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Collection of Old Casseroles, Savoury Bakes, Gratins, Hotpots, & Roast Recipes

Table of Contents

A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]

General Remarks about Roasting/Baking in an Oven

Sirloin7 lbs.1½ to 2 hours.
Filletsay 4 lbs.1 hour.
Round4 to 5 lbs.1¼ hours.
Rolled Ribs7 lbs.2¼ to 2½ hours.
Aitchbone7 lbs.2½ to 3 hours.

The first and the two last joints should be bought large, not under seven pounds, on account of the bone they contain.

In roasting or rather in baking, as is the general practice of small households (either in gas stove or coal), attention should be paid that the oven is not too fierce as it reduces the joint greatly and of course spoils the taste and appearance.

On the other hand, an oven not sufficiently hot spoils the meat by making it hard.

The proper degree of heat is best learned by experience but as a guide it may be said that a joint should begin to splutter and sizzle within fifteen minutes after the oven door is shut.

If the meat does not appear to be cooking satisfactorily at the end of fifteen minutes the baking tin should be stood on the stove over the fire (top off) after putting a little beef dripping into the tin.

While on the fire turn the joint over several times with the fork. At the end of ten to fifteen minutes the meat may be put back into the oven.

The dripping should be preserved as follows:—

After the meat is cooked, place the joint on the dish. Turn the fat out of the baking tin into a basin and dash into it at once a tablespoonful of cold water. This will separate the meat juice from the fat.

In this way you obtain perfectly clear fat and the meat juice under it will be found useful for colouring sauces or improving soups. This applies to all roast meat—beef, veal, and mutton—providing the joint is not stuffed.

As to obtaining gravy for the joint itself, proceed as follows:—

After pouring off the fat into the basin as directed, put half a teacupful of cold water into the baking tin and let it stand on top of the fire till it boils, which will happen almost at once. Turn over the joint in the dish.

Should the gravy appear not dark enough, the meat juice separated as above from the fat of other joints may be added.

N.B. Never flour the joint before putting it in the oven. The practice has nothing to recommend it and it would make it impossible to obtain dripping or preserve the very useful meat juice.

Macaroni au Gratin


Have ready three pints of freshly boiling water with a good pinch of salt in a saucepan for about half a pound of straight macaroni which must be broken up to a convenient size.

Macaroni should always be put straight into boiling water. Boil gently for forty minutes to an hour but be careful not to let it boil over, adding boiling water from time to time as the macaroni swells. Strain the water off with the lid, and stir into the saucepan a breakfast-cupful of grated Gruyère cheese (a little grated Parmesan cheese is a great improvement added to the Gruyère). Turn into a stone dish.

Dust a little more cheese over the top, put a piece of butter about the size of two good-sized walnuts and place in a quick oven to brown slightly.

Cauliflower au Gratin

Remove all the stump of a young cauliflower and boil for fifteen minutes in a large saucepan with a pinch of salt and a small pinch of soda. When cooked, turn it into a cullender and break it into small pieces (not too small) on a flat pie-dish.

Take one and a half tablespoonfuls of butter. Have ready half a pint of milk boiling. Turn the boiling milk into the paste and stir well till quite smooth. Put it back in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

Stir four good tablespoonfuls of grated Gruyère cheese into the sauce and turn it over the cauliflower in the dish. Dust a little more cheese over it and stand the dish in a quick oven for ten minutes to brown. The browning can also be done with a Salamander.

Shepherd’s Pie

Cut the remains of any cold roast beef into small pieces and place in a dish. Slice about a quarter of a Spanish onion finely on the top, add two tomatoes cut very small, pepper and salt, half a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce, half a teaspoonful of bovril stirred in half a teacupful of water, or a little meat juice. Place in the oven uncovered for a quarter of an hour.

Then take out and fill up the dish with mashed potatoes. Place a few thin slices of onion on the top, a piece of butter, and replace in the oven for three-quarters of an hour so as to brown the top nicely.

Hot Pot

Take about two and half pounds of best end of neck of mutton and after removing the bones (which will make mutton stock) cut the meat in two (each cutlet); have two sound turnips and two carrots cut into dice and one large onion finely sliced.

Put the vegetables in a pile in the centre of a stone (deep) saucepan. Place the meat round it and add pepper and salt. Pour in a small breakfast cup of cold water and cover the whole with slices of partly cooked boiled potato. Spread liberally with some good beef dripping and cover with the saucepan lid.

Put into a good oven and allow two and a half hours for it to cook. Then remove the lid and leave to brown, when it will be ready to serve. It is best served in the saucepan with a white serviette wrapped round it.

Roast Lamb

To roast lamb proceed as for mutton, only the joints, being smaller, will not require so long to cook. A nice way to serve a leg of lamb is as follows: have some bacon lard cut into strips about an inch long, cut little slits in the outside of the leg and insert a piece of bacon lard in each. Cook in a nice steady oven, allowing about an hour and a half for a leg of four pounds.

If you wish to serve a leg of lamb or any other joint cold it is well to choose a joint not too large for your purpose and to cook it the day before it is required. Avoid cutting it while it is hot. In this way the gravy should run freely when the cold joint is cut and the flavour will be much better. The same applies to any joint intended to be used cold.

The proper sauce for roast lamb is the mint sauce. Take twenty-four leaves of mint chopped very fine, a teacupful of vinegar, and two good teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar. Dissolve the sugar in vinegar and put it with the mint into a sauce boat.

Stuffed Steak with Thick Sauce


Take two pounds of rump steak, free it from sinews; make about four large cuts in it without cutting it right through, with a sharp knife. Lay the stuffing (sage and onion – recipe below) on the steak, cover with a piece of flare, or if not available a piece of buttered paper tied round with string, and bake for one hour.

Lay the meat on a dish and remove the string and paper. Put a pinch of pepper and salt into the baking tin and about a teacupful of water. Place over the top of the stove until it boils, stir into it a tablespoonful and a half of carefully mixed flour, bring it to the boil again and carefully strain it through a gravy strainer over the meat. Serve with baked or boiled potatoes.

Sage and Onion Stuffing [for recipe above and recipes below]

(For goose, fowl, beef, veal, or breast of mutton)

Put into an enamelled frying pan about two ounces of fresh butter ready for melting. (Salt butter always leaves a deposit in the pan which causes the things to burn.) Take five large Spanish onions, cut carefully on a board into thin slices, and put into the hot butter. Place on the fire with the stove top on and boil for half an hour without allowing them to brown. Take the soft part of one loaf, rub it fine on a grater, chop ten or twelve large leaves of sage, mix with the breadcrumbs, pour the onion hot into the centre, mix thoroughly and stuff.

Breast of Mutton Stuffed

Lay the breast of mutton on the pastry board and put sage and onion stuffing (see recipe above) into it. Roll and tie with string and bake for one hour.

Stuffed Fillet of Veal

Take about three pounds of veal cut rather flat, score it several times with a sharp knife. Lay the sage and onion stuffing (scroll up for recipe) on it and cover with flare or a buttered paper. Tie it with string, put it into a baking tin, and bake for one and a half hours. Place on a hot dish and pour the gravy over.

Roast Pork

A small leg of pork or about four pounds of loin must be scored on the outside with a sharp knife. Put it into a baking tin and put in the oven for two to two and a half hours. Dish up and treat the dripping as directed for beef or mutton. Serve with onion or apple sauce.

Herrings in Paper

Have ready cleaned and beheaded say six herrings with soft roes if possible. Lay six pieces of paper (buttered) on the hot shelf of the oven to melt the butter, then wrap each fish in a piece of paper. Have ready about a quarter of a pound of tub lard melted in an enamelled frying pan and lay the fish in the papers in the boiling fat. The fire must not be too fierce. Fry for about twenty or twenty-five minutes over a brisk fire. Dish up and serve in the papers.

Roast Goose

Have a goose of seven or eight pounds trussed for roasting. Stuff with sage and onion stuffing (scroll up for recipe which can be found under the Stuffed Steak with Thick Sauce recipe), butter the breast well and cook in a quick but not fierce oven for three and a half hours. Garnish with sausages.

Roast Duck

If not stuffed put a piece of butter inside and butter the breast liberally. Cook in a quick oven for one and a half hours. Dish as for roast fowl and serve with green peas as per recipe. If stuffed it must be cooked for one and three quarters hours.

Wild Duck

Put some butter inside the duck, butter the breast, and fasten a slice of very fat bacon to the breast with a skewer. Bake in a quick oven for one and a half hours. Serve garnished with parsley.

Roast Fowl

Put inside a properly trussed fowl about an ounce of butter and spread butter also over the breast. Do not flour your fowl. Bake in a quick oven for one and a quarter hours (roast one and a half hours). When the fowl is done lay on a dish, strain the butter out of the meat tin, boil up a little water in it to make gravy and pour over the fowl in the dish. If to be stuffed [see recipe below].

Truffled Stuffing for Fowls [for recipe above]

For two fowls take the soft part of half a loaf of bread, eight small sprigs of parsley (not the stalk), the yolk of one egg, the livers of the fowls, one rasher of bacon not too fat, pepper and salt, one round of Spanish onion, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and one small bottle of truffles. Rub the bread very fine on a cheese-grater and chop onion and parsley very small. Fry the liver, bacon, and onion very lightly, chop them very small and turn on to the board to mix thoroughly with crumbs. Add the chopped truffles and a piece of butter, break the yolk of the egg into it and stir the mixture well when the stuffing will be ready to put into the fowl.

Roast Pheasant

Should be cooked in the same way as chicken and served with cranberry sauce or black currant jelly. To make cranberry sauce take half a pound of cranberries, a good teacupful of powdered sugar and just cover with hot water. Boil gently for an hour. Sometimes the sugar is omitted.

Roast Partridge

Butter the breast and inside. Bake in a tin in the oven for three-quarters of an hour. Lay the bird on a thick slice of toast. Pour the fat out of the tin, boil up in it a very little water and serve the gravy thus made in a sauce boat.

The best toast for all game birds is made as follows: Remove the crust from as many pieces of bread as required. When the birds are cooked place them in another tin or dish and bring the fat in which they have been cooked to a boil on the stove. Place the slices of bread in the boiling fat and fry till they are a crisp brown.

Roast Pigeons

Take say two pigeons trussed for roasting. Put a good-sized piece of butter into each and liberally butter the breasts. Put into a baking tin and bake for half an hour to three-quarters. For dishing, split in halves down the breast (it will be easy if the birds are well done) and lay on hot buttered toast. Strain the fat out of the tin and put a little good meat juice into it. Stir in a little well-mixed flour and water and serve with green peas.

Venison

Melt an ounce of butter or dripping in a baking tin and when hot lay in it about three pounds of venison not too fat. Bake in a fairly quick oven for two hours, basting it from time to time with the butter out of the tin. Make the gravy as for beef. Serve with red currant jelly.

Roast Turkey

Have ready a turkey of about seven pounds trussed for roasting. Stuff it with the best sausage meat and some truffles cut up very small. Butter the breast very liberally and bake in a quick oven for three hours. Garnish with sausages.

Breakfast Dish

Have the paste made ready as for meat pie, take six thin rashers of bacon and cut them in halves. Roll the paste thin on the board and lay half a rasher of bacon on each piece of paste. Cut the paste a little bigger than the bacon.

Dust a little finely chopped onion and a tiny pinch of sweet herbs over each piece of bacon. Roll paste and bacon together (paste outside) and cook on hot buttered paper for fifteen minutes in a quick oven.

Sausage Rolls

Prick one pound of best pork sausages and bake in the oven for twenty minutes on a flat dish. Cut each sausage lengthwise, roll round each half a thin rasher of raw bacon, put into a paste (see pastry recipe below)), wrap in hot buttered paper and bake for another twenty minutes.

Pastry for Meat Pies

For meat pies, sausage rolls, etc., the following pastry is recommended. Put two and a half cupfuls of flour into a bowl and work into it a quarter of a pound of butter. Mix with a little tepid water. Roll out on the board and spread it thickly with a quarter of a pound of lard (half at a time). Turn over the ends of the pastry, roll out again and spread the rest of the lard. Turn in the ends again and roll finally for the crust of your pie.

Sausages

Prick the sausages well with a fork. Lay in a flat meat dish and cook for twenty to twenty-five minutes not on the stove but in a fairly quick oven. This prevents all smell and they will be well cooked.

Allied Cookery Arranged by Grace Clergue Harrison and Gertrude Clergue [1916]

DUCK ST. ALBANS (English)

Roast a fat duck. When cold carve the breast in thin slices. Lay these carefully aside. Break off the breastbone and cover the carcass smoothly with the liver farce. Replace the sliced fillets, using a little of the farce to bind them back into place on the duck. Coat the whole well with half set aspic jelly.

Farce.—1 lb. of calf’s liver, 2 ozs. of butter, 1 slice of bacon, a slice of onion, 1 carrot sliced. Fry these carefully and pound in a mortar. Pass through a wire sieve. Then put in a basin and whisk in ½ pint of aspic jelly and a small teacupful of very thick cream. Season with cayenne pepper and salt. Grapefruit and orange salad is served with this.

CHEESE PUDDING (A simple and nutritious Welsh dish)

Chop ½ lb. of cheese. Toast and butter four slices of bread. Put two slices in the bottom of a dish, cover with half the cheese, sprinkle a little salt and pepper, put in the dish the other two slices of buttered bread and cover with the remaining cheese.

Pour over 1 pint of milk, let it stand for five minutes, then bake in a warm oven 20 minutes.

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915] [vegetarian recipes]

CASSEROLE COOKERY

Casserole is the French word for stew-pan. But “Casserole Cookery” is a phrase used to denote cookery in earthenware pots. It commends itself especially to food-reformers, as the slow cookery renders the food more digestible, and the earthenware pots are easier to keep clean than the ordinary saucepan.

The food is served up in the pot in which it is cooked, this being simply placed on a dish. A large pudding-basin covered with a plate may be used in default of anything better. A clean white serviette is generally pinned round this before it comes to table. Various attractive-looking brown crocks are sold for the purpose.

But anyone who possesses the old-fashioned “beef-tea” jar needs nothing else. It is important to ensure that a new casserole does not crack the first time of using. To do this put the casserole into a large, clean saucepan, or pail, full of clean cold water. Put over a fire or gas ring, and bring slowly to the boil. Boil for 10 minutes and then stand aside to cool. Do not take the casserole out until the water is cold.

FRENCH SOUP.

2 carrots, 1 turnip, 1 leek, 1 stick celery, 1/2 cabbage, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, 6 peppercorns, 3 qts. water.

Scrape and cut up carrots and turnip. Slice the leek, and cut celery into dice. Shred the cabbage. Put into the jar with the water, and place in a moderate oven, or on the top of a closed range.

If it is necessary to use a gas ring, turn very low and stand jar on an asbestos mat. Bring to the boil slowly and then simmer for 2-1/2 hours.

HOT POT.

1 lb. potatoes, 2 carrots, 1 large onion, 1 turnip, 1/4 lb. mushrooms or 1/2 lb. tomatoes, 1 pint stock or water.

Wash, peel, and slice thickly the potatoes. Wash and scrape and slice the carrots and turnip. Skin the tomatoes or mushrooms. Put in the jar in alternate layers. Moisten with the stock or water. Cook as directed in recipe 1 for 1-1/2 hours after it first begins to simmer.

STEWED APPLES.

Take hard, red apples. Wash, but do not peel or core. Put in jar with cold water to reach half way up the apples. Cover closely and put in moderate oven for 2 hours after it begins to simmer. At end of 1 hour, add sugar to taste.

VEGETABLE STEW.

1-1/2 lbs. (when prepared and cut up) of mixed seasonable vegetables, including, whenever possible, tomatoes, celery and spinach; one tablespoonful of water.

Cut up the moist, juicy vegetables such as celery, spinach, onions and tomatoes, place them with the water in a casserole, put lid on and slowly cook for about one hour until enough juice is extracted to safely add the rest of the cut-up vegetables. The whole should now be placed in a slightly greater heat and simmered until the last added vegetables are quite tender. The mixture should be stirred occasionally with a wooden spoon.

TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE.

Grease a pie-dish. Put in it 2 or 3 small firm tomatoes, or some small peeled mushrooms. Make a batter as for Yorkshire pudding and pour over. Bake until golden brown.

NUT COOKERY.

For nut-cookery, a nut mill or food chopper of some kind is necessary. A tiny food chopper, which can be regulated to chop finely or coarsely as required, may be bought for 3s. at most food-reform stores. It also has an attachment which macerates the nuts so as to produce “nut butter.” The larger size at 5s. is the more convenient for ordinary use. If only one machine can be afforded, the food chopper should be the one chosen, as it can also be used for vegetables, breadcrumbs, etc. The nut-mill proper flakes the nuts, it will not macerate them, and is useful for nuts only. But flaked nuts are a welcome and pretty addition to fruit salads, stewed fruits, etc.

If the nuts to be milled or ground clog the machine, put them in a warm oven until they just begin to change colour. Then let them cool, and they will be found crisp and easy to work. But avoid doing this if possible, as it dries up the valuable nut oil.

NUT ROAST.

2 breakfast cups bread-crumbs, 2 medium Spanish onions, or 2 tomatoes, 2 breakfast cups ground nuts, nutter.

Any shelled nuts may be used for this roast. Some prefer one kind only; others like them mixed. Almonds, pine-kernels, new Brazil nuts, and new walnuts are nice alone. Old hazel nuts and walnuts are nicer mixed with pine-kernels. A good mixture is one consisting of equal quantities of blanched almonds, walnuts, hazel nuts, and pine-kernels; where strict economy is a consideration, peanuts may be used. Put a few of each kind alternately into the food chopper and grind until you have enough to fill two cups. Mix with the same quantity breadcrumbs. Grate the onions, discard all tough pieces, using the soft pulp and juice only with which to mix the nuts and crumbs to a very stiff paste. If onions are disliked, skin and mash two tomatoes for the same purpose. Or one onion and one tomato may be used.

Well grease a pie-dish, fill it with the mixture, spread a few pieces of nutter (or butter) on the top, and bake until brown.

Another method.—For those who use eggs, the mixing may be done with a well-beaten egg. The mixture may also be formed into an oblong roast, greased, and baked on a tin. Serve with brown gravy or tomato sauce.

VEGETABLE MARROW AND NUT ROAST.

Make a paste as for nut roast (see recipe above). Peel marrow, scoop out the inside, and stuff. Bake from 40 minutes to an hour in a hot oven. Baste frequently.

VEGETABLE MARROW, STUFFED.

1 medium marrow, 2 ozs. butter or 1-1/2 oz. nutter, 1 dessertspoon sage, 2 medium onions, 4 tablespoons bread-crumbs, 1 tablespoon milk or water.

Chop the onion small and mix with the bread-crumbs, sage, and milk or water. Peel the marrow and scoop out the pith and pips. (Cut it in halves to do this, or, better still, if possible cut off one end and scoop out inside with a long knife.) Tie the two halves together with clean string. Stuff the marrow and bake for 40 minutes on a well-greased tin. Lay some of the nutter on top and baste frequently until done. It should brown well. Serve with brown gravy or white sauce.

MACARONI CHEESE.

1/4 lb. macaroni, 1-1/2 ozs. cheese, 1/2 pint milk, 1 teaspoon flour, butter, pepper.

The curled macaroni is the best among the ordinary kinds. Better still, however, is the macaroni made with fine wholemeal flour which is stocked by some food-reform stores. Parmesan cheese is nicest for this dish. Stale cheese spoils it.

Wash the macaroni. Put it into fast-boiling water and keep boiling until very tender. Drain off the water and replace it with the 1/2 pint of milk. Bring to the boil and stir in the flour mixed to a thin paste with cold milk or water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Grate the cheese finely.

Butter a shallow pie-dish. Put the thickened milk and macaroni in alternate layers with the grated cheese. Dust each layer with pepper, if liked. Top with grated cheese. Put some small pieces of butter on top of the grated cheese. Put in a very hot oven until nicely browned.

ROYAL NUT ROAST.

1/2 lb. pine kernels, 2 medium-sized tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 2 new-laid eggs.

Wash, dry and pick over the pine kernels and put them through the macerating machine. Skin and well mash the tomatoes. Grate finely the onion. Mix all together and beat to a smooth batter. Whisk the eggs to a stiff froth and add to the mixture. Pour into a greased pie-dish. Bake in a moderate oven until a golden-brown colour. It should “rise” like a cake. It may be eaten warm with brown gravy or tomato sauce, or cold with salad.

Victorian Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892]

Casserole of Potatoes.

  • 1 pound mashed potatoes.
  • 2 tablespoons soaked lentils.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ ounce flour.
  • ½ pint water.
  • 1 shalot, or small onion.
  • 1 egg.
  • 1 hard-boiled ditto. [egg]
  • 1 strip of lemon peel.
  • 1 small lump of sugar.
  • 2 teaspoons tomato sauce.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • Pepper to taste.

Boil the lentils, water, lemon-peel and half the butter gently for one hour. Remove the lemon-peel and add the sugar, salt and shalot chopped, and boil for fifteen minutes. Make a paste of the flour and the other half ounce of butter, place this in the stew and stir briskly while it boils for five minutes. Then add the tomato sauce and the hard-boiled egg cut into the shape of dice. Have ready the mashed potato prepared as follows:—place it on a small dish and shape into a ring or wall about two and a half inches high and half an inch thick, ornament the outside with a fork, brush over with egg, and brown in the oven. Pour the stew into the hollow centre, and serve quickly.

Baked Potatoes with Sage and Onion.

  • 2 large potatoes.
  • 6 onions.
  • 2 teaspoons sage.
  • 1 ounce bread crumbs.
  • 2 ounces butter.
  • ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Peel the potatoes and cut them lengthways into slices about half an inch thick, place six of these slices in a baking tin or dish which has been well greased with one and a half ounces of the butter. In the meantime peel and boil the onions for a quarter of an hour in a little salted water, and the sage (tied in a piece of muslin) with them for the last five minutes. Chop the onions and sage and mix with the bread crumbs, salt, pepper and half an ounce of butter, and spread the mixture thickly over the slices of potato, and bake for one and a half or two hours.

Apple sauce should be served with this dish and a rich gravy.

Mushrooms Baked.

  • 1 dozen mushrooms.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • 2 tablespoonsful water.
  • Pepper and salt.

Peel the mushrooms, removing part of the stalks, and lay them (stalks upwards) in a flat baking tin or dish containing the water; place a small piece of the butter in the centre of each mushroom, pepper and salt them to taste; cover them, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty or thirty minutes. Serve very hot.

Baked Batter.

  • 3 ounces flour.
  • 2 eggs.
  • ½ pint milk.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • A pinch of salt.

Place the flour and salt in a basin, beat up the eggs in another basin; add half the butter to the milk, and place in the oven for a few minutes to allow the butter to dissolve, then add the milk to the eggs and pour on to the flour, stir briskly with a wooden spoon, grease a baking tin or dish with the remainder of the butter, pour in the batter, and bake in a rather hot oven for half an hour.

Note.—Great care must be taken that the mushrooms are quite free from insects before cooking.

A YEAR’S COOKERY. GIVING DISHES FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCHEON, AND DINNER, FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR BY PHYLLIS BROWNE [1882]

Shepherd’s Pie of Beef

[Note from Leigh: Browne recommended Shepherd’s Pie for a Monday luncheon [lunch] and was to be prepared with leftover roasted beef and gravy from Sunday dinner. Browne suggests that any leftover potatoes can be used for the mashed potato topping. Nowadays, Shepherd’s pie is more of a dinner meal, often prepared with freshly made minced meat, mashed potatoes, and vegetables such as carrots and peas. Of course, you can also prepare a veggie Shepherd’s pie by replacing the meat with for example nicely stewed green lentils or Quorn mince]

Boil as many potatoes as will be required for the quantity of meat; half-a-dozen large ones would be sufficient for one pound of beef [leftover cooked meat]. Mash them smoothly, and beat them up with a little salt, a slice of melted butter, and the yolk of an egg. If any cold potatoes were left yesterday they may be used instead of boiling fresh ones. Cut the meat into thin slices, free from fat, skin, and gristle, or if preferred, mince it finely. Season it with salt and pepper. Butter a shallow pie-dish, put the meat into it, and moisten it with any gravy that may be left and a tablespoon of Worcester sauce; cover with the potatoes, rough the top with a fork, and bake in a moderate oven for about three-quarters of an hour. It ought to be hot through and brown on the top. If there be no gravy to moisten the meat, use stock instead.

Lancashire Hot Pot

[Note from Leigh: Browne suggested that this hot pot be served for dinner along with ‘Greens.’ The greens she suggests are any cabbage, such as Savoy cabbage or Brussels sprouts. For pudding, she recommends ‘Baked Batter with Jam’ along with ‘Cheese.’ For starters, Browne recommends ‘Crecy Soup.’]

Take the best end of the neck of mutton, the sheep’s kidneys, a moderate-sized onion, and the tinned oysters; free the mutton almost entirely from fat, and cut it into neat chops. Take a wide brown earthenware stewpot, and fill it with alternate layers of the chops, the kidneys, cut into thin slices, some sliced potatoes, and the onion very finely minced. Before putting in the meat, season each layer with pepper and salt. Place whole potatoes over the topmost layer; put in the liquor from the oysters, and add half a pint of stock or water. Cover the stew pan closely, and bake it in a gentle oven for about three hours. If there is any danger that the dish will be too dry, add a little more stock. When the meat is tender lift it on a dish, and add the oysters, which have been made hot by being put upon a dish in the oven for a few minutes; pour the gravy over all, and serve very hot. The sliced potatoes should be dissolved in the gravy.

Victorian Recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]

HADDOCK À LA MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL.

Have some filleted haddocks; lay the fillets one across the other on a plate that will stand the fire, with a small piece of butter on the top, and some pepper, salt, and chopped parsley. Cover with a greased paper, and bake in a moderate oven ten minutes. For sauce, melt one ounce of butter and one ounce of flour in a pan, add a cup of milk by degrees, and a little cream if you have it, and a few drops of lemon juice. Dish your fish in a hot corner-dish, with the sauce over it.

MERLAN AU GRATIN.

Have some whitings skinned, with their tails turned through their eyes. Butter a dish that will stand the fire, sprinkle some bread-crumbs, and brown in the oven. Serve with a brown sauce made in the ordinary way—a brown sauce made of butter, flour, and water.

STUFFED FISH.

Fillet two large haddocks, make a veal stuffing, and spread over the fillets. Roll up. Sprinkle some bread-crumbs over and small bits of butter, bake in the oven for fifteen minutes, till brown; pour a brown sauce over.

FILLET HADDOCKS À LA MAÎTRE D’HOTÊL.

Skin and fillet two haddocks, lay the fillets across each other on a dish that will stand the fire. Sprinkle some pepper and salt, place some bits of butter on the top, cover with a greased white paper, and cook in the oven for ten minutes. Serve with sauce à la maître d’hôtel.

SAUCE À LA MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL. [for recipe above]

Place in a sauce-pan half-an-ounce of butter, half-an-ounce of flour, and melt over the fire; then add a tea-cupful of milk, a tea-spoonful of chopped parsley, and boil for fifteen minutes; then a squeeze of a lemon and a glass of cream.

TURBOT BAKED.

Cook a turbot as before mentioned, but boil only ten minutes instead of twenty. Make a brown sauce in the ordinary way, and have some chopped parsley, chopped capers, and an onion cut in rings. Place your fish in a baking dish, pour the sauce over it, then sprinkle parsley, onion, and bread-crumbs, along with some small pieces of butter on the top, and bake in a hot oven.

JOINTS IN GENERAL.

How to divide a sheep is most useful to every one to know, and the different names of the cuts of the sheep. Split a sheep straight down the back; cut off the legs, and hang up in the larder. There is the chump, that will roast or boil; then the loin chops. Cut off the flap and roll it up, and make a force-meat stuffing, and have it braised. The loin chops are best for broiling. Then raise the shoulder, and there will be nine cutlets under the shoulder. Those are best for dressed cutlets. Choose the mutton that is white in the colour, and not too heavy, as when it is too fat there is great waste. Yet not too lean, because it is a sign of poor mutton. All meat is tender if it be kept for a few days before using. It is the most economical way to get half a sheep from the butcher at once, if there is a large family, because it is got so much cheaper.

TO ROAST A LEG OF MUTTON.

To every pound of mutton allow fifteen minutes to roast. The oven must not be too hot when it first goes in, else it will burn on the outside, and not cook in the heart. Dish on a hot dish. It is an improvement to shake a little salt on the outside before pouring gravy over. To make the gravy: pour all the grease off, and add a little stock to the dripping pan, and pour over the roast.

ROAST CHICKEN.

Singe, and truss a chicken by cutting the legs off at the first joint. Make an incision in the wings, and put the gizzard under the left wing, and the liver under the right. Make a stuffing of three ounces of bread-crumbs, two ounces of suet, a few leaves of chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and one egg. Draw up the legs under the wings, and stuff the chicken in the breast. Grease a buttered paper, and lay over the baste frequently. Serve bread sauce in a boat. Time to cook, one hour.

ROAST BEEF.

The English cut is the best for roasting. Choose one with a nice under cut, and it is an economical way to take out the under cut and hang it up in a cold larder till required for use, as it will make very good steaks or entrées. Roast the beef in a moderately hot oven, allowing fifteen minutes to the pound. If preferred, roast beef should be under-done. Make a Yorkshire pudding in the following manner:—Put three table-spoonfuls of flour into a basin, mix into a smooth batter with milk, and add a pinch of salt, switch the yolk and whites of two eggs separately to a stiff froth; pour into the batter. Bake under the beef in a greased tin, when the beef is done. Dish a few minutes before wanted, and sprinkle a little salt on the top of the beef. Pour the grease off the pan, and put a tea-cupful of stock over the beef. Dish the Yorkshire pudding round the beef, with horse-radish sauce or in a separate dish.

ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.

Take six pounds of the loin of veal; make an incision in the flap, and place some veal stuffing in it; wrap it round the kidney fat so as to secure it tightly. Envelop the loin in well-greased sheets of paper. Roast before a moderate fire for two hours. Baste it very often. Dish and pour some good brown gravy over it. Garnish with some nice fried potatoes.

ROAST LEG OF PORK.

Make an incision between the skin and flesh; fill it with a stuffing of bread-crumbs, one egg, flavoured with onion and sage; sew the crevice with twine. Score the pork by cutting the rhind with a sharp knife in strips, an inch apart. Roast for three hours; keep well basted. Serve with apple sauce in a boat, and brown gravy.

ROAST GROUSE.

This bird must be roasted with great care, before a clear fire, for twenty minutes. Some persons like all things well done, but the proper way is to be under-done. Baste well, and dish on a buttered toast. Serve with potato chips, bread sauce, and bread-crumbs.

ROAST HARE.

Hare should be kept for a week before roasting. Soak and wash in cold water, and dry on a clean towel. Make a stuffing of bread-crumbs, chopped parsley, one ounce of beef suet, part of the liver boiled and finely chopped, pepper and salt, one egg and a little ketchup. Stuff the hare; truss by placing the hind and fore legs flat against the sides; set the head back to rest on the shoulders; stick a trussing needle through the head of the hare, to keep back the head; baste with butter and sweet milk. Cook for two hours; serve with a gravy and red currant jelly.

ROAST RABBIT

Is cooked in the same manner as roast hare.

ROAST PARTRIDGES.

Pick and draw and clean these birds the same as fowls. Do not cut off the heads; twist the neck round the wing; bring the head to the breast. The legs and wings may be trussed the same as a fowl’s. The feet are left on and crossed one over the other. Baste well with butter before a clear fire. A partridge will take from twenty minutes to half-an-hour, and a pheasant three-quarters of an hour. Serve on toasted bread, with gravy and bread sauce.

Blackcock should be served in the same way.

A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

Roast Fowl and Gravy. [chicken or turkey]

Let us hope that at Christmas, or some other festive season, you may have to dress a fowl or turkey for your dinner. On such occasions I would recommend the following method:—First, draw the fowl, reserving the gizzard and liver to be tucked under the wings; truss the fowl with skewers, and tie it to the end of a skein of worsted, which is to be fastened to a nail stuck in the chimney-piece, so that the fowl may dangle rather close to the fire, in order to roast it. Baste the fowl, while it is being roasted, with butter, or some kind of grease, and when nearly done, sprinkle it with a little flour and salt, and allow the fowl to attain a bright yellow-brown colour before you take it up. Then place it on its dish, and pour some brown gravy over it.

This is the Brown Gravy for the Fowl. [for roast fowl recipe above]

Chop up an onion, and fry it with a sprig of thyme and a bit of butter, and when it is brown, add a good tea-spoonful of moist sugar and a drop of water, and boil all together on the fire until the water is reduced, and the sugar begins to bake of a dark brown colour. It must then be stirred on the fire for three minutes longer; after which moisten it with half-a-pint of water, add a little pepper and salt; boil all together for five minutes, and strain the gravy over the fowl, etc.

Bread Sauce for a Roast Fowl. [for roast fowl recipe]

Chop a small onion or shalot fine, and boil it in a pint of milk for five minutes; then add about ten ounces of crumb of bread, a bit of butter, pepper and salt to season; stir the whole on the fire for ten minutes, and eat this bread sauce with roast fowl or turkey.

Egg Sauce for Roast Fowls, etc. [for roast fowl recipe]

Boil two or three eggs for about eight minutes; remove the shells, cut up each egg into about ten pieces of equal size, and put them into some butter-sauce made as follows:—viz., Knead two ounces of flour with one ounce and-a-half of butter; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt to season, and stir the sauce on the fire until it begins to boil; then mix in the pieces of chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Roast Veal, Stuffed.

A piece of the shoulder, breast, or chump-end of the loin of veal, is the cheapest part for you, and whichever of these pieces you may happen to buy, should be seasoned with the following stuffing:—To eight ounces of bruised crumb of bread add four ounces of chopped suet, shalot, thyme, marjoram, and winter savory, all chopped fine; two eggs, pepper and salt to season; mix all these ingredients into a firm compact kind of paste, and use this stuffing to fill a hole or pocket which you will have cut with a knife in some part of the piece of veal, taking care to fasten it in with a skewer. If you intend roasting the veal, and should not possess what is called a bottle-jack, nor even a Dutch oven, in that case the veal should be suspended by, and fastened to, the end of a twisted skein of worsted, made fast at the upper end by tying it to a large nail driven into the centre of the mantelpiece for that purpose. This contrivance will enable you to roast the veal by dangling it before your fire; the exact time for cooking it must depend upon its weight. A piece of veal weighing four pounds would require rather more than an hour to cook it thoroughly before your small fire.

Baked Pig’s Head.

Split the pig’s head into halves, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and lay them with the rind part uppermost upon a bed of sliced onions in a baking dish. Next bruise eight ounces of stale bread-crumb, and mix it with four ounces of chopped suet, twelve sage leaves chopped fine, pepper and salt to season, and sprinkle this seasoning all over the surface of the pig’s head; add one ounce of butter and a gill of vinegar to the onions, and bake the whole for about an hour and-a-half, basting the pig’s head occasionally with the liquor.

Baked Goose.

Pluck and pick out all the stubble feathers thoroughly clean, draw the goose, cut off the head and neck, and also the feet and wings, which must be scalded to enable you to remove the pinion feathers from the wings and the rough skin from the feet; split and scrape the inside of the gizzard, and carefully cut out the gall from the liver. These giblets well stewed, will serve to make a pie for another day’s dinner. Next stuff the goose in manner following, viz.:—First put six potatoes to bake in the oven, or even in a Dutch oven; and, while they are being baked, chop six onions with four apples and twelve sage leaves, and fry these in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, pepper and salt; when the whole is slightly fried, mix it with the pulp of the six baked potatoes, and use this very nice stuffing to fill the inside of the goose. The goose being stuffed, place it upon an iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and a few apples; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt, shake some flour over the goose, and bake it for about an hour and a-half.

Baked Sucking Pig.

Let the pig be stuffed in the same manner as directed for a goose, as shown in the preceding recipe; score it all over crosswise, rub some grease or butter upon it, place it upon a trivet in a dish containing peeled potatoes and a few sliced onions, season with pepper and salt; add half-a-pint of water, and bake the pig for about two hours, basting it frequently with its own dripping, or, a bit of butter tied up in a piece of muslin.

Baked or Roast Ducks.

These are to be dressed in the same way as directed for dressing geese. [see baked goose recipe above]

Baked Beef and Potatoes.

The cheapest pieces of beef, suitable for baking or roasting, consist of the thick part of the ribs, cut from towards the shoulder, the mouse buttock and gravy pieces, and also what is commonly called the chuck of beef, which consists of the throat boned and tied up with string in the form of a small round. Whichever piece of beef you may happen to buy, it should be well sprinkled over with pepper, salt, and flour, and placed upon a small iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and about half-a-pint of water, and either baked in your own oven or else sent to the baker’s. If you bake your meat in your own oven, remember that it must be turned over on the trivet every twenty minutes, and that you must be careful to baste it all over now and then with the fat which runs from it into the dish, using a spoon for that purpose. It would be very economical if, when you have baked meat for dinner, you were always to make a Yorkshire pudding to be baked under it. There are baking dishes made with a parting down the middle which just suit this purpose. In this case the potatoes are put in one part and the pudding in the other part.

Bullock’s Heart Stuffed.

Chop fine four onions and twelve sage-leaves; put these into a saucepan with a bit of fat or butter, and fry them for a few minutes on the fire; then add eight ounces of crumb of bread, soaked in milk or water, pepper and salt; stir this stuffing on the fire for a few minutes, add one egg, put the stuffing inside the bullock’s heart, place a round of greased paper on the stuffing, and fasten it on with four wooden twigs. Next, put the stuffed heart upon an iron trivet in a baking dish, containing peeled potatoes, two ounces of dripping or butter, and half a pint of water; season well with pepper and salt, and while baking let the heart be frequently basted with the fat from the dish. In case you have no oven, send it to the baker’s.

Baked Sheep’s Heads.

Buy a couple of sheep’s heads, get the butcher to split them for you, place them in an earthen baking-dish, with two ounces of dripping, some chopped shalots, thyme, bay-leaf, winter savory, pepper and salt, and a good pinch of allspice; moisten with a quart of cider, or water, strew a coating of bread-raspings all over the surface of the heads, and bake them for two hours.

Belgian Faggots.

These may be prepared with sheep’s pluck, or even with bullock’s liver, and other similar parts of meat; but a pig’s pluck is preferable for the purpose. Chop up the heart, liver, lights, and the fat crow; season well with pepper, salt, allspice, thyme, sage, and shalots, and divide this sausage-meat into balls the size of an apple, which must be each secured in shape with a piece of pig’s caul fastened with a wooden twig, or skewer, and placed in rows in a tin baking-dish, to be baked for about half an hour in a brisk oven. When the faggots are done, place them on some well-boiled cabbages, chopped up, in an earthen dish, and having poured the grease from the faggots over all, set them in the oven to stew gently for half an hour.

Baked Tripe.

Cut the tripe up in pieces, and put it into an earthen pot, with some ale, cider, or water, enough to cover it in; add sliced onions, pepper, and salt, and a good pinch of allspice; put the lid on the pot, and set the tripe in the oven to bake for two hours.

Roast Pork.

Let us suppose, or rather hope, that you may sometimes have a leg of pork to cook for your dinner; it will eat all the better if it is scored all over by cutting the rind, or rather slitting it crosswise, at short distances, with the point of a sharp knife; it is to be well sprinkled all over with salt, and allowed to absorb the seasoning during some hours previously to its being cooked. Prepare some stuffing as follows:—Chop six onions and twelve sage leaves fine, fry these with a bit of butter, pepper, and salt, for five minutes; then add six ounces of bread soaked in water; stir all together on the fire for five minutes, and use this stuffing to fill up a hole or pocket, which you will make by running the point of a knife down between the rind and the flesh of the joint of pork; secure this by sewing it up, or else fasten it securely in with a small wooden skewer or twig. The joint of pork, so far prepared, must then be placed upon a trivet in a baking-dish containing plenty of peeled potatoes, and, if possible, a few apples for the children; add half a pint of water, pepper and salt, and if the joint happens to be a leg, it will require about two hours to bake it.

Soused Mackerel.

When mackerel are to be bought at six for a shilling, this kind of fish forms a cheap dinner. On such occasions, the mackerel must be placed heads and tails in an earthen dish or pan, seasoned with chopped onions, black pepper, a pinch of allspice, and salt; add sufficient vinegar and water in equal proportions to cover the fish. Bake in your own oven, if you possess one, or send them to the baker’s.

Note.—Herrings, sprats, or any other cheap fish, are soused in the same manner.

Baked Fish.

Wash and wipe the fish, and lay it, heads and tails, in a baking-dish, the bottom of which has been spread all over with a little butter or dripping, add a little vinegar and water, and, when procurable, some mushroom ketchup. Season with chopped onions and parsley, shake plenty of raspings of bread all over the top of the fish, and bake it in your oven, or send it to the baker’s.

Baked Cod’s Head.

First, make some stuffing with one pound of bruised crumb of bread, mixed with six ounces of chopped suet, two eggs, chopped parsley, onions and thyme, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Put this stuffing inside the cod’s head, and place it in a baking-dish with two ounces of butter, a gill of vinegar, and a pint and a half of water. Spread a little of the butter all over the cod’s head, and then a thick coating of bread-raspings all over it; bake it for an hour in the oven. A few oysters would be an improvement.

Baked or Roasted Potatoes.

You do not require that I should tell you that when you have no oven you can easily roast your potatoes by placing them on the hobs, bars, and under the fire-grate; and if you are attentive to their being well roasted, by turning them about now and then, so that they may be done all over alike, you need not be deprived of a baked potato for the want of an oven. When the potatoes are roasted, slightly squeeze each separately in a cloth, to make them mealy, then split them open; season them with a bit of butter, or dripping, a little bit of chopped shalot, pepper, and salt, and this will afford you a nice relish for supper.

Baked or Roasted Onions.

Do not peel the onions, but put them in their natural state to roast on the hobs, turning them round to the fire occasionally, in order that they may be equally roasted all over and through; when they are well done, remove the outer skin, split them open, add a bit of butter, pepper and salt, and a few drops of vinegar.

The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]

Eels, to pot.

Into an earthen pan put Jamaica and common pepper, pounded fine, and salt; mix them and strew some at the bottom of the pan; cut your eels and lay them over it, and strew a little more seasoning over them. Then put in another layer of eels, repeating this process till all the eels are in. Lay a few bay leaves upon them, and pour as much vinegar as you may think requisite; cover the pan with brown paper and bake them. Pour off the liquor, cover them with clarified butter, and lay them by for use.

Eels, to roast.

Skin your eels; turn, scotch, and wash them with melted butter; skewer them crosswise; fix them on the spit, and put over them a little pepper, salt, parsley, and thyme; roast them quick. Fry some parsley, and lay it round the dish; make your sauce of butter and gravy.

Haddocks, to bake.

Bone two or three haddocks, and lay them in a deep pan with pepper, salt, butter and flour, and two or three anchovies, and sufficient water to cover them. Cover the pan close for an hour, which is required to bake them, and serve them in the saucepan.

Haddock baked.

Let the inside of the gills be drawn out and washed clean; fill with bread crumbs, parsley, sweet herbs chopped, nutmeg, salt, pepper, a bit of butter, and grated lemon-peel; skewer the tail into the mouth, and rub it well with yolk of egg. Strew over bread crumbs, and stick on bits of butter. Bake the fish in a common oven, putting into the dish a little white wine and water, a bit of mace, and lemon-peel. Serve up with oyster sauce, white fish sauce, or anchovy sauce; but put to the sauce what gravy is in the dish, first skimming it.

Pike, to pot.

After scaling the fish, cut off the head, split it, take out the back-bone, and strew it over with bay salt and pepper. Cover and bake it; lay it on a coarse cloth to drain, and when cold put it in a pot that will just hold it, and cover with clarified butter.

If not well drained from the gravy it will not keep.

Pike, to roast.

Scale and slash the fish from head to tail; lard it with the flesh of eels rolled up in sweet-herbs and seasoning; fill it with fish and forced meat. Roast it at length; baste and bread it; make the sauce of drawn butter, anchovies, the roe and liver, with mushrooms, capers, and oysters. Ornament with sliced lemon.

Pike au Souvenir.

Wash a large pike; gut and dry it; make a forcemeat with eel, anchovy, whiting, pepper, salt, suet, thyme, bread crumbs, parsley, and a bit of shalot, mixed with the yolks of eggs; fill the inside of the fish with this meat; sew it up; after which draw with your packing-needle a piece of packthread through the eyes of the pike, through the middle and the tail also in the form of S; wash it over with the yolk of an egg, and strew it with the crumbs of bread. Roast or bake it with a caul over it. Sauce—melted butter and capers.

Sprats, to bake.

Wipe your sprats with a clean cloth; rub them with pepper and salt, and lay them in a pan. Bruise a pennyworth of cochineal; put it into the vinegar, and pour it over the sprats with some bay-leaves. Tie them down close with coarse paper in a deep brown pan, and set them in the oven all night. They eat very fine cold.

You may put to them a pint of vinegar, half a pint of red wine, and spices if you like it; but they eat very well without.

Sturgeon, to roast.

Put a walnut-sized bit of butter (or more if it is a large fish), rolled in flour, in a stewpan, with sweet-herbs, cloves, a gill of water, and a spoonful of vinegar; stir it over the fire, and when it is lukewarm take it off, and put in your sturgeon to steep. When it has been a sufficient time to take the flavour of the herbs, roast it, and when done, serve it with court bouillon, or any other fish sauce.

Rump of Beef, to bake.

Bone a rump of beef; beat it thoroughly with a rolling-pin, till it is very tender; cut off the sinew, and lard it with large pieces of bacon; roll your larding seasoning first—of pepper, salt, and cloves. Lard athwart the meat that it may cut handsomely; then season the meat all over with pepper and salt, and a little brown sugar. Tie it neatly up with packthread across and across, put the top undermost, and place it in an earthen pan. Take all the bones that came out of it, and put them in round and round the beef, so that it cannot stir; then put in half a pound of butter, two bay-leaves, two shalots, and all sorts of seasoning herbs, chopped fine. Cover the top of the pot with coarse paste; put it in a slow oven; let it stand eight hours; take it out, and serve it in the dish in which it is to go to table, with its own juice, and some have additional broth or gravy ready to add to it if it is too dry.

Rib of Beef, en papillotes, (in paper.)

Cut a rib of beef neatly, and stew it with some broth and a little pepper and salt. When the meat is done enough, reduce the sauce till it sticks to the rib, and then steep the rib in butter, with parsley, scallions, shalots, and mushrooms, shred fine, and a little basil in powder. Wrap the rib, together with its seasoning, in a sheet of white paper, folding the paper round in the form of a curling paper or papillote; grease the outside, and lay it upon the gridiron, on another sheet of greased paper, over a slow fire. When it is done, serve it in the paper.

Beef, to bake.

Take a buttock of beef; beat it in a mortar; put to it three pounds of bacon cut in small pieces; season with pepper and salt, and mix in the bacon with your hands. Put it into a pot, with some butter and a bunch of sweet-herbs, covering it very close, and let it bake six hours. When enough done, put it into a cloth to strain; then put it again into your pot, and fill it up with butter.

Italian Beef.

Take a round of beef, about fifteen or eighteen pounds; rub it well with three ounces of saltpetre, and let it lie for four hours in it. Then season it very well with beaten mace, pepper, cloves, and salt sufficient; let it then lie in that seasoning for twelve days; wash it well, and put it in the pot in which you intend to bake it, with one pound of suet shred fine, and thrown under and over it. Cover your pot and paste it down: let it stew six hours in its own liquor, and eat it cold.

Leg of Lamb, with forcemeat.

Slit a leg of lamb on the wrong side, and take out as much meat as possible, without cutting or cracking the outward skin. Pound this meat well with an equal weight of fresh suet: add to this the pulp of a dozen large oysters, and two anchovies boned and clean washed. Season the whole with salt, black-pepper, mace, a little thyme, parsley, and shalot, finely shred together; beat them all thoroughly with the yolks of three eggs, and, having filled the skin tight with this stuffing, sew it up very close. Tie it up to the spit and roast it. Serve it with any good sauce.

Neck of Mutton, to roast.

Draw the neck with parsley, and then roast it; and, when almost enough, dredge it with white pepper, salt, and crumbs; serve it with the juice of orange and gravy.

Pig, to barbicue.

The best pig for this purpose is of the thick neck breed, about six weeks old. Season the barbicue very high with cayenne, black pepper, and sage, finely sifted; which must be rubbed well into the inside of the pig. It must then be sewed up and roasted, or, if an oven can be depended upon, it will be equally good baked. The sauce must be a very high beef gravy, with an equal quantity of Madeira wine in it. Send the pig to table whole. Be careful not to put any salt into the pig, as it will change its colour.

Pig, to roast.

Chop the liver small by itself: mince blanched bacon, capers, truffles, anchovy, mushrooms, sweet-herbs and garlic. Season and blanch the whole. Fill your pig with it; tie it up; sprinkle some good olive oil over it; roast and serve it up hot.

Another way.

Put a piece of bread, parsley, and sage, cut small, into the belly with a little salt; sew up the belly; spit the pig, and roast it; cut off the ears and the under-jaws, which you will lay round; making a sauce with the brains, thick butter and gravy, which lay underneath.

Pig, to dress lamb fashion.

After skinning the pig, but leaving the skin quite whole, with the head on, chine it down, as you would do mutton, larding it with thyme and lemon-peel; and roast it in quarters like lamb. Fill the other part with a plum-pudding; sew the belly up, and bake it.

Chine of Pork, to stuff and roast.

Make your stuffing of parsley, sage, thyme, eggs, crumbs of bread, and season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and shalot; stuff the chine thick, and roast it gently. When about a quarter roasted, cut the skin in slips, making your sauce with lemon-peel, apples, sugar, butter, and mustard, just as you would for a roast leg.

Another way.

Take a chine of pork that has hung four or five days; make holes in the lean, and stuff it with a little of the fat leaf, chopped very small, some parsley, thyme, a little sage, and shalot, cut very fine, and seasoned with pepper and salt. It should be stuffed pretty thick. Have some good gravy in the dish. For sauce, use apple sauce.

Gammon, to roast.

Let the gammon soak for twenty-four hours in warm water. Boil it tender, but not too much. When hot, score it with your knife; put some pepper on it, and then put it into a dish to crisp in a hot oven; but be mindful to pull the skin off.

Spring of Pork, to roast.

Cut off the spring of a knuckle of pork, and leave as much skin on the spring as you can, parting it from the neck, and taking out the bones. Rub it well with salt, and strew it all over with thyme shred small, parsley, sage, a nutmeg, cloves, and mace, beaten small and well mixed together. Rub all well in, and roll the whole up tight, with the flesh inward. Sew it fast, spit it lengthwise, and roast it.

Tongue and Udder, to roast


Have the tongue and udder boiled and blanched, the tongue being salted with saltpetre; lard them with the whole length of large lardoons, and then roast them on a spit, basting them with butter: when roasted, dress them with grated bread and flour, and serve up with gravy, currant-jelly by itself, and slices of lemon.

Veal, to roast.

Veal will take a quarter of an hour to a pound: paper the fat of the loin and fillet; stuff the fillet and shoulder with the following ingredients: a quarter of a pound of suet, chopped fine, parsley, and sweet-herbs chopped, grated bread, lemon-peel, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and yolk of egg; butter may supply the want of suet. Roast the breast with the caul on it till almost done; take it off, flour and baste it. Veal requires to be more done than beef. For sauce use salad pickles, brocoli, cucumbers, raw or stewed, French beans, peas, cauliflower, celery, raw or stewed.

Veal served in paper.

Cut some slices of veal from the fillet, about an inch thick, in a small square, about the size of a small fricandeau; make a box of paper to fit neatly; rub the outside with butter, and put in your meat, with sweet oil or butter, parsley, scallions, shalots, and mushrooms, all stewed very fine, salt, and whole pepper. Set it upon the gridiron, with a sheet of oiled paper under it, and let it do by a very slow fire, lest the paper burn. When the meat is done on one side turn it on the other. Serve it in the box, having put over it very gently a dash of vinegar.

Fillet of Veal, to farce or roast.

Mince some beef suet very small, with some sweet marjoram, winter savory, and thyme; season with salt, cloves, and mace, well beaten; put in grated bread; mix them all together with the yolk of an egg; make small holes in the veal, and stuff it very thick with these. Put it on the spit and roast it well. Let the sauce consist of butter, gravy, and juice of lemon, very thick. Dish the veal, and pour the sauce over it, with slices of lemon laid round the dish.

Loin of Veal, to roast with herbs.

Lard the fillet of a loin of veal; put it into an earthen pan; steep it three hours with parsley, scallions, a little fennel, mushrooms, a laurel-leaf, thyme, basil, and two shalots, the whole shred very fine, salt, whole pepper, a little grated nutmeg, and a little sweet oil. When it has taken the flavour of the herbs, put it upon the spit, with all its seasoning, wrapt in two sheets of white paper well buttered; tie it carefully so as to prevent the herbs falling out, and roast it at a very slow fire. When it is done take off the paper, and with a knife pick off all the bits of herbs that stick to the meat and paper, and put them into a stewpan, with a little gravy, two spoonfuls of verjuice, salt, whole pepper, and a bit of butter, about as big as a walnut, rolled in flour. Before you thicken the sauce, melt a little butter; mix it with the yolk of an egg, and rub the outside of the veal, which should then be covered with grated bread, and browned with a salamander. Serve it up with a good sauce under, but not poured over so as to disturb the meat.

Veal Sweetbreads, to roast.

Lard your sweetbreads with small lardoons of bacon, and put them on a skewer; fasten them to the spit and roast them brown. Put some good gravy into a dish; lay in the sweetbreads, and serve them very hot. You ought to set your sweetbreads and spit them; then egg and bread them, or they will not be brown.

Fowl, to stew.

Take a fowl, two onions, two carrots, and two turnips; put one onion into the fowl, and cut all the rest into four pieces each. Add two or three bits of bacon or ham, a bay-leaf, and as much water as will prevent their burning when put into an earthen vessel; cover them up close, and stew them for three hours and a half on a slow fire. Serve up hot or cold.

Goose, to stuff.

Having well washed your goose, dry it, and rub the inside with pepper and salt. Crumble some bread, but not too fine; take a piece of butter and make it hot; cut a middle-sized onion and stew in the butter. Cut the liver very small, and put that also in the butter for about a minute just to warm, and pour it over the head. It must then be mixed up with an egg and about two spoonfuls of cream, a little nutmeg, ginger, pepper and salt, and a small quantity of summer savory.

Another way.

Chop fine two ounces of onions, and an ounce of green sage leaves; add four ounces of bread crumbs, the yolk and white of an egg, a little salt and pepper, and sometimes minced apples.

Hare, to roast.

Take half a pint of cream, grate bread into it; a little winter savory, thyme, and parsley; shred these very fine; half a nutmeg grated, and half of the hare’s liver, shred; beat an egg, yolk and white together, and mix it in with it, and half a spoonful of flour if you think it too light. Put it into the hare and sew it up. Have a quart of cream to baste it with. When the hare is roasted, take some of the best of the cream out of the dripping-pan, and make it fine and smooth by beating it with a spoon. Have ready melted a little thick butter, and mix it with the cream, and a little of the pudding out of the hare’s belly, as much as will make it thick.

Another way.

Lard the hare well with bacon; make a pudding of grated bread, and chop small the heart and liver, parboiled, with beef-suet and sweet-herbs. With the marrow mix some eggs, spice, and cream; then sew it in the belly of the hare; roast, and serve it up with butter, drawn with cream, gravy, or claret.

Wild Duck, to roast.

It will take full twenty minutes—gravy sauce to eat with it.

Woodcocks and Snipes, to roast.

Twenty minutes will roast the woodcocks, and fifteen the snipes. Put under either, while roasting, a toast to receive the trail, which lay under them in the dish. Melted butter and good gravy for sauce.

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