ALBERT K. MANN LIBRAHY Cornell University Gift of Thomas Bass ^--^is^'- --r ■- ~ '-.- From Home Bakings, by Edna Evans San Francisco, 1912. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924087318436 mmm PLATE T. — ^^-F-SSftsHEs and Description of Colored Pi,. w CAKE — Ornamental Frosting. FRUIT, EPERGNE. SALAD— Garnished. LOBSTER -Garnithed. DESIGNED AND ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK BY BAKER & CG MRS. OWENS' OOK «€OOK USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. " Economical household management and the mysteries of the kitchen are as truly a part of domestic culture as are music, decorative art, and the etiquet of the drawing-room." REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED. By Mrs. FRANCES E. OWENS. - TO WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED A ■ FARMERS' DEPARTMENT, Containing Much Valuable Information. CHICAGO : OWENS PUBLISHING COMrANY. J. B. SMILEY, 530 Fulton &~, Chicago, III. J. M. Ball, A. E. Owens, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1318 W. Jefferson St., Louisville, Ky. J884. Copyrighted, 1884, by Mrs. Frances E. Owens. All Rights Reserved. Type and Electrotyping Furnished by Barnhart Bros. & Spindler. Paper by J. W. Butler Paper Co. Press-Work and Binding by J. L. Regan & Co. COLORED PWTES— Engraved by BaT letters came to me from friends living in all sections, containing choice cooking recipes and hints for the household, culled trom practical, everyday experience. In many cases, the writers collected from their immediate friends, thus adding to my list. The province of this book, then, is to present a large number of these successes in a desirable form for daily reference. The different departments will be found sufficiently elaborate for almost any occasion in domestic life. For the special benefit of our sisterhood who unite the qualities of wives, mothers, and housemaids, the easiest way has been selected, whenever a choice could be made, with that end in view. The housewife whose means are unrestricted need not study little, har- rowing details, trying to make one dollar do duty for five in providing for her table. But the masses must count their pennies and tighten their purse- strings when tempted to indulge the appetite beyond a prescribed limit. There are suggestions in these pages which, if carried out, will vary a bill of fare, and make it pleasing to the eye and appetizing to the palate, at the smallest possible outlay of money. In the section devoted to " Hash " there are directions for using up remnants of food that will go very far towards furnishing the bulk of one meal per day to a family. These dishes are palatable, too, and very dis- tinct from the cheap boarding-house commodity known by that name. The inexpensive Cake recipes in this book are good in every case, and the cakes, if eaten fresh, are as satisfactory as the more expensive ones. I earnestly hope they will be given a fair trial before being frowned upon. It was not my purpose to introduce elaborate dishes ; but,- as all families on special occasions require such, I have interspersed some. "The Laundry" hints, if acted upon, will add years to the lives of our women who toil. I know whereof I speak. A woman with a house full of little ones, having but two hands to do the work which would give employment to six, must husband her strength if she would be spared to her children. It is worse than folly to devote ten hours to a MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK The Revised Edition. PREFACE. Publisher's Announcement. task which may be accomplished in five. These aids will make that difference. Give them one month's trial, and the old ways will belong to the dead past, never to be revived. The letter, "An Old Citizen to a Young Wife," is from the pen of the well-known author and poet, Mr. John McGovern. The recipes in tHis book are National, having been gleaned from the extreme East, West, North, and South, as well as from intermediate points. THE REVIS^ED EDITION. PUBLISHER' S ANNOUNCEMENT. Since the first publication of "Mrs. Owens' Cook Book," it has fJin rapidly through numerous editions, and the plates have become so v.forn that it is necessary to have them renewed. From the first, the •work has been very popular. Letters commending it Jiave been received ♦ rom all parts of the country, and many have kindly interested themselves in its success, sending us new recipes and offering valuable hints and suggestions. The author in this revision has sought to embody these sug- g^estions in the book. A great mass of new recipes, many entirely new ( hapters, and some expensive colored plates have been added ; but, although tYie book is much larger than' before, the general character of the work is not materially changed. No popiflar feature has been sacrificed, for ■ the one object kept con- stantly in view has been the everyday wants of the average housewife. In submitting this revised edition to the public, it " remains only to say that the most painstaking care has been exercised, and, many months' time devoted to the work of revision, and it is hoped it will be much more helpful than the other, to the busy housewife. TABLE OF CONTENTS. A. to C. C. to I. Almonds 219 and 318 An Old Citizen's Letter. 377 Ants — To Destroy. .... .475 Baking Powder 152 Bed-bug Poison 457 Bills of Fare 389 Biscuit 160-162 Blanc-Mange 285-288 Bread 149 Buns 160 Cake 217-284 Candy-Making 393-397 Canning Fruits 318-321 Caramel for Coloring 11 Care of Beds 420-426 Care of Lamps 426-427 Catsups 126 Cements 457 and 476 Cereals.- 171-172 Charlotte Russe 29S Cheese 282-283 Cheese Cakes 284 Children's Party 392 Chocolate 309 Clams 4S-46 Clarifying Soup 12 Clarifying Sugar. ... 333 Cleaning House 451 -454 Cochineal Coloring 219 Cocoa 309 Coffee 305-308 Colored Plates Described38i Crackers 168 Creams 289-293 Croquettes 107- Croutons 10 Cutting up Meats 459-462 Carving Meats 39S-40I Curry Powder 1 1 1 Custards 294 Delmonico 302 Digestion of Food 44^ Dinner Etiquet 384 Diseases of Animals. 463-470 Drying Fruits 342 Dumplings 188 Dyes 439-442 Egg Balls 10 Eggs.... 63-67 Entertainments 3S9-360 Extracts 222 Filling for Cake 247-248 Fire Kindlers 458 Fish 29-36 Floating Island 294 Fondu 282 Food in Season 448 Forcemeat Balls 10 Fresh Fruits 315-318 Fritters 193 Frogs 62 Frosting 223-224 Fruit Sauce 322-326 Fruit Butters 341 Furniture Polish . . . .450-457 Game , . .49-62 Garnishes 117 Gems 166 Glue •••■457 Griddle cakes. ...... 162-163 Hash 103 Heating the Oven 220 Herbs in Hints to the Invited 387 Honey 298 Ice Cream 300 Ices 303 Index : . . . .481-500 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Indigestible Foods. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Road -Making. I. to Q. R. to Y. Indigestible Foods 447 Ink 458 Invalid Cookery 401-407 Jams 338-339 Jellies 326-332 Kalsomine 455 Laundry 427-438 Lard — To Render. 102 Lime-water 152 Lunches 360 Marmalades 339-34° Meats 79-102 Melons 317 Meringues 296 Mothers, Save Yourselves409 Moths and Roaches 457 Muffins 164 Mush 172 Noodles II Nursery Hints ...... .407-41 1 Oil-Cloths — To Clean. . . .457 Omelets 67-68 Paste 457 Pickles 343-355 Picnics 359 Pies 174 Pones 158 Poultry 69-78 Preserves 332-338 Puddings 197-216 Puffs 167 Quajada 283 Remedies 41 1-420 Road-Making 471-474 Rolls 159-160 Rusk 159 Salads 1 19 Sandwiches 170' Sauces Ill Sausage 101-102 Set Table Described .... 383 Shell-Fish 37-48 Sherbets 302 Shortcakes 191 Soaps 436-438 Soups 8-28 Soup Powder 12 Souffle Vanilla 288 Steaming Food. . .81 and 221 Substitutions 152 Summer Drinks 309-3 14 Syllabub 293 Tea , 308 Terrapin 62 Toast 169-170 Toilet Articles 443-444 Trifle. T. . .297 Vegetables 129-148 Vinegar 356;^58 Waffles "67 Weights and Measures. ..151 Welsh Rarebit.'; , "283 Whitewash 454 Yeast 153 HINTS FOR SOUPS. FISH. GAME. CHICKEN. GUMBO. MEAT. VEGETABLE. HI -NTS FOfR SOUfPS. CHOI/TON'S. FORCE-MEATBALLS. GERMAN SOUP-BALLS. EGG BALLS. NOODLES. CARAMEL. BROWNED FLOUR. COLORING. SOUP POWDER. TO CLARIFY. STOCK OR BROTH. .EEF is considered the best soup-meat for a starid- by ; but I subjoin recipes that include other kinds, all of which will be found palatable. It is well to keep a stock-pot of meat broth on hand for soups. Any bits of bones or trim- mingSj the bones from roasts, the tough ends from porter-house steaks, or the cold bits of cooked meats, or fowls, should be put into it, and when cooked done the broth should be strained through a colander, and into an earthen vessel, for future use. Do not cook vegetables in the stock, as they will cause it to sour. Soup-stock may be made the basis of almost any kind of soup — macaroni, ver- micelli, different vegetables, rice, or noodle. Keep it in a cool place ; take off the fat that rises. To dry parsley or celery, put in a slow oven ; watch, and when dry rub lightly to take out stems, and cork up tightly in a bottle for gravies or soups. Sassafras leaves, dried and powdered, are sometimes used *2 10 MRS. OWENS' COOIC BOOli SOUPS. Foroe-Meat Balls. in Gumbo soup. A large spoonful to a pot of beef soup, put in a few minutes before taking from the fire, improves it. If soups or sauces, or beef tea, have an excess of fat, lay a piece of coarse brown wrapping paper or blotting paper on top, and it will absorb the fat. Lift the paper, and the liquid will run off. Repeat operation until freed sufficiently. If soup is over-salted, add a teaspoon of sugar and a ta- blespoon of vinegar, and it will help to modify it. Catsups and different sauces are added to soups, according to the taste of families. A quart of water and a teaspoon of salt is about the right proportion to a pound of meat. The soup recipes credited to Miss Corson were procured direct from her by the writer, while in attendance at her (ourse of Demonstrative Lessons in Cookery. They are published with the full consent of Miss Corson. The writer has tested them with much satisfaction. CROUTONS. Cut bread free from crusts, half an inch square. Fry in bmoking hot fat. Keep on a plate, unless served immediately, ijerve in pea soup. EGG BALLS. Yolks of 4 hard-boiled eggs mashed fine with the yolk of I raw egg and a teaspoon of flour. Season with a pinch of pepper, half a teaspoon of salt, and a sprinkling of parsley. Make into balls half the size of a thimble and boil in clear water for two minutes. Add to the soup when ready to serve. FORCE-MEAT BALLS. Take bits of cooked meat or fowl ; mince fine, season well, and bind together with an egg. Roll m cracker or bread crumbs, and fry in hot lard in balls the size of the yolk of an egg- AND. USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HlN-fS. J j German Soup-Baits. SOUP To Color. GERMAN .SOUP-BALLS. Mix together butter and cracker crumbs into a firm round ball. Drop into the soup a very short time before serving. Very nice for chicken broth. NOODLES. Take one egg, a pinch of salt, half an egg-shell full of water. Stir in all the flour it will take ; roll as thin as you possibly can ; hang over a chair-back on a napkin to dry^ Then roll up like jelly-cake and slice off as thin as a wafer. They will cook in 1 5 or 20 minutes. CARAMEL. Caramel for coloring soups is made by putting a table- spoon of sugar and a pinch of salt in a dry saucepan over the fire. Stir constantly till it is slightly burnt. When very dark brown, pour in less than a teaspoon of water. Keep stirring, and gradually add a cup of water. See that the sugar is all dissolved. This gives a rich color, and is better than browned flour. BROWNED FLOUR. Put a pint of flour in a skillet or saucepan over a moderate fire. Stir constantly with a small wooden paddle, if you have one, until it is a dark brown, and do not let it burn- Put it away in a covered vessel and use it for soups, gravies, or sauces. It requires fully half as much more to thicken with, than of unbrowned flour. TO COLOR SOUPS. AMBER. As soon as the scum has been taken off, put in grated carrot. BROWN. Use caramel or browned flour. 12 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Soup Powder. SOUP. To Clarify. GREEN. Pound. the leaves of spinach, or use the green leaves of celery or parsley. Put this in five minutes before taking up. Okra also gives a green color. SPINACH-GREEN. For coloring various dishes green, take a quart of spinach, wash and clean carefully ; pound in a mortar to extract the juice. Then put all through a fine sieve. Put the juice in a stewpan or basin. Place this in a vessel of boiling water till it sets. It should not boil. Then put it into a sieve that the water may drain from it, and the clear green will be left for coloring. This may also be dried for future use. RED. Take the pulp and juice of ripe tomatoes. FOR WHITE soups, use none but white vegetables ; for thickening use rice, pearl barley, vermicelli, or macaroni. SOUP POWDER. Take an ounce of as many of the following ingredients as can be procured : Thyme, basil, sweet marjoram, summer savory, dried lemon peel, celery seeds, two ounces of dried parsley. Dry, pound, sift, and bottle it tight for use. Mushrooms can be dried in a warm oven and reduced to a powder with a little mace and pepper, and kept for season- ing soups or gravies. TO CLARIFY SOUP. Miss Juliet Corson. Skim off the cold fat that is at the top. Put in the bottom of a saucepan for each quart of soup-stock the white and shell of one egg and one tablespoon of water ; mix, and then pour the soup on. Set the saucepan on the fire, and let boil very slowly. As "the soup heats, the white will harden, and AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. r3 stock or Broth. SOUP. Stock or Broth. the egg will rise to the surface together with the blood and cloudiness that remain in the soup. Let boil slowly until the under portion is very clear ; then strain through a towel laid in a colander. SOUP STOCK, OR BROTH. Miss Juliet Corson. For clear soup leave the vegetables whole, simply peeling them. This gives all the flavor, without the cloudiness arising from the vegetables cut up. Use the neck of beef, one pound of meat or bone for each quart of soup. Have the meat cut from the bone in a solid piece, to serve after- ward ; crack the bone and put in the bottom of the soup- kettle, the meat and the bone, then add cold water. Place over the fire to heat gradually ; as it boils, the blood and albumen will rise. For clear soup, this must be skimmed off. It is never necessary to wash meat if it comes from a clean market ; it detracts from its flavor and nutriment. Add a carrot, turnip, and an onion for 3 or 4 quarts. Stick six or eight cloves in the onion ; salt and pepper lightly ; add a bouquet or fagot of herbs ; a small bunch of parsley (two tablespoons), take the roots if you wish the green for a gar- nish ; the green stalk of celery is nice to add. A sprig of any kind of dried sweet herb, except sage, and one bay leaf. A single leek may be used instead of the onion. If wished fdr the gelatinous property, a knuckle of veal may be added to the soup stock. Cook slowly two hours after adding the vegetables ; that time will secure the flavor. If cooked longer, it will assume a jellied consistency. Strain through a sieve, ot through a folded towel laid in a colander into an earthen vessel, not in metal. When cold, remove the fat that rises. This soup is perfectly clear. N.B. — If it is desired to have it very light-colored, use veal instead of beef. A calf's foot, the skin from the head, or an old fowl may be used with good results in this stock. I A MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Oyster. SOUP. Lobiter. If very rich soup is wished for, use only a pint of water to each pound of meat. The flesh of old animals contains more osmazome than that of the young. It is this property that gives flavor and perfume to the stock. Brown meat contains more than white, and the brown is more fragrant. The osmazome reaches its height by roasting. So that the remnants of roasts give a good flavor to stock. — AUTHOR. FISH SOUCPS. OYSTER. CLAM. LOBSTER. FLSH. OYSTER SOUP. One quart large fresh oysters. Take liquor and i^ pints water ; boil and skim off carefully the scum that rises ; then add 2 or 3 quarts fresh milk ; put in i dozen oyster crackers rolled very fine ; 2 large spoons of butter ; season lightly with salt. As soon as this becomes boiling hot, put in oys- ters. When it begins to boil, take up at once. Many per- sons prefer oyster soup without milk. The mode of cooking is the same, except that more butter should be used, and water instead of milk. CLAM SOUP. TaKe 50 large clams and chop fine. To their liquor add 3 quarts of water, and boil. Add the clams, and cook from 3 to S minutes. Mix \ cup of butter with same quantity of flour very smoothly and stir into the soup with a quart of fresh milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set on back of stove and stir in 4 well-beaten eggs, and it is ready to serve. Add more b)utter if wanted richer. LOBSTER SOUP. Take a large lobster from the shell after it is boiled ; cut AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 15 Pepper-Pot. SOUP. sm,all and mix it with 3 rolled soda crackers. Into a stew- pan put a quart of milk and a quart of water with a pod of red pepper, and salt to taste. When boiling hot, add the lob- ster, and the green inside if liked, and a full cup of butter, and boil 10 minutes. Serve hot. PEPPER-POT. Take fish, flesh, and fowl, as riearly equal parts as you can •get. Cut up small some lean muttonor beef, any fish, or the meat from a lobster, and a chicken or other fowl cut into joints. A tablespoon of rice and other vegetables that may be fancied. Pour over sufficient water and simmer slowly. Skim it well. When well cooked, season with cayenne pep- per and salt to taste. PUREE OF FISH, or CREAM SOUP OF FISH. Miss Juliet Corson. A pound of cold boiled fish will make about 2 quarts of soup. It must be rubbed through a fine sieve. For each quart take a tablespoon of butter, same of flour, mix smooth in a saucepan over the fire and add a quart of milk, or milk , and water ; then add the sifted fish. Any game or vegetable soup may be made the same way. BROWN FISH SOUP. Any kind of fish will answer ; cut in small pieces ; roll in flour and brown in some olive oil or butter in a saucepan ; cover with hot water. Season with salt and pepper, and boil slowly for about 15 minutes. See that there is plenty of water. One pound will make a quart of soup. A clove of garlic may be added. CATFISH SOUP. Take 2 large or 4 small catfish. Clean well, cut off the heads, skin them. Cut them in 3 pieces, put into a soup- kettle with I pound of lean bacon, a sliced onion, a bunch 1 6 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Game. SOUP. Gresn Turtle. of minced parsley, salt to taste, and water sufificient, and cook till the fish are tender, but not broken. Add to the yolks of 4 eggs a tablespoon of butter, 2 of flour, and a cup of milk. Mix and add to the soup. Pepper if liked. GJME SOUrpS. GAME. GREEN TURTLE. RABBIT. PARTRIDGE. A GOOD GAME SOUP. In the game season, a good soup may be prepared at very little expense, and by using the remnants of different dishes' a very agreeable flavor will be imparted. Take the legs and bones, break up, and boil in some broth for. an hour, putting in all the meat from the breasts of birds left over. Boil 4 or 5 turnips and mash them fine. Then pound the meat up fine and pass through a fine sieve. Put the broth a little at a time through the sieve. Heat it all up together in the soup- kettle. Do not boil. Mix the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs with \ a pint of cream. Stir into the soup and remove just as it comes to a boil, as boiling curdles it. GREEN TURTLE SOUP. Chop the entrails (some cooks do not use the entrails), bones, and coarse parts of the turtle meat, and put into a gallon of water, with a bunch of sweet herbs, 2 onions, pep- per and salt. This must cook slowly but constantly for 4 hours. In the meantime simmer the fine parts of the turtle and the green fat for i hour in \ gallon of water. This must be added to the above soup after straining the latter, at the end of the 4 hours' boiling. Thicken slightly with browned flour, then simmer all together for another hour. If there are ^%^s in the turtle boil them alone in clear water for 3 or 4 hours and add to the soup before serving. If not, use force- AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 17 Partridge. meat balls. At the last add the juice of i lemon. For the force-meat balls, take the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs, rubbed fine with 6 tablespoons of chopped turtle meat, i tablespoon ■ of butter and, if you have it, a little liquor of oysters. Sea- son with mace, a pinch of cayenne, ^ a teaspoon of white sugar. Bind together with a raw egg. Roll into small balls dip into beaten egg, then in rolled cracker, fry in butter, and drop into the soup as before directed. BROWN RABBIT SOUP. Cut at the joints, dip in flour and fry in butter until a nice brown, and put into a soup-kettle. Add 3 onions, also fried brown. To 2 large rabbits allow fully 3 quarts water. Pour it over boiling hot. Add a teaspoon of salt ; skim frequently and carefully until it looks clear. Add a sprig of parsley, 3 or 4 carrots, and season with whole peppercorns. Boil gently for half a day. Season more highly if necessary. Strain, let cool, skim off the fat. Heat it afresh for serving, and send to the table with croutons. RABBIT SOUP. . Sometimes rabbits or hares will be found very tough. They can then be made into soup that is excellent. Crack the bones of 2 rabbits and boil with i pound of ham or salt pork cut up small. Chop 3 small onions and put in, with a bunch of sweet herbs. Stew in 3 quarts of water slowly for 3 hours. Season and strain. Thicken slightly with browned flour, wet with cold water. Add tablespoon of catsup and tea- spoon of Worcestershire or some other kind of sauce. PARTRIDGE SOUP. Clean 3 partridges, dredge them with flour and roast until they are half done, basting frequently. Take the flesh from the breasts and put aside. Joint the remainder of the birds, and stew gently in 3 quarts of strong beef broth for 2 hours. Strain, and let cool. Press the meat 1 8 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Giblet. SOUP. Potage. from the bones. Then take all of the meat, including the breasts, mince fine, and pound smooth with half its bulk of butter and some dry bread-crumbs. Season with salt and cayenne, mace, and nutmeg. Moisten with 2 or 3 yolks of eggs, and make into balls half the size of a thimble. Skim the fat from the soup, and put the soup on to heat. When it boils add the balls and cook about 10 minutes. Grouse and partridge together make a very fine soup. CHICKEJ^ SOUCPS. GIBLET. POTAGE. CHICKEN. DUMPLINGS. DRESSING. GIBLET SOUP. Take a turnip, carrot, and onion, and slice them, and fry in hot butter ; add the giblets, sprinkled with flour, let them brown and then add the amount of water required. Sim- mer 4 or 5 hours. Season with salt and pepper and thicken with a spoonful of browned flour. Take yolks of hard- boiled eggs and put one in each plate of soup when it is served. The giblets of i chickep will make but little more than a quart of good soup. POTAGE A LA REINE. Miss Juliet Corson. Take bits of cold chicken, same quantity of rice, boil to- gether till very tender. Rub through a sieve ; then make of the consistency of cream, with boiling milk. Season to taste, with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg. One pound of chicken and i pound of rice will make 4 quarts of soup. CHICKEN SOUP. In order to serve the fowls for dinner, tie the feet down and turn the wings back before putting over to boil. Allow AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 19 Chicken. SOUP. White. 2 quarts of water for each fowl. When half done, add 2 tablespoons of rice for each chicken. Before serving, add a chopped hard-boiled egg, a little thickening of flour (per- haps 2 teaspoons) and water, salt, pepper, and parsley. Make a drawn-butter dressing for the chicken. CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP. Get a fat hen. After washing, put it whole into a porce- lain kettle with a gallon of water ; boil 2 hours. Slice 3 or 4 Irish potatoes, i large onion, i or 2 tablespoons of chopped parslev, i teaspoon of celery seed, and a bit of summer savory if you have it ; ^ a red pepper-pod, salt to taste. When the soup has boiled i hour, add the vegetables, and when nearly done put in i pint of sweet milk. DUMPLINGS FOR THE ABOVE SOUP. One pint of flour, i dessert-spoon of lard, a pinch of salt; mix with cold water and roll thin, cut in smalj pieces, put in soup, and let them boil abo'ut 20 minutes. Thicken with a tablespoon of flour and cream. Boil up once and serve. DRESSING FOR THE ABOVE CHICKEN. Take i pint of the soup, i tablespoon of butter, and 4 or 5 hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, i tablespoon of flour rubbed in the butter. Let it boil, and pour over the chicken. WHITE CHICKEN SOUP. 1 pound of cold poultry. ^ pound of sweet almonds. A slice of dry bread. A shred of lemon peel. A blade of mace pounded. i^ cups of cream. Yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs. 2 quarts of white stock. Pound the almonds to a paste with a spoon of water. Add the meat, which should have been pounded with the' 20 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Fela. SOUP. Gumbo. bread. Beat all together. Add the chopped lemon peel and the mace. Heat the stock to boiling and pour over the mixture and simmer for an hour. Mix the egg with the cream, add to the soup, let boil up and serve immediately. GUMCBO SOUfPS. SOUTHERN FELA. KENTUCKY. MISSISSIPPI. SOUTHERN GUMBO FELA. Take an onion and cut it up fine ; let it fry a light brown in 2 tablespoons hot lard ; dust in 2 tablespoons of flour and stir all the time to keep from burning, and in a few minutes it will be brown. Pour in boiling water as much as will serve the family, allowing for boiling down. Have a nice fat chicken cut up ; put in the pot and boil until ten- der. Take 50 oysters from the liquor, and strain to remove all pieces of shell ; put the liquor in a stewpan, let it boil up once, then skim and put the liquor in the pot, and sea- son with salt, black and red pepper, also a small piece of garlic; after letting it boil 15 minutes, add the oysters; take 2 tablespoons of fela and dust in, stirring all the time. As soon as it boils once, it is ready to serve. Always serve with boiled rice. Note. — Fela is prepared by the Southern Indians, and is simply the young leaves of the sassafras, dried in the shade and pulverized with a few leaves of the sweet bay. In the summer, young okra pods are used in place of fela. KENTUCKY GUMBO SOUP. William H. Rochester, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Six squirrels or 2 chickens. Cut up small and cook till the flesh falls fro»m the bones. Then take a handful of sassafras AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 21 Meat. SOUP. Bouillon. buds for a gallon of soup, either green or dried (put in a bag in the soup), and i quart of okra, 2 onions, cut fine, 6 large Irish potatoes cut in dice, a grated carrot, and a lit- tle cabbage. Pepper and salt to taste. When done, take out the sassafras bag and remove the buds and squeeze the bag. Use a pod of red pepper. Thicken with scorched flour. MISSISSIPPI GUMBO SOUP. Mrs. J. R. Jackson, Centerville, Miss. First fry a large tender chicken very brown ; then remove on a dish and fry a quart of sliced okra in the gravy. Add this to the chicken, but do not add the grease. Put the chicken and okra in a tin or porcelain vessel of cold water. Add a pint of peeled tomatoes sliced, one large silver-skin onion, a few chips of canvassed ham, and salt to taste. Cook, slowly for an hour, then add i dozen soda crackers, i large tablespoon of butter, and a teaspoon of black pepper. Never boil pepper in soup. To make it more palatable and very rich, add half a dozen hard-boiled eggs. MEAT SOU(PS. BEEF. VEAL. MUTTON. MISCELLANEOUS. BOUILLON. (the cheap, wholesome, and common soup of FRANCE.) Take ;7 or 8 pounds of the leg or shin of beef. Cover it well with cold water in a soup-kettle. Let it heat slowly. As it does so, the fibers of the meat enlarge, the gelatinous substance dissolves, the albumen — the part which produces the scum — frees itself and rises to the surface, and the osmazome (the most savory part of the meat) is diffused through the soup. If it is allowed to cook rapidly, the 22 MRS. OWENS* COOK BOOK Ox-Tail. SOUP. Veal. albumen coagulates, the meat hardens so that the water cannot penetrate it, and the osmazome cannot disengage itself. Add about a tablespoon of salt to each half gallon. This causes more scum to rise. Clear it, and put in 2 large carrots, 2 turnips, 2 onions, I head of celery, 3 whole cloves, a sprig of parsley, 2 young leeks, ^ a teaspoon of peppercorns, and a bunch of soup herbs. Stew very gently and constantly for 4 or 5 hours. The beef will then be very tender and juicy. The meat may be dished up on a platter, and the vegetables may be laid around it, or not — a matte* of choice. The soup will be better if not served until the next day. Then the fat may be removed when cold. Strain the soup through a sieve, heat, and send to table • with fried or toasted bread. It is often served with crusts or slices 'of dry bread put into the tureen and let soak in the soup for a short time. BEEF SOUP WITH RICE. Mrs. J. W. Smith, Chicago. Boil a beef bone till the meat is well cooked. Half an hour before dinner, put in ^ cup of rice. Season well. OX-TAIL SOUP. Mrs. Elliott Durand, Chicago. One ox-tail, 2 pounds lean beef, 4 carrots, 3 large onions, bunch of thyme. Cut the ox-tail in pieces, fry brown in butter ; remove and fry onions and 2 carrots. Place the fried vegetables and ox-tail in a soup-pot with the thyme and the beef cut in slices ; grate in the 2 carrots, and pour over 4 quarts of water. Boil slowly 4 hours ; strain, and thicken with 2 tablespoons of flour. Add a tablespoon each of salt and sugar. The juice of half a lemon improves the flavor. VEAL SOUP. Put a V:nuckle of veal into 3 quarts cold water; salt it, and add I small tablespoon raw rice. Let simmer 4 hours, when AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD MINTS. 23 Mock Turtle. SOUP. Mutton. it should be reduced half. Remove. Into the tureen put the yolk of i egg, mixed with a cup of cream or new milk. Add a small lump of butter. Strain the soup on to this, stirring all the time. Beat it a moment at the last. VEAL SOUP WITH VEGETABLES. Put a knuckle of veal into a gallon of cold water. When heated through, add a tablespoon of salt, and as it boils skim very carefully. Put in a pod of red pepper if you have it. L€t cook slowly for 3 hours, adding hot water if needed for the quantity of soup desired. Add ^ a pint of finely shredded cabbage, double the quantity of sliced raw pota- toes, a carrot cut small, a head of celery, and 3 large onions sliced. You may also add, if you like, 3 sliced tomatoes, a turnip cut in dice, and a couple of ears of green corn cut from the cob. Let cook fully | of an hour. MOCK TURTLE SOUP. Boil a calf's''head and feet until the meat separates from the bones. Remove the bones and cut the meat into inch pieces. Put into the soup-kettle and boil 2 hours longer. Add the chopped brains, 8 small onions sliced, a tablespoon (or more) of parsley ; season with mace, cloves, and salt. When nearly done, make German soup-balls of half a dozen soda crackers (see directions on page 11), and drop in ; add also enough caramel to color. Make force-meat balls of veal and put into the tureen, and pour the soup over. MUTTON SOUP. Columbia Loving, Bowling Green, Ky. Put a mutton bone on to cook in 3 quarts of cold water. Let it cook slowly 2 hours. Skim it, salt it, add hot water, if necessary, and to 2 quarts of broth add ^ cup of green corn, same of butter beans) 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced, 2 Irish potatoes, of medium size, peeled and cut fine. Cook i hour. As the fat of mutton congeals so quickly, serve this 24 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Stock. SOUP. soup in hot soup-plates. Indeed, it is better to heat the plates for any kind of soup. STOCK SOUP. When it is desired to make soup from stock, heat it to boiling, add water, if needed, and the prepared vegetables cut small, noodles, or whatever is to be used, with the proper seasoning. Season lightly with salt, and do not add pepper until it is done. CONFEDERATE ARMY SOUP, AS MADE AT GENERAL PICKETT'S HEADQUARTERS. Lieut. Col. S. G. Leitch. One ham bone, i beef bone, i pod red pepper, i pint black-eyed peas. Boil in a mess-kettle in 2 gallons salted water. 'Splendid soup for a wet day. WREXHAM SOUP. Miss Juliet Corson. One pound of lean meat cut in small pieces, either beef or mutton. Peel and slice i large or 2 small carrots, i large turnip, 6 medium-sized onions, a pint of tomatoes, a green stalk of celery, if in season, and a small bunch of' parsley. Tie up the parsley, celery, a dozen cloves, same of pepper, a sprig of any sweet herb, except sage. Put in a saucer a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar and a saltspoon of pepper ; mix, and put all these ingredients in layers in a jar, and 2 quarts of cold water. Paste the cover on, and bake slowly 5 hours. VICTORIA SOUP. A CHEAP PALATABLE MEAT SOUP. Save all the bones and trimmings from roasts and steaks of any kind of meat. They will keep several days in cool weather. Put into a kettle with a gallon of cold water and half a cup of -dry beans and a large ripe tomato, or some AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 25 Barley. canned tomatoes. Cook gently for two hours, then strain through a colander. Put back into the soup-kettle, add a carrot and three large potatoes cut in dice, a sliced onion, salt, and a spoon of soup powder. In 15 minutes beat up an egg with a cup of flour and stir into the soup ; let boil 10 minutes and serve. VEGETAfBLE SOUfPS. BARLEY. CHESTNUT. MUSHROOM. VERMICELLI. BARLEY SOUP. Put a cup and a half of barley into 3 quarts of water, with 3 large onions, 4 carrots, and 2 turnips — all cut small. Cook gently 2 hours. Add a neck of mutton with a poiind of lean ham. Salt to taste. Cook 2 hours longer. Add pep- per at the last. CHESTNUT SOUP. Boil a quart of chestnuts and rub the meats, through a fine sieve with a potato masher. Take a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter, mix smooth in a saucepan over the fire, add gradually a quart of milk. When scalding hot, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and add the sifted chestnuts. MUSHROOM SOUP. Wm. H. Rochester, Bowling Green, Ky. •Use milk fresh from the cow. Cook the mushrooms in water, with salt to flavor. Use a silver spoon to stir the mushrooms ; if the spoon turns black, discard the mush- rooms. Let it come to a boil, pour in the milk. You can use more or less according to the quantity of soup required. -A few mushrooms will flavor a large dish. VERMICELLI SOUP. To 5 quarts of water, allow a slice of corned ham, i pound *4 26 MRS, OWENS' COOK BOOK Julienne. .SOUP Okra. of veal, and 4 of lean lamb. Cut the meat up small, heat it very gradually, and cook slowly till the meat is very tender. Season with salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, a bit of onion, if liked, a spoon of Worcestershire sauce. When these have all boiled for 10 or 15 minutes, strain and return to the soup- kettle. In the meantime have ^ or ^ of a pound of vermi- celli or macaroni broken up small, and boiled in clear water for 20 minutes. Drain and add to the soup, boil up once and serve. JULIENNE SOUP. .Miss Juliet Corson. Use vegetables of at least 3 colors; carrots, turnips, and either lettuce, celery, cabbage, -or string beans. Cut the veg- etables into strips an inch and a half long, and these strips into match-like pieces, very, very thin. Keep in cold water till wanted. The proportion of vegetables is a cup full all together for a gallon of soup. Put each kind separately into boiling salted water. When tender, drain and lay in cold water. This way retains the ilavor and color perfectly. Then dish up in the hot soup stock. Foreigners add a tablespoon of vinegar to a quart of Julienne soup. OKRA SOUP. Take a joint of beef with the marrow, or a knuckle of veal, or a fowl, whichever can be had. Put to cook in a gal- lon of water; salt and skim it. After cooking an hour slowly, add 2 quarts of okra cut small. In another hour, add i cup of Lima beans. In another hour, 2 young cymlings, a quart of tomatoes, and 2 onions, all cut small, and i or 2 sprigs of parsley. Cook 2 hoiirs more, and thicken with a table- spoon of butter mixed with i of flour. WHITE SOUP. Six tomatoes, 4 onions, 3 tomatoes, if desired, 4 table- spoons of crushed tapioca, i^ pints milk; butter, pepper and salt. Boil the vegetables in 2 quarts ot water till soft, rub AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 27 Tomato, through a sieye, return the paste to the water, add the tapi- oca, and boil 15 minutes ; season, add the milk, and as soon as hot serve. TOMATO SOUP. Mrs. H. E. Gross, Englewood, 111. One quart milk ; let it come to a boil. Have ready a can of tomatoes, cooked, to which has been added i^ teaspoons soda. Pour the milk on to the tomatoes. Then pour the whole over 2 rolled soda crackers. POTATO SOUP. Peel and slice thin 3 or 4 large potatoes, and boil in enough water to cover them until done. Then season and add a quart of milk. ONION SOUP. Put a quarter of a pound of butter in a stewpan, with 6 large white onions cut in slices ; let them fry a nice brown, then add 6 crackers rolled, pepper to taste, and a quart of boiling milk and water ; let it simmer for 1 5 minutes and serve. GREEN PEA SOUP. Allow a pint of shelled peas to a quart of water. Cook till soft, then skim out and rub through a colander back into the soup-kettle with the water in which they were cooked. Boil ^ hour. longer, season with salt and pepper. For 3 quarts of soup make a thickening of 2 tablespoons of butter mixed with ^ cup of rice flour, if you have it, (if not, use 2 tablespoons of common flour), stir well from the bottom and remove as soon as cooked through. The soup should be of the consistency of good cream. PEA SOUP. Miss Juliet Corson, New York City. A pint of dried peas or beans will make 6 quarts of soup. Use split yellow peas. If put on to cook in cold water, add 28 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Green Corn. SOUP. Bean. halC a cup of cold water every 15 minutes. Let them get soft before salting. When tender, rub them through a fine colander with a potato masher. Take the empty saucepan and set over the fire. Rub together in it a tablespoon each of butter and flour. When made perfectly smooth, add the strained soup. The meal of the peas will be held in suspen- sion by the addition of the butter and flour, and the result will be a creamy, even soup. Meat bones may be" used if desired, but should not be put in till after the peas com- mence boiling. If an onion is used, fry it in a saucepan before the peas are put over. GREEN CQRN SOUP. A soup bone either of bfeef or veal. Boil slowly in a gal- lon of water. After salting, skim carefully. Cook the meat an hour, then add the corn from 12 good-sized ears, scraping the cobs. Season with white pepper and 2 sprigs of parsley. Just as the corn is tender — the time varying, of course, according to the size of the kernels — stir in a table- spoon of flour made smooth in a cup of milk ; and, unless the soup bone is quite rich, add a tablespoon of butter. Tomatoes are sometimes added to this soup, and give a very nice flavor. BEAN SOUP. A pint of beans put into 2 quarts of water. Simmer slowly on the back of the stove several hours. A very deli- cious soup. No seasoning but salt and pepper. MO(DES OF COOKIJ^G. CHOWDER. CRIMPED. POTTED. PICKLED. BROILED. BAKED. BOILED. FRIED. JISH are not regarded any more nutritious than flesh or fowl. Indeed, hardly as much so as a good quality of beef or mutton. Fish not en- tirely fresh are poor eating. They are gener- ally in best condition shortly before spawning, and are thought to be unfit for human food immediately after spawning. For invalids, white fish, such as cod and haddock, etc., are the best. Flounders and tur- bot are also good. Flat fish will keep the longest. Salmon, mackerel, trout, and herring decompose quickly. The tur- bot will improve by keeping a few hours before cooking. Notice that the body of the fish is firm and the eyes full, and the gills red. Do not allow fish to remain but a short time in water. It makes them soft and flabby. To thaw out frozen fish, lay them in cold water till the ice cleaves from the body. Large fish are usually boiled or baked. Small ones, fried- or broiled. A fish is scaled more easily by plunging for an instant in hot water. Fish shoulci be carefully cleaned before cooking. Any coagulated blood should be scraped away with a knife, and 30 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Chowder. FISH. Potted. they should be freed from scales. But if washed beyond what is necessary, the flavor of the fish is diminished. The mode of cooking fresh and salt-water fish is substan- tially the same, and the recipes given furnish all necessary information. The various sauces called for in the following recipes will be found in the chapter on "SAUCES." For fish croquettes, see " CROQUETTES." FISH CHOWDER. Fresh cod or haddock are regarded as best for chowder, although our common lake fish may be used. Cut into 2 inch pieces. Fry some slices of salt pork crisp, in an iron pot. Take out and chop fine, leaving the fat. Put a layer of fish in this fat, then a layer of split crackers, then some bits of the pork, some thick slices of peeled potatoes and some chopped onion, and pepper. Then another layer of fish, with a repetition of the other articles. Cover with.boil- ing water and cook half an hour. Skim it out in the dish in which it is to be served, thicken the gravy with flour, add a little catsup, boil up and pour over the chowder. Remove the bones if convenient, when dishing up. CRIMPED SALMON. Cut freshly-caught salmon into slices i^ inches thick. Wash in strong salt and water. Lay on a fish-plate, if you have one, and plunge into boiling salted water. It will be done in lo or 15 minutes. Serve immediately with lobster sauce or plain melted butter. POTTED FISH. Miss Juliet Corson. Remove the fins and head of the fish, cban well, cut in slices an inch thick, pack it in a little jar having a cover, in layers, and between the layers put i teaspoon each of whole AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 31 Turbot. cloves, and whole peppers, 2 blades of mace, a bay leaf, a tablespoon of salt. When all is used, cover with vinegar and water, half and half Put over it a buttered paper, or else fasten the jar cover on with paste. Put in a hot oven and bake 4 or 5 hours. The bones will have entirely disap- peared. Eat C0I4 or hot. * PICKLED FISH. Put the fish in vinegar that is spiced as for pickles. Boil slowly until tender, but not broken. Set away closely cov- ered, and in a few weeks the bones will be destroyed. BROILED FISH. Miss Juliet Corson. To broil a shad or any other fish, grease the bars of the broiler well. Put the inside to the fire first. The backbone is easily removed by running a knife along under it, and the long bones can be loosened and taken out, one or more at a time, with a little knife, after the backbone is cut away from them. Let brown without burning, till the flakes separate. Turn the skin part to 'the fire just long enough to brown. Season either before or after cooking. FRESH MACKEREL. This is one of the most delicate and dainty dishes to be found. It is best broiled. Rub over it melted butter or drippings, or olive oil if preferred. Grease the bars of the gridiron. Butter it and garnish with chopped parsley. FISH TURBOT. Mrs. Elliott Durand, Chicago. Five pounds white fish, i quart milk, i bunch of thyme, the same pf parsley, ^ onion. Place the fish in cold water, and when the water has boiled two minutes, the fish is done. Remove and free from bones. Boil the milk, onion, thyme, and parsley over water, i hour. Strain through a colander. 32 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Turbans. FISH. Stuffing. Add I cup of flour, made in a smooth paste with cold water, the yolks of 2 eggs well beaten, i cup of butter, cook until thick. Place the fish in a baking-dish with alternate layers of the dressing. Finish with dressing on the top and a thick layer of cracker crumbs. Bake i hour. Serve in the bakirig-dish and garnish with parsley and sliced lemon. TURBANS OF FISH. Miss Juliet Corson. Flounders are best. Cut down the middle of the fish till the bone is reached, then cut the fillet or strip out from the side, avoiding the bone. Lay the fillet on the board, remove from the skin by turning the blade of the knife between the flesh and skin, and keeping it perfectly parallel with the board, and thus cutting and separating the skin and flesh. After cutting the entire fish into fillets, roll each one up and fasten with a broom straw. These little rolls are called Tur- bans. They are nice stuffed with highly-seasoned soaked bread. If they are not stuffed, spread some butter on the bottom of the pan, but no water. Cook in the oven only long enough for the flakes to separate. They are to be lifted out and placed on Tartar sauce. ' STUFFING FOR FISH. Mrs. E. B. Baldwin, Chicago. One-half cup of fat pork chopped fine. One large spoon butter. Parsley, thyme, sweet marjoram, salt and pepper, a few oysters, 2 beaten eggs. All mixed with bread crumbs. A much simpler dressing is good, when the above ingre- dients are not at hand. Bread crumbs are usually on hand, and with a little seasoning and mincing, serve very well. BAKED FISH. Clean well ; sprinkle with salt an hour before cooking. Tie it with a string, sprinkle flour over it, baste with butter, AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 33 Baked. FISH. Boiled, place on a wire gridiron across a dripping-pan. Allow i^ hours for a good-sized fish. BAKED FISH WITH TOMATOES. When fish is put in th'e pan for baking, it is a very nice vari- ation to pour a can of tomatoes over it. Season and bake. BAKED FISH WITH CREAM SAUCE. Miss Juliet Corson. Take any kind of baked fish, remove the bones and skin, put in a baking-dish, cover with the sauce, and dust with cracker dust. Bake a delicate brown. HALIBUT— CREOLE STYLE. Miss Juliet Corson. Get a thick; square piece of halibut, or other fish if pre- ferred. Wash it and lay it on a baking-dish. Season with salt and pepper. Chop a clove of white garlic about the size of a bean, and strew over the fish, then put on a cup of canned or fresh tomatoes. Bake until the flakes separate. Dish up without breaking. The combination of garlic and tomatoes gives the name Creole to a dish. BOILED FISH. Wrap a large fish in a cloth. Secure it with a string. . Put it on in cold water, salt well, and it will generally cook in half an hour. Remove the cloth and serve with drawn butter. BOILED PIKE WITH EGG SAUCE. Miss Juliet Corson. Any fish will do. After it is dressed, tie it in the form of a circle by putting its tail into its mouth, and take a stitch with a trussing needle in its head and tail to hold it in place. To 2 quarts of water put half a cup of vinegar, a teaspoon of whole cloves, same of whole peppers, a bay leaf. Half a *S 34 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Stew. FISH. lemon sliced is a nice 'addition, and a tablespoon of salt. Put over in cold water and boil till the fins pull off easily. The skin, may be easily removed if desired. Serve with egg sauce. Pour the sauce inside the circle of fish. Lay a sprig of parsley on top of one side of the fish, and a few slices of lemon at the side on the platter. BOILED FISH WITH HOLLANDAISE SAUCE. A thin, long fish like a pike is best for boiling. Do not have it split open, but draw it at the gills. A large fish should be put over in cold water, but a small one in boiling water, for the reason that a fish cooks so quickly that almost as soon as it touches the boiling water it is done ; and if a large one were put on in boiling water the outside would be done and the inside raw. If you have no fish-kettle, wrap in a cloth. Sew the fish very securely in the shape of a let- ter S, by drawing a cord through it and fastening tightly. When cooked, and strings loosened, it will retain its shape, and is exceedingly pretty to look at. Pour the sauce around it on a platter, and put a sprig of parsley -at the side. CODFISH STEW. Cut up into inch pieces, allowing ^ a teacup full to a pint of milk. Put on the stove in a stewpan or spider, well cov- ered with cold water. When it comes to a boil, drain and pour in a pint or quart of milk, according to size of family. When hot, thicken with a tablespoon of flour made smooth with cold milk or water. An egg broken in and stirred rap- idly at the last is an improvement. Season with a teaspoon of butter. Serve with baked potatoes. CODFISH BALLS. Take a pint of finely-shredded salt codfish, a quart of raw peeled potatoes cut in two. Put to cook in cold- water. When the potatoes are tender, drain very thoroughly, mash fine, beat well, add 2 tablespoons butter Cor less will answerV AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. iC Fried. FISH Eels. 2 well beaten eggs, and a bit of pepper. Beat again, with a wooden spoon. Drop by the spoonful into boiling fat, and fry brown. They are better than if made into cakes. SALT MACKEREL. They may be cooked in several different ways. The one most in vogue is boiling. To freshen, put in a crock of water, skin side up, early in the evening. Before bedtime change the water, and in the morning rinse in clear water. Boil about 5 minutes in a frying-pan. Take up carefully on a platter. Have ready in a basin a cup of cream or rich milk with a spoon of butter, heated, and pour over. Note. — Tin rusts badly, and it is better to soak mackerel tn a stone crock. Sal( Mackerel. After freshening, put half a cup of vinegar in the spider with half as much water. Boil the mackerel in it! Serve with slices of l^lion. Salt Mackerel. Mrs. L. S. Hodge, Chicago, After freshening, hang up for a day or two, or until per- fectly dry. Then put in a dry tin and set in the oven for ten minutes. It will be found cooked through. Serve with drawn butter. EELS. Eels should be killed instantly by piercing the spinal marrow close to the back part of the skull with a sharp- pointed instrument.' Skin them. Take off head and tail, cut up into frying pieces, throw into boiling water for 5 min- utes, then drain, roll in flour or corn meal peppered and salted, and fry in very hot lard. FRIED FISH. Clean the fish well. Cut up into pieces about 2 by 4 inches. Lay around in a colander skin down, and sprinkle a6 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK with s^lt. Let stand an hour, or half a day if need be. Have the fat hot in a frying pan. Roll in flour or corn meal, fry slowly and cook a long time, till thoroughly done through. It is nice dipped in beaten egg and rolled cracker after the fl water, or milk even, as the prevailing practice is, use only the richest and sweetest of cream. Of this cream add i pint to the broth in the stewpan. Also 4 tablespoons of the best table butter, i teaspoon of salt, i of white pepper, the same of ground mace, and extract of celery. If the. celery is to be had in stalk, chop up fine and throw in. No more delicate or healthy flavor can be added to any stew, soup or broth, than this exquisite vegetable. Now set to cooking, and while on the fire dredge in finely-pow- dered cracker dust and a little of the best corn starch flour, until thickened to your taste. Have ready, parboiled, not in water, but in their own juice, 50 oysters, in a hot tureen. Pour over these parboiled oysters the sauce compounded as above, and serve while still scalding hot. OYSTER SAUCE WITH TURKEY. A pint of oysters cut up small and boiled up in their own liquor, add a cup of cream, tablespoon of flour made smooth with part of the cream ; salt, pepper, and butter. OYSTER FRICASSEE. Miss Juliet Corson. A tablespoon each of butter and flour mixed in a sauce- pan over the fire till a smooth paste is formed, then add the oyster liquor strained. A little water may be added if necessary. Season with salt aijd' pepiper, a very little nut- meg, boil up, add the oysters and cook till the edges curl. Remove from the fire and stir in the yolks of 3 r^w eggs, 3 tablespoons salad oil, i tablespoori vinegar or lemon juice, I tablespoon chopped parsley. Serve. 40 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK OYSTERS Omelet. OYSTERS ON TOAST. Put a quart of oysters in their liquor (free the oysters' care- fully from pieces of shell) on to cook. When they come to a boil add a pint of cream or milk, a tablespoon of butter mixed smoothly with 2 teaspoons" of flour, pepper and salt to suit the taste. Let boil up and pour over 6 slices of nicely browned and buttered toast. This will serve half a dozen persons, and is a nice breakfast, lunch or supper dish. DEVILED OYSTERS. Drain the oysters on a cloth, and dip in a mixture of 3 tablespoons of oil or melted butter, i of vinegar, a tea- spoon of pepper sauce, or a pinch of cayenne pepper. Let them stay in this for 5 minutes, well immersed, then dip in rolled cracker and beaten egg, and cracker again, and fry in hot lard or part lard and part butter. FRIED OYSTERS. / Only the large selects are fit for frying. Dry them on a folded towel. Allow 6 eggs to a quart of oysters. Roll cracker very fine and put salt and pepper in it. Beat eggs very light, dip an oyster in the cracker, then in the egg, then in the cracker again, and fry in plenty of hot butter and lard mixed ; or, better still, in olive oil. OYSTER OMELET. One dozen large, fresh oysters chopped into small pieces, half a teaspoon of salt sprinkled on them, and then let them stand in their own liquor half an hour. Beat 6 eggs, the yolks and the whites apart, the former to a firm, smooth paste, the latter to a stiff' froth. Add to the yolks a table- spoon of rich, sweet cream, pepper and salt in sufficient quantit]^ and then lightly stir the whites in. Put 2 table- spoon s of butter into a hot frying-pan. When it is thoroughly melted and begins to fry, pour in your egg mixture, and AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 41 Broiled. • OYSTERS. Half-Shell. add as quickly as possible the oysters. Do not stir, but with a broad-bladed omelet knife lift, as the eggs set, the omelet from the bottom of i. the pan,i;to prevent scorching. In 5 minutes it will be done. Place a hot dish, bottom upward, over the omelet, and dexterously turn the pan over with the brown side uppermost upon the dish. Eat without delay. BROILED OYSTERS. Select large firm oysters. Dry on a towel, pepper and salt them, and place on a wire broiler, over a brisk fire. Turn often to keep the juices in. Remove to a hot dish and put bits of butter on each and serve immediately. SCALLOPED OYSTERS. A layer of rolled cracker in a buttered pudding-dish, then a layer of oysters with seasoning of butter, pepper, and salt. Repeat till the dish is fyll, with crumbs on top. Pour on the liquor mixed with a Mttle milk. A beaten egg with milk is nice to put over the top. Cover and bake about half an hour. Remove cover and brown before sending to table. MOBILE ROAST OYSTERS. Use deep oyster shells, place them in a tin in the oven, and heat so hot that they begin to scale off. Put a half tea- spoon of butter and a pinch of salt and pepper in each shell, drop an oyster in each, turn it over and serve in the shell. If not quite done, set in the oven for a minute. CREAM OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL. Pour into your saucepan a cup of hot water, another of milk, and one of thick cream with a little salt. Set the saucepan into the kettle of hot water until it just boils, when stir in 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 heaping tablespoons of rice flour, corn starch, or arrow root, wet up with a lit^ile cold milk. Have your oyster shells washed and buttered *6 42 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK OYSTERS. • Pia (clam shells are more roomy) and a fine, large oyster laid in each one. Arrange them closely in a .large baking-pan, propping them up with pebbles or bits of shell, and fill up each shell with the prepared cream, having stirred and beaten it well first. Bake 5 or 6 minutes in a hot oven until brown, and serve in the shell. STUFFED OYSTERS. « Chop fine a dozen oysters, mix with them the beaten yolk of I egg, and thicken with bread crumbs, a tablespoon of thick cream, salt and pepper to taste. Fill the shells, round- ing them nicely on the top. Brown in a quick oven. OYSTER PIE. For 3 pints of oysters take for the pie crust 4 cups of flour and a heaping cup of butter or little less of lard ; water to mix. Line a pudding-dish and put in a layer of oysters drained from the liquor. Sprinkle lightly with flour, a dash of pepper and salt, and bits of butter. Then another layer the same, until all are used, putting more butter on the top layer. Pour the liquor in and cover with the crust. Cut a hole in the center and bake until the crust is browned deli- cately. If there is but little liquor to the oyster, milk is a very palatable substitute, and is preferred by some. OYSTER PIE WITH HARD-BOILED EGGS. Take a quart of oysters, look over very carefully to remove bits of shells. Put into a pudding-dish with the liquor, season with salt, pepper, bits of butter, half a cup of hot water, slice up 4 hard-boiled eggs, put around on the oysters, make a crust of i^ cups flour, i teaspoon baking powder, half a cup of butter (or a trifle less of lard, in which case use a saltspoon of salt,) water to mix as for pie crust. Roll out to cover the dish. Before covering, place an inverted teacup in the center of the dish, crowding the AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 43 Panned. OYSTERS. With Macaroni. oysters aside for the purpose. Cover, cut a slit in the mid- dle and bake till the crust is done, perhaps 15 or 20 minutes. PANNED OYSTERS. Toast slices of bread. Remove the crusts. Cut into even shapes, spread with butter, lay in a pan, and put one or more nice plump oysters on each piece. Put bits of butter and a very little pepper on each one, cover with a tin dish and put into a hot oven. As soon as the edges of the oys- ters curl they are done. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Then cook 6 or 8 minutes. They are best cooked in patty- pans as they can be served in them. In that case the patty- pans should be placed in a dripping-pan in the oven. OYSTER PATTIES. Line the bottom and sides of patty-pans with rich paste. Put a cover of paste over and pinch the edges together. Bake in a quick oven about 15 minutes, or until done. Take as many oysters as you have patties. Stew them in their own liquor, then cut them in pieces, add a teaspoon of flour, a tablespoon of butter (to a dozen) and a grating from a lemon peel, if you have it. Season lightly with salt, a pinch of pounded mace, and cayenne, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of cream. Mix well, open the patties and put in a tablespogn of the oyster mixture. Serve hot. OYSTERS AND MACARONI. • I pound macaroni. ^ can, or a pint of oysters. ^ cup butter. 1 3 cups sweet milk. 2 eggs, or it is very good without any I cup cracker dust — very fine. Salt and pepper to taste. Break the macaroni into inch pieces. Put it into boiling water and boil 20 minutes. Skim it out, and put a thicl^ 44 MRS. owens' cook Book steamed. OYSTERS. Pickled. layer of it in the bottom of a buttered pudding-dish. Put the oysters and liquor on this, with bits of butter, pepper and salt, add the remainder of the macaroni ; beat the eggs well, mix with the milk, pour over, and spread the cracker crumbs over the top. Bake 30 minutes — or less, if the oven is very hot. See that it is brown on top. STEAMED OYSTERS. Take select oysters, put in a round vegetable dish, season with salt, pepper, and butter, set in a steamer over boiling water, and steam till they begin to curl. Very fine. STEAMED OYSTERS IN THE SHELL. Wash well and lay in a steamer. When they are cooked enough, the shell will open. They may be turned into hot dishes or served in the shells. To be seasoned by the con- sumer. SPICED OYSTERS. 100 oysters with their liquor. I cup vinegar. 18 whole cloves. J nutmeg grated. 4 blades/Hiace. I teaspoon whole allspice. • ^ teaspoon salt. A pinch of cayenne. Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan, stir well, cover, and put over a slow fire. Stir from the bottom until they are well scalded. Remove, put into jars, cover, and serve cold. PICKLED OYSTERS. Drain the liquor from 50 oysters and add to it ^, teaspoon whole pepper, same of allspice, 2 blades of mace, and a pinch of salt. When the liquor boils drop in the oysters and boil AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 45 Stew. them one minute. Then take them out quickly and cool t'hem. Add half as much vinegar as liquor, boil a few min- utes and pour over the oysters. CLAMS. CHOWDER. STEWED. PIE. FRIED. m For clam soup, see " SoUP " ; for clam fritters, see " FRIT- TERS." CLAM CHOWDER. Butter a deep tin basin, put in a layer of grated bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. Sprinkle in pepper and bits of butter, then put in a double layer of clams, and season with pepper and butter, another layer of crumbs, then of clams, and finish with bread crumbs or a layer of soaked cracker. Add a cup of milk or "water, turn a plate over the basin, and bake | of an hour. To 50 clams, \ pound of soda biscuit and \ pound of butter is the right proportion. STEWED CLAMS. C. H. Bass, New York. Take 50 large sand clams from their shells, and put to them equal parts of their own liquor and water, nearly to cover them ; put them in a stewpan over a gentle fire for \ an hour ; take off any scum as it rises, then add to them a teacup of butter in which is worked a tablespoon of wheat flour, and pepper to taste ; cover the stewpan and let them simmer for 15 minutes longer, then serve. Pour it over toast if desired. Substituting milk for water makes them more delicate and white. Any other than sand clams require an hour to stew ; that is, three-quarters of an hour •before putting in the -seasoning. 46 MRS. OWENS* COOK BOOK To Choose. CLAM PIE. Three pints of clams — cut them in two if very large, boil up in their own liquor in a saucepan, adding a little water, if necessary. Take 3 large boiled potatoes and, when cold, cut into small pieces. Put good pie crust around the side of the baking-dish, and then alternate layers of clams and pota- toes with seasoning of salt, pepper, and butter, and a light sprinkling of flour. Place an inverted teacup in the middle of the , dish, pushing the mixture aside for the purpose. Pour the liquor over and also a cup of water, if it seems dry. Cover with crust, make some incisions for the escape of steam, and bake ^ or | of an hour. FRIED CLAMS. Use the largest sand clams, drain well from their liquor, dip in finely rolled cracker and fry in hot lard. Serve very hot. LO(BSTEfRS. TO CHOOSE. BOILED. SCALLOPED. TO CHOOSE LOBSTERS. The heaviest lobsters are the- best. Sometimes a com- paratively small one will weigh as heavily as one consider- ably larger. If fresh, the claws should move with strength and it should be lively. Hen lobsters are prettiest for salads on account of their coral. The tail is broader than that of the male. The male is preferable for boiling. The shell is brighter and the flesh firmer than that of the female. TO BOIL LOBSTERS. Allow half a teaspoon of salt to a quart of water. When AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 47 To Choose, CR^BS. Stuffed. it boils fast put the lobster in head first. It dies instantly. Boil briskly half ai\ hour, then remove and drain. Wipe it dry and rub over with sweet oil or butter. Break the claws off and remove the meat from the shells and lay on a small platter. Serve with melted butter sauce. SCALLOPED LOBSTER. Butter a pudding-dish. Put in it a layer of lobster meat, picked in small pieces. Do not cut it. Sprinkle it with pepper and salt, and a little juice of lemon. On this strew a layer of fine bread crumbs with lumps of butter, then a layer of lobster as before, having bread crumbs for the top layer. For a quart of the mixture, use about ^ cup of but- ter. Pour a pint of cream or milk over it and bake half an hour, and serve hot. TO CffOOSE. STUFFED. BOILED. FRIED. SHRIMPS BUTTERED. POTTED. TO CHOOSE CRABS. The heaviest are best. The joints of the claws should be stiff, and the inner part should smell agreeably. STUFFED CRAB. After boiling, pick the meat into bits, keeping the shell whole. Rub the shell with oil or butter. To the meat put one-third the. quantity of grated bread crumbs, a bit of cayenne pepper, nutmeg, a chopped hard-boiled &%'g for each crab, juice of half a lemon, and butter or cream to bind together. After cleaning the shells, fill with the mixture, dust over with crumbs, and butter, and brown in the oven. 48 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK SHRIMPS. TO BOIL CRABS. Allow a teaspoon of salt to a quart of water. When boil- ing hot, put in the crabs and boil from 10 to 12 minutes. Remove, wipe clean, rub over with butter or sweet oil. Break off the small claws, lay in rows around the outer edge of a dish, finishing toward the center. FRIED CRABS. Soft-shell crabs should be dipped in beaten egg, and then rolled in cracker crumbs and fried in salt pork gravy. BUTTERED SHRIMPS. Take i pint of shrimps, picked clean from their shells. Simmer for 2 minutes in i^ cups of cream sauce. Season with salt and pepper. POTTED SHRIMPS. Put a pint ol picked shrimps into a stewpan with ^ cup butter, a pinch of cayenne, a blade of mace pounded, and salt to taste. Simmer 1 5 minutes, put into pots, let get cold and cover with melted butter. REMARKS. FOUR-FOOTED. WINGED. FROGS AND TERRAPIN. (REMARKS. AME is no exception. There can be no absolute rule for cooking. And I have selected, from many sources, what I con- sider will be best received by the generality of ladies. The best variety possible is presented in this chapter, and I feel con- fident that my readers will regard as plain common sense the directions here given. My correspondence, to gain all the information possible on this subject, has elicited various opinions from many excellent cooks. For instance, one lady says : " I find it safe, generally, to parboil wild meat, with a small pinch of soda in the water." Another one writes : " Of one thing I am certain, and that is, that game should never be parboiled." Another lady says : " I think wild meat should be soaked a short time in weak saleratus watef." And still another one 'says : " If wild ducks and prairie chickens are skinned, the necessity for parboiling is removed, for the skin is the tough part." Very many good cooks unite in this, that, whenever prac- so MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Remarks. GAME. Remarks. ticable, game should be cooked without washing. Wiping with a damp cloth is deemed sufficient. If found necessary to wash, they do it as quickly as possible, and wipe dry. Game should never remain in water a moment longer than is essential to perfect cleansing, according to theii- theory. A free current of air is very advantageous. A damp atmosphere is destructive to animal food. If hares and rabbits are young, the ears tear easily and the claws are sharp and smooth. They will keep good a week or two in cold weather. Ducks with plump breasts and pliable feet are best. Partridges with dark-colored bills and yellow legs are best, and if allowed to hang a few days are much finer in flavor, and more tender. Pigeons, to be good, will not bear being kept, as the flavor leaves them. So they must be eaten fresh. Plovers are scarcely fit for any cooking but roasting. They should feel hard at the vent, as that indicates their fatness. If very stale, the feet will be extremely dry, and they should be discarded. A peeled lemon laid inside of a wild fowl will absorb any strong or fishy taste if left in for a few hours. Aft:er poultry or birds are dressed, hang them up by the head, not in the sun, but in a cool place. A piece of char- coal put into each bird will guard against tainting for several days. This is especially the case in warm weather, and almost a necessity. Even if they become tainted, it is said that they can be restored to sweetness by being kept in sweet milk 24 hours. I have never had occasion to test this. The flavor of game is heightened by keeping it several days before cooking. In venison the fat should be bright, clear, and thick ; the cleft of the hoof close and smooth. The more fat there is, the better the quality of the meat. AND USEFUl HOUSEHOLD HINTS. SI Remarks. GAME. Beaver. When venison is hung up it should be loioked at and wiped off whenever it has gathered moisture. A thorough dustmg with black pepper will preserve it from flies. Ginger will answer the same purpose. Bear and buffalo meats are cooked substantially the same as beef or venison. Dark meat is usually served rare ; light meat, well cooked. It is the common custom of cooks to give claret as one of the adjuncts in cooking wild meat. It is a mere matter of taste. It can be made very palatable without it, and I pre- fer not to give it. For game soup and green turtle soup, see "SoUP." To the Hon. Monroe Heath, ex-Mayor of Chicago, I am deeply indebted. He knows from personal experience how to kill, dress, cook, and serve, in the daintiest manner, nearly everything treated of in this entire chapter, and has very kindly revised it for me. FOUfR-FOOTEd) GAME. BEAVER. OPOSSUM. HARE. RABBIT. PEMMICAN. SQUIRREL. VENISON. WOODCHUCKS AND 'COONS. BEAVER— ROAST. Mrs. A. P. Cooper. First catch your beaver. Then dress same as any other animal. Cut your roast from any part of the animal you wish. Make a strong brine and pour over the meat and let stand over night. Then take enough cold water to cover, and lay it in a kettle with a few whole peppers, 6 cloves, a pierce of stick cinnamon, 6 allspice, a teaspoon of white mustard seed, if handy, all tied up together in a piece of 52 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Opossum. cheese cloth. Parboil half an hour. Take up and put in a dripping-pan with a pint of water, and start it to roasting in the oven. Then mix a teaspoon of mustard, a teaspoon of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne, with a tablespoon of flour and mix with water from the dripping-pan, and use to baste with. Either stick 2 or 3 garlics here and there in the roast, or chop an onion fine and mix with the dressing. OPOSSUM. Clean like a pig — scrape, not skin it. Chop the liver fine, mix with bread crumbs, chopped onion, and parsley, with pepper and salt ; bind with a beaten egg, and stuff the body with it. Sew up, roast, baste with salt and water. In order to make it crisp, rub it with a rag dipped in its own grease. Serve with the gravy made of browned flour. Serve it whole on a platter, and put a baked apple in its mouth. It is very nice stuffed with apples peeled and sliced. Opossum may be made into a very palatable stew. HARE— jugged; After casing the hare, wipe off" all loose hairs carefully, cut at the joints and fry brown. Season well with salt, pepper, chopped parsley, mace, nutmeg, cloves, grated lernon peel, ' and a sprig of thyme. Put a layer of this into a bean-pot or a small-necked jar, alternately with a layer of thin slices of bacon, until all are used. Pour i cup of water over, cover closely and set in a kettle of water. Boil 3 hours or longer if the hare is old and tough. Skim out when done and strain the liquor. Take one teaspoon each of flour and butter ; mix in a saucepan over the fire, and add the strained liquor. Let boil up and pour over the hare in a deep dish. RABBIT BOILED- LIVER SAUCE. Truss for boiling ; cover with hot water and cook gently about 45 minutes, if of medium size. In another vessel, boil the liver for 10 minutes, mince very fine and put it back into AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. S3 Rabbit. _ GAME. Rabbit. the water in which it was boiled, season with butter, pepper, and salt, and thicken with flour, and pour over the rabbit. Onion sauce is preferred by some, in which case serve it in the same manner as the liver sauce. RABBIT— FRIED. After skinning, cleaning, and wiping dry, fry the same as chicken. Unless known tO be young and tender, it is a surer way to parboil before frying. RABBIT PIE. After cleaning, cut up like chicken and stew until tender. Then put into a deep pan with sides lined with pie-paste. Thicken the gravy and add butter, pepper, and salt.' Pour over and cover with crust. Bake about 20 minutes. RABBIT— ROASTED. After skinning and cleaning, lay in salt water for an hour. Parboil the heart and liver, mince them with a slice of fat salt pork, and add thyme, onion, pepper, and salt, and bread crumbs moistened with the water in which the giblets were .boiled. Mix with a beaten egg. Stuff the rabbit with this, sew up, rub the body with butter or tie over it a few slices of fat pork. Put a cup or more of water into the dripping- -pan. Baste often. An hour will generally suffice for cook- ing it. Dredge with flour before taking it from the oven, and pour melted butter over. When browned remove to a hot dish, and to the gravy add lemon juice, a bit of minced onion, and one tablespoon of flour made smooth with the same quantity of butter. Let boil up and serve in a gravy dish. Garnish the rabbit with slices of lemon and sprigs of green parsley. RABBIT STEW. Skin, clean, and cut in small pieces a couple of rabbits. Let stand in cold salted water for an hour. Then put on to 54 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK GAME. . Venison. cook, in enough cold water to cover them, and boil till ten- der. Season with pepper and salt, and stir i tablespoon of butter made smooth with 2 tablespoons of flour into the gravy. Lemon juice is an improvement. If onions are liked, they may be boiled in a dish by themselves and added to the gravy before dishing up. Serve rabbits and gravy together on a large platter. PEMMICAN— TO PREPARE. Pemmican is made of the lean portions of venison, buffalo, etc. The Indian method is to remove the fat from the fean, dry the lean in the sun ; then make a bag of the skin of the animal, and put the lean pieces in loosely. To this must be added the fat of the animal, rendered into tallow, and poured in quite hot. This will cause all the spaces to be filled. When cold, put away for future use. In civilized life, a jar can be used in place of the bag. Pemmican may be cooked same as sausage, or eaten as dried beef It is invaluable in long land explorations, and is of great use in sea voyages. RACCOONS— S^^ Woodchucks. SQUIRREL PIE. Clean one pair of squirrels and cut into small pieces. Wipe off with a damp cloth. Put into a stewpan with 2 slices of salt pork, and water to nearly cover. Cook until half done. Season it well and thicken the gravy. Pour into a deep dish, cover with pie crust, and bake 30 minutes. Squirrels may be fried, broiled, or stewed, like chickens or rabbits. VENISON— ROAST. The haunch is the choicest piece for roasting. Wipe off with a damp cloth. Rub over with butter or lard. Then cover the top and sides with a thick paste of flour and water half an inch deep. Lay a coarse paper over all and put to AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 55 GAME. Sausage. roast with one cup of water in the dripping-pan. Keep the oven well heated. Baste every 15 or 20 minutes with butter and water. Twenty minutes before serving remove the paste and paper, and dredge with flour, and baste with but- ter until of a light brown. Pour in a pint of water and make a thickened gravy as for roast beef 6r pork, adding a pinch of cloves, nutmeg, cayenne, and a few blades of mace. Strain before sending to table, and 2 tablespoons of currant jelly may be added if you have it. Have dishes very hot. The shoulder is also a good roasting- piece, but need not be covered with the paste as in the above directions. V VENISON SAUSAGE. Take equal quantities of old salt pork and bits of raw venison. Chop fine. To each pound of chopped meat add 3 teaspoons of sage, i^ of salt, and i of pepper. Make into flat cakes and fry with no other fat, as that in the sausage is sufficient. VENISON STEAKS. These take longer to cook than beef, but should be simi- larly broiled or fried. When done, place in a hot dish with a gravy made of butter the size or an egg for each pound of steak, mixed with a spoon of flour, and properly seasoned with pepper and salt. Jelly may be added if desired. Before serving, cover the platter and set in a hot oven for S minutes or less. Have the plates welj heated, as venison cools quickly. At table it is nice to place a bit of jelly on each piece served. VENISON STEW. Cut the meat into, small pieces. Inferior cuts will make a very good stew. Boil for a couple of hours. Season to suit the taste. Add potatoes peeled, and, if large, cut in two. When done, skim out, thicken the gravy and pour over. 56 MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Woodchucls and 'Coons. GAME. Cranes and Herons. WOODCHUCKS AND 'COONS. Mrs. E. E. Bower, Erie, Pa. In Pennsylvania, woodchucks are called ground-hogs and esteemed a great delicacy, and really a fine fat one well rpasted is not to be despised. To cook either ground-hogs or 'coons, parboil for 30 minutes, to take off the wild smell; then rub well with salt and pepper, and roast in a quick oven at first, allowing the fire to cool gradually ; 30 min- utes to every pound is a safe rule. Young animals need no parboiling. Where fire-places are used, people cook them on a spit over a dripping-pan. WIJ^GErD GAME. CRANES AND HERONS. DUCKS. PARTRIDGE. LARKS. PIGEONS. PILAU. PLOVER. PRAIRIE CHICKEN. QUAIL. REED-BIRDS, RAILS, AND SNIPE. WOODCOCK. . CRANES AND HERONS. May be broiled or stewed, like chickens. They make a very fine soup. Dress and joint 5 or 6 and put into a pot with an equal weight of beef cut small ; slice i onion (or more) ; add a slice of fat pork ; water to cover. When ten- der add, if you have them, about a pint of oysters with their liquor. Crabs cleaned and quartered may be substi- tuted. Let simmer till done. Then just before serying stir in I or 2 tablespoons of gumbo, if you have it prepared. DUCKS— CANVAS BACK— ROASTED. Pluck, singe, draw, and wipe well. Do not wash ; let the duck retain its own flavor as far as possible. Leave the head on to show its species. Roast, without stuffing, 2$ or AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. s; Ducks. GAME. Partridge. 30 minutes, in a hot oven, after seasoning with pepper and salt. Baste with butter and-water. A bit of cayenne and a tablespoon of currant jelly added to the gravy are an improvement. Thicken with browned flour. DUCKS— WILD— ROASTED. Prepare for roasting the same as any fowl. Parboil for i S minutes with an onion in the water, and the strong fishy fla- vor that is sometimes so disagreeable in wild ducks will have disappeared. A carrot will answer the same purpose. Stuff with bread crumbs, a minced onion, season with pep- per, salt, and sage, and roast until tender. Use butter plen- tifully in basting. A half hour will suffice for young ducks. DU CKS— WILD^STEWED. Cut the ducks into joints ; pepper, salt, and flour them ; fry in butter in a stewpan. Then cover with a gravy made of the giblets and some bits of lean veal if you. have it, all minced and stewed in water until tender Add a minced 'onion or shallot, a bunch of sweet herbs, and salt and pepper, with a bit of lemon peel. Cover closely and let them stew until tender. About 30 minutes will suffice. Skim out the ducks ; skim and strain the gravy, add a cup of cream or milk and a beaten egg, thicken with browned flour, and let boil up once and pour over the ducks. The juice of a lemon may be added, or lemon may be sliced and served on the ducks. PARTRIDGE PIE. After dressing, divide in halves, rub with pepper, salt, and flour, sprinkle in parsley, thyme, and mushrooms, if you happen to have them. Put a slice of ham and 2 pounds of veal cut up small at the bottom of the baking-dish. Then add the partridges and pour over them a pint of good broth or gravy. This is for about 4 birds. If you have no gravy, *8 Eg MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Larks. GAME. Pigeons. use water with a large spoon of butter. Cover with rich pie-paste. Leave an opening in the center and bake about I hour. PARTRIDGE— BROILED. Pick and draw ; divide through the back and breast, and wipe with a damp cloth. Season highly with pepper, salt, a bit of cayenne, and broil over a clear, bright fire. It will broil in 1 5 or 20 minutes. When done rub over with butter. Serve with lemon laid in slices on the bird. LARKS. Clean, wipe dry, brush them over with the yolk of egg, roll in bread crumbs and roast in a quick oven for 10 or 15 minutes. Baste with butter and keep them covered with bread crumbs while roasting. Serve the crumbs under the birds and lay slices of lemon on them. PIGEON PIE. Do not stuff pigeons, but cut them in 4 pieces ; parboil and place in layers with egg and pork or bacon, as directed for quail pie. Use plenty of butter to make the gravy rich. Bake same, as quail pie. PIGEONS— POTTED. Pluck and clean. Take a cracker, an egg, a piece of but- ter or chopped suet the size of an egg, arid a pinch of sage or sweet marjoram. Make into small balls and put one with a thin slice of salt pork into each bird. Lay the birds close together in a pot. Dredge well with flour. Put ■ in a good tablespoon of butter to 6 birds. Cover with water. Cover the pot and stew slowly for about an hour and a half Less time if young and very tender, and longer if old. Serve on a large platter with the gravy. Other birds may be potted, the same way. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 59 Pilau. GAME. ♦ Plover. PIGEONS— STEWED. Take the grated crumbs of a small loaf of bread, chop fine a pound of fat bacon, a sprinkling of thyme, parsley, and pepper, mix with a couple of raw eggs, stuff the craws of the pigeons with this, lard the breasts and fry them brown. Then put into a stewpan with some beef gravy and stew I of an hour. Thicken with a tablespoon of butter rolled in flour. Serve on a platter and strain the gravy over them. A nice accompaniment is a row of force-meat balls around the edge of the dish. PILAU OF BIRDS. Boil 2 or 3 large birds or half a dozen small ones with a pound of bacon in water enough to cover well. Season it with salt. When tender take them out with a little of the liquor. Into the remainder put 2 pounds of clean washed rite. Cook until done, keeping closely covered. Stir into it a cup of butter, and salt to taste. Put a layer of the rice in a deep dish. On this lay the birds with the bacon in the middle. Add the liquor. Then cover them all with the rice that is leit. Smooth it and spread over it the beaten yolks of 2 eggs. Cover with a plate ; bake 15 or 20 minutes in a moderate oven. ' PLOVER. Clean and truss. Lay in a pan and season with salt and pepper. Rub over with butter and cook in a quick oven. A piece of fat bacon or salt pork laid on each one gives a good flavor. Toast some bread and put a piece under each bird before it is quite done. Baste with butter and water. Take up on a hot platter, a bird on each slice of toast, and serve together. PRAIRIE CHICKEN— ROASTED. Remove all shot, clean quickly and thoroughly. Cut open and lay on them thin slices of salt pork. Place in a drip- 6o MRS. OWENS' COOK BOOK Prairie Chicken. * GAME, Quail. ping-pan with a cup of water, and cook in the oven until done. The time will vary from 40 minutes to an hour and a half, according to the size and age of the bird. PRAIRIE CHICKENS— STEAMED AND BAKED. Stuff them, after cleaning, with a dressing of bread crumbs and seasoning of pepper and salt, and mixed with melted butter. Sage, onion, or summer savory may be added, if liked. Secure the fowl firmly with a needle and twine. Steam in a steamer until tender. Then remove to a dripping-pan, dredge with flour, pepper, and salt, and brown delicately in' the oven. Baste with melted butter. Garnish with parsley and lumps of currant jelly. Prairie fowls may be stewed or broiled the same as other birds mentioned in this chapter. QUAIL— BROILED. Clean and split down the back. Wipe carefully, season well with salt and pepper, and place on a gridiron over a clear, hot fire. Turn, and when done, lay on a hot dish ; butter well, and serve on buttered toast. QUAIL PIE. Clean, truss, and stuff the quails. Parboil for 10 or 15 minutes. Line the sides of a deep pan with rich pie-paste. In the bottom put a couple of slices of salt pork or bacon cut into small pieces. Then some sHces of hard-boiled eggs, with butter and pepper. Then the quails (after removing the cords), with a sprinkling of minced parsley. The juice of a lemon is an improvement. Put bits of butter rolled in flour over the birds, then a layer of slices of egg and bits of pork. Pour in the water in which they were parboiled, and cover with pie-paste, leaving an opening in the center. Bake about an hour. AND USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 6 1 Reed Birds, Rails, «nd Snipe. GAME. Woodcocit, Ixodes of Cool