For instance, if brought _fresh_ from market on Sat.u.r.day morning, it may be broiled for breakfast on Sunday, and will seem like a fresh shad just from the water. Immediately on bringing it in, let it be scaled, cleaned, washed, split, and wiped dry; cutting off the head and tail.
Spread the shad open on a large flat dish. Mix well together in a cup, a heaped table-spoonful of brown sugar; a heaped tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, and a tea-spoonful of fine salt; and then rub the mixture, thoroughly and evenly, all over the inside of the fish; which, of course, must be spread with the skin or outside downwards. Cover it closely with a large tin cover or with another dish, and set it immediately on ice or in a very cold place, and let it rest till next morning, or till it is wanted for cooking. Immediately before you put it on the gridiron, take a clean towel and carefully wipe off the whole of the seasoning, not letting a particle of it remain round the edges, or anywhere else. Then put the shad on a previously heated gridiron, over hot coals, and broil it well. b.u.t.ter it, and send it hot to table, where every one can season it again, according to their taste. If these directions are _exactly_ followed, no one, without being told, could possibly guess that the shad was not fresh from market that morning.
Any fresh fish intended for splitting and broiling may be kept till next day in this manner, which will be found very superior to what is called corning.
EXCELLENT STEWED OYSTERS.--Take fifty fine large fresh oysters, and strain the liquor from them into a saucepan. Season it with equal portions of cayenne, black pepper, and salt, all mixed together in a small tea-spoon, and add half a dozen blades of mace. Set it over the fire, and let it come to a hard boil, skimming it well. Mix together in a pan or bowl, a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter and a table-spoonful and a half (not more) of flour. Beat and stir the b.u.t.ter and flour till it is quite smooth, and free from lumps. Having taken the oyster-liquor from the fire, stir into it the beaten b.u.t.ter and flour. Set the sauce-pan again over the fire, and give it another boil up. Then put in the oysters, and when they come to a hard boil take them off. Have ready in the bottom of a deep dish, two nice slices of toasted bread with all the crust trimmed off. Cut the toast into dice or small squares. Pour the oysters and their gravy hot into the dish. Cover them closely, and send them to table. There is no better way of stewing oysters than this, when you cannot conveniently do them with cream. If you _have_ cream, (which for this purpose must be very rich,) add half a pint of it to the gravy, and season it with grated nutmeg. The cream must be stirred in at the last, just before the oysters are taken from the fire.
FRENCH STEWED OYSTERS.--Take a hundred large fine oysters. Set them over the fire in their own liquor, (skimming them well,) and when they begin to simmer take them out with a perforated ladle, and throw them directly into a pan of cold water to plump them. When they are quite cold, place them in a sieve, and drain them well. Having saved their liquor, add to it a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter divided into four pieces, (each piece rolled in flour,) a dozen blades of mace, a powdered nutmeg, and a small salt-spoon of cayenne. Set this mixture over the fire, and stir it till the b.u.t.ter and flour is well mixed all through. Then put in the oysters, and as soon as they have come to a boil, take off the sauce-pan, and stir in immediately the beaten yolks of three eggs. Serve them up hot.
OYSTER LOAVES.--Take some tall fresh rolls, or small loaves. Cut nicely a round or oval hole in the top of each, saving the pieces that come off. Then carefully scoop out the crumb from the inside, leaving the crust standing. Have ready a sufficient quant.i.ty of large fresh oysters.
Put the oysters with one-fourth of their liquor into a stew-pan; adding the bread-crumbs; a large piece of fresh b.u.t.ter; some powdered nutmeg; and a few blades of mace. Stew them about ten minutes. Then stir in two or three large table-spoonfuls of cream; take them off just as they are coming to a boil. If cooked too long the oysters will become tough and shrivelled, and the cream will curdle. Fill the inside of your scooped loaves with the oysters, reserving as many large oysters as you have loaves. Place the bit of upper-crust carefully on the top of each, so as to cover the whole. Arrange them on a dish, and lay on each lid one of the large oysters kept out for the purpose. These ornamental oysters must be well drained from any liquid that is about them.
OYSTER OMELET.--Having strained the liquor from twenty-five oysters of the largest size, mince them small; omitting the hard part or gristle.
If you cannot get large oysters, you should have forty or fifty small ones. Break into a shallow pan six, seven, or eight eggs, according to the quant.i.ty of minced oysters. Omit half the whites, and, (having beaten the eggs till very light, thick, and smooth,) mix the oysters gradually into them, adding a little cayenne pepper, and some powdered nutmeg. Put three ounces or more of the best fresh b.u.t.ter into a small frying-pan, if you have no pan especially for omelets. Place it over a clear fire, and when the b.u.t.ter (which should be previously cut up) has come to a boil, put in the omelet-mixture; stir it till it begin to set; and fry it a light brown, lifting the edge several times by slipping a knife under it, and taking care not to cook it too much or it will shrivel and become tough. When done, clap a large hot plate or dish on the top of the omelet, and turn it quickly and carefully out of the pan.
Fold it over; and serve it up immediately. It is a fine breakfast dish.
This quant.i.ty will make one large or two small omelets.
Clam omelets may be made as above.
An omelet-pan should be smaller than a common frying-pan, and lined with tin. In a large pan the omelet will spread too much, and become thin like a pancake.
Never turn an omelet while frying, as that will make it heavy and tough.
When done, brown it by holding a red-hot shovel or salamander close above the top.
Excellent omelets may be made of cold boiled ham, or smoked tongue; grated or minced small, mixed with a sufficiency of beaten eggs, and fried in b.u.t.ter.
ANCHOVY TOAST.--Cut four slices of bread and toast them; having first pared off the crust. b.u.t.ter the toast on both sides. Wash, sc.r.a.pe, and chop ten anchovies and put them thickly between the slices of toast.
Beat the yolks of four eggs, and then mix them with half a pint of cream. Put the mixture into a sauce-pan, and set it over the fire to simmer till thick; but do not allow it to boil. Stir it well, lest it should curdle. When it is _near_ boiling, take it off, and pour it hot over the toast.
Tongue toast may be made in this way.
OYSTER TOAST may be made as above; subst.i.tuting minced oysters for the anchovy; seasoning them with cayenne; and boiling a few blades of mace with the egg and cream.
BROILED OYSTERS.--Take the largest and finest oysters. See that your gridiron is very clean. Rub the bars with fresh b.u.t.ter, and set it over a clear steady fire, entirely clear from smoke; or on a bed of bright hot wood coals. Place the oysters on the gridiron, and when done on one side, take a fork and turn them on the other; being careful not to let them burn. Put some fresh b.u.t.ter in the bottom of a dish. Lay the oysters on it, and season them slightly with pepper. Send them to table hot.
FRENCH OYSTER PIE.--Having b.u.t.tered the inside of a deep dish, line it with puff-paste rolled out rather thick, and prepare another sheet of paste for the lid. Put a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the lid) and then put on the lid; set it into the oven, and bake the paste well. When done, remove the lid, and take out the folded towel. While the paste is baking, prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully any bits of sh.e.l.l that may be found about them, lay them in a sieve and drain off the liquor into a pan. Put the oysters into a skillet or stew-pan, with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with whole pepper; blades of mace; some grated nutmeg; and some grated lemon-peel, (the yellow rind only,) and a little finely minced celery. Then add a large portion of fresh b.u.t.ter, divided into bits, and very slightly dredged with flour. Let the oysters simmer over the fire, but do not allow them to come to a boil, as that will shrivel them. Next beat the yolks only, of three, four, or five eggs, (in proportion to the size of the pie,) and stir the beaten egg into the stew a few minutes before you take it from the fire. Keep it warm till the paste is baked. Then carefully remove the lid of the pie; and replace it, after you have filled the dish with the oysters and gravy.
The lid of the pie may be ornamented with a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and put on before baking. In the centre, place a paste-knot or flower.
Oyster pies are generally eaten warm; but they are very good cold.
CLAM PIE.--Take a sufficient number of clams to fill a large pie-dish when opened. Make a nice paste in the proportion of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter to two quarts of flour. Paste for sh.e.l.l-fish, or meat, or chicken pies should be rolled out double the thickness of that intended for fruit pies. Line the sides and bottom of your pie-dish with paste. Then cover the bottom with a thin beef-steak, divested of bone and fat. Put in the clams, and season them with mace, nutmeg, and a few whole pepper-corns. No salt. Add a spoonful of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs crumbled fine. Then put in enough of the clam-liquor to make sufficient gravy. Put on the lid of the pie, (which like the bottom crust should be rolled out thick,) notch it handsomely, and bake it well. It should be eaten warm.
CLAM FRITTERS.--Put a sufficient quant.i.ty of clams into a pot of boiling water. The small sand-clams will be best. When the sh.e.l.ls open wide, take them out, extract the clams from the sh.e.l.ls, and put them into a stew-pan. Strain their liquor, and pour about half of it over the clams; adding a little black pepper. They will require no salt. Let them stew, slowly, for half an hour; then take them out; drain off all the liquor; and mince the clams as fine as possible, omitting the hardest parts. You should have as many clams as will make a large pint when minced. Make a batter of seven eggs, beaten till very thick and light; and then mixed gradually with a quart of milk, and a pint of sifted flour, stirred in by degrees, and made perfectly smooth and free from lumps. Then, gradually, mix the minced clams with the batter, and stir the whole very hard. Have ready in a frying pan over the fire a sufficiency of boiling lard. Put in, with a spoon, the batter so as to form fritters, and fry them light brown. Drain them well when done, and serve them up hot.
Oyster fritters may be made as above; except that the oysters must be minced raw, and mixed into the batter without having been stewed.
LOBSTER PATTIES.--Make some puff-paste, and spread it on very deep patty-pans. Bake it empty. Having boiled well two or three fine lobsters, extract all their meat, and mince it very small, mixing it with the coral smoothly mashed, and some yolk of hard-boiled egg, grated. Season it with a little salt; some cayenne; and some powdered mace or nutmeg; adding a little yellow lemon-rind grated. Moisten the mixture well with cream, or fresh b.u.t.ter, or salad oil. Put it into a stew-pan; add a very little water, and let it stew till it just comes to a boil. Take it off the fire, and the patties being baked, remove them from the tin-pans, place them on a large dish, and fill them up to the top with the mixture.
Similar patties may be made of prawns, or crabs.
A SEA-COAST PIE.--Having boiled a sufficient number of crabs or lobsters, extract all the meat from the sh.e.l.ls, and cut it into mouthfuls. Have ready some fine large oysters drained from the liquor.
Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with puff-paste; and put in a thick layer of crab or lobster, seasoned with a little cayenne pepper, and a little grated lemon-peel; and mixed with some hard-boiled yolk of egg, crumbled fine, and moistened with fresh b.u.t.ter. Next, put a close layer of oysters, seasoned with pounded mace and grated nutmeg. Lay some bits of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour on the top of the layer. Proceed in this manner with alternate layers of crab or lobster, and of oysters, till the dish is nearly full. Then pour in, at the last, a tea-cupfull of more of the oyster liquor, with an equal quant.i.ty of rich cream. Have ready a thick lid of puff-paste. Put it on the pie; pressing the edges closely so as to unite them all round; and notch them handsomely. Make a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and a flower or knot for the centre; place them on the top-crust; and bake the pie well. While it is baking, prepare some b.a.l.l.s made of chopped oysters; grated bread-crumbs; powdered nutmeg, or mace; and grated lemon-peel; with a little beaten yolk of egg to bind together the other ingredients. Having fried these b.a.l.l.s in b.u.t.ter, drain them, and when the pie is baked, lay a circle of them round the top; between the border of paste-leaves and the centre-knot.
This pie will be found so fine that it ought to be baked in a dish which will contain a large quant.i.ty.
LOBSTER RISSOLES.--Extract the meat of a boiled lobster; mince it as fine as possible; mix with it the coral pounded smooth, and some yolks of hard-boiled eggs pounded also. Season it with cayenne pepper, powdered mace, and a very little salt. Make a batter of beaten egg, milk, and flour. To each egg allow two large table-spoonfuls of milk, and a large tea-spoonful of flour. Beat the batter well, and then mix the lobster with it gradually, till it is stiff enough to make into oval b.a.l.l.s, about the size of a large plum. Fry them in the best salad oil, and serve them up either warm or cold.
Similar rissoles may be made of raw oysters minced fine; or of boiled clams. These should be fried in lard.
Very young Indian corn, grated from the cob, prepared in the above manner, made into b.a.l.l.s, and fried in fresh b.u.t.ter, is excellent.
Previous to grating it is best to boil the ears of corn.
TO DRESS A TURTLE.--The turtle should be taken out of water, and killed over night in winter, and early in the morning in summer. Hang it up by the hind fins, and before it has had time to draw in its neck, cut off its head with a very sharp knife, and leave the turtle suspended. It should bleed two or three hours or more, before you begin to cut it up.
Then lay it on its back upon a table: have at hand several vessels of cold water, in which to throw the most important parts as you separate them; also a large boiler of hot water. Take off the fins at the joint, and lay them by themselves in cold water; next divide the back-sh.e.l.l from the under-sh.e.l.l. The upper part of the turtle is called the calipash--the under part the calipee. In cutting open the turtle, be very careful not to break the gall, which should be taken out and thrown away; if broken, its bitterness will spoil all around it. Take out the entrails, and throw them into a tub of cold water. When well washed, open them from end to end with a small penknife, sc.r.a.pe off the inside skin, and, to cleanse them thoroughly, draw them several times through a woollen cloth. Wash, also, the liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, &c., and lay them in cold water; the liver in a pan by itself. If there are eggs, put them also into cold water. Having extracted the intestines, stand up the turtle on end, to let the blood run out.
Afterwards cut out all the flesh from the upper and under sh.e.l.ls, and remove the bones. Cut the calipee (or meat belonging to the under-sh.e.l.l) into pieces about as large as the palm of your hand, and break the sh.e.l.l. The calipash, or meat next the back-sh.e.l.l, may be cut smaller--the green fat into pieces about two inches square. Put all the meat into a large pan, sprinkle it slightly with salt, and cover it up.
Lay the sh.e.l.ls and fins in a tub of boiling water, and scald them till the scales can be sc.r.a.ped off with a knife, and all the meat that still adheres to the sh.e.l.ls easily removed, as it is worth saving. Clean the fins nicely, (taking off the dark skin,) and lay them in cold water.
Wipe the back-sh.e.l.l dry, and set it aside. Then proceed to make the soup. For this purpose, take the coa.r.s.er pieces of flesh with the bones and entrails. Put them into a pot with a pound of ham cut into pieces, and eight large calves"-feet (two sets) that have been singed and sc.r.a.ped but not skinned. If you cannot conveniently obtain calves"-feet, subst.i.tute a large fore-leg or knuckle of veal. Add four onions sliced thin; two table-spoonfuls of sweet-marjoram leaves; a large bunch of parsley; a dozen blades of mace; and a salt-spoon of cayenne. The ham will make any other salt unnecessary. Pour on as much water as will completely cover the whole, and let it simmer slowly over a steady fire during five hours, skimming it well. If after a while the soup seems to be boiling away too much, replenish it with a little hot water from a kettle, kept boiling hard for the purpose. When it has simmered five hours, take up the whole, and strain the soup through a sieve into a deep pan. Wash out the soup-pot with hot water, and return the strained soup to it, with the entrails cut into small pieces, and some of the best of the meat and a portion of the green fat. Have ready two or three dozen force-meat b.a.l.l.s about the size of a boy"s marble, and made of the usual proportions of minced veal, bread-crumbs, b.u.t.ter, grated lemon-peel, mace, nutmeg, and beaten yolk of egg. Put them into the soup, and let it boil an hour longer; also the eggs of the turtle, or some hard-boiled yolks of eggs. After it has thus boiled another hour, add two sliced lemons and a pint of Madeira. Boil the soup a quarter of an hour longer, and it will then be ready for the tureen. It must never boil hard.
In the mean time, stew in another pot the finest of the turtle-meat, seasoned with a little salt, and cayenne, and a liberal allowance of sweet-marjoram leaves rubbed fine, and mixed with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, cut into quarters and rolled in flour. When the turtle-meat has stewed an hour, put in the green fat, add the grated peel, and the juice of two lemons, and a pint or more of Madeira, and let the whole stew slowly an hour longer. While the meat is stewing, take the sh.e.l.l off the back; wash it clean, and wipe it dry, lay a band of puff-paste all round the inside of the sh.e.l.l, two inches below the edge, and two inches above it. Notch the paste handsomely, and fill the sh.e.l.l with the stewed turtle. Have ready the oven, heated as if for bread. Lay a large iron baking-sheet or a square pan upon four bricks (one at each corner) to elevate the sh.e.l.l from the floor of the oven. Place on it the turtle-sh.e.l.l with its contents, and let it bake till well browned on the surface. Send it to table in the sh.e.l.l placed on a large dish. At the other end set the tureen of soup. Have ready as two side dishes the fins stewed tender in a little of the soup; and the liver fried in b.u.t.ter. Garnish with lemons cut in half.
This receipt is for a turtle of moderate size. A large one will of course require an increased proportion of all the articles used in seasoning it--more wine, &c. In serving up turtle at a dinner-party, let it const.i.tute the first course, and have no other dishes on table with it. There is no need of any other fish or soup.
VEGETABLES, ETC.
AN EXCELLENT WAY OF BOILING CABBAGE.--Having trimmed the cabbage, and washed it well in cold water, (examining the leaves to see that no insects are lurking among them,) cut it almost into quarters, but do not divide it entirely down at the stem, which should be cut off just below the termination of the leaves. Let it lie an hour in a pan of cold water. Have ready a pot _full_ of boiling water, seasoned with a small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the cabbage into it, and let it boil for an hour and a half, skimming it occasionally. Then take it out; put it into a cullender to drain, and when all the hot water has drained off, set it under the hydrant. Let the hydrant run on it, till the cabbage has become perfectly cold all through. If you have no hydrant, set it under a pump, or keep pouring cold water on it from a pitcher. Then, having thrown out all the first water, and washed the pot, fill it again, and let the second water boil. During this time the cabbage under the hydrant will be growing cold. Then put it on again in the second water, and boil it two hours, or two and a half. Even the thickest part of the stalk must be perfectly tender all through. When thoroughly done, take up the cabbage, drain it well through the cullender, pressing it down with a broad ladle to squeeze out all the moisture; lay it in a deep dish, and cut it _entirely_ apart, dividing it into quarters. Lay some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter among the leaves, add a little pepper, cover the dish, and send it to table hot.
This receipt for boiling cabbage was obtained from a physician, and on trial has been found very superior to any other. Cabbage cooked in this manner loses its unpleasant odour, and its unwholesome properties, and may be eaten without apprehension, except by persons decidedly dyspeptic. The usual cabbage-smell will not be perceptible in the house--either while the cabbage is boiling or afterwards.
If you like it boiled with corned pork or bacon, the _second boiling_ (after the cabbage has been made cold under the hydrant) may be in the pot with the meat--skimming it well.