_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 such entertainments, and yet to set forth so large and tempting a variety of what is safe, healthful, and good, in connexion with such warnings and suggestions as 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 an adequate supply of 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 with 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, ent.i.tled the _Encyclopaedia 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, so that the work is fairly ent.i.tled to the name it bears of the _American_ Housekeeper"s Receipt Book.
The following embraces most of the topics contained in this work.
Suggestions to young housekeepers in regard to style, furniture, and domestic arrangements.
Suggestions in regard to different modes to be pursued both with foreign and American domestics.
On providing a proper supply of family stores, on the economical care and use of them, and on the furniture and arrangement of a store-closet.
On providing a proper supply of utensils to be used in cooking, with drawings to ill.u.s.trate.
On the proper construction of ovens, and directions for heating and managing them.
Directions for securing good yeast and good bread.
Advice in regard to marketing, the purchase of wood, &c.
Receipts for breakfast dishes, biscuits, warm cakes, tea cakes, &c.
Receipts for puddings, cakes, pies, preserves, pickles, sauces, catsups, and also for cooking all the various kinds of meats, soups, and vegetables.
The above receipts are arranged so that the more healthful and simple ones are put in one portion, and the richer ones in another.
Healthful and favourite articles of food for young children.
Receipts for a variety of temperance drinks.
Directions for making tea, coffee, chocolate, and other warm drinks.
Directions for cutting up meats, and for salting down, corning, curing, and smoking.
Directions for making b.u.t.ter and cheese, as furnished by a practical and scientific manufacturer of the same, of Goshen, Conn., that land of rich b.u.t.ter and cheese.
A guide to a selection of a regular course of family dishes, which will embrace _a successive variety_, and unite convenience with good taste and comfortable living.
Receipts for articles for the sick, and drawings of conveniences for their comfort and relief.
Receipts for articles for evening parties and dinner parties, with drawings to show the proper manner of setting tables, and of supplying and arranging dishes, both on these, and on ordinary occasions.
An outline of arrangements for a family in moderate circ.u.mstances, embracing the systematic details of work for each domestic, and the proper mode of doing it, as furnished by an accomplished housekeeper.
Remarks on the different nature of food and drinks, and their relation to the laws of health.
Suggestions to the domestics of a family, designed to promote a proper appreciation of the dignity and importance of their station, and a cheerful and faithful performance of their duties.
Miscellaneous suggestions and receipts.
A GLOSSARY
OF SUCH WORDS AND PHRASES AS MAY NOT EASILY BE UNDERSTOOD BY THE YOUNG READER.
[Many words, not contained in this GLOSSARY, will be found explained in the body of the Work, in the places where they first occur.
For these, see INDEX.]
_Academy, the Boston_, an a.s.sociation in Boston, established for the purpose of promoting the study and culture of the art of music.
_Action brought by the Commonwealth_, a prosecution conducted in the name of the public, or by the authority of the State.
_Alcoholic_, made of, or containing, alcohol, an inflammable liquid, which is the basis of ardent spirits.
_Alkali_, (plural _alkalies_,) a chemical substance, which has the property of combining with, and neutralizing the properties of, acids, producing salts by the combination. Alkalies change most of the vegetable blues and purples to green, red to purple, and yellow to brown. _Caustic alkali_, an alkali deprived of all impurities, being thereby rendered more caustic and violent in its operation. This term is usually applied to pure potash. _Fixed alkali_, an alkali that emits no characteristic smell, and cannot be volatilized or evaporated without great difficulty. Potash and soda are called the fixed alkalies. Soda is also called a _fossil_, or _mineral_, _alkali_, and potash, the _vegetable alkali_. _Volatile alkali_, an elastic, transparent, colorless, and consequently invisible gas, known by the name of ammonia, or ammoniacal gas. The odor of spirits of hartshorn is caused by this gas.
_Anglo-American_, English-American, relating to Americans descended from English ancestors.
_Anne, Queen_, a Queen of England, who reigned from A. D. 1702, to 1714.
She was the daughter of James II., and succeeded to the throne on the death of William III. She died, August 1, 1714, in the fiftieth year of her age. She was not a woman of very great intellect; but was deservedly popular, throughout her reign, being a model of conjugal and maternal duty, and always intending to do good. She was honored with the t.i.tle of "Good Queen Anne", which showed the opinion entertained of her virtues by the people.
_Anotta_, _Annotto_, _Arnotta_, or _Rocou_, a soft, brownish-red substance, prepared from the reddish pulp surrounding the seeds of a tree, which grows in the West Indies, Guiana, and other parts of South America, called the _Bixa orellana_. It is used as a dye.
_Anther_, that part of the stamen of a flower which contains the pollen or farina, a sort of mealy powder or dust, which is necessary to the production of the flower.
_Anthracite_, one of the most valuable kinds of mineral coal, containing no bitumen. It is very abundant in the United States.
_Aperient_, opening.
_Apple-corer_, an instrument lately invented for the purpose of divesting apples of their cores.
_Arabic, gum_, see _Gum Arabic_.
_Archaeology_, a discourse or treatise on antiquities.
_Arnotto_, see _Anotta_.