MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

11

and that of soap, which rise and fall together, is likely to be higher, it will be prudent to lay in the stock of both. This information the chandler can always give; they are better for keeping eight or ten months, and will not injure for two years, if properly placed in the cool; and there are few articles that better deserve care in buying, and allowing a due quantity of, according to the size of the family.

Paper improves by keeping, and if bought by half or whole reams will be much cheaper than if purchased by the quire. It is principally made from rags, of which there is some scarcity, which might be obviated if an order were given to a servant in every family to kcep a bag to receive all the waste bits from cuttings out, &c.

Many well-meaning servants are ignorant of the best means of managing, and thereby waste as much as would maintain a small family, besides causing the mistress of the house much chagrin by their irregularity; and many families, from a want of method, have the appearance of chance rather than of regular system. To avoid this, the following hints may be useful as well as economical:

Every article should be kept in that place best suited to it, as much waste may thereby be avoided, viz.

Vegetables will keep best on a stone floor if the air be excluded.Meat in a cold dry place.-Sugar and sweetmeats require a dry place; so does salt.-Candles cold, but not damp.--Dried meats, hams, &c. the same.-Rice and all sorts of seeds for puddings, &c. should be closely covered to preserve from insects.

Bread is so heavy an article of expense that all waste should be guarded against; and having it cut in the room will tend much to prevent it. It should not be cut until a day old. Earthen pans and covers keep it best.

Straw to lay apples on should be quite dry to prevent a musty taste.

Large pears should be tied up by the stalk.

Basil, savoury, or knotted marjoram, or London thyme, to be used when herbs are ordered; but with discretion, as they are very pungent.

The best means to preserve blankets from moths is to fold and lay them under the feather-beds that are in use; and they should be shaken occasionally. When soiled, they should be washed, not scoured.

Soda, by softening the water, saves a great deal of soap. It should be melted in a large jug of water, some of which pour into the tubs and boiler; and when the lather becomes weak, add more. The new improvement on soft soap is, if properly used, a saving of near half in quantity; and though something dearer than the hard, reduces the price of washing considerably.

Many good laundresses advise soaping linen in warm water the night previous to washing, as facilitating the operation with less friction.

Soap should be cut with a wire or twine, in pieces that will make a long square when first brought in, and kept out of the air two or three weeks; for if it dry quick, it will crack, and when wet, break.

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MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

Put it on a shelf, leaving a space between, and let it grow hard gradually. Thus, it will save a full third in the consumption.

Some of the lemons and oranges used for juice should be pared first to preserve the peel dry; some should be halved, and when squeezed, the pulp cut out, and the outsides dried for grating. If for boiling in any liquid, the first way is best. When these fruits are cheap, a proper quantity should be bought and prepared as above directed, especially by those who live in the country, where they cannot always be had; and they are perpetually wanted in cookery.

When whites of eggs are used for jelly, or other purposes, contrive to have pudding, custard, &c. to employ the yolks also. Should you not want them for several hours, beat them up with a little water, and put them in a cool place, or they will be hardened and useless. It was a mistake of old, to think that the whites made cakes and puddings heavy; on the contrary, if beaten long and separately, they contribute greatly to give lightness, are an advantage to paste, and make a pretty dish beaten with fruit, to set in cream, &c.

If copper utensils be used in the kitchen, the cook should be charged to be very careful not to let the tin be rubbed off; and to have them fresh done when the least defect appears, and never to put by any soup, gravy, &c. in them, or any metal utensil; stone and carthen vessels should be provided for those purposes, as likewise plenty of common dishes, that the table set may be used to put by cold mcat.

Tin vessels, if kept damp, soon rust, which causes holes Fenders, and tin linings of flower-pots, &c., should be painted every year or two.

Vegetables soon sour and corrode metals, and glazed red ware, by which a strong poison is produced. Some years ago, the death of several gentlemen was occasioned by the cook sending a ragout to table, which she had kept from the preceding day in a copper vessel badly tinned.

Vinegar, by its acidity, does the same, the glazing being of lead or arsenic.

To cool liquors in hot weather, dip a cloth in cold water, and wrap it round the bottle two or three times, then place it in the sun; renew the process once or twice.

The best way of scalding fruits, or boiling vinegar, is in a stone jar on a hot iron hearth; or by putting the vessel into a saucepan of water, called a water-bath.

If chocolate, coffee, jelly, grucl, bark, &c., be suffered to boil over, the strength is lost.

The cook should be encouraged to be careful of coals and cinders; for the latter there is a new contrivance to sift, without dispersing the dust of the ashes, by means of a covered tin bucket.

Small coal wetted makes the strongest fire for the back, but must remain untouched until it cake. Cinders, lightly wet, give a great degree of heat, and are better than coal for furnaces, ironing-stoves, and ovens.

DIRECTIONS FOR CARVING.

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The cook should be charged to take care of jelly-bags, tapes for the collared things, &c., which if not perfectly scalded, and kept dry, give an unpleasant flavour when next used.

Cold water thrown on cast iron, when hot, will crack it.

In the following, and indeed all other receipts, though the quantities may be as accurately directed as possible, yet much must be left to the discretion of the person who uses them. The different tastes of people require more or less of the flavour of spices, salt, garlic, butter, &c., which can never be ordered by general rules; and if the cook has not a good taste, and attention to that of her employer's, not all the ingredients which nature and art can furnish, will give exquisite flavour to her dishes. The proper articles should be at hand, and she must proportion them until the true zest be obtained, and a variety of flavour be given to the different dishes served at the same time.

Those who require maigre dishes will find abundance in this little work; and where they are not strictly so, by suct or bacon being directed in stuffings, the cook must use butter instead; and where meat gravies (or stock, as they are called), are ordered, those made of fish must be adopted.

DIRECTIONS FOR CARVING.

THE carving knife for a lady should be light, and of a middling size and fine edge. Strength is less required than address, in the manner of using it: and to facilitate this, the cook shall give orders to the butcher to divide the joints of the bones of all carcase joints of mutton, lamb, and veal (such as neck, breast, and loin), which may then be easily cut into thin slices attached to the adjoining bones. If the whole of the meat belonging to each bone should be too thick, a small slice may be taken off between every two bones.

The more fleshy joints (as fillet of veal, leg or saddle of mutton, and beef) are to be helped in thin slices, neatly cut and smooth; observing to let the knife pass down to the bone in the mutton and beef joints,

The dish should not be too far off the carver; as it gives an awkward appearance, and makes the task more difficult. Attention is to be paid to help every one to a part of such articles as are considered the best.

In helping fish, take care not to break the flakes; which in cod and very fresh salmon are large, and contribute much to the beauty of its appearance. A fish-knife, not being sharp, divides it best on this account. Help a part of the roe, milt, or liver, to each person. The heads of carp, parts of those of cod and salmon, sounds of cod and fins of turbot, are likewise esteemed niceties, and are to be attended to accordingly.

In cutting up any wild-fowl, duck, goose, or turkey, for a large party, if you cut the slices down from pinion to pinion, without making wings, there will be more prime pieces.

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DIRECTIONS FOR CARVING.

A Cod's Head.-Fish in general requires very little carving, the fleshy parts being those principally esteemed. A cod's head and

a с

shoulders, when in season, and properly boiled, is a very genteel and handsome dish. When cut, it should be done with a fish-trowel, and the parts, about the back-bone on the shoulders are the most firm and the best. Take off

a piece quite down to the bone, in the direction a, b, c, d, putting in the spoon at a, c, and with each slice of fish give a piece of the sound, which lies underneath the back-bone and lines it, the meat of which is thin, and a little darker-coloured than the body of the fish itself. About the head are many delicate parts, and a great deal of the jelly kind. The jelly part lies about the jawbones, and the firm parts within the head. Some are fond of the palate, and others the tongue, which likewise may be got by putting a spoon into the mouth.

Aitch-bone of Beef.-Cut off a slice an inch thick all the length from a to b, and then help. The soft fat, which resembles marrow, lics at the back of the bone, below c: the firm fat must be cut

This

in horizontal slices at the edge of the meat d. It is proper to ask which is preferred, as tastes differ. The skewer that keeps the meat properly together when boiling is here shown at a. should be drawn out before it is served up; or, if it is necessary to leave the skewer in, put a silver one.

Sirloin of Beef may be begun either at the end, or by cutting

into the middle. It is usual to inquire whether the outside or inside is preferred. For the outside, the slice should be cut down to the bones? and the same with every following helping. Slice the inside likewise, and give with each piece some of the fat.

The inside done as follows eats excellently :-Have ready

DIRECTIONS FOR CARVING.

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some fine shalot vinegar boiling hot; mince the meat large, and a good deal of fat; sprinkle it with salt, and pour the shalot vinegar and the gravy on it. Help with a spoon, as quickly as possible on hot plates.

Round or Buttock of Beef is cut in the same way as fillet of veal. It should be kept even all over.

When helping the fat, observe not to hack it, but cut it smooth. A deep slice should be cut off the beef before you begin to help, as directed for the Edge-bone.

Fillet of Veal.-In an ox this part is round of beef. Ask whether the brown outside be liked, otherwise help the next slice. The bone is taken out and the meat tied close, before dressing; which makes the fillet very solid. It should be cut thin and very smooth. A stuffing is put into the flap which completely covers it; you must cut deep into this, and help a thin slice, as likewise of fat. From carelessness in not covering the latter with paper, it is sometimes dried up, to the great disappointment of the carver.

Breast of Veal.-One part (which is called the brisket) is thickest, and has gristles; put your knife about four inches from the edge of this, and cut through it, which will separate the ribs from the brisket.

Calf's Head has a great deal of meat upon it, if properly managed. Cut slices from a to b, letting the knife go close to the bone. In the fleshy part, at the neck end c, there lies the throat sweetbread, which you should help a slice of from c to d with the

other part. Many like the eye; which you must cut out with the point of your knife, and divide in two. If the jaw-bone be taken off, there will be found some fine lean. Under the head is the palate, which is reckoned a nicety; the lady of the house should be acquainted with all things that are thought so, that she may distribute them among her guests.

Shoulder of Mutton.This is a very good joint, and by many preferred to the leg; it being very full of gravy, if properly roasted, and produces many nice bits. The figure represents it as laid in the dish with its back uppermost. When it is first cut, it should

be in the hollow part of it, in the direction of a, b, and the knife should be passed deep to the bone.

The prime part of the fat lies on the outer edge, and it is to be cut out in thin slices in the direction of e to f. If many are at table, and the hollow part cut in the line a, b, is eaten, some very good