H. J. Clayton

“ Baking meat is in very many respects objectionable—and should never be resorted to when other modes of cooking are available, as it reverses the order of good, wholesome cookery, in beginning with a slow and finishing with a high temperature. Meats cooked in this manner have never the delicate flavor of the roast, nor are they so easily digested.
Boiling is one of the easiest and simplest methods of cooking, but in its practice certain conditions must be carefully observed. The fire must be attended to, so as to properly regulate the heat. ”

“ Take a calf's head of medium size; wash clean, and soak it an hour or more in salted water; then soak a little while in fresh, and put to boil in cold water; add a little salt and a medium-sized onion; take off the scum as it rises, and as the water boils away add a little soup stock; when quite tender take the meat from the bone, keeping the brain by itself; strain the soup, and if you think there is too much meat, use a portion as a side-dish dressed with brain sauce; do not cut the meat too fine—and season the soup with allspice, cloves and mace, adding pepper and salt to taste ”

“ When the meat begins to get tender and the water well reduced, cook four onions, chopped fine, in a pan with pork fat and butter, dredging in a little flour and seasoning with pepper and salt, adding a little of the juice from the fowls. Next take up the pieces of the meat and roll in browned flour or cracker-dust, and fry slightly. If the butter is not scorched put in a little browned flour; stir in the onion, and put it back in the kettle with the meat of the fowl, simmering until the gravy thickens, and the meat is thoroughly tender. ”

“ In these degenerate days of wholesale adulteration of almost every article of food and drink, it is eminently just and proper that the public should be advised where the genuine is to be procured. Without desiring to convert his book into a mere advertising medium, the author deems it not out of place to give the names of those dealers in this city of whom such articles as are essential in the preparation of many of the recipes given in these pages may be procured—of the most reliable quality, and at reasonable rates. ”

“ Take a sucking pig—one from three to five weeks old is best. When properly dressed lay in salted water for half an hour; take out and wipe dry inside and out; make a stuffing of bread and butter, mixing to a proper consistency with milk and a well beaten egg; season with salt, pepper and sage, with the addition of thyme or summer savory, and an onion chopped fine and stewed in butter with flour. Sew up, and roast for a long time in an oven not too hot, first putting a little water with lard or dripping in the pan. ”

“ Certain learned physiologists have put forth the theory that food-fish is brain-producing, and adds to the mental vigor of those who subsist upon it. While we are not disposed to controvert this consoling idea—if the theory be true—the South Sea savages, who live upon this aliment, both in the raw and cooked state—and the Esquimaux, whose principal summer and winter diet is frozen fish—should be the most intelligent people on earth. ”

“ Take 3 cups of good corn-meal—either yellow or white—and 1 cup of flour; add a teaspoonful of baking powder, stirring well together. Next, put into a vessel, 2 eggs, well beaten, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, a little salt, a large tablespoonful of sweet lard or butter, and milk enough to make a thick batter. Let these come to a boiling heat, stirring well at the same time, then pour in the meal, and beat to a stiff consistence. Turn into a baking pan, and bake until thoroughly done, brown on top and bottom. Use hot milk in mixing, as, in my opinion, it takes the raw taste from the corn-meal. ”

“ Having prepared your stock according to the foregoing directions, take a sufficient quantity, when soup is required, and season, as taste may dictate, with sweet and savory herbs—salpicant, celery salt, or any other favorite seasoning—adding vegetables cut fine, and let the same boil slowly in a covered vessel until thoroughly cooked. If preferred, after seasoning the stock, it may be thickened with either barley, rice, tapioca, sago, vermicelli, macaroni, farina or rice flour. A roast onion is sometimes added to give richness and flavor. ”

“ It is a well-known fact that soups properly prepared improve in flavor and are really better on the day after than when first made. By substituting different materials, garnitures, flavorings and condiments, of which an endless variety is available, the intelligent housewife may be able to furnish a different soup for every day of the year. In following these, as in all other directions for every department of cookery, experience will, after all, be found the great teacher and most valuable aid and adjunct to the learner of the art. ”

“ Take the very best pork you can get—one-third fat and two-thirds lean—and chop on a block with a kitchen cleaver. When half chopped, season with black pepper, salt and sage, rubbed through a sieve, and then finish the chopping; but do not cut the meat too fine, as in that case the juice of the meat will be lost. Make the mixture up into patties, and fry on a common pan, placed in the oven of the stove, taking care not to cook them hard. Veal is a good substitute for the lean pork in making these sausages, which are much better if made one day before cooking. ”

“ If put in cold water, and the heat gradually raised until it reaches the boiling point, the health-giving albumen—with the juices which give each its peculiar and pleasant flavor—are extracted from the meat and dissolved and retained in the water, rendering the flesh and fish insipid and in some cases almost tasteless. ”

“ Sew up tight, tie up the legs, and encase the body with strong twine, wrapped around to hold the wings to the body. After rubbing well with salt and dredging lightly with flour, put the fowl in a pan, laying on top two or three thin slices of fat pork, salt or fresh. Put a little water in the pan, and baste frequently, but do not roast too rapidly; raise the pan at least two inches from the bottom of the range. All white meat should invariably be cooked well done, and turkey or chicken, to be eaten cold, should be wrapped while warm in paper or cloth. ”

“ After dissolving the corn-starch in a little cold water, heat the milk to boiling and stir this in, and boil three minutes, stirring the mixture all the time; next, stir in the butter, and set away until cold. Beat the eggs until very light, when add the sugar and seasoning, and then stir into the corn-starch, beating thoroughly to a smooth custard. Put into a buttered dish, and bake not more than half an hour. This pudding is best eaten cold, with sauce made of cream and sugar, flavored with nutmeg or cinnamon, or both, or plain powdered sugar, as tastes may prefer. ”

“ Stir frequently, as the beans are apt to scorch when they begin to soften. When soft enough to be easily crushed with the thumb and finger, season with plenty of black pepper and salt; after five minutes have elapsed fill a nice baking pan—such a one as will do to set on the table—pour in the liquid until it nearly covers the beans, score the pork and put it half-way down in the beans, and bake in a slow fire until nicely browned.
When the remaining beans are boiled quite soft rub them through a colander into the soup; add 1 pint of milk, and season with ground cloves or mace. ”

“ It is only where fresh meat is used that cold water is applied at the commencement; for cooked meat, use warm. The bones dissolved in the slow simmering, furnish the gelatine so essential to good stock. One quart of water to a pound of meat is the average rule. Six to eight hours renders it fit for use. Let stand over night; skim off the fat; put in an earthen jar, and it is ready for use. Every family should keep a jar of the stock constantly on hand, as by doing so any kind of soup may be made from it in from ten to thirty minutes. ”

“ Cooking is defined to be the art of dressing, compounding and preparing food by the aid of heat. Ancient writers upon the subject are of opinion that the practice of this art followed immediately after the discovery of fire, and that it was at first an imitation of the natural processes of mastication and digestion. ”

“ White meat, such as chicken, quail or nice veal, is decidedly the best for the purpose. Stew the meat until tender, in considerable liquid as when you put into the paste much of that will be absorbed. In making the paste take 1 quart of flour and 2 tablespoonfuls of baking powder, rubbed well into the flour, 1⁄4 pound butter or sweet lard, and a little salt; mix [Pg 61] with milk or water into a soft dough; roll 1⁄2 an inch thick; cut to size, and lay in a steamer for 15 minutes to make light, then put in and around the stew; cooking slowly for ten minutes. ”

“ Put into a saucepan 1⁄4 pound butter with a little flour; cook together and stir till cool; then add a gill of cream, a little cayenne pepper, salt, and a dessert-spoonful of East India Curry Powder. Mix well together, and add 1 pound boiled crab meat, chopped fine; stir well together—make very hot and serve. The addition of a glass of white wine adds to the flavor of this curry. ”

“ The oven should be quite hot, in order to close the pores on the surface of the meat as quickly as possible. As the meat hardens reduce the heat a little, basting frequently. Turn two or three times during the roasting, taking care not to let the gravy scorch. Meat cooked in this way will be tender and juicy, and when done will be slightly red in the centre. Should it prove too rare, carve thin and lay in a hot pan with a little gravy for one minute. Beef will roast in from one and-half to two hours, according to size. ”

“ As the season of ripe fruit advances, I prepare such quantities of syrup as I think I may need, in this way: Three pounds of granulated sugar to one gallon of water and boil twenty minutes; this I put in glass jars, when cool, and set away for future use. Peaches, quinces, pears, apples, plums, pine apples, rhubarb, crab apples, and, in fact, all fruits of this kind, I peel, quarter and place in a dish of cold water (to prevent discoloration) , until I have prepared enough to fill a jar: I then pack them solid as possible in a jar, and then fill the jar with the syrup previously prepared. ”

“ In frying large-sized fish, cut the slices lengthwise instead of across, for if cut against the grain the rich juices will be lost in the cooking, rendering the fish hard, dry and tasteless. For this reason fish are always better cooked whole, when this can be done. Beat up one or two eggs, with two tablespoonfuls of milk, with salt to season. After dipping the fish in this, dry in cracker dust—never use corn meal—and fry in good lard. ”

“ Neither should tin be used, as that lets the fine coffee through, and clouds the liquid, which should be clear. To extract its full strength, coffee should invariably be ground as fine as oatmeal or finely-ground hominy, and protracted boiling dissipates the aroma and destroys its fine flavor. ”

“ Although the adulterations of this staple article of food are numerous, the main cause of the quantities of bad butter with which the community is burdened, is ignorance of the true methods, and slovenliness in the preparation of this staple article, for which no reasonable excuse can be urged. In the making of good butter, no process is more simple or easily accomplished. ”

“ The utensils used for this purpose, which should be large enough to contain sufficient water to completely cover the meat, should be scrupulously clean, and provided with a close-fitting cover. All scum should be removed as fast as it rises, which will be facilitated by frequent additions of small quantities of cold water. Difference of opinion exists among cooks as to the propriety of putting meats in cold water, and gradually raising to the boiling point, or plunging into water already boiling. ”

“ Save all the juice of the oysters; beat two eggs with two or three spoonfuls of milk or cream, seasoning with pepper; put this into the juice, with the addition of as much flour as will make a rich batter. When the fat is quite hot put into it a spoonful of the batter, containing one oyster, and turn quickly in order that both sides may be nicely done brown. ”

“ While carefully catering to the varied tastes of the mass, everything of an unhealthful, deleterious, or even doubtful character, has been carefully excluded; and all directions are given in the plainest style, so as to be readily understood, and fully comprehended by all classes of citizens. ”

“ There is no good reason why coffee cannot be as well made in hotel and restaurant kitchens, as in private families or anywhere else, if the berry is good, well-browned, and pains are taken for the proper preparation of this popular beverage. ”

“ When the chicken becomes cold, remove the skin and bones, after which chop or cut to the size of a pea; cut celery and lettuce equally fine—after taking off the outer fibre of the former—and mixing, add Clayton's Salad Dressing, (the recipe for which will be found elsewhere) ; also incorporating four eggs, which should be boiled eight minutes, cutting three as fine as the chicken and celery, and leaving the fourth as a garnish on serving. Cold roast turkey, chicken or tender veal make most excellent salad treated in this way. ”