Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesLeslie, Eliza
General
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Leslie, Eliza
Cooking, American
The best way of cooking lamb is to roast it; when drest otherwise it is
insipid, and not so good as mutton. A hind-quarter of eight pounds will
be done in about two hours; a fore-quarter of ten pounds, in two hours
and a half; a leg of five pounds will take from an hour and a quarter
to an hour and a half; a loin about an hour and a half. Lamb, like veal
and pork, is not eatable unless thoroughly done; no one preferring it
rare, as is frequently the case with beef and mutton.
Wash the meat, wipe it dry, spit it, and cover the fat with paper.
Place it before a clear brisk fire. Baste it at first with a little
salt and water, and then with its own drippings. Remove the paper when
the meat is nearly done, and dredge the lamb with a little flour.
Afterwards baste it with butter. Do not take it off the spit till you
see it drop white gravy.
Prepare some mint sauce by stripping from the stalks the leaves of
young green mint, mincing them very fine, and mixing them with vinegar
and sugar. There must be just sufficient vinegar to moisten the mint,
but not enough to make the sauce liquid. Send it to table in a boat,
and the gravy in another boat. Garnish with sliced lemon.
In carving a quarter of lamb, separate the shoulder from the breast, or
the leg from the ribs, sprinkle a little salt and pepper, and squeeze
on some lemon juice.
It should be accompanied by asparagus, green peas, and lettuce.
PORK, HAM, ETC.
GENERAL REMARKS.
In cutting up pork, you have the spare-rib, shoulder, griskin or chine,
the loin, middlings and leg; the head, feet, heart and liver. On the
spare-rib and chine there is but little meat, and the pieces called
middlings consist almost entirely of fat. The best parts are the loin,
and the leg or hind-quarter. Hogs make the best pork when from two and
a half to four years old. They should be kept up and fed with corn at
least six weeks before they are killed, or their flesh will acquire a
disagreeable taste from the trash and offal which they eat when running
at large. The Portuguese pork, which is fed on chestnuts, is perhaps
the finest in the world.
If the meat is young, the lean will break on being pinched, and the
skin will dent by nipping it with the fingers; the fat will be white,
soft, and pulpy. If the skin or rind is rough, and cannot he nipped, it
is old.
Hams that have short shank-bones, are generally preferred. If you put a
knife under the bone of a ham, and it comes out clean, the meat is
good; but quite the contrary if the knife appears smeared and slimy. In
good bacon the fat is white, and the lean sticks close to the bone; if
it is streaked with yellow, the meat is rusty, and unfit to eat.
Pork in every form should be thoroughly cooked. If the least
under-done, it is disgusting and unwholesome.
TO ROAST A PIG.
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