It was a challenge for early American settlers to cook meat using only a wood burning stove or open hearth fireplace. Food was never wasted. Even the bones, fat, internal organs, feet and heads were used.
This book is about cooking domestic meats in the 1800s; beef and veal, mutton and lamb, pork, and poultry (chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys).
Besides information on how to buy meat and various ways of cooking it, there are chapters with recipes on beef/veal, mutton/lamb, pork, poultry, organs, feet and head, meat pies, puddings and gravy, and meat-based soups. There's also a glossary for terms you may not be familiar with.
The recipes are as they were printed in the 1800s cookbooks except for some editing with punctuation and changing any English spelled words to American spelling such as flavour to flavor. Even though the recipes have no temperatures and exact cooking times, you might be able to use some of them, especially the soup recipes.
Some Recipes from the Book:
"Country Pork Sausages - Use six pounds lean fresh pork, three pounds of chine fat, three tablespoonfuls of salt, two of black pepper, four tablespoonfuls of pounded and sifted sage, and two of summer savory. Chop the lean and fat pork finely, mix the seasoning in with your hands, and taste to see that it has the right flavor. Many like cloves, mace and nutmeg added to the seasoning, but this is a matter of taste. Put the sausage into cases. Use either the cleaned intestines of the hog, or make long, narrow bags of stout muslin, each large enough to contain enough sausage for a family dish. Fill these with the meat, dip in melted lard, and hang them in a cool, dry, dark place."
"To Make Mincemeat for Pies - Boil either calves or hogs' feet till perfectly tender and rub them through a colander. When cold, pass them through again, and it will come out like pearl barley. Take one quart of this, one of chopped apples, the same of currants, washed and picked, raisins stoned and cut, a cup of good brown sugar, some suet nicely chopped, some cider, and a pint of brandy. Add a teaspoonful of pounded mace, one of cloves, and one of nutmeg and mix all these together thoroughly. When the pies are to be made, take out as much of this mixture as may be necessary. To each quart of it, add a teaspoonful of pounded black pepper and one of salt. This greatly improves the flavor and can be better mixed with a small portion than with the whole mass."
"Hunter's Pudding - Mix together a pound of suet, a pound of flour, a pound of currants, and a pound of raisins stoned and cut. Add the rind of half a lemon finely shred, six peppercorns in fine powder, four eggs, a glass of brandy, a little salt, and as much milk as will make it of a proper consistence. A spoonful of peach water may sometimes be added to change the flavor. Boil it in a floured cloth eight or nine hours. This pudding will keep six months after it is boiled, if tied up in the same cloth when cold, and hung up folded in writing paper to preserve it from the dust. When to be eaten, it must be boiled a full hour, and served with sweet sauce."
"Calf's Feet Broth - Boil two feet in three quarts of water till reduced to half the quantity. Strain it and set it by. When to be used, take off the fat, and put a large teacupful of the jelly into a saucepan. Add half a glass of sweet wine, a little sugar and nutmeg, and heat it up till it begins to boil. Then take a little of it, and beat it by degrees with the yolk of an egg, adding a bit of butter the size of a nutmeg. Stir it all together, but do not let it boil. Grate a little fresh lemon peel into it."
This book is about cooking domestic meats in the 1800s; beef and veal, mutton and lamb, pork, and poultry (chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys).
Besides information on how to buy meat and various ways of cooking it, there are chapters with recipes on beef/veal, mutton/lamb, pork, poultry, organs, feet and head, meat pies, puddings and gravy, and meat-based soups. There's also a glossary for terms you may not be familiar with.
The recipes are as they were printed in the 1800s cookbooks except for some editing with punctuation and changing any English spelled words to American spelling such as flavour to flavor. Even though the recipes have no temperatures and exact cooking times, you might be able to use some of them, especially the soup recipes.
Some Recipes from the Book:
"Country Pork Sausages - Use six pounds lean fresh pork, three pounds of chine fat, three tablespoonfuls of salt, two of black pepper, four tablespoonfuls of pounded and sifted sage, and two of summer savory. Chop the lean and fat pork finely, mix the seasoning in with your hands, and taste to see that it has the right flavor. Many like cloves, mace and nutmeg added to the seasoning, but this is a matter of taste. Put the sausage into cases. Use either the cleaned intestines of the hog, or make long, narrow bags of stout muslin, each large enough to contain enough sausage for a family dish. Fill these with the meat, dip in melted lard, and hang them in a cool, dry, dark place."
"To Make Mincemeat for Pies - Boil either calves or hogs' feet till perfectly tender and rub them through a colander. When cold, pass them through again, and it will come out like pearl barley. Take one quart of this, one of chopped apples, the same of currants, washed and picked, raisins stoned and cut, a cup of good brown sugar, some suet nicely chopped, some cider, and a pint of brandy. Add a teaspoonful of pounded mace, one of cloves, and one of nutmeg and mix all these together thoroughly. When the pies are to be made, take out as much of this mixture as may be necessary. To each quart of it, add a teaspoonful of pounded black pepper and one of salt. This greatly improves the flavor and can be better mixed with a small portion than with the whole mass."
"Hunter's Pudding - Mix together a pound of suet, a pound of flour, a pound of currants, and a pound of raisins stoned and cut. Add the rind of half a lemon finely shred, six peppercorns in fine powder, four eggs, a glass of brandy, a little salt, and as much milk as will make it of a proper consistence. A spoonful of peach water may sometimes be added to change the flavor. Boil it in a floured cloth eight or nine hours. This pudding will keep six months after it is boiled, if tied up in the same cloth when cold, and hung up folded in writing paper to preserve it from the dust. When to be eaten, it must be boiled a full hour, and served with sweet sauce."
"Calf's Feet Broth - Boil two feet in three quarts of water till reduced to half the quantity. Strain it and set it by. When to be used, take off the fat, and put a large teacupful of the jelly into a saucepan. Add half a glass of sweet wine, a little sugar and nutmeg, and heat it up till it begins to boil. Then take a little of it, and beat it by degrees with the yolk of an egg, adding a bit of butter the size of a nutmeg. Stir it all together, but do not let it boil. Grate a little fresh lemon peel into it."
