DISGUISED HAM.--Sc.r.a.pe or grate a pound of cold boiled ham, twice as much lean as fat. Season it slightly with pepper and a little powdered mace or nutmeg. Beat the yolks only, of three eggs, and mix with them the ham. Spread the mixture thickly over slices of very nice toast, with the crust pared off, and the toast b.u.t.tered while hot. Brush it slightly on the surface with white of egg, and then brown it with a red hot shovel or salamander. This is a nice breakfast dish.
HAM CAKE.--This should be made the day before it is wanted. Take the remains of a cold ham. Cut it into small bits, and pound it well (fat and lean together) in a marble mortar, adding some b.u.t.ter and grated nutmeg; or a little cream, sufficient to moisten it throughout. Fill a mould with the mixture, and set it for half an hour into a moderate oven. When ready for use, set the mould for a few minutes into hot water, and then turn out the ham cake on a dish. Cover the surface all over with a coating of beaten white of egg. And before it is quite dry, decorate it with capers, or pickled nasturtion seeds, arranged in a pattern.
Send small bread rolls to the supper table with the ham cake.
HAM OMELET.--Mince very fine some cold boiled ham, (twice as much lean as fat,) till you have a half pint. Break six eggs, and strain them into a shallow pan. Beat them till very light and thick, and then stir in gradually the minced ham. Have ready, in a hot omelet pan, three table-spoonfuls of lard. When the lard boils, put in the omelet mixture and fry it. Occasionally slip a knife under the edge to keep it loose from the pan. It should be near an inch thick, as a ham omelet is best not to fold over. Make it a good even shape; and when one side is done, turn the other and brown it. You can turn it easily with a knife and fork, holding carefully, close to the omelet, the hot dish on which it is to go to table. Dredge the surface with a little cayenne.
Omelets may be made in this manner, of smoked tongue, or oysters chopped, cold sweetbread, asparagus minced, boiled onions, mushrooms, &c. A good allowance for a small omelet is the above proportion of eggs and lard, or fresh b.u.t.ter; and a large tea-cup of the seasoning article, which must always have been previously cooked.
They are much lighter when served up of their full size, and not folded over in halfs. A large omelet must have from eight to ten, or a dozen eggs. It is best to bake all omelets of the six egg size, and have more in number if required.
HAM TOAST.--Make some very nice slices of toast, with all the crust trimmed off; and dip each toast for an instant into a bowl of hot water, then b.u.t.ter it slightly. Have ready some grated cold ham, and spread it thick over each slice of toast. Tongue toast is made in the same manner.
SANDWICHES.--Spread some thin slices of bread very thinly with nice fresh b.u.t.ter, and lay a thin slice of cold ham (the edges neatly trimmed) between every two slices of bread and b.u.t.ter. You may make them so thin, as to roll up--a number being piled on a plate.
BISCUIT SANDWICHES.--This is a very nice and very pretty dish for a supper table. Have ready one or two dozen of fresh soft milk biscuit.
Split them, and take a very little of the soft crumb out of each biscuit, so as to make a slight hollow. b.u.t.ter the biscuits with very nice fresh b.u.t.ter, and fill them liberally with grated ham or tongue.
Stick round the inside of the edges, full sprigs of pepper-gra.s.s, or curled parsley, or the green tops of celery. Arrange the sprigs closely and handsomely, so as to project out all round the sides, forming a green border or fringe. We highly recommend biscuit sandwiches.
POTTED HAM.--Take some cold ham, slice it, and mince it small, fat and lean together. Then pound it in a mortar; seasoning it as you proceed with cayenne pepper, powdered mace, and powdered nutmeg. Then fill with it a large deep pan, and set it in an oven for half an hour. Afterwards pack it down hard in a stone jar, and fill up the jar with lard. Cover it closely, and paste down a thick paper over the jar. If sufficiently seasoned, it will keep well in winter; and is convenient for sandwiches, or on the tea-table. A jar of this will be found useful to travelers in remote places.
Tongue may be potted as above.
TO PREPARE BACON.--All pieces of pork that, after pickling, are dried and smoked, come under the denomination of bacon; except the hind-quarters or legs, and they are always called ham, and are justly considered superior to any other part of the animal, and bring a higher price. The shoulders or fore-quarters, the sides or flitches, the jowl or head, and all the other parts, are designated as bacon; and in some places they erroneously give that name to the whole animal, if cured, or preserved by the process of smoking.
To prepare bacon for being cooked, examine it well, and sc.r.a.pe it carefully, and trim off all unsightly parts. If the fat is yellow, the meat is rusty or tainted, and not fit to eat. So, also, if on the lean there are brownish or blackish spots. All sorts of food, if kept too long, should be thrown away at once.
If perfectly good, prepare the bacon for cooking, by washing it well, and then soaking it for several hours in a pan full of cold water, removing the water once or twice during the process. If the bacon is salt and hard, soak it all night, changing the water at bed-time, and early in the morning.
Ham should also be soaked before cooking.
A dish of broiled ham is a nice accompaniment to one of calves"
chitterlings, at breakfast.
TO BOIL BACON.--Put two or three pounds of nice bacon into a pot with plenty of cold water, and let it simmer slowly for an hour before it begins to boil. Skim it well, and when no more sc.u.m rises, put in the vegetables which are usually eaten with bacon, and which taste better for boiling with the meat. These are young greens, or sprouts, very young roots and leaves of the poke plant, and green beans--strung and cut in half--not smaller. On no account should any other vegetables be boiled with bacon. When the bacon is so tender as to be easily pierced through with a fork, even in the thickest places, take it up and drain it well in a cullender or sieve. Remove the skin. Then take up the vegetables and drain them also, pressing out _all_ the liquid. Season them with pepper only. Send the meat to table with the vegetables heaped round it, on the same large dish, (the cabbage being chopped, but not minced fine.) Potatos, squashes, peas, asparagus, &c., should never be boiled in the same pot, or served up in the same dish with bacon, which is too plain a dish for any but a country table; while a ham is a delicacy for the city, or for any place.
BACON AND BEANS.--Sc.r.a.pe and trim a nice piece of bacon, (not too fat,) and see that no part of it looks yellow or rusty, or shows any appearance of being too old. If so, do not cook it, as it is unwholesome, unpalatable, and unfit to eat. A shoulder is a good piece to boil. The best of the animal, when smoked, is, of course, the ham or leg. We are now speaking of the other pieces that, when cured, are properly called bacon, and are eaten at plain tables only.
The meat, if very salt, is the better for being put in soak early in the morning, or the night before. Afterwards put it into a pot, and boil and skim it till tender. Have ready a quart or two of fresh green string beans, cut into three pieces, (not more); put them into the pot in which the bacon is boiling, and let them cook with the meat for an hour or more. When done, take them out, drain them well; season them well with pepper, and send them to table on a separate dish from the bacon.
Many persons like so well this bacon flavor, that they _always_, when boiling string-beans, put a small piece of bacon in the pot, removing it before the beans are sent to table.
With bacon and beans, serve up whole potatos boiled and peeled--and in the country, where cream is plenty, they boil some with b.u.t.ter, and pour it over the potatos, touching each one with pepper.
BROILED HAM OR BACON.--Wash and trim a nice piece of bacon; soak it all night, or for several hours, in cold water. In the morning scald it with boiling water. Let it lie till cool, then throw away the water, and scald it again. Cut it into thin slices, very smooth and even; the rind being previously pared off. Curl up the slices, rolling them round, and securing them with wooden skewers. Broil them on a gridiron, or bake them in a Dutch oven. If cut properly thin, they will cook in a quarter of an hour. They must not be allowed to burn or blacken. Before you send them to table, take out the skewers. They may be cooked in flat slices, without curling, but they must be cut always very thin. Slice some hard-boiled eggs, and lay them on the meat. Season with black pepper.
_Cold_ boiled ham cooked as above, will require no soaking, and can be speedily prepared for a breakfast dish. Lay sprigs of parsley on the ham.
Serve up with them mashed potatos made into b.a.l.l.s, or thick flat cakes, and browned on the surface with a red-hot shovel.
STEWED HAM.--Cut some thin slices of cold boiled ham. Season them slightly with pepper. No salt. Lay them in a stew pan with plenty of green peas or lima beans, or else cauliflowers, or young summer cabbage, quartered, and the thick stalk omitted. Add a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, or _a very little lard_. Put in just water enough to keep the things from burning. When the vegetables are quite done, add a beaten egg or two, and in five minutes, take up the stew and send it to table.
STEWED BACON.--Take a small piece of bacon, not too fat or salt. It had best be soaked in cold water the night before. Put it into a pot, with a large portion of string beans, each cut into three pieces, (not more,) or else some cabbage, or young cabbage sprouts. Early in the spring, the young stalks of the pokeberry plant will be found excellent with stewed bacon. Stew the bacon and vegetables in just water enough to cover them all; skimming frequently. Drain all, through a cullender, when done.
Have a dish of boiled potatos also. A mola.s.ses indian pudding is a good conclusion to this homely dinner.
PREPARED LARD.--As soon as it is cut off from the newly killed pork, put the fat into a crock, or deep earthen pot. Cover the crock with its own lid, and let it stand all night in a cool place. Next day, cut it into small bits, (carefully removing all the fleshy particles of lean); and then put the fat into a _very clean_ pot, without either water or salt.
The pot should not be more than half full of pork-fat. Let it boil _slowly_, (stirring it frequently from the bottom, lest it burn,) till it becomes quite clear and transparent. Then ladle it into clean pans.
When almost cold, put it into stoneware jars, which must be closely covered, and kept in a cool place. If it is to go to a distance, tie it up in new bladders.
There are two sorts of pork-fat for lard. The leaf-fat, which is best; and the fat that adheres to the entrails. These two fats should be boiled separately.
The large entrails, whose skins are to be used for sausages, must be cleaned out carefully, well sc.r.a.ped, and thrown into strong salt and water for two days, (changing the brine the second day,) and afterwards into strong lye for twenty-four hours. Lastly, wash them in fresh water.
We think it much better to dispense with the skins altogether; keeping your sausage meat in jars, and frying it in cakes when wanted for use.
Its own fat (as it exudes) will cook it.
Never use bad b.u.t.ter when you can obtain good lard, for frying, and other purposes.
VENISON.
You may judge of the age of venison by looking at the hoof, which is always left on the leg. The deer is young if the cleft of the hoof is small and smooth; but large and rough, if he is old. Buck venison is considered better than the meat of the doe. The haunch, or hind-quarter, is the best part, and the fat upon it should, be thick and white. The shoulder, or fore-quarter, is the next best piece. The saddle comprises both hind-quarters; and these, for a large company, are always cooked together.
To eat venison in perfection, it should be killed when the deer can find plenty of fresh food in the forest, and when they have fattened on the abundance of wild berries, which they can obtain during the autumn. In winter, they are brought into the cities, lean, hard, dry, and black, and the meat infested all through with small threadlike white worms; showing that decomposition has commenced, and requiring the disguise of spices, wine, currant jelly, &c., to render it _eatable_, not _wholesome_, for every sort of food in the slightest degree tainted is utterly injurious to health, and cannot often be eaten with impunity.
It never was very fashionable, in America, to eat spoiled victuals, and it is now less so than ever. Fortunately, in our land of abundance, "we do not see the necessity".
HAUNCH OF VENISON.--To prepare a haunch of venison for roasting (we will suppose it to be _perfectly_ good and well kept,) wipe it thoroughly all over with clean cloths, dipped in lukewarm water, and then go over it with clean dry cloths. Trim off all unsightly parts. Lay over the fat a large sheet of thick brown paper, well b.u.t.tered, and securely tied on with twine. Or else make a coa.r.s.e paste of brown meal, and cover it with that. Place it before a good steady fire, and let it roast from three to four hours, according to its size. After roasting well for three hours, remove the covering of paper or paste, and baste the meat well all over; first with dripping or b.u.t.ter, and then with its own gravy, dredging it very slightly with browned flour. Skim the fat off the gravy, and send the venison to table plain, with sweet sauce of black currant jelly, or raspberry jam, in a gla.s.s dish with a spoon in it.
VENISON STEAKS, BROILED.--Cut the steaks not quite an inch thick. Trim them nicely, and season them with a little black pepper and salt. Have ready, over a bed of clear bright hot coals from a wood fire, a gridiron with grooved bars to catch the gravy. Put down the steaks, and when one side is quite done turn the other, and broil that. Venison should always be very thoroughly done. Before you take up the steaks, lay a bit of nice fresh b.u.t.ter upon each. Take them up on a hot dish, and keep them warm. Pour off the gravy into a small saucepan. Give it a boil over the fire, and skim off all the fat from the surface. Stir into it some nice wine, and serve up with the steaks a deep dish of cranberry, or peach sauce, or a large cup of grape jelly.