carrots into ribands, and some onions and celery into lozenges, or long diamond-shaped pieces. Boil them separately. When the vegetables are thoroughly boiled, put them with the soup into the tureen, and then lay gently on the top some small squares of toasted bread without crust; taking care that they do not crumble down and disturb the brightness of the soup, which should be of a clear amber color.

RICE AND MEAT SOUP.-Put a pound of rice and a little pepper and broth herbs into two quarts of water; cover them close, and simmer very softly; put in a little cinnamon, two pounds of good ox-cheek, and boil the whole till the goodness is incorporated by the liquor.

FISH.

All Fish should be thoroughly cleansed and well cooked; nothing can be more unwholesome and more unpalatable than fresh fish not sufficiently cooked.

Fresh fish, when boiled, should be placed in cold, and shellfish in boiling water.

To keep Oysters after washing them, lay them in a tub in a cool cellar, with the deep part of the shell undermost. Sprinkle them with salt and Indian meal, then fill the tub with cold water. Change the water every day and the oysters will keep fresh a fortnight.

Fish should be garnished with horseradish or parsley. The only vegetable served with fish is potatoes.

It is customary to eat fish only at the commencement of the dinner. Fish and soup are generally served up alone, the soup first, before any of the other dishes appear.

TO BOIL SALMON, SEA-BASS AND OTHER LARGE FISH.-Scale and clean the fish, handling it as little as possible, and cutting it open no more than is absolutely necessary. Place it on the strainer of a large fish-kettle and fill it up with cold water. Throw in a handful of salt; let it boil slowly. The length of time depends on the size and weight of the fish. You may allow a quarter of an hour to each pound; but experience alone can determine the exact time. It must, however, be thoroughly done, as nothing is more disgusting than fish that is undercooked. You may try it with a fork. Skim it well or the color will be bad.

The minute it is completely boiled, lift up the strainer and rest it across the top of the kettle, that the fish may drain, and

then, if you cannot send it to table immediately, cover it with a soft napkin to keep it firm by absorbing the moisture.

Send it to table on a hot dish. Garnish with scraped horseradish and curled parsley.

Take what is left of the salmon after dinner, and put it into a deep dish, with a close cover. Having saved some of the water in which the fish was boiled, take a quart of it, and season it with half an ounce of whole pepper, and half an ounce of whole allspice, half a pint of the best vinegar, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Boil it; and when cold, pour it over the fish, and cover it closely again. In a cold place, and on ice, it will keep a day or two, and may be eaten at breakfast or supper.

If much of the salmon has been left, you must proportion a larger quantity of the pickle.

BOILED ROCK-FISH.-Having cleaned the rock-fish, put it into a fish kettle with water enough to cover it well, having first dissolved a handful of salt in the water. Set it over a moderate fire, and do not let it boil too fast. Skim it well. When done, drain it, and put it on a large dish, with slices of hard boiled eggs.

FOR PICKLING.-Cut the salmon into pieces; boil it as for eating, and lay it on a dry cloth till the following day; boil two quarts of good vinegar with one of the liquor the fish was boiled in, one ounce of whole black pepper, half an ounce of allspice, and four blades of mace. Put the salmon into something deep, and pour over it the prepared vinegar when cold. A little sweet oil put upon the top will make it keep a twelve-month.

TO BROIL SALMON.-Cut slices moderately thick, and, having seasoned them, place each slice in half a sheet of white paper, well buttered, observing to twist the ends of it; then broil them over a slow fire for about eight minutes. Serve them up in the paper with anchovy or shrimp-sauce.

STURGEON. Having cleaned a sturgeon well, boil it in as much liquor as will just cover it; add two or three bits of lemon peel, some whole pepper, a stick of horseradish, and a pint of vinegar to every half-gallon of water.

When done garnish the dish with fried oysters, sliced lemon, and horseradish, and serve it up with melted butter, with cavear dissolved in it; or with anchovy-sauce; and with the body of a crab in the butter, and a little lemon-juice.

To roast sturgeon place it on a lark spit, which fasten on a large spit; baste it continually with butter, and serve with a good gravy and some lemon-juice.

TO FRY TROUT, AND OTHER SMALL FISH.-Wash, gut, and scale them; then dry them, and lay them on a board, dusting them at the same time with some flour. Fry them finely brown with fresh dripping. Serve with crimp, parsley, and melted butter.

Eels, when fried, should be dipped into egg and crumbs of bread, which materially improvest heir appearance at table. Select the small eels for boiling, and place them in a small quantity of water; and when done enough, serve with chopped parsley and butter.

CODFISH.-Fresh Cod is good boiled, fried, or made into a chowder. It is too dry a fish to broil. Salt cod should be soaked in lukewarm water till the skin will come off easily-then take up the fish, scrape off the skin, and put it in fresh water, and set it on a very moderate fire, where it will keep warm without boiling, as it hardens by boiling. It takes between three and four hours to cook it soft-serve it up with drawn butter.

FISH CAKES.-Cold boiled fresh fish, or salt codfish, is nice minced fine, with potatoes, moistened with a little water, and a little butter put in, done up into cakes of the size of common biscuit, and fried brown in pork fat or butter.

TO BROIL A SHAD.-Split and wash it, and afterwards dry it in a cloth. Season it with salt and pepper. Have ready a bed of clear bright coals. Grease your gridiron well, and as soon as it is hot lay the shad upon it, and broil it for about a quarter of an hour or more, according to the thickness. Butter it well, and send it to table. You may serve with it melted butter in a sauce-boat. Or you may cut it into three pieces, and broil it without splitting. It will then, of course, require a longer time. If done in this manner, send it to table with melted butter poured over it.

HALIBUT is seldom cooked whole; a piece weighing from four to six pounds being generally thought sufficient. Score deeply the skin of the back, and when you put it into the kettle lay it on the strainer with the back undermost. Cover it with cold water, and throw in a handful of salt. Do not let it come to a boil too fast. Skim it carefully, and when it has boiled hard a few minutes, hang the kettle higher, or diminish the fire under it, so as to let it simmer for about twenty-five or thirty minutes. Then drain it, and send it to table, garnished with alternate heaps of grated horseradish and curled parsley, and accompanied by a boat of egg-sauce. This fish is good

boiled or fried.

STRIPED AND SEA BASS, are good, fried, boiled, broiled, or made into a chowder.

BLACK FISH, are the best boiled or fried-they will do to broil, but are not so good as cooked in any other way.

In choosing MACKEREL the gills should be of a fine red, the eyes full, and the whole fish stiff and bright; if the gills are of a faint color, the fish limber and wrinkled, they are not fresh. They are in season in May and June, and may be boiled or fried.

OYSTERS.-To stew Oysters, open them and train the liquor. Put to them some grated stale bread, and a little pepper and nutmeg. Throw them into the liquor, and add a glass of white wine. Let them stew but a short time, or they will be hard. Have ready some slices of buttered toast with the crust off. When the oysters are done dip the toast in the liquor, and lay the pieces round the sides and in the bottom of a deep dish. Pour the oysters and liquor upon the toast, and send them to table hot.

TO FRY OYSTERS.-Make a batter, then, having washed your oysters and wiped them dry, dip them into the batter, and roll them in some crumbs of bread and mace finely beaten. Fry them as other fish.

FOR OYSTER PATTIES.-Make some rich puff-paste, and bake it in very small tin patty-pans. When cool, turn them out upon a large dish. Stew some large fresh oysters with a few cloves, a little mace and nutmeg, some yolk of egg boiled hard and grated, a little butter, and as much of the oyster liquor as will cover them. When they have stewed a little while, take them out of the pan, and set them away to cool. When quite cool, lay two or three oysters in each shell of puff-paste.

FOR PICKLING.-Procure some of the largest sort of oysters, and wash four dozen in their own liquor; wipe them dry, strain the liquor off, add to it a dessert-spoonful of pepper, two blades of mace, three table-spoonfuls of white wine, and four of vinegar, and if the liquor is not very salt, you may put one tablespoonful of salt; simmer the oysters for a few minutes in the liquor, then put them into small jars, and boil up the pickle, skim it, and when cold, pour it over the oysters; keep them closely covered.

LOBSTERS AND CRABS.-Put them into boiling water, and

boil them from half to three quarters of an hour, according to their size. Boil half a tea cup of salt with every four pounds of the fish. When cold, crack the shell, and take out the meat, taking care to extract the blue veins, and what is called the lady in the lobster, as they are very unhealthy. If the fish are not eaten cold, warm them up with a little water, vinegar, salt, pepper, and butter.

TO DRESS LOBSTERS COLD.-Put a table-spoonful of cold water on a clean plate, and with the back of a wooden spoon mash into it the coral or scarlet meat of the lobster, adding a saltspoonful of salt, and about the same quantity of cayenne. On another part of the plate mix well together with the back of the spoon two table-spoonfuls of sweet oil, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard. Then mix the whole till they are well incorporated and perfectly smooth, adding at the last, three tablespoonfuls of vinegar.

BUTCHER'S MEAT, VENISON, &c.

Meat should be carefully washed and dried with a clean towel before it is cooked. Frozen meat should never be cooked on the same day. Lay it in cold water to thaw and cook it twice the usual time. To make beef tender squeeze and pinch it with the fingers. When meat is to be kept any time it should be carefully wiped every day.

The best beef-steaks are cut from the ribs or from the inner part of the sirloin. The rump is generally corned or salted and boiled. The legs, head and tail, make good soup.

The fore quarter of a calf comprises the neck, breast, and shoulder. The hind quarter consists of the loin, fillet, and knuckle. Separate dishes are made of the head, heart, liver, and sweetbread.

The fore quarter of a sheep contains the neck, breast, and shoulder. The hind quarter consists of the loin and leg. The two loins together are called the chine or saddle. Mutton is more tender if kept a few days.

In cutting up pork you have the spare rib, shoulder, chine, the loin, middlings and leg; the head, feet, heart and liver. The best parts are the loin and the leg or the hind quarter.

Pork as an invariable rule should be thoroughly cooked. Venison should be kept several days, after being well washed with milk and water and then thoroughly dried.

ROAST BEEF.-When the meat is put on the fire, a little salt should be sprinkled on it, and the bony side turned towards the fire first. When the bones get well heated through, turn the