COFFEE AND TEA.

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Next to the percolator we would advise a bag of muslin or horse-hair adapted to a hoop, which fits into a silver or metal biggin; into this bag the coffee must be put, and boiling water poured over it, which rapidly filters through. In both these methods a table-spoonful of coffee should be used for each large cup. But where the prejudice is in favour of boiled coffee, the following receipt may be depended on.

To Make Coffee and Tea.

Heat the coffee before the fire a few minutes before you use it. Boil the water in the coffee-pot, and then put in the powder in the proportion of an ounce for four cups. Stir it with a spoon, and let it stand over the fire till the coffee boils up, then take it off and stir again. Continue to boil and stir till no more of the powder rises; then let it stand five minutes on the hob, and you may pour it off beautifully clear. Boiling milk and loaf-sugar are the proper accompaniments of coffee. By using the powder in a larger proportion the quality of the beverage will be much improved.

To make good tea, it is necessary first to buy the tea unadulterated and of a superior kind. Make it in a silver or metal tea-pot, and after putting in the quanity of tea proportioned to the party, let it stand three or four minutes before the fire till the leaves become warm before you pour the water gently over them, taking care it is boiling, and only half filling the tea-pot, till the leaves begin to open, when it must be filled up. When the strength of the leaves is exhausted they should be turned out and fresh tea put into the tea-pot, never leaving the old leaves, which would communicate a bitter taste to the tea.

To Boil Eggs.

If eggs be required at the breakfast-table, the first care of the cook is to have them fresh, as nothing is

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BREAKFAST MEATS.

more disgusting than a stale egg. They should be held up before a candle, and if they appear perfectly clear and transparent they are fit to boil; if spots can be perceived in them, they must not be used for that purpose. The egg must be carefully put into the boiling water with a proper egg-spoon, and boiled from two and a half to four minutes, according to the size. If they are boiled harder than this, as some people require them, they become indigestible.

Broiled Bacon for Breakfast.

Some physicians recommend the fat part of bacon as useful to those who suffer from indigestion, and it has thence acquired fame as a breakfast-dish. The best part for the purpose is the side, where it is streaked alternately fat and lean. The slices should be cut very thin, the rind pared off, and then the slices either laid upon a gridiron over a clear fire and broiled for five minutes, turning them all the time; or they may be curled round, and fastened with skewers, and roasted before the fire in a Dutch oven. The skewers should be withdrawn before they are served.

To Dress a Tongue to eat Cold.

A tongue, if well pickled, is best when dressed before it is dried, as the fat acquires an unpleasant tallowy taste when it has been hung some time. It should be soaked in water an hour, trimmed and rolled round with the roots to the middle, and fastened with skewers. If a good-sized tongue, it will require to simmer four hours, on the fire after the water has boiled. It will then be quite tender, and should be put into a tin tongue-press, to preserve the form after the skewers are taken out, and stand to cool for twelve hours, with a weight upon it.

CHAPTER IV.

Cookery-Fish Soups-Boiling-Roasting-Frying-Stewing

Baking-Broiling-Hashes-Vegetables-Puddings-PastryPreserving-Pickling-Keeping meat.

To Dress Fish.

THE first care of the cook in dressing fish is to make it perfectly clean. After it is gutted it should be placed under the tap, and washed free from all blood or impurity, for no seasoning or dressing will render it palatable without this precaution. If intended to be broiled or fried, it must be wiped dry,

The scales of fish may be removed by holding them by the tail, and scraping gently with the back of a knife, first on one side and then the other, till all are separated; then the loose scales must be washed away with abundance of cold water.

The proper fish for boiling are the turbot, cod, skate, and salmon. It should be put into cold water, little more than covered, with a few table-spoonfuls of salt in the water as soon as the water boils, the fish-kettle should be moved on one side, and the water should only simmer till quite cooked; the time required will be in proportion to the size of the fish.

A salmon requires double the quantity of salt in the water that is necessary for saltwater fish.

To Cook Fresh Herrings.

When perfectly fresh, in season, and well cooked, herrings are delicate, wholesome, and nutritious; and from their low price, a great boon to the working classes. The best mode of dressing is to split them open, cut

off the head and tail, take out the back-bone, rub the inside with pepper and salt, and broil on a gridiron which has been rubbed with butter or good dripping; it will require twenty minutes to cook them. An economical mode of dressing herrings is to bake them in an earthenware dish, with salt, pepper, and a little vinegar over them.

A poor family will make a good dinner of some red herrings, split and broiled, and eaten with mashed potato.

Fried fish requires abundance of oil or dripping to fry it well, but should be thoroughly drained from the fat before sending to table.

Soups.

Nutritious and excellent soup is not a costly or extravagant dish, as many suppose, but economical and readily procured in a family where meat is cooked every day; it merely requires nicety, carefulness, and a little time.

In the first place, the bones of cold meat or of poultry, the legs of fowls, the scraps left in cutting up meat, or any available pieces of meat that would else be wasted, should be put into an earthenware stew-pot, with a little salt, covered with water, and put into a hot oven for several hours, till all the nutriment be fully drawn; then pour the liquor through a sieve into a covered jar or stockpot, and it will form an excellent foundation for any kind of soup. The liquor in which any meat or poultry has been boiled should stand to cool, and after the fat has been skimmed, be added to the stock-pot, so that with the addition of vegetables and seasoning you may always have a tureen of soup, which, if necessary to be very good, requires only the addition of a very small quantity of meat.

The most genuine and wholesome soup is that made by gently boiling five or six pounds of beef for as many hours without seasoning, except a little salt, without

floating vegetables, or any mixture but rice, macaroni, or bread; above all, cloves should be sparingly used,—two cloves, stuck in one onion, will suffice to flavour three quarts of soup. In this case the meat thus boiled should afterwards be cut up into squares, and warmed with a spoonful or two of the broth, a small piece of butter rubbed into flour, a little pepper, chopped parsley and shalot; and served with sippets, it makes an excellent dish.

Of the different modes of preparing meat, stewing is the most economical, broiling the most nutritious, roasting the most common, boiling the most easily and the least scientifically done, and frying the most unwhole

some.

To Boil Beef or Mutton.

The objection to boiling is, that great part of the nutriment is drawn from the meat into the liquor, the meat being in proportion less digestible and nourishing to the human frame, while the broth is in many slovenly households either wasted, or eaten by the family in the greasy, revolting, and unsatisfactory form of poor soup.

The meat should be put into the pan covered with cold water, but there should not be more water than necessary for that purpose; usually the proportion is about a quart of water to each pound of meat. The pan must be placed over a moderate fire, so that the water shall heat gradually; it should be forty minutes before it reach a simmering boil; if it boil sooner, the meat will be hard and shrink up as if scorched; but by keeping up this slow process, the fibres of the meat are dilated and send up a quantity of scum, which should be carefully removed, and the place filled up with more water, so that the meat is kept covered: the scum must be constantly removed as it rises; but the fire must be kept low, so that the boiling never passes the simmering point. There should