No. 14. How To Thicken With Eggs
- When we thicken anything with eggs, what we must chiefly think about is to avoid getting the mixture curdled. 1st. Anything that has to be thickened with eggs will curdle if it boils. 2nd. Eggs won'...
- No. 15. How To Break Eggs
- In breaking eggs care should be taken not to break the yolk, as in most cases eggs are spoilt when the yolk is broken; as, for instance, poached eggs, fried eggs, etc. First, recollect eggs should alw...
- No. 16. How To Chop Suet
- In chopping suet, first try and get hard beef suet. There is a great deal of difference between suet and fat, although suet is fat. Get a clean, dry chopping-board, and a fairly sharp knife or chopper...
- No. 17. How To Stuff
- To stuff means to place stuffing or forcemeat inside a joint, bird, or fish. The great art of stuffing consists in - first, getting in plenty of stuffing without disfiguring the shape; secondly, in ta...
- No. 18. How To Clear Soups, Jellies, Etc
- When you have stock such as Stock No. 1 (See Stock) or jelly made from gelatine, not quite bright, they can always be made so by means of one or two whites of egg. Clearing stock, however, I think tak...
- No. 19. How To Colour
- Sometimes you will want to colour gravy, etc., and yet not use brown thickening; for instance, in hash, where brown thickening would be unsuitable for the gravy. You should thicken this gravy with a l...
- No. 20. Bread Crumbs. How To Egg-And-Bread-Crumb
- The best way to make bread crumbs is to rub stale bread through a wire sieve, as this ensures the crumbs being free from occasional large ones. A wire sieve is a necessity, where economy is considered...
- No. 21. How To Rub Through A Wire Sieve
- This is a most important operation in cooking: you cannot get a puree without it, or pea-soup, or curry. It is a most economical process. A wire sieve - a small one - can be bought for one shilling an...
- No. 22. How To Bone
- It is more economical to bone a joint before it is cooked, as the bones help to make stock. One of the most wasteful joints is an ordinary loin of mutton, where the people who eat it are rather dainty...
- No. 23. How To Pickle
- To pickle anything is to soak it in some fluid for the purpose of preserving it, or of imparting additional flavour. Pickle for meat is usually composed of water, in which is dissolved common salt, su...
- No. 24. How To Boil In A Cloth
- A large number of puddings are boiled in a cloth. The first care should be to see that the cloth is quite clean, and it is generally best to throw it into scalding hot water for a minute, and afterwar...
- No. 25. How To Use Garlic
- I know there is with many persons a strong prejudice against garlic. I believe this to be owing to the fact that the majority of English cooks don't know how to use it. It keeps good a long time if ke...
- No. 26. How To Reduce Stock
- To reduce stock is to make it smaller in quantity, but stronger, by boiling and letting the steam escape. This is a process often required, especially in the preparation of white soups, an economical ...
- No. 27. How To Beat Butter To A Cream
- In making cakes and the better class of puddings it is often desirable to beat the butter to a cream before using it. For this purpose place the butter - say, half a pound - in a tolerably strong basi...
- No. 29. Hints On Dish Ornamenting
- It is a very great mistake to think if a dish looks very pretty that therefore it is necessarily an expensive one. I fear few English cooks understand sufficiently the importance of appearances. For i...
- Hints On Dish Ornamenting. Continued
- Suppose we ornament this dish as follows: First. As before, chop half a saltspoonful of parsley and sprinkle with a knife over the fish and sauce. If the sauce is properly thick the parsley will rest ...
- How To Cook Anchovies
- How To Fillet Anchovies, (i.e. How To Remove The Bone) Anchovies are usually preserved whole in strong brine. Cut off the heads, tails, and fins, and wash them, removing the white scales by rubbing...
- Apple Dumplings
- Take some middling-sized apples; pare them carefully, and cut them into quarters, and cut out the core. Mix together a little butter and brown sugar, and take a clove and strip of lemon-peel, the size...
- Apricot Fritters
- Take a tin of apricots, and pick out the firmest ones for the purpose of making Fritters. (See Fritters.) Drain off the syrup. Make them as dry as possible by draining them on a cloth and letting them...
- French Boiled Artichokes
- First soak the artichokes in strong salt and water for some time, and afterwards rinse them in several waters, in order to expel the insects. (See No. 9.) Cut the stalks even, and trim away the lower ...
- Australian Meat
- Australian meat, or meat preserved in tins - for the same observations that apply to Australian meat apply to all tinned meats - has many great advantages, and equally many drawbacks. First, so lon...
- Bacon
- Bacon And Beans When boiled bacon is served hot, its most suitable accompaniment is boiled broad beans. (See Beans.) It is impossible to boil the beans and bacon in the same saucepan without spoili...
- Batter
- Plain batter is a mixture of flour and water, or flour and milk, made about as thick as double cream, into which meat, fish, fruit, etc., is dipped and then plunged into very hot fat, which instantly ...
- French Boiled Beans
- French beans, like broad beans, should be young and fresh-gathered. Take the beans, and cut off the two ends, and peel off the string that runs down the edge of each side of the bean, one on each side...
- Haricot Beans
- White haricot beans are a very cheap and nourishing form of food, too much neglected in England. Put the beans into water to soak over-night, and put a piece of soda as big as a pea in the water. Shou...
- Beshamel Sauce
- This is a most delicious sauce, and can be made good and cheap without the use of cream. To make a pint of Bechamel, take a quart of No. 3 Stock (see No. 10), and place it in an open saucepan to boil ...
- Salted Aitchbone Of Beef
- Some persons roast this joint, but we think it far superior salted and boiled as follows: - Take a piece of beef, say, ten pounds, and rub into it a mixture compounded of three quarters of a pound of ...
- Boiled Beef Brisket
- This is a cheap piece of beef, costing generally from sevenpence to eight-pence a pound. Boil (see No. 1), and serve with boiled carrots, or parsnips, or greens. Small suet dumplings are also a great ...
- Corned Beef
- Corned beef should alway be boiled. (See No. 1.) Corned beef will take longer to boil than ordinary fresh meat. Tinned Corned Beef One of the best meats preserved in tins is corned beef. The tin...
- Potted Beef
- The best potted beef is made from meat cooked expressly for it by placing it in a jar tightly shut, with about a teaspoonful or more of water, and then boiling the jar for several hours in water, and ...
- How To Carve Ribs Of Beef
- The ribs should be cut in thin and even slices from the thick end towards the thin, in the same manner as the sirloin; this can be more readily and cleanly done if the carving-knife is first run along...
- Sirloin Of Roast Beef
- A piece weighing from ten to twelve pounds is best; do not use flour, but roast according to directions given in No. 3. Serve Yorkshire Pudding with it. How To Carve Sirloin Of Beef A sirloin sh...
- Beef-Steak (French Fashion)
- Cook a steak in any of the former ways, and when it is finished place a lump of butter that has been mixed with a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, on the top. Serve a border of fried potatoes round the...
- Beef-Tea
- Take a pound of lean gravy beef, cut it into very small pieces, and place it in a basin with a pint of cold water. Press the beef with a spoon, and extract as much of the juice as you can: then place ...
- Bloaters
- Split open the fish. Take out the backbone carefully, so as to pull out the ribs with it. Grill over a clear fire. (See No. 5.) When cooked, place a piece of butter on each bloater, and move it abou...
- Bottle-Jack And Screen
- The usual method employed for roasting meat is to hang the bottle-jack on the movable bar placed for its reception on the front of the mantelshelf, to suspend the wheel from the jack, and to hang the ...
- Black Butter
- This is known under the names of Nut-brown Butter, Brown Butter, Burnt Butter, and Beurre Noir. Take two ounces of butter, melt it in a frying-pan till it turns a rich brown colour, then add half a te...
- Butter Sauce, Or Melted Butter
- This is a most important sauce, but rarely made properly by English cooks, who, as a rule, make it too thick with flour, and also generally make quite ten times the quantity really required. Good butt...
- Cabinet Pudding
- Boil a pint of milk separately, and strain it into a basin; make it sweet with some lump sugar, some of which has been rubbed on the outside rind of lemon. Next: beat in thoroughly, when the milk has ...
- Plum Cakes
- Mix a pinch of salt and a dessertspoonful of baking-powder with one pound of flour. Rub into this a quarter of a pound of good beef-dripping, and add a quarter of a pound of sugar, and half a pound of...
- Seed Cake
- No. 1. Rub six ounces of sweet dripping into a pound of flour, add a pinch of salt, a teaspoonful of mixed spice, a tablespoonful of caraway seeds, and six ounces of sugar. Mix the dry ingredients tho...
- General Remarks On Cakes
- In making cakes, great care should be taken that everything which is used should be perfectly dry, as dampness in the materials is very likely to produce heaviness in the cake. It is always best to ha...
- Calf's Brains
- Perhaps the most common form of serving calf's brains is with half a tongue, when the calf's head is boiled separately. In this case, put what brains you have sent with the head to soak at once in som...
- Boiled Calf's Head
- Get half a calfs head, scalded and skinned. This is best done at the butchers'. Soak it in cold salt and water; remove the tongue and brains; place it in hot water, with an onion, a carrot, a turnip, ...
- Celery Sauce
- Take a large head of celery, place it in a stew-pan with half an ounce of butter and a little stock. Greasy stock, No. 4 or No. 3 (see No. 10), will do, but the stock must be white. Stew till tender, ...
- Cheese Souffle
- This is a very nice way of serving up stale pieces of cheese. Grate the cheese, say, till you get a couple of tablespoonfuls. Mix this with a quarter of a pint of milk. Take two eggs and beat the whit...
- Cheesecakes (Very Good)
- Take a quarter of a pound of butter, six ounces of sugar, two lemons, four eggs, and two good-sized cold potatoes. Rub the sugar on the lemon before you cut the lemons, and rub off as much as you can ...
- Cups
- In hot summer weather there are few drinks more refreshing than a deep draught out of a really good cup. Cups have the advantage of hiding the deficiencies of wines that are not altogether of the firs...
- Curry
- Curry is meat, or fish, or indeed any kind of food, served up in a sauce made with curry powder or paste. This paste or powder is usually bought ready-made. It is composed of various spices and colour...
- Cutlets
- A cutlet is really a small piece of meat. A cutlet can be grilled, or fried, or cooked wrapped up in paper. Cutlets can be cooked plain, or dressed. They can be served with almost an infinite variety ...
- Roast Duck
- This universal favourite requires no praise. Without entering into the question of the best duck, we say at once, take a young farmyard duck fattened at liberty, but cleansed by being shut up two or t...
- How To Cook Eels
- Boiled Eels, Or Water Souchet Of Eels Boil the eels till tender, and serve them in the water in which they were boiled, after carefully skimming and straining. Throw in one or two sprigs of parsley...
- How To Cook Eggs
- Egg-Balls For Soup Powder some hard-boiled yolks of egg; then moisten with some raw yolk, till you can roll the mixture into a ball. Roll up into balls the size of small marbles, dip into flour, an...
- Fresh-Water Fish Of All Kinds
- Fresh-water fish are in many parts of the country very abundant, and are too often neglected as an article of food. The probable reason of this is, first, cooks do not like the trouble of cleaning the...
- Fish Sauce, From Fish Stock
- The best fish sauce for fish is made from the liquor in which the fish was boiled, or, still better, from fish stock made by boiling the fish bones, trimmings, fins, etc. (See Butter Sauce.) Boil down...
- Boiled Fowl
- Truss the fowl for boiling. Boil in the ordinary manner. (See No. 1.) Serve either white sauce, parsley and butter, Bechamel sauce, or sometimes oyster sauce. Time: large fowl, one hour and a quarter;...
- How To Carve Roast Fowl
- Insert the knife between the leg and the body, and cut to the bone; then turn the leg back with the fork, and, if the bird is not old, the joint will give way. The wing is next to be cut off, and this...
- Fritters
- Almost every kind of fruit will make fritters, which may be described generally as something nice and soft fried in batter. (Read carefully No. 6; and Batter.) In making fritters, the substance fried,...
- Giblet Pie
- Stew a set of goose giblets, (see No. 2,) or duck giblets, after scalding them in a little No. 3 Stock with about a teaspoonful of mixed sweet herbs. (See Herbs.) This will take a couple of hours, ver...
- How To Carve Goose Roast
- Begin by turning the neck end of the goose towards you, and cutting the whole breast in long slices, from one wing to another (see the lines A, b). To take off the leg, insert the fork in the small en...
- Gravy - Clear, And Rich Brown
- It is very rarely that really good gravy is met with in small private houses, the simple reason being that cooks have never heard of brown thickening (see No. 12.). Good clear gravy, when served se...
- Grouse, Norwegian, Or Ptarmigan
- These birds are real grouse, the plumage of which has been affected by climate, and the flavour by food. Treat them as ordinary grouse. They will bear a great deal of keeping. Those that have fed on y...
- Boiled Ham
- Some hams require soaking for days, especially those dried-up American hams. All hams are best soaked for some hours, and the water should be changed once or twice. Place the ham in cold water, with a...
- Jugged Hare
- Cut the hare into neat little pieces. Pry these slightly, just enough to brown them, in a frying-pan in a little butter. Make a jar hot in the oven. Then throw the pieces of hare into the jar, with a ...
- Haricot Mutton
- Take a couple of pounds of neck of mutton, and cut it into chops, or rather, little cutlets. Put a piece of mutton fat in a frying-pan, and just brown the cutlets without cooking them through. Put the...
- Hash
- There are hashes and hashes. Thin slices of meat, sent up in an immense dish, with a thin watery gravy covered with greasy spots, and surrounded with sodden sippets, is a dish as unappetising as it is...
- Ices
- Ices are generally regarded as expensive luxuries, and are an admirable instance of how completely custom rules the majority of our housekeepers. There are many houses where the dinner may consist of ...
- Ice Cream
- Make a custard (see Custard) with half a pint of milk, the yolks of two eggs, and a tablespoonful of Swiss milk, and some sugar. As soon as it gets a little thick, stir it till nearly cold. Then add s...
- Irish Stew
- This is a cheap, nice, and economical dish, and can be made from any kind of meat, the best for the purpose being what is known as the best end of the neck of mutton. Take two pounds of potatoes, peel...
- Jam
- In making jams or preserves, care must be taken, first of all, that the fruit is gathered on a dry day, and when the morning sun is on the garden. If gathered in damp or foggy weather the jam will cer...
- Lemon Jelly
- Take six lemons, rub half a pound of sugar on the peel of three of them, and squeeze the juice of all six into a basin. Soak two ounces of gelatine in a pint of water, after first washing the gelatine...
- How To Mould Bottled Jelly
- When jelly is wanted quickly, it may be bought in bottles, ready made, and beautifully transparent. In order to mould it, uncork the bottle, and put it into boiling water. Let it remain until the jell...
- Kidneys
- Sheep's kidneys are by far the best; next come veal and pig's, while bullock's kidney is as a rule hard and strong, but admirably adapted for making gravy. Kidneys, Grilled And Devilled Pepper a...
- Breast Of Lamb
- Very often the breast of lamb is the cheapest part. It can be cooked in various ways: - 1. Remove the bones carefully, and use them to help to make a little stock for the gravy. Make a little veal ...
- How To Roast Lamb
- How To Roast Fore-Quarter Of Lamb This joint can scarcely be too fresh when dressed. Remove the scrag, the shankbone, and the chinebone; and crack the ribs half-way between the edge of the breast a...
- Lamb's Fry
- Parboil the sweetbreads. Throw them into cold water, when cold trim them. They can then be egg-and-bread-crumbed (see No. 20), but this is by no means necessary. Flour all the pieces, and fry in the f...
- Plain Lemon Pudding
- Chop up the peel of one lemon very finely (see No. 16); add this and the juice to an ordinary suet pudding mixture made from a quarter of a pound of suet, using bread crumbs or not. (See Suet Pudding....
- Liver Forcemeat
- Take half a pound of calf's liver, cut it into small pieces, and fry it with an equal quantity of fat ham or bacon; also cut up two beads of garlic (see Garlic), or a slice of onion. Season as follows...
- Lobster Butter
- Whenever you get a lobster with any coral in it, pound the coral with enough butter to make a thick paste, add a pinch of cayenne pepper, and put it by in a little jar for use. This is called lobster ...
- Lobster Salad Mayonnaise
- Get two or three nice French lettuces, see that they are thoroughly clean, and if possible avoid washing them. Separate the leaves, and see that they are dry, but do not cut them. Pile them up as firm...
- Macaroni Cheese
- Put a quarter of a pound of pipe macaroni into a saucepan with a little salt, and sufficient boiling milk and water to cover it. Let it boil until it is quite tender but firm, then put a layer of it i...
- Mayonnaise Sauce
- This is a most delicious sauce, very easy to make, if care is taken to observe every minute detail given in the directions for making it. Mayonnaise sauce is simply yolk of egg and oil beaten to a but...
- Mince
- Mince is almost always made from meat that has been cooked before, and the chief point to be considered is how to avoid over-cooking it, which is very likely to happen considering how very small are t...
- Mock-Turtle Soup
- The best mock-turtle soup is made from calf's head, and can be made either thick or clear. Mock-turtle soup is so far the nicest mode of cooking calf's head that I will give directions for making the ...
- Mushrooms
- In many parts of the country mushrooms are so plentiful that their cost, like blackberries, may be considered almost nil. Great care should be exercised by novices in picking them. The most common mis...
- Mutton Broth
- Take two pounds of what is known as the scrag-end of the neck of mutton; remove as much as possible every particle of fat. Put it in a quart of cold water, with a slice of onion and a saltspoonful of ...
- Loin Of Roast Mutton
- (See No. 3.) - This joint is often a very extravagant one, owing to the exceedingly wasteful palates of the persons who dine off it. By far the best and most economical way to treat a loin of mutton i...
- Savoury Omelet
- In making omelets it is absolutely essential to have a clean frying-pan. As a rule it is safest to keep a frying-pan especially for omelets. It is impossible to make a nice-looking omelet in a frying-...
- Onion Sauce
- Parboil three good-sized onions, strain them, remove the core, and chop them finely on a chopping-board. Put them into half a pint of milk, and stew them gently for half an hour, Thicken the mixture s...
- Ox-Foot Soup
- A nice soup, very much resembling mock-turtle soup, can be made from ox-feet, or, as they are sometimes called, cow-heels, but perhaps ox-foot is a better name. Order an ox-foot from the butchers &...
- Ox-Tail Soup
- Cut an ox-tail into pieces, about an inch long, with a small, fine, meat-saw. Stew these pieces of tail in some Stock No 1. (see No 10) before the stock is cleared. Cut up a carrot and turnip into sma...
- Oyster Sauce
- Place a dozen oysters in a small saucepan, with their liquor, and add sufficient milk to cover them. Scald them by bringing the liquor to a boil, and instantly strain off the oysters. Thicken the milk...
- Scalloped Oysters
- Open a dozen oysters, saving the liquor, scald them in their liquor, adding just enough milk to cover them; strain them off; thicken the liquid with a little white thickening (see No. 12), or some but...
- Oysters
- Native oysters at 3s. 6d. a dozen are out of the reach of all save the very wealthy or extravagant. American blue-points are sometimes to be bought at 6d., and even 4d., a dozen, and for cooking purpo...
- Palestine Soup
- Take a dozen good-sized Jerusalem artichokes; peel them, and, like potatoes, throw them into cold water as you peel them, to prevent their turning a bad colour. Boil these artichokes in a quart of No....
- Pancakes
- The batter for pancakes is best when made an hour or two before it is wanted for use. It should be quite smooth, and of the consistency of very thick custard. The eggs should first be whisked thorough...
- Salmi Of Partridge
- Cut up the remains of some cold partridges into joints. Put the back, or backs, which contain but little meat, to boil for some time in some gravy, breaking them up first as much as possible. Strain o...
- Paste For Common Pies
- Very excellent pastry may be made with lard or dripping, instead of butter, or with a mixture of lard and dripping. Good beef-fat, or suet melted gently down, and poured off before it has had time to ...
- Puff Paste
- Equal quantities of butter and flour, the yolk of one egg, and a pinch of salt to every pound of flour; a little water. See first that the flour is dry and sifted. See that the butter is well squeezed...
- Suet Paste For Puddings
- Suet paste for puddings is made by mixing chopped suet with flour, and making the whole into a smooth paste with water. The richness of the paste or crust depends upon the quality and quantity of the ...
- Patties
- Patties are small cases, made of puff-paste, filled with various kinds of forcemeat, which forcemeat gives its name to the patty. Cooks generally seem to exhibit considerable difficulty in making p...
- Oyster Patties
- Take a dozen oysters (blue-points make capital patties), open them carefully so as to catch their liquor, scald them in their own liquor (see Oysters), being careful that the oysters do not remain in ...
- Patty Cases
- Take some puff-paste (see Paste, Puff), and roll it out to the thickness of half an inch, or rather less. Get two circular tin cutters, one three inches in diameter and the other two inches. Cut with ...
- Pea Soup
- Take a pint of split peas; soak them over-night. Then boil them in three pints of Stock No. 3 or Stock No. 4 (see No. 10), leaving in whatever vegetables were used for the stock. A greasy stock is bes...
- Perch
- Perch is a very common fresh-water fish. It is very nice boiled as follows: - Take two or three perch, clean them and fillet them - that is, cut them into four pieces, raw, and remove the bones. Put t...
- Roast Pheasant
- A pheasant should be kept and hung for some time before roasting; a fresh pheasant is flavourless. On the other hand, it should not be high, but just getting so. Pluck, draw, and truss the bird, and r...
- Fruit Pie
- All fruit pies are made on the same principle. The fruit is placed in the pie-dish with, as a rule, about three tablespoonfuls of brown sugar to every quart of fruit. A little water, about a wineglass...
- Good Ordinary Meat Pie
- Cut some ordinary beef-steak, fillet-steak, or rump-steak into pieces about an inch thick, an inch wide, and three inches long. Take a frying-pan, and place in it a small piece of fat or butter. Make ...
- Veal And Ham Pie
- As this pie should look white when cut, the veal is not browned. Allow about a quarter of a pound of ham or bacon to every pound of veal. Lay the veal, cut into pieces the same size as steak for an or...
- Sucking Pig
- Sucking pigs are in season all the year round, though they are to be preferred in cold weather, and are at their best from the middle of November to the end of December. To be eaten in perfection they...
- Grilled Pigeon
- Split the pigeon open in half, cutting it clean through the breast and back. Grill over a clear fire, occasionally moistening the halves with a little butter. Pepper and salt the bird...
- Baked And Stuffed Pike
- Scale and clean the fish thoroughly. Fill the paunch with some ordinary veal stuffing (see Veal Stuffing), and sew up the fish. Bake in the oven; baste with a little butter and its liquor as often as ...
- Plum Pudding
- There is almost an infinite variety of receipts for plum puddings, but a very good general idea can be gathered from the following receipt; and the variations necessary to raise its level to a Christm...
- Rich Christmas Plum Pudding
- Take a pound of muscatel raisins, half a pound of currants, a quarter of a pound of Sultana raisins, half a pound of mixed candied-peel, half a nutmeg, grated, three quarters of a pound of bread crumb...
- Leg Of Boiled Pork
- If the pork is salted, wash and soak the leg in fresh water for an hour. Place the leg in cold water, with a couple of onions, a carrot and a turnip, and some trimmings of celery. Boil (see No, 1), al...
- Loin Of Pork (A La Francaise)
- Take a piece of the loin, neck, or spare-rib of pork; score the skin neatly in lines about a quarter of an inch apart, and rub it over with salad oil. Put it into a deep baking-dish with eighteen or t...
- Pork Sausages
- Take one pound of lean pork, half a pound of fat, one teaspoonful of salt, one tea-spoonful of pepper, half a teaspoonful of dried marjoram, one-third of a small nutmeg, one-sixth of the rind of a lem...
- Oatmeal Porridge
- Oatmeal porridge is a leading article of food with the Scottish peasantry. It is generally accompanied with milk, when milk is to be had; when milk is very scarce butter is some-times used, sometimes ...
- Potatoes (A La Maitre D'Hotel)
- Boil some potatoes (new ones are best), and, when done, cut them into slices, and serve them in a little white sauce, some chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and a little lemon-juice. Proportions: one ...
- Potted Meats
- All kinds of meats can be potted, and one general principle holds good for all. Remove the meat from the bones of some cooked hare, pheasant, snipe, ptarmigan, chicken or fowl, goose, turkey, ...
- Poulet, A La Marengo
- Parboil a fowl, and cut it up into neat joints. Let these get cold, and use the bones of the carcase, i.e., the back and ribs, to assist in making some very good rich brown gravy. (See Gravy.) When th...
- Meat Pudding
- A meat pudding is simply meat and gravy surrounded by a suet crust and boiled. Sometimes the meat pudding is boiled in a basin tied over with a cloth, and sometimes it is boiled in a cloth without a b...
- Baked And Roast Rabbit
- The drawback to rabbit is, that the flesh, as a rule, is somewhat dry. In roasting or baking a rabbit, therefore, cover the rabbit, after it is skinned, drawn, and soaked in cold water for an hour, wi...
- Rabbit Pie
- The rabbit should be parboiled, and cut up into joints, and placed in a pie-dish, with sufficient stock or water to cover it; the water in which it was boiled would do. Place thin slices of bacon in w...
- Rabbit Soup
- (See Mulligatawny.) - A white sou]) can be made from rabbit by rubbing the white meat through a wire sieve after boiling the rabbit in stock, reducing this (see No. 26) by boiling, and adding some boi...
- Rice And Onion
- Cut up a onion and fry it a nice brown without burning it. Put the fried onion in a saucepan with half a pound of rice, and add some No. 3 Stock (see No. 10) or water, and let the rice cook gently, an...
- Borders Of Rice
- Plain boiled rice makes an excellent border for stews, or any good hash, or rich mince - such as minced chicken - as well as for fruit. The rice border can be very much improved in appearance by pound...
- Rice Cakes
- Boil half a pound of rice in some milk or water till the milk or water is soaked up by the rice, sweeten the mixture with some moist sugar; when the rice is tender, and thoroughly moist, without being...
- Various Ways Of Cooking Rice
- There are almost an infinite variety of dishes to be made from rice. Rice can be made into borders in which meats of various kinds - such as mince, stews, hashes, etc. - can be placed, as well as pres...
- Baked Rice Pudding
- Boil a quart of milk or a quart of water in which a tablespoonful of Swiss milk has been dissolved. Throw in some* rice, and let it simmer a short time, pour it into a pie-dish and bake in the oven ti...
- Rissoles
- Rissoles, or croquettes, are little balls made of savoury mince, bound together with egg and fried. This mince is generally made from the remains of cold meat, as follows: - Take four tablespoonful...
- Sage-And-Onion Stuffing
- This is a very common stuffing, and as nice as it is common. It is used with roast pork, roast goose, roast duck, etc. To make ordinary sage-and-onion stuffing, take, say, four good-sized onions an...
- Sago For Invalids
- Wash a tablespoonful of sago in cold water, and then soak it for an hour or rather more in cold water. The water can be changed once or twice, as it is apt to be dirty; then boil it in a pint of milk ...
- Salad
- The nicest of all salads is plain French lettuce-leaves, young, crisp, and dry. Old lettuces that have got bitter are worse than useless. Take a salad bowl, and rub the bottom of it with a bead of gar...
- Salmon Cutlets
- Slices of salmon cut an inch thick, and grilled in oiled paper (see Salmon, Grilled), are sometimes called salmon cutlets. Also salmon can be cut into little thin slices, the size of an ordinary cutle...
- Grilled Salmon
- Salmon is best cut in slices an inch thick and grilled in the ordinary way (see No. 5), basting it with a little butter. A slice of salmon tastes still better when it is wrapped up in a piece of well-...
- Smoked Salmon
- Salmon smoked when it is good makes an excellent salad mayonnaise (see Salad). It should be cut very thin, with a sharp knife. If possible, have the slices the thickness of a five-pound note. Smoke...
- Sandwiches
- Those who have visited railway refreshment rooms would, perhaps, scarcely credit the idea that sandwiches can be made so that they are real delicacies. Very high-class sandwiches, suitable for ball su...
- Sheep's Brains
- To be cooked in exactly the same way as pig's brains. (See Pig's Brains). Baked Sheep's Head Split open the head, and remove the tongue and brains. It is generally best to soak the head after th...
- Shrimps
- Shrimps must be boiled alive, and are not worth eating unless perfectly fresh. The brown shrimp is superior to the red or pink. Throw them into boiling salt and water; time, about 5 minutes. Currie...
- Roast Snipe
- There is an old proverb about snipe - that the best way to cook it is to let the bird fly through the kitchen. Like a woodcock, it is absolutely cruel to overcook it. Pluck the bird, singe it and trus...
- Sole (A La Maitre D'Hotel)
- Fillet the soles, and dip the pieces in some oil, seasoned with pepper and salt. Roll up the pieces, and grill them over a clear fire. They will be done as soon as they cease to be transparent. Stew t...
- Soup Maigre
- (See Maigre Soup.) Soup Mai-gre is composed of vegetables. Take some, if not all of the following: a small head of celery, a turnip, a carrot, two large onions, fried in butter, two parsnips. Boil the...
- Spring Soup
- Cut up into small slices some young spring carrots, turnips, part of a small head of celery, a few spring onions trimmed from the green stalk; a few little pieces like a small bouquet of the white par...
- Sturgeon
- Sturgeon is a very large fish, of rather yellow appearance, and is sometimes sold cheap, at sixpence (and even less) a pound. It is a most substantial fish, very satisfying, and very like veal. Very f...
- Various Ways Of Cooking Sweetbreads
- There are a very great number of ways of cooking sweetbreads, but they chiefly depend upon the sauce served with them. Sweetbreads are very useful to mix with other things as well as for making the in...
- Sweet Sauce
- Sweet sauce for puddings, etc., can be made in a variety of different ways, and the flavour can be varied by adding wines or liqueurs. 1st. Sweet sauce plain. Thicken a little water or milk with bu...
- Tapioca For Invalids
- Wash the tapioca well in two waters, then soak a tablespoonful in one pint of milk for an hour. Put it on to boil in a saucepan, and let it simmer gently till it is quite clear. Stir it occasionally t...
- Tipsy Cake
- Take a stale sponge cake, cut it into four or five slices parallel with the bottom, so that the slices can be laid one on the other, and the shape of the cake can be preserved. Spread a thin layer of ...
- Tomato Sauce
- This sauce is generally sold in bottles. It is best to taste this pulp before using it. As the pulp varies in flavour, it is impossible to give any one receipt that will suit all kinds. Suppose, howev...
- Tomato Sandwiches
- Tomato sandwiches are most refreshing in hot weather, especially when kept in ice. Cut some thin slices of bread and butter from a tinned loaf. Sprinkle these with mustard and cress. Cut some thin sli...
- Tongue
- Tongues can be cooked fresh, or they can be pickled, smoked, and dried. Dried tongues, whether ox or reindeer, require a great deal of soaking, and should always be put in soak overnight. Tongues fres...
- Various Ways Of Cooking Tripe
- Tripe can be cooked in various ways, but by far the best is the above - viz., stewed and served with onion sauce. Tripe can be boiled till tender, and then warmed in curry sauce. (See Curry Sauce)....
- Trotters
- Trotters, whether sheep's or pig's, are very glutinous, and when properly cooked are very nourishing. They require a very long time to stew. Take six sheep's or pig's trotters, and cover them with som...
- Boiled Turbot
- Empty the fish, wash it inside with scrupulous nicety, then remove the scales and gills, and trim the fins, but do not cut them of!, as the gelatinous parts about them are esteemed a great delicacy. R...
- Boiled Turkey
- There is an old proverb which says that turkey boiled is turkey spoiled, but in this couplet there is more rhyme than reason, as a boiled turkey forms a dainty dish most acceptable to persons with del...
- Roast Turkey
- Truss the turkey for roasting. Stuff' it with some good veal forcemeat. (See Veal Stuffing.) Cover the turkey with very thin slices of fat bacon, and cover these with some buttered or oiled paper, tyi...
- Boiled, And Mashed Turnips
- When turnips are young they are best boiled whole. Put them into boiling salt-and-water. (See No. 9.) Time to boil, about twenty minutes. They can be placed round boiled meat, alternately with boiled ...
- Turtle Soup From Dried Turtle Flesh
- Very good real turtle soup can be made from dried turtle flesh; and as this flesh is now sold at 5s. a pound, and half a pound will make two quarts of soup, it is by no means expensive. Indeed, at Chr...
- Veal, A La Marengo
- A very good imitation of the popular dish known as Poulet a la Marengo can be made from veal. Cut up some breast of veal into pieces about two or three inches long, one and a half wide and one and a...
- Breast Of Roast Veal
- Breast of veal can be roasted in the usual way (see No. 3) or baked in the oven. (See No. 4.) Veal takes a long time to cook, and it will be best to cover the joint with the caul, or with buttered pap...
- Roast Veal
- (See No. 3 and 4.) - Remember, veal is very unwholesome and unpalatable underdone. It should look a rich brown colour outside. The sauce or gravy should be thickened with thickening, or butter and flo...
- Veal Stuffing
- Take a quarter of a pound of beef suet, chop it very finely with two ounces of raw ham, add two teaspoonfuls of fresh-chopped parsley, and from one to two teaspoonfuls of mixed sweet herbs (see Herbs)...
- Boiled Vegetable Marrow
- Vegetable marrows are best when young. Peel the marrow, remove any seeds, cut it in quarters, or half-quarters, according to size; boil. (See No. 9.) Drain off the pieces of marrow, and serve them on ...
- Dried Vegetables
- Dried vegetables are now sold, and are very convenient for making soups in winter, or where there is no garden. They consist chiefly of strips of carrot, turnip, etc. Soak these for an hour or more in...
- Venison Chops
- These can be cut from a neck of venison. Grill them carefully (see No. 5), black outside, red in. Whatever you do, don't waste the gravy that will often settle in the chop while cooking. Serve hot, wi...
- Venison Pasty
- Venison pasty or pie can be made from breast of venison, often to be bought at eightpence a pound. What it requires is: - first, plenty of good brown gravy that will cover the meat entirely, and which...
- Roast Venison
- Venison is roasted exactly like mutton. (See No. 3.) Some brown gravy must be made separate, as it makes no gravy itself worth mentioning. Cover the venison with buttered or oiled paper. When nearly c...
- Vermicelli Pudding
- Sweeten rather more than a pint of milk, and boil it. Flavour it in any way desired, such as lemon-peel rubbed on sugar; powdered spices, such as cinnamon or nutmeg; essences, such as vanilla; almonds...
- Warren's Cooking Pot
- Probably by means of this invention less food is wasted than in any other known methods of cooking. For instance, when a leg of mutton is roasted or baked, a certain amount of flavour and nutriment mu...
- Whitebait
- Whitebait, though often not dear to buy, are but seldom met with in private houses, owing to the difficulty found in cooking them. Whitebait should be taken lightly out of the cool water in which they...
- Roast Woodcock
- Truss the bird. (See Woodcock, Trussed.) Roast it before a fierce fire, or in a quick oven, for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Place a piece of toast underneath the bird after it has been roasted fo...
- Albert Pudding - Apple Sauce
- Albert Pudding Take three ounces of sugar, and rub five or six lumps on the outside of a lemon. Take two eggs and break them, separating the yolks from the white. (See No. 15.) Next beat two ounces...
- Apples And Rice - Australian Beef Or Mutton Warmed Up
- Apples And Rice Proceed as in making applesauce. Sweeten, and serve surrounded by a border of boiled rice. (See Rice Borders). Baked Apples Place the apples whole on a buttered dish. Bake ver...
- Australian Meat Curried - Cold Roast Beef
- Australian Meat Curried This is perhaps the best method of all for cooking Australian meat. Cut the tin open, and warm the tin just enough to melt the jelly. Pour out the jelly, and with it make so...
- Olives (Or Olive) Beef - Devilled And Grilled Bones
- Olives (Or Olive) Beef Get some steak (rump steak, beef steak, or fillet steak), cut thin. You can make one large beef olive if you have a large steak, or you can make several small ones with small...
- Cheap Bread Pudding - Brussels Sprouts
- Cheap Bread Pudding This is a convenient pudding for using up stale pieces of bread. Put the pieces of bread into water to soak for some time; then drain them, and squeeze the water out. Mix the so...
- Bubble And Squeak - Stewed Calf's Feet
- Bubble And Squeak Bubble and Squeak consists of warming up any cold vegetables - such as greens and potatoes - in some dripping in a frying-pan. Slices of onion can be added, as well as the remains...
- Calf's Sweetbreads - Char
- Calf's Sweetbreads These are generally very expensive. They should always be soaked in cold salt and water for some time, then parboiled and thrown into cold water. When cold, they should be trimme...
- Chicken Broth - Corn-Flour For Invalids
- Chicken Broth This was once a famous receipt for invalids, but has since quite gone out of fashion. The bones of chickens make asgood broth as the flesh. Chilies Chilies, pickled or fresh, ar...
- Cowslip Wine - To Devil
- Cowslip Wine This is a nice substitute for sherry, etc., in making tipsy-cake for children. How To Dress Cucumber Cucumbers are never nice when stale, but can be kept fresh by the stalk end b...
- Devil Sauce - Stewed Fruit
- Devil Sauce Mix a dessertspoonful of ordinary made mustard with an ounce of oiled butter; add cayenne and black pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly, and pour over a chop or any grilled meat. This sauce...
- Garlic - Gurnet
- Garlic (See No. 25.) The outer skin of the root contains a number of small dry pieces about an inch in length: each of these pieces is called a bead. German Salad Take any kind of cold cooked...
- Smoked Haddock - Sweet Herbs
- Smoked Haddock The best and simplest way to cook a smoked haddock is to put it on a gridiron over a clear fire, and grill it. A moderate-sized one takes about six or ten minutes. The time varies wi...
- Fresh Herrings - Irish Rock
- Fresh Herrings These are always best grilled over a clear fire. (See No. 5.) The fish must first be cleaned and the scales scraped off. The best herrings are those which contain a fine soft roe, wh...
- Port-Wine Jelly For Invalids - Lamprey
- Port-Wine Jelly For Invalids Two ounces of gelatine, half a pint of water, two ounces of sugar. Dissolve the gelatine by boiling, strain it, and add rather more than a pint of port wine. Test the j...
- Lark Pie - Macedoines In Tins
- Lark Pie Larks form a very nice addition to a meat pie. If possible make a little liver forcemeat (see Liver Forcemeat), and fill the larks with it. Add also a little grated nutmeg to the gravy of ...
- Mackerel - Muffins
- Mackerel Mackerel can be boiled (see No. 1), and served with parsley and butter sauce. (See Parsley.) A little vinegar is a great improvement with this sauce; this can be added on the plate. Macker...
- Mulligatawny Soup - Normandy Pippins
- Mulligatawny Soup The best meat to serve up in Mulligatawny soup is either rabbit or chicken, but sometimes a little veal is used; in this case take care that the veal has not been boiled till it i...
- Nutmeg - Baked Pears
- Nutmeg Nutmegs are exceeding valuable for flavouring custards, cakes, puddings, etc., and many kinds of sauces, including butter sauce. As the flavour of nutmeg is very strong, care should be taken...
- Peas Pudding - Tinned Pine-Apple
- Peas Pudding Take a quart of split peas. Soak them over-night in some cold water. Those that float are bad, and should be thrown away. Tie the peas up in a cloth, leaving room for them to swell. Bo...
- Piquante Sauce - Potato Pie
- Piquante Sauce The almost universal fault with sauce piquante is, that it is too acid. Take a dessertspoonful of chopped shalot, or Spanish onion, another of capers, and another of pickled gherkins...
- Potato Salad - Various Meat Puddings
- Potato Salad Slice up some cold potatoes - new potatoes make the best salad - into slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Rub a salad bowl with a bead of garlic or a slice of onion. Sprinkle some...
- Roast Quails - Rhubarb Fool
- Roast Quails Quails are more plentiful now than formerly, being sent over in vast quantities, alive, from abroad. Pluck and draw the birds, and roast before a brisk fire or in a quick oven. Baste w...
- Rice Flummery - Rice With Cheese
- Rice Flummery Take a pint of milk and boil it, sweeten it with some sugar, and add a quarter of an ounce of bitter almonds, blanched (see Almonds) and pounded, or a few drops of essence of almonds ...
- Rice, With Lobster - Boiled Salmon
- Rice, With Lobster Make a rice border (see Rice, Borders of), and colour the mixture of rice a deep red while pounding it with some lobster butter (see Lobster Butter), and make a red border. Some ...
- Salmon Trout - Scotch Broth
- Salmon Trout This fish is best grilled whole. It can be treated like salmon in every respect, but is far nicer grilled than boiled, except when it is very large, which rarely happens. Cucumber and ...
- Scotch Woodcock - Smelts
- Scotch Woodcock Hard-boil two eggs, take off the outer shells, and cut them up fine with a knife and fork in a basin with a couple of ounces of butter, add a tablespoonful of anchovy sauce (grocers...
- Spinach - Suet Pudding
- Spinach Spinach requires a good deal of washing. Let it swim in a pailful of water, then lift it out and the dirt will sink. Get a fresh pailful and repeat the washing. Pick away the stalks, and bo...
- Tarragon - Tipsy Bread
- Tarragon Tarragon is a herb easy to grow in any garden. It is very valuable for flavouring fish sauces, and also for improving the flavour of salads. One or two leaves only, chopped with a little p...
- Toad In The Hole - Trout
- Toad In The Hole Make a batter with some milk, flour, and one or two eggs, as thick as double cream. (See Batter.) Put two pounds of beefsteak, cut into pieces about three inches long and one and a...
- Tunny - White Sauce
- Tunny These fish are only to be had in England, preserved in oil. Serve with cut lemon and cayenne. Twice-Laid This is a very common dish on board ship, as it is made from dried and salted fi...
- White Soup - Yorkshire Pudding
- White Soup White soup is in reality white sauce, only in larger quantities and not quite so strong. White soups, such as celery, cauliflower, Palestine, potato, vegetable marrow, have all the same ...
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