tt xtiM tmiit uMttmivuMmt trr taumn li I l l^ W«w«^^ « ^w^^l>w^■Ja^^ l« l«»^ |< JWw ^ « ^CTi r ii m i ^>' >i< ' a» «>< i ^^_ ^ ,,_„„ '******'************** T V.".! ? "l ' "V' '' "''V ** * '*** * ** '* *'* ' ' l ' *' ***'*'''">'*"''<*^*'*^ MiN>WMMM>M>M»M''*>MiM« ■MMaOMMMk ••~ ^" T T" i i i it i nni i Vrnmt iii >fiMi i m 1) b T[K] E ^ The Queen of Home THE Housewife's Library: Furnishing THE VERY BEST HELP IN ALL THE NECESSITIES, INTRICACIES, EMERGENCIES, AND VEXATIONS THAT PUZZLE A HOUSEKEEPER IN EVERY DEPARTMENT OF HER DUTIES IN THE HOME. ^X \'. HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, DOMESTIC COOKERY, HOME FURNISHING, HOME DECORATION, POLITE DEPORTMENT, TRYING EMERGENCIES, CARE OF CHILDREN, GAMES, AMUSEMENTS, ETC., GENERAL HINTS. |6 / VERY CAREFULLY PREPARED AFTER LABORIOUS RESEARCH BY A SKILLED CORPS OF EXPERTS IN THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS. APPROPRIATELY \LLUSTRATEDy^0^JM^^jf^^ '^ NOV 86 1883 ' HUBBARD BROS., Publishers Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, AND Kansas City. A. L. Bancroft & Co., San Francisco. Copyright by George A. Peltz, 1883. PREFACE. HOUSEWIFE is in many repects a better word than housekeeper. One may keep house in a cold and per- functory style. A housekeeper may be a mere hire- ling, with no interest whatever in the establishment beyond the wages drawn from it. But a liousewife is one wedded to the house and its interests. She is not a slave to the house, as a wife is not a slave to her husband ; but both love the object of their espousal, and labor with supreme regard for the best good of that object. For those who thus love home this book has been prepared. All persons are not housewives nor yet housekeepers, but all are presumed to dwell in houses. These houses are kept by somebody, and the manner in which they are kept very materially affects the happiness of those who dwell therein. Therefore, all persons have a direct interest in whatever will help housekeepers to keep house in better style and to make the household more healthy and more happy. Some helps are hindrances. They are so hard to grasp, and when grasped they are so hard to handle, and when handled they afford so little in return, and what they do afford is so worthless that, though they be helps in name and in aim, yet in fact they are hindrances only. This book is not of that class. Whatever will render genuine assist- ance has been secured for it, regardless of cost or toil. What would be useless in such a book has been rejected, however attractive it seemed. It is believed that every housewife will find nothing here to neglect, but much to use and profit by. yi PREFACE. Many books are epitomized in this. Cooking-, Furnish- ing, Management, Etiquette, Games, Emergencies, Care of Children, and every other desirable domestic topic, on which volumes have been written, find treatment here. It is indeed a Housewife's Library. It fiarnishes " many volumes in one." Its contents are arranged for ready reference. In the pages immediately following, this appears at a glance. All that is contained in the book is there summarized. The nine departments are believed to cover every phase of the house- wife's wants. A full index has been added also. The reader need not pause to locate a topic in the Table of Contents, but he will be guided at once to its treatment by reference to the index pages. Quick and certain access to what the book contains is thus assured. Nor is it a mere recipe book. It does not simply tell what to do and how to act ; it seeks to build from the foun- dation laid deeply in the nature of things. There are good and sufficient reasons for most of the customs of society. He who understands these, catches the spirit of the whole matter and cannot get far astray, even though he be ignor- ant of the exact letter of the law. Illustrations have been freely employed because of their undoubted helpfulness. But the plan of making the language of the book so plain that all obscurity may be dispelled has been steadily adhered to. It is both complete and clear. The Housewives of America aspire to the best things in their homes. This Library will prove a splendid helper to their progress. The Publishers. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE PREFATORY, 1-12 PART I.— DOMESTIC COOKERY, 13 1. The Art OF Cooking, 17 2. Soups, Soup Stock, etc., 35 3. Fish, Oysters, etc., . 46 4. Poultry AND Game, . , 61 5. Meats, i . 70 i. Beef, 70 ii. Veal, 76 iii. Mutton and Lamb, 82 iv. Pork, 85 6. Vegetables, , 91 7. Salads and Sauces, 102 8. Croquettes and Fritters, iii 9. Eggs, 117 10. Bread, Biscuit,Hot Cakes, ETC., 126 i. Bread, 126 ii. Toast, , 131 iii. Fancy Breads, 132 iv. Rolls, 134 V. Biscuit, Rusk, and Buns, . . . . , 136 vi. Muffins and Waffles, 140 vii. Griddle Cakes, 1^2 viii. Yeast and Yeast Cakes, 145 11. Pastry AND Puddings, 148 12. Creams, Jellies, and Light Desserts, 166 13. Cakes and Cake Baking, 179 14. Fresh Fruits and Nuts, . . 201 15. Jellies, Jams, and Preserves, 207 vn Viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE 1 6. Canned Fruits and Vegetables, 219 17. Pickles AND Catsups, 224 i8. Beverages, 234 19. Candies, '. . 242 20. Invalid Diet, 248 21. Modern Facilities FOR Cooking, 254 i. Wood and Coal Stoves, 256 ii. Gas Stoves, 259 iii. Oil Stoves, 272 iv. Kitchen Utensils, . . , 278 22. Incidental Helps, e . . . 291 PART II.— HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, 299 1. Marketing, 304 i. Beef, . 305 ii. Veal, 307 iii. Mutton, 308 iv. Lamb, • .... 310 V. Pork, 310 vi. Venison,^ • 3H vii. Poultry, 312 viii. Vegetables, - 312 2. Carving, . 315 3. Serving Meals, 326 4. The Bill of Fare, 334 5. Table Linen, 349 6. Work and Help, .- 358 7. Ventilation, ; .. 364 8. Warming, 368 9. Illumination, ; . . 377 10. Sanitary Conditions, 383 PART III.— HOME FURNISHING, . 389 1. Standard Furniture, 391 2. Art Furniture, 394 3. Combination Furniture, 412 PART IV.— HOME DECORATION, 421 I. Fixed Internal Decorations, 424 i. Elegant Flooring, ., 424 ii. Beautiful Walls, 433 iii. Beautiful Ceilings, 435 iv. Stained Glass Windows, » o 446 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE 2. Portable Internal Decorations, 451 i. Carvings, Pictures, and Curtains, 451 ii. Decorations from Nature, 463 * iii. Ladies' Handiwork, . . . , 490 3, Exterior Decorations, *. . . 510 PART v.— POLITE DEPORTMENT, 529 i. Where to look for Models, 531 ii. The real Gentleman and Lady, 532 iii. Personal Habits, k^t^-j iv. Habits of Speech, 534 V. Affectation, ^3^ vi. Dress, i^t^i^ vii. Mourning Attire, 538 viii. Perfumes, . C39 ix. Politeness at Home, 539 X. A Domestic Picture, 539 xi. Away from Home, 543 xii. Introductions, 543 xiii. Salutations and Greetings, 546 xiv. Hand Shaking, 547 XV. Undue Familiarity, 547 xvi. Conversation, 548 xvii. Formal Calls, 551 xviii. Visiting, , 552 xix. Visiting-cards, 553 XX. Receptions, 554 xxi. Dinners, 555 xxii. After Dinner, 557 xxiii. Marriage Anniversaries, 558 xxiv. Courtship,- . 558 XXV. Weddings, 559 xxvi. Public Places, 559 xxvii. Traveling, 561 xxviii. Correspondence, 562 xxix. Notes, 564 XXX. Acceptance, 565 xxxi. Regrets, 565 xxxii. Notes of Introduction, 565 PART VL— CARE OF CHILDREN, 569 I. Hereditary Influences, 571 2= First Care of a Child, 572 3. Suitable Clothing, 573 X TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE 4. Suitable Food, 575 5. Value of Sunshine, 576 6. Good Ventilation, 577 7. Treatment OF Ailings, \ . 579 8. Bad Habits, 580 9. Horrible Stories, 5^' 10. Soothing Sirups, 582 11. Teething, 583 12. Early Schooling, 583 13. Physical Development, 585 14. Home Government, 586 PART VII.— TRYING EMERGENCIES, 587 1. What to do First, 589 2. Emergency by Sickness or Accident, 599 3. Emergency by Fire, 605 4. Emergency by Railroad Casualty 606 PART VIIL— GAMES, AMUSEMENTS, ETC., 607 1. Out-door Games, 609 2. Board Games, • 616 3. Card Games, 619 4. Mental Games, 619 PART IX.— GENERAL HINTS, 625 INDEX, ^Z?> LIST OF illustrations; Mother, queen of home, (steel) frontispiece. Unleavened bread, 'Ancient Egyptian oven, . . , Ancient cooking utensils, . . , Ancient cooking utensils, . , . Ancient cooking utensils, . . . Modern cooking-stove, . . . , Modern range, with appliances, Single burner gas stove, . . . , Gas cooking-stove, Gas cooking-stove, Gas cooking-stove, , Hot-water generator, . . . . , Hot closet, ...■....., Gas boiler, , Waffle baker, Oil stove, Nursery stove, Oil stove, Oil stove, extension top, . . , Double oil stove, Broilers, Small cake-pans, ...... Molds for puddings, Asparagus boiler, Strainer, . Batter-pail, Apple-parer, Can-opener, Molds for cakes, etc., Cake-pans, Forks, Milk-boilers, Cherry-stoner, Apple corer and slicer, . . . . Paring-knife, Fish-turner, Lemon-squeezer, ...... Bread mixer and kneader, . . . Covers for plates, Nut-cracker, PAGE 20 23 24 25 256 257 263 264 265 266 269 270 271 271 273 273 274 275 276 280 280 281 281 281 281 282 282 283 283 283 283 284 284 285 285 285 286 286 287 Broom-holder, 287 Small cake-tins, ...... 288 Corn-grater, 288 Vegetable slicer, ...... 289 Clothes-sprinkler, 289 Chafing-dishes, 290 Potato-parer, 290 Automatic filter, . 292 Empress refrigerator 293 Snow-flake refrigerator .... 294 Ice-cream freezers (two cuts), . 295 The home circle, 299 Cutting of beef, . 305 Cutting of veal, . 307 Cutting of mutton, . ; . . . 309 Cutting of pork, 310 Turkey properly trussed, . . , 317 Back of a fowl, 319 Chicken properly trussed, . . . 320 Goose properly trussed, .... 320 Breast of duck, 320 Back of duck, 320 Bird properly trussed, .... 321 Fore-quarter of lamb, .... 322 Whole roast pig, 323 Rabbit properly trussed, ... 324 Dining-room (chromatic plate), 327 Napkin folding, A. (5 cuts), 349, 350 B. (6 cuts), 350-352 C. (6 cuts), 352, 353 D. (5 cuts), 354, 355 E. (3 cuts), 355, 356 F. (6 cuts), 356, 357 365 369 370 371 372 375 376 Cheap ventilation, Low-down grate, .... Modern heating-stove, . . Section of heating-stove, . Section of portable heater, Gas-heating stove (two cuts). Gas-heating stove, . . , . , XI Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Modern brass candlesticks, . . 377 Bracket student-lamp, . . . . 377 Artisan's lamp, 378 Parlor student-lamp, 379 Parlor-table lamps (two cuts), . 380 Gas generator in vault, .... 381 Air-pump of gas generator, . . 381 The Germicide (two cuts), . . 386 Hat, cane, and whip rack, . . 392 Hat and coat rack, 393 Hat and coat rack, 394 Canterbury, 395 Music portfolios, 396 Carved pedestal, 397 Jardiniere stand, 398 Mahogany and brass stand, . . 399 Shakespeare table, 400 Book-racks (two cuts), .... 401 Ornamental easel, 402 Ladies' workstand, 403 Elaborate wall-cabinet, .... 404 Bric-a-brac shelf, 405 Hanging-cabinet, 406 Corner bracket, 407 Wall bracket, 407 Pocket easel, 408 Roman hanging-lamp, .... 409 Bed-room set, 410 Parlor cabinet, 412 Cabinet bedstead, 413 Desk washstand, 414 Portable reservoir washstand, . 415 Telescope folding bedstead, . -416 Telescope folding bedstead, . . 417 Telescope folding bedstead, . . 418 Lounge, 419 Drawing-room (chromatic plate), 423 Tesselated pavement, .... 424 Marble staircase, 425 Floor borders and corners, . . 426 Fireplace tiling, 427 Wood floor-fillings, 428 Patterns for wainscoting, . . 429 Scinderug, 430 Wood borderings with centres, 431 Flooring and wainscoting, . . 432 Frieze patterns (two cuts J, . . 433 Easter lily wall pattern, . . . 434 Ceiling decoration, 435 Egyptian wall decoration, . . 436 Chinese decoration, 437 Japanese decoration, 438 Elegantly frescoed ceiling, . . 440 Moorish ceiling, 441 PAGH Carved headboard, 442 Throne room of Windsor Castle, 443 Banqueting room, 444 Vestibule lamps (two cuts), . . 445 Stained glass window, .... 446 Stained glass window, .... 447 Imitation stained glass transoms, 448 Imitation stained glass window, 449 Imitation stained glass panel, . 450 Decorated apartment, .... 451 Brass umbrella stands (two cuts), 452 Hall of Longfellow's mansion, 453 Picture gallery of Malmaison, . 454 Jardiniere stand, 455 Jardiniere stand, ...... 456 Curtained doorway, 457 A peep at elegance, . •. . . . 458 Longfellow's library, .... 459 Royal bedchamber, 462 Fancy flower-pots (five cuts), . 464 Bay-window garden, 465 Square bay-window garden, . 466 Lily of the valley, 467 Hyacinth bulb, 468 Window garden (chromatic plate), 469 Miniature gypsy kettle, . . . 469 Vase for flowers, 469 Stemmed flower, 470 Ornamental bouquet paper, . . 470 Floral letters (three cuts), . . . 472 Pampas plume, 473 Basket of ferns, 473 Transparency of flowers, . . . 474 Box aquarium, . . • . . . • 475 Elaborate aquarium, 477 Parlor rockery, ....... 478 Aquarium and flower-stand, . . 479 Rustic fernery, 480 Fern case jardiniere, .... 481 Vine- covered aquarium, . . . 483 Terra-cotta hanging-basket, . . 484 Hanging-basket with drip, . . 485 Elegant hanging-basket, . . . 485 Home sunshine, 487 Gourd hanging-basket, .... 489 Miniature fruit-table, .... 491 Ornamental cover for table, . . 492 Visiting-card stand, . ... 493 Lady's work basket, 494 Circular scrap basket, .... 495 Square scrap basket, 495 Corner scrap basket, . . . „ . 496 Embroidered fire-screen , » . . 496 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Xlll PAGE Ornamental wall pocket, t . . 497 Hand-bags for ladies (two cuts), 498 Stationery or needle book, . . 498 Ornamental wall cutshion), . . 499 Pincushions (two cuts), .... 500 Toilets (two cuts), 501 Shearaton sofa, 502 Upholstered bedstead, .... 504 Elaborate sofa, 504 Canopied bedstead, 505 Painted vase, 506 Plaque with open centre, . . . 507 Plaque with flowers, 507 Vases (two cuts), 508 Pitcher, flowers in relief, ... 509 Pyramidal vase, 509 Landscape gardening (chro- matic plate), 511 Vase on crane pedestal, ... 511 Berlin vase (iron), 512 Berlin vase (zinc), 512 Egyptian vase, 513 Antique vase, ,,,,,,,, 513 PAGE Vase on rustic base, 514 Pruning a hedge, 515 Full-grown hedge, 515 Rustic chair, 516 Rustic bench, 516 Gypsy kettle, 517 Portable aviary, 518 Garden of Sultan's palace, . . 519 Vine-covered French dwelling, 52O Canary vine, 521 Pyramid of flowers, 521 Caladium plants, 522 Gardens of Fontainebleau, . . 524 Italian garden, 525 Ribbon bed, 526 Plan of ribbon beds, 526 Roman villa, 527 Circular rockery, 528 Rustic flower stands, (two cuts), 528 Fun in the fresh air (chromatic plate), . . . ; 609 " Would I were a boy again," . 623 FIRST DEPARTMENT. DOMESTIC COOKERY. Oh ! better no doubt is a dinner of herbs, When season'd by love, which no rancor disturbs, And sweeten'dby all that is sweetest in life Than turbot, bisque, ortolans, eaten in strife ! But if out of humor, and hungry, alone A man should sit down to dinner, eacn one Of the dishes of which the Cook chooses to spoil With a horrible mixture of garlic and oil, The chances are ten against one, I must own. He gets up as ill-tempered as when he sat down. Owen Meredith. Domestic Cookery. THERE is a beautiful legend that tells how Elizabeth of Hungary, having been forbidden by her lord to carry food to the poor, was met by him one day outside the castle walls as she was bearing a lapful of meat and bread to her pensioners. Louis demanding sternly what she car- ried in her robe, she was obliged to show him the forbidden burden. " Whereupon," says the chronicler, " the food was miraculously changed, for his eyes, to a lapful of roses, red and white, and his mind disabused of suspicion, he gra- ciously bade her pass on withersoever she would." It would be well for some husbands if " their eyes were holden " in such a way that food served them would seem other and better than it really is. But the sense of taste is a rebellious member — especially in the men. It will cry out against the best appearing dish, if its flavor is not of the best. There is but one way to sure success. The house- wife herself must be the angel who casts the spell about the humble board and the lowly fare, and invests them with forms and odors of irresistible attractiveness. This is the true poetry of Domestic Cookery; and blessed is the home where one presides who knows this art, and makes each meal a feast, and every guest a glad participant. 15 16 .THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. But things do not always take so happy a form. For instance : there was recently a brutal murder in Troy; N. Y., and a paper, reporting the case, clumsily , said : " A poor woman was killed yesterday in her own home, while cooking her husband's breakfast in a shocking manner." Quoting this statement, a contemporary remarked : " There are many women who cook their husbands' breakfasts in a shocking manner, but it is seldom that justice overtakes them so summarily." The subject is a serious one to joke over, but the turn given by the commenting paper is bright and suggestive. The fact is, that by skillful manipulation the plainest fare may be transformed into dishes fit for kings, while by igno- rance and inattention the best viands may be rendered unfit for human food. Which turn should housewives attempt to give their own culinary affairs? There can be but one reply. But, be it remembered, that freaks of favoring for- tune, such as came to Elizabeth, come only to those who are zealously pursuing the line of helpful duty. There is no royal road to success as a housekeeper or a cook. You must " work your passage," but the way will be smoothed by careful study of pages such as follow, provided the study take shape in wise action. Remember, too, that the ministry of Domestic Cookery is by no means an unimportant one. It is worthy of the best attention of any housewife. *' The stomach," says an eminent medical authority, " is the mainspring of our system ; if it be not sufficiently wound up to warm and support the circulation, the whole business of life will, in proportion, be ineffectually performed ; we can neither think with precision, walk with vigor, sit down with comfort, nor sleep with tranquility. There would be no difficulty in proving that it influences (much more than people imagine) all our actions." Dyspepsia is a fearful foe to the human race. I.— THE ART OF COOKING. THERE is a science and there is an art of cooking. The science tells what should be done and why ; the art takes hold and does the thing, without, in most cases, knowing any reason why certain methods produce certain results. The one is theoretical, the other practical ; the ^ one deals with principles, the other with performances. The science of cookery proceeds on the basis that man needs certain elements of repair and growth for the various tissues of his body, that these elements exist in nature in various fojms, and that the mission of the cook is so to prepare these suitable substances that man may receive them in their most enjoyable and assimilable forms, and thus have his waste repaired and his growth provided for. This basis is solid. On it the whole culinary system is founded. But, from the merely utilitarian idea of repairing waste and supplying force, cookery rises to the supreme height of exquisitely delighting the taste while doing its most impor- tant work of feeding the body. Indeed, the art of cooking well, and of serving well-cooked victuals well, is ''a fine art " in the best sense of the term. There are artistes in this line. Meals may be served artistically. They may become a delight to- the most refined natures and a real benefaction to both body and soul. The great aim of all cooking is to retain all the valuable elements of the food, and to put them into such forms as shall awake desire, stimulate digestion, and secure to the eater, in the readiest and most pleasing way, all the nutriment these viands afford. For instance, in cooking meats it is desirable to retain all the natural juices. To this end, when meat is to be boiled it should be plunged into hot water, which at once renders the outer part measurably impenetra- 2 17 Jg THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. ble, ana so confines the juices. On the other hand, if the juices are to be drawn out for the production of soup, it must be placed in cold water, and gradually warmed and slowly boiled, so as to allow the exudation of the juices. On the same principle, broiling and roasting, by quickly clos- ing the surface of the meat, retain the juices as well as the odors, and make the meat both juicy and savory. The re- tention of the fatty substances renders such preparations somewhat less digestible, however, than boiled food or lean meat. High art in cookery, as elsewhere, demands high rates of expenditure. Instructions on that grade alone would not meet the want of American homes. But high aims in this department are equally commendable with high aims else- where. So important a factor in domestic economy as cook- ing cannot be ignored and should not be treated lightly. Good food, well cooked and well served, goes far to make home happy and its inmates healthy. The chemical aspect of food and cooking may be left to the chemist and the physiologist. They will perfect the scientific aspects of the case. But the art of cooking, which teaches just how and when to do the right things, is for us to learn and to practice day by day. Such is the relation of stomach and brain on the one side, and of stomach and cook on the other side, that the cook becomes the sov- ereign, to whom many a brain mightier than his own bows in servile allegiance. What cookery was practiced in the garden of Eden his- tory does not tell. Vegetarians insist that permission to eat animal food was not given until after the flood (Genesis xi, 3, 4), when, by indulgence, man's appetites had become abnormal. If vegetable food only were used in Eden, and that mainly of the nature of fruits, but little cooking was needed, and the simplest forms would suffice amply. Ancient writers say that cooking came into use immediately on the THE ART OF COOKING. 19 « discovery of fire, whenever that was, and that its introduc- tion was in imitation of the natural processes of mastication and digestion. The first reference of the Bible to cooked food is to "a mor- sel of bread" (Genesis xviii, 5). Sarah, in this instance, made ready " three measures of fine meal," which she kneaded, and of which she made cakes " upon the hearth." These were, doubtless, the simplest form of unleavened cakes, UNLEAVENED BREAD, ANCIENT AND MODERN FORMS. flattened thin and baked upon a hot stone. A tender calf was hastily dressed on this occasion also, but whether by boiling or stewing, by roasting on a hot stone or by broil- ing over the fire on the point of a stick, is not known. Cer- tainly, the whole dressing required but little time and was not very elaborate. For these same guests Lot baked un- leavened bread, and, as the record is, " he made them a feast," quite hurried and simple, no doubt. When Abraham's servant, searching for a wife for Isaac, reached her father's house, " they did eat and drink," un- questionably in a festive way. Isaac was so fond of veni- son that he became unduly partial to his son Esau, who excelled as a hunter in capturing game for this dish. The preparation of the meat was in some elaborate style, which Isaac denominated " savory meat," and the eating of it so pleased him that he spoke of it as the meat " that I love," and asked it " that I may eat, and that my soul may bless 20 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. thee before I die." Irreverent critics may say this was man^ like, but reverent ones will pronounce it quite human, and all may conclude that cookery was taking attractive shapes in that early day. So Esau thought, undoubtedly, upon see- ing his brother Jacob with a pottage of red lentiles. He was willing to sell out his birthright, with all its high preroga- tives, that he might eat of this tempting dish. All these in- cidents from the book of Genesis indicate that punctuality at the table and systematic forethought for its proper service were undeveloped arts at that time. Many later Biblical references indicate a higher state of culture in these respects, sumptuous fare and great feasts being matters of frequent reference. In the ceremonial law many directions were given concerning the killing and the cooking of animal food. Ovens are often mentioned in the Bible. In the cities and villages they were located generally in the establishments of bakers (Hosea vii, 4), or in large private establishments. Portable ovens were used by many who lived in a nomadic way. The portable oven was a large earthen jar, widening at the bottom, and having a side opening there by which to extract the ashes and to insert the bread or meat. These are referred to as the possession of every family, in Exodus viii, 3; though in time of destitution, or scarcity of fuel, one oven answered for many families, as Leviticus xxvi, 26, shows. These ovens could be hastily heated by a quick fire of twigs, grasses, etc., which fuel suggested the reference in Matthew vi, 30, to grass, which to-day is in the field and to-morrow is cast into or meat were placed inside, and thin ANCIENT EGYPTIAN OVEN. the oven. Loaves cakes upon the outside of these ovens The remote East, the land of spices, was the first to develop cookery in its higher ranges. Carefully wrought THE ART OF CO OKING. 21 and highly seasoned dishes were first prepared there. Many curious notions are recorded of the various nations in re- spect to food and cooking. The universal custom in Oriental lands is to cook meat as soon as killed. It never becomes cold, as with us. Goose is a great favorite with the Egyp- tians. Plutarch says only one class of this nation would cat mutton, and at Thebes it was wholly prohibited. Pud- dings made from the blood of slaughtered animals were favored by Egyptians but hated by Moslems. Egyptians never ate the head of any animal. Pastry among them was worked into the shapes of animals, and was always sprinkled with caraway and anise. The Greeks esteemed cookery so highly, that royal per- sonages took pride in preparing their own meals. Homer's poems contain many illustrations of such service. Achilles once personally served up a great feast, its special feature being that smaller meats were garnished with entrails of oxen. It was common at great feasts of the Greeks to dedicate certain dishes to certain gods, and then to eat them in honor of those gods. In the time of Pericles a class of professional cooks had come into prominence who boasted that they could serve up a whole pig, boiled on one side, roasted on the other, stuffed with cooked birds, eggs, and other delicacies, and yet the whole so neatly done that it could not be discovered where the animal had been opened. Invention was then taxed to invent a new cake, or a new sauce, and he who did it was deemed worthy of high honor. One Greek distin- guished himself by devising a new method of curing hams ; another devised a cake which took his name and made him famous. In Athenian dishes, assafoetida was a popular ingredient, as were rue and garlick. To compound one famous dish, certain uninviting parts of soVs, asses, hawks, seals, porpoises, star-fish, etc., were used. One visitor to Greece, having eaten a celebrated 22 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. " black broth;" said he had learned why the Spartans were in battle so fearless of death, as the pains of death were preferable to existence on such abominable food. A Greek poet, Archistratus, traveled the world over to study the gastronomic art, and then wrote a poem, " Gastrology," which became the standard among Greek epicures. Greek cooks took special pride in so jflavoring and disguising com- mon fish and meat, that epicures even would be deceived by their preparations. Roman cooking surpassed the Grecian in the more solid dishes, until the decline of the Empire began, when Roman epicures and gluttons came to the front and soon surpassed the world. Fishes, birds, and wines were their chief delica- cies, and to secure those of rarest quality the known world was laid under contribution. There is record of a single feast at which were served peacocks from Samos, chickens from Phrygia, kids from Melos, cranes from yEtolia, tunny fishes from Chalcedon, pikes from Pessinus, oysters from Tarentum, mussels from Chios, dates from Egypt, and inci- dentals from as many more points. Snails were fattened for table uses till their shells would contain a quart ; fishes and birds were fed on the choicest dainties to prepare them for human food, while even hogs were fattened on whey and dates. LucuUus was in the habit of spending fifty thousand denarii (about eight thousand dollars) on each of his sump- tuous feasts. Galba's daily breakfasts were each of sufficient cost to i^^di a hundred families. Vitellius made a single dish of pheasants' brains, peacocks' brains, nightingales' tongues, and livers of the rarest fishes. Its cost was one thousand sesterces (about forty thousand dollars). On another occasion two thousand choice fishes and seven thousand rare birds were served by him. It is said his kitchen expenses for four months amounted to twenty-five million dollars. THE ART OF COOKING. 23 Heliogabalus had a favorite dish for his own suppers made from the brains of six hundred thrushes. Pork was the choice Roman dish at a later day. It was often served in the famous style already referred to, benig half baked, ANCIENT ROMAN COOKING UTENSILS, I. Sugar, or Vegetable Boiler. 2. Frying Pan. 3. Measuring Urn. 4. Boiler, on Tripod. half boiled, and stuffed with birds, eggs, etc. The process of this preparation was long a profound and marvelous secret. It was accomplished, however, by bleeding the' animal under the shoulder, removing the intestines by the 24 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. throat, and refilling by the same passage. The upper side was then baked while the lower lay imbedded in a thick paste of barley meal mixed with wine and oil. The paste was then removed and the lower side boiled in a shallow saucepan. ANCIENT ROMAN COOKING UTENSILS, T. Measure for Grain. 2. Kitchen Boiler. 3. Fire Grate. 4- Pitcher, or Urn, for Fluids. Cooking utensils were elaborately made for the homes of the rich. The finest grades were made of bronze, and usually they were plated with silver. Some articles were of brass, others even of silver. Kitchens were royal apart- ments then, many of them having marble floors and being decorated with co.stly paintings. Even the aspirations of THE ART OF COOKING. 25 our modern " help" would have been gratified fully by the kitchen appointments of those days. Schools of cookery, under the most accomplished professional care, were nu- merous at that time. One of the most princely pieces of extravagance ever brought out by good cooking was in the case of Antony. When Cleopatra praised a repast he furnished, Antony at once called the cook and presented him with a city. An- other piece of extravagance was when Lucullus entertained ANCIENT ROMAN COOKING UTENSILS. 1. Bowl, 2. Soup Pot. 3. Grater. 4. Measure for Fluids. 5. Cook's Knife. • 6. Hashing Knife. Cicero and Pompey. They three partook of a little feast which cost not less than five thousand dollars. Geta in- sisted on as many courses at his state dinners as there were letters in the alphabet, and each course was required to contain every viand known, the name of which began with that letter. Alexander the Great once entertained ten thousand guests, all of whom were seated at the tables at one time, and in silver chairs upholstered with purple. Pos- sibly the most extensive "spread" ever made was by the Earl of Warwick when his brother was installed Arch- 2(j rilE no USE WIFE' S L IBRji R V. bishop of York in 1479. ^^^ record of its appointments is as follows : 300 quarters of wheat, 300 tuns of ale, 104 tuns of wine, I pipe of spiced wine, 10 fat oxen, 6 wild bulls, 300 pigs, 1,004 sheep, 300 hogs, 3,000 calves, 300 capons, 100 peacocks, 200 cranes, 200 kids, 2,000 chickens, 4,000 pig- eons, 4,000 rabbits, 4,000 ducks, 204 bitterns, 400 herons, 200 pheasants, 500 partridge, 5,000 woodcocks, 400 plovers, 100 curlews, 1 00 quails, 100,000 eggs, 200 roes, 4,000 roe- bucks, 155 hot venison pasties and 4,000 of them cold, 1,000 dishes of jellies, 2,ooo hot custards and 4,000 of them cold, 400 tarts, 300 pikes, 300 bream, 8 seals, and 4 por- poises. The Earl in person was steward; 1,000 servitors, 62 chief cooks, and 515 under cooks and scullions offi- ciated on this monster occasion. After the fifth century it is said that " cookery, like learn- ing, retired into convents." For several centuries religious houses alone were the abodes of good cooking. In the tenth century the art reappeared among the wealthier citizens of Italy. Discoveries of new countries and the increasing activity of commerce continually enlarged the field for gas- tronomic delights. Italy, the leader in fine cookery in those days, began to send her methods and her cooks into France, where they received a hearty welcome from Catharine de Medici and her royal spouse. Under these fostering im- pulses several cities became famous for specialties in food ; Hamburg, for example, for hams, Strasburg for sausages, Arnsterdam for herrings, Ostend for oysters, Chartres for pies, etc., etc. The ancient Britons and Saxons knew none of the refine- ments of the culinary art. Their meal was simple bruised barley ; their meat, half-cooked game. The Danes did more at drinking than at eating, at brewing than at baking. The Normans, however, introduced the better styles of food and the cook again loomed up grandly. So great was the excess of these times that the friars of St. Swithin's com- THE ART OF COOKING. 27 plained to King Henry II that three of their thirteen regu^ lar dinner courses had been withheld from them by their abbot. Cranmer ordered, in 1541, that archbishops should be limited to six dishes of meat daily, bishops to five, and lower orders of clergy to four, or three in certain cases. The poultry to be used was also limited, and the fish. After the Crusades the higher classes of England imitated the luxurious methods they had learned abroad. Peacocks be- came a favorite dish. They were usually served with the tail feathers remaining and spread to their fullest extent. In the reigfn of Elizabeth cooks reached the zenith of their power, many classical scholars willingly espousing this pro- fession. The early inhabitants of France subsisted chiefly on roots and acorns. After their subjugation by Caesar they quickly took on the Roman methods, and later the Norman methods, until in the fourteenth century they produced Taillevant, the greatest cook of history. In the reign of Louis XII a company was chartered to make sauces and another to cook meats on the spit. These were the days when fancy cook- ing ran toward the impossible. Eggs cooked on the spit, butter fried, roasted, etc., were the surprising delicacies produced by the masters of gastronomy. In the days of Louis XIV cookery in France was at its height of sumptuousness. A reaction in favor of modera- tion then began to prevail. Cooks were out of employment. Restaurants then appeared under their care, and they soon found abundant patronage. Careme, of France, is con- fessedly the greatest of modern French cooks. He has exalted the science of cookery while he has nobly advanced the art. There are several national or provincial dishes which are well known; for example, the roast beef and plum pudding of England ; the sauerkraut of Germany ; the salt beef of Holland ; the pilUm of Turkey (made of rice and mutton 28 ^-^^^- 1^0 USE WIFE S L IBRAR 1 '. fat) ; the macaroni of Italy ; the potatoes of Ireland ; the oat-meal of Scotland ; the pork and beans and the pumpkin pie of New England. Books on the science and the art of cookery are numerous. The oldest dates from the last half of the four- teenth century. It is from a Frenchman, Le Sage, who has blended moral maxims and culinary recipes in a wonderful manner. The next in order is from Taillevant, already referred to, dated 1 392. Scappi, chief cook to Pope Pius V, published a valuable book on cookery in 1570. So have they been multiplied as the years have rolled by, and one who is not an expert in cookery cannot lay his defect at the door of authors or publishers. But books are not sufficient to elevate a people. There must be instruction, by which the text-books may be ex- pounded and their lessons be illustrated' to the masses. The art of cookery must be learned, as are the other arts. There are those who say that domestic cooking should be learned in the home — that the mother should teach the daughters, and that skill and knowledge should thus be handed down from generation to generation. This is a splendid theory ; but if the mothers themselves are ignorant and unskillful, what then can be hoped for from the daughters ? Then, too, a fixed set of culinary traditions would be handed down in each family by this method, and the children would follow the ways of the parents, irrespective of better .ways practiced by their next-door neighbors. In the face of these facts, it was not at all strange that schools of cookery arose centuries ago ; but it is strange that these schools were not extended in their scope, to in- clude others than professional cooks. They aimed merely to provide skilled help for the kitchens of royalty and wealth. This they did to perfection, but the common people know nothing of the methods whereby their plain fare might be made more toothsome or more beneficial. It has re- THE ART OF COOKING. 29 mained for this later day, this utilitarian age, to establish schools designed to furnish good, practical cooks, for our homes, and to develop them from our wives and cur daughters. This " cooking-school " movement arose in England. The working classes there were so sadly unskilled in using provision, and provision was so enormously costly, that the question necessarily arose. Is there no way where- 'by these masses can use what little they have to better ad- vantage ? Hov/ to make the most of what was in their kitchens was the practical problem. Schools of domestic economy then arose, under the patronage of benevolent per- sons, to promote the practical solution of this difficulty. The managers of the South Kensington Museum of Arts, in West London, made the first organized movement in this matter by establishing public lectures on the preparation of food, with platform demonstrations of various culinary operations. But the inadequacy of this course was soon evi- dent. Exposition and illustration were good, but practice was needed. Cookery is like music, in that the only way to do it well is to do it zvcll. Lectures on the capabilities of the piano, though supplemented by brilliant illustration, could never make musicians, and the course inaugurated at Kensington Museum was not capable of making cooks. Practice schools soon became an admitted necessity. To found schools of this character was no easy task. Public sentiment was not up to the need. Teachers, text- books, and even pupils were wanting. It was unavoidably an expensive method of education, and no great names stood ready to back the movement. But the parties chiefly in- terested were determined, and they moved onward. The first organized classes for graded instructions and practice in cookery were formed in 1874. These classes were open to all, but especial encouragement was given to those pro- posing to go out as teachers of this art. In this respect the 30 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. work was a great success, and large numbers of cooking- schools have been formed in England. These schools employ a series of printed " lessons," suited for use in all the work in all the various grades. These lessons contained a list of ingredients needed for each dish, with their quantity and cost. Then followed a specifi- cation of the several steps to be taken, each distinct in itself and numbered. Nothing was assumed to be known ; nothing was here taken for granted, all was clearly specified and, if need be, explained. As trial showed defects in the several lessons, they were carefully revised, and at last text- books were issued. Every pupil learned what to do in each case ; then they did it ; then they kept on doing it until they could do it to perfection. As at " Dotheboys Hall," he whose turn it was to spell " scrub " was set to scrub the floor, etc., etc., so at these practice schools, she who studied " Irish stevv^," made Irish stew, and capped the climax by eating it. It is surprising that so diversified a company gathered in these schools. An observer of the Kensington Museum establishment says of the attendance : ** There were cultivated ladies, the daughters of country gentlemen, old house- keepers, servants, cooks, and colored girls from South Africa, together with a large proportion of intelligent young women who were preparing to become teachers." It may strike one who goes over these lessons that there is a wearisome attention to trivial details. But it should not be forgotten that the chief difference between good and bad cookery lies just here. It is a prime point in cooking- schools to make each item so prominent that it cannot be overlooked. Strict attention to details is the corner-stone of the culinary art. Schools of cookery are now numerous in this country. New York, Philadelphia, and all the principal cities have institutions of this character. Text-books are numerous too. Eliza A. Youmans, Juliet Corson, and other ladies THE ART OF COOKING. %\ have nobly led the van of culinary artistes, and their man- uals are standards for cooking-schools. To illustrate the method of the cooking-schools, two '" lessons " are here added, both on the making of Cabinet Pudding. The first is from the American edition of Lessons in Cookery, the handbook of the London school. LESSON :— CABINET PUDDING. Ingredients. — One dozen cherries or raisins, and two or three pieces of angelica. One dozen finger biscuits and half a dozen ratafias. One ounce of loaf-sugar and fifteen drops of essence of vanilla. Four eggs. One pint of milk. Time required, about one hour.. - To make a Cabinet Pudding: 1 . Take a pint-and-a-half mold and butter it inside with your fingers. 2. Take a dozen raisins or dried cherries^ and two or three pieces of angelica, ^.'^di ornament the bottom of the mold with them. 3. Take one dosen stale sponge finger-biscidts^ and break them in pieces, 4. Partly fill the mold with pieces of cake and a half a dozen ratafias.^ 5. Take four yelks and two whites of eggs and put them in a basin. 6. Add to the eggs one ounce of white sugar, and whip them together lightly. 7. Stir in, by degrees, one pint of milk. 8. Flavor it by adding fifteen drops of essence of vanilla. 9. Pour this mixture over the cakes in the mold. 10. Place a piece of buttered paper over the top of the mold. 11. Take a saucepan half full of boiling water, and stand it on the side of the fire. * To be had at the baker's. f For sale at all large grocery-houses. 32 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY, 12. Stand the mold in the saucepan, to steam for from three-quarters of an hour to an hour. N. B. — The water should only reach half way up the mold, or it would boil over and spoil the pudding. 13. For serving, turn the pudding carefully out of the mold on to a hot dish." The other " lesson " is from Miss Corson's Cooking- school Text-book. It is the method pursued in the New York Cooking-school and its offshoots. ' LESSON :-CABINET PUDDING. INGREDIENTS. ^Ib. candied cherries, - . _ - - 20 cents. 2 oz. citron, .-....-4" j4^1b. macaroons, - - - - - - IS" Sponge cake, - -_- - - - -10" I pt. milk, 4" ^ oz. gelatine, - - - - - ""3" I lemon, ------- 2" 3 oz, powdered sugar, - - - - 7 -2" Total, ----- 60 cents. (i.) Soak the gelatine In two tablespoonfuls of cold water until it is soft, and then put it over the fire in a saucepan with the milk, sugar, and the yellow rind of the lemon cut very thin, and let it heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally until the gelatine and sugar are dissolved. (2.) Cut the citron in thin slices. Butter a plain pudding mold rather thickly with cold butter, and ornament the bottom and sides by placing some of the fruit against them in some pretty shape. (3.) Place the remaining fruit and the cake in the mold in alternate layers, and then strain the milk into the mold. Set it where it will cool and grow firm, which will be in four or five hours, and then turn it out of the mold and serve it cold." THE ART OF COOKING. ■ 33 Every city has its leading caterer, who illustrates, when opportunity offers, to what heights the gastronomic art may be carried. On special occasions great " spreads " are made, the cost of which will surprise the uninitiated. From two to five dollars per plate is an ordinary charge for these en- tertainments. Ten dollars for each guest is by no means unusual. Twenty-five dollars for each guest, the wines in- cluded, is a price often charged, and Delmonico, of New York, furnished a dinner to ten persons, the cost of which was estimated to be no less than four hundred dollars each. The dinner was given by a, distinguished yachting-man, who insisted that the five men in waiting should be dressed as sailors. He furnished the suits, new and elegant. The guests drank, or tasted, every vinted liquor that has ever been brought to America — not that they drank every brand of wine, but every grade was represented. They finished with 2,pousse cafe made of eleven liquors. The bills of fare were a striking feature of the display. Before each plate sat a cut-glass basin, about twenty inches in diameter and four inches deep. Each was nearly filled with water, perfumed with ottar of roses, on the surface of which floated half-open pond lilies. In the basin a perfect model of the yacht owned by the gentleman who gave the dinner was placed. It was cut in red cedar wood, with cabin, rail, wheel for steering, brass work, such as belaying- pins, binnacle, etc., man ropes worked and trimmed with sailor knots, scraped pine masts and booms, rigging of silken cords colored as it would be in the prototype, and sails of satin. The sails carried the bills of fare. On the flying jib were the words: " Compliments of ," naming the giver of the dinner; on the jib the date and place; on the foresail was the name of the guest who sat at the place where each little vessel floated ; and on the mainsail was the niemt. As the guest had occasion to consult his bill of fare, he used a 3 34 THE HO USE WIFE' S L IBRA R V. little gold oar that rested on the fingers of a silver naiad who peered over the containing glass, and held out both hands to grasp the oar. After the dinner each guest either carried away his bill of fare or had it sent to his home. The bills of fare were supposed to have cost at least one hundred dollars apiece. Of course, the viands spread at such a table were the finest the markets of the world could afford. An artistic conclusion to an elaborate luncheon in New York is thus described by one who was there : " The last course was quite classic. A Greek would have appreciated it. It would have given him visions of Hybla and Hymettus, and their • luxuriant growth of wild thyme. Everything was removed from the table except the ferns in the centre. A glass jug, some small glasses, and a plate of water crackers were brought in. The hostess poured out for each guest a tiny glass of metheglin. Any one who had forgotten the old reputation of this liquor and of what it was made would have been enlightened by seeing the jug. It looked like a honeycomb. Through the wax-looking cells painted upon its surface the liquor appeared like yellow honey. On the stopper was a black and gold bee. The caster, or tray, in which the jug stood was of glass also, covered with white clover and other heather . flowers, which give the delicate flavor to Scotch and French honey. • Such a finale seems to claim for America mention among those nations which Shakespeare describes as ' exquisite in their drinking.' " . II.— SOUP STOCK, SOUPS, ETC. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS ON SOUP STOCK AND SOUP MEAT, HOW TO PREPARE THEM, HOW TO ENRICH THEM, THICKENING SOUP, COLORING SOUP, FLAVORING SOUP, ETC. THIRTY-ONE RECIPES - FOR SOUPS AND INCIDENTAL PREPARATIONS. THE first and great essential to making good soup is stock, or good, firesh meat. To make stock, take the liquor left after boiling fresh meat, bones large or small, the large ones being cracked, that the marrow may be extracted, trimmings of meat, bones, and meat left over from a roast or broil, put any or all of these in a large pot or soup-kettle with water enough to cover them. Let them simmer slowly over a steady fire, keep the kettle covered, stir frequently, pour in now and then a cup of cold water, and skim off the scum. If it is fresh meat or bones, com- mence with cold water ; if cooked, with warm water. Bones are as useful as meat in making stock, as they furnish gela- tine. A quart of water is usually enough for a pound of meat. Six to eight hours will make stock fit for use. Let it stand over night, then skim off the fat, put the stock into an earthen jar, and it is ready for use. Fresh meat should be freed from all superfluous skin and fat, which make a soup greasy, rather than rich. The glutinous substance contained in the bones renders it important that they should be boiled with the meat, as they add to the strength and thickness of the soup. The meat, however, should be cut off the bone and divided into small pieces. Place in cold water over a gentle fire and boil by the long and slow process, that the essence of the meat may 35 36 THE HOUSE WIEES LIBRAE V. be drawn out thoroughly. When it comes to the boiHng point, throw in a httie salt to assist the scum to rise ; then skim carefully to prevent its becoming turbid. When no more scum accumulates, and the meat is softened so as to readily separate with the use of the fork, it should be strained, the vegetables put it, the seasoning done, and the necessary amount of hot water added if too much has boiled away. All soup meats are better boiled the day before using, so as to allow the grease to chill over night, when it can readily be removed before putting over the fire again. The following thickening is almost indispensable to all good soups : A tablespoonful or more of flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little water, and enriched with a tea- spoonful of butter, or good beef drippings well stirred in. If it be necessary to add water to a soup, always use boil- ing water, as cold water injures the flavor. If making a rich soup that requires catsup or wine, let either be added just before the soup is taken from the fire. Soup may be colored yellow by the use of grated car- rots ; red with the juice of tomatoes ; green with the juice of powdered spinach ; brown with carefully scorched flour, kept ready for use. Onions are thought by many to be a necessity in all soups — that their flavor must lurk some- where, either defined or undefined. Their flavor may be much improved if fried until nicely browned in hot butter before being added to the soup. Potatoes should never be boiled with soup, because they add nothing to its flavor and are themselves injured by the long cooking. They should be boiled separately, and then added. A most desirable quality in soup is that no one flavor predominate over the others, but, that by a careful blending of the different ingredients it shall contain and harmonize all flavors. Soups and broths should always be strained. It SOUP STOCK, SOUPSy ETC. 37 makes them more relishable as well as inviting to the eye. A slight acid, like lemon or tomato, gives a peculiar relish to some soups, as do many of the palatable condiments prepared by such manufacturers as Durkee & Co., of New York, Annear & Co., of Philadelphia, and others, for this especial purpose. With such helps and a sufficient quan- tity of stock on hand, a choice, rich soup of any variety may be gotten up in thirty minutes. RECIPES. Beef Soup. — Boil a shin of beef, or a piece off the shoulder, slowly and thoroughly, the day before desiring to use it ; skim well the next day and thin the jelly, if necessary, with water ; add a little brandy, a grated carrot, two tablespoon- fuls of butter rubbed smooth in brown flour, a little vermi- celli, and spices to taste. Two or three eggs may be boiled hard, mashed smooth, and placed in the tureen before turning in the soup. Beef Soup, No. 2. — Boil a shin of beef of moderate size, crack the bone, remove the tough outside skin, wash, and place in a kettle to boil with six or. eight quarts of water. Let it boil about four hours, until it becomes perfectly tender, then take it out of the liquid. Add salt, one pint of tomatoes, two onions cut in small pieces, two turnips cut in quarters, one grated carrot, one large tablespoonful of sugar, a little sweet marjoram and thyme rubbed fine, one red pepper cut in very small pieces, also a celery top or a small quantity of bruised celery seed. This soup may be thick- •ened according to taste either with vermicelli, macaroni, noodles, or drop dumplings. For an incidental side dish, take the soup meat that has been cut from the bones, chop fine while warm, season with salt and pepper, add one teacup of soup saved out before 38 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. putting in the vegetables. Pack in a dish, and shce down for tea or lunch when cold. Beef Soup with Okra. — Cut a round steak in small pieces and fry in three tabiespoonfuls of butter, together with one sliced onion, until very brown ; put into a soup kettle with four quarts of cold water, and boil slowly an hour ; add salt, pepper, and one pint of sliced okra, and simmer three and one-half hours longer. Strain before serving. Corned Beef Soup. — When the liquor in which corned beef and vegetables have been boiled is cold, remove all the grease that has risen and hardened on the top, and add tomatoes and tomato catsup and boil half an hour — thus making an excellent tomato soup ; or add to it rice, or sago, or pearl barley, or turn it into a vegetable soup by boiling in the liquor any vegetables that are fancied. Several varieties of soups may have this stock for a basis and be agreeable to the taste. Ox-tail Soup. — Chop the ox-tail into small pieces ; set on the fire with a tablespoonful of butter, and stir until brown, and then pour off the fat ; add broth to taste, and boil gently until the pieces of tail are well cooked. Season with pepper, salt, and three or four tomatoes ; boil fifteen minutes and then serve. This soup can be made with water, instead of the stock broth, in which case season with carrot, onion, turnip, and parsley. Mutton Broth. — After the steaks have been cut from the leg, the lower part is just adapted for a soup. The neck- piece is also very nicei Boil the meat very gently in cold water, adding a turnip, a carrot, and a spoonful of rice. AH the fat should be removed. Toward the last, add a little minced parsley. Dumplings are an excellent addition. Vegetable Soup. — Take two pounds of shin of beef and two pounds of knuckle of veal ; remove all the fat and break SOUP STOCK, SOUPS, ETC. . 39 the bones and take out the marrow ; put into a pot with five pints of water ; add a teaspoonful of salt, and then cover and let it come to a boil quickly ; remove the scum that rises, and set where it will simmer for five hours ; one hour before serving, add two young carrots, scraped and cut in slices, half a head of celery, and a small onion cut into squares ; in half an hour add one turnip sliced, and in fifteen minutes one cauliflower broken in small pieces. Bean Soup. — Soak one and a half pints of beans in cold water over night. In the morning drain off the water, wash the beans in fresh water, and put into soup-kettle with four quarts of good beef stock, from which all the fat has been removed. Set it where it will boil slowly but steadily for three hours at the least. Two hours before it is needed for use, slice in an onion and a carrot. Some think it im- proved by adding a little tomato. If the beans are not liked whole, strain through a colander and send to the table hot. Bla^k Bean Soup. — Three pounds soup bone, one quart black beans, soaked over night and drained ; one onion, chopped fine ; juice of one lemon. Pepper, salt, and Durkee's Challenge Sauce to taste. Boil the soup bone, beans, and onions together six- hours ; strain, and add seasoning. Slice lemon and put on top "when served. Tomato Soup. — Take a knuckle of veal, a bony piece of beef, a neck of mutton, or almost any piece of meat you may happen to have ; set it over the fire in a small quantity of water, cover it closely, and boil very gently, to extract the juices of the meat. When nearly done, add a quantity of peeled tomatoes, and stew till the tomatoes are done ; add salt and pepper to your taste. This is a very cheap, healthful, and easily made soup. Tomato Soup, No. 2. — Take one quart of tomatoes. When boiling, add one teaspoonful of soda, two pulverized soda 40 .THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. crackers, one pint of hot water, one pint of milk, salt, and pepper ; strain through a colander and serve hot. Green Pea Soup. — Boil the empty pods of a half-peck of green peas in one gallon of water one hour ; strain them out ; add four pounds of beef cut into small pieces, and boil slowly for an hour and a half longer. Half an hour before serving add the shelled peas, and twenty minutes later half a cup of rice flour, salt, pepper, and a little chopped parsley. After adding the rice flour stir frequently so as to pre- vent scorching. Dried Split Pea Soup. — One gallon of water, one quart of soaked split peas, half a pound of salt pork, one pound of beef. Put over the fire, seasoning with salt and pepper, celery salt, salpicant, curry powder, marjoram, or savory; let it boil slowly for two hours, or until the quantity of liquor does not exceed two quarts. Pour into a colander and press the peas through with a spoon. Fry two or three slices of stale bread in butter till brown, scatter them in the soup after it is placed in the tureen. Com Soup. — Cut the corn from the cob, and to a pint of corn allow one quart of hot water ; boil an hour and press through a colander; put into a saucepan an ounce of but- ter and a tables'poonful of flour, being careful to stir well to prevent it being lumpy; then add the corn pulp, a little cayenne pepper, salt, a pint of boiling milk, and half a pint of cream. Onion Soup. — Slice ten medium-sized onions and fry brown in butter with a tablespoonful and a half of flour ; put into a saucepan, and stir in slowly four or five pints of milk and water (about one-third water) ; season to taste, and add a teacupful of grated potato ; set in a ketde of boiling water, and cook ten minutes ; add a cup of sweet cream and serve quickly. SOUP STOCK, SOUPS, ETC. 41 Mock-turtle Soup. — Scald a calf's head and wash it clean ; boil it in a large pot of water for half an hour, cut all the skin off, and take the tongue out. Take the broth made of a knuckle of veal, put in the tongue and skin, with one onion, half-ounce of cloves, half-ounce of mace, half a nut- meg, all kinds of sweet herbs chopped fine, and three anchovies. Stew till tender ; then take out the meat, and cut it in pieces two inches square; cut the tongue, previously- skinned, in slices ; strain the liquor through a sieve ; melt half a pound of butter in a stewpan ; put in it half a pound of flour and stir it till smooth — if at all lumpy, strain it ; add the liquor, stirring it all the time ; then put to the meat the juice of two lemons, or one bottle of Madeira wine, if pre- ferred ; season rather highly with pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper ; put in a few meat balls and eight eggs boiled hard. Stew gently one hour, and serve in a tureen ; if too thick, add more liquor before stewing the last time. Mock-turtle Soup, No. 2. — Take a calf's head and about two pounds of delicate fat pork. Put both into a soup- kettle, with two onions, sweet herbs, celery, pepper, and mace. Fill the kettle with water, and boil very gently till the meat is tender. Take out the head and the pork, return the bones of the head into the soup ; let it stew several hours longer ; and, when cold, take off the fat, strain the soup, and thicken ; add the juice of a lemon and half a pint of white wine. Cut up the head and pork into pieces ; warm them up in the soup, adding some choice meat balls made from finely minced, savory meat. The pork will be found quite an addition to the soup and a substitute for the fat of the turtle. Gumbo Soup. — Cut up two chickens, two slices of ham, and two onions into dice ; flour them, and fry the whole to a light brown ; then fill the frying-pan with boiling water, stir 42 THE HO USE WIFE' S L IBRA R Y. it a few minutes, and turn the whole into a saucepan con- taining tliree quarts of boiling water ; let it boil forty min- utes, removing the scum. In the meantime soak three pods of okra in cold water twenty minutes ; cut them into thin slices, and add to the other ingredients ; let it boil one hour and a half Add a quart of canned tomatoes and a cupful of boiled rice half an hour before serving. Southern Gumbo Soup. — Cut up one chicken, and fry it to a light brown, also two slices of bacon ; pour on them three quarts of boiling water ; add one onion and some sweet herbs tied in a bag ; simmer them gently three hours and a half; strain off the liquor, take off the fat, and then put the ham and chicken (cut into small pieces) into the liquor; add half a teacup of sliced okra, also half a teacup of boiled rice. Boil all half an hour, and just before serving add a glass of wine and a dozen oysters with their juice. Julienne Soup. — Scrape two carrots and two turnips, and cut in pieces an inch long ; cut slices lengthwise about one- eighth of an inch thick ; then cut again, so as to make square strips ; put them in a saucepan, with two ounces of butter, three tablespoonfuls of cabbage chopped fine, and half an onion chopped ; set on the fire and stir until half fried ; add broth as you wish to make thick or thin ; boil until done ; salt to taste ; skim off the fat, and serve ; it takes about two hours to prepare this soup properly. It can be served with rice or barley. Macaroni or Vermicelli Soup. — Two small carrots, four onions, two turnips, two cloves, one tablespoonful salt, pep- per to taste. Herbs — marjoram, parsley, and thyme. Put any cooked or uncooked meat and its bones in enough water to cover them ; when they boil, skim them and add the vegetables. Simmer three or four hours, then strain through a colander and put back in the saucepan to reheat. SOUP STOCK, SOUPS, ETC. 43 Boil one-half pound macaroni until quite tender, and place in the soup tureen, and pour the soup over it — the last thing. Vermicelli will need to be soaked a short time only — not to be boiled. White Soup. — Boil a knuckle of veal for three hours. Add a quarter of a pound of macaroni, and when done, a pint of cream. Season with lemon-peel and mace. Turkey Soup. — Take the turkey bones and boil three- quarters of an hour in water enough to cover them ; add a little summer savory and celery chopped fine. Just before serving, thicken with a little browned flour, and season with pepper, salt, and a small piece of butter. CMcken Soup. — To the broth in which chickens have been boiled for salad, etc., add one onion and eight or ten tomatoes ; season with pepper and salt ; add Challenge Sauce or Salpicant, if desired ; boil thirty minutes ; add two well- beaten eggs just before sending to the table. Lobster Soup. — To boil a lobster, put it in a fish-kettle and cover it with cold water, cooking it on a quick fire. Remove the small bladder found near the head, and take out a small vein found immediately under the shell all along the back of the lobster, and use the rest. Two lobsters will make soup for six or eight persons, and salad also. All the under shell and small claws are pounded in a mortar to make the soup ; when pounded, put it into a pan and set it on the fire with broth or water. The meat is cut in small pieces, to be added afterward. The soup is left on the fire to boil gently for half an hour ; then put it in a sieve and press it with a masher to extract the juice. To make it thicker, a small piece of parsnip can be added and mashed with the rest into a pan, so that all the essence is extracted in that way from the lobster. When you have strained it put a little 44 THE HO USE WIFE' S L IBRAR Y. butter with it and add as much broth as is required ; put some of the meat in the tureen and pour the soup over it. Clam Soup. — Wash the clams free from grit; boil them in a pint of water till they will come from the shells easily. Take a small quantity of the liquor, add some milk, thicken it with a little flour, and add the clams. Split crackers are very nice added. Portable Soup. — Boil a knuckle of veal, also the feet, a shin of beef, a cowheel or any other bones of meat which will produce a stiff jelly, in a large kettle, with as much water as will cover them. Let it stand a long time over the fire before it boils. Skim it most thoroughly, until the broth appears entirely clear. Then fill up the kettle with hot water, and boil it eight hours, or until it has evaporated so as to be somewhat thick. Run it through a hair sieve, set it in a cool place where it will harden very quickly. Skim off every particle of fat, and return it to a saucepan ; skim and stir continually, so that it may not scorch, and all the previous labor be lost, until it becomes a very thick syrup. As soon as it can be no longer done in this way, transfer it to a deep jar, and set into a kettle of water, hot, but not boiling, until it jellies very thick. This will keep good many months, if packed dry in tin canisters. This is the con- centrated essence of soup, and is a most convenient article of use, either at home in an emergency or in traveling, and especially at sea. To make a pint of soup, cut off a piece as large as a walnut, dissolve it in the boiling water, and it is ready for use. Fluid Beef. — Among the advanced preparations of the day meat extracts are taking a high place. One of the finest of these preparations is " Johnston's Fluid Beef" It contains all the nutritive constituents of the beef, and is readily available for soups, sandwiches, beef tea, etc. For medi- cal uses, traveling, picnics, etc,, it is very convenient. To SOUP STOCK, SOUPS, ETC. 45 use for soups and beef tea, add a teaspoonful to a cup of boiling water and season to taste ; or as a sandwich paste, it may be used on toast, with or without butter. Put up in cans of various sizes, from two ounces to one pound, which can be left open without injury to contents. RECIPES INCIDENTAL TO SOUPS. Meat Balls for Soup. — Take fresh cooked meat or fowl and chop fine ; season with pepper, salt, and herbs, and a little lemon ; mix together with an Qgg ; roll in bread-crumbs, and fry in hot lard. Browned Flour for Soups.-^Dredge the bottom of a spider well with flour, and shake it over hot coals, letting it brown gradually, but not burn. Keep it in a dry place, in a tin canister, without wholly closing the lid. It is very con- venient to have it already prepared, although when used fresh it is much nicer. Home-made Noodles — a substitute for VermicellL — Wet with the yelks of four eggs as much fine, dry, sifted flour as will make them into a firm but very smooth paste. Roll it out as thin as possible, and cut it into bands of about an inch and a quarter in width. Dust them lightly with flour, and place four of them one upon the other. Cut them in the finest possible strips, separate them with the point of a knife, and spread them on the pie-board so that they may dry a little before they are used. Drop them gradually into the boiling soup, and in five minutes they will be done. Drop Dumplings. — Take prepared flour, add a little beef drippings or lard, well rubbed through, and moisten to a soft dough. With floured hands pinch off very small pieces and form into balls by rolling in the palm of the hand. In boil- ing dumplings of any kind, put them in the water one at a time. If they are put in together they will blend with each other. III.— FISH, OYSTERS, Etc. HINTS CONCERNING FISH — TESTS OF FRESHNESS, HOW TO CLEAN, HOW TO DRESS, HOW TO BOIL FISH, HOW TO BAKE FISH, HOW TO BROIL FISH, HOW TO FRY FISH, ETC. FIFTY-THREE RECIPES FOR COOKING FISH, OYSTERS, ETC., AND FOR INCI- DENTAL PREPARATIONS. FISH should be eaten as soon as possible after being taken from the water. In every kind of fish, the brightness of the eyes, redness of the gills, firmness of the flesh, and stiffness of the fins are indications of fresh- ness. Fish should be thoroughly cleaned as soon as prac- ticable. Great care should be taken to remove every atom of blood, to rinse carefully, and not to soak them longer than necessary. Fish are dressed in a variety of ways to suit different tastes — boiled, baked, broiled, and fried. The most ordinary methods are broiling or frying. In boiling, large fish should be wrapped in a cloth previously floured to prevent sticking, tied with a string, and covered with from two to three inches of cold water already salted ; from six to ten minutes per pound will generally be found suf- ficient for boiling. Remove from the fire the moment it is done, and place upon a sieve to drain. In baking fish, cleanse and wipe dry ; fill to taste ; sew to- gether ; place in a dripping-pan ; season with salt and pepper ; add sufficient water to baste with, or if a filling of oysters is used, baste with the liquor off them. The space between the fish and the sides of the pan may be filled with slices of raw potatoes one-quarter of an inch thick, and serve fish and potatoes together. A large fish will bake in an hour. 46 FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 47 For broiling, thoroughly cleanse and dry ; split open so that the backbone will be flat in the middle ; season with salt and pepper, and place on a buttered gridiron over a clear fire with the inside downward until it begins to brown, then turn over. When done, serve on a hot dish and butter lib- erally. Fish may be very nicely fried in hot lard with only a seasoning of salt and pepper, and a little flour dredged over it, or it may be spread with beaten eggs and rolled in cracker or bread crumbs before frying. Challenge sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and similar condiments upon fish will be found to give a most delicate and piquant flavoring. RECIPES. Broiled Shad. — Scrape, split, wash, and dry the shad on a cloth; season with pepper and salt; grease the gridiron well ; as soon as it is hot lay the shad on to broil with the inside downward. One side being well browned, turn it. It should broil a quarter of an hour or more, according to thickness. Butter well and send to table hot. Baked Shad. — 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 beaten yelk of ^gg ; 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. Halibut Cutlets. — Cut your halibut steaks an inch thick, wipe them with a dry cloth, and season with salt and cay- enne pepper. Have ready a pan of yelk of eggs well beaten and a dish of grated bread-crumbs. Put some fresh 48 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. lard or beef drippings in a frying-pan and hold it over the fire till it boils. Dip your cutlets in the ^^'g, and then in the bread-crumbs. Fry a light brown ; serve up hot. Salmon or any large fish may be fried in the same manner. Baked Cod or Halibut. — Use a piece of fish from the middle of the back, weighing four, five, or six pounds. Lay the fish in very cold salt-and-water for two hours ; wipe dry ; make deep gashes in both sides at right angles with the back- bone, and rub into these, as well as coat it all over with, a force-meat made of the crumbs, pork, herbs, onion, and seasoning, made to adhere by raw ^g%. Lay in the baking- pan and pour over it the drawn butter (which should be quite thin), season with the anchovy sauce, lemon juice, pepper, and a pinch of parsley. Bake in a moderate oven nearly an hour — or even more if the piece be large — basting frequently lest it should brown too fast. Add a little butter-and-water when the sauce thickens too much. When the fish is done, remove to a hot dish, and strain the gravy over it. A few capers or chopped green pickles are a pleasant addition to the gravy. Boiled Halibut. — Take a small halibut, or what you require from a large fish. Put it into the fish-kettle, with the back of the fish undermost ; cover it with cold water, in which a handful of salt and a bit of saltpetre the size of a hazel-nut have been dissolved. When it begins to boil skim it care- fully, and then let it just simmer till it is done. Four pounds of fish will require half an hour nearly to boil it. Drain it, garnish with horse-radish or parsley. Egg sauce, or plain melted butter, are served with it. Boiled Rockfisll. — After the fish has been nicely cleaned, put it into a pot v/ith water enough to cover it, and throw in salt in the proportion of half a teaspoonful to a pound of fish. Boil it slowly until the meat is tender and easily sep- FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 49 arates from the bones. A large fish will require an hour to cook. When done, serve on a hot dish, and have a few hard-boiled eggs, cut in thin slices, laid around it and over, it. Eat with egg-sauce. Wliite FisL — This fish may be broiled, fried, or baked. To bake it, prepare a stuffing of fine bread-crumbs, a little salt pork chopped very fine ; season with sage, parsley, pep- per, and salt. Fill the fish with the stuffing, sew it up, sprinkle the outside with salt, pepper, and flour, and bake. In frying white fish, pour off the fat as it accumulates, as it is apt to be too fat when served. Broiled Salmon. — The steaks from the centre of the fish are best. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, spread on a little butter, and broil over a clear but slow fire. Smoked Salmon, Broiled. — Take a half pound of smoked salmon and parboil it ten minutes ; lay in cold water for the same length of time ; wipe dry and broil over a clear fire. Add two tablespoonfuls of butter while hot ; season with cayenne and the juice of half a lemon; pile in a "log- cabin " square upon a hot plate, and serve with dry toast. Boiled Salmon. — A piece weighing six pounds should be rubbed with salt, tied carefully in a cloth, and boiled slowly for three-quarters of an hour. It should be eaten with ^^^ or caper sauce. If any remain after dinner, it may be placed in a deep dish, a little salt sprinkled over, and a teacupful of boiling vinegar poured upon it. Cover it closely, and it will make a nice breakfast dish. Baked Salmon with Cream Sauce. — Butter a sheet of fools- cap paper on both sides, and wrap the fish up in it, pinning the ends securely together. Lay in the baking-pan, and pour six or seven spoonfuls of butter-and-water over it. Turn another pan over all, and steam in a moderate oven 4 50 THE HO USE WIFE' S LIBRAR Y. from three-quarters of an hour to an hour, lifting the cover, from time to time, to baste and assure yourself that the paper is not burning. Meanwhile, have ready in a sauce- pan a cup of cream, in which you would do well to dis- solve a bit of soda a little larger than a pea. This is a wise precaution whenever cream is to be boiled. Heat this in a vessel placed within another of hot water ; thicken with a heaping teaspoonful of corn-starch ; add a tablespoonful of butter, pepper and salt to taste, a liberal pinch of minced parsley, and when the fish is unwrapped and dished, pour half the dressing slowly over it, sending the rest to table in a boat. If you have no cream, use milk, and add a beaten ^gg to the thickening. Salmon Steaks or Cutlets Pried. — Cut slices from the middle of the fish one inch thick ; wipe dry, and salt slightly ; dip in ^%^y then in cracker crumbs ; fry very quickly in hot butter ; drain off every drop of grease, and serve upon a hot dish. Sprinkle green parsley in bunches over it. The French use the best salad-oil in this recipe instead of butter. Pickled Salmon. — Soak salt salmon twenty-four hours, changing the water frequently ; afterward pour boiling water around it, and let it stand fifteen minutes ; drain off and then pour on boiling vinegar with cloves and mace added. Pried Perch. — Scale and clean them perfectly ; dry them well, flour and fry them in boiling lard. Serve plenty of fried parsley round them. Pried Trout. — Wash, drain, and split ; roll in flour, season with salt; have some thin slices of salt pork in a pan, and when very hot put in the fish and fry to a nice brown. Stewed Trout. — Clean and wash the fish with care, and wipe it perfectly dry ; put into a stewpan two tablespoonfuls of butter, dredge in as it melts a little flour, grate half a FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 51 nutmeg, a few blades of mace, a little cayenne, and a tea- spoonful of salt ; mix it all together ; then lay in the fish, let it brown slightly; pour over some veal gravy, a lemon thinly sliced ; stew very slowly for forty minutes ; take out the fish, and add two glasses of wine to the gravy. Lay the fish on a hot dish, and pour over it some of the gravy. Serve the rest in a sauce-tureen. Fried Catfish. — Catfish must be cooked quite fresh — if pos- sible, directly out of the water. The larger ones are gener- ally coarse and strong ; the small-sized fish are the best. Wash and clean them, cut off their heads and tails, remove the upper part of the backbone near the shoulders, and score them along the back with deep gashes or incisions. Dredge them with flour, and fry them in plenty of lard, boiling fast when the catfish are put into the pan. Or you may fry them in the drippings or gravy saved from roast beef or veal. They are very nice dipped in a batter of beaten ^^^ and grated bread-crumbs, or they may be done plain, though not in so nice a way, with Indian meal instead of bread-crumbs. Drain off the lard before you dish them. Touch each incision or cut very slightly with a little cay- enne before they go to table. Pried Eels. — After skinning, emptying, and washing them as clean as possible, cut them into short pieces, and dry them well with a soft cloth. Season them with fine salt and cayenne, flour them thickly, and fry them in boiling lard ; when nicely browned, drain and dry them, and send to the table with plain melted butter and a lemon, or with fish-sauce. Eels are sometimes dipped into batter and then fried, or into ^^g and dried bread-crumbs, and served with plenty of crisped parsley. Pish Chowder. — Take a fresh haddock, of three or four pounds, clean it well, and cut in pieces of three inches 52 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. square. Place in the bottom of your dinner-pot five or six slices of salt pork, fry brown, then add three onions sliced thin, and fry those brown. Remove the kettle from the fire, and place on the onions and pork a layer of fish. Sprinkle over a little pepper and salt, then a layer of pared and sliced potatoes, a layer of fish and potatoes, till the fish is used up. Cover with water, and let it boil for half an hour. Pound six biscuits or crackers fine as meal, and pour into the pot ; and, lastly, add a pint of milk ; let it scald well, and serve. New England Chowder. — Take a good haddock, cod, or any other solid fish, cut it in pieces three inches square ; put a pound of fat, salt pork, cut into strips, into the pot; set it on hot coals and fry out the grease ; take out the pork, but leave the grease in the bottom of the pot, and put in a layer of fish, over that a layer of sliced onions, over that a layer of fish, with slips of the fried pork, then another layer of onions and a few sliced raw potatoes, and so on alternately until your fish is all in ; mix some flour with as much water as will fill the pot ; season to suit your taste, and boil for half an hour ; have ready some pilot bread, soaked in water, and throw them into your chowder five minutes before tak- ing off; serve in a tureen. Fish-balls. — Two cupfuls cold boiled codfish, fresh or salted. Chop the fish when you have freed it of bones and skin ; work in one cupful of mashed potatoes, and moisten with a half cup of drawn butter with an ^^g beaten in. Sea- son to taste. Have them soft enough to mold, yet firm enough to keep in shape. Roll the balls in flour, and fry quickly to a golden-brown in lard or clean dripping. Take from the fat so soon as they are done ; lay in a colander or sieve and shake gently, to free them from every drop of grease. Turn out for moment on white paper to absorb any lingering drops, and serve on a hot dish. FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 53 Stewed Oysters. — Take one quart of oysters ; put the liquor (a teacupful for three persons) in a stewpan, and add half as much more water, salt and pepper to taste, and let it boil. Have your oysters ready in a bowl, and the moment the liquor boils, pour in all your oysters, say ten for each per- son, or six will do. Now, watch carefully, and as soon as it begins to boil take out your watch, count just thirty seconds, and take your oysters from the stove. You will have your big dish ready, with one and a half tablespoonfuls of cream or milk for each person. Pour your stew on this and serve immediately. Never boil an oyster in milk. Maryland Stewed Oysters. — Put the juice into a saucepan and let it simmer, skimming it carefully ; then rub the yelks of three hard-boiled eggs and one large spoonful of flour well together, and stir into the juice. Cut in small pieces quarter of a pound of butter, half a teaspoonful of whole allspice, a little salt, a little cayenne, and the juice of a fresh lemon; let all simmer ten minutes, and just before dishing add the oysters. This is for two quarts of oysters. Panned Oysters. — Have ready several small pans of block tin, with upright sides. Cut stale bread in thin slices, then round them to a size that will just fit in the bottoms of your pans. Toast these quickly to a light brown, butter, and lay within your tins. Wet with a great spoonful of oyster liquid, . then, with a silver fork, arrange upon the toast as many oys- ters as the pans will hold without heaping them up. Dust with pepper and salt, put a bit of butter on top, and set the pans, when all are full, upon the floor of a quick oven. Cover with an inverted baking-pan to keep in steam and flavor, and cook until the oysters " ruffle." Eight minutes in a brisk oven should be enough. Send very hot to the table in tins in which they were roasted. Next to roasting in the shell, this mode of cooking oysters best preserves their native flavor. 54 THE HO USE WIFE'S LIBRAR Y. Roasted Oysters. — Take oysters in the shell; wash the shells clean, and lay them on hot coals ; when they are done they will begin to open. Remove the upper shell, and serve the oysters in the lower shell, with a little melted butter poured over each, and season to taste. Oyster Toast. — Select fifteen plump oysters ; mince them, and season with mixed pepper and a pinch of nutmeg ; beat the yelks of four eggs and mix them with half a pint of cream. Put the whole into a saucepan and set it over the fire to simmer till thick ; stir it well, and do not let it boil, lest it should curdle. Toast five pieces of bread, and butter them ; when your dish is near the boiling-point, remove it from the fire and pour it over the toast. Cream Oysters.— Fifty shell oysters, one quart sweet cream ; butter, pepper, and salt to suit taste. Put the cream and oysters in separate kettles to heat, the oysters in their own liquor, and let them come to a boil; when sufficiently cooked, skim ; then take them out of the liquid and put them into a dish to keep warm. Put the cream and liquid together. Season to taste, and thicken with powdered cracker. When sufficiently thick, stir in the oysters. Broiled Oysters. — Drain select oysters in a colander. Dip them one by one into melted butter, to prevent sticking to the gridiron, and place them on a wire gridiron. Broil over a clear fire. When nicely browned on both sides, season with salt, pepper, and plenty of butter, and lay them on hot buttered toast, moistened with a little hot water. Serve very hot Oysters cooked in this way and served on broiled beefsteak are delicious. Fried Oysters. — Select the largest and finest fresh oysters, put them into a colander and pour over a little water to rinse them ; then place them on a clean towel and dry them. Have ready some grated bread-crumbs, seasoned with FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 55 pepper and salt, and plenty of yelk of ^^^ beaten till very light ; and to each ^^^ allow a large teaspoonful of rich cream or of the best fresh butter. Beat the ^^'g and cream together. Dip each oyster first into the ^gg and cream, and then into the crumbs. Repeat this twice, until the oysters are well coated all over. Have ready boiling, in a frying-pan, an equal mixture of fresh butter and lard. It must very nearly fill the frying-pan, and be boiling fast when the oysters go in, otherwise they will be heavy and greasy. Fry them of a yellow brown on both sides, and serve hot. Oyster Salad, see Salads. Spiced or Pickled Oysters. — Put into a porcelain, kettle one hundred and fifty large oysters with the liquor ; add salt, and simmer till the edges roll or curl ; skim them out ; add to the liquor one pint of white wine vinegar, one dozen blades mace, three dozen cloves, and three dozen pepper- corns ; let it come to a boil, and pour over the oysters. Serve with slices of lemon floating in saucer. Oyster Omelette. — Allow for every six large oysters or twelve small ones one ^gg ; remove the hard part and mince the rest very fine ; take the yelks of eight eggs and whites of four, beat till very light, then mix in the oysters ; season and beat up thoroughly ; put into a skillet a gill of butter, let it melt ; when the butter boils, skim it and turn in the ome- lette ; stir until it stiffens ; fry light brown ; when the under side is brown, turn on to a hot platter. To brown the upper side, hold a red-hot shovel over it. Scalloped Oysters, No. 1. — Open the shells, setting aside for use the deepest ones. Have ready some melted butter, not hot, seasoned with minced parsley and pepper. Roll each oyster in this, letting it drip as little as may be, and lay iil the shells,which should be arranged in a baking-part. Add 56 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. tc each a little lemon juice, sift bread-crumbs over it, and bake in a quick oven until done. Serve in the shells. Scalloped Oysters, No. 2. — Cover the bottom of a baking- dish (well buttered) with a layer of crumbs, and wet these with cream, put on spoonful by spoonful. Pepper and salt, and strew with minute bits of butter. Next, put in the oys- ters, with a little of their liquor. Pepper them, stick bits of butter in among them, and cover with dry crumbs until the oysters are entirely hidden. Add more pieces of butter, very small, and arrange thickly on top. ' Set in the oven, invert a plate over it to keep in the flavor, and bake until the juice bubbles up to the top. Remove the cover, and brown on the upper grating for two or three minutes. Serve in the bake-dish. Oyster Pie. — Line a dish with a puff paste or a rich bis- cuit paste, and dredge well with flour ; drain one quart of oysters ; season with pepper, salt, and butter, and pour into the dish ; add some of the liquor ; dredge with flour, and cover with a top crust, leaving a small opening in the centre. Bake in a quick oven. Oyster Patties. — Put one quart of oysters in a saucepan, with liquor enough to cover them, set it on the stove and let them come to a boil ; skim well, and stir in two table- spoonfuls of butter, a little pepper, and salt. Line some patty-pans with puff-paste, fill with oysters, cover with paste, and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. The upper crust may be omitted, if desired. Oyster Macaroni. — Boil macaroni in a cloth to keep it straight. Put a layer in a dish seasoned with pepper, salt, and butter, then a layer of oysters, until the dish is full. Mix some grated bread with a beaten ^%%, spread over the top, and bake. Oyster Sauce, see Sauces. FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 57 Boiled Lobster. — If purchased alive, lobsters should be chosen by weight (the heaviest are the best) and their live- liness and briskness of motion. When freshly boiled they are stiff, and their tails turn .strongly inward; when the fish appear soft and watery, they are stale. The flesh of the male lobster is generally considered of the finest flavor for eating, but the hen lobster is preferred for sauce and soups, on account of the coral. To properly boil lobsters, throw them living into a kettle of fast-boiling salt and water, that life may be destroyed in an instant. Let them boil for about half an hour. When done, take them out of the kettle, wipe them clean, and rub the shell with a little salad-oil, which will give a clear red appearance. Crack the large claws without mashing them, and with a sharp knife split the body and tail from end to end. The head, which is never eaten, should also be sepa- rated from the body, but laid so near it that the division is almost imperceptible. Dress in any way preferred. Deviled Lobster. — Procure a live, heavy lobster ; put it in a pot of boiling water, with a handful of salt to it. When done and cold, take out all the meat carefully, putting the fat and coral on separate plates; cut the meat in small pieces, rub the coral to a paste ; stir the fat in it, with a little salt, cayenne, chopped parsley, essence of anchovies, and salad-oil, or melted butter and lemon juice ; cut the back of the lobster-shell in two, lengthwise ; wash clean ; stir the lobster and sauce well together; fill the shells; sprinkle bread-crumbs and a few bits of butter over the top; set in the oven until the crumbs are brown. Stewed Lobster. — A middling-sized lobster is best; pick all the meat from the shells and mince it fine; season with u little salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg ; add three or four spoonfuls of rich gravy and a small bit of butter. If you 58 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. have no gravy, use more butter and two spoonfuls of vinegar ; stew about twenty minutes. Lobster Salad, see Salads. Lobster Croquettes, see Croquettes. Lobster Sauce, see Sauces. Lobster Patties. — Proceed as in oyster patties, but use the meat of a cold boiled lobster. Terrapins. — Put the terrapins into a pot of boiling water, where they must remain until they are quite dead. You then divest them of their outer skin and toe-nails ; and, after washing them in warm water, boil thern again until they become quite tender, adding a handful of salt to the water. Having satisfied yourself of their being perfectly tender, take off the shells and clean the terrapins very care- fully, removing the sandbag and gall without by any means breaking them. Then cut the meat into small pieces and put into a saucepan, adding the juice which has been given out in cutting them up, but no water, and season with salt, cay- enne, and black pepper to your taste, adding a quarter of a pound of good butter for each terrapin and a handful of flour for thickening. After stirring a short time, add four or five tablespoonfuls of cream, and a half pint of good Maderia to every four terrapins, and serve hot in a deep dish. A very little mace may be added and a large table- spoonful of mustard; just before serving, add the yelks of four hard-boiled eggs. During the stewing, particular attention must be paid to stirring the preparation frequently ; and terrapins cannot possibly be served too hot. Mock Terrapin.— Take half a calf's liver, season and fry it brown ; chop it into dice, not too small ; flour it thickly, and add a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, a little cayenne pepper, two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, a lump of but- FISH, OYSTERS, ETC. 59 ter the size of an ^gg, and a teacupful of water. Let it boil a minute or two. Cold veal will do as well as liver. Scalloped Crabs. — Put the crabs into a kettle of boiling water, and throw in a handful of salt. Boil from twenty- minutes to half an hour. Take them from the water when done and pick out all the meat ; be careful not to break the shell. To a pint of meat put a little salt and pepper ; taste, and if not enough add more, a little at a time, till suited. Grate in a very little nutmeg, and add one spoonful of cracker or bread crumbs, two eggs well beaten, and two tablespoonfuls of butter (even full) ; stir all well together ; wash the shells clean, and fill each shell full of the mixture ; sprinkle crumbs over the top and moisten with butter, then bake until nicely browned on top. Soffc-sheU Crabs. — Season with pepper and salt; roll in flour, then in ^%'g, then in bread-crumbs, and fry in hot lard. Serve hot with rich condiments. Stewed Clams. — Chop the clams and season with pepper and salt; put in a saucepan butter the size of an ^^g, and when melted add a teaspoonful of flour; add slowly the clam liquor and then the clams, and cook three minutes ; then add half a pint of cream, and serve. Deviled Clams. — Chop fifty clams very fine ; take two tomatoes, one onion chopped equally fine, a little parsley, thyme, and sweet marjoram, a little salt, pepper, and bread- crumbs, adding the juice of the clams until the mixture is of the consistency of sausage ; put it in the shells with a lump of butter on each ; cover with bread-crumbs, and bake one-half hour. . Clam Chowder, — Forty-five clams chopped, one quart of sliced potatoes, one-half pint sliced onions. Cut a few slices salt pork, fry to a crisp, chop fine. Put in kettle a little fat 60 THE HO USE WIFE' S LIBRAR Y. from the pork, a layer of potatoes, clams, onions, a little pep- per and salt ; another layer of chopped pork, potatoes, etc, until all are in. Pour over all the juice of the clams. Cook three hours, being careful not to burn. Add a teacupful of milk just before serving. Scallops. — Wipe dry; dip separately into seasoned ^%%, then into cracker dust, and fry in hot lard. RECIPES INCIDENTAL TO FISH. Bread Stuffing for Fish. — Take about half a pound of stale bread and soak in water, and when soft press out the water; add a very little chopped suet, pepper, salt, a large table- spoonful of onion minced and fried, and, if preferred, a little minced parsley ; cook a trifle, and after removing from the fire add a beaten ^%%. Bread Stuffing, No. 2. — Bread-crumbs with a little chopped parsley and pork, salt, pepper, and butter. Fill up the fish, sew it closely, then bake. Cleaning a Shad. — Scale and scrape it carefully; split it down the back and remove the contents, reserving the roe or melt. Wash well and cook as desired. Soaking Salt Fish. — Very salt fish should be soaked several hours in three or four changes of warm water. Place the skin side up, so that salt crystals may fall away from the under or meat side. Wipe carefully and clean, then soak for an hour in very cold water. Fish in Season. — As a rule, fish are in best condition just before they spawn, and many are so while they are full of roe, as smelts, mackerel, and shad. As soon as spawning is over, they become unfit for food, some of them becoming positively unwholesome. In season, the flesh is firm and it boils white ; when it boils to a bluish hue, the fish are not in season, or are stale. IV.— POULTRY AND GAME. GENERAL REMARKS ON POULTRY AND GAME — HOW TO SELECT, PREPARATION FOR BOILING, FOR ROASTING, ETC. THIRTY-ONE RECIPES FOR POULTRY AND GAME. POULTRY should invariably be selected young, plump, and well fed, but not too fat. If old and tough, fowls are never as savory when cooked as if they be young and tender. This applies especially to ducks and geese. The flesh of young fowls will be firm and fleshy to the touch, and heavy in proportion to their size ; the skin should be clear, white, and finely grained, the toes pliable and easily broken when bent back, the end of the breast-bone also pliable. All kinds of poultry, turkeys especially, are im- proved by hanging a day. or two, unless the weather should be exceedingly sultry. Dark-legged fowls are best for roasting, while the white-legged ones should be chosen for boiling. In preparing fowls for boiling, some persons soak fowls an hour or two in skimmed-milk and then sew them in a floured cloth. This tends to preserve them of a nice color, but it may be dispensed with by carefully skimming them while over the fire. In dressing poultry, care should be taken not to break the gall ; a thorough cleansing in every part also is necessary. The hairs should be singed off with a well-lighted piece of paper> holding the fowl before a hot fire. All the pin- feathers should be carefully and entirely removed, as also the oil-bag at the end of the back. The legs should be cut off at the first joint next to the feet. The inside should be 61 (52 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. washed and rinsed several times in cold water, after every- thing has been removed. Remove extra fat, as it tends to make the gravy greasy. The heart should be slit open and cleansed, also the gizzard, and both should be put by themselves to soak in water. Roasted or broiled poultry of all kinds should be thor- oughly cooked and handsomely browned. It is not easy to state exactly the time required for the different sorts to be well done. Experience and practice are the only sure guides. RECIPES. Roast Turkey. — A young turkey, weighing not more than eight or nine pounds, is the best. Wash and clean thor- oughly, wiping dry, as moisture will spoil the stuffing. Take one small loaf of bread grated fine, rub into it a piece of butter the size of an ^^g, one small teaspoonful of pep- per and one of salt; a sprinkling of sweet marjoram, sum- mer savory, or sage, if liked. Rub all together, and fill the turkey, sewing up so that the stuffing cannot cook out. Always put the giblets under the side of the fowl, so they will not dry up. Rub salt, pepper, and butter on the out- side ; put into dripping-pan with one teacupful of water, basting often, turning the fowl till brown all over ; bake about two hours ; take out the giblets and chop fine. After taking out the turkey, put a large tablespoonful of flour into the pan and stir until brown. Put the giblets into a gravy- boat, and pour over them the gravy. Boiled Turkey. — Stuff the turkey as for roasting. A very nice dressing is made by chopping half a pint of oysters and mixing them with bread-crumbs, butter, pepper* salt, thyme, and wet with milk or water. Baste about the turkey a thin cloth, the inside of which has been dredged with flour, and put it to boil in cold water with a teaspoonful of salt POULTRY AND GAME, 63; in it. Let a large turkey simmer for three hours ; skim while boiling. Serve with oyster sauce, made by adding to a cupful of the liquor in which the turkey was boiled the same quantity of milk and eight oysters chopped fine ; sea- son with minced parsley ; stir in a spoonful of rice or wheat flour wet with cold milk ; a tablespoonful of butter. Boil up once and pour into a tureen. Boned Turkey. — Boil a large tu-rkey in as little water as possible until the meat falls from the bones ; remove all the bones and skin ; pick the meat into small pieces, and mix dark and light together ; season with pepper and salt ; put into a mold and pour over it the liquor, which must be kept warm, and press with a heavy weight. Roast CMcken. — Having selected your chickens in view of the foregoing hints, proceed, in the matters of cleansing, filling, and preparing for the oven, precisely as directed in the case of roast turkey. As the roasting goes on, baste and turn as may be needful to secure a rich brown all over the fowls. Prepare the gravy as in the former case. Stewed CMcken. — Clean and cut the chicken into joints ; put it in a saucepan with the giblets; stew in just enough water to cover it until tender ; season with pepper, salt, and butter ; thicken with flour ; boil up once and serve with the gravy poured over it. Broiled Chicken. — Only young, tender chickens are nice broiled. After cleaning and washing them, split down the back, wipe dry, season with salt and pepper, and lay therh inside down on a hot gridiron over a bed of bright coals. Broil until nicely browned and well cooked through, watch- ing and turning to prevent burning. If chickens are large, steaming them for one-half hour before placing on the grid- iron will better insure their being cooked through. g-4 THE HO USE WIFE' S LIBRAR K Fricasseed CMckens. — Cut them in pieces, and put in the stewpan with salt and pepper ; add a little water, and let them boil half an hour ; then thicken the gravy with flour ; add butter and a little cream, if you have it. Catsup is an additional relish to the gravy. Smotliered CMcken. — Dress your chickens ; wash and let them stand in water half an hour to make them white ; cut them open at the back ; put into a baking-pan, sprinkle salt and pepper over them, putting a lump of butter here and there ; cover tightly with another pan the same size, and bake one hour ; baste often with butter. Fried Chicken. — Prepare the chicken as for stewing ; dry it, season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and fry brown in hot butter or lard ; take it out, drain, and serve with Challenge Sauce, or some other savory condiment, or pour into the gravy left in the frying-pan a cup of milk, thicken with flour, add a little butter, and season with Sal- picant; boil once and pour over the chicken, or serve sepa- rately. CMckens Fried with Rice. — Take two or three chickens, cut them up, and half fry them ; then boil half a pint of rice in a quart of water, leaving the grains distinct, but not too dry ; stir one large tablespoonful of butter in the rice while hot ; let five eggs be well beaten into the rice, with a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg, if the last is liked ; put the chick- ens into a deep dish, and cover with the rice ; brown in an oven not too hot. Chicken Pie. — Line the sides of a deep pie-dish with a good puff paste. Have your chicken cooked, as for a fricassee, seasoned with salt and pepper and a litde chopped parsley. When they are nearly cooked, lay them in a pie- dish with half a pound of salt pork cut into small squares, and some of the paste also cut into half-inch pieces ; pour POULTRY AND GAME. ' Q^ in a part of the chicken gravy, thicken with a httle flour, and cover the dish with the paste cover. Cut a hole the size of a dollar in the cover, and cover it with a piece of dough. When baking, remove this piece occasionally and examine the interior. Brush egg over the top crust of the pie, and bake in a quick oven. Should the pie become dry pour in more of the gravy. Pigeon pie or any other bird pie may be made by the above recipe. Chicken Pot-pie. — Cut and joint a large chicken. Cover with water, and let it boil gently until tender. Season with salt and pepper, and thicken the gravy with two tablespoon- fuls of flour mixed smooth in a piece of butter the size of an egg. Have ready nice, light bread dough ; cut with a biscuit-cutter about an inch thick ; drop this into the boiling . gravy, having previously removed the chicken to a hot platter; cover, and let them boil from one-half to three- quarters of an hour. To ascertain whether they are done, stick them with a fork ; if it comes out clean, they are done. Lay them on the platter with the chicken, pour over the gravy, and serve. . Pressed CMcken. — Boil three chickens until the meat comes off the bones ; then, removing all bones, etc., chop, not very fine ; add a piece of butter as large as an egg, salt and pepper to season well. Have about a pint of the broth, into whi(?h put' one-half box gelatine until dissolved ; then put back the chopped chicken and cook until the broth is evenly ab- sorbed. Press under a weight in a pan until cold. Veal may be treated in a similar manner with very excellent results. Jellied Chicken. — Boil a chicken in as little water as pos- sible, until the meat falls from the bones ; chop rather fine, and season with pepper and salt ; put in a mold a layer of 5 . 66 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. the chopped meat, and then a layer of hard-boiled eggs cut in slices ; then layers of meat and Q.^ There should be a regular time (daily when the stove is in constant use) for filling the reservoir and wiping the stove clean in every part. The perforated circular plate which sets over the wick tubes must be kept clean. When the stove is not in use, the wick should be turned down a little below the top of the wick tubes, so that the oil will not flow out- side of the base. The wick tubes should be thoroughly cleaned from crusts and deposits, and rubbed bright as often as once a week ; a piece of sand-paper is convenient to use for this purpose. This is important to insure a per- fect flame and prevent undue heating of the tubes. Before setting the stove aside for a length of time, empty the oil, and before filling it again rinse out well and put in new wicks. A clean stove, new wicks, and fresh oil of the right grade, will insure satisfactory results.. In extinguishing the burners, simply turn the wick down a little below the top of the wick tube and leave the flame to go out of itself In this way all gases are consumed and smell of oil avoided. With care in- observing such plain hints, the oil stove may become a very helpful and convenient accessory in the affairs of every house. Housekeepers should certainly give them attention when the question of home comfort arises. 278 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. KITCHEN UTENSILS. POTS, kettles, pans, and such common-place articles have been familiar to every housewife, time immemorial. But even these have not escaped the transforming touch of improvement. Take, as an example, the common soup-pot. Its old style of lid would lie loosely when the heat was doing its work, allowing the rich odors to escape and the steam to waste. Now the lid is clamped tight on the pot, a valve allowing steam to escape when it must, and so re- taining in the pot all the heat and flavor which can possibly be held there. The fact is, that business rivalry has stimu- lated inventors, manufacturers, and dealers to seek for per- fect articles. The result is that housekeepers may be splen- didly supplied. When a complete kitchen equipment is urged, penny-wise and pound-foolish housewive? cry out against the cost. Better, however, spare some expensive adornment else- where, and fit up the kitchen as becomes the cooking department of an intelligent home. Innumerable things are needed in the kitchen, and they should be good. Good tinware, good ironware, good woodenware, good stock and tools of all kinds are by far the cheapest in the long run. Get fewer articles at first, but get them good. Get, as opportunity offers, knives, forks, spoons, nut picks, steel, cheese scoop, cleaver, salad fork and spoon, coffee mill, ice chisel, nutmeg grater, coal sifter, strawberry huller, potato slicer, cabbage cutter, colander, broiling irons, etc., etc., over the broad range into which we simply peep in this chapter. Among things rarely used in kitchens, but very valuable, are cutting boards, made of hard wood and in various sizes, on which to cut bread, slice meat, chip dried beef, etc.; deep pans for frying in the French style, which submerges the articles in boiling fat ; a scale and weights, to test goods MODERN FACILITIES FOR COOKING. 279 purchased and to make accurate use of materials in cook- ing; a set of measures, for the same purpose; plain egg boilers, or patent ones which whistle, ring a bell, etc., when the egg is done; sandglasses of various sizes for noting time in the boiling of eggs, etc. ; an egg beater, of which the " Dover " is generally regarded as best ; coffee-pots in some of the scientific forms ; and so onward in another broad sweep. House-furnishing goods may be catalogued thus: Brass and copper ware ; cutlery and hardware ; agate and granite wares ; britannia ware ; planished or block tinware ; stamped tinware; japanned ware ; wood and willow ware; carved and fancy v/oodenware ; brushes, brooms, etc. ; wire goods ; papier-mache goods ; iron goods, and miscellaneous goods. Such is the classification of the great catalogue of F. A. Walker & Co., of Boston, which gives over a thousand illustrations of household utensils in forms and fashions the most diverse, and yet, as a rule, strikingly beautiful. In- deed, one who has not consulted the catalogues of extensive dealers can have no idea of the variety of goods offered. While commending the broad range of appliances which open before the housekeeper, it may be well, however, to quote a paragraph from Ella Rodman Church's bright book. How to Furnish a Home. She says: "Some kitchens are fitted up so luxuriously, with a perfect army of porce- lain-lined saucepans, folding gridirons, oyster-broilers, flesh- forks, larding- needles, perforated and grooved spoons, pie- crimpers, steamers, marble paste boards and rollers, egg- beaters, and all the thousand-and-one labor-saving contriv- ances, that their equipment is quite as expensive as that of other portions of the house. Much of this is unnecessary, especially to the young housekeeper ; and, where there is not a very full purse, it is better to provide only must-\v2.w&^ in the beginning, and leave would-\i2N^?> to be gathered by degrees." 280 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. Broilers. — There is great variety in the utensils emploved for broiling meats, fish, etc. The two cuts here given sh'ow the large, strong wire broiler suitable for the heaviest pieces, and the fine-wired, small sized broiler adapted for oysters and the most delicate of birds. The double construction of these broilers enables them to be turned over with ease, for the purpose of doing both sides to a nicety. At least two sizes of broilers are needed in every well-stocked kitchen, though more would be of use to meet the many and varied demands of the average American home. Small Cake Pans. — Pans for biscuits, cookeys, gems, pat- ties, muffins, etc., can be had in all styles, simple and orna- mental. We show the (i) Turk's Head Muffin Pan ; (2) the plain Bis- cuit Pan ; and (3) the plain Muffin Pan. But this showing by no means exhausts the variety. Al- most every form of the housewife's fancy can be met at the house-furnish- ing stores, so far as these incidentals to nice cook- ery are concerned. Every kitchen needs a few such Get them and take care (3) aids to neat and expeditious work of them. KITCHEN UTENSILS. 281 Molds for Puddings, etc. — A plain pudding mold and fluted rice mold are shown in these cuts. They have the hot-water column at the centre to insure a complete cooking. Each has a tight-fitting lid, with loops for ty- ing the lid in position, and thus they form a complete utensil for the cooking of puddings, rice, etc. Asparagus Boiler. — Every cook knows the difficulty of removing boiled asparagus from the pot. Here is a utensil of proper size and shape, having a movable deck or shelf, on which the vegetable lies in cooking, and on which it is removed straight and whole when done. Similar boilers are arranged for fish. Strainers. — Aside from ordinary colanders for straining purposes, there are others adapted specially for soups, jellies, etc., one of which is here shown. The hook opposite the handle holds the cloth in case one is used in the process. Batter Pails.— In making batter cakes it is better to avoid dipping the batter, as this process cuts the air vesicles in it and promotes heaviness. To pour it neatly and expeditiously is better, and for this the batter pail, is adapted. The batter should be mixed in the pail and poured directly from it, so avoiding all unnecessary agitation and consequent injury. 282 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. Apple Parer. — So great is the consumption of apples in cookery that an apple parer is a domestic necessity. The one shown in the cut is known as the Bay State Apple Paring and Slic- ing Machine. It i-s quite justly regarded as the very best ever made_ The little machine is clamped by the thumb- screw to a table. It pares and slices the fruit, and deposits the slices in a dish. Its operation is quick, effective, certain, and simple. Can Opener. — One of the standing annoyances of house- keepers is the opening of cans containing fruits, vegetables, etc. It is certain that the ordinary tools employed for this purpose are very defective. They are hard to operate, dangerous to handle, and rough in results. The accompanying cut shows the Clipper Can Opener in position for service. It is screwed on to any convenient place. The table on which the can stands is ad- justed by a ratchet movement to any height of can. The knife is curved to meet the circle of the can. It can easily be thrust through the tin, when, by a rotary motion, it will cut the top out as cleanly as if cut by straight shears. This cut- ter is a specialty of the Cowles Hardware Co., of Unionville, Conn. jA jAg-^-^i duuia Im^Sj^ pi w li '' "fill ' 111 ii--.ii|p('.';;'.i i:; KITCHEN UTENSILS. 283 Molds.— For jellies and cakes these are supplied in abundant variety Fine cakes and jellies may be furnished in plain forms, but in the ornamental forms they are far prettier, and can be just as well cooked or cooled. Cake Pans. — A plain cake mold with hot-air tube in centre is here shown. Also the spring-bottom pan, which is taken off the cake, and not the cake out of it, thus avoiding " stick- ing," difficulty in "turning out," etc. Forks. — An assortment of large, strong forks is very desirable in a kitchen. They not only handle meats with ease and safety, but they save the hands from exposure to scalding steam, from which one cannot escape if ordinary forks are employed. Milk Boilers. — How hard it is to boil milk, or any of the milk preparations, without scorching, is well known by bitter experience in every household. By using a boiler like these shown here, with water in the lower vessel, all the danger is obviated. 284 rilE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY, Cherry Stoner. — In preserving cherries or making cherry pies, one of the most troublesome things is to get rid of the stones. The Family Cherry Stoner, here shown, does the work very well, preserving the plumpness of the cherry and saving all its juices, but effectu- ally removing its stone. There are other stoners in the market, but this in preserving the form of the cherry s'irpasses them all. It is as nearly perfect as any machine can be. It seems endowed with intelligfence. Apple Corer and Slicer. — The contrivance here shown is the Climax Corer and Slicer, a fit companion for the ordi- nary apple parer. The pared apples are set upon this instrument, which also is clamped to a table, when by a slight movement they are cored and sliced, the slices falling into a pan and the core being held in position until removed by hand. How wonderful an advance this is over the old method of gouging out cores by means of ordinary knives need not be told. Nor need housewives be reminded of its superiority to the old style of apple-corer, which we show for the sake of contrast. KITCHEN UTENSILS. 285 Paring Knife. — A good help in paring vegetables or fruits is shown in the cut here given. It consists simply of a guide attached to the blade of a knife, as hefe illustrated, by means of which a uniform thick- ness of paring is secured. The same attachment will secure uniformity in slicing. Fish Turner. — ^^How difficult it is to turn a fish without breaking it every cook knows. But trouble may be obviated by the use of such a tool as is here pictured. For many other uses, as a scraper of pie-boards, etc., it will be found very useful. Its blade is thin and full of spring, but not sharp at the edges. Those who have used this article prize it highly. It does good work and does it with great ease. Lemon Squeezer. — Everybody knows of this valuable kitchen utensil, but of the porcelain bowl and compress shown here all may not know. This arrange- ment is far superior to the ordi- nary wooden squeezer. The hinge is tinned to avoid rust, and is strong enough to safely bear all the pressure that may be needed to entirely extract the juices of the lemon. Such an article is far more economical than the old method of squeezing. il!illli!lll!lil# 286 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. Bread Mixer and Kneader. — The Dutcher Temple Company, of Hopedale, Mass., has patented the Mixer and Kneader shown in the next cut, and f /^^^^^^^^ ^ known by the name of its inventor, Stanyan. It is claimed that this ma- chine saves time and labor; that it is easily operated, and that, too, by unskilled help ; that it saves touching the dough with the hands before baking, thereby insuring clean bread ; that it avoids the use of the molding- board and consequent addition of dry flour after raising ; and that it is equally well adapted to mixing fruit-cake, mince-meat, etc. These are high claims, certainly, but Miss Parloa, the accomplished instructress in cookery, speaks concerning it in the following laudatory terms : '' I find in it an article the want of which I have always felt. It cuts and beats up the dough at the same time, a process which gives you a fine, light bread." She also says, " No kitchen should be without it," and she certainly ought to know. Covers. — Who wants cold food when warm can be had ? Covers of all sizes and styles can be had whereby much of this evil is avoided. They are made from seven inches to twenty-four in length, at prices from fifty cents upward. The upper style will cover a beefsteak, a plate of chops, a fish, or any such articles which do not stand high upon the plate. The other style may be used for roasts. When ready to carve, they may be removed by the attendant, and the meats will be found steaming hot and very savory. KITCHEN UTENSILS. 287 Nut Crack. — Why should people hammer their fingers cracking nuts when such a tool as that here shown can be had for a few dimes ? Half the delight of eating nuts is de- stroyed by the old style of cracking. By the new style the delight is doubled. Broom Holder.-^This is a neat and simple contrivance, cost- ing but a few cents, and yet capable of holding any broom as shown in the cut. It is screwed to any wood-work. The broom is suspended by simply slipping it in from the underside and withdrawing the hand. The pinch of the leverage holds it firmly. To remove the broom the end of the holder needs simply to be lifted. It does away with all necessity of boring the broom handles and inserting strings, also with the upending of brooms behind doors and in corners. For each broom in use in the home a holder should be procured. Then, having a place for each, see that each is kept in its place. Order, even in so small a matter, is Important. 288 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. Small Tins. — Tin muffin rings, biscuit cut- :B=-.-^^^^ ters, doug-hnut cutters, tart cutters, etc., can be had in endless variety and at very low ilii^j rates. Every kitchen should be well stocked '^ with them. Com Grate:. — The device here illustrated is known as Wood's Green-Corn Grater. It consists of a curved metal standard, provided with a thumb-screw, and termina- ting at the upper end in two parallel blades, one serrated, the other plain, as shown in upper part of the engraving. To operate this grater, clamp it firmly to a table or shelf, place the ear of corn across the parallel blades, at right angles, then push the ear or draw across the blades, the toothed blade first tearing open the kernels, and the plain KITCHEN UTENSILS. 289 one pressing out the pulp perfectly, leaving the hulls on the cob. The bowl underneath catches the pulp, ready to pre- pare for the table. Made by the Cowles Hardware Co. Vegetable Slicer. — To neatly slice vegetables is quite an art. So inaccurate is the movement of an ordinary knife, and so tedious withal, that all sorts of inven- tions have been made to facilitate the pro- cess. All the pre- vious contrivances are surpassed, however, in the patented slicer shown in the cut. On this the Cowles Hardware Company have secured the exclusive right to use for a vegetable slicer a knife cutting with both edges, which produces a slice at every movement of the hand, enabling the cutter to perform double labor in a given time. Its simplicity of construction enables it to be sold at a very reasonable price. Clothes Sprinkler. — To sprinkle clothes evenly is desirable, when in preparation for the ironing process. The apparatus shown in the cut is simply a tin tube perforated with very fine holes and set upon a handle, which also acts as a stopper. Water may be placed in the tube, out of which it will not drip, but it may be shaken in a fine spray as needed. 19 290 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. Chafing Dishes. — These valuable aids to warm food can be had in sizes from ten inches to twenty-four and complete at prices from about tv/o dollars upward. The cuts show the chafing dish stand inclosing the lamps, the water-pan to secure evenness of heat, and the plate for containing the delicacy to be served. Covers, such as have been shown already, are suitable for chafing dishes. Tea urns, coffee-pots, soup tureens, etc., are con- structed on the same general methods. We give a sample of the soup tureen with lamp-stand attachment. The form needed for coffee-pots and tea-pots is familiar to all. An alcohol lamp makes the best heating attachment, as its flame is intense and free from smoke. Some of these heating arrangements will be prized in every home. Potato Parer. — A potato parer differs from an apple parer mainly in its capacity for a greater longitudinal and a freer vertical movement, to fit the different lengths and the many inequali- ties of the potatoes. The little machine here shown does all that is needed for potatoes, and does it rapidly, neatly, and economically. It is valuable for a larg e fam ily. XXII.— INCIDENTAL HELPS. NOTHING can go happily and healthfully in the home without pure water. No residence is complete without it. In promoting health and comfort it is unequaled. More disease and suffering are caused by the use of impure water than arise from any other one source. If the spores brought in the atmosphere from ponds and marshes poi- son us, how much more surely wi41 we be poisoned by drinking the water which produces them ? Few persons would dip a glass of water from a common pond and drink it because in that large body of water the impurities are visible to the eye, giving the water a clouded, muddy ap- pearance ; yet the same impurities are in the water when drawn in one's residence, but in the small quantity of water the eye does not detect them. A good filter removes all the clay, animal and vegetable matter, giving you clear, sparkling water. Filters. — Where the water does not flow, but is carried to the house, a device such as the Jewett Filters is needed, though there is the difficulty of cleaning , these, which is a serious drawback to their value. These filters combine with water-coolers also, so doubling their advantages. A cheap domestic filter may be made by taking a com- mon flower-pot, of large size, inserting a sponge in the hole at the bottom, and then filling the pot with alternate layers of sand, charcoal, and small pebbles. The pot, thus filled, may stand so as to drain into ajar or other convenient ves- sel. Practically this will answer all the purposes of a more elaborate and costly affair. Where running water is led to a house, filters may be 291 292 THE HO USE WIFE S L IBRAR Y. put on each faucet, and may so cleanse, in a measure, what flows through that outlet. But the body of filtering sub- stance contained in such an apparatus is small and the work is correspondingly defective. The most complete filtering apparatus is the Loomis Automatic Filter. This apparatus is connected with the water-supply pipe of the house and filters all the water used there. It varies in size according to the ca- pacity of the supply pipe. It will last as long as the iron pipes, there be- ing absolutely nothing about it to get out of order, or wear out in a lifetime. The filter is cleansed daily, by sim- ply shifting the lever seen in the cut. Any filter that cannot be cleansed daily poisons instead of purifying wa- ter after it has been used two days. As the matter arrested by a filter pu- trifies in two days, if it remain in the filter, the result is obvious. In the cut of this filter, I shows the inlet of the water from the regular supply pipe. The lever being as shown, the water passes into and through the two filtering chambers of the apparatus. Pass- ing out at the bottom, the water is served to the entire house by the outlet O. To cleanse the filtering substances, reverse the lever. This throws the water supply into the bottom and out into the waste-water pipe, by the outlet W. Five minutes per day of this flow will keep the filter sweet and pure indefinitely. Refrigerators. — Unless one has a very cold cellar, or a model spring house, a refrigerator is a necessity, that food may be kept safely in warm weather. There are refrig- erators with chemical action, which secure a temperature AUTOMATIC FILTER. INCIDENTAL HELPS. 293 so low that meats, fish, etc., remain frozen for indefinite pe- riods. But for every-day home uses these are not avail- able, being far too complex and expensive. The ice-using refrigerator is the suitable one for do- THE DOUBLE-DOOR " EMPRESS." mestic uses. The patterns are many, and for each supe- riority is claimed. There are a few points to be observed m any such article ; for instance, the cleanliness of the lining. Wood, slate, and zinc have been employed usually, but 294 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. the preponderating sentiment accords superiority to the zinc, as capable of more thorough cleansing, and as least likely to hold grease, odor, or other unpleasantness. The walls of the refrige- rator should be packed with charcoal, or contain an in- closed air-chamber, as non- conductors of heat. In the body of the refrigerator, pro- vision must be made to per- mit free movement of the cold air from the ice, and yet the drippings from the ice- box must not reach the other parts. A convenient attach- ment to many refrigerators retains the melting from the ice, that it may be drawn for drinking purposes. It is ob- jected that this method con- sumes more ice, but it cer- tainly does more work, and avoids all trouble with the ordinary drainage from the ice-box. A purchaser should consider the several points presented here before decid- ing what choice to make. Ornamental forms are given to refrigerators when desired, so that they are suitable for even elegantly furnished dining-rooms, as is shown in the " Empress " on the pre- ceding page. This article combines all the modern con- veniences with the best external finish. The " Snow-flake " is another ornamental form, intended for use in the nursery. THE " SNOW-FLAKE. INCIDENTAL HELPS. 295 It famishes cold water, while it preserves milk, fruit, etc., with ease. These are but samples of many other forms of cooling apparatus. Ice-cream Freezers. — A good ice-cream freezer is a valu- able accessory in any household. There are many such freezers, and Philadelphia has long enjoyed the distinction of being the centre of their manufacture. Packer's Standard Freezer, shown in the cuts below, is a good illus- tration of the completeness of these articles. They are "STANDARD ICE-CREAM FREEZER." made in size from two quarts to forty quarts. The first cut shows the apparatus ready for use. The second shows it in sections, displaying the internal construction. The dasher or beater has a self-adjusting scraper, fitting closely to the inner surface of the can, which removes the frozen cream as rapidly as formed, while the deflectors direct the unfrozen portions to the sides of the can. By these appliances, the whole body of cream is constantly changing position and is most thoroughly beaten, insuring rapid and uniform freezing, and producing the most perfect smooth- 296 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. ness and richness with the largest amount of frozen cream that it is possible to make from the amount of pure cream used. The crank arrangement for turning this freezer and its internal machinery is a great labor-saver. It also does much more rapid work than can be done by hand-power alone. From fifteen to thirty minutes is the time usually required to freeze a can of cream, according to its size. No tools, however, can compensate for the absence of good ingredients. The best freezer cannot improve the quality of poor cream or of skimmed milk. SECOND DEPARTMENT. Household Management. At night returning, every labor sped, He sits him down the monarch of a shed ; Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze ; While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoard, Displays her cleanly platter on the board. Oliver Goldsmith. Household Management. NEXT to good domestic cooking stands good household management. It would be hard to say which Is en- titled to precedence. There are houses which are kept to a nicety, in which the cooking is execrable. There are others where good* cooking is the one thing that makes them endurable. But all good things should be happily combined If a really model home is sought. " I am no cook," said a newly established housekeeper, " but I am a good manager." If her capacity to manage extended to managing her cook, and her cook happened to be a good one, then things might move smoothly ; but for the best results the year through, housekeepers should be queens in every part of the home. Somebody manages the domestic affairs of almost every house. Occasionally it is the man of the house. Sometimes it is his mother, or his wife's mother. Oftener It Is the cook. There are homes where the rightful heads are not heads, but are more like tails. Another makes the decisions, and they wag assent, or submissively curl themselves up with ill- concealed disgust. There are some houses where there Is no management whatever. Affairs go as a log goes down stream. Now one end leads ; again the other. Now It goes 301 302 ^-^^^ HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. broadside; again it does not go at all. Alas for those who dwell in such a house, and call it home! There are private as well as public resting places, where those who travel much occasionally stop, where wonderful contrasts are visible. One of these was a luxurious home in a Southern city. There was no stint because of straitened circumstances nor on the score of parsimony. The gentle- man and lady were wealthy, generous, and refined. Their cook had served long in a restaurant, and was fully compe- tent to do any culinary work. The meals were superb. They were cooked to a nicety and served to perfection. There was plenty, and that, too, of the best sort. But, oh ! the condition of the house ! The best guest- chamber was laden with odors so offensive that a chance lodger there began an exploration. Stowed in the bottorq of the clothes press of the room was accummulated rubbish, musty, moldy, mouse-infested, and disgusting. Having no means to correct the evil, the guest left this closet door wide open in the morning, hoping thereby to attract attention to its condition and secure its cleansing. But when he re- entered the room he found, to his dismay, that the door had been carefully closed upon its unsightliness and unwhole someness, the skeleton-maker, if not the " skeleton in the closet," being scrupulously retained. Such gross mismanagement is to be severely condemned. No excuse for it suffices. Common sense and common decency demand better management in every home. But the *^ happy-go-easy " inmates of that home saw nothing amiss. Of course, management may run to the other extreme. A house may be so orderly that a man instinct- ively gathers himself together when in it, lest he be caught in some of its machinery and be ground to powder ; or, what is equally to be dreaded, be the means of disarranging some part of that intricate family machine. A golden mean in management must be observed. HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, $03 Enough of it is necessary to compel complete and unceasing supervision at every point, so that everything shall be just as it should be. But when it becomes an overshadowing and awe-inspiring presence — subduing the laugh, suppress- ing the smile, restraining the steps, fettering the words — then it is a bane and not a blessing. Executive ability is in great part a natural endowment. Some are born to rule. Command is natural and easy for them. They can organize and execute. But the rarest genius in this art will be the better for practice. Experience will improve his natural aptitude. And he will gather valu- able lessons from the experiences of others. Where others fail he will shun to tread, unless the reason of their failure he so clearly sees that he is sure of mastery over it. What the person of ability sees in others and experiences in him- self is capital on which he trades, and from which he derives his revenues of advancement. If genuises in executive ability grow by what they learn, surely those less gifted need to learn the more, that they, too, may grow, though their advantages be less. Therefore it is that in this department of household management directions are given on many practical points of home duty. These directions are the results of experience. They may seem unimportant, and possibly excessive, but they will help the most competent, as well as the least competent, by sug- gesting both what to do and what not to do. The old maxim, " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good," may well be sounded in the ears of all housekeepers. The best housekeepers have reached their proud eminence by this wise course. As housewives press on to higher and still higher attain- ments, let the words of one of the noblest of their company, Mrs. Sigourney, inspire them. She says : " The strength of a nation, especially of a republican nation, is in the intelli- gent and well-ordered homes of the people." I.— MARKETING. OPPORTUNITIES vary so in different localities, that general rules about marketing are hard to frame. In rural places the butcher drives to the door, and the customer must be content with what is found in the wagon. In villages and small cities, the butcher shops and stores, denominated ** Markets," afford a variety more or less excellent. Some of the large cities have their market stores, and green-grocers, and butcher shops, and great central markets, where qualities vary with the prices, and where customers of all grades and conditions can be supplied. In marketing, as in all other business transactions, it may be accepted as a rule, that goods will bring their value. The best usually costs most, and in the long run it is the cheapest. In such perishable goods as meats, fruits, fish, vegetables, etc., there are innumerable chances for fluctuations in price and for variation in quality. A judge of these commodities may " pick up bargains," but the inexpert and uninitiated are more frequently fleeced than favored in catch operations at the markets. General hints as to the selection of meats, fish, vegeta- bles, etc., have already been given in this volume, under the department of Cookery, but no hints, and no rules, will suf- fice absolutely. Keen and continuous observation, cfrowing- into a large and varied experience, are essential to a good marketer. There is not a family which has not suffered from a want of the knowledge that would enable them to judge the quality of meats offered them. Often at the market an expert is waited on from the best quality and the best cuts, while another, with less knowledge, is served from 304 HOUSEKEEPER'S HELPER. 305 a poorer quality and less desirable cuts. Many a house- keeper has been censured for poor cooking, when the fault was back of that, and in the quality of the meats ; and again, the market man has often been censured for furnish- ing poor meats, when the fault was in the cooking. A good piece of meat may be spoiled in cooking and a poor piece may be made palatable. To know the parts of the animals sold in the markets, cind to understand their relative value and most economical uses, is the first requisite in successful marketing. Cutting of animals varies somewhat among butchers of different places, but the chart given below will fairly set forth the usual methods of cutting, and the ordinary designations oi the several portions. ^'ss^ CHART ILLUSTRATING THE CUTTING OF BEEF. In explanation of the illustration of the cutting of beei the following notes will suffice : No. I. — The choice cut of the beef, i\vQ Sirloin, containing the kidneys and the tenderloin. These are the finest pieces of roasting and steak meat. No. 2. — ThQ Standing Rib piece, also a choice roastingpor- tion, which includes about eleven of the ribs. 306 THE HO USE WIFE S LIBRAE V. No. 3. — The Chuck Rids, also used for roasting, but of a less desirable quality and usually sold at a lower price. No. 4.— The neck, with considerable bone, used generally for stewing and for pot roast. No. 5. — The C7teei% or jowl, a fleshy part, used for stew- ing or for boiling. No. 6. — The Rmn/f, sometimes cut differently from the manner shown in the diagram, which is the usual cutting at the East, for domestic purposes. This part has very litde bone and is generally used for choice steaks, and the por- tion next the tail, left from the steak cutting, is a choice piece for corning. No. 7. — The Pin-bone, a choice piece for roasting, being very tender. No. 8. — The Round, which furnishes common steaks, and is the choice cut for dried beef or for corning. No. 9. — The Leg, the choice soup piece. No. 10. — The Shin, also used for soup. No. 1 1. — The Thill flank, used for boiling and for corning. No. 12. — The Brisket, used for corning. No. 13. — The Plate, used for family boiling and for corning. No. 14. — The Plate (thick end), extending under the shoulder, used for corning and family boiling. No. 15. — The Breast, or butt end of the brisket, also called the ** sticking piece." Used for corning and soup' meat. If the cutting vary materially from this plan, it is still true that the essential parts of the animal continue to exist and are for sale under some name and in some shape. A polite inquiry of any reputable butcher will secure the desired information as to any part. By this means a person may secure intelligent skill in purchasing beef Some spe- cial points concerning beef need a moment's attention. The Tongue is used fresh, salted, or smoked. It is a very MARKETING. 307 desirable and delicate portion, suitable for table use at almost any time. The Tail, which affords some meat and much gelatinous substance, Is prized for soups, ox-tall soup espe- cially being founded upon It. The Heart and Liver are used for food — the former being stuffed and roasted, the latter being fried, usually with onions. The Tripe, which is the lining of the large, or receiving stomach of the beef, is used for souse, for pepper-pot, etc. It is a cheap article. The Kidneys of beef are sold separate from the sirloin, from which they are cut. They are used for stewing, etc. Suet, used for pie-crust, plum-puddings, mince-meat, etc., is the solid, clear fat, which Incloses the kidney. When pure it is a very desirable article. The Feet are used for jellies, though not so delicate as the calf's foot. The Head is refuse. The Marrow-bones are those of the shin, leg, and round. Any of the round, hollow bones contain marrow. The other remains of beef are refuse, except as available for manufacturing purposes. VEAL. Veal is a favorite meat. Consult the points concerning it made upon page j6. Veal is cut as shown below. No. I. — Loin, the best end. It is the favorite roasting piece, and furnishes the choice chops. It com- mands the best price. No. 2. — Fillet, ox cw^ot piece. This too is a choice part, being excel- lent for steaks and for roasting and filling. It is also verv fine for a cold cut. No. 3. — The Leg, call- ed knuckle also, used chiefly for stewing and for soup. No. 4. — The Rack, used for chops, and for roasting ; less 20 CHART ILLUSTRATING THE CUTTING OF VEAL. 308 ^-^^ HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. desirable and lower priced than the loin, having more bone. No. 5. — The Neck, used for stewing, pies, etc. The best end is quite desirable, that nearer the head being of less value. No. 6. — Head. The brains and tongue are prized by many, the former for frying as a delicacy, the latter for boiling. The head, as a whole, is used in mock turtle and some other fancy soups. No. 7. — The Shoulder^ used for roasting, for which it answers a good purpose. It is valuable for a stew also. No. 8. — The B^'east. This is the second choice piece for stuffing and roasting. It is too valuable for pies, stews, etc. No. 9. — The Shin. This usually goes with the shoulder, with which it is often roasted. If used separately, it answers fairly well for stewing. The Sweetbread, a very delicate portion, belongs with the breast. It is often sold separately, however. The Kidneys are sold with the loin, in the fat of which they are imbedded. The Heart and Liver are great delicacies for frying, or the heart for stuffing and roasting. The Feet are the basis of genuine calves-foot jelly, and are much prized for this pur- pose. The Entrails, cut open and well cleaned, are made into souse by some persons. MUTTON. Next to beef, the most profitable and healthful meat is mutton. In all markets this meat is cut substantially in the same manner as shown in the following chart. The names and ordinary uses of the parts are as follows : No. I. — The Loin, best end. This is the choice piece for filling and roasting and for prime chops. Of course, it com- mands the best price. No. 2. — The Leg. This joint is nearly always used for roasting and chops, sometimes also for boiling. It has but little bone, as compared with the other parts of the animal, MARKETING. 309 and is, therefore, an economical piece to select, though the price per pound be greater than that of any other cut. It is common to find a good leg weighing from seven to twelve pounds. No. 3. — The Loiriy second choice. This furnishes " French CHART ILLUSTRATING THE CUTTING OF MUTTON. chops," a favorite dish in eating-houses, and is specially good for a roast. No. 4. — The Loiri, rump end. Good for roasting and boiling. It contains considerable bone. No. 5. — The Shoulder, used for boiling and for filling and roasting. It is less in price and nearly as good as the leg, but it has more bone. No. 6. — The Breast, used for stews and for meat pies. A savory, juicy part. No. 7. — The Flank. A continuation of the breast, but somewhat thinner. This with the breast makes a cheap roast, which may be split and filled. No. 8. — The J^aek. The best end of the rack is used for second-rate chops. The neck end of the rack is good for stewing only. No. 9. — The Neck. This, with the neck end of the rack, is for stewing only. «SL/ 310 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. No. lo. — The Head. The tongue only is used, the re^. mainder being refuse. It is customary to split mutton down the back, and then to split each half into parts called hind and fore quarters. The saddle is the middle portion before this quartering is done. Part of it goes with each quarter. The hind quarter of mutton, consisting , of the leg and the loin, is the choice quarter. It makes a very superior large roast, while either of its parts, the leg or the loin, suf- fices nicely for a small company. A hind quarter from an animal in good condition will weigh from twenty to thirty pounds. The Kidneys are used as in beef, so also the heart and liver. The other parts are refuse. LAMB. Lamb is cut as mutton, but it is usually dressed with more care, so as to present a more attractive appearance. Lamb proper is in market in the spring only. As the sea- son advances older lamb is in market, but what is called " lamb " in the winter months is usually poor mutton dressed lamb style. The butcher indulges in a quiet smile when his customer, in the winter season, asks for and pays for " lamb." Of course, the superiority and rarity of lamb demand for it the best prices. Indeed, "fancy prices " reign in lamb. For tests, see p. 82. PORK. Fresh pork and salt pork are much used. General facts on pork are given on page 85. The usual method of cutting for domestic use is shown in the accompanying cut. For packing a somewhat different ■nethod is pursued. No. I. — The Ham, the most valuable part of the hog. CHART ILLUSTRATING THE CUTTING OF PORK. MARKETING. 311 When nicely cured it is a very great delicacy. It is a great article of commerce also. No. 2. — Sirloin, furnishing chops and the finest roast- ing pieces. No. 3. — Rack, used for second-rate chops and roasts, the meat being as sweet, but the bone being greater than in the sirloin. No. 4. — Neck, used for inferior roasting, and for boiling when fresh, and also for corning. No. 5. — The Shoulder. A fair roasting piece, but chiefly used, like the ham, for pickling and curing, though it is greatly inferior to ham in juiciness and flavor. Either fresh or corned it is a fine boiling piece. No. 6. — The Jowl. Useful for smoking. Sometimes cured with the tongues remaining in them. No. 7. — The Head. Used for puddings and head cheese. No. 8. — The Belly or Flitc/i. A good boiling piece either fresh, salted, or smoked. ' No. 9. — Feet. These are much used for souse and for pickling. They contain so much gelatinous matter that they are exceedingly desirable. The Ears also are used for souse and head cheese. The Liver, Heart, and Kidneys are used for liver pudding. The Entrails, nicely cleaned, are used for sausage skins. The Fat about the kidneys furnishes leaf lard. The other fat fur- nishes common lard. The other parts are refuse. VENISON. If the marketer desires venison, it is well to remember that buck venison is best from August ist to November ist; and that doe venison is best from the latter date to January 1st, after which no deer should be killed. It is quite com- mon, however, to freeze deer meat, and to keep it for months in that state. This adds to the cost, but it also improves the fibre of the meat. Venison is cut into parts respectively designated haunch, 3 1 2 THE HO USE WIFE'S LIBRAE V. saddle, leg, loin, fore-quarter, and steaks. The latter should not be cut until ready for use. Venison should be fat. It cannot be too fat. Its flavor is better after hanging a few days, but it should not become rank. To test this, pierce it with a skewer and notice the odor. Shun tough venison. For roasting, choose the haunch, the saddle, the neck, or the shoulder. Cut steaks from the leg. Stew the shoulder, or any part which is too thin for satisfactory roasting. . POULTRY. " Tests of poultry are given on page 6i. But the expe- dients resorted to in order to mislead purchasers are so numerous that even experts are not wholly safe. Techni- cally, the term cJiickens belongs to fowls under a year old, but actually, the entire tribe is included in the name. Capons are young roosters, gelded and carefully fed so as to secure the utmost delicacy of flesh. Pullets are young hens. Turkeys reach their maturity in eight or nine months, and hence young, but well-grown turkeys, are in market about the fall and winter holidays. Young hen turkeys are regarded as best, being fatter and more juicy ; but the male turkeys will be larger for the same age. The legs of young turkeys are black ; of old ones reddish and rough. Young cocks have small spurs; old ones large spurs and very rough legs. Fat turkeys, with broad, full breasts, are pre- ferable. Soft, pliable feet indicate fresh-killed birds. Wild turkeys are deemed to be finer in flavor than tame ones. They are in season in November, December, and January. They are usually sold with their feathers on. Small birds have their well-defined seasons, as have other kinds of game, but they admit little choice except as fresh. VEGETABLES. Every good marketer will supply his table with a variety of vegetables all the year round. There is hardly a vege- table that cannot be had in our markets at any season, either fresh or canned. Railroads and steamers connect the MARKETING. 313 different climates so closely that one hardly knows whether he is eating fruits and vegetables in or out of their natural season. But it takes a long purse to buy fresh vegetables at the North while the ground is yet frozen. Still, there are so many vegetables that keep through cold weather that if we did not have new ones from the South, there would be, nevertheless, a variety from which to choose. Late in the spring, when the old vegetables begin to shrink and grow rank, we gready appreciate what comes from the South. If one has a good, dry cellar, it is wise to procure in the fall vegetables enough for all winter. But if the cellar is warm, vegetables will sprout and decay before half the cold months have passed. Those best adapted for winter keep- ing are onions, squashes, turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, and potatoes. Squashes and onions should be kept in a very dry room. The others will keep readily in a cool, dry cellar, or bedded in sand beneath the reach of frost. If vegetables be bought as needed, care must be used to get them in good condition. In season, they should never appear wilted, but should be fresh and crisp. At no time should they be used if suffering from decay. The utmost prudence is needed at this point. A very little waste will more than counterbalance all you save by purchasing large quantities, and by storing for the winter. The luxuries of the world are spread at the feet of the customer in our markets ; still, extravagant expenditure is by no means necessary. Many delicacies are within the reach of all. Those who content themselves with sending to the markets, miss many golden opportunities. Those who go, see for themselves, and embrace many a favoring chance. Personal observation ripens into experience also, and the experienced purchasers command the situation. These remarks apply with equal force to purchasing of the grocer, the baker, the milkman, and all, in short, who supply us with the necessaries of life. There are reliable 314 THE HOUSEWIFE S LIBRARY. dealers and those of doubtful integrity; but in every case the hope of the household is in its provider. Cultivate power in this line. It is best to deal steadily with persons whom you have tried and found reliable. Do not relinquish your indepen- dence, so as to suggest to them the idea that they may im- pose on you. Be ready to go elsewhere, if the old service falls off; but usually those who are regular dealers at a place get the best attention, and errors or failures can be rectified with ease. In all marketing and dealing with storekeepers keep your temper. To lose one's temper and scold or threaten, is un- dignified and worse than useless. State your grievances calmly and plainly. If they are redressed, all right ; if not redressed, you can quietly go elsewhere and bestow your patronage. A little suspension of trade with a dealer often works wonders. He does not want to lose customers ; but such is the waywardness of human nature, that all of us need reminders to keep us fully up to duty. Let the dealer have these when he needs them, but never at the expense of your own self-possession and courteous dignity. II.— CARVING. THE ART OF CARVING j REQUISITES ; CARVING TURKEY, CHICKEN, DUCKS, GEESE, SMALL BIRDS, BEEF, MUTTON, LAMB, VENISON, HAM, PIG, RABBIT, STEAKS, FISH, TONGUE, AND CALF's-HEAD. EVERY person who travels or visits much sees number- less illustrations of the varied capacities of carvers. Hotel and restaurant life does not make much display- in this line, as the carving is done out of sight. And yet even here the marvelous thinness of the slice, which is so immense in its area, demonstrates that somebody is on hand who is expert in this line. In private houses the meat and the poultry are sometimes carved before they come to the table. By whom done, or with what accompaniments of per- spiration and emphatic words, the guests know not. But ^meat served thus is chilled and juiceless, and generally dam- aged. It is worthy of better treatment. Many amusing and not a few irritating examples of clumsy carving occur under everybody's eyes. Meat is con- demned as tough, knives as dull, dishes as too small, there is too much gravy, skewers are not drawn, and a thousand other reasons are blurted out by the clumsy carver, as he outwardly sweats and inwardly swears at his task. He slops gravy on to the cloth ; he drops part of the meat from the dish ; he cuts himself by an unfortunate slip of the knife ; and sometimes, like a distinguished v/it of whom the story tells, he lands a fowl in the lap of a lady beside him, though probably, unlike that wit, he will not have the grace to say, " I will thank you, madam, to return that chicken." Every housekeeper should learn to carve. Carving should be done at the table by the gentleman of the house, or, in his 315 316 THE HO USE WIFK S L IBRA R Y. absence, by the lady, unless some other of the family be an expert carver. Unless a guest is known to be an expert, or unless he volunteers for the duty, he should not be expected to carve. He may be a clumsy hand, and the courtesy of hospitality should protect him from exposure at this point. The carver at a private table should retain his seat while carving and serving. To facilitate this, his chair should be high, so that he can reach readily to his work. The dish should be large enough to prevent soiling the cloth, except by some unusual accident. The centre of a carving-dish for roast meats should be raised nearly as high as the surround- ing edge, so that a horizontal movement of the knife in slicing may be made without interference from the edges. No man can slice meat neatly if the meat is in the bottom of a deep dish, into which he must scoop with his knife as best he may. Elevate the meat, but have a surrounding depression between the centre and the edge, where the rich juices of the meat may accumulate, and where they may be served readily. Not all knives are suitable for carving, nor is any one knife just the thing for all work in this line. For slicing, a long, thin, broad blade is essential. With a fine roast, elevated on the dish, and with a good, sharp slicing knife in hand, a cool-headed man can hardly help doing neat and rapid work. But such a knife is not the one for poultry or rib carving. For these uses a shorter blade, which is both narrower and stiffer, must be employed. All knives for carving must be sharp. There should be a good steel at hand to touch up the edge — nothing more, for a dull knife should be ground, or whet up on an oil-stone. Any large ' fork, with a guard to prevent accidents, will do. A rest for the knife and fork when not in use is desirable. The carver's requisites, there- fore, are as follows : A high chair, suitable serving plates, two sharp knives, a good fork,, and a knife and fork rest. With these he is ready for work. Without them he is at serious disadvantage. CARVING, 317 Carving a Turkey. — Nothing delights an expert carver more than the opportunity to cut up a fine roast turkey. Such a man is in doubt whether the eating of the meat even is the greater luxury. Whether the head of the bird shall lie to the carver's right or left is an open question. Better to the right, as more work is required on the head end, and in this position the knife-hand works less over the hand which holds the fork. The fork should be inserted astride of the breast-bone, just back of its most promi- nent point. It should be sunk deep enough to pene- trate the encasing bone be- low the white meat. This secures full command of the bird. If the company be turkey properly trussed for small and the bird fairly roasting. large, better do all the cutting from one side, reserving the other in as perfect a form as possible. Remove all the limbs first unless half the bird is to be reserved. The neat cut is to remove each drum-stick, or lower leg, by a single stroke of the knife, which must ex- actly hit the joint. To remove the thigh, or upper leg joint, make a V-shaped cut, wide enough at the point whence the drum-stick has been cut to include all the meat, but converging at the joint, which can always be distinctly seen near the back. Two strokes of the knife do this work, each of them cutting down to the carcase. A slight outward pressure of the knife-blade, applied between the carcase and the upper point of the thigh joint, will cause it to drop off neatly on the plate. Outside the lines of these cuts, flakes of dark meat will remain adhering to the carcase, which should now be cut off. They help to meet demands for dark meat. 318 THE HO USE WIFE'S L IB EAR V. In carving the wings, the neat stroke removes the lower part, which contains the two bones, by cutting at the inner part of the joint, and so turning the blade of the knife as to throw that part off in the direction opposite to its natural movement. The first joint of each wing then follows, the cut being deep enough to fully reach the ball and socket joint. A slight motion of the pinion toward the head of the bird will suffice usually to detach this part. If it does not, the point of the knife may be thrust into the socket of the joint to sever the cartilage. This will free it. When this dismembering is accomplished, proceed to slice the breast meat in thin, broad slices. Clean off all the white meat, unless part only is needed. Placing your knife close to the front of the breast-bone, and cutting toward the neck, you will dislodge the V-shaped bone, corresponding to the " merrythought " or " pull-bone " of chickens. To dislodge the collar-bones is to many a hard task. But cut the cartilages which bind them to the frame of the bird. These cartilages are in the cavity between the neck and the breast-bone. Through this cavity, thrust your knife out- wardly under one of these bones ; make a fulcrum of the front part of breast-bone, and a lever of the knife, its edge resting on the fulcrum. You can then easily pry up the troublesome bone and turn it off to the side. This move- ment takes the bone at the best mechanical advantage. It must come, and come at once, if this movement be made. Now attend to the other end of the bird. Shave off all superfluous meat from the carcase. Turn the carcase on its side, the back toward you. Insert your knife beside the oil- bag and thrust it forward parallel to the spine. It will cut its way very easily. A slight outward movement of the knife will then throw off these side bones, which are choice pieces, yielding the juiciest of the dark meat. The ribs may now be cut through with ease from front to rear, about midway from breast to back. The breast-bone is incapable CARVING. 33^9 of further division, but the back easily divides into six parts. Turn it back up and hold with the fork ; separate the oil- bag, about an inch of the spine with it ; lift the projecting spine with the knife back and it will break readily, carrying one rib with it. Cut off from each side of the remaining spine the rib parts adherent to it; then divide the remaining spine just back of the neck. An entire drum-stick, or second joint, need not be served to any one person, but had better be divided among several. A fair-sized turkey divided on the above method will furnish a good ^ ^_ . ^ BACK OF A supply for twenty people. fowl. It will be asked, however, how can one become '■''' ^' '!"^ f ' ' easy break- so expert in hitting these joints? Frequently age. a,c,e, the carver tries, and tries again, but tries in vain, ^^^^^ of sJpa- to strike the right place for his knife. There is rationofside- one way only to succeed in this art. The anatomy 3 ^^^ j.';b p'or- of the turkey or chicken, or any other animal, must *'°''- be carefully studied. Do it in this way. Whenever a tur- key is brought into your house and is made ready for the roasting, place it on its back, as it will lie on the plate when it comes to the table. Carefully manipulate it, and note exa-ctly where every joint lies. Imagine yourself about to carve it. Where would you put the knife to throw off that drum-stick ? How would you cut to throw off the thigh bone. Read the preceding directions ; apply them in fancy to the bird as you see and handle it ; then carry it all out at the table when the bird is cooked. No surgeon could do his work except he had thus prac- ticed on actual subjects in dissection. He must know by actual trial just what to do and how to do it. So must the carver know. Chickens, ducks, geese, small birds, meat, roasting pigs, every article, in short, which he expects to carve must be understood beforehand; then success will be his. 320 THE HOUSEWIFE- S LIBRARY. Carving Roast Chicken. — The same course precisely as has been prescribed for carving turkey must be followed with chickens. The only difference is in the formation of the " pull-bone " or ** merrythought," but this makes no difference whatever in the cutting of the bird. Carving Roast Ducks and Geese. — These are more difficult than turkey or chick- ens, for the reason that they are constitu- tionally more sinewy in the joints and they have far less flesh proportionately. CHICKEN PROPER. LY TRUSSED FOR ROASTING. [Feet may be removed at option.] GOOSE PROPERLY TRUSSED FOR ROASTING. They are barrel-shaped, with thin layers of meat instead of the fine masses of flesh found on the turkey or on fine chickens. The leg joints lie farther to the rear, and higher on the side than in land fowls. They are not so easily reached, therefore. Their anatomy must be studied, however. It is the only way to obtain com- mand of the carcase. In carving, dismember the bird as in other cases. BREAST OF DUCK PROPERLY TRUSSED. [The lines show the direction of cutting the breast meat.] Then cut the meat in long. narrow strips, along the sides and breast of the bird, and use these as the choice cuts. The legs and wings may be given out if desired or if the supply be short. Duck is but a side dish, however ; it is supposed to be served with BACK OF DUCK PROPERLY TRUSSED. [Feet twisted to lie on the back.] CARVING. 321 other dishes, and so to be served lightly. Goose is some- times the main piece, but not often so at elaborate feasts. Camng Broiled GMckens. — Chickens for broiling are pre- sumably young and tender. If not, thorough steaming before they are broiled will do something for them. They are trussed in such shape usually that joints are not easily struck. But study the bird when trussed. See where joints do. lie and cut them. If the birds are really young and ten- der, however, they may be halved or quartered, cutting through the bones directly and so serving them. Carving Smaller Birds. — Smaller birds which need carving, may simply be split longitudinally, just beside the breast-bone and the spine. Their bones can be cut easily. This will apply to pigeon, partridge, prairie hen, pheasant, smaller bird properly ^ £> ^ X- ' JT TRUSSED FOR ROASTING. etc. Carving Roast Beef. — Pieces of roast beef vary so that no one rule covers all. A safe general direction, however, is to study carefully just what is in the piece before it is cooked. Know your meat before you attempt to carve it. Another general rule, applicable to all meats indeed, is to cut across the grain in all cases. Meat cut with the grain is stringy and fibrous. If cut across the grain, all the longi- tudinal flakes of flesh and the minute sinews are cut so short that any toughness existing in them is wholly con- cealed. The first slice, by this process, will always be a brown, outside cut. Slices should always be thin, bui not so as to seem ragged. In carving ribs of beef the knife may be thrust along close to the ribs, so as to separate the meat from them. The. cuts then made across the grain will separate the slices with ease and neatness. Never cut beef across the bone. It is the easiest way, but also the poorest. 322 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. Carviiig Roasts of Mutton. — A leg of mutton is carved as a ham, by cutting down to the bone, from the outer edge, making the cuts converge on the bone, so freeing each sHce as it is cut. A shoulder of mutton should be carved as the leg. In each case, when the choice cuts are exhausted, clip off the remaining meat as best you can, always across the grain. Saddle of mutton is carved in several ways: ist, in longi- tudinal slices along the backbone ; 2d, by transverse slices, each taking in a rib, which makes thick and clumsy por- tions ; 3d, by oblique slices, not taking in the bones, but forming a slight angle with them. The latter method is deemed preferable by most carvers. In all roasts which include the ribs the backbone should be well and cleanly cut through by the butcher, between every pair of ribs. Otherwise no satisfactory carving can be done. Carving Roasts of Lamb. — The cut shows a fore-quarter of lamb with its outer side uppermost. This joint is first to be cut so as to divide the shoulder from the rest of the quarter, which is called the target. For this pur- pose, put the fork firmly into the shoulder joint, and then cut underneath the blade-bone, beginning at a, FORi^QUARTER OF LAMB. ^^^ continue Cutting all around in the direction of the circular line, and pretty close to the under part of the blade-bone. Some cut the shoulder larsre. while others take off no more meat with it than is barely necessary to remove the blade-bone. It is most con- venient to place the shoulder on a separate dish. This is carved in the same way as the shoulder of mutton. When the shoulder is removed, a lemon may be squeezed over that part of the remainder of the joint where the knife has CARVING. 323 passed ; this gives a flavor to the meat which is generally approved. Then proceed to cut completely through from b to c^ following the line across the bones as cracked by the butcher, and this will divide the ribs ((T) from the brisket (e). Tastes vary in giving preference to the ribs or the brisket. Other parts of lamb are carved as mutton. The fat is very delicate and should be served to all the guests. Carving Roasts of Venison. — These resemble roasts of mutton so closely that no different directions for their carv- ing need be given. Carving Ham. — Boiled or baked ham may be served either side up. The inner edge of the ham, which lay adjacent to the body, is rather more tender than the edge, which lay toward the tail. Slices should be cut directly from the edge to the bone, cutting out the middle portions first. Let the cuts converge upon the bone every time, so that each slice is set free at once. When the choice cuts are gone, trim up the remaining parts neatly as possible, and always across the grain. The knuckle end of a ham furnishes the leaner and drier cuts. Some prefer carving hams with a more slanting cut, rather than a direct, right-angled cut upon the bone, beginning at the thick end, and so continuing through- out. This mode is, however, apt to be very wasteful, unless the carver be careful to take away both fat and lean in due proportion. Carving Roast Pig. — The cut below represents a pig roasted whole and served in the most approved style. Many, how- ever, separate the head before serving, and garnish the body with the ears, jaw, etc. The head may be severed by a ^^^^^ ^^^^'^ ^ ^^• neat cut around the neck, and a little sideward motion, but this is not necessary, as the cheek or jaw can be removed 21 324 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. without removing the head. The shoulder should then be taken off from the body, by passing the knife under it in a circular direction, and the leg separated as shown in the line d, e,f. The ribs may then be divided into two or more parts, helping at the same time an ear or jaw with it, with some of the sauce also. Pieces may be cut from the legs and shoulders. Some consider the neck end the finest part, while others give the ribs the preference. Carviiig Roast Rabbit— Begin by cutting longitudinally from head to tail near to the backbone, then make a corres- ponding cut on the other side of the backbone, leaving the back and the head in one distinct piece. Cut off the legs at the hip-joint, and take off the wing, or fore leg, nearly as you would the wing of a bird, carrying the knife round in a circular line. The ribs are of little importance, as they are bare of meat. Divide the back into three or four equal por- tions. The head is then to be cut off, and the lower jaw divided from RABBIT, OR HARE, PROPERLY TRUSSED the Upper. By Splitting- FOR ROASTING. , rJ/ * / r fcs the upper part of the head in the middle, you have the brains, which are prized by epicures. The comparative goodness of different parts of a rabbit will depend much on the age, and also upon the cooking. The back and the legs are always the best parts. Carving Steaks, etc. — Where there is a tenderloin in a beefsteak, it should be divided among the party with the other portion. If there are too many persons to allow each a share, give ladies and guests the preference. Epicures eat the tenderloin at the last. As a bright boy said, " You CARVING. 325 ought always to eat the best last ; then you feel as if you have had all best." Carving Fish. — This is more a serving than a carving. The meat of fish is usually so tender that cutting is unne- cessary. Skillful separation of the flakes is what is needed. A silver knife, or fish slice, and a silver fish fork, broad at the tines, are desirable. Steel tools impart a disagreeable odor to fish. Fish should be served in neat, unbroken por- tions, never in scraps and bits. In many kinds of fish the backbone may be 'taken out entire, as in all the mackerel family as served for the table. This is a neat proceeding for company ; but for home uses the backbone is preferred with the fish, because of the very savory morsels which adhere to it. ^ The skin and fins of the turbot are regarded as very deli- cate. It, therefore, should be split along the backbone, at its side, and then cut into cross sections so that part of a fin shall go with each portion. This is the neatest method of serving. Carving Tongue. — The juicy and fatter part of the tongue is at its thick end or root. Some prefer the smaller and drier end, however. If the whole tongue is not likely to be needed, cut off its tip in one piece, and on the main portion work backward toward the butt end. Do not cut squarely across, as it leaves the slices unduly small ; but cut on an angle, so doubling the area of the slices. Carving a Calfs Head. — Cut the external meat in strips from the nose to the back of the head. Some deem the eye a delicacy. It may be removed with the point of the knife, if requested, but do not puncture it with the fork or the knife. The palate is a choice part. It may be cut from under the head, with its surrounding parts, all of which are delicate morsels. The jawbone may be removed also, and will dis- close fine meat. III.— SERVING MEALS. methods of serving meals j russian, english, french, and american styles; tables, table-cloths, napkins, and decorations ; finger-bowls ; due ceremony j what to avoid; garnishes; royal displays. METHODS of serving meals differ widely. The items of conveniences and pecuniary ability always become important elements in the case. Taste, too, enters largely into it. Some people need the formal and the cere- monious. Others despise these and prefer the free-and-easy plan. There are national methods also, which largely rule among the refined and elegant. One of these methods, the Russian, decorates the centre of the table elaborately with flowers, and surrounds it at the outset with the dessert tastefully displayed. This secures a delightsome central object. The several dishes are then brought to the table carved and ready for use, each dish being served as a separate course, one vegetable only being allowed to appear with it. The English method sets the whole of each course at once, no matter how many dishes it may contain. This, it is objected, allows the dishes to cool, and one often vitiates another. The dishes which require carving are by this method first placed on the table, and then removed to a side table for cutting and serving. The French method serves everything as a separate course, even each vegetable, unless it be simply a garnish for another dish. The American plan, however, serves at least one vegetable with each substantial dish. At the more formal meals among us, carving is done at the side tables, but in the genuine home dinners the work is done at 326 SERVING MEALS. 327 the table by the host himself. If, however, he cannot do the honors of the serving with ease, let the work be done by another, at the side table. When the general plan of the dinner management is set- tled, those who are to do the various parts of the work must be thoroughly instructed. A servant not sufficiently intelligent to learn the required part well, and to do it pro- perly, is too stupid for satisfactory service with company or at a purely family gathering. Square end tables are now the proper style. They should be sufficiently roomy to wholly avoid crowding. A spot- lessly white table-cloth should be spread, with another under it to deaden sound and make a softer appearance. The cloth should not be very stiffly starched, but it should be nicely polished and beautifully glossy. It should hang two feet from the top edge, the corners gathered up, if needs be, to prevent their drooping on the floor. Napkins should be large and heavy. Such texture does not need much starch. The glass and silverware should be perfect in brightness. It may be of inexpensive kind, but it must be scrupulously clean. Colored table-cloths of ornamental patterns are allowable for luncheon or tea. They are not in place where hot meats are served. Nor are colored napkins. Too often these deep tinted articles are used "to save washing," which means " to conceal dirt." Not unfrequently covers and nap- kins of this kind are kept in use when their rank odor cries out for the wash-tub, even though their soiled appearance does not. The doily, or DOiley, as some will have it from the proper name of its first reputed maker, is a small, colored napkin used with fruits and wines. Stains will not show so readily upon these, but they must always be scrupulously fresh and clean. To conceal filth under rich coloring is sacrilege of the worst sort, but to bring it to the table, and ask guests to wipe their lips with it, is a crime. 328 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. A great variety of ornaments and adornments are admis- sible on a table, but nothing is so pure and so appropriate as a handsome display of ferns or flowers. The flowers should not be just such as ladies wear so profusely and so beautifully in their belts and on their dresses. Larger blooms are preferable for the table, especially those of the pure white and fine texture belonging to the lily family. It is quite the proper and beautiful thing to place a neat bouquet beside each plate, in tasteful bouquet-holders. For gentlemen the little bunching suitable for the button-hole is desirable. For ladies the belt bouquet will meet the case. The floral centre-piece may be composed of small bouquets, which at the end of the meal may be distributed. Fruit pieces and handsome confectionery pieces may be disposed to advantage in ornamenting the table. Tasty folding of spotless napkins is so important a decoration that the subject will be treated fully farther on. These may be perched in polished goblets, while bouquets, or small rolls of bread nestle amid their snowy folds. Little arts like these embellish a table, and delight the guests. But these embellishments must not be overdone. What will be correct for a large table will be too much for a small one, and what will be just right for a small table will look thin and meagre on a large one. Study the proprieties of every occasion. What suits once does not suit forever. Embellishments may be liberally bestowed upon the din- ing-room itself In addition to its permanent decorations, flowers are always admissible. At the great ball on March 20th, 1883, at the Vanderbilt Mansion in New York, the decorations of the supper-room were absolutely regal. The walls were completely hidden with palms and ferns, from which a countless number of orchids were suspended. Two large fountains were introduced into the far corners of the room. The doors of the main entrance to the supper-room were in an open position and were completely covered with SERVING MEALS. 329 roses and lilies of the valley. In the centre of the room a large palm towered almost to the ceiling, and about it from the dome was suspended an immense Bougen Villa vine, the tendrils of which drooped in bunches from the branches of the palm. Throughout the room there were many stands and vases filled with flowers, the entire effect more resembling fairyland than an earthly home. Few can rival such a display, of course, but all enjoy at least a pen-peep upon such princely splendor. No ornament should be so large as to obscure to any great extent a view of the entire table, or to conceal any of its guests. As many knives, forks, and spoons as will be needed for the various courses may be placed at each plate, though, to avoid the display of so much cutlery, a better style is to supply these accessories as needed. Goblets and wine-glasses, if the latter be used, should be on the table at the start. Large spoons, with salt and ■ pepper casters, should be on the table also. The dessert-plates, finger- bowls, etc., should stand ready on the sideboard, awaiting the time when they shall be needed. The hot closet should be well stocked with dishes needing to be used warm. Finger-bowls should be half filled with water. In Paris they are served with warm water scented with peppermint. A slice of lemon in cold water answers the purpose entirely, as it removes any grease from fingers or lips. A geranium leaf may float in the water. Its fragrance on the fingers, if it be pressed, will be agreeable. It is customary to place a fruit napkin, or doily, on the dish on which the finger-bowl rests, to avoid the rattle of the bowl, and to protect the dish from injury if it be highly ornamented. Little openworked mats will, however, answer better. Do not summon your company to dinner by a bell. Country hotels and cheap boarding-houses may do that, but not a refined home, espe- cially when guests are present. Soup is dished by the lady of the house at a home dinner. 330 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. Meat is cut and dished by the gentleman of the house. Vegetables, bread, butter, water, etc., are served by the waiter, dessert by the hostess, except in the case of melons, requiring to be cut at the table, which is the work of the host. Home meals should all be sufficiently ceremonious to dispense with haste and confusion. On the other hand, they should not run into stiffness and frigidity. Bright, cheery, pleasant chat should enliven every meal. If the leading dish be nothing but hash, let it be served in good style and amid a profusion of genial, social sunshine. What to Avoid. 1st. — Never use table-linen which is open to the suspicion of being soiled. The napkin-ring business is of question- able propriety. Why not, as at hotels, furnish a clean nap- kin to each person at every meal ? 2d. — Crockery with an abundance of nicks and splints and cracks is not unsightly merely, but, where the glazing is broken, the porous material absorbs grease and dish water, making these spots dense with unsavory and unwholesome matter. 3d. — Partly emptied dishes become unsightly, and some- times positively repulsive. They look like refuse and scraps. At the great State dinners at the Tuileries, no guest saw a partly emptied dish. A full, beautifully garnished dish was presented for his approval, upon expressing which, his per- sonal plate was taken to a side table and supplied from another serving dish. 4th. — An overloaded table or plate satiates appetite rather than stimulates it. A gracious expectancy of what is to come is a great help at the table. 5th. — A stinted supply is very discouraging. To the ap- prehension of a lack of food, the moral sense of mortification is added in this case. SERVING MEALS. 33 2^ 6th. — Beware of ill-assorted dinners or tea-parties. An occasion intended to be a pleasure is often a pest for lack of care in this regard. This caution applies to the selection of guests, and more strongly to the disposition of guests at the table. Secure fitness both in the viands presented and in the parties present. 7th. — Do not inaugurate new features at a dinner party, unless you are sure you have the mastery of them, and that when done in a masterly way they will certainly prove agreeable. 8th. — Beware of the delusion that hospitality is expressed by the weight of its beef and mutton, and the multitude and rarity of its viands. 9th. — Have no meddlesome, noisy, or slovenly service. Waiters should be attired neatly, and should wear light shoes or slippers. They should take no part in the social proceedings, not so much, indeed, as to smile at the best things. On formal occasions the man-servant should wear a dress-coat, white vest, and white necktie. The maid- servant should be attired in a neat, inconspicuous dress, with spotless white apron. 1 0th. — Both haste and slowness should be shunned. At the finished French dinners, the courses will not average more than five minutes each. French waiters are marvel- ously expert, however, in removing and replacing dishes. Garnishes. Much of the attractiveness of a table depends on the garnishes, which are added to certain dishes to embellish or beautify them. A few hints on this subject will be of value. Parsley is the almost universal garnish to all kinds of cold meat, poultry, fish, butter, cheese, etc. Horse-radish is the garnish for roast beef, and for fish in general ; for the latter, slices of lemon are sometimes laid alternately with heaps of horse-radish. 332 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. Slices of lemon for boiled fowl, turkey, and fish, and for •roast veal and calf's head. Carrot in slices for boiled beef, hot or cold. They may be cut into ornamental forms if .desired. Barberries, fresh or preserved, for game. Fried smelts for turbot. Red beet-root sliced for cold meat, boiled beef, and salt fish. Fried sausages or force-meat balls for roast turkey, capon, or fowl. Fennel for mackerel and salmon, whether fresh or pickled. Lobster coral and parsley for boiled fish. Currant jelly for game, also for custard or bread-pud- ding. Seville oranges in slices for wild ducks, widgeons, teal, and such game. Mint, either with or without parsley, for roast lamb, whether hot or cold. Pickled gerkins, capers, or onions, for some boiled meats, stews, etc. A red pepper, or small red apple, for the mouth of a roast pig- Spots of red and black pepper alternated on the fat side of a boiled ham, which side should lie uppermost on the serving dish. Sliced eggs, showing the white and yellow parts, for chicken salad. Sprays of celery top for salads, cold meats, etc. Royal Displays. A peep at some royal table displays is valuable as sug- gesting what may be done. Perhaps the grandest display ever made was by Baron Rothschild in honor of the last Napoleon when at the height of his power, some five years before his fall. The entertainment was given at Rothschild's SERVING MEALS. 333 regal pleasure-house of Ferrieres, thirty miles out of Paris. The cost of the out-door decorations alone exceeded ;^ 1 00,000. Workmen were put on the road in vast gangs, and had it prepared with asphaltum every inch of the way. Chinese lanterns and Bengal lights rendered it brilliant as day. Forests of new trees in full growth were set out wherever the roadside happened to be bare. The imperial carriage, which left the Tuileries at five o'clock p. M., passed through continuous masses of jubilant spectators. Wine and edibles were given by the Rothschilds' orders to all along the route who bore decorations of any sort. The chateau itself, which is as roomy as the Capitol at Washington, was a blaze of light and rich drapery. The din- ing-room and the feast were thus described in a leading journal : " It was such a scene as the mind conjures in Aladdin's palace, built by the slaves of the gold and jewel caves. At a vast height from the floor a narrow gallery runs around the chamber. From this were suspended folds of golden drapery, in which some legend of Bonapartist glory flashed out in jeweled letters. The walls were encrusted with treasures that the house of Rothschild had been centuries collecting. The tables were a mass of glittering gold, even to the candelabra The dinner began at nine o'clock and was served by waiters in livery rivaling the imperial in sumptuousness. The knives and forks were of solid gold, and when the dinner was ended the head of the house solemnly directed them gathered together and in presence of the Emperor ordered them melted and the mass sent to the mint, declaring that, having been sanctified by imperial use, they should never be degraded to baser hands." IV.— THE BILL OF FARE. bills of fare needed; edibles in season ; what to have for breakfast, dinner, luncheon, tea, and supper; plain luncheons; plain dinners; quantities needed; odd BILLS OF fare. WHAT shall be served for a meal is in most homes a hap- hazard affair. Somebody wants a certain dish, or something happens to be in the house, or a huckster comes along offering a certain article at a low price, and so the diet for the day is determined. The religious customs of some persons decide the bill of fare for certain days, and so far their domestic management is controlled. Others, especially in cheap boarding-houses, have a bill of fare inflexible as the ancient laws of the Medes and Persians. You know when to look for that greasy vegetable soup, made out of — fortu- nately for the eater, he knows not what. Then comes cab- bage day — regular as the week revolves it comes ; and that beefsteak and onions — the house is odorous with it, and you are greeted with its fragrance as you clamber up the front steps. The desserts, too, are fearfully regular. Boiled rice, corn-starch pudding, huckleberry pie in its season, canned peaches both in season and out of season, apple pie or cus- tard pie — these, with a few more of the same family, march on in their ceaseless round with the same old sequence as the figures follow each other in a cheap puppet show. These are travesties on a bill of fare. They burlesque the menu. A housekeeper should plan out her table offerings with great care. Her dishes should suit the seasons. On a frosty day in midwinter substantial, well-seasoned food is needed. It renews a hungry man. It stays by him. It does him good. But the same dinner in midsummer will disgust 334 THE BILL OF FARE. 335 rather than delight. On a hot, exhausting day, heavy soups, substantial meats, and rich desserts are out of harmony. Light meats, delicate vegetables, and cooling desserts are then in demand. i Dishes .should suit the days of the week also. What can be furnished by one fire or wash-day or ironing-day is not the same as can be furnished conveniently on other days. The man who proposed dumplings for wash-day dessert be- cause they could be boiled in the same kettle with the clothes was on the true line of progress, though his appli- cation was not a happy one. The idea is that harmony shall exist The washing must not suffer for the dinner, nor the dinner for the washing. Plan the bill of fare to fit the movements of the domestic establishment. A third point to be gained by planning is unity in each meal. Some articles of food, delicious in themselves, are unpalatable, and even unwholesome, in combination. Cucumbers or beets and milk, fish and milk, lobster and ice-cream, are combinations of this class ; while peaches and cream, lamb and green peas, stewed chicken and waf- fles, catfish and coffee, are fitly wedded, and no man can put them asunder. To secure all the above-named happy coincidences and combinations is the mission of the well- digested bill of fare. Of course, the pocket controls many of these things. He who cannot have his turkey and venison and plum-pudding 6n Christmas day, may, nevertheless, find satisfactory chew- ing on his boiled goose, and savory garnishing in his sour- krout or cabbage. But the poorest meals will be the better, like the artist's colors, when " mixed with brains." Think and plan. How can these things be best done ? Settle that question and carry out your conclusion with a queenly grace. But be open for the teachings of experience. What does not work well be ready to change. Those who never change their plans are poor learners. ^ 336 ^^^ HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. When planning home meals, and especially company meals, it is of prime importance to know just what is in season. Particulars on this point vary with different locali- ties, but New York is the metropolis, and its markets are on. the grandest scale; its market is made the standard, therefore, in the following table of edible merchandise in its various seasons. SPRING -.—MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY. Shell Fish. — Clams, hard crabs, lobster, mussels, oysters, prawns, scallops, shrimps, terrapins, turtle. FisL — Bass (black, striped, and sea), bluefish, cod, eels, haddock, halibut, herrings, mackerel, muscalonge, pickerel, pompan, prawns, salmon, shad (North River), sheepshead, shrimps, skate, smelts, soles, turbot, trout (brook, lake, and salmon. May to Jiily). Meat. — Beef, lamb, mutton, sweet-breads, veal. Poultry. — Capons, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. Grame. — Ducks and geese until May ist, pigeons, plover, snipe, squabs, after April. Vegetables. — Asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, lettuce, potatoes (sweet and white), radishes, spinach, sprouts, water- cresses, and all the vegetables of the winter list. Fruit. — The winter list, with the addition of pie-plant, pineapple, strawberries. Nuts. — The winter list, with the addition of Brazil nuts. SUMMER:— JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST. Shell Fish.— Clams, soft crabs, lobster, turtle in August. Fish. — Bass (black and sea), bluefish, eels, flounders, THE BILL OF FARE, 337 haddock, herring, mackerel, muscaloftge, salmon, sheeps- head, turbot, trout (brook, lake, and salmon). Meat. — Beef, lamb, mutton, and veal. Poultry. — Chickens, ducks. Game. — Snipe, woodcock (after July). Vegetables.— String beans, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, car- rots, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, macaroni, okra, onions, green peas, potatoes, rice, radishes, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips. Fruits. — Apples, apricots, cherries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, lemons, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, raspber- ries, strawberries, imported dried fruits. AUTUMN:— SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, AND NOVEMBER. Shell Fish. — Clams, soft crabs, lobster, mussels, oysters, scallops, turtle, terrapin. Fish. — Black bass, bluefish, flounders, mackerel, musca- longe, perch, pickerel, pike, salmon, sheepshead, skates, smelts, soles, sturgeon, trout (brook, lake, and salmon), white fish. Meat. — Beef, lamb, mutton. Poultry. — Capons, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys. Game. — Brant, duck, goose (September to May), prairie- chicken, ruff-grouse (September to January), venison until February, quail and rabbits (October ist to January 1st), snipe, woodcock (July 3d to February 1st). Vegetables. — Artichokes, beans (lima and other shell beans), beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, celery, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, macaroni, okra, onions, potatoes (white and sweet), rice, squash, tomatoes, turnips. 338 ^ THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. Fruits. — Apples, bananas, blackberries, dates, figs, grapes, lemons, oranges, peaches, and pears. Nuts. — Black walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, shellbarks. WINTER:— DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND FEBRUARY. Shell FisL — Clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, terrapin, turtle. Fish. — Bass (black and striped), bluefish, cod, eels, floun- ders, haddock, muscalonge, perch, pickerel, pike, salmon, skate, smelts, sturgeon, white fish. Meat. — Beef, mutton, pork. Poultry. — Capons, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys. Game. — Brant (until May), duck (wild, until May), wood- duck (until January), geese (until May), prairie-chickens, ruff-grouse, snipe, venison (until February), quail, rabbits (until December), woodcock (until February). Vegetables. — Artichokes, beets, dried beans, broccoli, cab- bage, carrots, celery, macaroni, onions, parsnips, potatoes (sweet and white), rice, salsify, turnips, winter squash, all canned vegetables. Fruit. — Apples, bananas, cranberries, dates, figs, ginger, lemons, oranges, pears, prunes, raisins, all kinds of canned fruits, and compotes of dried fruits. Nuts. — Almonds, black walnuts, butternuts, cocoanuts, English walnuts, filberts, pecan nuts, shellbarks. With such a range accessible, surely, good meals can be selected in abundant variety. But what shall be selected for ordinary use in the family ? To suggest answers to this question, standard bills of fare for each season are appended. Remember, however, these are only to suggest happy com- THE BILL OF FARE. 339 binations. Try one or more of them entire, or in part, and see whether they suit you or not. At least they will lead toward good results. FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING. No. 1.- — Oatmeal and milk ; stewed apples ; rolls, butter, coffee, chocolate, broma, or tea ; beefsteak, broiled oysters ; Lyonnaise potatoes, poached eggs on toast ; rice cakes, sirup. No. 2. — Cracked wheat and milk ; stewed prunes ; bread or rolls, butter, coffee, etc. ; broiled ham with fried eggs ; mutton and potato hash, browned ; baked potatoes ; flannel cakes, powdered sugar. No. 3. — Fried hominy ; stewed dried peaches; rolls or bread, butter, coffee, etc. ; mutton-chops, fried bacon ; broiled eggs, potatoes, Saratoga style ; waffles, cinnamon, and sugar. FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR SUMMER. No 1. — Coarse hominy boiled ; strawberries and cream ; bread, butter, coffee, etc. ; broiled chicken, stewed potatoes ; dried beef dressed with cream ; radishes, muffins. No. 2. — Oatmeal and milk; fresh currants and sugar; buttered toast, bread, coffee, etc. ; broiled blue or white fish ; stewed potatoes ; minced mutton served on toast ; shirred eggs. No. 3. — Cracked wheat and milk ; fresh raspberries ; rolls, butter, coffee, etc. ; cold roast beef, sliced thin ; frizzled ham with eggs ; fried potatoes, sliced cucumbers ; Graham gems, or pop-overs. FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR AUTUMN. No. L— Oatmeal mush fried in slices ; peaches and cream, or blackberries ; brown bread, rolls, butter, coffee, etc. ; 340 ^-^^ HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. iamb chops, fried potatoes ; mushrooms baked and served on toast ; sHced tomatoes, dressed as a salad. jjo, 2. — Hulled corn with cream; baked pears, grapes; bread, butter, coffee, etc. ; veal cutlets, potato balls ; omelette with grated ham ; cornmeal pancakes. "^ No. 3. — Coarse hominy boiled and browned ; peaches and cream; bread, butter, coffee, etc.; beefsteak, oysters on toast ; stewed potatoes ; muffins. FAMILY BREAKFASTS FOR WINTER. No. 1. — Fried mush ; baked sweet apples ; rolls, bread, but- ter, coffee, etc. ; turkey hash, stewed potatoes ; salt mack- erel ; buckwheat cakes, sirup. No. 2. — Cracked wheat; baked pears; rolls, Graham bread, butter, coffee, etc. ; sausages garnished with fried soui* apples ; quail on toast, baked potatoes ; buckwheat cakes, sirup. No. 3. — Fried hominy ; stewed apples ; bread, butter, cof- fee, etc.; venison steak, cold sparerib, sliced; potatoes, Saratoga style ; buckwheat cakes, sirup. FAMILY DINNERS. In January. — Beef-soup with vegetables ; bream with oyster sauce ; boiled potatoes ; corned beef with carrots ; stewed kidneys ; Spanish puffs. In February. — Ox-tail soup ; boiled chicken ; fried pars- nips, caper sauce ; fillets of bass with pickles ; mince patties. In March. — Oysters with lettuce; roast sirloin of beef; potato croquettes ; cabbage boiled with cream ; baked lemon- pyd(4in^, THE BILL OF FARE. 34-1 ■' In April. — Fried oysters, sliced cucumbers; smelts fried with fat salt pork ; baked potatoes ; lamb chops with baked macaroni ; pumpkin pie and coffee. In May. — Clam soup ; boiled leg of mutton, tomato sauce ; mashed potatoes; oyster-plant in batter; lettuce and green onions ; raisin-pudding, sherry sauce. In June. — Salmon ; chicken-soup with barley ; cold roast mutton with boiled cauliflower ; lettuce with cives and olives mixed ; Charlotte russe. In July. — Beef soup with noodles ; rock bass with fried potatoes ; tomatoes with slices of chicken, dressed in may- onnaise sauce; peaches and cream. In August. — Clams on the halfshell, pickles ; broiled .ten- der-loin steak ; green peas and asparagus ; strawberry- short-cake and coffee. In September. — Oyster soup ; broiled eels with cucumbers ; braised fowl ; string-beans ; celery with capers ; currant tart with whipped cream. In October. — Beef soup ; halibut with parsley sauce ; the beef with the vegetables ; potato salad ; tapioca-pudding, sauce of sliced fruits ; cream cakes. In November. — Mock turtle ; turkey, cranberry sauce ; rice croquettes ; egg-plant stuffed ; snipe, fried oysters ; water cresses with hard-boiled eggs ; German puffs. In December. — Puree of beans ; broiled herring, Dutch sauce ; ribs of beef; boiled potatoes ; stewed tomatoes ; pumpkin pie. in many of the cities Tea has passed away. Late dinners are in order. Luncheon is served to those at home at mid- day, which includes a cold cut, bread and butter, cheese, a glass of milk or cup of tea, and possibly a light dessert. 342 THE HO USE WIFE'S. LIBRAE K A bowl of hot, light soup is very acceptable at luncheon also. Luncheons are sometimes made quite elaborate, and become very pleasant company occasions. Late suppers are served by some who have the late din- ners, but unless they sit up very much later, the practice must soon affect them very injuriously. For supper, or tea, given at the usual hours, say from six to eight o'clock, the bill of fare suggested for breakfast may serve in substance. The later the supper the lighter it should be. Strong tea or coffee should not be used near bed-time if sound sleep is desired. Specimen bills of fare are given below. They are in suit- able form for the hostess to follow, and also for the printer to follow if it be desired to produce either of them in type. Fine Hominy French Rolls Tea MENU. Breakfast. Beefsteak Buckwheat Cakes Coffee Buttered Toast Potatoes a la Creme Chocolate Or, in this form : Breakfast. Broiled Spring Chickens Parker House Rolls Saratoga Potatoes Scrambled Eggs Rye and Indian Loaf Fried Oysters Coffee Tea Chocolate Or, in this form : White Fish Fried Ham Coffee Breakfast MufBns Tea Potatoes Egg Omelette Chocolate THE BILL OF FARE. 343 For lunches, the menu may take either of the forms which now follow. Lunch Party Beef-tea served in small porcelain cups Cold Chicken, Oyster, and other Croquettes Chicken Salad Minced Ham Sandwiches Scalloped Oysters Tutti Frutti Chocolate Cream Cake-basket of Mixed Cake Mulled Chocolate Mixed Pickles Biscuits, etc. Ice-cream and Charlottes Or, in this form : Oyster-pie Lunch Party Boiled Partridge Cold Ham Sweet Pickles Sandwiches Pound and Fruit-cake Pyramids of Wine Jelly Blanc Mange Snow Jelly Pineapple Flummery Kisses Macaroons Ice-cream For dinners either of the following forms will answer. Dinner First Course Oyster Soup with Celery Second Course Roast Turkey Croquettes of Rice Vegetables Mince Pie Macaroni Cheese Third Course Quail on Toast i'ickles Dessert Almond Pudding Fruits Coffee Sweet and Irish Potatoes Escalloped Tomatoes Jelly Lemon Pie Nuts 344 ^-^^ HOUSEWIFE S LIBRARY. Or, in this form : Dinner First Course Raw Oysters White and Brown Soup Second Course Boiled White Fish with Sauce and Sliced Lemons Third Course Roast Beef Fourth Course Roast Turkey Ducks Vegetables in Season Croquettes of Rice or Hominy Cranberry Sauce . Currant Jelly Dessert Cream Custard Lemon Pie Fruit Nuts ^ ^ ;^ Coffee For tea, the order below will be found valuable : Tea Company Chocolate Chicken Salad Tea Oyster Sandwiches Coffee Biscuits Cold Tongue Cake and Preserves [Ice-cream and Cake later in the evening] Or, in this form : Tea Company Mufi&ns Tea, Coffee, or Chocolate Scalloped or Fried Oysters Sliced Turkey and Ham Cold Biscuits Sardines and Sliced Lemons Thin Slices of Bread Rolled Sliced Pressed Meats Cake in Variety THE BILL OF FARE. For more substantial supper serve as below : Supper 345 Cold Roast Turkey Ham Croquettes Charlotte Russe Chocolate Cake Or, in this form : Quail on Toast Mixed Cakes Fruit Coffee and Chocolate Supper Chicken Salad Fricasseed Oysters Vanilla Cream Cocoanut Cake Cold Roast Partridges or Ducks Oyster Patties Cold Boiled Ham Dressed Celery Oysters or Minced Ham Sandwiches Raw Oysters Chicken Croquettes or Fricasseed Oysters Wine Jelly Ice-cream Biscuit Glace Cakes Fruits Chocolate Coffee Pickles and Biscuits Another authority suggests for supper and luncheons the following suitable dishes from which to make choice, namely : Soups, sandwiches of ham, tongue, dried sausage, or beef; anchovy, toast or husks ; potted beef, lobster, or cheese ; dried salmon, lobster, crayfish, or oysters ; poached eggs ; patties ; pigeon pies ; sausages ; toast with marrow (served on a water plate), cheesecakes ; puffs, mashed or scalloped potatoes, brocoli ; asparagus, sea-kale with toast, creams, jellies, preserved or dried fruits, salad, radishes, etc. If a more substantial supper is required, it may consist of fish, poultry, game ; slices of cold meat ; pies of chickens, pigeons, or game ; lamb or mutton chops ; cold poultry, broiled with high seasoning, or fricasseed ; rations or toasted cheese, etc. 34^ THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. And now, what more on bills of fare does the good house- wife need ? Possibly she needs some hints as to cold lunches for wash-days, house-cleaning times, and other days of extra work. She shall have a few such hints : PLAIN HOME LUNCHEONS. No. 1. — Cold corn-beef, nicely sliced ; baked potatoes; bread, butter, and pickles. Dessert — mince pie and cheese. No. 2. — Chicken pie, baked potatoes ; rolled bread or bis- cuit. Dessert — cake and custard. No. 3. — First course: Raw oysters, with lemon and crackers. Second course : Cold veal, with jelly and Sara- toga potatoes, bread, and butter. Dessert — pie with cheese. No. 4. — Casserole of fish, with mushroom catsup ; bread and butter. Dessert — cherry pie with cheese. Possibly some hints as to economical dishes for dinner may be of service. Such hints, adapted to each day of the week, are added to render this needed service. DINNER FOR EVERY DAY. ^^^ Sunday. — Roast beef, potatoes, and greens. Dess^n^r- pudding or pie, cheese. : . : Monday. — Hashed beef, potatoes, and bread-pudding. Tuesday. — Broiled beef, vegetables, apple-pudding. Wednesday. — Boiled pork, beans, potatoes, greens, and pie, or rice-pudding. Thursday. — Roast or broiled fowl, cabbage, potatoes, lemon pie, cheese. Friday. — Fish, potato croquettes, escalloped tomatoes, pudding. Saturday. — A la mode beef, potatoes, vegetables, suet-pud- ding and mince pie, cheese. THE BILL OF FARE. 347 .^ As one who attempts to master the many dishes at the table of a great hotel finds himself worsted, so the house- wife who attempts at once to master the foregoing sugges- tions will find herself Patient and repeated attention, how- ever, will master the whole. QUANTITY OF PROVISION NEEDED.. What quantity of the standard articles must be provided for entertainments ? This question is a practical one of no small importance. Nobody wishes to run short at a com- pany, nor does a prudent person care to waste good food. How then shall estimates be made which can be fairly depended on ? Experience shows the following general principles to hold good. It is safe to assume that of one hundred and fifty invited guests, but two-thirds of the number will be present. If five hundred are invited, not more than three hundred can be counted upon as accepting. Smaller numbers will be more largely represented in proportion. Allow one quart of oysters to every three persons present. Five chickens, or, what is better, a ten-pound turkey, boiled and minced, and fifteen heads of celery, are enough for chicken salad for fifty guests ; allow one gallon of ice-cream to every twenty guests ; one hundred and thirty sandwiches for one hundred guests ; and six to ten quarts of wine jelly for each hundred. For a company of twenty, allow three chickens for salad ; one hundred pickled oysters ; two molds of Charlotte russe ; one gallon of cream, and four dozen biscuits. CURIOUS DISHES AND BILLS OF FARE. A recent French fancy is a deep dish of mashed potato filled with hot broiled plover or snipe, and then hidden in a grove of parsley sprigs and celery tops stuck into the 348 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. potato. It comes to the table looking as green and fresh as a salad. But the salad is still to come; you have simply struck a fresh covey of birds. A royal Chinese banquet was tendered Sir Thomas Bras- sey, M. P., at Macao, March 6th, 1877. The following was the menu of that entertainment : BILL OF FARE : Four Courses of Small Bowls^ one to each guest, viz. : Birds' -nest Soup, Pigeons' Eggs, Ice-fungus (said to grow in ice), Sharks' Fins (chopped). Eight Large Bowls, viz. : Stewed Sharks' Fins, Fine Shell Fish, Mandarin Birds'-nest, Canton Fish Maw, Fish Brain, Meat Balls with Rock Fungus, Pigeons Stewed with Wai Shan (a strengthening herb), Stewed Mushroom. Four Dishes, viz. : Sliced Ham, Roast Mutton, Fowls, Roast Sucking Pig. One Large Dish, viz, * Boiled Rock Fish. Eight Small Bowls, viz. : Stewed Pig's Palate, Minced Quails, Stewed Fungus (another description),. Sinews of the Whale Fish, Rolled Roast Fowl, Sliced Teals, Stewed Duck's Paw, Peas Stewed. A stylish Japanese dinner was served with the following BILL OF FARE: Soup, Shrimps and Seaweed ; Praws, Egg Omelette, and Preserved Grapes ; Fried Fish, Spinach, Young Rushes, and Young Ginger ; Raw Fish, Mustard and Cress, Horseradish and Soy ; Thick Soup of Eggs, Fish, Mushrooms and Spinach, Grilled Fish; Fried Chicken and Bamboo Shoots, I Turnip Tops and Root Pickled, Rice ad libitum in a large bowl, ' Hot Saki, Pipes, and Tea. . v.— TABLE-LINEN. VARIETIES OF TABLE LINEN. — FANCY FOLDING OF NAPKINS. WHEN Solomon described the model woman of his day, among other praiseworthy things he said of her was this : " She maketh fine linen, and selleth it." Into what forms she put this fine linen is not stated, butwe maybe sure that some was table-linen. With the imperfect ap- pliances of that day she could not equal Brown's Irish linens, which are now the standards ; but, doubt- less, she kept her fine linen pure and white. Such linen is fitly asso- ciated with royalty in many references of an- tiquity, and with the purity of saints in refer- ences of the Scripture. There is no finer field for the display of a housewife's neatness than is found in table- linen. It adds so much to every meal, or de- tracts so seriously from it, that everybody appreciates skill in its management. 349 350 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. All our linen tablecloths and napkins are imported and are made of efenuine linen. Highly colored cloths are not linen. Flax will not take high coloring. The highly colored cloths and napkins are cotton, and are generally of domestic origin. True linens for table uses are pure white, white and brown, or white with border- ing of light colors. They are made plain, with simple figures, or in elaborate pat- terns. The largest pattern tablecloths regularly in the market are two and a half yards wide by eight yards long. Tablecloths cut from piece goods can be had of any length. Napkins of regular make are five-eighths, six-eighths, or seven-eighths of a yard 1 ^^ —y\ V ^/ \ \ / 1 y \ 2 1 N square. They are made to match the standard tablecloths* TABLE-LINEN. 351 Doilies can be had from four inches square upward. The smallest sizes are used by dentists ; the next under finger-bowls ; the largest sizes are used with fruit, etc. They, too, can be had to match cloths and napkins of standard colors and styles. White table-linen is the article for dinners and formal meals. Colored linen, or cotton goods, are admis- sible at tea or luncheon. The whole equipment of linen at a given meal should be of one and the same kind and color. Good table-linen requires no starch. It will polish well by good ironing. It should al- ways be immaculately clean. Slop- ped, stained, fly-covered table-linen is disgusting. A floor-cloth should not be used in the sad- ly soiled condition in which many a table- cloth does duty. A large, well-lighted, and well-aired closet should be appropriated for table-linen. Unless the washing would thereby become crush- ingly heavy, the better way is to wash every napkin after one using. Dispense with the nap- kin-ring. It does guar- antee to a man his own soiled linen ; but it is far better to give him clean linen. o.r:o yilE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. A plain square fold of the napkin can be made by a child, as may an ordinary fun- nel or cone-shaped twist, so that the napkin may be set into a goblet. But beyond these simple forms there are artistic heights of napkin-folding to which only profes' sionals attain. It is the boast of some skilled linen-men of the caterers that they can fold nap- kins in fifty, sixty, and even a hundred ways. Sure it is that Masonic dinners can be served with the square and com- pass in napkins ; mili- tary men can have the tent ; physicians can have the mortar and pestle, and so on indefi- nitely. To accomplish fine work in this line a full-sized napkin must be used, and it must be well starched and ironed flat. Amateurs in the art should practice on paper of proper size. Practice will promote expertness, and to devise new forms will soon be easy and entertaining work. In our diagrams of napkin- folding the relative sizes of the several folds are not main- tained strictly, but the folds are shown correctly. TABLE-LINEN. 353 EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAMS. A. Double Columns. — A-i, the parts, not creased. A-2, one .edge rolled toward the fold. A-3, napkin turned over and points of top fold turned out- ward. A-4, partly rolled, with fold of A-2 surrounding the first fold into three equal base and point center- ing accurately. A, both ends rolled, showing completed form. Either side shows well when completed, and if evenly done, it will stand alone and be very beautiful on a table or in a goblet. B. Water Lily.— B-i, the. first fold, each cor- ner to the centre. B-2-, the second fold, each cor- ner again to the centre. B-3, the napkin turned over and each corner brought from below to the centre again. B-4, corners once more to the centre without turning the napkin over. B-5, corners from the under side turned outward, on to which the upper points also are then turned. B-6, the smaller points exposed by the last turn folded outward to secure eight points. B, the smaller points turned upward around 354 THE HO USE WIFE'S XlBRAR Y. a fancy water-bottle ; the next larger points turned up about the smaller ; the lowermost points tucked under, the four prominent corners also folded under, so mak- ing the base circular- — the entire four lying close to the bottle. C. Mitre.— C- 1, first fold into three equal parts. C-2, each end folded in toward, but not entirely to, the centre. C-3, opposite corners of C-2 folded down. C-4, fold C-3 backward so i 1 that the two oblique folds there shown shall be together and parallel, but allow the points to stand erect. C-5, fold the right-hand end up- ward just at the highest point and tuck its end under the fold C, as indi- cated by the arrows. Turn the left-hand end from you and tuck it under the fold on the opposite side, when you will have C, the mitre form, which will stand beautifully on a plate. D. Capucllin. — D-i, napkin folded into three equal parts. D-2, second fold. D-3, napkin turned over and the points rolled upward. D-4, right-hand end folded under in a line TABLE-LINEN. 355 perpendicular to the longer fold, so that the roll stands per- pendicular to the base-line shown in D-3. The left-hand end then folds the sarfie, showing both rolls as one appears in D-4. The top will then show a square as in D, and in the fold beneath it a roll of bread may be placed, or the folded napkin may lie on the plate. E. Lady's Slipper. — E-i is the napkin folded in three equal parts. E-2 represents the re- sult of two folds — the first turning the right- hand half upward upon the left at an angle of about forty-five degrees ; the second fold bringing the same end back into the position shown in E-2. The left-hand end is then treated in the same manner, producing the result exhibited in E-3. E-4 represents the preceding form with one corner tucked into the slipper, as indicated by the arrow, and E shows the final result, with both corners adjusted in their proper position. 23 356 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. F. Tulip.' — F-i shows the napkin folded in three equal parts. F-2 shows its ends turned inward, as in C-2. F-3 shows the right-hand lower corner turned up- ward, the left to be treated in the same way. To produce F-4, turn the napkin over, the point from you, and turn up the right- hand lower corner until it appears as in the dia- gram. Bring up the lower left-hand corner and tuck it into the fold show^n in F-4. This gives F-5 when placed erect, and the final form, F, is readily produced by opening out the points from the apex. |||||i _^,. !E 1. 1 OTHER FOLDINGS. The Fish Tail.— Fold the napkin on a diagonal, so that the two opposite points TABLE-LINEN. 357 meet, the form being a right-angled triangle. either of the acute angles, gather across the napkin folds one inch wide. Crease this folded napkin down tightly. Catch each part of the napkin at its highest points, drawing them apart a few inches — as the blades of a pair of shears open, keeping the whole flat, as creased. Set this form in a goblet, points up, and you have a beautiful display. The Bird Wing. — Fold as in the last form, but crease only at the bottom, allowing the upper part to spread as a fan. This form, alternat- ing with the open fish-tail form, produces a beautiful appearance. Star Form. — Fold all the points to a centre ; turn Beginning at over and repeat the movement ; turn out the last folded points. VI.— WORK AND HELP. the domestic struggle ; ** flats; " regularity; forethought; supervision; accountability; kitchens; conveniences; KITCHEN company; GENERAL HINTS. THERE is no housekeeper who will not weary of the household work if she attempt to do it in person ; nor is there one whose patience will not be sorely tried if she attempt to do it by proxy. Physical exhaustion on the one side, and mental exhaustion on the other, are the Scylla and Charybdis between which the good housewife struggles to guide the domestic craft. Some make fairly good pro- gress in the effort, but more are sorely tried and buffeted, while many finally go down in the whirlpool of boarding- house or hotel life, or are shattered and scattered as families. The comparatively new method of " flats," as conducted in New York, Chicago,- and San Francisco, is a Parisian idea adapted to American necessities. In immense struc- tures, with eight or ten floors, apartments are fitted up usually in sumptuous style, with every convenience and luxury. Elevators carry the residents and callers to any floor, so that the ninth floor is virtually as good as the first. The hall- ways and apartments are heated and cared for by house servants ; the meals are served a la carte, in a general din- ing-hall or restaurant, or are served in the rooms if desired; so that the only care the occupants have is the incidental charge of their own rooms and their social duties. This method avoids all personal labor and all care about servants, and yet each family has its own home. Of course there are no yards or gardens in such places. When there are little children in a family the opportunities 358 work: AND HELP, 359 are rather restricted. The old home idea is wholly lost in such a dwelling-place. Domestic duties are in utter disuse. Home cooking has no foothold. Home decoration may be practiced to a limited extent, and home courtesy may prevail ; but after all, the home life barely exists. In the old-fashioned home life, regularity is a prime factor. Without it all will speedily run to disorder. To do things regularly requires forethought and planning. What to do and when to do it, must both be clearly understood. Then the predetermined plans must be rigidly adhered to and carried through. Servants see at a glance whether the head of the house ** means business " or not. Any number of orders may be issued, but if the servants know that it means nothing, they do not concern or bestir themselves. Orders should be few as possible, but they should be well con- sidered and explicit, and when once issued they should be conformed to absolutely. Vaporing, scolding, fretting, and storming about the house only lower the lady of the establishment in the esteem of her employees. Her superiority must appear in her calm delib- eration and her intelligently formed decisions. But these need not be issued in an arbitrary, dictatorial form. The American spirit does not brook much of this. Help worth having can suit iteelf readily in other places, and such help will not submit to arbitrary or tyrannical treatment. One of the best advisers of young housekeepers says to them : " Never, except in cases of extreme emergency, allow Monday's washing to be put off till Tuesday, Tues- day's ironing till Wednesday, or Wednesday's finishing up and setting to rights till Thursday. Leave Thursday for extra work ; or when that is not required, for a resting day or a half holiday, and as a preparation for the up-stairs sweeping and dusting of Friday, and the down-stairs baking and scrubbing of Saturday." In this advice all good house- wives will concur, though the men of the house, to quote 3^0 THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIBRARY. one such, " cannot see why so arbitrary and inflexible a rule should be imposed upon the domestic economy." Forethought will prove a great help in saving time, fuel, labor, and temper. For example : Mix bread at night, and it will be ready to bake with that " first fire," which always makes the oven hot in the morning. Prepare firuit over night, so that pies or other prepara- tions for dessert can be quickly made, and baked imme- diately after the bread. Prepare hash for breakfast over night. Have the kitchen and dining-room, put in order before going to bed. Have kindlings and whatever is requried for building needed fires laid out ready, and the fire in the kitchen raked down, so that it can be started in the shortest possible time. This is not only a saving in the morning, but it will be found very useful in case of illness in the night when a fire may be required at a moment's notice. Much work is saved by forethought in purchases. If possible, lay in winter supplies ; buy starch, sugar, soap, tea, etc., etc., in quantities reasonably large, and deliver them to the kitchen as needed; it may be by the week, or twice a week. It should not be so often as to become irksome, not so seldom as to lose sight of what is going on. Dried soap will prove an immense saving by its hardness, as com- pared with the soft, fresh bars for which the servant runs twice or thrice a week. Money and labor both are saved by such forethought as this. Constant supervision is essential to securing good work. Eye-service is the bane of our laboring classes. See that orders are obeyed ; see that things are put to proper uses ; see that house-cloths do not become dish-cloths, or vice vei^sa ; that hand-towels do not become cup-towels, or vice versa; that combs, brushes, etc., etc., are kept out of the cooking apartment ; that the cellar broom is not used on WORR' AND HELP. 3gl the parlor carpet, or vice versa. Indeed, there is no end to the points that the housewife must supervise, if she be determined to have her work well done. . Accountability for articles belonging to each department must be insisted on with every servant. No article must be allowed to disappear without a sufficient reason. Nor must anything be out of its proper place, except as necessary. Explain to each new servant the nature of this accountability and hold every one steadily to it. It is said that American kitchens are the worst in the world. Work is very materially promoted by means of a good kitchen. It should be roomy, light, and capable of good ventilation without sending its odors and its steam through the house. It should have plenty of good, con- venient closets for all that pertains to the work there done. It should have direct access to the fuel, store-rooms, or cel- lar where provisions are stored, and convenient access to the dining-room. A window communication is best between kitchen and dining-room, using a waiting-maid to receive. The conveniences of range, hot and cold water, sink, etc., are desirable, of course, but in some places they are not attainable. A dish-drainer is a great convenience. It may be made of a grooved board, slightly inclined so as to drain the water back into the sink or dish-pan. Dishes laid upon this as washed, that they may drain a few minutes, will be found in much better condition for wiping, and so labor will be saved. An elevated strip must surround all but the lower edge of this drainer to prevent the dishes from slipping off. Kitchen company seriously interferes with work and service. The employees of a house are social beings. They have their associations and must continue to have them, but much visiting destroys effective management. It demoral- izes servants and delays work. Company should be re- stricted to certain convenient hours. The indiscriminate fur- 362 THE HOUSEWIFE' S LIBRARY. nishing of meals to their visitors by servants should not be permitted. Permission at that point should be asked of the lady of the house, and she, not the servant, should judge whether the case is exceptional and allowable. Interfer- ence in the presence of the *' guests " would probably create a scene, but a good understanding at the outset would be as likely to preclude all trouble. Indeed, so few housewives know their own minds in domestic management, that the servants are little to blame if they too are ignorant of " the lady's " mind. Be reasonable with servants ; yea, be gen- erous ; but be explicit and decided. After this extended discussion, it still remains true that the thoughful, self-poised, kindly, but decided housewife will be the only one who will get the needed work done, and will find all her " help " really helpful. It seems wise to conclude this chapter with a few carefully selected HINTS ON HOME WORK. Aprons. — Have a good assortment of full-sized aprons which can be washed. They should be long and wide. Brooms. — Four brooms should be in simultaneous use in a house. The best for the parlor and best rooms ; the second best for the sitting-room and dining-room ; the third for the kitchen ; the last for the cellar, yard, etc. When the best broom shows wear, replace it with a new one, and " retire " the worst_, moving the others back one place. Hang up brooms by a loop, or better, by a broom holder. (See Chap- ter xxi, Part I.) Closets, etc. — Scrub them out thoroughly and frequently. Cover dish-shelves with clean white papers ; the edges may be scolloped, or " pinked," if desired. Disll-clotlis. — Old towels, crash, napkins, table-cloths, etc., make splendid dish-cloths. WORK AND HELP. 363 Dusters. — Feather dusters throw dust from one place to another. They are poor tools, except for the lightest kind of work. Cloths' are preferable. These should be shaken out-of-doors frequently, or washed. Damp chamois skins are best for articles not liable to damage by dampness. Fuel. — When cooking is not going on, the fire should be slacked by closing the dampers, etc. Coal should never be piled high in the stoves. It chokes the draft, makes heat tvhere it does no good, burns out the stove tops, and wastes willfully. Ashes should be sifted and picked over. A large ■ saving will be effected thus. Holders. — Iron-holders, and others for hot pots, kettles, etc., will save time, labor, and burns. If such conveniences do not exist, towels will be substituted by the " help." Ironing Tools. — Keep the cloths, etc., in good, orderly shape in a clean, dry place. The irons must be kept free from moisture. Paper and String. — Lay all such together in a convenient place, nicely straightened out, ready for use at any time. If too much accumulates, sell it or burn it. Pie-board. — This, with the roller, should be put away clean every time, in a scrupulously clean place. Pots and Kettles. — Put away thoroughly cleaned and well dried. Scald out coffee and tea-pots frequently with soda- water. Keep each in its proper place. Refrigerators. — Scrub and air these frequently. The purest and best makes need such treatment. Water Coolers. — Scrub and air these. Sediment will col- lect which must be unwholesome and unsavory. WMsks. — Use a clean, fine whisk for upholstered furniture. Have others for the stairs, corners of rooms, etc. All these in addition to whisks used for clothing. VII.— VENTILATION. VENTILATION NEEDED; HOW TO GET IT J BY WINDOWS; BY A shaft; with THE heat; facts and figures. FRESH air is essential to healthful and happy human existence. It is so free and abundant that there should be no lack anywhere or at any time. Out-of-doors we get it without care or planning ; but to get it in-doors, and so to get it that nobody is harmed, that nobody catches cold or gets the rheumatism, that is the problem. Every living being gives off the deadly carbonic acid gas continually, and at the same time consumes the vitalizing oxygen. Lamps, fires, combustion of all sorts, does the same, some forms of these being more active than others in the emission of carbonic acid gas. For every apartment where people live and fires burn there must be ventilation. Fresh air must come in, and foul air must go out. In cold weather, this must be so done that a reasonable warmth in the room shall be maintained, and it must always be so done that chilling drafts shall not strike persons in such way as to check perspiration and produce sickness. Ventilation in large buildings is usually provided for by forcing fresh air through all its ramifications. The air is admitted in such ways as shall most effectually diffuse it •through the building, avoiding all blasts or sensible currents. If mechanical means are employed to force air, the problem is comparatively simple. Drive in enough air and distribute it with judgment, and it is all done. ' But dwelling-houses do not admit of these elaboicLte 364 ventilation: 365 arrangements except in rare cases. How can they be venti- lated ? The commonest way is to open the window. If a wind be stirring, or if the temperature within and without the room vary much, currents of air will at once set in, and an open window will do the desired work. But if the atmos- phere be still and sultry, the windows may be open, and yet no interchange of air take place. The top of the window allows egress to the heated air. The bottom allows ingress to the colder, external air. To ventilate a room, both open- ings of the window are needed. If windows are only on one side of a room, a door upon the other side must be open to do the work properly. Currents which would be too strong, may be well broken by the ordinary shutter blinds, the angle given the slats determining the direction of currents to a great extent, and so breaking their volume as to render them practically harmless. ;cr An easy adaptation of ordinary windows for a good ven- tilating purpose is secured by inserting on the sill, where the bottom sash shuts down, a piece of wood the thickness of the sash, and long as the sash is wide, but about three inches high ; the effect being that the sash, shutting down on this strip, shall stand three inches above the sill and yet the bottom will be closed tight. The displacement between the upper and lower sash will leave an opening by which cur- rents of air will pass in and out, ventilating the room very fairly, and that, too, with- out any perceptible draft. Another simple method is to tack muslin or ornamental cloth across the bottom of the window frame, inside the room, but not against the sash. The window may then be raised. The muslin should rise three times the height of the opening of the window. The effect of this is to produce A CHEAP JVTETHOD OF VENTILATION. "366 ^^-^^' novs/