The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

M >> Mrs. F.L. Gillette >> The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)

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BROILED SPANISH MACKEREL.

Split the fish down the back, take out the backbone, wash it in cold
water, dry it with a clean, dry cloth, sprinkle it lightly with salt
and lay it on a buttered gridiron, over a clear fire, with the flesh
side downward, until it begins to brown; then turn the other side.
Have ready a mixture of two tablespoonfuls of butter melted, a
tablespoonful of lemon juice, a teaspoonful of salt, some pepper. Dish
up the fish hot from the gridiron on a hot dish, turn over the mixture
and serve it while hot.

Broiled Spanish mackerel is excellent with other fish sauces. Boiled
Spanish mackerel is also very fine with most of the fish sauces, more
especially "Matre d'Hotel Sauce."

BOILED SALT MACKEREL.

Wash and clean off all the brine and salt; put it to soak with the
meat side down, in cold water over night; in the morning rinse it in
one or two waters. Wrap each up in a cloth and put it into a kettle
with considerable water, which should be cold; cook about thirty
minutes. Take it carefully from the cloth, take out the backbones and
pour over a little melted butter and cream; add a light sprinkle of
pepper. Or make a cream sauce like the following:

Heat a small cup of milk to scalding. Stir into it a teaspoonful of
cornstarch wet up with a little water. When this thickens, add two
tablespoonfuls of butter, pepper, salt and chopped parsley, to taste.
Beat an egg light, pour the sauce gradually over it, put the mixture
again over the fire, and stir one minute, not more. Pour upon the
fish, and serve it with some slices of lemon, or a few sprigs of
parsley or water-cress, on the dish as a garnish.

BAKED SALT MACKEREL.

When the mackerel have soaked over night, put them in a pan and pour
on boiling water enough to cover. Let them stand a couple of minutes,
then drain them off, and put them in the pan with a few lumps of
butter; pour on a half teacupful of sweet cream, or rich milk, and a
little pepper; set in the oven and let it bake a little until brown.

FRIED SALT MACKEREL.

Select as many salt mackerel as required; wash and cleanse them well,
then put them to soak all day in _cold_ water, changing them every two
hours; then put them into fresh water just before retiring. In the
morning drain off the water, wipe them dry, roll them in flour, and
fry in a little butter on a hot, thick-bottomed frying pan. Serve with
a little melted butter poured over, and garnish with a little parsley.

BOILED FRESH MACKEREL.

Fresh mackerel are cooked in water salted, and a little vinegar added;
with this exception they can be served in the same way as the salt
mackerel. Broiled ones are very nice with the same cream sauce, or you
can substitute egg sauce.

POTTED FRESH FISH.

After the fish has laid in salt water six hours, take it out, and to
every six pounds of fish take one-quarter cupful each of salt, black
pepper and cinnamon, one-eighth cupful of allspice, and one
teaspoonful of cloves.

Cut the fish in pieces and put into a half gallon stone baking-jar,
first a layer of fish, then the spices, flour, and then spread a thin
layer of butter on, and continue so until the dish is full. Fill the
jar with equal parts of vinegar and water, cover with tightly fitting
lid, so that the steam cannot escape; bake five hours, remove from the
oven, and when it is cold it is to be cut in slices and served. This
is a tea or lunch dish.

SCALLOPED CRABS.

Put the crabs into a kettle of boiling water, and throw in a handful
of salt. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour. Take them from the
water when done and pick out all the meat; be careful not to break the
shell. To a pint of meat put a little salt and pepper; taste, and if
not enough add more, a little at a time, till suited. Grate in a very
little nutmeg and add one spoonful of cracker or bread crumbs, two
eggs well beaten, and two tablespoonfuls of butter (even full); stir
all well together; wash the shells clean, and fill each shell full of
the mixture; sprinkle crumbs over the top and moisten with the liquor;
set in the oven till of a nice brown; a few minutes will do it. Send
to the table hot, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at
breakfast or supper.

FISH IN WHITE SAUCE.

Flake up cold boiled halibut and set the plate into the steamer, that
the fish may heat without drying. Boil the bones and skin of the fish
with a slice of onion and a _very_ small piece of red pepper; a bit of
this the size of a kernel of coffee will make the sauce quite as hot
as most persons like it. Boil this stock down to half a pint; thicken
with one teaspoonful of butter and one teaspoonful of flour, mixed
together. Add one drop of extract of almond. Pour this sauce over your
halibut and stick bits of parsley over it.

FRESH STURGEON STEAK MARINADE.

Take one slice of sturgeon two inches thick; let it stand in hot water
five minutes; drain, put it in a bowl and add a gill of vinegar, two
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, a
saltspoonful of black pepper and the juice of half a lemon; let it
stand six hours, turning it occasionally; drain and dry on a napkin;
dip it in egg; roll in bread crumbs and fry, or rather boil, in very
hot fat. Beat up the yolks of two raw eggs, add a teaspoonful of
French mustard, and by degrees, half of the marinade, to make a smooth
sauce, which serve with the fish.

POTTED FISH.

Take out the backbone of the fish; for one weighing two pounds take a
tablespoonful of allspice and cloves mixed; these spices should be put
into little bags of not too thick muslin; put sufficient salt directly
upon each fish; then roll in cloth, over which sprinkle a little
cayenne pepper; put alternate layers of fish, spice and sage in an
earthen jar; cover with the best cider vinegar; cover the jar closely
with a plate, and over this, put a covering of dough, rolled out to
twice the thickness of pie crust. Make the edges of paste, to adhere
closely to the sides of the jar, so as to make it air tight. Put the
jar into a pot of cold water and let it boil from three to five hours,
according to quantity. Ready when cold.

MAYONNAISE FISH.

Take a pound or so of cold boiled fish (halibut, rock or cod), not
chop, but cut, into pieces an inch in length. Mix in a bowl a dressing
as follows: The yolks of four boiled eggs rubbed to a smooth paste
with salad oil or butter; add to these salt, pepper, mustard, two
teaspoonfuls of white sugar, and, lastly, six tablespoonfuls of
vinegar. Beat the mixture until light, and just before pouring it over
the fish, stir in lightly the frothed white of a raw egg. Serve the
fish in a glass dish, with half the dressing stirred in with it.
Spread the remainder over the top, and lay lettuce leaves (from the
core of the head of lettuce) around the edges, to be eaten with it.

FISH CHOWDER. (Rhode Island.)

Fry five or six slices of fat pork crisp in the bottom of the pot you
are to make your chowder in; take them out and chop them into small
pieces, put them back into the bottom of the pot with their own gravy.
(This is much better than having the slices whole.)

Cut four pounds of fresh cod or sea-bass into pieces two inches
square, and lay enough of these on the pork to cover it. Follow with a
layer of chopped onions, a little parsley, summer savory and pepper,
either black or cayenne. Then a layer of split Boston, or butter, or
whole cream crackers, which have been soaked in warm water until
moistened through, but not ready to break. Above this put a layer of
pork and repeat the order given above--onions, seasoning (not too
much), crackers and pork, until your materials are exhausted. Let the
topmost layer be buttered crackers well soaked. Pour in enough cold
water to barely cover all. Cover the pot, stew gently for an hour,
watching that the water does not sink too low. Should it leave the
upper layer exposed, replenish cautiously from the boiling tea-kettle.
When the chowder is thoroughly done, take out with a perforated
skimmer and put into a tureen. Thicken the gravy with a tablespoonful
of flour and about the same quantity of butter; boil up and pour over
the chowder. Serve sliced lemon, pickles and stewed tomatoes with it,
that the guests may add if they like.

CODFISH BALLS.

Take a pint bowl of codfish picked very fine, two pint bowls of whole
raw peeled potatoes, sliced thickly; put them together in plenty of
cold water and boil until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked; remove
from the fire and drain off all the water. Mash them with the potato
masher, add a piece of butter the size of an egg, one well-beaten egg,
and three spoonfuls of cream or rich milk. Flour your hands and make
into balls or cakes. Put an ounce each of butter and lard into a
frying pan; when hot, put in the balls and fry a nice brown. Do not
freshen the fish before boiling with the potatoes. Many cooks fry them
in a quantity of lard similar to boiled doughnuts.

STEWED CODFISH. (Salt.)

Take a thick, white piece of salt codfish, lay it in cold water for a
few minutes to soften it a little, enough to render it more easily to
be picked up. Shred it in very small bits, put it over the fire in a
stew pan with cold water; let it come to a boil, turn off this water
carefully, and add a pint of milk to the fish, or more according to
quantity. Set it over the fire again and let it boil slowly about
three minutes, now add a good-sized piece of butter, a shake of pepper
and a thickening of a tablespoonful of flour in enough cold milk to
make a cream. Stew five minutes longer, and just before serving stir
in two well-beaten eggs. The eggs are an addition that could be
dispensed with, however, as it is very good without them. An excellent
breakfast dish.

CODFISH A LA MODE.

Pick up a teacupful of salt codfish very fine and freshen--the
desiccated is nice to use; two cups mashed potatoes, one pint cream or
milk, two well-beaten eggs, half a cup butter, salt and pepper; mix;
bake in an earthen baking dish from twenty to twenty-five minutes;
serve in the same dish, placed on a small platter, covered with a fine
napkin.

BOILED FRESH COD.

Sew up the piece of fish in thin cloth, fitted to shape; boil in
salted water (boiling from the first), allowing about fifteen minutes
to the pound. Carefully unwrap and pour over it warm oyster sauce. A
whole one boiled the same.

_Hotel Brighton._

SCALLOPED FISH.

Pick any cold fresh fish, or salt codfish, left from the dinner, into
fine bits, carefully removing all the bones.

Take a pint of milk in a suitable dish and place it in a saucepan of
boiling water; put into it a few slices of onion cut very fine, a
sprig of parsley minced fine, add a piece of butter as large as an
egg, a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of white pepper, then stir in two
tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, or flour, rubbed in a little cold milk;
let all boil up and remove from the fire. Take a dish you wish to
serve it in, butter the sides and bottom. Put first a layer of the
minced fish, then a layer of the cream, then sprinkle over that some
cracker or bread crumbs, then a layer of fish again, and so on until
the dish is full; spread cracker or bread crumbs last on the top to
prevent the milk from scorching.

This is a very good way to use up cold fish, making a nice breakfast
dish, or a side dish for dinner.

FISH FRITTERS.

Take a piece of salt codfish, pick it up very fine, put it into a
saucepan, with plenty of _cold_ water; bring it to a boil, turn off
the water, and add another of cold water; let this boil with the fish
about fifteen minutes, very slowly; strain off this water, making the
fish quite dry, and set aside to cool. In the meantime, stir up a
batter of a pint of milk, four eggs, a pinch of salt, one large
teaspoonful of baking powder in flour, enough to make thicker than
batter cakes. Stir in the fish and fry like any fritters. Very fine
accompaniment to a good breakfast.

BOILED SALT CODFISH. (New England Style.)

Cut the fish into square pieces, cover with cold water, set on the
back part of the stove; when hot, pour off water and cover again with
cold water; let it stand about four hours and simmer, not boil; put
the fish on a platter, then cover with a drawn-butter gravy and serve.
Many cooks prefer soaking the fish over night.

BOILED CODFISH AND OYSTER SAUCE.

Lay the fish in cold, salted water half an hour before it is time to
cook it, then roll it in a clean cloth dredged with flour; sew up the
edges in such a manner as to envelop the fish entirely, yet have but
_one_ thickness of cloth over any part. Put the fish into boiling
water slightly salted; add a few whole cloves and peppers and a bit of
lemon peel; pull gently on the fins, and when they come out easily the
fish is done. Arrange neatly on a folded napkin, garnish and serve
with oyster sauce. Take six oysters to every pound of fish and scald
(blanch) them in a half-pint of hot oyster liquor; take out the
oysters and add to the liquor, salt, pepper, a bit of mace and an
ounce of butter; whip into it a gill of milk containing half of a
teaspoonful of flour. Simmer a moment; add the oysters, and send to
table in a sauce boat. Egg sauce is good with this fish.

BAKED CODFISH.

If salt fish, soak, boil and pick the fish, the same as for
fish-balls. Add an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, or cold, boiled,
chopped potatoes, a large piece of butter, and warm milk enough to
make it quite soft. Put it into a buttered dish, rub butter over the
top, shake over a little sifted flour, and bake about thirty minutes,
and until a rich brown. Make a sauce of drawn butter, with two
hard-boiled eggs sliced, served in a gravy boat.

CODFISH STEAK. (New England Style.)

Select a medium-sized fresh codfish, cut it in steaks crosswise of the
fish, about an inch and a half thick; sprinkle a little salt over
them, and let them stand two hours. Cut into dice a pound of salt fat
pork, fry out all the fat from them and remove the crisp bits of pork;
put the codfish steaks in a pan of corn meal, dredge them with it, and
when the pork fat is smoking hot, fry the steaks in it to a dark brown
color on both sides. Squeeze over them a little lemon juice, add a
dash of freshly ground pepper, and serve with hot, old-fashioned,
well-buttered Johnny Cake.

SALMON CROQUETTES.

One pound of cooked salmon (about one and a half pints when chopped),
one cup of cream, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one tablespoonful of
flour, three eggs, one pint of crumbs, pepper and salt; chop the
salmon fine, mix the flour and butter together, let the cream come to
a boil, and stir in the flour and butter, salmon and seasoning; boil
one minute; stir in one well-beaten egg, and remove from the fire;
when cold make into croquettes; dip in beaten egg, roll in crumbs and
fry. Canned salmon can be used.

SHELL-FISH

STEWED WATER TURTLES, OR TERRAPINS.

Select the largest, thickest and fattest, the females being the best;
they should be alive when brought from market. Wash and put them alive
into boiling water, add a little salt, and boil them until thoroughly
done, or from ten to fifteen minutes, after which take off the shell,
extract the meat, and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also all
the entrails; they are unfit to eat, and are no longer used in cooking
terrapins for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it
into a stewpan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh butter to stew it
well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully
covered, that none of the flavor may escape, but shake it over the
fire while stewing. In another pan make a sauce of beaten yolk of egg,
highly flavored with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace,
a gill of currant jelly, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and salt to taste,
enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce well over
the fire, and when it has almost come to a boil take it off. Send the
terrapins to the table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce separately
in a sauce tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by
those who prefer the genuine flavor of the terrapins when simply
stewed with butter. This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins
in Maryland, Virginia, and many other parts of the South, and will be
found superior to any other. If there are no eggs in the terrapin,
"egg balls" may be substituted. (See recipe.)

STEWED TERRAPIN, WITH CREAM.

Place in a saucepan, two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter and one of
dry flour; stir it over the fire until it bubbles; then gradually stir
in a pint of cream, a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful
of white pepper, the same of grated nutmeg, and a very small pinch of
cayenne. Next, put in a pint of terrapin meat and stir all until it is
scalding hot. Move the saucepan to the back part of the stove or
range, where the contents will keep hot but not boil; then stir in
four well-beaten yolks of eggs; do not allow the terrapin to boil
after adding the eggs, but pour it immediately into a tureen
containing a gill of good Madeira and a tablespoonful of lemon juice.
Serve hot.

STEWED TERRAPIN.

Plunge the terrapins alive into boiling water, and let them remain
until the sides and lower shell begin to crack--this will take less
than an hour; then remove them and let them get cold; take off the
shell and outer skin, being careful to save all the blood possible in
opening them. If there are eggs in them put them aside in a dish; take
all the inside out, and be very careful not to break the gall, which
must be immediately removed or it will make the rest bitter. It lies
within the liver. Then cut up the liver and all the rest of the
terrapin into small pieces, adding the blood and juice that have
flowed out in cutting up; add half a pint of water; sprinkle a little
flour over them as you place them in the stewpan; let them stew slowly
ten minutes, adding salt, black and cayenne pepper, and a very small
blade of mace; then add a gill of the best brandy and half a pint of
the very best sherry wine; let it simmer over a slow fire very gently.
About ten minutes or so, before you are ready to dish them, add half a
pint of rich cream, and half a pound of sweet butter, with flour, to
prevent boiling; two or three minutes before taking them off the fire
peel the eggs carefully and throw them in whole. If there should be no
eggs use the yolks of hens' eggs, hard boiled. This recipe is for four
terrapins.

_Rennert's Hotel, Baltimore._

[Illustration: BASTING THE TURKEY.]

OILED LOBSTER.

Put a handful of salt into a large kettle or pot of boiling water.
When the water boils very hard put in the lobster, having first
brushed it and tied the claws together with a bit of twine. Keep it
boiling from twenty minutes to half an hour, in proportion to its
size. If boiled too long the meat will be hard and stringy. When it is
done take it out, lay it on its claws to drain, and then wipe it dry.

It is scarcely necessary to mention that the head of a lobster and
what are called the lady fingers are not to be eaten.

Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and tough.
The male is best for boiling; the flesh is firmer and the shell a
brighter red. It may readily be distinguished from the female; the
tail is narrower, and the two uppermost fins within the tail are stiff
and hard. Those of the hen lobster are not so, and the tail is
broader.

Hen lobsters are preferred for sauce or salad, on account of their
coral. The head and small claws are never used.

They should be alive and freshly caught when put into the boiling
kettle. After being cooked and cooled, split open the body and tail
and crack the claws, to extract the meat. The sand pouch found near
the throat should be removed. Care should be exercised that none of
the feathery, tough, gill-like particles found under the body shell
get mixed with the meat, as they are indigestible and have caused much
trouble. They are supposed to be the cause of so-called poisoning from
eating lobster.

Serve on a platter. Lettuce and other concomitants of a salad should
also be placed on the table or platter.

SCALLOPED LOBSTER.

Butter a deep dish and cover the bottom with fine bread crumbs; put on
this a layer of chopped lobster, with pepper and salt; so on,
alternately, until the dish is filled, having crumbs on top. Put on
bits of butter, moisten with milk and bake about twenty minutes.

DEVILED LOBSTER.

Take out all the meat from a boiled lobster, reserving the coral;
season highly with mustard, cayenne, salt and some kind of table
sauce; stew until well mixed and put it in a covered saucepan, with
just enough hot water to keep from burning; rub the coral smooth,
moistening with vinegar until it is thin enough to pour easily, then
stir it into the saucepan. The dressing should be prepared before the
meat is put on the fire, and which ought to boil but once before the
coral is put in; stir in a heaping teaspoonful of butter, and when it
boils again it is done and should be taken up at once, as too much
cooking toughens the meat.

LOBSTER CROQUETTES.

Take any of the lobster remaining from table and pound it until the
dark, light meat and coral are well mixed; put with it not quite as
much fine bread crumbs; season with pepper, salt and a very little
cayenne pepper; add a little melted butter, about two tablespoonfuls
if the bread is rather dry; form into egg-shaped or round balls; roll
them in egg, then in fine crumbs, and fry in boiling lard.

LOBSTER PATTIES.

Cut some boiled lobster in small pieces; then take the small claws and
the spawn, put them in a suitable dish, and jam them to a paste with a
potato masher. Now add to them a ladleful of gravy or broth, with a
few bread crumbs; set it over the fire and boil; strain it through a
strainer, or sieve, to the thickness of a cream, and put half of it to
your lobsters, and save the other half to sauce them with after they
are baked. Put to the lobster the bigness of an egg of butter, a
little pepper and salt; squeeze in a lemon, and warm these over the
fire enough to melt the butter, set it to cool, and sheet your patty
pan or a plate or dish with good puff paste, then put in your lobster,
and cover it with a paste; bake it within three-quarters of an hour
before you want it; when it is baked, cut up your cover, and warm up
the other half of your sauce above mentioned, with a little butter, to
the thickness of cream, and pour it over your patty, with a little
squeezed lemon; cut your cover in two, and lay it on the top, two
inches distant, so that what is under may be seen. You may bake
crawfish, shrimps or prawns the same way; and they are all proper for
plates or little dishes for a second course.

LOBSTER A LA NEWBURG.

Take one whole lobster, cut up in pieces about as large as a hickory
nut. Put in the same pan with a piece of butter size of a walnut,
season with salt and pepper to taste, and thicken with heavy cream
sauce; add the yolk of one egg and two oz. of sherry wine.

Cream sauce for above is made as follows: 1 oz. butter, melted in
saucepan; 2 oz. flour, mixed with butter, thin down to proper
consistency with boiling cream.

_Rector's Oyster House, Chicago._

BAKED CRABS.

Mix with the contents of a can of crabs, bread crumbs or pounded
crackers. Pepper and salt the whole to taste; mince some cold ham;
have the baking pan well buttered, place therein first a layer of the
crab meat, prepared as above, then a layer of the minced ham, and so
on, alternately until the pan is filled. Cover the top with bread
crumbs and bits of butter, and bake.

DEVILED CRABS.

Half a dozen fresh crabs, boiled and minced, two ounces of butter, one
small teaspoonful of mustard powder; cayenne pepper and salt to taste.
Put the meat into a bowl and mix carefully with it an equal quantity
of fine bread crumbs. Work the butter to a light cream, mix the
mustard well with it, then stir in very carefully, a handful at a
time, the mixed crabs, a tablespoonful of cream and crumbs. Season to
taste with cayenne pepper and salt; fill the crab shells with the
mixture, sprinkle bread crumbs over the tops, put three small pieces
of butter upon the top of each, and brown them quickly in a hot oven.
They will puff in baking and will be found very nice. Half the
quantity can be made. A crab shell will hold the meat of two crabs.

CRAB CROQUETTES.

Pick the meat of boiled crabs and chop it fine. Season to taste with
pepper, salt and melted butter. Moisten it well with rich milk or
cream, then stiffen it slightly with bread or cracker crumbs. Add two
or three well-beaten eggs to bind the mixture. Form the croquettes,
egg and bread, crumb them and fry them delicately in boiling lard. It
is better to use a wire frying basket for croquettes of all kinds.

TO MAKE A CRAB PIE.

Procure the crabs alive, and put them in boiling water, along with
some salt. Boil them for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes,
according to the size. When cold pick the meat from the claws and
body. Chop all together, and mix it with crumbs of bread, pepper and
salt, and a little butter. Put all this into the shell and brown in a
hot oven. A crab shell will hold the meat of two crabs.