Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell

“ When washed, put a good seasoning of spices and salt. Set it over a fire in a stewpan, that will just hold the meat: put a piece of butter, and, covering close, let it simmer in its own steam till it shrink. It must be cool before it be put into the pie. Chicken’s sweetbreads, giblets, pigeon’s meat, almost any thing will make a good pie, if well seasoned, and made tender by stewing. A forcemeat may be put under and over, of cold chicken or veal, fat bacon, shred ham, herbs, bread, and seasoning, bound with an egg or two, or in balls. Or instead of crust, use an earthen pie form. ”

“ Make a stuffing of bread, herbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, lemonpeel, a few oysters or an anchovy, a bit of butter, some suet, and an egg. Put this in the crop, and fasten up the skin, and boil the turkey in a floured cloth, to make it very white. Have ready a fine oyster sauce, made rich with butter, a little cream, a spoonful of soy, if approved, and pour over the bird. Or, liver and lemon sauce.
Hen birds are best for boiling, and should be young.
Turkey to Roast. The sinews of the legs should be drawn, whichever way it be dressed. The head should be twisted under the wing ”

“ A very good meal may be bestowed in a thing called Brewis, which is thus made: cut a very thick upper crust of bread and put it into the pot where salt beef is boiling and near ready; it will attract some of the fat, and, when swelled out, will be no unpalatable dish to those who rarely taste meat.
A baked Soup. Put a pound of any kind of meat cut in slices; two onions, two carrots, ditto; two ounces of rice, a pint of split peas, or whole ones if previously soaked, pepper and salt, into an earthen jug or pan, and pour one gallon of water. Cover it very close, and bake it with the bread. ”

“ When sirloins of beef, loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify; dripping will baste every thing as well as butter, fowls and game excepted; and for kitchen pies, nothing else should be used.
The fat off a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than suet.
Meat and vegetables that the frost has touched should be soaked in cold water two or three hours before they are used, or more if much iced. When put into hot water or to the fire until thawed, no heat will dress them properly. ”

“ Hare Soup. Take an old hare that is good for nothing else than soup, cut in pieces, and put it with a pound and a half of lean beef, two or three shankbones of mutton well cleaned, a slice of lean bacon or ham; an onion, and a bunch of sweet herbs: pour on it two quarts of boiling water: cover the jar, in which you put these, with bladder and paper, and set it in a kettle of water: simmer till the hare is stewed to pieces: strain off the liquor, and give it one boil, with an anchovy cut in pieces, and add a spoonful of soy, and a little Cayenne and salt. ”

“ In roasting meat, it is a very good way to put a little salt and water into the dripping pan, and baste 22for a little while with it before it be done with its own fat or dripping. When dry, dust it with flour, and baste as usual.
Time, distance, basting often, and a clear fire, of a proper size for what is required, are the first articles of a good cook’s attention in roasting.
Old meats do not require so much dressing as young: not that they are sooner done, but they can be eaten with the gravy more in. ”

“ Small fish, nicely fried in egg, and crumbs, make a dish of fish far more elegant than served plain. Great attention should be paid to garnishing fish; plenty of horseradish, parsley, and lemon.
When well done, and with very good sauce, fish is more attended to than almost any other dish. The liver and roe should be placed on the dish, so conspicuously that the lady may see them, and help a part to every one. ”

“ Some people haggle meat so as not to be able to help six times from a large tongue, or a piece of beef. It is to be observed that a thin sharp carving knife, and with a very little strength to the management of it, will cut deep thin slices, cause the joint to look neatly, and leave sufficient for a second helping, instead of that disgusting appearance which is sometimes observable. Habit alone can make people carve, or do the honours of a table well ”

“ If a word has been once explained with accuracy, and its various meanings discriminated with critical acumen, nothing remains for a succeeding writer, but to collect and arrange the labours of his predecessors, in a manner which coincides with his own particular plan. ”

“ A pound of fine fresh suet, one ounce of ready dressed veal or chicken, chopped fine, crumbs of 51bread, a little shalot or onion, salt, white pepper, nutmeg, mace, pennyroyal, parsley, and lemon; thyme finely shred: beat as many fresh eggs, yelks and whites separately, as will make the above ingredients into a moist paste: roll into small balls, and boil them in fresh lard, putting them in just as it boils up. When of a light brown, take them out, and drain them before the fire. If the suet be moist or stale, a great many more eggs will be necessary. ”

“ The cook should be charged to save the boiling of every piece of meat, ham, tongue, &c. however salt: as it is easy to use only a part of that, and the rest of fresh water, and by the addition of more vegetables, the bones of the meat used in the family, the pieces of meat that come from table on the plates, and rice, Scotch barley or oatmeal, there will be some gallons of nutritious soup two or three times a week. The bits of meat should be only warmed in the soup, and remain whole ”

“ When whites of eggs are used for jelly, or other purposes, contrive to have pudding, custard, &c. to employ the yelks also. Should you not want them for several hours, beat them up with a little water, and put them in a cool place, or they will be hardened and useless. It was a mistake of old, to think that the whites made cakes and puddings heavy; on the contrary, if beaten long and separately, they contribute greatly to give lightness, are an advantage to paste, and make a pretty dish beaten with fruit, to set in cream, &c. ”

“ Hang the mutton, to be tender. Bone it, and lay a seasoning of pepper, pimento, mace, nutmeg, a few cloves, all in fine powder, over it. Next day prepare a stuffing as for a hare, beat the meat, and cover it with the stuffing, roll it tight, and fillet it. Half bake it in a slow oven: let it grow cold: remove the fat, and put the gravy into a stewpan: flour the meat, and put in likewise; stew till near ready, and add a glass of port wine, some catsup, an anchovy, and a little lemon pickle, half an hour before serving, which do in the gravy, and with jelly sauce. ”

“ An excellent plain Potatoe Pudding. Take eight ounces of boiled potatoes, two ounces of butter, the yelks and whites of two eggs, a quarter of a pint of cream, one spoonful of white wine, a morsel of salt, the juice and rind of a lemon. Beat all to a froth: sugar to taste. A crust or not, as you like. Bake it. If wanted richer, put three ounces more butter, sweatmeats and almonds, and another egg. ”

“ The manner of carving is not only a very essential knowledge in point of doing the honours of the table with grace, but makes a great difference in the family consumption; and, though in large companies, a lady is so much assisted as to make the art of less consequence, yet she should not fail to acquaint herself with an attainment of which she must daily feel the want. ”

“ Whether black or white plumcakes, they require less butter and eggs for having yeast, and eat equally 213light and rich. If the leaven be only of flour, milk and water, and yeast, it becomes more tough, and is less easily divided, and if the butter be first put with those ingredients, and the dough afterwards set to rise by the fire.
The heat of the oven is of great importance for cakes, especially those that are large. If not pretty quick, the batter will not rise. Should you fear its catching by being two quick, put some paper over the cake to prevent its being burnt. ”

“ Make a teacup of very strong coffee; clear it with a bit of isinglass to be perfectly bright; pour it to the jelly, and add a pint of very good cream, and as much fine Lisbon sugar as is pleasant. Give one boil up, and pour into the dish. It should jelly, but not be stiff. Observe that your coffee be fresh.
Orange Fool. Mix the juice of three Seville oranges, three eggs well beaten, a pint of cream, a little nutmeg and cinnamon, and sweeten to your taste. Set the whole over a slow fire, and stir it till it becomes as thick as good melted butter, but it must not be boiled ”

“ If vegetables are not approved in the soup, they may be taken out, and a small roll be toasted, or bread fried and added. Celery is a great addition, and should be always served. Where it is not to be got, the seed gives an equally good flavour, boiled in, and strained off.
To dress an Oxcheek another way. Soak half a head three hours, and clean it with plenty of water. Take the meat off the bones; put it into a pan with a large onion, a bunch of sweet herbs, some bruised pimento, pepper, and salt. ”

“ When thunder or hot weather causes beer to turn sour, half, or a whole teaspoonful of salt of wormwood should be put into a jug, and let the beer be drawn in it as small a time as possible before it be drank.
If the subject of servants be thought ill timed in a book upon family arrangement, it must be by those who do not recollect that the regularity and good management of the heads will be insufficient, if not seconded by those who are to execute orders. It behoves every person to be extremely careful who they take into their employ ”

“ Steep the crumbs of a penny loaf in about a pint of warm milk: when soaked, beat six eggs, whites 146and yelks, and mix with the bread, and two ounces of butter warmed, sugar, orange flower water, a spoonful of brandy, a little nutmeg, and a teacupful of cream. Beat all well, and bake in teacups buttered. If currants are chosen, a quarter of a pound is sufficient; if not, they are good without; or you may put orange or lemon candy. Serve with pudding sauce. ”

“ Some people make liquor of the outside shell when the nut is ripe; but neither the flavour nor colour is then so fine.
Cockle Catsup. Open the cockles: scald them in their own liquor: add a little water when the liquor settles, if you have not enough: strain through a cloth, then season with every savory spice; and if for brown sauce, add port wine, anchovies, and garlick; if for white, omit these, and put a glass of sherry wine, lemonjuice and peel, mace, nutmeg, and white pepper. ”

“ To make a good Gingerbread, without Butter. Mix two pounds of treacle, of orange, lemon, citron, and candied ginger, each four ounces, all thinly sliced, one ounce of coriander seeds, one ounce of carraways, and one ounce of beaten ginger, in as much flour as will make a soft paste; lay it in cakes on tin plates, and bake it in a quick oven. Keep it dry in a covered earthen vessel, and it will be good for some months.
Note. If cake or biscuit be kept in paper or a drawer, the taste will be disagreeable. A pan and cover, or tureen, will preserve them long and moist. ”