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exactly as with beef stew. A good stew is made from sheep's kid

neys.

Sheep tongues.

These may be mentioned because sometimes thrown away or sold very cheap. Clean well, and simmer one and one half hours with a little pork and onion. Add to the gravy one tablespoonful of vinegar.

All these recipes for mutton apply to the cooking of lamb ; remembering, however, that lamb, like veal, must be thoroughly cooked.

PORK.

Pork does not need to be kept in order to be tender; that is one of its great recommendations to the housekeeper. It is also easily cooked, and we may lay aside some of the precautions we use regarding beef; the lean of fresh pork, however, is apt to dry in cooking.

Roasting pieces.

The leg, the loin, and the chine are good roasting pieces, as well as the rib. Pork is so rich in flavor that it seasons finely a bread crumb dressing, to which add a little sage and vinegar or chopped pickles. Bake separately, and lay around it when served. Or, better, though more trouble, make holes in the roast and force the stuffing in. Put directly into a hot oven in a pan containing some hot fat, and baste very frequently till done. Allow at least twenty minutes to the

pound.

Steaks and

Steaks and chops are broiled, but the surface must chops. be kept well moistened with butter or beef fat, or they will be dry and tasteless.

Stew of pork.

Fresh pork is seldom boiled and it is too fat for a stew, though the lean may be selected and cooked

like beef stew. See page 228. Pig's liver.

Pork sausage.

It makes also an excellent pot pie or meat pie.

Pig's liver is good cooked like beef's liver, and is cheaper. See page 228.

in a

The cooking of this is very simple. Fry brown in a frying-pan on the stove, or better, set the pan hot oven; you will then avoid the sputtering of the fat.

HAM, SALT PORK, AND BACON.

Ham may be cooked in any way in which fresh pork is cooked. It may be cut in one half inch slices, or thinner, and broiled or fried lightly in a pan. If long cooked it becomes tough and dry. If too salt for this, it may be soaked a half-hour in warm water. A large piece of ham is best boiled. If very salt, soak it in cold water for twenty-four hours, then put into cold water, bring slowly to a boil, and simmer half a day if the ham is of good size. A ham may also be baked.

Dishes from cold ham.

bread.

So highly flavored a meat can be used in numberless ways, especially combined with, vegetables and

Chop one half pound fine, season with mustard,

Sandwiches. pepper, and one tablespoonful vinegar. Spread be

tween slices of buttered bread.

Ham cakes.

Take one cup finely chopped boiled ham, two cups of bread crumbs, two eggs, pepper and salt, and enough milk to make quite moist.

To use.

First, fry on a griddle in small spoonfuls, and turn as pancakes. Second, use mashed potatoes instead of bread crumbs, and fry as above.

Croquettes.

Third, take either of the above mixtures, using, however, little or no milk, make into little balls, and after rolling in egg and bread crumbs, fry in boiling fat.

With eggs.

Fourth, with eggs. Put either of these mixtures into a baking dish; smooth the surface and make little hollows in it with the bowl of a spoon. Put in the oven till hot, then break an egg into each depression, and return to the oven till the eggs are set.

Broiled salt pork and bacon.

After slicing thin, freshen salt pork by laying in cold water over night or one half-hour in warm water. Broil till transparent and a delicate brown in color. Broil bacon without freshening.

Fried.

ent.

Less delicate than broiled, but much more econom

ical, because saving the fat. Salt pork must be first freshened.

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Fry only till transpar

To make milk gravy of

page 247.

Both salt pork and bacon are boiled with vegetables.

Bacon or pork and Cabbage: This is a favorite mixture, and if the cabbage is only boiled half an hour and not in the same pot with the pork, it is not an indigestible dish. Put the pork into cold water, bring slowly to a boil, and simmer from one half to two hours, according to size of piece.

Pork and peas.

Cook one quart of dried peas according to direc

tions for pea soup. Boil pork with the peas during the last hour, or after parboiling bake like pork and beans.

Cook one quart beans according to soup recipe. Pork and beans. Parboil one pound salt side pork, score the skin in squares, half bury in the beans, and bake two hours or till a nice brown.

Pork and pota

Slice a dozen potatoes thin, also one fourth pound toes. fat salt pork, put into a pudding dish in alternate layers, seasoning with salt and pepper (only a little of the former). Bake, covered, one half-hour, uncover and brown.

Fruits seasoned with meat juices and fats, instead Pork and apples. of with sugar, are not enough known among us. Slice sour apples round in slices one third of an inch thick without peeling, and fry with strips of pork or bacon. Serve together.

FRESH FISH.

The varieties of fresh fish are numberless, and to cook and serve them in perfection requires careful study from the cook. The subject must here be treated very briefly.

Fresh fish may be cooked in any of the ways applicable to meat, the length of time being much shorter and care being required on account of the delicacy of the fiber. broiling somewhat difficult. Small fish are perhaps best egged

and bread-crumbed and fried in hot fat.

Fish chowder.

This makes

This dish deserves especial mention because of its

cheapness and good flavor. It may be made of any fresh fish. Fill a pudding dish with the fish cut in pieces, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper and bits of suet or fat pork. Put over it a potato crust as for meat pie (see page 228), or a soda biscuit crust, and bake. Bread crumbs or sliced potatoes may be mixed with the fish and more seasoning used.

Fish soups.

Fresh fish can also be made into soup, and the cheaper kinds should be more used for this purpose. Codfish soup. Cook one tablespoonful of flour in one tablespoonful of butter. Add one and one half quarts of milk, or milk and water, and when it boils stir in one teacupful of cold boiled codfish that has been freed from skin and bones and then chopped fine or rubbed through a sieve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bullhead or catfish soup.

An excellent soup can be made of this cheap fish. Clean and cut up two or three pounds and boil an hour in two quarts of water with an onion and a piece of celery or any herbs (it must be well seasoned). Then add one cupful of milk and a piece of butter or beef fat, or a piece of salt pork cut in bits may be boiled with the fish.

Salt cod.

SALT FISH.

This is one of the cheap foods that seems to be thoroughly appreciated among us, and good ways of cooking it are generally understood. It must be freshened by laying it in water over night; put into cold water and bring gradually to a boil, set the kettle back where it will keep hot for half an hour, separate the flakes, and serve with a milk sauce.

Fish balls.

This favorite dish is prepared by adding to codfish, boiled as above and finely shredded, a like quantity of mashed potato. Make into balls and fry on a griddle or in boiling fat. Any other fish can be used in the same way.

FOWLS.

The flesh of fowls cannot rank among cheap foods, but in any economical family the Sunday dinner may often be a fricassee made of a fowl no longer young. Unless very ancient, the flavor of such a fowl will be richer than that of a chicken; we have but to cook it till it is tender.

Old fowl fric

Cut into joints, put into cold water, and bring asseed. slowly to a simmering heat; on no account let it boil, — keep it as nearly as possible at 170° for three or four hours, or till it is very tender. At the end of two hours add a sliced onion and salt and thicken the gravy.

Chicken soup.

None but the wealthy should use chickens for soup, but from the bones left of baked or fricasseed chicken a good and economical soup can be made. Boil an hour or two, take out the bones, thicken a little, and serve with bread dice fried in butter.

Giblet soup.

An excellent soup can be made of the giblets, that is, heart, liver, and neck of chicken and other fowls which in city markets are sold separately and very cheap. Cut in small pieces and boil two hours with onion and herbs, then add a little butter and thickening, salt and pepper.

EGGS.

The importance of eggs is to be estimated from various points of view; their food value is great, their digestibility when fresh is almost perfect, and they can be cooked in so many ways and are a necessary ingredient of so many dishes that the cook could ill spare them. Indeed, in all countries their consumption seems to be limited only by their price.

Freshness.

After the first twenty-four hours an egg steadily deteriorates. Physicians say, "never give to an invalid

an egg that is more than two or three days old."

There are methods in use for preserving eggs fresh, on the principle of excluding air by sealing up the pores of the shell, but none of them are without risk and they cannot be recommended to one who must economize closely. It is better to go without eggs as nearly as possible in winter.

Raw eggs.

Eggs are as digestible raw as cooked, and one easily comes to like the taste of a fresh raw egg beaten to a foam and mixed with a little milk or water and sugar, with a little nutmeg or jelly.

flavored

To soft-boil an egg its temperature should not be Soft boiled eggs raised above 170°. The white will then be a jelly-like digestible substance, but if exposed to a higher temperature the white becomes horny while the yolk remains uncooked or becomes pasty.There are two methods of boiling an egg properly which may be adopted according to convenience.

1. Allow one quart of boiling water to four eggs. Use a pail or jar (heated before the water is put in) and wrap around with a

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