Vegetables and Peppercorns--1d.

Fish for nearly all dishes is better if boned before cooking; it is
also economy to do this, as the bones can then be used for stock for
fish soups. These soups, although not well known here at present, are a
valuable food; they are easy to make, wholesome, and nourishing. After
the fillets of fish have been removed, directions for which are given
amongst the fish recipes, take the bones, wash them well in cold water,
and cut away any black substance that may be adhering to them. Break
them up and put into a saucepan with a teaspoonful of salt; when it
boils remove the scum and put in one dozen white peppercorns, a fagot
of
herbs, one onion, and one carrot; boil steadily for two hours or
longer, strain through a sieve into a basin, and it is ready for use.

Tags: seafood vintage

This soup will require eight hours to prepare. Take a large calf's head, and having cleaned, washed, and soaked it, put it into a pot with a knuckle of veal, and the hock of a ham, or a few slices of bacon; but previously cut off and reserve enough of the veal to make two dozen small force-meat balls. Put the head and the other meat into as much water as will cover it very well, so that it may not be necessary to replenish it: this soup being always made very rich. Let it boil slowly four hours, skimming it carefully. As soon as no more scum rises, put in six potatoes, and three turnips, all sliced thin; with equal proportions of parsley, sweet marjoram and sweet basil, chopped fine; and pepper and salt to your taste. An hour before you send the meat to table, make about two dozen small force-meat balls of minced veal and beef-suet in equal quantities, seasoned with pepper and salt; sweet herbs, grated lemon-peel, and powdered nutmeg and mace. Add some beaten yolk of egg to make all these ingredients stick together. Flour the balls very well, and fry them in butter. Before you put them into the soup, take out the head, and the other meat. Cut the meat from the head in small pieces, and return it to the soup. When the soup is nearly done, stir in half a pint of Madeira. Have ready at least a dozen egg-balls made of the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or pounded in a mortar, and mixed with a little flour and sufficient raw yolk of egg to bind them. Make them up into the form and size of boy's marbles. Throw them into the soup at the last, and also squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Let it get another slow boil, and then put it into the tureen. We omit a receipt for real turtle soup, as when that very expensive, complicated, and difficult dish is prepared in a private family, it is advisable to hire a first-rate cook for the express purpose. An easy way is to get it ready made, in any quantity you please, from a turtle-soup house.

Tags: beef seafood pork soup vintage

These little fish are really not broiled at all, but that is the
name of the nice and easy dish. Take a box of large sardines and
drain off all the oil, and lay them on heavy brown paper while you
make four slices of toast. Trim off the edges and cut them into
strips, laying them in a row on a hot platter. Put the sardines
into the oven and make them very hot, and lay one on each strip
of toast and sprinkle them with lemon juice, and put sliced lemon
and sprigs of parsley all around.

Tags: seafood vintage

Yolk of 1 egg.
1/2 cup of olive-oil.
1 tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
Pinch of red pepper.

Put the yolk of the egg into a very cold bowl; it is better to put
the bowl, the egg, the oil, and the beater all on the ice a half-hour
before you need them, for then the mayonnaise comes quicker.
With a Dover egg-beater beat till the yolk is very light indeed;
then have some one else begin to put in the oil, one drop at a time,
till the mayonnaise becomes so thick it is difficult to turn the
beater; then put in a drop or two of lemon or vinegar, and this
will thin it so you can use the oil again; keep on doing this till
you have nearly a cup of the dressing; if you need more oil than
the rule calls for, use it, and toward the last add it two or three
drops at a time. When you have enough, and it is stiff enough,
put in the pepper and salt and it is done. Never use mustard
except with lobster, as this will spoil the taste. Some salads,
especially fruit and vegetable, need very thick mayonnaise, and
then it is better to make it with lemon juice, while a fish salad,
or one to use with meats, may be thinner, and then the vinegar
will do; the lemon juice makes it thick. Always taste it before
using it, to see if it is just right, and, if not, put in more salt,
or whatever it needs. You will soon learn. Most people think
mayonnaise is very difficult to make, but, really, it is as easy as
baking potatoes, after you have once learned how. Every salad
given before is just as nice with mayonnaise as with French dressing,
and you can try each one both ways; then there are these, which
are better with mayonnaise.

Tags: seafood salad dessert vintage

Make some paste and roll it out thinly. Take a coffee cup and turning it upside down stamp out some rounds. Turn the cup the right way again, and put it on a round. Then you will see an edge of paste protruding all round. Turn this up with the end of a fork, which makes a pretty little edge. Do this with all, and fill the shallow cases then made with a good mayonnaise sauce in which you have put chopped celery and potato, and a small quantity of chopped gherkins. Lay three fillets of anchovy across each other to form a six-pointed star and season highly with cayenne pepper. All the above recipes can be followed using sardines instead of anchovies, and indeed one can use them in many other ways, with eggs, with lettuce, with tomatoes. As anchovies are rather expensive to buy, I give a recipe for mock anchovies, which is easy to do, but it must be done six months before using the fish.

Tags: seafood vintage