Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt-Book, 3rd ed. Eliza Leslie
before the skin begins to harden so as to prevent the heat from penetrating sufficiently. Then set it as near the fire as it can be placed without danger of scorching. Keep it roasting steadily with a bright, good, regular fire, for two or three hours, or longer still if it is a large fillet. It may require near four hours. Baste it at the beginning with sweet oil (which will make the skin very crisp) or with lard. Afterwards, baste it with its own gravy. When done, skim the fat from the gravy, and then dredge in a little flour to thicken it. Send the pork to table with the gravy in a boat; and a small tureen of apple-sauce, made very thick, flavoured with lemon, and sweetened well.
A fillet of pork is excellent stewed slowly in a very little water, having in the same stew-pot some sweet potatoes, peeled, split, and cut into long pieces. If stewed, put no sage in the stuffing; and remove the skin of the pork. This is an excellent family dish in the autumn.
ITALIAN PORK.—Take a nice leg of fresh pork; rub it well with fine salt, and let it lie in the salt for a week or ten days. When you wish to cook it, put the pork into a large pot with just sufficient water to cover it; and let it simmer, slowly, during four hours; skimming it well. Then take it out, and lay it on a large dish. Pour the water from the pot into an earthen pan; skim it, and let it cool while you are skinning the pork. Then put into the pot, a pint of good cider vinegar, mixed with half a pound of brown sugar, and a pint of the water in which the pork has been boiled, and from which all the fat has been carefully skimmed off. Put in the pork with the upper side towards the bottom of the pot. Set it again over the fire, (which must first be increased,) and heat the inside of the pot-lid by standing it upright against the front of the fire. Then cover the pot closely, and let the pork stew for an hour and a half longer; basting it frequently with the liquid around it, and keeping the pot-lid as hot as possible that the meat may be well browned. When done, the pork will have somewhat the appearance of being coated with molasses. Serve up the gravy with it. What is left of the meat may be sliced cold for breakfast or luncheon.
You may stew with it when the pork is put into the pot a second time, some large chesnuts, previously boiled and peeled. Or, instead of chesnuts, sweet potatoes, scraped, split, and cut into small pieces.
PORK OLIVES.—Cut slices from a fillet or leg of cold fresh pork. Make a force-meat in the usual manner, only substituting for sweet herbs some sage-leaves chopped fine. When the slices are covered with the force-meat, and rolled up and tied round, stew them slowly either in cold gravy left of the pork, or in fresh lard. Drain them well before they go to table. Serve them up on a bed of mashed turnips or potatoes, or of mashed sweet potatoes, if in season.
PIGS’ FEET FRIED.—Pigs’ feet are frequently used for jelly, instead of calves’ feet. They are very good for this purpose, but a larger number is required (from eight to ten or twelve) to make the jelly sufficiently firm. After they have been boiled for jelly, extract the bones, and put the meat into a deep dish; cover it with some good cider-vinegar, seasoned with sugar and a little salt and cayenne. Then cover the dish, and set it away for the night. Next morning, take out the meat, and having drained it well from the vinegar, put it into a frying-pan in which some lard has just come to a boil, and fry it for a breakfast dish.
CONNECTICUT SAUSAGE-MEAT.—To fifteen pounds of the lean of fresh pork, allow five pounds of the fat. Having removed the skin, sinews, and gristle, chop both the fat and lean as fine as possible, and mix them well together. Rub to a powder sufficient sage-leaves to make four ounces when done. Mix the sage with three ounces of fine salt, two ounces of brown sugar, an ounce of powdered black pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of cayenne. Add this seasoning to the chopped pork, and mix it thoroughly. Pack the sausage-meat down, hard and closely, into stone jars, which must be kept in a cool place, and well covered. When wanted for use, make some of it into small, flat cakes, dredge them with flour, and fry them well. The fat that exudes from the sausage-cakes, while frying, will be sufficient to cook them in.
A FINE VENISON PIE.—Cut steaks from a loin, or haunch of venison, which should be as freshly killed as you can get it. The strange prejudice in favour of hard, black-looking venison, that has been kept till the juices are all dried up, is fast subsiding; the preference is now given to that which has been newly killed, whenever it can be obtained. Those who have eaten venison fresh from the woods, will never again be able to relish it in the state in which it is brought to the Atlantic cities.
Having removed the bones, and seasoned it with a little salt and pepper, put the venison into a pot, with barely as much water as will cover it, and let it stew till perfectly tender, skimming it occasionally. Then take it out, and set it to cool, saving the gravy in a bowl. Make a light paste, in the proportion of three quarters of a pound of fresh butter to a pound and a half of flour. Divide the paste into two portions, and roll it out rather thick. Butter a deep dish, and line it with one of the sheets of paste. Then put in the venison. Season the gravy with a glass of very good wine, either red or white, a few blades of mace, and a powdered nutmeg. Stir into it the crumbled yolks of some hard-boiled eggs. Pour the gravy over the meat, and put on the other sheet of paste as the lid of the pie. Notch it handsomely round the edges, and bake it well. If a steady heat is kept up, it will be done in an hour. Send it to table hot.
Instead of wine, you may put into the gravy a glass of currant-jelly.
Any sort of game may be made into a pie, in the above manner.
A VERY PLAIN VENISON PIE.—Cut from the bone some good pieces of fresh venison; season them a little with salt and pepper, and put them into a pot, with plenty of sliced potatoes, (either white or sweet,) and barely as much water as will cover the whole. Set it over the fire, and let it stew slowly, till the meat is tender, and the potatoes also. Make a paste of flour shortened with cold gravy, or drippings saved from roast venison. The fat must be removed from the surface of the cold gravy, of which you may allow half a pint to each pound of flour. Mix half the shortening with the flour, using a broad knife or a spoon for the purpose, and adding gradually sufficient cold water to make it into a stiff dough. Beat the lump of dough well on all sides, with the rolling-pin. Then take it out of the pan, roll it into a thick sheet, and spread evenly over it with a knife the remainder of the drippings. Flour it, fold it up, beat it with the rolling-pin, let it rest a short time, and then roll it out again. Divide it into two sheets; grease a pie-dish, and line the bottom and sides with one sheet. Put in the venison and potatoes, with a portion of the gravy. Lay on the other sheet of paste, as a lid, and crimp the edges. Set the pie into the oven, and bake it brown. Eat it either hot or cold.
If you have no cold venison drippings, use drippings of cold roast-beef; or an equal mixture of lard and butter.
A beef-pie may be made as above.
Mutton-pies are not recommended; as mutton cooked in a pie is entirely too strong. The fat or drippings of mutton should never be used in any sort of cooking, as it tastes exactly like tallow, which it really is.
The above quantity of paste is only sufficient for a small pie. Paste for meat-pies should be made very thick.
An excellent pot-pie may be made with venison and potatoes previously stewed together. Boiled paste is always best when shortened with minced suet. Beef-suet is superior to any other.
A VENISON PUDDING.—Take nice steaks of fresh venison; season them slightly with salt and pepper; put them into a pot, with a piece of fresh butter, and stew them in barely sufficient water to keep them from scorching. When they are quite tender, take them, up; cut all the meat from the bones, and set it to cool. Save the gravy, and when cold carefully remove all the fat from the surface. Prepare a paste, in the proportion of three quarters of a pound of beef-suet, finely minced, to two pounds of flour. Rub the suet thoroughly into the flour, adding a small salt-spoon of salt, and sufficient cold water to moisten it into a stiff dough. Beat the lump of dough, on all sides, with the rolling-pin, to increase the lightness of the paste. Roll it out thick; put the venison into it; and pour on enough of the gravy to wet the meat all through. Then close over the paste, so as to form a large dumpling, with the venison in the middle. Have ready a thick pudding-cloth, that has been dipped in boiling water, shaken out, dredged with flour, and spread open in a broad pan. Place the pudding in the cloth, tie it firmly, leaving room for the pudding to swell; and, to prevent the water getting in, stop up the tying-place