BEEF GUMBO.--Put into a large stew-pan some pieces of the lean of fresh beef, cut up into small bits, and seasoned with a little pepper and salt. Add sliced ochras and tomatos, (either fresh or dried ochras and tomato paste.) You may put in some sliced onions. Pour on water enough to cover it well. Let it boil slowly, (skimming it well,) till everything is reduced to rags. Then strain and press it through a cullender. Have ready a sufficiency of toasted bread, cut into dice. Lay it in the bottom of a tureen, and pour the strained gumbo upon it.
TO BOIL OCHRAS.--For boiling, the ochras should be young and small. Wash them, and cut off a small piece from each end. Boil them till very tender throughout. Then drain them well, and transfer them to a deep dish. Lay among them some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter, and season them with pepper. Cover the dish, that the b.u.t.ter may be warm and melt the sooner.
Or you may make a sauce of half a pint of milk boiled, and when it has come to a boil enrich with a quarter of a pound of very good fresh b.u.t.ter, divided into four pieces; each piece rolled in a little flour, the b.u.t.ter stirred in gradually and smoothly, as soon as the milk is taken off the fire. Pour this sauce over the dish of ochras, and keep it covered till it has gone to table.
We prefer the first way, putting the bit of b.u.t.ter cold into the hot ochras, with either milk or flour, and letting the b.u.t.ter melt gradually, in the manner of green beans. You may boil with them a small piece of very good bacon, removing when the ochras are taken off the fire. Season with pepper.
ONIONS.--The best onions for cooking are the white or silver-skinned.
The red-skinned are generally strong and coa.r.s.e. Shalots are very small and delicate. Some sorts of large onions are milder and nicer than those of middle size, and some that are very small have a powerful taste and smell. The outer skin of most onions should be peeled entirely, and the ends cut off. All onions are the better for boiling, before they are cooked for any other purpose. Put them into a stew-pan with cold water, and when they have come to a boil pour off that water, and replace it with fresh cold also. Boil them slowly till quite tender all through, which will not be in less than half an hour; more, if they are large.
When done, drain them well, dish them, and pour over them some nice melted b.u.t.ter.
_To Stew Onions._--Peel, slice them, and stew them in milk, enriched with b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and seasoned with a little cayenne and a few blades of mace.
_To Roast Onions._--Select fine large onions; do not peel them, but place them in a bake-pan, and set them in an oven. Bake them slowly till tender all through. When done, peel off the outer skin, and send them hot to table, to eat with pepper and cold b.u.t.ter.
They are very good when covered up and roasted under hot ashes, taking care that they are done quite through to the heart.
TO BOIL GREEN PEAS.--When the peas are sh.e.l.led, wash them in a pan of cold water. Put on the peas in cold water, (a little salted) and let them boil very fast. If nice peas, they will generally be done in a quarter of an hour after beginning to boil. When simmering, add to them a lump or a spoonful of loaf-sugar, and a sprig of fresh green mint, (half a dozen leaves) having first ascertained if mint is not disliked by any person who is to eat of the peas. To some the taste and odor of mint is very agreeable, to others very disgusting, as is the case with onions, and many other things that are liked by the majority.
When the peas are all soft or tender, take out the mint, drain the peas through a cullender till not a drop of water is left among them; transfer them to a deep dish, mix into them some of the best fresh b.u.t.ter, and sprinkle them with pepper. Cover them immediately, and send them to table hot.
STEWED PEAS.--Having prepared the peas as above, put them into a stew-pan without any water. Mix among them plenty of bits of nice fresh b.u.t.ter, sufficient to cook them. Let them stew slowly in the b.u.t.ter till they are quite soft, stirring them up from the bottom frequently. Drain and dish them. They will be found very fine--better than if boiled in water. Peas should not be stewed this way, except in places where plenty of good _fresh_ b.u.t.ter is to be easily obtained.
GREEN PEAS.--The largest and finest peas are what the English call marrowfat. The sugar pea is next. All green peas for boiling should be young and tender, but not so young as to be tasteless or insipid. As a general rule, nearly every article of food is best when it has just attained its full growth and ripeness; after that period the older it is the worse. Peas, so old as to be hard and yellow, are unfit to eat. In some ultra economical houses, good peas are things unknown. They are not bought in spring or early summer while young and fresh, but are never thought cheap enough till they become hard and yellow. Afterwards, when they reach the cheap state, a quant.i.ty are bought low, and put into jars not to be touched till next spring, when they are boiled, (with great difficulty, for they never become soft,) and _attempted_ to be pa.s.sed off "as this year"s fresh peas"--and by the time the family have gotten through with _them_, "this year"s young peas" have become old. Do not believe (for it is untrue,) that any eatable can be kept in _all_ its genuine freshness and original flavor, by merely secluding them entirely from air. They will not spoil or decompose if skillfully managed; but they _have not exactly_ their natural taste and consistence. It is better for those who _never make pickles or preserves_, to wait for fresh vegetables or fruit, till they are actually in market--or, if put up in jars, to add something more than parboiling and seclusion from the air. Vinegar, salt, sugar, spice and alcohol, will be found the grand and universal articles for securing the goodness of nearly all eatables. Without some of these along with them, things that have not spoiled while secluded from air, will surely spoil almost as soon as the jars are opened, and the external air admitted to them.
GREEN OR STRING BEANS.--Take young and tender beans, the seeds just forming in the pods. Take off the string with a knife, leaving no bits of string adhering to the beans, either at top or bottom. Do not split them. Cut each bean into three pieces, _not more_, and as you cut them throw them into a pan of cold water, kept beside you for the purpose.
The old-fashioned way is now obsolete of cutting them into dice or diamonds, or of splitting them. The more they are cut up (beside the trouble and time wasted,) the more the water gets through them when cooking; the more tasteless they become, and the more difficult they are to drain. We have never met with beans that, when cut small, had not a puddle of greasy water in the bottom of the dish, and sometimes the water was all through the dish, and the beans floating in it. Shame on such bean-cooking! When the beans are all ready for the pot, throw them into boiling water very slightly salted, and they will generally be done in half an hour after they have come to a boil. Transfer them to a sieve; and press, and drain them well, till no water is left about them.
Then put them into a deep dish, mix them with fresh b.u.t.ter, and dredge them with black pepper.
LIMA BEANS.--Sh.e.l.l the lima beans into a pan of cold water. Let them lie in it an hour. Put them in boiling water, little more than enough to cover them, and boil them till soft and tender. When done, drain and serve them up in a deep dish, adding among them a good piece of b.u.t.ter.
The Lima beans now raised in North America have become coa.r.s.e and white, requiring a renewal of fresh stock or new seeds from Peru. They will then be green and delicate again, as formerly.
SWEET POTATOS.--Choose the sweet potatos large, and nearly of the same size, then you can either boil or roast them. When small they should always be boiled; as, when baked or roasted, the skin becomes so thick and hard, that it takes up nearly the whole potato. Wash them very clean, and cut off a bit from each end. Put them into a large pot of boiling water without salt, and boil them steadily for at least an hour. Probe them with a narrow-bladed sharp knife, and if it does not easily penetrate all through the largest potato, (in at one side and out at the other) continue the boiling till all are soft throughout. Then take them up, peel them, and keep them warm till sent to table.
_To Bake Sweet Potatos_ they should all be large. Wash them, dry them, and cut off the ends. Then bake them in an oven, lying side by side, not piling one on another. Or else (which is better) roast them in hot ashes. They will not be done in less than an hour and a half, perhaps longer. Then wipe them clean, and serve them up in the skins. Eat them from the skins, with cold b.u.t.ter and a tea-spoon.
_To Stew Sweet Potatos._--Wash and wipe them. Then sc.r.a.pe off the skins with a sharp knife. Split them, and cut them into long pieces. Stew them with fresh pork, veal, or beef; first putting at the bottom a very little b.u.t.ter or water to start them, and then the gravy of the meat will suffice for cooking them--skimming it well. Water to stew should be hot.
_Mashed Sweet Potatos_ are very nice. When well boiled, mash them smoothly with a potato beetle. Mix them with fresh b.u.t.ter, and then stir them well, or beat them with a large wooden spoon to render them light.
Afterwards, you may make them into round thick cakes, and touch the surface of every one with pepper--red or black. This is a breakfast dish for company.
BOILED TURNIPS.--Have all your turnips nearly of the same size. Pare them; and if large cut them in half. Put them into boiling water, very slightly salted, and keep them closely covered. Twenty minutes will boil them if very small and young; their flavor is then very fine.
Afterwards, according to their size, they will require of gentle boiling, from three-quarters to a full hour. Keep them boiling till, on trying them with a fork, you find them perfectly tender all through.
Then take them up, drain them well, and pour melted b.u.t.ter over them; touch the top of each with a spot of black pepper. If very old and spongy, they are only fit for the pig barrel. It is said that if boiled in their skins, (though requiring a much longer time to cook well) they have a fine flavor, and are less watery. You can try it.
If the turnips are to be mashed, cut them into small pieces, boil them very soft, and drain and squeeze them till all the water is pressed out.
Then mash them very smooth. Transfer them to a deep dish, and mix them with a _moderate portion_ of fresh b.u.t.ter. Turnips are generally served with too much b.u.t.ter. Season them with pepper. When sent to table take care not to set them in a sunny place, as it will give them a bad taste.
Turnips, baked in an oven, are very good--for a change.
SYDNEY SMITH"S SALAD-DRESSING.--Have ready two well-boiled potatos, peeled and rubbed through a sieve; they will give peculiar smoothness to the mixture. Also, a very small portion of raw onion, not more than a _quarter_ of a tea-spoonful, (as the presence of the onion is to be scarcely hinted,) and the pounded yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Mix these ingredients on a deep plate with one tea-spoonful of salt, one of made mustard, three table-spoonfuls of olive oil, and one table-spoonful of vinegar. Add, lastly, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovy; mash, and mix the whole together, (using a boxwood spoon) and see that all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Having cut up a sufficiency of lettuce, that has been well washed in cold water, and drained, add to it the dressing immediately before dinner, mixing the lettuce through it with a boxwood fork.
This salad dressing was invented by the Rev. Sydney Smith, whose genius as a writer and a wit is well known on both sides the Atlantic. If _exactly_ followed, it will be found very fine on trial; no peculiar flavor predominating, but excellent as a whole. The above directions are taken from a ma.n.u.script receipt given by Mr. Smith to an American gentleman then in London.
In preparing this, or any other salad-dressing, take care not to use that excessively pungent and deleterious combination of drugs which is now so frequently imposed upon the public, as _the best white wine vinegar_. In reality, it has no vinous material about it; and it may be known by its violent and disagreeable sharpness, which overpowers and destroys the taste (and also the substance) of whatever it is mixed with. It is also very unwholesome. Its color is always pale, and it is nearly as clear as water. No one should buy or use it. The first quality of _real_ cider vinegar is good for all purposes.
The above receipt may be tried for lobster dressing.
A Spanish proverb says, that for compounding a _good_ salad, four persons are required--a spend-thrift for oil; a miser for vinegar; a man of judgment for salt; and a madman for stirring the dressing.
FINE CHICKEN SALAD.--Having skinned a pair of cold fowls, remove the fat, and carve them as if for eating; cut all the flesh entirely from the bones, and either mince it or divide it into small shreds. Mix with it a little smoked tongue or cold ham, grated rather than chopped. Have ready one or two fine fresh lettuces, picked, washed, drained, and cut small. Put the cut lettuce on a dish, (spreading it evenly,) or into a large bowl, and place upon it the minced chicken in a close heap in the centre. For the dressing, mix together the following ingredients, in the proportion of the yolks of four eggs well beaten, a tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar, a salt-spoon of cayenne; (no salt if you have ham or tongue with the chicken,) two tea-spoonfuls of made mustard, six table-spoonfuls of salad oil, and five of celery vinegar. Stir this mixture well: put it into a small sauce-pan, set it over the fire, and let it boil three minutes,(not more,) stirring it all the time. Then set it to cool. When quite cold, cover with it thickly, the heap of chicken in the centre of the salad. To ornament it, have ready half a dozen or more, hard-boiled eggs, which, after the sh.e.l.l is peeled off, must be thrown directly into a pan of cold water to prevent them from turning blue. Cut each egg (white and yolk together) lengthways into four long pieces of equal size and shape; lay the pieces upon the salad all round the heap of chicken, and close to it; placing them so as to follow each other round in a slanting direction, something in the form of a circular wreath of leaves. Have ready, also, some very red cold beet, cut into small cones or points all of equal size; arrange them in a circle upon the lettuce, outside of the circle of cut egg. To be decorated in this manner, the salad should be placed in a dish rather than a bowl. In helping it, give each person a portion of every thing, and they will mix them together on their plates.
This salad should be prepared immediately before dinner or supper; as standing long will injure it. The colder it is the better.
CARROTS.--Having washed the carrots, and sc.r.a.ped off the outer skin with a sharp knife, or taken off a very thin paring, split them a few inches down, leaving a long cleft in the upper half only, and put them on to cook in plenty of boiling water, with a little salt in it. There is no table vegetable that needs more boiling than a carrot. Small young carrots require at least half an hour. If large, they must boil from one to two hours, according to their size. When you find them tender throughout, dish them, with melted b.u.t.ter poured round them. They are eaten plain, only with boiled beef or boiled mutton. They are often added to soups and stews, when they must be put in long before the other vegetables. For soups and stews the nicest way is to grate them (before boiling,) on a coa.r.s.e grater. This way they improve both the taste and color.
Carrots are very nice, sliced thin after boiling, put into a sauce-pan, with bits of b.u.t.ter dredged with flour, seasoned with pepper, and stewed soft without any water.
PARSNIPS.--Sc.r.a.pe the parsnips, and split them half way down. Put them into boiling water with a little salt. Parsnips require less boiling than carrots; and, according to their size, will take from half an hour to an hour. Skim the water while they are boiling. When quite tender take them up, drain them, dish them, and pour melted b.u.t.ter over them.
They are especially eaten with corned pork, or salted cod; but are good with various things. They are excellent stewed with fresh beef, or fresh pork, for a plain dinner.
_Fried Parsnips_ make a nice breakfast dish. They must first be parboiled; then split, and cut into long pieces, and fried brown in fresh b.u.t.ter, or in nice dripping of veal or beef.
_Baked Parsnips._--Split and parboil them. Then place them in a large dish. Lay among them some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter, and bake them brown. Eat them with any sort of roast meat.
_Parsnip Fritters._--Boil and peel half a dozen large parsnips, and then split and cut them in pieces. Make a nice batter, allowing four beaten eggs to a pint of milk, and four table-spoonfuls of flour. Have ready over the fire, a frying-pan with boiling lard. Put in a large spoonful of batter; upon that a piece of parsnip, and cover it with another spoonful of batter. Proceed thus till you have used up the parsnips.
When done, drain them from the lard, and serve them hot at breakfast or dinner.
BEETS.--Beets must be washed very clean, but not sc.r.a.ped, trimmed, or cut till after they are boiled. Put them on in boiling water; and, according to their size, boil them steadily from one hour and a half, to two hours and a half, but they must not be probed (to ascertain if they are tender all through,) but pinched with the fingers. Then peel off the skins, and trim them neatly. Hold the beet in a pan of cold water while you peel it. Do it quickly. Serve them up either split or sliced, with melted b.u.t.ter poured over them, and seasoned with pepper. Or else they may be sliced thick, (allowing them to get cold,) and spiced vinegar poured over them. Red beets are usually dressed with vinegar; the white or pale ones with melted b.u.t.ter.
_Baked Beets_ have a finer flavor, and are more nutritious than when boiled. Wash and wipe them dry, but do not skin or cut them till after cooking. They must be thoroughly done before they are taken out of the oven, and then pared and trimmed. According to their size they will require from four to six hours baking. Their blood-red color makes them ornamental to the table; but when cooked in soups or stews they add little to the taste, which is overpowered by that of other ingredients.
SQUASHES OR CYMLINGS.--See that the squashes are not turning old, and hardening. Wash them, and cut them into four pieces each; but do not split them. Put them on in boiling water, with a little salt. Boil them steadily till quite tender throughout. Then take them up, and mash or drain them through a cullender, pressing them with a broad short-handled wooden ladle. All the water (of which there will be a profusion,) must be entirely squeezed out. Serve them up very dry, and smoothly and evenly mashed, having first mixed with them a _very little b.u.t.ter_; and season them with very little pepper. Much b.u.t.ter gives them a disagreeable taste and consistence, and the b.u.t.ter should be fresh and good. It is better to mash squashes, turnips, pumpkins, &c., without any b.u.t.ter, than to use that which is salt and bad. The flat white ones are the best summer squashes; the striped green are more watery; the cashaw, or yellow winter squash, is best of all, and grows well in the New England states, from whence, as it keeps well all winter, it is often brought in barrels. Every family should get a barrel of winter squashes from Boston. They do not thrive in the middle States. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they cannot be raised even from the best yankee seed, turning pumpkinish the next year, and afterwards becoming quite pumpkins, and very bad ones too. But when raised in their native soil and climate nothing of the squash kind is equal to them. They are very dry and sweet, and of a rich yellow color. Take them out of the barrel, and keep them far apart on the shelves or floor of a dry pantry.