Part 1
[Illustration: Victorian-style illustration on the cover of Valuable Cooking Receipts. A Black woman in an apron mixes ingredients at a small kitchen table while a white woman in a fitted dress stands beside her, reading from a book and pointing at the bowl. In the background, a small child holding an object stands near a doorway. The scene is framed by an ornate bamboo-like border with the title at the top and the publisher’s imprint, 'George W. Harlan, New York, 19 Park Place,' at the bottom.]
VALUABLE COOKING RECEIPTS.
BY
THOMAS J. MURREY,
_Late Caterer of Astor House and Rossmore Hotel of New York, and Continental Hotel of Philadelphia._
NEW YORK: GEORGE W. HARLAN, 19 PARK PLACE. 1880.
Copyright, 1880, by GEORGE W. HARLAN.
J. CAMPBELL, PRINTER, 15 Vandewater St., N. Y.
PREFACE.
In issuing this little volume the publisher is aware that the market is already deluged with “cook-books,” both good and bad; but the aim in this instance is to utilize the experience of a caterer, who has spent twenty-five years of his life in the service of leading hotels and restaurants all over the country, besides catering to the appetites of thousands of private families. The well-known and unsurpassed cuisine of the hotels where he has been employed would of itself form testimony conclusive of his culinary ability, but he possesses besides numerous flattering letters from private parties, many of high standing in the community. As a salad-maker his reputation is wide-spread, and his receipts under this head are numbered among the hundreds, any one of which is a masterpiece of epicurean art and taste. It is my intention shortly to issue a book containing these receipts.
In writing receipts for this volume Mr. Murrey has kept economy constantly in mind, and has endeavored to present some of the most appetizing formulas in such a shape as to be within the reach of all families of moderate means. Each and every receipt has been personally tested and can be implicitly relied upon. The arrangement is that of a regular bill of fare or _ménu_. It will be understood, of course, that the contents of this book do not pretend to cover the field of cookery. Some idea of the magnitude of such a task can be had when you are informed that Mr. Murrey possesses probably the largest library on gastronomic art in this country, numbering many thousand volumes. Like all men who have made this art a study, he has aimed to so construct his formulas as to ward off indigestion and dyspepsia. Apropos at this point is a story illustrating the philanthropy of that prince of French _chefs_, Carême. Meeting one day a woman bitterly weeping at the door of a wine-shop, his commiserating question was answered by saying her husband was within; all his earnings were spent there and his family left to starve. Close questioning revealed the fact that the culprit liked good living, and that the wife condemned him to boiled beef every day. “No man cares to go abroad,” said Carême reproachfully, “for a bad meal, if his wife can cook him a good one, particularly if a silversmith and earning money.” Carême visited the house the next morning, and ordered a silver cup to be repaired, and, while waiting for its completion, offered to cook his own breakfast, which the man and wife shared. It was woodcock cooked in a way to electrify an Apicius. Carême called again for his cup with some wild duck. Meantime, the wife made rapid progress in the _chef’s_ art. The husband ceased wasting his money. The delicate fare improved his intellect; he became an artist in his trade, and finally one day Carême received a box containing a silver woodcock exquisitely carved, carrying in its beak a tiny silver cup, with the inscription, “To Carême, from a friend who was saved by good cooking.”
THE PUBLISHER.
CONTENTS
PREFACE. OYSTERS. SOUPS. FISH. BOILING. ENTREES. VEGETABLE ENTREES. ROASTING. SALADS. CAKES. VEGETABLES. TABLE ETIQUETTE. BANQUET SERVICE. MIXED DRINKS. PRESERVING, ETC. MENUS. INDEX.
VALUABLE COOKING RECEIPTS.
_OYSTERS._
=Raw Oysters.=—Eat raw oysters as plain and as free from condiments as possible, and always on the deep shell in their own liquor. The average American orders a dozen on the half-shell and then drowns his pets in vinegar, pepper, salt, horse radish, etc., washing them down with some malt beverage, pays his check, and disappears. The next day he goes through the same performance, and the not over-conscientious oyster-man, knowing his weakness for condiments, can easily palm off on him a “Rockaway Cull” for a Blue Point or a Green Point, or he may give him a “deep-water native” for almost any particular kind or brand he may want, and he cannot detect the difference in their flavor, owing to his excessive use of condiments. A little lemon-juice is all that is necessary, if you will not eat your saline dainties natural.
The heartless oyster-fiend who opens your oysters by _smashing_ the shell should be avoided, for it is cruelty, to say the least. We can forgive him for spattering our clothing with shells, mud, and dirty water, but filling our mouths with these things is pure ugliness. Order a quart of the bivalves to be sent home, and this oyster-butcher endangers the health of your family should any of them swallow a particle of the shell. The true lover of an oyster should have some feeling for his little favorite, and patronize establishments only where they contrive to open them (Boston fashion) so dexterously that the mollusk is hardly conscious he has been removed from his lodging “till he feels the teeth of the piscivorous gourmet tickling him to death.”
=Roast Oysters on half-shell.=—Open a dozen large oysters on deep shell; add a walnut of butter, with a little salt and mixed pepper (red and black) and a pinch of cracker-dust to each. Place them on a broiler over a sharp, clear fire until done, and serve.
Families not having all the conveniences for roasting oysters “restaurant fashion” will find the above receipt acceptable; though I must confess it is quite a treat to our Western cousins to ask them down into the kitchen of an evening, and serve up a peck of oysters roasted in the shell direct from the fire, with no other tool to pick them out of the coals than the old tongs the moment they pop open. You may possibly burn a finger or two, but what of that so long as the young folks have had a good time?
=Oysters escalloped.=—In a deep yellow dish place a layer of oysters and cover them with cracker-dust (add an ounce of butter to each layer of cracker-dust); pepper and salt to taste; another layer of oysters, another of cracker-dust, and so on until the dish is full. Moisten the dish with the juice of the oysters or hot water to prevent its burning, and bake a nice brown.
=Oyster Patties.=—Roll out some very light puff paste half an inch thick; stamp it in rounds with a cutter three inches in diameter; press a small cutter two inches in diameter on the middle of each to the depth of a quarter of an inch. Place the rounds on a buttered tin, baste them lightly with egg, and bake in a quick oven. When done take them out, remove the centre-piece, scoop out a little of the inside, and fill the shells with the prepared oysters.
Parboil twenty-five oysters in their own liquor; remove the oysters and season the liquid with lemon-peel, nutmeg, and pepper; strain, and thicken with a heaping tablespoonful of flour, one and a half ounces of butter, a wineglassful of rich cream; mix, and then add the oysters. Simmer all together a few minutes, fill the shells, and serve.
Scallops and clams cut up fine, with a sauce made on the same principle, make a very nice patty.
=Oyster toast.=—Select fifteen plump oysters; mince them, and season with mixed pepper and a pinch of nutmeg; beat the yolks of four eggs and mix them with half a pint of cream. Put the whole into a saucepan and set it over the fire to simmer till thick; stir it well, and do not let it boil lest it should curdle. Toast five pieces of bread and butter them; when your dish is near boiling-point remove it from the fire and pour it over the toast.
=Fried oysters.=—Beat up the yolks of four eggs with three tablespoonfuls of sweet oil, and season them with a teaspoonful of salt and a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper; beat up thoroughly. Dry twelve fat oysters on a napkin; dip them in the egg-batter, then in cracker-dust; shake off the loose cracker-dust, dip them again in the egg-batter, and lastly roll them in fine _bread-crumbs_. Fry in very hot fat, using fat enough to cover them. The oil gives them a nice flavor. (Private receipt of a prominent Philadelphia caterer.)
=Broiled oysters.=—Rub the bars of a wire broiler with a little sweet butter. Dry twelve large, fat oysters and place them upon the broiler _plain_. Broil them over a clear fire, and when done on both sides send to table on a piece of buttered toast, with a little melted butter in a separate dish. Should you _hanker_ after a delightful case of dyspepsia cover them with egg-batter and roll them in crumbs before broiling.
=Oysters a la Poulette.=—Blanch a dozen oysters in their own liquor; salt and remove the oysters; add a tablespoonful of butter, the juice of half a lemon, a gill of cream, and a teaspoonful of flour. Beat up the yolk of one egg while the sauce is simmering; add the egg, and simmer the whole until it thickens. Place the oysters on a hot dish, pour the sauce over them, sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top, and send to table. (This is a favorite dish of Hotel Brunswick _habitués_ in New York.)
_SOUPS._
Sir Henry Thompson says “that soups, whether clear or thick, are far too lightly esteemed by most classes. They are too often regarded as the mere prelude to a meal, to be swallowed hastily or disregarded altogether.” And the _Almanach des Gourmands_ tells us that ten folio volumes would not contain the receipts of all the soups that have been invented in the Parisian kitchen alone.
=Soup Stock.=—In making soups from raw meats break the bones apart, place them in a pot, cover them with _cold water_, and boil slowly for five or six hours; add salt to quicken the rising of the scum, which should be thoroughly removed. Cut up three carrots, three turnips, two heads of celery, and two onions; add to the stock, together with six or eight cloves, a bouquet of herbs, and a teaspoonful of whole peppers; strain into a deep saucepan, and clarify with the white of egg. It will then be ready for an indefinite variety of soups.
=Veal Stock.=—Chop up three slices of bacon and two pounds of the neck of veal; place in a stew-pan with a pint of water or beef stock, and simmer half an hour; then add two quarts of stock, one onion, a carrot, a bouquet of herbs, four stalks of celery, half a teaspoonful of bruised whole peppers, and a pinch of nutmeg with a teaspoonful of salt; boil gently for two hours, removing the scum in the meantime. Strain into an earthen crock, and when cold remove the fat. A few bones of poultry added, with an additional quantity of water or stock, will improve it.
=Veal Broth.=—Stew a knuckle of veal in about three quarts of water; add two ounces of rice, a little salt, and a blade of mace; boil until the liquor is reduced one-half.
=Gumbo Soup.=—Cut up two chickens, two slices of ham, and two onions into dice; flour them, and fry the whole to a light brown; then fill the frying-pan with boiling water, stir it a few minutes, and turn the whole into a saucepan containing three quarts of boiling water; let it boil forty minutes, removing the scum. In the meantime soak three pints of ochra in cold water twenty minutes; cut them into thin slices, and add to the other ingredients; let it boil one hour and a half. Add a quart of canned tomatoes and a cupful of boiled rice half an hour before serving.
Southern housekeepers use the leaves of the sassafras-tree as a substitute for ochra when the latter is scarce and dear. They gather the young leaves and spread them in the shade for a few days; then they dry them in the sun. When they are thoroughly dried they put them in a bag and hang them up for two or three months; they are then pulverized and bottled.
=Mock Turtle Soup.=—Take half a calf’s head with the skin on; remove the brains. Wash the head in several waters, and let it soak in cold water for an hour. Put it in a saucepan with five quarts of beef stock; let it simmer gently for an hour; remove the scum carefully, take up the head, let it get cold, and cut the meat from the bones into pieces an inch square and set them in the ice-box. Dissolve two ounces of butter in a frying-pan; mince a large onion and fry it in the butter until nicely browned, and add to the stock in which the head was cooked. Return the bones to the stock; simmer the soup, removing the scum until no more rises. Put in a carrot, a turnip, a bunch of parsley, a bouquet of herbs, a dozen outer stalks of celery, two blades of mace, and the rind of one lemon, grated; salt and pepper to taste. Boil gently for two hours, and strain the soup through a flannel cloth. Mix three ounces of Barlow’s prepared browned flour with a pint of the soup, and simmer until it thickens; then add it to the soup. Take the pieces of head out of the ice-box and add to the soup; let them simmer until quite tender. Before serving add a little Worcestershire sauce, a tablespoonful of anchovy paste, a gobletful of port or sherry, and two lemons sliced, each slice cut into quarters with the rind trimmed off. Warm the wine a very little before adding it to the soup. Keep in ice-box three or four days before using. Serve the brains as a side-dish.
=Pea Soup.=—Cut two large slices of ham into dice with a sliced onion, and fry them in a little bacon fat until they are lightly browned. Cut up one turnip, one large carrot, four outer stalks of celery, and one leek into small pieces; add these last ingredients to the ham and onion, and let them simmer for fifteen minutes; then pour over them three quarts of corned-beef water or hot water, and add a pint of split peas which have been soaked in cold water all night; boil gently until the peas are quite tender, stirring constantly to prevent burning; then add salt and pepper to taste, with a teaspoonful of brown sugar. Remove the soup from the fire and rub through a sieve; if it is not thick enough to suit your taste or fancy add a few ounces of flour mixed smoothly in a little cold milk; return the soup to the fire, and simmer for half an hour. Cut up four slices of American bread into small dice, and fry the pieces in very hot fat until nicely browned; place them on a napkin or towel, and add a few of them to each plate or tureen of soup just before it goes to table.
=Economical Pea Soup.=—Boil two quarts of green-pea hulls in four quarts of water, in which beef, mutton, or fowl has been boiled, four hours; then add a bunch or bouquet of herbs, salt and pepper, a tablespoonful of butter, and a quart of milk. Rub through a hair sieve, thicken with a little flour, and serve with croutons, as in the foregoing receipt.
=Tomato Soup.=—Cut four ounces of ham into dice; slice two onions and fry with ham in two ounces of butter; when browned turn them into a saucepan containing three quarts of stock or corned-beef water, and add three carrots, two turnips, one red pepper (lady-finger), and a dozen outer stalks of celery; simmer gently for one hour, then add a quart of canned tomatoes; boil gently for another hour, rub the whole through a sieve, and simmer again with the liquor a few minutes; add salt and serve with croutons.
=Oxtail Soup.=—Take two oxtails; cut them into joints, and cut up each joint into four pieces; put them into a pan with two ounces of butter, and fry them ten minutes. Slice two onions, one turnip, two carrots, a dozen outer stalks of celery, and fry in the same butter, with three slices of bacon cut up fine; fry to a light brown. Turn the ingredients into a saucepan with a quart of stock or ham-water, and boil quickly for half an hour; then add two more quarts of stock, a bouquet of herbs, two bay-leaves, a dozen whole peppers crushed, a few cloves, and salt to taste.
Simmer until the meat is quite tender; then take it out, strain the soup, skim off the fat, and thicken with two ounces of Barlow’s prepared flour; return the meat to the soup, add a tablespoonful of Worcestershire, a cupful of sherry, and serve with grated rusks.
=Chicken Soup.=—Take three young male chickens; cut them up, put them in a saucepan with three quarts of veal stock; a sliced carrot, one turnip, and one head of celery may be put with them and removed before the soup is thickened. Let them simmer for an hour. Remove all the white flesh; return the rest of the birds to the soup, and boil gently for two hours. Pour a little of the liquid over a quarter of a pound of the crumbs of bread, and when they are well soaked put it in a mortar with the white flesh of the birds, and pound the whole to a smooth paste; add a pinch of ground mace, salt, and a little cayenne pepper, press the mixture through a sieve, and boil once more, adding a pint of boiling cream; thicken with a very little flour mixed in cold milk, remove the bones, and serve.
=Chicken Soup, No. 2.=—Cut up one chicken; put into a stew-pan two quarts of cold water, a teaspoonful of salt, and one pod of red pepper (lady-finger); when half done add two dessert-spoonfuls of well-washed rice. When thoroughly cooked remove the bird from the soup, tear a part of the breast into shreds (saving the balance of the fowl for a salad), and add it to the soup with a wineglassful of cream.
=Beef Tea.=—Take half a pound of lean beef; cut it up into small bits; let it soak in a pint of water three-quarters of an hour, then put both into a quart champagne bottle with just a suspicion of salt; cork tightly, and wire the cork, so as to prevent its popping out. Set the bottle into a saucepanful of warm water, boil gently an hour and a half, and strain through a napkin.
Beef tea administered often to a patient without the fibrine of the meat will tend to weaken instead of strengthening the invalid. I always add about a teaspoonful of finely-chopped raw meat to a goblet of the tea, and let it stand in the tea about five minutes before serving.
_FISH._
Codfish is about the best fish that comes to our market, but it is so cheap and plentiful that we do not appreciate it quite as much as we would if the price was twenty-five cents a pound and its _season_ to last not over two months. Trout and all delicate fish lose their flavor long before they reach New York, and they should be eaten within half an hour after they are caught; while the cod improves in flavor if kept for a day or two with the addition of a little salt to give it firmness.
The “shoulder part” pleases _my_ palate the most. Have you ever tried a codfish steak for breakfast, dredged in corn meal and fried in salt pork-fat? It is splendid. A rasher of bacon served with it does no harm.
In broiling cod, haddock, bass, etc., always tie them up in a bag or towel, and lay the fish in the fish-pan, adding a little salt, a pint of Rhine wine, or cupful of vinegar, and cover the fish with _cold water_, allowing it to boil gently till done. Drawn-butter sauce with boiled fish is easy to make and pleases almost everybody.
=Baked Cod.=—When purchasing a four-pound cod ask your fish-dealer to send you three or four “codfish-heads,” and as soon as the basket comes into the house rub a little salt on the fish, chop the heads into six pieces each, and sprinkle a little salt over them. Place them in the centre of the baking-pan (to be used as supports for the fish), with two ounces of butter, one carrot, a turnip, a potato, and one onion cut into slices, two blades of mace, a teaspoonful white pepper, one tablespoonful celery-seed, six cloves, and a cupful of red wine. Set the pan in the oven while you prepare the cod.
Soak in cold water until soft a sufficiency of bread to fill the fish; drain off the water and pound the bread to a paste; mix with it two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, two raw eggs, a tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce, with salt and pepper to taste. Put this stuffing inside the fish and sew it up; place the cod in the pan with two or three pieces of butter on the upper side of the fish, and baste it frequently; when it is cooked lay the fish on a hot platter, and garnish with fried oysters, if convenient. Add two tablespoonfuls of Barlow’s prepared flour to the pan, a wineglass of sherry; mix, and strain the gravy into a sauce-boat.
=Salt Codfish with Cream.=—Soak one pound and a half of salt codfish over-night. Next morning set the fish to simmer for about two hours; drain off the water and strip the fish into shreds; place it in a saucepan with a quart of milk and two ounces of butter; mix a tablespoonful of flour with two tablespoonfuls of cold milk, and add to the fish. Let the whole come to a boil, remove the dish from the fire, beat up one egg to a froth, add it to the fish, stir, and serve immediately.
=Salt Mackerel Broiled.=—Soak a No. 2 chicken mackerel in cold water over-night; pour off the water and let the fish stand in milk enough to cover it for one hour before broiling; baste the fish with butter, and broil. When done plunge the fish into hot water for one minute, and send to table with a dish of melted butter, the juice of one lemon, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley mixed together.
=Broiled Lobster (for breakfast).=—Cut the tail part of a lobster in two, rub a little sweet oil over the meat, and broil. When done brush a little butter over it, with the juice of half a lemon and just the suspicion of cayenne. Place the meat back into the shell, and send to table with a dish of broiled tomatoes and a fresh-baked potato.