American Cookery | Page 3

_Partridges_, if young, will have black bills, yellowish legs; if old, the
legs look bluish; if old or stale, it may be perceived by smelling at their
mouths.

_Pigeons_, young, have light red legs, and the flesh of a colour, and
prick easily--old have red legs, blackish in parts, more hairs, plumper
and loose vents--so also of grey or green Plover, Blade Birds, Thrash,
Lark, and wild Fowl in general.
_Hares_, are white flesh'd and flexible when new and fresh kill'd; if
stale, their flesh will have a blackish hue, like old pigeons, if the cleft
in her lip spread much, is wide and ragged, she is old; the contrary
when young.
_Leveret_, is like the Hare in every respect, that some are obliged to
search for the knob, or small bone on the fore leg or foot, to distinguish
them.
_Rabbits_, the wild are the best, either are good and tender; if old there
will be much yellowish fat about the kidneys, the claws long, wool
rough, and mixed with grey hairs; if young the reverse. As to their
being fresh, judge by the scent, they soon perish, if trap'd or shot, and
left in pelt or undressed; their taint is quicker than veal, and the most
sickish in nature; and will not, like beef or veal, be purged by fire.
The cultivation of Rabbits would be profitable in America, if the best
methods were pursued--they are a very prolific and profitable
animal--they are easily cultivated if properly attended, but not
otherwise.--A Rabbit's borough, on which 3000 dollars may have been
expended, might be very profitable; but on the small scale they would
be well near market towns--easier bred, and more valuable.
_Butter_--Tight, waxy, yellow Butter is better than white or crumbly,
which soon becomes rancid and frowy. Go into the centre of balls or
rolls to prove and judge it; if in ferkin, the middle is to be preferred, as
the sides are frequently distasted by the wood of the firkin--altho' oak
and used for years. New pine tubs are ruinous to the butter. To have
sweet butter in dog days, and thro' the vegetable seasons, send stone
pots to honest, neat, and trusty dairy people, and procure it pack'd down
in May, and let them be brought in in the night, or cool rainy morning,
covered with a clean cloth wet in cold water, and partake of no heat
from the horse, and set the pots in the coldest part of your cellar, or in

the ice house.--Some say that May butter thus preserved, will go into
the winter use, better than fall made butter.
_Cheese_--The red smooth moist coated, and tight pressed, square
edged Cheese, are better than white coat, hard rinded, or bilged; the
inside should be yellow, and flavored to your taste. Old shelves which
have only been wiped down for years, are preferable to scoured and
washed shelves. Deceits are used by salt-petering the out side, or
colouring with hemlock, cocumberries, or safron, infused into the milk;
the taste of either supercedes every possible evasion.
_Eggs_--Clear, thin shell'd, longest oval and sharp ends are best; to
ascertain whether new or stale--hold to the light, if the white is clear,
the yolk regularly in the centre, they are good--but if otherwise, they
are stale. The best possible method of ascertaining, is to put them into
water, if they lye on their bilge, they are good and _fresh_--if they bob
up an end they are stale, and if they rise they are addled, proved, and of
no use.
We proceed to ROOTS and VEGETABLES--_and the best cook cannot
alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be
disappointed_.
_Potatoes_, take rank for universal use, profit and easy acquirement.
The smooth skin, known by the name of How's Potato, is the most
mealy and richest flavor'd; the yellow rusticoat next best; the red, and
red rusticoat are tolerable; and the yellow Spanish have their
value--those cultivated from imported seed on sandy or dry loomy
lands, are best for table use; tho' the red or either will produce more in
rich, loomy, highly manured garden grounds; new lands and a sandy
soil, afford the richest flavor'd; and most mealy Potato much depends
on the ground on which they grow--more on the species of Potatoes
planted--and still more from foreign seeds--and each may be known by
attention to connoisseurs; for a good potato comes up in many branches
of cookery, as herein after prescribed.--All potatoes should be dug
before the rainy seasons in the fall, well dryed in the sun, kept from
frost and dampness during the winter, in the spring removed from the
cellar to a dry loft, and spread thin, and frequently stirred and dryed, or

they will grow and be thereby injured for cookery.