Will keep for weeks.
SPICES.
Ginger is the root of a shrub first known in Asia, and now cultivated in the West Indies and Sierra Leone. The stem grows three or four feet high and dies every year. There are two varieties of ginger--the white and black--caused by taking more or less care in selecting and preparing the roots, which are always dug in winter, when the stems are withered. The white is the best.
_Cinnamon_ is the inner bark of a beautiful tree, a native of Ceylon, that grows from twenty to thirty feet in height and lives to be centuries old.
_Cloves_.--Native to the Molucca Islands, and so called from resemblance to a nail (_clavis_). The East Indians call them "changkek" from the Chinese "techengkia" (fragrant nails). They grow on a straight, smooth-barked tree, about forty feet high. Cloves are not fruits, but blossoms, gathered before they are quite unfolded.
_Allspice_.--A berry so called because it combines the flavor of several spices--grows abundantly on the allspice or bayberry tree; native of South America and the West Indies. A single tree has been known to produce one hundred and fifty pounds of berries. They are purple when ripe.
_Black pepper_ is made by grinding the dried berry of a climbing vine, native to the East Indies. White pepper is obtained from the same berries, freed from their husk or rind. Red or cayenne pepper is obtained by grinding the scarlet pod or seed-vessel of a tropical plant that is now cultivated in all parts of the world.
_Nutmeg_ is the kernel of a small, smooth, pear-shaped fruit that grows on a tree in the Molucca Islands, and other parts of the East.
The trees commence bearing in the seventh year, and continue fruitful until they are seventy or eighty years old. Around the nutmeg or kernel is a bright, brown sh.e.l.l. This sh.e.l.l has a soft, scarlet covering, which, when flattened out and dried, is known as mace. The best nutmegs are solid, and emit oil when p.r.i.c.ked with a pin.
HERBS FOR WINTER.
To prepare herbs for winter use, such as sage, summer savory, thyme, mint or any of the sweet herbs, they should be gathered fresh in their season, or procure them from the market. Examine them well, throwing out all poor sprigs; then wash and shake them; tie into small bundles, and tie over the bundles a piece of netting or old lace (to keep off the dust); hang up in a warm, dry place, the leaves downward. In a few days the herb will be thoroughly dry and brittle. Or you may place them in a cool oven and let them remain in it until perfectly dry.
Then pick off all the leaves and the tender tops of the stems; put them in a clean, large-mouthed bottle that is perfectly dry. When wanted for use, rub fine, and sift through a sieve. It is much better to put them in bottles as soon as dried, as long exposure to the air causes them to lose strength and flavor.
MEATS AND THEIR ACCOMPANIMENTS.
With roast beef: tomato sauce, grated horse-radish, mustard, cranberry sauce, pickles.
With roast pork: apple sauce, cranberry sauce.
With roast veal: tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, onion sauce and cranberry sauce. Horse-radish and lemons are good.
With roast mutton: currant jelly, caper sauce.
With boiled mutton: onion sauce, caper sauce.
With boiled fowls: bread sauce, onion sauce, lemon sauce, cranberry sauce, jellies. Also cream sauce. With roast lamb: mint sauce.
With roast turkey: cranberry sauce, currant jelly. With boiled turkey: oyster sauce.
With venison or wild ducks: cranberry sauce, currant jelly, or currant jelly warmed with port wine.
With roast goose: apple sauce, cranberry sauce, grape or currant jelly.
With boiled fresh mackerel: stewed gooseberries.
With boiled blue fish: white cream sauce, lemon sauce.
With broiled shad: mushroom sauce, parsley or egg sauce.
With fresh salmon: green peas, cream sauce.
Pickles are good with all roast meats, and in fact are suitable accompaniments to all kinds of meats in general.
Spinach is the proper accompaniment to veal; green peas to lamb. Lemon juice makes a very grateful addition to nearly all the insipid members of the fish kingdom. Slices of lemon cut into very small dice and stirred into drawn b.u.t.ter and allowed to come to the boiling point, served with fowls, is a fine accompaniment.
VEGETABLES APPROPRIATE TO DIFFERENT DISHES.
Potatoes are good with all meats. With fowls they are nicest mashed.
Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast meats, as also are onions, winter squash, cuc.u.mbers and asparagus.
Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens and cabbage are generally eaten with boiled meat, and corn, beets, peas and beans are appropriate to either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good with roast pork and with boiled meats. Tomatoes are good with almost every kind of meats, especially with roasts.
WARM DISHES FOR BREAKFAST.
The following of hot breakfast dishes may be of a.s.sistance in knowing what to provide for the comfortable meal called breakfast.
Broiled beefsteak, broiled chops, broiled chicken, broiled fish, broiled quail on toast, fried pork tenderloins, fried pig"s feet, fried oysters, fried clams, fried liver and bacon, fried chops, fried pork, ham and eggs fried, veal cutlets breaded, sausages, frica.s.seed tripe, frica.s.seed kidneys, turkey or chicken hash, corn beef hash, beef croquettes, codfish b.a.l.l.s, creamed codfish, stewed meats on toast, poached eggs on toast, omelettes, eggs boiled plain, and eggs cooked in any of the various styles.
VEGETABLES FOR BREAKFAST.
Potatoes in any of the various modes of cooking, also stewed tomatoes, stewed corn, raw radishes, cuc.u.mbers sliced, tomatoes sliced raw, water cress, lettuce.
To be included with the breakfast dishes: oatmeal mush, cracked wheat, hominy or corn-meal mush, these with cream, milk and sugar or syrup.
Then numberless varieties of bread can be selected, in form of rolls, fritters, m.u.f.fins, waffles, corn-cakes, griddle-cakes, etc., etc.
For beverages, coffee, chocolate and cocoa, or tea if one prefers it; these are all suitable for the breakfast table.
When obtainable always have a vase of choice flowers on the breakfast table; also some fresh fruit, if convenient.
SALADS.
Everything in the make-up of a salad should be of the freshest material, the vegetables crisp and fresh, the oil or b.u.t.ter the very best, meats, fowl and fish well cooked, pure cider or white wine vinegar--in fact, every ingredient first cla.s.s, to insure success.
The vegetables used in salad are: Beet-root, onions, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, celery, cuc.u.mbers, lentils, haricots, winter cress, peas, French beans, radish, cauliflower--all these may be used judiciously in salad, if properly seasoned, according to the following directions.
Chervil is a delicious salad herb, invariably found in all salads prepared by a French _gourmet_. No man can be a true epicure who is unfamiliar with this excellent herb. It may be procured from the vegetable stands at Fulton and Washington markets the year round. Its leaves resemble parsley, but are more divided, and a few of them added to a breakfast salad give a delightful flavor.
_Chervil Vinegar_.--A few drops of this vinegar added to fish sauces or salads is excellent, and well repays the little trouble taken in its preparation. Half fill a bottle with fresh or dry chervil leaves; fill the bottle with good vinegar and heat it gently by placing it in warm water, which bring to boiling point; remove from the fire; when cool cork, and in two weeks it will be ready for use.