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

Lard a neck of mutton with lemon-peel, and then boil it in salt and water, with sweet-herbs. While boiling, stew a pint of oysters in their own liquor, half a pint of white wine, and the like quantity of broth; put in two or three whole onions and some anchovies, grated nutmeg, and a little thyme. Thicken the broth with the yolks of four eggs, and dish it up with sippets. Lay the oysters under the meat, and garnish with barberries and lemon.

Neck of Mutton, to fry

Take the best end of a neck of mutton, cut it into steaks, beat them with a rolling-pin, strew some salt on them, and lay them in a frying-pan: hold the pan over a slow fire that may not burn them: turn them as they heat, and there will be gravy enough to fry them in, till they are half done. Then put to them some good gravy; let them fry together, till they are done; add a good bit of butter, shake it up, and serve it hot with pickles.

Saddle of Mutton and Kidneys

Raise the skin of the fore-chine of mutton, and draw it with lemon and thyme; and with sausage-meat farce part of it. Take twelve kidneys, farce, skewer, and afterwards broil them; and lay round horseradish between, with the gravy under.

Shoulder of Mutton, to roast in blood

Cut the shoulder as you would venison; take off the skin, and let it lie in blood all night. Take as much powder of sweet-herbs as will lie on a sixpence, a little grated bread, pepper, nutmeg, ginger, and lemon-peel, the yolks of two eggs boiled hard, about twenty oysters, and some salt; temper these all together with the blood; stuff the meat thickly with it, and lay some of it about the mutton; then wrap the caul of the sheep about the shoulder; roast it, and baste it with blood till it is nearly done. Take off the caul, dredge, baste it with butter, and serve it with venison sauce. If you do not cut it venison fashion, yet take off the skin, because it will eat tough; let the caul be spread while it is warm, and, when you are to dress it, wrap it up in a cloth dipped in hot water. For sauce, take some of the bones of the breast; chop and put to them a whole onion, a little lemon-peel, anchovies, and a little spice. Stew these; add some red wine, oysters, and mushrooms.

Shoulder, or Leg of Mutton, with Oysters

Make six holes in either a shoulder or leg of mutton with a knife: roll in eggs with your oysters, with crumbs and nutmeg, and stuff three or four in every hole. If you roast, put a caul over it; if for boiling, a napkin. Make some good oyster sauce, which lay under, and serve up hot.

Roasted Mutton, with stewed Cucumbers

Bone a neck and loin of mutton, leaving on only the top bones, about an inch long; draw the one with parsley, and lard the other with bacon very closely; and, after skewering, roast them. Fry and stew your cucumbers; lay them under the mutton, and season them with salt, pepper, vinegar, and minced shalot, and put the sauce under the mutton, garnishing with pickled cucumbers and horseradish.

Mutton to eat like Venison

Boil and skin a loin of mutton; take the bones, two onions, two anchovies, a bunch of sweet-herbs, some pepper, mace, carrot, and crust of bread; stew these all together for gravy; strain it off, and put the mutton into a stewpan with the fat side downward; add half a pint of port wine. Stew it till thoroughly done.

Mutton in epigram

Roast a shoulder of mutton till it is three parts done, and let it cool; raise the skin quite up to the knuckle, and cut off all to the knuckle. Sauce the blade-bone; broil it, and hash the rest, putting in some capers, with good gravy, pickled cucumbers, and shalots. Stir them well up, and lay the blade-bone on the skin.

Mushrooms, to stew brown

Take some pepper and salt, with a little cayenne and a little cream; thicken with butter and flour. To do them white, cut out all the black inside.

Newmarket John

Cut the lean part of a leg of mutton in little thin collops; beat them; butter a stewpan, and lay the collops all over. Have ready pepper, salt, shalot or garlic, and strew upon them. Set them over a very slow fire. As the gravy draws, turn over the collops, and dredge in a very little flour; have ready some good hot gravy. Shake it up all together, and serve with pickles.

Ox-cheek, to stew

Choose one that is fat and young, which may be known by the teeth; pick out the eye-balls; cut away the snout and all superfluous bits. Wash and clean it perfectly; well dry it in a cloth, and, with the back of a cleaver, break all the bones in the inside of the cheek; then with a rollingpin beat the flesh of the outside. If it is intended for the next day’s dinner, proceed in this manner: – quarter and lard it with marrow; then pour on it garlic or elder vinegar so gently that it may sink into the flesh; strew salt over it, and let it remain so till morning. Then put it into a stewpan, big enough, if you do both cheeks, to admit of their lying flat close to one another; but first rub the pan well with garlic, and with a spoon spread a pound of butter and upwards at the bottom and sides of the pan. Strew cloves and beaten mace on the cheeks, also thyme and sweet marjoram, finely chopped; then put in as much white wine as will cover them an inch or more above the meat, but wash not off the other things by pouring it on. Rub the lid of the pan with garlic, and cover it so close that no steam can escape. Make a brisk fire under it, and, when the cover is so hot that you cannot bear your hand on it, then a slack fire will stew it, but keep it so that the cover be of the same heat as long as it is stewing. It must not be uncovered the whole time it is doing: about three hours will be sufficient. When you take it up, be careful not to break it; take out the loose bones; pour the liquor on the cheek; clear from the fat and the dross, and put lemon-juice to it. Serve it hot.

Another way

Soak it in water, and make it very clean; put it in a gallon of water, with some potherbs, salt, and whole pepper. When stewed, so that the bones will slip out easily, take it up and strain off the soup; put a bit of butter in the frying-pan with some flour, and fry the meat brown, taking care not to burn it. Put some of the soup to the flour and butter, with ketchup, mushrooms, anchovy, and walnut liquor. Lay the cheek in a deep dish, and pour the sauce over it.

Ox-tail ragout

Some good gravy must first be made, and the tail chopped through every joint, and stewed a long time in it till quite tender, with an onion stuck with cloves, a table-spoonful of port or Madeira wine, a tea-spoonful of soy, and a little cayenne. Thicken the gravy with a little flour.

Another

Take two or three ox-tails; put them in a saucepan, with turnips, carrots, onions, and some black peppercorns; stew them for four hours. Take them out; cut them in pieces at every joint; put them into a stewpan with some good gravy, and scraped turnip and carrot; or cut them into the shape of a ninepin; pepper and salt to your taste; add the juice of half a lemon; and send it to table very hot.

Peas, to stew

Take a quart of fine peas, and two small or one large cabbage lettuce; boil the lettuce tender; take it out of the water, shake it well, and put it into the stewpan, with about two ounces of butter, three or four little onions cut small, and the peas. Set them on a very slow fire, and let them stew about two hours; season them to your taste with pepper and a tea-spoonful of sugar; and, instead of salt, stew in some bits of ham, which you may take out or leave in when you serve it. There should not be a drop of water, except what inevitably comes from the lettuce.

Another way

To your peas, add cabbage lettuces cut small, a small faggot of mint, and one onion; pass them over the fire with a small bit of butter, and, when they are tender and the liquor from them reduced, take out the onion and mint, and add a little white sauce. Take care it be not too thin; season with a little pepper and salt.

Green Peas, to keep till Christmas

Gather your peas, when neither very young nor old, on a fine dry day. Shell, and let two persons holding a cloth, one at each end, shake them backward and forward for a few minutes. Put them into clean quart bottles; fill the bottles, and cork tight. Melt some rosin in a pipkin, dip the necks of the bottles into it, and set them in a cool dry place.

Another way

Shell the peas, and dry them in a gentle heat, not much greater than that of a hot summer’s day. Put them when quite dry into linen bags, and hang them up in a dry place. Before they are boiled, at Christmas or later, steep them in half milk, half water, for twelve or fourteen hours; then boil them as if fresh gathered. Beans and French beans may be preserved in the same manner.

Red Pickle, for any meat

A quarter of a pound of saltpetre, a large common basinful of coarse sugar, and coarse salt. A leg of pork to lie in it a fortnight.

Beef Steak Pie

Rump steaks are preferable to beef; season them with the usual seasoning, puff-paste top and bottom, and good gravy to fill the dish.

Calf’s Head Pie

Parboil the head; cut it into thin slices; season with pepper and salt; lay them into a crust with some good gravy, forcemeat balls, and yolks of eggs boiled hard. Bake it about an hour and a half; cut off the lid; thicken some good gravy with a little flour; add some oysters; serve it with or without a lid.

Mutton or Grass Lamb Pie

Take a loin of mutton or lamb, and clear it from fat and skin; cut it into steaks; season them well with pepper and salt; almost fill the dish with water; lay puff paste at top and bottom.

Veal Pie (common)

Make exactly as you would a beef-steak pie.

Veal Pie (rich)

Take a neck, a fillet, or a breast of veal, cut from it your steaks, seasoned with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a few cloves, truffles, and morels; then slice two sweetbreads; season them in the same manner, and put a layer of paste round the dish; then lay the meat, yolks of eggs boiled hard, and oysters at the top: fill it with water. When taken out of the oven, pour in at the top through a funnel some good boiled gravy, thickened with cream and flour boiled up.

Veal and Ham Pie

Take two pounds of veal cutlets, or the best end of the neck, cut them in pieces about half the size of your hand, seasoned with pepper and a very little salt, and some dressed ham in slices. Lay them alternately in the dish with forcemeat or sausage meat, the yolks of three eggs boiled hard, and a gill of water.

Veal Olive Pie

Make your olives as directed in the receipt for making olives; put them into a crust; fill the pie with water: when baked, pour in some good gravy, boiled and thickened with a little good cream and flour boiled together. These ingredients make an excellent pie.

Beef Olive Pie

Make your olives as you would common beef olives; put them into puff paste, top and bottom; fill the pie with water, when baked, pour in some good rich gravy.

Pig, to barbicue

The best pig for this purpose is of the thick neck breed, about six weeks old. Season the barbicue very high with cayenne, black pepper, and sage, finely sifted; which must be rubbed well into the inside of the pig. It must then be sewed up and roasted, or, if an oven can be depended upon, it will be equally good baked. The sauce must be a very high beef gravy, with an equal quantity of Madeira wine in it. Send the pig to table whole. Be careful not to put any salt into the pig, as it will change its colour.

Pig, to collar

Have your pig cut down the back, and bone and wash it clean from the blood; dry it well, and season it with spice, salt, parsley, and thyme, and roll it hard in a collar; tie it close in a dry cloth and boil it with the bones, in three pints of water, a quart of vinegar, a handful of salt, a faggot of sweet-herbs, and whole spice. When tender, let it cool and take it off; take it out of the cloth, and keep it in the pickle.

Pig, to collar in colours

Boil and wash your pig well, and lay it on a dresser: chop parsley, thyme, and sage, and strew them over the inside of the pig. Beat some mace and cloves, mix with them some pepper and salt, and strew that over. Boil some eggs hard, chop the yolks, and put them in layers across your pig; boil some beet-root, and cut that into slices, and lay them across; then roll it up in a cloth and boil it. Before it is cold, press it with a weight, and it will be fit for use.

Pig, to pickle or souse

Take a fair fat pig, cut off his head, and cut him through the middle. Take out the brains, lay them in warm water, and leave them all night. Roll the pig up like brawn, boil till tender, and then throw it into an earthen pan with salt and water. This will whiten and season the flesh; for no salt must be put into the boiling for fear of turning it black. Then take a quart of this broth and a quart of white wine, boil them together, and put in three or four bay-leaves: when cold, season your pig, and put it into this sauce. It will keep three months.

Pig, to roast

Chop the liver small by itself: mince blanched bacon, capers, truffles, anchovy, mushrooms, sweet-herbs and garlic. Season and blanch the whole. Fill your pig with it; tie it up; sprinkle some good olive oil over it; roast and serve it up hot.

Another way

Put a piece of bread, parsley, and sage, cut small, into the belly with a little salt; sew up the belly; spit the pig, and roast it; cut off the ears and the under-jaws, which you will lay round; making a sauce with the brains, thick butter and gravy, which lay underneath.

Pig, to dress lamb fashion

After skinning the pig, but leaving the skin quite whole, with the head on, chine it down, as you would do mutton, larding it with thyme and lemon-peel; and roast it in quarters like lamb. Fill the other part with a plum-pudding; sew the belly up, and bake it.

Pigs’ Feet and Ears, fricassee of

Clean the feet and ears, and boil them very tender. Cut them in small shreds, the length of a finger and about a quarter of an inch in breadth; fry them in butter till they are brown but not hard; put them into a stewpan with a little brown gravy and a good piece of butter, two spoonfuls of vinegar, and a good deal of mustard – enough to flavour it strong. Salt to your taste; thicken with very little flour. Put in half an onion; then take the feet, which should likewise be boiled as tender as for eating; slit them quite through the middle; take out the large bones; dip them in eggs, and strew them over with bread crumbs, seasoned with pepper and salt; boil or fry them, and put them on the ragout, into which squeeze some lemon-juice.

Pigs’ Feet and Ears, ragout of

Split the feet, and take them out of souse; dip them in eggs, then in bread-crumbs and chopped parsley; fry them in lard. Drain them; cut the ears in long narrow slips; flour them; put them into some good gravy; add ketchup, morels, and pickled mushrooms; stew them into the dish, and lay on the feet.

Pig’s Head, to roll

Take the belly-piece and head of pork, rub it well with saltpetre and a very little salt; let it lie three or four days; wash it clean; then boil the head tender, and take off all the meat with the ears, which cut in pieces. Have ready four neats’ feet, also well boiled; take out the bones, cut the meat in thin slices, mix it with the head, and lay it with the belly-piece: roll it up tight, and bind it up, and set it on one end, with a trencher upon it; set it within the tin, and place a heavy weight upon that, and let it stand all night. In the morning take it out, and bind it with a fillet; put it in some salt and water, which must be changed every four or five days. When sliced, it looks like brawn. It is also good dipped in butter and fried, and eaten with melted butter, mustard, and vinegar: for that purpose the slices should be only about three inches square.

Pilaw, an Indian dish

Take six or eight ribs of a neck of mutton; separate and take off all the skin and fat, and put them into a stewpan with twelve cloves, a small piece of ginger, twelve grains of black pepper, and a little cinnamon and mace, with one clove of garlic. Add as much water as will serve to stew these ingredients thoroughly and make the meat tender. Then take out the mutton, and fry it in nice butter of a light brown, with some small onions chopped fine and fried very dry; put them to the mutton-gravy and spice in which it was stewed, adding a table-spoonful of curry-powder and half an ounce of butter. After mixing all the above ingredients well together, put them to the rice, which should be previously half boiled, and let the whole stew together, until the rice is done enough and the gravy completely absorbed. When the pilaw is dished for table, it should be thinly covered with plain boiled rice to make it look white, and served up very hot.

Pork, to collar

Bone and season a breast of pork with savoury spice, parsley, sage, and thyme; roll it in a hard collar of cloth; tie it close, and boil it, and, when cold, keep it in souse.

Pork, to pickle

Having boned your pork, cut it into such pieces as will lie most conveniently to be powdered. The tub used for this purpose must be sufficiently large and sound, so as to hold the brine; and the narrower and deeper it is the better it will keep the meat. Well rub the meat with saltpetre; then take one part of bay and two parts of common salt, and rub every piece well, covering it with salt, as you would a flitch of bacon. Strew salt in the bottom of the tub; lay the pieces in it as closely as possible, strewing salt round the sides of the tub, and if the salt should even melt at the top strew no more. Meat thus cured will keep a long time.

Another way

Cut your pork into small pieces, of the size you would boil at one time; rub all the pieces very well with salt, and lay them on a dresser upon boards made to slope that the brine may run off. After remaining three or four days, wipe them with a dry cloth; have ready a quantity of salt mixed with a small portion of saltpetre: rub each piece well with this mixture, after which cover them all over with salt. Put them into an earthen jar, or large pan, placing the pieces as close together as possible, closing the top of the jar or pan, so as to prevent all external air from getting in; put the shoulder pieces in a pan by themselves. Pork prepared in this manner will keep good a year.

Chine of Pork, to stuff and roast

Make your stuffing of parsley, sage, thyme, eggs, crumbs of bread, and season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and shalot; stuff the chine thick, and roast it gently. When about a quarter roasted, cut the skin in slips, making your sauce with lemon-peel, apples, sugar, butter, and mustard, just as you would for a roast leg.

Another way

Take a chine of pork that has hung four or five days; make holes in the lean, and stuff it with a little of the fat leaf, chopped very small, some parsley, thyme, a little sage, and shalot, cut very fine, and seasoned with pepper and salt. It should be stuffed pretty thick. Have some good gravy in the dish. For sauce, use apple sauce.

Pork Cutlets

Cut off the skin of a loin or neck of pork and make cutlets; season them with parsley, sage, and thyme, mixed together with crumbs of bread, pepper, and salt; broil them, and make sauce with mustard, butter, shalot, and gravy, and serve up hot.

Gammon, to roast

Let the gammon soak for twenty-four hours in warm water. Boil it tender, but not too much. When hot, score it with your knife; put some pepper on it, and then put it into a dish to crisp in a hot oven; but be mindful to pull the skin off.

Leg of Pork, to broil

After skinning part of the fillet, cut it into slices, and hack it with the back of your knife; season with pepper, salt, thyme, and sage, minced small. Broil the slices on the gridiron, and serve with sauce made with drawn butter, sugar, and mustard.

Spring of Pork, to roast

Cut off the spring of a knuckle of pork, and leave as much skin on the spring as you can, parting it from the neck, and taking out the bones. Rub it well with salt, and strew it all over with thyme shred small, parsley, sage, a nutmeg, cloves, and mace, beaten small and well mixed together. Rub all well in, and roll the whole up tight, with the flesh inward. Sew it fast, spit it lengthwise, and roast it.

Potatoes, to boil. No. 1

The following is the celebrated Lancashire receipt for cooking potatoes: – Cleanse them well, put them in cold water, and boil them with their skins on exceedingly slow. When the water bubbles, throw in a little cold water. When they are done, drain the water completely away through a colander; return them into a pot or saucepan without water; cover them up, and set them before the fire for a quarter of an hour longer. Do not pare the potatoes before they are boiled, which is a very unwholesome and wasteful practice.

Potatoes, to boil. No. 2

Scrape off the rind; put them into an iron pot; simmer them till they begin to crack, and allow a fork to pierce easily; then pour off the water, and put aside the lid of the pot, and sprinkle over some salt. Place your pot at the edge of the fire, and there let it remain an hour or more, and during this time all the moisture of the potatoes will gradually exhale in steam, and you will find them white or flaky as snow. Take them out with a spoon or ladle.

Potatoes, to boil. No. 3

Boil them as usual; half an hour before sending to table, throw away the water from them, and set the pot again on the fire; sufficient moisture will come from the potatoes to prevent the pot from burning; let them stand on the half stove, and not be peeled until sent to table.

Potatoes, to bake

Wash nicely, make into balls, and bake in the Dutch oven a light brown. This forms a neat side or corner dish.

Potato balls

Pound some boiled potatoes in a mortar, with the yolks of two eggs, a little pepper, and salt; make them in balls about the size of an egg; do them over with yolk of egg and crumbs of bread; then fry them of a light brown for table; five balls for a corner dish.

Croquets of Potatoes

Boil some potatoes in water, strain them, and take sufficient milk to make them into a mash, rather thick; before you mix the potatoes put the peel of half a lemon, finely grated, one lump of sugar, and a pinch of salt; strain the milk after heating it, and add the potatoes; mash them well together; let the mash cool; roll it into balls of the shape and size of an egg; let there be ten or twelve of them; brush them over with the yolk of egg, and roll them in crumbs of bread and a pinch of salt. Do this twice over; then fry them of a fine brown colour, and serve them with fried parsley round.

Potatoes, to fry

After your potatoes are nicely boiled and skinned, grate them, and to every large table-spoonful of potatoes add one egg well beat, and to each egg a small spoonful of cream, with some salt. Drop as many spoonfuls as are proper in a pan in which is clarified butter.

Potatoes, to mash

After the potatoes are boiled and peeled, mash them in a mortar, or on a clean board, with a broad knife, and put them into a stewpan. To two pounds of potatoes put in half a pint of milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, and a little salt; set them over the fire, and keep them stirred till the butter is melted; but take care they do not burn to the bottom. Dish them up in what form you please.