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

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





CHICKEN PUDDING.

Cut up two young chickens into good-sized pieces; put them in a
saucepan with just enough water to cover them well. When boiled quite
tender, season with salt and pepper; let them simmer ten or fifteen
minutes longer; then take the chicken from the broth and remove all
the large bones. Place the meat in a well-buttered pudding dish,
season again, if necessary, adding a few bits of butter. Pour over
this the following batter:--

Eight eggs beaten light and mixed with one quart of milk, three
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a teaspoonful of salt and two large
teaspoonfuls of baking powder, added to enough sifted flour to make a
batter like griddle-cakes.

Bake one hour in a _moderate_ oven.

Make a gravy of the broth that remained from the cooking of the
chicken, adding a tablespoonful of flour stirred into a third of a cup
of melted butter; let it boil up, putting in more water if necessary.
Serve hot in a gravy boat with the pudding.


CHICKEN AND MACARONI.

Boil a chicken until very tender, take out all the bones, and pick up
the meat quite fine. Boil half a pound of macaroni until tender, first
breaking it up to pieces an inch long. Butter a deep pudding dish, put
on the bottom a layer of the cooked macaroni, then a layer of the
minced chicken, bits of butter, pepper and salt, then some of the
chicken liquor, over this put another layer of macaroni, and so on,
until, the dish is filled. Pour a cup of cream over the whole, and
bake half an hour. Serve on a platter.


ROAST DUCK. (Tame.)

Pick, draw, clean thoroughly, and wipe dry. Cut the neck close to the
back, beat the breast-bone flat with a rolling pin, tie the wings and
legs securely, and stuff with the following:--

Three pints bread crumbs, six ounces butter, or part butter and salt
pork, two chopped onions and one teaspoonful each of sage, black
pepper and salt. Do not stuff very full, and sew up the openings
firmly to keep the flavor in and the fat out. If not fat enough, it
should be larded with salt pork, or tie a slice upon the breast. Place
in a baking pan, with a little water, and baste frequently with salt
and water--some add onion, and some vinegar; turn often, so that the
sides and back may all be nicely browned. When nearly done, baste with
butter and a little flour. These directions will apply to tame geese
as well as ducks. Young ducks should roast from twenty-five to thirty
minutes, and full-grown ones for an hour or more, with frequent
basting. Some prefer them underdone and served very hot; but, as a
rule, thorough cooking will prove more palatable. Make a gravy out of
the necks and gizzards by putting them in a quart of cold water, that
must be reduced to a pint by boiling. The giblets, when done, may be
chopped fine and added to the juice. The preferred seasonings are one
tablespoonful of Madeira or sherry, a blade of mace, one small onion,
and a little cayenne pepper; strain through a hair sieve; pour a
little over the ducks and serve the remainder in a boat. Served with
jellies or any tart sauce.


BRAISED DUCK.

Prepare a pair of fine young ducks, the same as for roasting, place
them in a stewpan together with two or three slices of bacon, a
carrot, an onion stuck with two cloves, and a little thyme and
parsley. Season with pepper, and cover the whole with a broth, adding
to the broth a gill of white wine. Place the pan over a gentle fire
and allow the ducks to simmer until done, basting them frequently.
When done remove them from the pan, and place them where they will
keep hot. A turnip should then be cut up and fried in some butter.
When nicely browned, drain the pieces and cook them until tender in
the liquor in which the ducks were braised. Now strain and thicken the
gravy, and after dishing up the ducks, pour it over them, garnishing
with the pieces of turnip.

_Palmer House, Chicago._


STEWED DUCK.

Prepare them by cutting them up the same as chicken for fricassee. Lay
two or three very thin slices of salt pork upon the bottom of a
stewpan; lay the pieces of duck upon the pork. Let them stew slowly
for an hour, closely covered. Then season with salt and pepper, half a
teaspoonful of powdered sage, or some green sage minced fine; one
chopped onion. Stew another half hour until the duck is tender. Stir
up a large tablespoonful of brown flour in a little water and add it
to the stew. Let it boil up, and serve all together in one dish,
accompanied with green peas.

_Palmer House, Chicago._


DUCK PIE.

Cut all the meat from cold roast ducks; put the bones and stuffing
into cold water; cover them and let boil; put the meat into a deep
dish; pour on enough of the stock made from the bones to moisten;
cover with pastry slit in the centre with a knife, and bake a light
brown.


WARMED UP DUCK.

A nice dish for breakfast, and very relishing, can be made from the
remains of a roast of duck. Cut the meat from the bones, pick out all
the little tidbits in the recesses, lay them in a frying pan, and
cover with water and the cold gravy left from the roast; add a piece
of butter; let all boil up once and if not quite thick enough, stir in
a little dissolved flour. Serve hot.


ROAST WILD DUCK.

Wild duck should not be dressed too soon after being killed. If the
weather is cold it will be better for being kept several days. Bake in
a hot oven, letting it remain for five or ten minutes without basting
to keep in the gravy, then baste frequently with butter and water. If
over-done it loses flavor, thirty to forty minutes in the right kind
of an oven being sufficient. Serve on a very hot dish, and send to
table as hot as possible with a cut lemon and the following sauce:--

Put in a tiny saucepan a tablespoonful each of Worcestershire sauce
and mushroom catsup, a little salt and cayenne pepper and the juice of
half a lemon. Mix well, make it hot, remove from the fire and stir in
a teaspoonful of made mustard. Pour into a hot gravy boat.

_California Style, Lick House._


WILD DUCKS.

Most wild ducks are apt to have the flavor of fish, and when in the
hands of inexperienced cooks are sometimes unpalatable on this
account. Before roasting them, parboil them with a small peeled carrot
put within each duck. This absorbs the unpleasant taste. An onion will
have the same effect, but unless you use onions in the stuffing the
carrot is preferable. Roast the same as tame duck. Or put into the
duck a whole onion peeled, plenty of salt and pepper and a glass of
claret, bake in a hot oven twenty minutes. Serve hot with the gravy it
yields in cooking and a dish of currant jelly.


CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

The epicurean taste declares that this special kind of bird requires
no spices or flavors to make it perfect, as the meat partakes of the
flavor of the food that the bird feeds upon, being mostly wild celery;
and the delicious flavor is best preserved when roasted quickly with a
hot fire. After dressing the duck in the usual way by plucking,
singeing, drawing, wipe it with a wet towel, truss the head under the
wing; place it in a dripping-pan, put it in the oven, basting often,
and roast it half an hour. It is generally preferred a little
underdone. Place it when done on a hot dish, season well with salt and
pepper, pour over it the gravy it has yielded in baking and serve it
immediately while hot.

_Delmonico._


ROAST PIGEONS.

Pigeons lose their flavor by being kept more than a day after they are
killed. They may be prepared and roasted or broiled the same as
chickens; they will require from twenty to thirty minutes' cooking.
Make a gravy of the giblets or not, season it with pepper and salt,
and add a little flour and butter.


STEWED PIGEONS.

Clean and stuff with onion dressing, thyme, etc.,--do not sew up; take
five or more slices of corned pork, let it fry a while in a pot so
that the fat comes out and it begins to brown a little; then lay the
pigeons all around in the fat, leaving the pork still in; add hot
water enough to partially cover them; cover tightly and boil an hour
or so until tender; then turn off some of the liquid, and keep turning
them so they will brown nicely; then heat and add the liquor poured
off; add extra thyme, pepper, and keep turning until the pigeons and
gravy are nicely browned. Thicken with a little flour, and serve with
the gravy poured over them; garnish with parsley.


PIGEON PIE.

Take half a dozen pigeons; stuff each one with a dressing the same as
for turkey; loosen the joints with a knife, but do not separate them.
Put them in a stewpan with water enough to cover them, let them cook
until nearly tender, then season them with salt and pepper and butter.
Thicken the gravy with flour, remove and cool. Butter a pudding dish,
line the sides with a rich crust. Have ready some hard-boiled eggs cut
in slices. Put in a layer of egg and birds and gravy until the dish is
full. Cover with a crust and bake.


BROILED PIGEONS OR SQUABS.

Split them down the back and broil the same as chicken; seasoning well
with salt, pepper and plenty of butter. Broil slices of salt pork,
very thin; place a slice over each bird and serve.


SQUAB POT-PIE.

Cut into dice three ounces of salt pork; divide six wild squabs into
pieces at the joints; remove the skin. Cut up four potatoes into small
squares, and prepare a dozen small dough balls.

Put into a yellow, deep baking dish the pork, potatoes and squabs, and
then the balls of dough, season with salt, white pepper, a dash of
mace or nutmeg; add hot water enough to cover the ingredients, cover
with a "short" pie-crust and bake in a moderate oven three-quarters of
an hour.

_Palmer House, Chicago._


WOODCOCK, ROASTED.

Skin the head and neck of the bird, pluck the feathers, and truss it
by bringing the beak of the bird under the wing, and fastening the
pinion to the thigh; twist the legs at the knuckles and press the feet
upon the thigh. Put a piece of bread under each bird to catch the
drippings, baste with butter, dredge with flour, and roast fifteen or
twenty minutes with a sharp fire. When done, cut the bread in diamond
shape, each piece large enough to stand one bird upon, place them
aslant on your dish, and serve with gravy enough to moisten the bread;
serve some in the dish and some in the tureen; garnish with slices of
lemon. Roast from twenty to twenty-five minutes.


SNIPE.

Snipe are similar to woodcock, and may be served in the same manner;
they will require less time to roast.


REED BIRDS.

Pick and draw them very carefully, salt and dredge with flour, and
roast with a quick fire ten or fifteen minutes. Serve on toast with
butter and pepper. You can put in each one an oyster dipped in butter
and then in bread crumbs before roasting. They are also very nice
broiled.


ROAST QUAIL.

Rinse well and steam over boiling water until tender, then dredge with
flour, and smother in butter; season with salt and pepper and roast
inside the stove; thicken the gravy; serve with green grape jelly, and
garnish with parsley.


TO ROAST PARTRIDGES, PHEASANTS, QUAIL OR GROUSE.

Carefully cut out all the shot, wash thoroughly but quickly, using
soda in the water; rinse again, and dry with a clean cloth. Stuff them
and sew them up. Skewer the legs and wings to the body, larder the
breast with very thin slices of fat salt pork, place them in the oven,
and baste with butter and water before taking up, having seasoned them
with salt and pepper; or you can leave out the pork and use only
butter, or cook them without stuffing. Make a gravy of the drippings
thickened with browned flour. Boil up and serve in a boat.

These are all very fine broiled, first splitting down the back,
placing on the gridiron the inside down, cover with a baking tin, and
broil slowly at first. Serve with cream gravy.


GAME PIE.

Clean well, inside and out, a dozen small birds, quail, snipe,
woodcock, etc., and split them in half; put them in a saucepan with
about two quarts of water; when it boils, skim off all scum that
rises; then add salt and pepper, a bunch of minced parsley, one onion
chopped fine, and three whole cloves. Cut up half a pound of salt pork
into dice, and let all boil until tender, using care that there be
enough water to cover the birds. Thicken this with two tablespoonfuls
of browned flour and let it boil up. Stir in a piece of butter as
large as an egg; remove from the fire and let it cool. Have ready a
pint of potatoes cut as small as dice, and a rich crust made. Line the
sides of a buttered pudding dish with the crust; lay in the birds,
then some of the potatoes, then birds and so on, until the dish is
full. Pour over the gravy, put on the top crust, with a slit cut in
the centre, and bake. The top can be ornamented with pastry leaves in
a wreath about the edge, with any fancy design placed in the centre
across the slit.

_Rockaway Beach._


SNOWBIRDS.

One dozen thoroughly cleaned birds; stuff each with an oyster, put
them into a yellow dish, and add two ounces of boiled salt pork and
three raw potatoes cut into slices; add a pint of oyster liquor, an
ounce of butter; salt and pepper; cover the dish with a crust and bake
in moderate oven.


SQUIRREL.

They are cooked similar to rabbits, are excellent when broiled or made
into a stew, and, in fact, are very good in all the different styles
of cooking similar to rabbit.

There are many species common to this country; among them the black,
red, gray and fox. Gophers and chipmunks may also be classed as
another but smaller variety.


ROAST HARE OR RABBIT.

A very close relationship exists between the hare and the rabbit, the
chief difference being in the smaller size and shorter legs and ears
of the latter. The manner of dressing and preparing each for the table
is, therefore, pretty nearly the same. To prepare them for roasting,
first skin, wash well in cold water and rinse thoroughly in lukewarm
water. If a little musty from being emptied before they were hung up,
and afterward neglected, rub the insides with vinegar and afterward
remove all taint of the acid by a thorough washing in lukewarm water.
After being well wiped with a soft cloth put in a dressing as usual,
sew the animal up, truss it, and roast for half or three-quarters of
an hour, until well browned, basting it constantly with butter and
dredging with flour, just before taking up.

To make a gravy, after the rabbits are roasted, pour nearly all the
fat out of the pan, but do not pour the bottom or brown part of the
drippings; put the pan over the fire, stir into it a heaping
tablespoonful of flour, and stir until the flour browns. Then stir in
a pint of boiling water. Season the gravy with salt and pepper; let it
boil for a moment. Send hot to the table in a tureen with the hot
rabbits. Serve with currant jelly.


FRICASSEE RABBIT.

Clean two young rabbits, cut into joints, and soak in salt and water
half an hour. Put into a saucepan with a pint of cold water, a bunch
of sweet herbs, an onion finely minced, a pinch of mace, half a
nutmeg, a pinch of pepper and half a pound of salt pork cut in small
thin slices. Cover and stew until tender. Take out the rabbits and set
in a dish where they will keep warm. Add to the gravy a cup of cream
(or milk), two well-beaten eggs, stirred in a little at a time, a
tablespoonful of butter, and a thickening made of a tablespoonful of
flour and a little milk. Boil up once; remove the saucepan from the
fire, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, stirring all the while, and
pour over the rabbits. Do not cook the head or neck.


FRIED RABBIT.

After the rabbit has been thoroughly cleaned and washed, put it into
boiling water, and let it boil ten minutes; drain it, and when cold,
cut it into joints, dip into beaten egg, and then in fine bread
crumbs; season with salt and pepper. When all are ready, fry them in
butter and sweet lard, mix over a moderate fire until brown on both
sides. Take them out, thicken the gravy with a spoonful of flour, turn
in a cup of milk or cream; let all boil up, and turn over the rabbits.
Serve hot with onion sauce. (See SAUCES.) Garnish with sliced lemon.


RABBIT PIE.

This pie can be made the same as "Game Pie" excepting you scatter
through it four hard-boiled eggs cut in slices. Cover with puff paste,
cut a slit in the middle, and bake one hour, laying paper over the top
should it brown too fast.


BROILED RABBITS.

After skinning and cleaning the rabbits, wipe them dry, split them
down the back lengthwise, pound them flat, then wrap them in letter
paper well buttered, place them on a buttered gridiron, and broil over
a clear, brisk fire, turning them often. When sufficiently cooked,
remove the papers, lay them on a very hot platter, season with salt,
pepper and plenty of butter, turning them over and over to soak up the
butter. Cover and keep hot in a warming oven until served.


SALMI OF GAME.

This is a nice mode of serving the remains of roasted game, but when a
superlative salmi is desired, the birds must be scarcely more than
half roasted for it. In either case, carve them very neatly, and
strip every particle of skin and fat from the legs, wings and
breasts; bruise the bodies well, and put them with the skin and other
trimmings into a very clean stewpan. If for a simple and inexpensive
dinner, merely add to them two sliced onions, a bay-leaf, a small
blade of mace and a few peppercorns; then pour in a pint or more of
good veal gravy, or strong broth, and boil it briskly until reduced
nearly half; strain the gravy, pressing the bones well to obtain all
the flavor; skim off the fat, add a little cayenne and lemon juice,
heat the game very gradually in it, but do not on any account allow it
to boil; place pieces of fried bread around a dish, arrange the birds
in good form in the centre, give the sauce a boil, and pour it on
them.


ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON.

To prepare a haunch of venison for roasting, wash it slightly in tepid
water and dry it thoroughly by rubbing it with a clean, soft cloth.
Lay over the fat side a large sheet of thickly-buttered paper, and
next a paste of flour and water about three-quarters of an inch thick;
cover this again with two or three sheets of stout paper, secure the
whole well with twine, and put down to roast, with a little water, in
the dripping-pan. Let the fire be clear and strong; baste the paper
immediately with butter or clarified drippings, and roast the joint
from three to four hours, according to its weight and quality. Doe
venison will require half an hour less time than buck venison. About
twenty minutes before the joint is done remove the paste and paper,
baste the meat in every part with butter, and dredge it very lightly
with flour; let it take a pale brown color, and serve hot with
unflavored gravy made with a thickening in a tureen and good currant
jelly. Venison is much better when the deer has been killed in the
autumn, when wild berries are plentiful, and it has had abundant
opportunities to fatten upon this and other fresh food.

_Windsor Hotel, Montreal._


BROILED VENISON STEAK.

Venison steaks should be broiled over a clear fire, turning often. It
requires more cooking than beef. When sufficiently done, season with
salt and pepper, pour over two tablespoonfuls of currant jelly melted
with a piece of butter. Serve hot on hot plates.

Delicious steaks, corresponding to the shape of mutton chops, are cut
from the loin.


BAKED SADDLE OF VENISON.

Wash the saddle carefully; see that no hairs are left dried on to the
outside. Use a saddle of venison of about ten pounds. Cut some salt
pork in strips about two inches long and an eighth of an inch thick,
with which lard the saddle with two rows on each side. In a large
dripping-pan cut two carrots, one onion and some salt pork in thin
slices; add two bay-leaves, two cloves, four kernels of allspice, half
a lemon sliced, and season with salt and pepper; place the saddle of
venison in the pan, with a quart of good stock boiling hot and a small
piece of butter, and let it boil about fifteen minutes on top of the
stove; then put it in a hot oven and bake, basting well every five
minutes, until it is medium rare, so that the blood runs when cut;
serve with jelly or a wine sauce. If the venison is desired well done,
cook much longer, and use a cream sauce with it, or stir cream into
the venison gravy. (For cream sauce see SAUCES.)

Venison should never be roasted unless very fat. The shoulder is a
roasting piece and may be done without the paper or paste.

In ordering the saddle request the butcher to cut the ribs off pretty
close, as the only part that is of much account is the tenderloin and
thick meat that lies along the backbone up to the neck. The ribs which
extend from this have very little meat on them, but are always sold
with the saddle. When neatly cut off they leave the saddle in a better
shape, and the ribs can be put into your stock-pot to boil for soup.

_Windsor Hotel, Montreal._


VENISON PIE OR PASTRY.

The neck, breast and shoulder are the parts used for a venison pie or
pastry. Cut the meat into pieces (fat and lean together) and put the
bones and trimmings into the stewpan with pepper and salt, and water
or veal broth enough to cover it. Simmer it till you have drawn out a
good gravy. Then strain it.

In the meantime make a good rich paste, and roll it rather thick.
Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with one sheet of it, and
put in your meat, having seasoned it with pepper, salt, nutmeg and
mace. Pour in the gravy which you have prepared from the trimmings,
and a glass of port wine. Lay on the top some bits of butter rolled in
flour. Cover the pie with a thick lid of paste and ornament it
handsomely with leaves and flowers formed with a tin cutter. Bake two
or more hours according to the size. Just before it is done, pull it
forward in the oven, and brush it over with beaten egg; push it back
and let it slightly brown.

_Windsor Hotel, Montreal._


VENISON HASHED.

Cut the meat in nice small slices, and put the trimmings and bones
into a saucepan with barely water enough to cover them. Let them stew
for an hour. Then strain the liquid into a stewpan; add to it some
bits of butter, rolled in flour, and whatever gravy was left of the
venison the day before. Stir in some currant jelly, and give it a boil
up. Then put in the meat, and keep it over the fire just long enough
to warm it through; but do not allow it to boil, as it has been once
cooked already.


FRIED VENISON STEAK.

Cut a breast of venison into steaks; make a quarter of a pound of
butter hot in a pan; rub the steaks over with a mixture of a little
salt and pepper; dip them in wheat flour, or rolled crackers, and fry
a rich brown; when both sides are done, take them up on a dish, and
put a tin cover over; dredge a heaping teaspoonful of flour into the
butter in the pan, stir it with a spoon until it is brown, without
burning; put to it a small teacupful of boiling water, with a
tablespoonful of currant jelly dissolved into it; stir it for a few
minutes, then strain it over the meat and serve. A glass of wine, with
a tablespoonful of white sugar dissolved in it, may be used for the
gravy, instead of the jelly and water. Venison may be boiled, and
served with boiled vegetables, pickled beets, etc., and sauce.

[Illustration]




MEATS.


In the selection of meat it is most essential that we understand how
to choose it; in beef it should be a smooth, fine grain, of a clear
bright red color, the fat white, and will feel tender when pinched
with the fingers. Will also have abundant kidney fat or suet. The most
choice pieces for roast are the sirloin, fore and middle ribs.

Veal, to be good, should have the flesh firm and dry, fine grained and
of a delicate pinkish color, and plenty of kidney fat; the joints
stiff.

Mutton is good when the flesh is a bright red, firm and juicy and a
close grain, the fat firm and white.

Pork, if young, the lean will break on being pinched smooth when
nipped with the fingers, also the skin will break and dent; if the
rind is rough and hard it is old.

In roasting meat, allow from fifteen to twenty minutes to the pound,
which will vary according to the thickness of the roast. A great deal
of the success in roasting depends on the heat and goodness of the
fire; if put into a cool oven it loses its juices, and the result is a
tough, tasteless roast; whereas, if the oven is of the proper heat, it
immediately sears up the pores of the meat and the juices are
retained.

The oven should be the hottest when the meat is put into it, in order
to quickly crisp the surface and close the pores of the meat, thereby
confining its natural juices. If the oven is too hot to hold the hand
in for only a moment, then it is right to receive the meat. The roast
should first be washed in pure water, then wiped dry with a clean dry
cloth, placed in a baking pan without any seasoning; some pieces of
suet or cold drippings laid under it, but _no water_ should be put
into the pan, for this would have a tendency to soften the outside of
the meat. The water can never get so hot as the hot fat upon the
surface of the meat, and the generating of the steam prevents its
crispness, so desirable in a roast.