To a 14 or 16 pound round of beef, put one ounce salt-petre, 48 hours after stuff it with the following: one and half pound beef, one pound salt pork, two pound grated bread, chop all fine and rub in half pound butter, salt, pepper and cayenne, summer savory, thyme; lay it on scewers in a large pot, over 3 pints hot water (which it must occasionally be supplied with,) the steam of which in 4 or 5 hours will render the round tender if over a moderate fire; when tender, take away the gravy and thicken with flour and butter, and boil, brown the round with butter and flour, adding ketchup and wine to your taste.
This is an essentially Flemish soup. One uses carp, eels, tench, roach, perches, barbel, for the real waterzoei is always made of different kinds of fish. Take two pounds of fish, cut off the heads and tails, which you will fry lightly in butter, adding to make the sauce a mixed carrot and onion, three cloves, a pinch of white pepper, a sprig of parsley, one of thyme, a bay-leaf; pour in two-thirds of water and one-third of white wine till it more than covers the ingredients and let it simmer for half- an-hour. Then the pieces of fish must be cut an equal size, and they are placed to cook quickly in this liquor for twenty minutes. Five minutes before serving add a lemon peeled and cut into slices and the pips removed. Some people bind the sauce with breadcrumbs grated and browned. You serve, with this dish, very thin slices of bread and butter. For English tastes, the heads and tails should be removed when dressing the dish.
Take twelve small Carps, and one great one, all Male Carps, draw them and take out all the Melts, flea the twelve small Carps, cut off their Heads and take out their Tongues and take the fish from the bones of the flead Carps, and twelve Oysters, two or three yelks of Hard eggs, mash altogether, season it with Cloves, Mace and Salt, and make thereof a stiffe searce, add thereto the yolks of foure or five Eggs to bind it, fashion that first into bals or Lopings as you please, lay them into a deep Dish or Earthen Pan, and put thereto twenty or thirty great Oysters, two or three Anchoves, the Milts and Tongues of your twelve Carps, halfe a pound of fresh butter, the Liquor of your Oysters, the juyce of a Lemon or two; a little White-wine some of Corbilion wherein your great Carpe is boyled, and a whole Onyon, so set them a stewing on a soft fire and make a hoop therewith; for the great Carp you must scald him and draw him, and lay him for half an hour with the other Carps Heads in a deep Pan with so much White wine Vinegar as will cover and serve to boyle him, and the other Heads in; put therein Pepper, whole Mace, a race of Ginger, Nutmeg, Salt sweet Herbs, an Onyon or two sliced, a Lemon; when you boyle your Carps, poure your Liquor with the Spice into the Kettle wherein you will boyle him; when it is boyled put in your Carp, let it not boyle too fast for breaking; after the Carp hath boyled a while put in the Head, when it is enough take off the Kettle, and let the Carps and the Heads keep warme in the Liquor till you goe to dish them. When you dresse your Bisque, take a large Silver dish, set it on the fire, lay therein Sippets of bread, then put in a Ladle-full of your Corbilion, then take up your great Carp and lay him in the midst of the Dish, then range the twelve heads about the Carp, then lay the searce of the Carp, lay that in, then your Oysters, Milts, and Tongues, then poure on the Liquor wherein the searce was boyled, wring in the juyce of a Lemon and two Oranges; Garnish your Dish with pickled Barberries, Lemons and Oranges, and serve it very hot to the Table.
Take halfe a hundred of Smelts, the biggest you can get, draw them and cut off their Heads, put them into a Pipkin with a Pint of White wine, and a Pint of White wine Vinegar, an Onion shred a couple of Lemons, a Race of Ginger, three or foure blades of Mace, a Nutmeg sliced, whole Pepper, a little Salt, cover them, and let them stand twenty foure houres; if you will keep them three or four dayes, let not your Pickle be to strong of the Vinegar, when you will serve them, take them out one by one, scrape and open them as you do Anchoves, but throw away the bones, lay them close one by one, round a Silver dish, you must have the very utmost rind of a Lemon or Orange so small as grated bread and the Parsley, then mix your Lemon Pill, Orange and Parsley together with a little fine beaten Pepper, and strew this upon the dish of Smelts with the meat of a Lemon minced very small, also then power on excellent Sallet Oile, and wring in the juyce of two Lemons, but be sure none of the Lemon-seed be left in the Sallet, so serve it. To Roast a Fillet of Veal. Take a Fillet of Beefe which is the tenderest part of the Beast, and lieth only in the inward part of the Surloyne next to the Chine, cut it as big as you can, then broach it on a broach not too big, and be carefull you broach it not thorow the best of the meat, roast it leasurely and baste it with sweet butter. Set a Dish under it to save the Gravy while the Beefe is roasting, prepare the Sauce for it, chop good store of Parsley with a few sweet Herbs shred small, and the yolks of three or foure Eggs, and mince among them the pill of an Orange, and a little Onyon, then boyle this mixture, putting into it sweet butter, Vinegar, and Gravy, a spoonfull of strong broth, when it is well boyled, put it into your beef, and serve it very warm, sometimes a little grosse Pepper or Ginger into your sauce, or a pill of an Orange or Lemon.
Boil the inwards tender, chop them fine, put double quantity of grated bread, 4 ounces butter, pepper, salt, (and sweet herbs if you like) 2 eggs moulded into the stuffing, parboil 4 onions and chop them into the stuffing, add wine, and roast the bird. The above is a good stuffing for every kind of Water Fowl, which requires onion sauce.
Many people are of the opinion that the very best method of cooking a shad is to bake it. Stuff it with bread crumbs, salt, pepper, butter and parsley, and mix this up with the beaten yolk of egg; fill the fish with it, and sew it up or fasten a string around it. Pour over it a little water and some butter, and bake as you would a fowl. A shad will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter to bake. Garnish with slices of lemon, water cress, etc. Dressing for Baked Shad.--Boil up the gravy in which the shad was baked, put in a large tablespoonful of catsup, a tablespoonful of brown flour which has been wet with cold water, the juice of a lemon, and a glass of sherry or Madeira wine. Serve in a sauce boat.
Get the largest and finest oysters. After they are taken from the shell wipe each of them quite dry with a cloth. Then beat up in a pan yolk of egg and milk, (in the proportion of two yolks to half a jill or a wine glass of milk,) and grate some stale broad grated very fine in a large flat dish. Cut up at least half a pound of fresh butter in the frying-pan, and hold it over the fire till it is boiling hot. Dip the oysters all over lightly in the mixture of egg and milk, and then roll them up and down in the grated bread, making as many crumbs stick to them as you can. Put them into the frying-pan of hot butter, and keep it over a hot fire. Fry them brown, turning them that they may be equally browned on both sides. If properly done they will be crisp, and not greasy. Serve them, dry in a hot dish, and do not pour over them the butter that may be left in the pan when they are fried. Oysters are very good taken out of the shells and broiled on a gridiron.
Having drawn and singed the goose, wipe out the inside with a cloth, and sprinkle in some pepper and salt. Make a stuffing of four good sized onions minced fine, and half their quantity of green sage leaves minced also, a large tea-cupful of grated bread- crumbs, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and the beaten yolks of two eggs, with a little pepper and salt. Mix the whole together, and incorporate them well. Put the stuffing into the goose, and press it in hard; but do not entirely fill up the cavity, as the mixture will swell in cooking. Tie the goose securely round with a greased or wetted string; and paper the breast to prevent it from scorching. Fasten the goose on the spit at both ends. The fire must be brisk and well kept up. It will require from two hours to two and a half to roast. Baste it at first with a little salt and water, and then with its own gravy. Take off the paper when the goose is about half done, and dredge it with a little flour towards the last. Having parboiled the liver and heart, chop them and put them into the gravy, which must be skimmed well and thickened with a little browned flour. Send apple-sauce to table with the goose; also mashed potatoes. A goose may be stuffed entirely with potatoes, boiled and mashed with milk, butter, pepper and salt. You may make a gravy of the giblets, that is the neck, pinions, liver, heart and gizzard, stewed in a little water, thickened with butter rolled in flour, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Add a glass of red wine. Before you send it to table, take out all but the liver and heart; mince them and leave them in the gravy. This gravy is by many preferred to that which comes from the goose in roasting. It is well to have both. If a goose is old it is useless to cook it, as when hard and tough it cannot be eaten.
Pare, cut in pieces, and stew in a very little water, a yellow winter squash. When it is quite soft, drain it dry, and mash it in a cullender. Then put it into a pan, and mix with it a quarter of a pound of butter. Prepare two pounded crackers, or an equal quantity of grated stale bread. Stir gradually a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar into a quart of rich milk, and add by degrees, the squash, and the powdered biscuit. Beat nine eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Add a glass of white wine, a glass of brandy, a glass of rose water, and a table- spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon powdered. Stir the whole very hard, till all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Bake it three quarters of an hour in a buttered dish; and when cold, grate white sugar over it.
Grate the crumb of a twelve cent loaf of bread, and boil a quart of rich milk with a small bunch of peach leaves in it, then strain it and set it out to cool. Pick, wash and dry a pound of currants, and stone and cut in half a pound of raisins; strew over them three large table-spoonfuls of flour. Roll fine a pound of brown sugar, and mince as fine as possible three quarters of a pound of beef suet. Prepare two beaten nutmegs, and a large table-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon; also the grated peel and the juice of two large lemons or oranges. Beat ten eggs very light, and (when it is cold) stir them gradually into the milk, alternately with the suet and grated bread. Add, by degrees, the sugar, fruit, and spice, with a large glass of brandy, and one of white wine. Mix the whole very well, and stir it hard. Then put it into a thick cloth that has been scalded and floured; leave room for it to swell, and tie it very firmly, pasting the tying-place with a small lump of moistened flour. Put the pudding into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it steadily five hours, replenishing the pot occasionally from a boiling kettle. Turn the pudding frequently in the pot. Prepare half a pound of citron cut in slips, and half a pound of almonds blanched and split in half lengthways. Stick the almonds and the citron all over the outside of the pudding as soon as you take it out of the cloth. Send it to table hot, and eat it with wine sauce, or with cold wine and sugar. If there is enough of the pudding left, it may be cut in slices, and fried in butter next day. All the ingredients of this plum pudding (except the eggs) should be prepared the day before, otherwise it cannot be made in time to allow of its being sufficiently boiled. We have known of a very rich plum pudding being mixed in England and sent to America in a covered bowl; it arrived perfectly good after a month's voyage, the season being winter.
