Domestic Cookery | Page 2

milk. A small turkey will boil in an hour and a quarter, a middle sized in two hours, and a large one in two and a half or three hours; they should boil moderately all the time; if fowls boil too fast, they break to pieces--half an hour will cook the liver and gizzard, which should be put round the turkey; when it is dished, have drawn butter, with an egg chopped and put in it, and a little parsley; oyster sauce, and celery sauce are good, with boiled turkey or chicken.
To Boil Beef Tongue, Corned Beef &c.
If the tongue is dry, let it soak for several hours, put it to boil in cold water, and keep it boiling slowly for two hours; but if it is just out of the pickle, the water should boil when it goes in.
Corned or pickled beef, or pork, require longer boiling than that which is dry; you can tell when it is done by the bones coming out easily. Pour drawn butter over it when dished.
To Boil a Ham.
A large ham should boil three or four hours very slowly; it should be put in cold water, and be kept covered during the whole process; a small ham will boil in two hours. All bacon requires much the same management,--and if you boil cabbage or greens with it, skim all the grease off the pot before you put them in. Ham or dried beef, if very salt, should be soaked several hours before cooking, and should be boiled in plenty of water.
To Boil Calf's Head.
Cut the upper from the lower jaw, take out the brains and eyes, and clean the head well; let it soak in salt and water an hour or two; then put it in a gallon of boiling water, take off the scum as it rises, and when it is done, take out the bones; dish it, and pour over a sauce, made of butter and flour, stirred into half a pint of the water it was boiled in; put in a chopped egg, a little salt, pepper, and fine parsley, when it is nearly done. You can have soup of the liquor, with dumplings, if you wish.
To Boil Veal.
Have a piece of the fore quarter nicely washed and rubbed with Hour; let it boil fast; a piece of five pounds will boil in an hour and a half; dish it up with drawn butter. Oyster sauce is an improvement to boiled veal.
Roasting Meat.
Roasting either meat or poultry requires more attention than boiling or stewing; it is very important to baste it frequently, and if the meat has been frozen, it should have time to thaw before cooking. Beef, veal, or mutton, that is roasted in a stove or oven requires more flour dredged on it than when cooked before the fire in a tin kitchen. There should be but little water in the dripping pan, as that steams the meat and prevents its browning; it is best to add more as the water evaporates, and where there is plenty of flour on the meat it incorporates with the gravy and it requires no thickening; add a little seasoning before you take up the gravy. Meat that has been hanging up some time should be roasted in preference to boiling, as the fire extracts any taste it may have acquired. To rub fresh meat with salt and pepper will prevent the flies from troubling it, and will make it keep longer.
To Roast a Turkey--to make Gravy, &c.
A very large turkey will take three hours to roast, and is best done before the fire in a tin oven. Wash the turkey very clean, and let it lay in salt and water twenty minutes, but not longer, or it changes the color; rub the inside with salt and pepper; have ready a stuffing of bread and butter, seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley, thyme, an onion, if agreeable, and an egg; if the bread is dry, moisten it with boiling water; mix all well together, and fill the turkey; if you have fresh sausage, put some in the craw; have a pint of water in the bottom of the dripping pan or oven, with some salt and a spoonful of lard, or butter; rub salt, pepper and butter over the breast; baste it often, and turn it so that each part will be next the fire.
Gravy may be made from the drippings in the oven by boiling it in a skillet, with thickening and seasoning. Hash gravy should be made by boiling the giblets and neck in a quart of water, which chop fine, then season and thicken; have both the gravies on the table in separate tureens.
Cranberry and damson sauce are suitable to eat with roast poultry.
To Roast a Goose.
Make a stuffing of