The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;

For two hams the following proportions may be observed: wash your hams all over with vinegar, and hang them up for two or three days. Take one pound and a half of the brownest sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of bay salt, and a quart of common salt; mix them together; heat them before the fire as hot as you can bear your hand in, and rub it well into the hams before the fire, till they are very tender. Lay them in a tub made long for that purpose, or a butcher’s tray, that will hold them both, one laid one way and the other the contrary way, and strew the remainder of the ingredients over them. When the salt begins to melt, add a pint of vinegar, and let them lie three weeks, washing them with the liquor and turning them every day. Dry them in saw-dust smoke; hang them in a cellar; and if they mould it will do them no harm, as these hams require damp and not extreme driness. Juniper-berries thrown into the fire at which they are smoked greatly improve their flavour.

Westphalia Ham, to cure. No. 5

One pound of common salt, one pound of bay salt, four ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of black pepper; pound them separately, then mix them, and rub the ham very well until the whole is used. Rub one pound of treacle on them; lay them in the pickle one month, turning them every day. The quantity here specified will do for two hams. Before you hang them up, steep them in a pail of water for twelve hours.

Westphalia Ham, to cure. No. 6

Make a good brine of salt and water, sufficiently strong to bear an egg; boil and skim it clean, and when quite cold rub the meat with sal prunella and saltpetre mixed together. Put it in a vessel, and pour your brine into it; and, when the ham has been in the brine about fourteen days, take it out, drain it, and boil the brine, putting in a little salt, and letting it boil till clear. Skim it, and when cold put in your ham, rubbing it over with saltpetre, &c. as you did at first. Then let your ham again lie in the brine for three weeks longer; afterwards rub it well with bran, and have it dried by a wood fire.

English Hams, to make like Westphalia. No. 1

Cut your legs of pork like hams; beat them well with a wooden mallet, till they are tender, but great care must be taken not to crack or break the skin, or the hams will be spoiled. To three hams take half a peck of salt, four ounces of saltpetre, and five pounds of coarse brown sugar; break all the lumps, and mix them well together. Rub your hams well with this mixture, and cover them with the rest. Let them lie three days; then hang them up one night, and put as much water to the salt and sugar as you think will cover them; the pickle must be strong enough to bear an egg: boil and strain it, and, when it is cold, pack your hams close, and cover them with the pickle at least an inch and half above their tops. Let them lie for a fortnight; then hang them up one night; the next day rub them well with bran, and hang them in the chimney of a fire-place in which turf, wood, or sawdust is burned. If they are small they will be dry enough in a fortnight; if large, in two or three days more. Then hang them up against a wall near a fire, and not in a damp place. Tongues may be cured in the same manner, and ribs of beef may be put in at the same time with the hams. You must let the beef lie in the pickle three weeks, and take it out when you want to boil it without drying it.

English Hams, to make like Westphalia. No. 2

Cut off with the legs of young well grown porkers part of the flesh of the hind loin; lay them on either side in cloths, and press out the remaining blood and moisture, laying planks on them with heavy weights, which bring them into form; then salt them well with common salt and sugar finely beaten, and lay them in troughs one upon another, pressed closely down and covered with hyssop. Let them remain thus for a fortnight; then pass through the common salt, and with saltpetre rub them well over, which may be continued three or four days, till they soak. Take them out, and hang them in a close barn or smoke-loft; make a moderate fire under them, if possible of juniper-wood, and let them hang to sweat and dry well. Afterwards hang them up in a dry and airy place to the wind for three or four days, which will remove the ill scent left by the smoke; and wrap them up in sweet hay. To dress them, put them into a kettle of water when it boils; keep them well covered till they are done, and very few can distinguish them from the true Westphalia.

English Hams, to make like Westphalia. No. 3

Take a ham of fifteen or eighteen pounds weight, two ounces of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar, one ounce of petre-salt, one ounce of bay salt, and one ounce of sal prunella, mixed with common salt enough to cover the ham completely. Turn your ham every other day, and let it remain in salt for three weeks. Take it out, rub a little bran over it, and dry it in a wood fire chimney, where a constant fire is kept: it will be fit for eating in a month. The quantity of the above ingredients must be varied according to the size of your ham. Before you dress it soak it over-night in water.

Hams from bacon pigs are better than pork. An onion shred small gives it a good flavour.

Green Hams

Salt a leg of pork as for boiling, with a little saltpetre to make it red. Let it lie three weeks in salt, and then hang for a month or six weeks; but if longer it is of no consequence. When boiled, stuff with young strawberry leaves and parsley, which must be particularly well washed or they will be gritty.

Ham, to prepare for dressing without soaking

Put the ham into a coarse sack well tied up, or sew it up in a cloth. Bury it three feet under ground in good mould; there let it remain for three or four days at least. This is an admirable way. The ham eats much mellower and finer than when soaked.

Ham, to dress

Boil the ham for two hours; take it out and trim it neatly all round; prepare in a stewpan some thin slices of veal, so as to cover the bottom; add to it two bunches of carrots sliced, six large onions, two cloves, two bunches of parsley, a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, a pint of beef jelly, a bottle of white wine, and three pints of boiling water. Place the ham in the stewpan, and let it boil an hour and three quarters; then serve it immediately without sauce, preserving the sauce for other use.

Ham, to roast

Tie or sew up the ham in a coarse cloth, put it into a sack, and bury it three or four feet under ground, for three or four days before you dress it. Wash it in warm water, pare it, and scrape the rind. Spit and lay it down to roast. Into a broad stewpan put a pint of white wine, a quart of good broth, half a pint of the best vinegar, two large onions sliced, a blade of mace, six cloves, some pepper, four bay-leaves, some sweet basil, and a sprig of thyme. Let all these have a boil; and set the liquor under the ham, and baste very frequently with it. When the ham is roasted, take up the pan; skim all the fat off; pour the liquor through a fine sieve; then take off the rind of the ham, and beat up the liquor with a bit of butter; put this sauce under, and serve it.

Ham, entrée of

Cut a dozen slices of ham; take off the fat entirely; fry them gently in a little butter. Have a good brown rich sauce of gravy; and serve up hot, with pieces of fried bread, cut of a semicircular shape, of the same size as the pieces of ham, and laid between them.

Ham toasts

Cut slices of dressed ham, and thin slices of bread, or French roll, of the same shape; fry it in clarified butter; make the ham hot in cullis, or good gravy, thickened with a little floured butter. Dish the slices of ham on the toast; squeeze the juice of a Seville orange into the sauce; add a little pepper and salt; and pour it over them.

Ham and Chicken, to pot. Mrs. Vanbrugh’s receipt

Put a layer of ham, then another of the white part of chicken, just as you would any other potted meat, into a pot. When it is cut out, it will shew a very pretty stripe. This is a delicate way of eating ham and chicken.

Another way

Take as much lean of a boiled ham as you please, and half the quantity of fat; cut it as thin as possible; beat it very fine in a mortar, with a little good oiled butter, beaten mace, pepper, and salt; put part of it into a china pot. Then beat the white part of a fowl with a very little seasoning to qualify the ham. Put a layer of chicken, then one of ham, then another of chicken at the top; press it hard down, and, when it is cold, pour clarified butter over it. When you send it to table in the pot, cut out a thin slice in the form of half a diamond, and lay it round the edge of the pot.

Herb sandwiches

Take twelve anchovies, washed and cleaned well, and chopped very fine; mix them with half a pound of butter; this must be run through a sieve, with a wooden spoon. With this, butter bread, and make a salad of tarragon and some chives, mustard and cress, chopped very small, and put them upon the bread and butter. Add chicken in slices, if you please, or hard-boiled eggs.

Hog’s Puddings, Black. No. 1

Steep oatmeal in pork or mutton broth, of milk; put to it two handfuls of grated bread, a good quantity of shred herbs, and some pennyroyal: season with salt, pepper, and ginger, and other spices if you please; and to about three quarts of oatmeal put two pounds of beef suet shred small, and as much hog suet as you may think convenient. Add blood enough to make it black, and half a dozen eggs.

Hog’s Puddings, Black. No. 2

To three or four quarts of blood, strained through a sieve while warm, take the crumbs of twelve-pennyworth of bread, four pounds of beef suet not shred too fine, chopped parsley, leeks, and beet; add a little powdered marjoram and mint, half an ounce of black pepper, and salt to your taste. When you fill your skins, mix these ingredients to a proper thickness in the blood; boil them twenty minutes, pricking them as they rise with a needle to prevent their bursting.

Hog’s Puddings, Black. No. 3

Steep a pint of cracked oatmeal in a quart of milk till tender; add a pound of grated bread, pennyroyal, leeks, a little onion cut small, mace, pepper, and salt, to your judgment. Melt some of the leaf of the fat, and cut some of the fat small, according to the quantity made at once; and add blood to make the ingredients of a proper consistence.

Hog’s Puddings, White. No. 1

Take the pith of an ox, and lay it in water for two days, changing the water night and morning. Then dry the pith well in a cloth, and, having scraped off all the skin, beat it well; add a little rose-water till it is very fine and without lumps. Boil a quart or three pints of cream, according to the quantity of pith, with such spices as suit your taste: beat a quarter of a pound of almonds and put to the cream. When it is cold, rub it through a hair sieve; then put the pith to it, with the yolks of eight or nine eggs, some sack, and the marrow of four bones shred small; some sweetmeats if you like, and sugar to your taste: if marrow cannot be procured suet will do. The best spices to put into the cream are nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon; but very little of the last.

Hog’s Puddings, White. No. 2

Take a quart of cream and fourteen eggs, leaving out half the whites; beat them but a little, and when the cream boils up put in the eggs; keep them stirring on a gentle fire till the whole is a thick curd. When it is almost cold, put in a pound of grated bread, two pounds of suet shred small, having a little salt mixed with it, half a pound of almonds well beaten in orange-flower water, two nutmegs grated, some citron cut small, and sugar to your taste.

Hog’s Puddings, White. No. 3

Take two pounds of grated bread; one pint and a half of cream; two pounds of beef suet and marrow; half a pound of blanched almonds, beat fine with a gill of brandy; a little rose-water; mace, cloves, and nutmeg, pounded, a quarter of an ounce; half a pound of currants, well picked and dried; ten eggs, leaving out half the whites; mix all these together, and boil them half an hour.

Kabob, an India ragout

This dish may be made of any meat, but mutton is the best. Take a slice from a tender piece, not sinewy, a slice of ginger, and a slice of onion, put them on a silver skewer alternately, and lay them in a stewpan, in a little plain gravy. This is the kabob. Take rice and split peas, twice as much rice as peas; boil them thoroughly together, coloured with a little turmeric, and serve them up separately or together. The ginger must be steeped over-night, that you may be able to cut it.

Another way

To make the kabob which is usually served up with pilaw, take a lean piece of mutton, and leave not a grain of fat or skin upon it; pound it in a mortar as for forcemeat; add half a clove of garlic and a spoonful or more of curry-powder, according to the size of the piece of meat, and the yolk of an egg. Mix all well together; make it into small cakes; fry it of a light brown, and put it round the pilaw.

Leg of Lamb, to boil

Divide the leg from the loin of a hind quarter of lamb; slit the skin off the leg, and cut out the flesh of one side of it, and chop this flesh very small; add an equal quantity of shred beef suet and some sweet-herbs shred small; season with nutmeg, pepper, and salt; break into it two eggs. Mix all well together, put it into the leg, sew it up, and boil it. Chop the loin into steaks, and fry them, and, when the leg is boiled enough, lay the steaks round it. Take some white wine, anchovies, nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of butter; thicken with the yolks of two eggs; pour it upon the lamb, and so serve it up. Boil your lamb in a cloth.

Leg of Lamb, with forcemeat

Slit a leg of lamb on the wrong side, and take out as much meat as possible, without cutting or cracking the outward skin. Pound this meat well with an equal weight of fresh suet: add to this the pulp of a dozen large oysters, and two anchovies boned and clean washed. Season the whole with salt, black-pepper, mace, a little thyme, parsley, and shalot, finely shred together; beat them all thoroughly with the yolks of three eggs, and, having filled the skin tight with this stuffing, sew it up very close. Tie it up to the spit and roast it. Serve it with any good sauce.

Shoulder of Lamb, grilled

Half roast, then score, and season it with pepper, salt, and cayenne. Broil it; reserve the gravy carefully; pass it through a sieve to take off all fat. Mix with it mushroom and walnut ketchup, onion, the size of a nut, well bruised, a little chopped parsley, and some of the good jelly reserved for sauces. Put a good quantity of this sauce; make it boil, and pour it boiling hot on the lamb when sent to table.

Lamb, to ragout

Roast a quarter of lamb, and when almost done dredge it well with grated bread, which must be put into the dish you serve it up in; take veal cullis, salt, pepper, anchovy, and lemon juice; warm it, lay the lamb in it, and serve it up.

Lamb, to fricassee

Cut the hind quarter of lamb into thin slices, and season them with spice, sweet-herbs, and a shalot; fry and toss them up in some strong broth, with balls and palates, and a little brown gravy to thicken it.

Miscellaneous directions respecting Meat

A leg of veal, the fillet without bone, the knuckle for steaks, and a pie; bone of fillet and knuckle for soup. – Shoulder of veal, knuckle cut off for soup. – Breast of veal, thin end stews, or re-heats as a stew. – Half a calf’s head boils, then hashes, with gravy from the bones. – For mock turtle soup, neats’ feet instead of calf’s head, that is, two calves’ feet and two neats’ feet. – Giblets of all poultry make gravy. – Ox-cheek, for soup and kitchen. – Rump of beef cut in two, thin part roasted, thick boiled: or steaks and one joint, the bone for soup. – The trimmings of many joints will make gravy. – To boil the meat white, well flour the joint and the cloth it is boiled in, not letting any thing be boiled with it, and frequently skimming the grease. – Lamb chops fried dry and thin make a neat dish, with French beans in cream round them. A piece of veal larded in white celery sauce, to answer the chops. – Dressed meat, chopped fine, with a little forcemeat, and made into balls about the size of an egg, browned and fried dry, and sent up without any sauce. – Sweetbreads larded in white celery sauce. – To remove taint in meat, put the joint into a pot with water, and, when it begins to boil, throw in a few red clear cinders, let them boil together for two or three minutes, then take out the meat, and wipe it dry. – To keep hams, when they are cured for hanging up, tie them in brown paper bags tight round the hocks to exclude the flies, which omission occasions maggots. – Ginger, where spice is required, is very good in most things.

Meat, general rule for roasting and boiling

The general rule for roasting and boiling meat is as follows: fifteen minutes to a pound in roasting, twenty minutes to a pound in boiling.

On no account whatever let the least drop of water be poured on any roast meat; it soddens it, and is a bad contrivance to make gravy, which is, after all, no gravy, and totally spoils the meat.

Meat, half-roasted or under-done

Cut small pieces, of the size of a half-crown, of half-roasted mutton, and put them into a saucepan with half a pint of red wine, the same quantity of gravy, one anchovy, a little shalot, whole pepper, and salt; let them stew a little; then put in the meat with a few capers, and, when thoroughly hot, thicken with butter rolled in flour.

Mustard, to make

Mix three table-spoonfuls of mustard, one of salt, and cold spring water sufficient to reduce it to a proper thickness.

Chine of Mutton, to roast

Let the chine hang downward, and raise the skin from the bone. Take slices of lean gammon of bacon, and season it with chives, parsley, and white pepper; spread them over the chine, and lay the bacon upon them. Turn the skin over them, and tie it up; cover with paper, and roast. When nearly done, dredge with crumbs of bread, and serve up, garnishing with mutton cutlets.

Mutton chops, to stew

Put them in a stewpan, with an onion, and enough cold water to cover them; when come to a boil, skim and set them over a very slow fire till tender; perhaps about three quarters of an hour.

Turnips may be boiled with them.

Mutton cutlets

Cut a neck of mutton into cutlets; beat it till very tender; wash it with thick melted butter, and strew over the side which is buttered some sweet-herbs, chopped small, with grated bread, a little salt, and nutmeg. Lay it on a gridiron over a charcoal fire, and, turning it, do the same to that side as the other. Make sauce of gravy, anchovies, shalots, thick butter, a little nutmeg, and lemon.

Mutton cutlets, with onion sauce

Cut the cutlets very small; trim all round, taking off all the fat; cut off the long part of the bone; put them into a stewpan, with all the trimmings that have been cut off, together with one onion cut in slices; add some parsley, a carrot or two, a pinch of salt, and six table-spoonfuls of mutton or veal jelly, and let them stew till the cutlets are of a brown colour all round, but do not let them burn. Take out the cutlets, drain them in a sieve, and let them cool; then strain the sauce till it becomes of a fine glaze, and re-warm them. Have ready some good onion sauce; put it in the middle of the dish; place the cutlets – eight, if they are small – round it, and serve the glaze with them; take care it does not touch the onion sauce, but pour it round the outside part.

Mutton hams, to make

Cut a hind quarter of mutton like a ham. Take one ounce of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar, and one pound of common salt; mix them together, and rub the ham well with them. Lay it in a hollow tray with the skin downward; baste it every day for a fortnight; then roll it in sawdust, and hang it in wood smoke for a fortnight. Boil and hang it in a dry place; cut it out in rashers. It does not eat well boiled, but is delicious broiled.

Haricot Mutton

Take a neck of mutton, and cut it in the same manner as for mutton chops. When done, lay them in your stewpan, with a blade of mace, some whole peppercorns, a bunch of sweet-herbs, two onions, one carrot, one turnip, all cut in slices, and lay them over your mutton. Set your stewpan over a slow fire, and let the chops stew till they are brown; turn them, that the other side may be the same. Have ready some good gravy, and pour on them, and let them stew till they are very tender. Your ragout must be turnips and carrots cut into dice, and small onions, all boiled very tender, and well stirred up in the liquor in which your mutton was stewed.

Another way

Fry mutton chops in butter till they are brown, but not done through. Lay them flat in a stewpan, and just cover them with gravy. Put in small onions, whole carrots, and turnips, scooped or cut into shapes; let them stew very gently for two hours or more. Season the chops before you fry them with pepper and salt.

Leg of Mutton

To give a leg of mutton the taste of mountain meat, hang it up as long as it will keep fresh; rub it every day with ginger and coarse brown sugar, leaving it on the meat.

Leg of Mutton in the French fashion

A leg of mutton thus dressed is a very excellent dish. Pare off all the skin as neatly as possible; lard the leg with the best lard, and stick a few cloves here and there, with half a clove of garlic, laid in the shank. When half roasted, cut off three or four thin pieces, so as not to disfigure it, about the shank bone; mince these very fine with sage, thyme, mint, and any other sweet garden herbs; add a little beaten ginger, very little, three or four grains; as much cayenne pepper, two spoonfuls of lemon juice, two ladlefuls of claret wine, a few capers, the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs: stew these in some meat jelly, and, when thoroughly stewed, pour over your roast, and serve it up. Do not spare your meat jelly; let the sauce be in generous quantity.

Leg of Mutton or Beef, to hash

Cut small flat pieces of the meat, taking care to pare the skin and sinews, but leaving as much fat as you can find in the inside of the leg; season with a little salt and cayenne pepper and a little soup jelly; put in two whole onions, two bunches of parsley, the same of thyme, and a table-spoonful of mushroom-powder. Take two or three little balls of flour and butter, of the size of a nut, to thicken the sauce; beat it well together; let this simmer a little while; take off the scum; put in the meat, and let it boil. Serve up hot, with fried bread round it.

Another way

Take the mutton and cut it into slices, taking off the skin and fat; beat it well, and rub the dish with garlic; put in the mutton with water, and season with salt, an onion cut in half, and a bundle of savoury herbs; cover it, and set it over a stove and stew it. When half stewed, add a little white wine (say two glasses) three blades of mace, and an anchovy; stew it till enough done; then take out the onion and herbs, and put the hash into the dish, rubbing a piece of butter in flour to thicken it, and serve it up.

Loin of Mutton, to stew

Cut your mutton in steaks, and put it into as much water as will cover it. When it is skimmed, add four onions sliced and four large turnips.

Neck of Mutton, to roast

Draw the neck with parsley, and then roast it; and, when almost enough, dredge it with white pepper, salt, and crumbs; serve it with the juice of orange and gravy.

Neck of Mutton, to boil