HINTS ON HEATING OVENS, AND BAKING.—Brick ovens are generally heated with dry fagots or small branches, or with light split wood. For baking bread, the oven-wood must be heavier than for pies. A heap of wood should be placed in the centre of the oven on the brick floor, and then set on fire. While the wood is burning, the door of the oven must be left open. When the wood is all burnt down, and reduced to a mass of small red coals, the oven will be very hot. Then shovel out all the coals and sweep the oven floor with a broom, till it is perfectly clean, and entirely free from ashes. Try the heat within. For baking bread, the floor of the oven should look red; and a little flour thrown in should burn brown immediately. If you can hold your hand within the mouth of the oven as long as you can distinctly count twenty, the heat is about right. Pies, puddings, &c., require less heat. When a brick oven is used, a peel, or large broad-bladed, long-handled wooden shovel is necessary for putting in the bread, pies, &c., placing them on the broad or shovel-end of the peel, and then depositing them on the oven floor. Then close up the door of the oven, and leave the things to bake. When done, slip the peel beneath them, and hand them out on it.
To bake in an iron Dutch oven, (a large deep, cast-iron pan, with a handle, a close-fitting lid, and standing on three or four feet,) you must first stand the lid upright before a clear fire to heat the inside; and it will be best if the oven itself is also stood up before the fire for the same purpose. This should be done while the article to be baked is preparing, that it may be put in as soon as it is ready. The oven may be suspended to the crane, and hung over the fire, or it may be set on a bed of hot wood-coals in the corner of the hearth. As soon as the loaf or pie is in, put on the lid of the oven, and cover it all over with hot coals, replenishing it with more live coals as the baking proceeds. If you find it too hot on the top, deaden it with ashes. If the oven stands on the hearth, keep up the heat at the bottom, by additional live coals placed beneath it. Whether the oven is hung over the fire, or stood on the hearth, there must always be hot coals all over the lid, the hottest near the edge.
To bake on a griddle, you may either hang it over the fire, or set it over hot coals on the hearth. Most griddles have feet. The fire must be quite clear and bright, and free from smoke, or the cakes will be blackened, and have a disagreeable taste. The griddle must be perfectly clean; and while you are baking, it will require frequent scraping, with a broad knife. If it is well scraped after every cake is taken off, it will not want greasing, as there will be no stickiness. Otherwise, some butter tied up in a clean rag and laid on a saucer, must be kept at hand all the time, to rub over the griddle between the baking of each cake; for butter, lard, or nice beef or veal-dripping may be substituted, but it will not be so fine. Never grease with mutton-fat, as it will communicate the taste of tallow. A bit of the fat of fresh pork may do, (stuck on a fork,) but salt pork will give the outside of the cakes a disagreeable saltiness, and therefore should not be used.
A griddle may be placed in the oven of a hot stove. Some close stoves have a hole in the top with a flat lid or cover, which lid can be used as a griddle.
The tin-reflecting-ovens (with shelves for the pies and cakes) that are used for baking in the summer, and that, having a furnace beneath, and a chimney-pipe, can be set out of doors, so that the kitchen may not be kept hot, are very good for things that will bake soon, and that do not require what is called a strong, solid heat. But they are not effective unless the inside is kept very bright; otherwise it will not reflect the heat. These tin ovens should (as well as tin roasters) be cleaned thoroughly and scoured bright with sand every time they are used.
The art of baking with anthracite, (or any other mineral coal,) can only be acquired by practice. The above hints on baking, refer exclusively to wood fires.
When a charcoal furnace is used for baking, stewing, or any sort of cooking, it should either be set out in the open air, or the door of the kitchen must be kept open all the time. The vapor of charcoal in a close room is so deleterious as to cause death.
DRIED CORN MEAL YEAST CAKES.—Half a pound of fresh hops.—Four quarts of water.—A pint of wheat or rye flour.—Half a pint of strong fresh yeast, from the brewer or baker.—Three pints, or more of Indian meal. Boil half a pound of fresh hops in four quarts of water, till the liquid is reduced to two quarts. Strain it into a pan, and mix in sufficient wheat flour to make a thin batter; adding half a pint of the best yeast you can procure. Leave it to ferment; and when the fermentation is over, stir in sufficient Indian meal to make a moderately stiff dough. Cover it, and set in a warm place to rise. When it has become very light, roll it out into a square sheet an inch thick, and cut it into flat cakes, about four inches square. Spread them out separately, on a large dish; and let them dry slowly, in a cool place where there is no sun. While drying, turn them five or six times a-day. When they are quite dry and hard, put them separately into brown paper bags, and keep them in a box closely covered, and in a place not the least damp.
When you want them to use for yeast, dissolve in a little warm water, one or more of the cakes, in proportion to the quantity of bread you intend making. When it is quite dissolved, stir it hard, thicken it with a little wheat flour, cover it, and place it near the fire to rise, before you use it. Then mix it with the flour, according to the usual manner of making bread. One yeast cake is enough for two quarts of meal or flour.
This way of preserving yeast is very convenient for keeping through the summer; or for conveying to a distance.
EXCELLENT HOME-MADE YEAST.—Yeast should always be kept in a glass bottle or a stone jug, and never in earthen or metal. Before you make fresh yeast, empty entirely the vessel that has contained the last; and if of stone, scald it twice with boiling water, in which it will be well to mix a little clear lye. Then rinse it with cold water, till perfectly clean. If you have not used lye in scalding it, dissolve some potash or pearlash in the rinsing-water, to remove any acidity that may linger about the vessel, and may therefore spoil the new yeast. If you keep your yeast in glass bottles, the water must be warm, but not hot; as scalding water may crack them: also melt some potash or pearlash in this water. The vessel for keeping it being purified, proceed to make your yeast. Have ready, in a kettle over the fire, two quarts of boiling water; put into it a very large handful of hops, (as fine and fresh as possible,) and let the water boil again with the hops in it, for twenty minutes or more. Sift into a pan three pints of wheat flour. Strain the liquor from the hops into a large bowl, and pour half of it hot over the flour. Stir it well, and press out all the lumps till it is quite smooth. Let the other half of the liquid stand till it is cool, and then pour it gradually to the rest; mixing it well, by stirring as you proceed. Then take half a pint of good strong yeast—brewers’ or bakers’ yeast, if you can get it fresh; if not, you must use some that has been left from your last making, provided it is not the least sour; stir this yeast into the mixture of hop-water and flour; put it immediately into your jug or bottles, and cork it loosely till the fermentation is over, (which should be in an hour,) and it will then be fit for use. Afterwards cork it tightly. It will keep better if you put a raisin or two into the bottom of each bottle, before you pour in the fresh yeast. Into a stone jug put half a dozen raisins.
All yeast is better and more powerful for being fresh. It is better to make it frequently, (the trouble being little,) than to risk its becoming sour by endeavouring to keep it too long. When sour, it becomes weak and watery, and tastes and smells disagreeably, and will never make light bread; besides being very unwholesome. The acidity may be somewhat corrected by stirring in some dissolved pearlash, sal-eratus, or soda, immediately before the yeast is used; but it is better to have it good and fresh, without the necessity of any corrective. Yeast should always be kept in a cool place.
Those who live in towns where there are breweries have no occasion to make their own yeast during the brewing season; and in summer they can every day supply themselves with fresh yeast from the baker’s. It is only in country places where there are neither brewers nor bakers that it is expedient to make it at home. For home-made yeast, we know the above receipt to be excellent.
Sweet cakes, buns, rusks, &c., require stronger and fresher yeast than bread; the sugar will otherwise retard their rising.
INDIAN BREAD, OR PONE.—Four quarts of Indian meal sifted.—A large half pint of wheat flour.—A heaping table-spoonful of salt.—Half a pint of strong-fresh yeast.—A quart of warm water.—Sift into a large deep pan, the Indian meal and the wheat flour; mixing them well. Make a hole in the centre. The water must be warm, but not hot. Mix it with the yeast, and pour them into the hole in the midst of the meal. Take a spoon, and with it mix into the liquid enough of the surrounding meal to make a thin batter, which you must stir till it is quite smooth, and free from lumps. Then strew a handful of wheat flour over the surface, scattering it thinly, so as to cover the whole. Warm a clean cloth, and lay it folded over the top of the pan. Then set it in a warm place to rise, nearer the fire in winter than in summer. When it is quite light; and has risen so that the flour on the surface is cracked, strew on the salt, and begin to form the whole mass into a dough; commencing round the hole that contains the batter, and adding, gradually, sufficient lukewarm water (which you must have ready for the purpose) to mix it of the proper consistence. When the whole is completely mixed, and the batter in the centre is thoroughly incorporated with the dough, knead it hard for at least half an hour. Then, having formed the dough into a round lump in the middle of the pan, strew a little more flour thinly over it. Cover it, and set it again in a warm place for half an hour. Then flour your paste-board, divide the dough equally, and make it into two loaves. Have the oven ready. Put in the loaves directly, and bake them about two hours or more. Indian meal requires always more baking than wheat. When you take them out, it is well to wrap each loaf in a clean, coarse towel, previously sprinkled with cold water; and rolled up damp till the bread is baked. Having thus wrapped up the loaves, stand them on end to cool slowly. The damp cloths will prevent the crust from hardening too much while the loaves are cooling.
All Indian bread, and every sort of Indian cake is best when quite fresh.
Excellent bread may be made of equal proportions of wheat, rye flour, and Indian; or of three parts wheat and one part Indian. All bread should be kept closely secluded from the air, wrapped in cloths, and put away in boxes or baskets with tightly-fitting lids.
Should you find the dough sour, (either from the heat of the weather, or from standing too long,) you may recover it, by dissolving in a little lukewarm water, a tea-spoonful of pearlash, sal-eratus, or soda. Sprinkle this water all over the dough. Then knead it in, so that it may be dispersed throughout. Then put it into the oven as soon as possible; first tasting the dough, to discover if the sourness is entirely removed. If not, mix in a little more pearlash, and then taste it again. Take care not to put too much of any of these alkaline substances, lest they communicate a disagreeable, soapy taste to the bread.
When you buy corn meal, it will keep better if the whole is sifted as soon as you get it. Avoid buying much at a time, unless you can keep it in a very cool place. When sour it is unfit to eat.
INDIAN RYE BREAD.—Two quarts of Indian meal. Two quarts of rye meal.—Three pints of milk or water. Two teaspoonfuls of salt.—Half a pint of strong fresh yeast. Having sifted the rye and Indian meal into a large pan, mix them well together, adding the salt. Boil the milk or water in a sauce-pan, and when scalding hot pour it on the meal, and stir the whole very hard. If too stiff, add a little more warm water. Let it stand till it becomes only of a lukewarm heat, and then stir in the yeast. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough, and knead it long and hard for at least half an hour. Then cover the pan with a thick cloth that has been previously warmed, and set it near the fire to rise. When the dough is quite light, and cracked all over the top, take it out of the pan; divide the mass in half; make it into two loaves; knead each loaf well for ten minutes or more; and then cover and set them again near the fire, for about half an hour. By this time have the oven ready, put in the loaves directly, and bake them at least an hour and a half. This bread is considered very wholesome.
Should you find the dough sour, you may rectify it by kneading in a tea-spoonful of soda or pearlash, dissolved in a little warm water.
INDIAN WHEAT BREAD.—This is made in the above manner, substituting wheat for rye flour.
In any sort of home-made bread (either white or brown) a handful or more of Indian meal will be found an improvement, rendering it moist and sweet.
BOSTON RYE AND INDIAN BREAD.—Two quarts of Indian meal.—Two quarts of rye meal.—Half a pint of strong fresh yeast.—Half a pint of West India molasses.—A small table-spoonful of salt. Sift the rye and Indian meal into a large pan or wooden bowl; and mix them, well together, adding the salt. Have ready half a pint of water, warm but not hot. Mix with it the molasses, and then stir into it the yeast. Make a hole in the middle of the pan of meal; pour in the liquid; and then with a spoon work into it a portion of the flour that surrounds the hole, till the liquid in the centre becomes a thick batter. Sprinkle the top with rye meal; lay a thick cloth over the pan; and set it in a warm place to rise. In three or four hours it should be light enough to appear cracked all over the surface. Then pour into the middle (by degrees) about a pint of warm water, (it must not be hot,) and as you pour, mix it well all through the dough, till the whole becomes a round mass. Sprinkle some rye flour on the dough, and having floured your hands, knead it long and hard, (at least half an hour, and after it ceases to stick to your hands,) turning it over as you proceed. Then sprinkle the dough again with flour, cover it, and again set it in a warm place to rise. Have the oven ready, and of the proper heat, so that the bread may be put in as soon as it has completely risen the second time. When perfectly light, the dough will stand high, and the surface will be cracked all over. This quantity will be sufficient for a common-sized loaf. Set it directly into the oven, and bake it about two hours. When bread has done rising, it will fall again if not put into the oven. As soon as it is done, wrap it immediately in a clean coarse towel wrung out of cold water, and stand it up on end till it is cool.
This is a palatable, cheap, and wholesome bread.
It may be mixed thinner, with a larger portion of water, and baked in a deep tin or iron pan.
If the dough should have stood so long as to become sour (which it will, if mixed over night) restore it by kneading in a small tea-spoonful of pearlash or sal-eratus melted in a little warm water.
EGG PONE.—Three eggs.—A quart of Indian meal.—A large table-spoonful of fresh butter.—A small tea-spoonful of salt.—A half-pint (or more) of milk. Beat the eggs very light, and mix them with the milk. Then stir in, gradually, the Indian meal; adding the salt and butter. It must not be a batter, but a soft dough, just thick enough to be stirred well with a spoon. If too thin, add more Indian meal; if too stiff, thin it with a little more milk. Beat or stir it long and hard. Butter a tin or iron pan. Put the mixture into it; and set the pan immediately into an oven, which must be moderately hot at first, and the heat increased afterward. A Dutch oven is best for this purpose. It should bake an hour and a half or two hours, in proportion to its thickness. Send it to table hot, and cut into slices. Eat it with butter, or molasses.
INDIAN MUSH.—Have ready on a clear fire, a pot of boiling water. Stir into it, by degrees, (a handful at a time,) sufficient Indian meal to make a very thick porridge, and then add a very small portion of salt, allowing not more than a level tea-spoonful to a quart of meal. You must keep the pot boiling all the time you are stirring in the meal; and between every handful stir hard with the mush-stick, (a round stick about half a yard long, flattened at the lower end,) as, if not well stirred, the mush will be lumpy. After it is sufficiently thick and smooth, keep it boiling an hour longer, stirring it occasionally. Then cover the pot closely, and hang it higher up the chimney, or set it on hot coals on the hearth, so as to simmer it slowly for another hour. The goodness and wholesomeness of mush depends greatly on its being long and thoroughly boiled. It should also be made very thick. If well made, and well cooked, it is wholesome and nutritious; but the contrary, if thin, and not sufficiently boiled. It is not too long to have it three or four hours over the fire, first boiling, and then simmering. On the contrary it will be better for it. The coarser the corn meal the less cooking it requires. Send it to table hot, and in a deep dish. Eat it with sweet milk, buttermilk, or cream; or with butter and sugar, or with butter and molasses; making a hole in the middle of your plate of mush; putting some butter into the hole, and then adding the sugar or molasses.
Cold mush that has been left, may be cut into slices, or mouthfuls, and fried next day, in butter, or in nice drippings of veal, beef, or pork; but not mutton or lamb.
INDIAN HASTY PUDDING.—Put two quarts of milk into a clean pot or sauce-pan. Set it over the fire, adding a level tea-spoonful of salt, and, when it comes to a boil, stir in a lump of fresh butter about the size of a goose-egg. Then add (a handful at a time) sufficient Indian meal to make it very thick, stirring it all the while with a mush-stick. Keep it boiling well, and continue to throw in Indian meal till it is so thick that the stick stands upright in it. Then send it to table hot, and eat it with milk, cream, or molasses and butter. What is left may be cut into slices, and fried next day, or boiled in a bag.
INDIAN MEAL GRUEL.—This is an excellent food for the sick. Having sifted some Indian meal, mix in a quart bowl three table-spoonfuls of the meal with six of cold water. Stir it smooth, and press out the lumps against the side of the bowl. Have ready a very clean sauce-pan, entirely free from grease, with a pint of boiling water. Pour this, scalding hot, on the mixture in the bowl, a little at a time, and stir it well, adding a pinch of salt. Then put the whole back into the sauce-pan. Set it on hot coals, and stir it till it boils, making the spoon go down to the bottom, to prevent the gruel from burning. After it has come to a boil, let it continue boiling half an hour, stirring it frequently, and skimming it. Give it to the invalid warm, in a bowl or tumbler, to be eaten with a teaspoon. It may be sweetened with a little sugar. When the physician permits, some grated nutmeg may be added; also a very little wine.
RYE MUSH.—To make smooth rye mush, sift a quart or more of rye meal into a pan, and gradually pour in sufficient cold water to make a very thick batter, stirring it hard with a spoon as you proceed, and carefully pressing out all the lumps against the side of the pan. Add a very little salt. The batter must be so thick at the last that you can scarcely stir it. Then thin it with a little more water, and see that it is quite smooth. Rye, and also wheat flour, have a disposition to be more lumpy than corn meal, when made into mush. When thoroughly mixed and stirred, put it into a pot, place it over the fire, and boil it well, stirring it with a mush-stick till it comes to a hard boil; then place it in a diminished heat, and simmer it slowly till you want to dish it up. Eat it warm, with butter and molasses, or with sweet milk, or fresh buttermilk. Rye mush is considered very wholesome, particularly in cases of dyspepsia.
COMMON HOE-CAKE.—Take an earthen or tin pan, and half fill it with coarse Indian meal, which had best be sifted in. Add a little salt. Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Pour into the Indian meal sufficient hot water (a little at a time) to make a stiff dough, stirring it with a spoon as you proceed. It must be thoroughly mixed, and stirred hard. If you want the cakes for breakfast, mix this dough over night; cover the pan, and set it in a cool place till morning. If kept warm, it may turn sour. Early next morning, as soon as the fire is burning well, set the griddle over it, and take out the dough, a handful at a time. Flatten and shape it by patting it with your hands, till you form it into cakes about the size of a common saucer, and half an inch thick. When the griddle is quite hot, lay on it as many cakes as it will hold, and bake them brown. When the upper side is done, slip a bread knife beneath, and turn them over. They must be baked brown on both sides. Eat them warm, with buttermilk, sweet milk, butter, molasses, or whatever is most convenient. If you intend these cakes for dinner or supper, mix them as early in the day as you can, and (covering the pan) let them stand in a cool place till wanted for baking. In cold weather you may save trouble by mixing over night enough to last the next day for breakfast, dinner, and supper; baking them as they are wanted for each meal. Or they may be all baked in the morning, and eaten cold; but they are then not so palatable as when warm. They will be less liable to stick, if before each baking the griddle is dredged with wheat flour, or greased with a bit of fat pork stuck on a fork. You may cover it all over with one large cake, instead of several small ones.
In America there is seldom a house without a griddle. Still, where griddles are not, these cakes may be baked on a board standing nearly upright before the fire, and supported by a smoothing-iron or a stone placed against the back. Where wood fires are used, a good way of baking these cakes is to clear a clean place in the hottest part of the hearth, and, having wrapped the cake in paper, lay it down there, and cover it up with hot red ashes. It will bake very well, (replenishing the heat by throwing on from time to time a fresh supply of hot ashes,) and when taken out of the paper they will be found sweet and good. The early settlers of our country frequently baked their Indian cakes under the ashes of their wood fires; and the custom is still continued by those who cannot yet obtain the means of cooking them more conveniently.
This cake is so called, because in some parts of America it was customary to bake it on the iron of a hoe, stood up before the fire. It is better known by that name than by any other.
COMMON GRIDDLE CAKE.—A quart of Indian meal.—Sufficient warm water to make a soft dough.—A small tea-spoonful of salt.—Put the Indian meal into a pan, and add the salt. Make a hole in the centre of the meal, and pour in a little warm water. Then mix it with a large, strong spoon, adding, by degrees, water enough to make a soft dough. Flour your hands, and knead it into a large lump—divide it into two equal portions. Flour your paste-board, lay on it the first lump of dough, and roll it out about an inch thick. Then, (having already heated your griddle,) lay the cake upon it, spreading it evenly, and make it a good round shape. It should cover the whole surface of the griddle, which must first be greased, either with butter or lard tied in a rag, or with a bit of fat fresh pork. Butter it well; and when one side is well browned, turn it on the other, taking care not to break it. Send it to table hot, cut into three-cornered pieces—split and butter them. As soon as the first cake is sent in, put the other to bake.
This is one of the plainest and simplest preparations of Indian cake, and is very good when warm.
PLAIN JOHNNY CAKE.—A quart of Indian meal.—A pint of warm water.—A level tea-spoonful of salt.—Sift a quart of Indian meal into a pan. Make a hole in the middle, and pour in a pint of warm water, adding the salt. With a spoon mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough. Stir it very hard for a quarter of an hour or more, till it becomes light and spongy. Then spread the dough; smooth and evenly, on a stout, flat board. A piece of the head of a flour barrel will serve for this purpose. Place the board nearly (but not quite) upright, and set a smoothing-iron or a stone against the back to support it. Bake it well. When done, cut it into squares, and send it hot to table, split and buttered. You may eat molasses with it.
NICE JOHNNY CAKE.—A quart of sifted Indian meal.—A small teacup of molasses, (West India is best.)—Two large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter.—A tea-spoonful of ground ginger.—Some boiling water. Having sifted the meal into a pan, rub the butter into it; add the molasses and ginger, and pour on, by degrees, sufficient boiling water to make a moderately soft dough. It must be stirred very hard. Then grease with fresh butter a board of sufficient size, spread the dough thickly upon it, and stand it nearly upright to bake before the fire, placing a flat-iron against the back of the board. The cake must be very well baked, taking care that the surface does not burn, while the inside is soft and raw. Cut it into squares when done, and send them hot to table, split and buttered.
The johnny-cake board had best be placed so as slightly to slant backwards; otherwise the upper part of the cake, being opposite to the hottest part of the fire, may bake too fast for the lower part.
VERY PLAIN INDIAN DUMPLINGS.—Sift some Indian meal into a pan; add about a salt-spoon of salt to each quart of meal; and scald it with sufficient boiling water to make a stiff dough. Pour in the water gradually; stirring as you pour. When the dough becomes a stiff lump, divide it into equal portions; flour your hands, and make it into thick, flat dumplings about as large round as the top of a glass tumbler, or a breakfast cup. Dredge the dumplings on all sides with flour, put them into a pot of boiling water (if made sufficiently stiff they need not be tied in cloths,) and keep them boiling hard till thoroughly done. Try them with a fork, which must come out quite clean, and with no clamminess sticking to it. They are an excellent appendage to salt pork or bacon, serving them up with the meat; or they may be eaten afterwards with butter and molasses, or with milk sweetened well with brown sugar, and flavoured with a little ground spice.
VERY PLAIN INDIAN BATTER CAKES.—A quart of warm water, or of skim milk.—A quart of Indian meal and half a pint of wheat flour, sifted.—A level tea-spoonful of salt. Pour the water into a pan; add the salt; and having mixed together the wheat and Indian meal, stir them gradually into the water, a handful at a time. It should be about the consistence of buckwheat cake or muffin batter. Beat it long and hard. If you find it too thick, add a little more water. Have ready a hot griddle, grease it, and bake the cakes on it. They should not be larger than the top of a tumbler, or a small saucer. Send them to table hot, in even piles, and eat them with butter or molasses.
These are the plainest sort of Indian batter cakes; but if well beaten and properly baked, they will be found very good, as well as economical. It is an improvement to mix them with milk instead of water.
INDIAN MUFFINS.—A pint and a half of yellow Indian meal, sifted.—A handful of wheat flour.—A quarter of a pound of fresh butter.—A quart of milk.—Four eggs.—A very small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the milk into a saucepan. Cut the butter into it. Set it over the fire and warm it till the butter is very soft, but not till it melts. Then take it off, stir it well, till all mixed, and set it away to cool. Beat four eggs very light; and when the milk is cold, stir them into it, alternately with the meal, a little at a time, of each. Add the salt. Beat the whole very hard after it is all mixed. Then butter some muffin-rings on the inside. Set them in a hot oven, or on a heated griddle; pour some of the batter into each; and bake the muffins well. Send them hot to table, continuing to bake while a fresh supply is wanted. Pull them open with your fingers, and eat them with butter, to which you may add molasses or honey. These muffins will be found excellent, and can be prepared in a very short time; for instance, in three quarters or half an hour before breakfast or tea.
This mixture may be baked in waffle-irons, as waffles. Butter them, and have on the table a glass bowl with powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon, to eat with these waffles.
VIRGINIA GRIDDLE CAKES.—A quart of Indian meal.—Two large table-spoonfuls of wheat flour.—A heaped salt-spoon of salt.—A piece of fresh butter, about two ounces.—Four eggs.—A pint, or more, of milk. Sift the Indian meal into a large pan; mix with it the wheat flour; and add the salt. Warm the milk in a small saucepan, but do not let it come to a boil. When it begins to simmer, take it off, and put the butter into it, stirring it about till well mixed. Then stir in the meal, a little at a time, and let it cool while you are beating the eggs. As soon as they are beaten very light, add them gradually to the mixture, stirring the whole very hard. It must be a light batter, and may require more milk.
Having heated the griddle well by placing it over the fire or in the oven of a hot stove, rub it over with some fresh butter, tied in a clean white rag, and pour on a large ladle-full of the batter. When the cake has baked brown, turn it, with a cake-turner, and bake the other side. Then take it off, and put it on a hot plate. Grease the griddle again, and put on another cake; and so on till you have three or four ready to send to table for a beginning. Continue to bake, and send in hot cakes as long as they are wanted. Eat them with butter; to which you may add molasses or honey.
MISSOURI CAKES.—Three large pints of yellow Indian meal.—A pint of cold water.—A tea-spoonful of salt.—A level tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or soda dissolved in a little warm water.—A large table-spoonful of beef-dripping, or lard.—A small pint and a half of warm water. Sift three large pints (a little more than three pints) of Indian meal into a pan; add a tea-spoonful of salt, a large table-spoonful of lard, or nice dripping of roast-beef; and a tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or soda melted in a little warm water. Make it into a soft dough with a pint of cold water. Then thin it to the consistence of a moderate batter, by adding, gradually, not quite a pint and a half of warm water. When it is all mixed, beat or stir it well, for half an hour. Then have a griddle ready over the fire. When hot, grease it with beef-suet, or with lard or butter tied in a clean white rag. Put on a large ladle-full of the batter, and bake the cakes fast. Send them hot to table, about half a dozen at a time, seeing that the edges are nicely trimmed. Eat them with butter, to which you may add honey or molasses.
These cakes are excellent; and very convenient, as they require neither eggs, milk, nor yeast. They may be baked as soon as mixed, or they may stand an hour or more.
INDIAN SLAP-JACKS.—A quart of yellow Indian meal.—Half a pint or more of boiling water.—Half a pint of wheat flour.—Three large table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast.—A heaping salt-spoon of salt.—A level tea-spoonful of pearlash, soda, or sal-eratus, dissolved in warm water.—Lard for frying. Sift the Indian meal into a pan, and add the salt. Then pour on the boiling water, and stir it well. When it has cooled a little, and become only milk-warm, stir in the wheat flour, and add the yeast. Stir it long and hard. Cover the pan, and set it near the fire. When the mixture has risen quite light, and is covered with bubbles, add the dissolved pearlash to puff it still more. Have ready a hot frying-pan over the fire; grease it with a little lard, and put in a portion of the mixture, sufficient for one large cake nearly the size of the pan, or two small ones. Spread the mixture thin, and fry it brown. Send the cakes hot to table, and eat them with butter or molasses.
This is one of the plainest sorts of Indian cake, but if properly made, and baked, will be found very good.
INDIAN FLAPPERS.—A quart of sifted Indian meal.—A handful of wheat flour.—A quart of milk.—Four eggs.—A heaping salt-spoon of salt. Mix together the Indian and wheat meal, adding the salt. Beat the eggs light in another pan, and then stir them a little at a time into the milk, alternately with the meal, a handful at a time. Stir the whole very hard at the last. Have ready a hot griddle, and bake the cakes on it in the manner of buckwheat cakes, or crumpets; greasing or scraping the griddle always before you put on a fresh ladle-full of batter. Make all the cakes the same size, and when done trim the edges nicely with a knife. Send them to table hot, laid one on another evenly, buttered and cut in half. Or they may be buttered after they go to table.
INDIAN CRUMPETS.—A quart of Indian meal.—Half a pint of wheat flour.—A quart of milk.—A heaping salt-spoonful of salt.—Three eggs.—Two large table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast.—Warm the milk. Sift the Indian meal and the flour into a pan, and mix them well. Then stir them into the milk, a handful at a time; adding the salt. Beat the eggs very light in another pan, and then stir them, gradually, into the milk and meal. Lastly, add the yeast. Stir the whole well; then cover it, and set it to rise in a warm place, such as a corner of the hearth. When it has become very light, and is covered with bubbles, have the griddle ready heated to begin to bake the cakes; first greasing the griddle. For each crumpet pour on a large ladle-full of batter. Send them to table several on a plate, and as hot as possible. Eat them with butter, to which you may add molasses or honey.
If the batter should chance to become sour by standing too long, you may remedy it by stirring in a level tea-spoonful of pearlash, soda, or sal-eratus, dissolved in a very little lukewarm water. Then bake it.
CORN MEAL BREAKFAST CAKES.—A quart of Indian meal.—A handful, or more, of wheat flour.—A large salt-spoon of salt.—A quart of warm water.—An additional pint of lukewarm water.—A bit of pearlash the size of a hazel-nut, or the same quantity of soda or sal-eratus. Mix over night, in a large pan, the Indian meal, the wheat flour and salt. Pour on gradually a quart of warm water, (warm but not hot,) and stir it in with a large wooden or iron spoon, so as to form a very soft dough. Cover the pan, and set it on the dresser till morning. In the morning thin the dough with another pint of warm water, so as to make it into a batter, having first dissolved in the water a salt-spoonful of powdered pearlash or sal-eratus, or a bit the size of a hazel-nut. Beat the mixture hard. Then cover it, and let it stand near the fire for a quarter of an hour before you begin to bake it. Bake it in thin cakes on a griddle. Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter, and molasses or honey.
INDIAN RICE CAKES.—Take equal quantities of yellow Indian meal and well boiled rice. Mix them together in a pan, the meal and rice alternately, a little at a time of each. The boiled rice may be either hot or cold; but it will be rather best to mix it hot. Having first mixed it with a spoon, knead it well with your hands; moistening it with a little milk or water, if you find it too stiff. Have ready, over the fire, a heated griddle. Grease it with fresh butter tied in a clean white rag; and having made the mixture into flat round cakes, bake them well on both sides. Eat them with butter and sugar, or butter and molasses, or with butter alone.
PUMPKIN INDIAN CAKES.—Take equal portions of Indian meal, and stewed pumpkin that has been well mashed and drained very dry in a sieve or cullender. Put the stewed pumpkin into a pan, and stir the meal gradually into it, a spoonful at a time, adding a little butter as you proceed. Mix the whole thoroughly, stirring it very hard. If not thick enough to form a stiff dough, add a little more Indian meal. Make it into round, flat cakes, about the size of a muffin, and bake them over the fire on a hot griddle greased with butter. Or lay them in a square iron pan, and bake them in an oven.
Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter.
EXCELLENT BUCKWHEAT CAKES.—A quart of buckwheat meal, sifted.—A level tea-spoonful of salt.—A small half-pint, or a large handful of Indian meal.—Two large table-spoonfuls of strong fresh brewer’s yeast, or four table-spoonfuls of home-made yeast.—Sufficient lukewarm water to make a moderate batter. Mix together the buckwheat and Indian meal, and add the salt. Make a hole in the centre of the meal, and pour in the yeast. Then stir in gradually, from a kettle, sufficient tepid or lukewarm water to make a moderately thick batter when united with the yeast. Cover the pan, set it in a warm place, and leave it to rise. It should be light in about three hours. When it has risen high and is covered with bubbles, it is fit to bake. Have ready a clean griddle well heated over the fire. Grease it well with a bit of fresh butter tied in a clean white rag, and kept on a saucer near you. Then dip out a large ladle-full of the batter, and bake it on the griddle; turning it when brown, with the cake-turner, and baking it brown on the other side. Grease the griddle slightly between baking each cake; or scrape it smooth with a broad knife. As fast as you bake the cakes, lay them, several in a pile, on a hot plate. Butter them, and if of large size cut them across into four pieces. Or send them to table to be buttered there. Trim off the edges before they go in.
If your batter has been mixed over night, and is found sour in the morning, dissolve a salt-spoon of pearlash or sal-eratus in a little lukewarm water, stir it into the batter, let it stand a quarter of an hour, and then bake it. The alkali will remove the acidity, and increase the lightness of the batter. If you use soda for this purpose it will require a tea-spoonful.
If the batter is kept at night in so cold a place as to freeze, it will be unfit for use. Do not grease the griddle with meat-fat of any sort.
NICE RYE BATTER CAKES.—A quart of lukewarm milk.—Two eggs.—A large table-spoonful of fresh brewer’s yeast, or two of home-made yeast.—Sufficient sifted rye meal to make a moderate batter.—A salt-spoon of salt. Having warmed the milk, beat the eggs very light, and stir them gradually into it, alternately with the rye meal, adding the salt. Put in the meal, a handful at a time, till you have the batter about as thick as for buckwheat cakes. Then stir in the yeast, and give the batter a hard beating, seeing that it is smooth and free from lumps. Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. When risen high, and covered with bubbles, the batter is fit to bake. Have ready over the fire a hot griddle, and bake the cakes in the manner of buckwheat. Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter, molasses, or honey.
Yeast powders, used according to the directions that accompany them, and put in at the last, just before baking, are an improvement to the lightness of all batter cakes, provided that real yeast or eggs are also in the mixture. But it is not well to depend on the powders exclusively, particularly when real yeast is to be had. The lightness produced by yeast powders alone, is not the right sort; and though the cakes are eatable, they are too tough and leathery to be wholesome. As auxiliaries to genuine yeast, and to beaten eggs, yeast powders are excellent.
Indian batter cakes may be made as above—or rye and Indian may be mixed in equal proportions.
INDIAN LIGHT BISCUIT.—A quart of sifted Indian meal.—A pint of sifted wheat flour.—A very small tea-spoonful of salt.—Three pints of milk.—Four eggs. Sift the Indian and wheat meal into a pan, and add the salt. Mix them well. Beat the whites and the yolks of the eggs separately in two pans. The yolks must be beaten till very thick and smooth; the whites to a stiff froth that will stand alone of itself. Then stir the yolks gradually, (a little at a time,) into the milk. Add by degrees the meal. Lastly, stir in the beaten white of egg, and give the whole a long and hard stirring. Butter a sufficient number of cups, or small, deep tins—nearly fill them with the batter. Set them immediately into a hot oven, and bake them fast. Turn them out of the cups. Send them warm to table, pull them open, and eat them with butter.
They will puff up finely if, at the last, you stir in a level tea-spoonful of soda, melted in a little warm water.
INDIAN CUPCAKES.—A pint and a half of yellow Indian meal.—Half a pint of wheat flour.—A pint and a half of sour milk; buttermilk is best.—A small tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or soda, dissolved in warm water.—Two eggs.—A level tea-spoonful of salt. Sift the Indian and wheat meal into a pan and mix them well, adding the salt. If you have no butter-milk or other sour milk at hand, turn some sweet milk sour by setting a pan of it in the sun, or stirring in a spoonful of vinegar. Take out a small teacupful of the sour milk, and reserve it to be put in at the last. Beat the eggs very light, and then stir them, gradually, into the milk, alternately with the meal, a little at a time of each. Lastly, dissolve the soda or sal-eratus, and stir it into the cup of sour milk that has been reserved for the purpose. It will effervesce; stir it while foaming into the mixture, which should be a thick batter. Have ready some teacups, or little deep tins. Butter them well; nearly fill them with the batter, and set them immediately into a rather brisk oven. The cakes must be thoroughly baked all through. When done, turn them out on large plates, and send them hot to the breakfast or tea-table. Split them into three pieces, and eat them with butter.
The soda will entirely remove the acidity of the milk, which will effervesce the better for being sour at first, adding therefore to the lightness of the cake. Taste the milk, and if you find that the slightest sourness remains, add a little more dissolved soda.
All the alkalies, pearlash, sal-eratus, soda, and sal-volatile, will remove acidity, and increase lightness; but if too much is used they will impart a disagreeable taste. It is useless to put lemon or orange juice into any mixture that is afterwards to have one of these alkalies, as they will entirely destroy the flavour of the fruit.
KENTUCKY SWEET CAKE.—A pint of fine yellow Indian meal, sifted.—Half a pint of wheat flour.—Half a pound of powdered white sugar.—Half a pound of fresh butter.—Eight eggs.—A powdered nutmeg.—A large tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon.—A glass of white wine.—A glass of brandy. Having powdered the spice, and mixed together the wine and brandy, put the spice to steep in the liquor. Mix well the Indian meal and the wheat flour, putting them into a broad pan. In another pan, stir together the butter and sugar (as for a pound cake) till they are very light and creamy. Break the eggs into a shallow earthen pan, and beat them till very thick and light. Then, by degrees, stir into the beaten butter and sugar, the spice and the liquor, a little at a time of each. Afterwards, add alternately the meal and the beaten egg, also a little of each at a time. Stir the whole very hard when all the ingredients are in. Butter a straight-sided tin pan, put the mixture into it; set it immediately into a rather brisk oven; and bake it well for three or four hours or more, in proportion to its thickness.
This is a very nice cake. It should be eaten the same day that it is baked; as when stale (even one day old) all Indian cakes become dry, hard, and rough.
It will be improved by the addition of a pound of raisins, stoned, cut in half, and well dredged with wheat flour to prevent their sinking to the bottom. Sultana or seedless raisins are best for all sorts of cakes and puddings.
CAROLINA RICE CAKES.—Having picked and washed half a pint of rice, boil it by itself till the grains lose all form and are dissolved into a thick mass, or jelly. While warm, mix into it a large lump of the best fresh butter, and a salt-spoonful of salt. Pour into a bowl, a moderate sized teacupful of ground rice-flour; and add to it as much milk as will make a tolerably stiff batter. Stir it till it is quite smooth, and free from lumps. Then mix it thoroughly with the boiled rice. Beat six eggs as light as possible, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture. Bake it on a griddle, in cakes about as large round as a saucer. Eat them warm with butter; and have on the table, in a small bowl, some powdered white sugar and nutmeg, for those who like it.
CAROLINA CORN CAKES.—Mix together in a pan, a pint and a half of sifted corn meal, and a half pint of wheat flour, adding a heaped salt-spoon of salt. Beat three eggs very light. Have ready a quart of sour milk. (You can turn sweet milk sour by stirring into it a very little vinegar.) Put into a teacup a small tea-spoonful of carbonate of soda, and dissolve it in a little lukewarm water. In another teacup melt a salt-spoonful of tartaric acid. Add, alternately, to the milk, the beaten eggs and the mixed meal, a little at a time of each; stirring very hard. Then stir in the melted soda, and lastly the dissolved tartaric acid. Having stirred the whole well together, butter some square pans; fill them with the batter; set them immediately into a hot oven; and bake them well. Serve them up hot, and eat them with butter or molasses, or both. These cakes may be baked in muffin rings. All hot cakes in the form of muffins should be pulled open with the fingers when about to be eaten; and not split with a knife, the pressure of the knife tending to make them heavy.
MADISON CAKE.—A pint and a half of sifted yellow corn meal.—Half a pint of wheat flour.—Half a pint of sour milk.—Half a pint of powdered white sugar.—Half a pound of fresh butter.—Six eggs.—A gill, or two wine-glasses of brandy.—A pound of raisins of the best quality.—A large tea-spoonful of mixed spice, powdered mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon.—A large salt-spoon of sal-eratus, or a small tea-spoonful of soda. If you have no sour milk at hand, turn half a pint of rich milk sour by setting it in the sun, or stirring in a tea-spoonful of vinegar. For this cake the milk must be sour, that the sal-eratus or soda may act more powerfully by coming in contact with an acid. The acidity will then be entirely removed by the effervescence, and the cake will be rendered very light, and perfectly sweet. Having powdered the spice, put it into the brandy, and let it infuse till wanted. Prepare the raisins by stoning them, and cutting them in half; dredging them well with flour. They should be muscadel, or bloom raisins, or sultana; if the latter, they will require no seeding. Low-priced raisins, of inferior quality, should never be used for cooking or for any purpose, as they are unwholesome.
Sift the corn meal and the wheat flour into a pan, and mix them well. In another pan mix the butter and sugar, and stir them together with a hickory spaddle (which is like a short mush-stick, only broader at the flattened end) till they are light and creamy. Then add the brandy and spice. In a broad, shallow pan, beat the eggs till very thick and smooth. Then stir them gradually into the butter and sugar in turn with the meal. Dissolve the sal-eratus or soda in a very little lukewarm water, and stir it into the sour milk. Then, while foaming, add the milk to the rest of the mixture, and stir very hard. Lastly, throw in the raisins, a few at a time, and give the whole a hard stirring.
Butter a deep square pan or a turban-mould. Put in the mixture. Set it directly into a brisk oven, and bake it at least three hours; or four if in a turban-mould. When half done, the heat should be increased. This cake should be eaten the day it is baked.
NANTUCKET PUDDING.—Six large ears of Indian corn; full grown, but young and soft.—A pint of milk.—A quarter of a pound of fresh butter.—A quarter of a pound of sugar.—Four eggs.—Half a nutmeg grated, and five or six blades of mace powdered.—Having first boiled the corn for a quarter of an hour, grate the grains off the cob with a coarse grater. Then add the butter (cut into little bits) and the sugar. Having stirred them well into the corn, thin it with milk. Beat the eggs very light, and add them to the mixture, a little at a time, and finish with the spice. Stir the whole very hard. Butter a deep white dish, put in the pudding, set it directly into the oven, and bake it two hours. Send it to table warm, and eat it with butter and sugar, or molasses. It is not good cold. What is left may be put into a small dish, and baked over again next day, for half an hour; or tied in a cloth, and boiled a while.
SAMP PUDDING.—A pint of samp that has been boiled, and grown cold.—A pint of milk.—Three large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter.—Three large table-spoonfuls of sugar, or half a pint of West India molasses.—Six eggs.—A table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and nutmeg mixed, or a table-spoonful of ground ginger. Boil the milk; and just after you take it from the fire stir in the butter and sugar; or instead of the sugar half a pint of West India molasses. Then add the spice, and set the milk, &c., to cool. Beat the eggs till thick and smooth. Then stir them, gradually, into the mixture, a little at a time, in turn with the samp. Butter a deep dish; put in the mixture, and bake it well. Eat it warm, with butter, sugar, and nutmeg beaten together to a cream; or with molasses and butter.
A rice pudding may be made as above; the rice being previously boiled by itself, and well drained.
A samp pudding may be tied in a cloth and boiled.
A FARMER’S INDIAN PUDDING.—Three small pints of sifted Indian meal, the yellow sort.—A quart of rich milk.—A pint of West India molasses.—A table-spoonful of ground cinnamon, or ginger. Before you begin, set over the fire a large pot filled with water, which must boil hard by the time the pudding is mixed. Put the milk by itself, into another pot or sauce-pan, and give it a boil. When it has come to a boil, pour it into a deep pan, and stir into it a pint of the best West India molasses. Then add, by degrees, the Indian meal, a handful at a time; and lastly, the spice. Stir the whole very hard. Have ready a square pudding-cloth; dip it in boiling water; shake it out; dredge it with flour, and spread it open in a broad pan. Then pour the pudding-batter into the cloth; and, leaving near one-third vacant, as room for it to swell, tie it firmly with tape. Make a morsel of stiff dough with flour and a little water, and with it stop closely the little aperture at the tying-place, to prevent water from getting in there. Plaster it on well. Put the pudding into the large pot of boiling water; cover it closely with the lid; and let it boil steadily for at least three hours; four will not be too long. While boiling, turn it frequently. As the water boils away, replenish it with some more water, kept boiling hard for this purpose, in a kettle. On no account pour in cold water, as that will render the pudding heavy. Turn it out of the cloth immediately before it goes to table, and eat it with butter and molasses. It will be found excellent. The West India molasses will make it as light as if it had eggs.
You may add with the spice, the yellow rind of a large lemon or orange, finely grated.
A VERY NICE BOILED INDIAN PUDDING.—Three pints of sifted Indian meal.—Half a pound of beef-suet, minced as fine as possible.—A quart of milk.—Half a pint of West India molasses.—Six eggs.—Three or four sticks of cinnamon, broken small.—A grated nutmeg. Having cleared the suet from the skin and strings, chop it as fine as possible, and mix it with the Indian meal. Boil the cinnamon in the milk till it is highly flavoured. Then strain the milk (boiling hot) into the pan of Indian meal and suet, and add the molasses. Stir the mixture very hard. Cover it and set it away in a cool place. Beat the eggs till quite light, and add them, gradually, to the mixture as soon as it is quite cold. Then grate in the nutmeg. Dip a thick square cloth into boiling water, shake it out, dredge it with flour, and then spread it open in a deep pan, and pour in the mixture. Leaving one-third of the space vacant allowing for the pudding to swell, tie the cloth very securely, and to guard against water getting into it, plug up the little crack at the tying place by plastering on a bit of dough made of flour and water. Put the pudding into a large pot of boiling water, (having an old plate in the bottom,) and boil it six hours or more, turning it often, and replenishing the pot, when necessary, with boiling water from a kettle. If you dine early, the pudding should be mixed before breakfast. Serve it up hot.
Eat it with wine sauce, with butter and molasses, or with a sauce of butter, sugar, lemon-juice and nutmeg, beaten together to a cream. What is left of the pudding, may next day be tied in a cloth, and boiled over again for an hour.
BAKED CORN MEAL PUDDING.—A pint of sifted Indian meal.—Half a pint of West India molasses.—A quarter of a pound of fresh butter.—A pint of milk.—Four eggs.—The yellow rind of a large fresh orange or lemon grated.—A tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and nutmeg mixed. Boil the milk. Sift the Indian meal into an earthen pan, pour the boiling milk over it, and stir them well together. Cut up the butter into a small sauce-pan; pour the molasses over it; set it on the fire, and let them warm together till the butter is soft, but not oiled. Stir them well, and mix them with the milk and Indian meal. Set the pan in a cool place. In a separate pan beat the eggs very light, and when the mixture has become cold, add the eggs to it, gradually. Then stir in the spice, and grated orange or lemon peel. Stir the whole very hard. Put the mixture into a buttered white dish, and bake it well. Serve it up hot, and eat it with a sauce made of powdered white sugar, and fresh butter seasoned with nutmeg and lemon or orange juice, and stirred together to a cream; or with a liquid sauce of melted butter, wine and nutmeg.
This quantity of ingredients will make a small pudding. For a large one, allow a double portion of each article, and bake it longer.
It will be improved by gradually stirring in at the last, a pound of Zante currants or of sultana raisins, well dredged with flour.
PUMPKIN INDIAN PUDDING.—Take a pint and a half of cold stewed pumpkin, and mix into it a pint and a half of Indian meal, adding a table-spoonful of ground ginger. Boil a quart of milk, and as soon as you take it from the fire, stir into it a pint of West India molasses. Then add to it gradually the mixture of pumpkin and corn meal, and stir the whole very hard. It will be much improved by adding the grated yellow rind of a large orange or lemon. Have ready over the fire a large pot of boiling water. Dip your pudding-cloth into it; shake it out; spread out the cloth in a broad pan: dredge it with flour; pour the mixture into it, and tie it fast, leaving about one-third of the space for the pudding to swell. Boil it three hours or more—four hours will not be too long. Turn it several times while boiling. Replenish the pot as it boils, with hot water from a kettle kept boiling for the purpose. Take up the pudding immediately before it is wanted for table—dip it a moment in cold water, and turn it out into a dish. Eat it with butter and molasses.
This pudding requires no eggs in the mixture. The molasses, if West India, will make it sufficiently light.
What is left may be tied in a cloth, and re-boiled next day.
A BACKWOODS POT-PIE.—Put a large portion of yellow Indian meal, (with a very little salt,) into a deep pan, and pour on scalding water, (stirring it in as you proceed,) till you have a soft dough. Beat and stir it long and hard, adding more corn meal, till the dough becomes stiff. It will be improved by mixing in a little wheat flour. When it is cool enough to handle, knead it a while with your hands. Take off portions of the dough or paste, and form them into flat, square cakes. Take a large pot; grease the sides with a little good dripping or lard, and line them with the cakes of corn meal. Have ready some fresh venison cut into pieces, and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Put some of it into the pot, (adding some water to assist in the gravy,) and cover it with a layer of corn cakes. Then more venison, and then more cakes, till the pot is nearly full. The last layer must be a large cake with a slit in the middle. Set it over the fire, and let it boil steadily till the whole is thoroughly done. Then take it up, and dish it together, meat and paste.
The paste that is to line the sides of the pot should be thinner than that which is to be laid among the meat. Put no paste at the bottom.
If you have any cold drippings of roast venison, you may mix some of it with the corn meal, as shortening.
Sweet potatoes sliced, and laid among the meat, will improve this pie.
TO BOIL INDIAN CORN.—Corn for boiling should be full grown, but young and tender, and the grains soft and milky. If its grains are becoming hard and yellow, it is too old for boiling. Strip the ears of their leaves and the silk. Put them into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it rather fast for half an hour or more, in proportion to its size and age. When done, take it up, drain it, dish it under a cover, or napkin, and serve it up hot. Before eating it, rub each ear with salt and pepper, and then spread it with butter. Epicures in corn consider it sweetest when eaten off the cob. And so it is; but before company few persons like to hold an ear of Indian corn in their hands, and bite the grains off the cob with their teeth. Therefore, it is more frequently cut off the cob into a dish; mixed with salt, pepper, and butter, and helped with a spoon.
It is said that young green corn will boil sufficiently in ten minutes, (putting it of course into a pot of boiling water.) Try it.
Another way.—Having pulled off the silk, boil the corn, without removing the leaves that enclose the cob. With the leaves or husk on, it will require a longer time to cook, but is sweeter and more nutritious.
GREEN CORN DUMPLINGS.—A quart of young corn grated from the cob.—Half a pint of wheat flour, sifted.—Half a pint of milk.—Six table-spoonfuls of butter.—Two eggs.—A salt-spoonful of salt.—A salt-spoonful of pepper.—Butter for frying. Having grated as fine as possible, sufficient young fresh corn to make a quart, mix with it the wheat flour, and add the salt and pepper. Warm the milk in a small saucepan, and soften the butter in it. Then add them gradually to the pan of corn, stirring very hard; and set it away to cool. Beat the eggs light, and stir them into the mixture when it has cooled. Flour your hands and make it into little dumplings. Put into a frying-pan a sufficiency of fresh butter, (or lard and butter in equal proportions,) and when it is boiling hot, and has been skimmed, put in the dumplings; and fry them ten minutes or more, in proportion to their thickness. Then drain them, and send them hot to the dinner-table.
CORN PORRIDGE.—Take young corn, and cut the grains from the cob. Measure it, and to each heaping pint of corn, allow not quite a quart of milk. Put the corn and milk into a pot; stir them well together: and boil them till the corn is perfectly soft. Then add some bits of fresh butter dredged with flour, and let it boil five minutes longer. Stir in at the last, some beaten yolk of egg; and in three minutes remove it from the fire. Take up the porridge, and send it to table hot, and stir some fresh butter into it. You may add sugar and nutmeg.
CORN OYSTERS.—Three dozen ears of large young Indian corn.—Six eggs.—Lard and butter in equal portions for frying. The corn must be young and soft. Grate it from the cob as fine as possible, and dredge it with wheat flour. Beat very light the six eggs, and mix them gradually with the corn. Then let the whole be well incorporated by hard beating. Add a salt-spoon of salt.
Have ready, in a frying pan, a sufficient quantity of lard and fresh butter mixed together. Set it over the fire till it is boiling hot, and then put in portions of the corn-mixture, so as to form oval cakes about three inches long, and nearly an inch thick. Fry them brown, and send them to table hot. In taste they will be found to have a singular resemblance to fried oysters, and are universally liked if properly done. They make nice side-dishes at dinner, and are very good at breakfast.
SUMMER SACCATASH.—String a quarter of a peck of young green beans, and cut each bean into three pieces (not more) and do not split them. Have by you a pan of cold water, and throw the beans into it as you cut them. Have ready over the fire a pot or saucepan of boiling water, put in the beans, and boil them hard near twenty minutes. Afterwards take them up, and drain them well through a cullender. Take half a dozen ears of young but full-grown Indian corn (or eight or nine if they are not all large) and cut the grains down from the cob. Mix together the corn and the beans, adding a very small tea-spoonful of salt, and boil them about twenty minutes. Then take up the saccatash, drain it well through a sieve, put it into a deep dish, and while hot mix in a large piece of butter, (at least the size of an egg,) add some pepper, and send it to table. It is generally eaten with salted or smoked meat.
Fresh Lima beans are excellent cooked in this manner, with green corn. They must be boiled for half an hour or more before they are cooked with the corn.
Dried beans and dried corn will do very well for saccatash, but they must be soaked all night before boiling. The water poured on them for soaking should be hot.
WINTER SACCATASH.—This is made of dried shelled beans, and hard corn. Take equal quantities of shelled beans and corn; put them over night into separate pans, and pour boiling water over them. Let them soak till morning. Then pour off that water, and scald them again. First boil the beans by themselves. When they are soft, add the corn, and let them boil together till the corn is quite soft, which will require at least an hour. Take them up, drain them in a sieve; then put them into a deep dish, and mix in a large piece of fresh butter, and a little pepper and salt.
This is an excellent accompaniment to pickled pork, bacon; or corned beef. The meat must be boiled by itself in a separate pot.
HOMINY.—Hominy is Indian Corn shelled from the cob, divested of the yellow or outer skin by scalding in hot lye, and then winnowed and dried. It is perfectly white. Having washed it through two or three waters, pour boiling water on it, cover it, and let it soak all night, or for several hours. Then put it into a pot or saucepan, allow two quarts of water to each quart of hominy, and boil it till perfectly soft. Then drain it, put it into a deep dish, add some butter to it, and send it to table hot, (and uncovered,) to eat with any sort of meat; but particularly with corned beef or pork. What is left may be made next day into thick cakes, and fried in butter. To be very good, hominy should boil four or five hours.
CAROLINA GRITS, or SMALL HOMINY.—The small-grained hominy must be washed and boiled in the same manner as the large, only allow rather less water for boiling. For instance, put a pint and a half of water to a quart of small hominy. Drain it well, send it to table in a deep dish without a cover, and eat it with butter and sugar, or molasses. If covered after boiling, the vapour will condense within the lid, and make the hominy thin and watery.
SAMP.—This is Indian corn skinned, and then pounded or ground till it is still smaller and finer than the Carolina grits. It must be cooked and used in the same manner. It is very nice eaten with cream and sugar.
For invalids it may be made thin, and eaten as gruel.
HOMINY CAKES.—A pint of small hominy, or Carolina grits.—A pint of white Indian meal, sifted.—A salt-spoonful of salt.—Three large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter.—Three eggs, or three table-spoonfuls of strong yeast.—A quart of milk. Having washed the small hominy, and left it soaking all night, boil it soft, drain it, and while hot, mix it with the Indian meal; adding the salt, and the butter. Then mix it gradually with the milk, and set it away to cool. Beat the eggs very light, and add them, gradually, to the mixture. The whole should make a thick batter. Then bake them on a griddle, in the manner of buckwheat cakes, greasing or scraping the griddle, always before you put on a fresh cake. Trim off their edges nicely, and send them to table hot. Eat them with butter.
Or you may bake them in muffin rings.
If you prefer making these cakes with yeast, you must begin them earlier, as they will require time to rise. The yeast should be strong and fresh. If not very strong, use four table-spoonfuls instead of two. Cover the pan, set it in a warm place; and do not begin to bake till it is well risen, and the surface of the mixture is covered with bubbles.
TO KEEP INDIAN CORN FOR COOKING.—Take the corn when it is young and tender, and barely full-grown. Let it remain on the cob till you have boiled it ten or fifteen minutes (not more) in a large pot of slightly-salted water that must be boiling hard when the corn is put in. When thus parboiled, take it out, and when cool enough to handle, cut down the grains from the cob, into a deep pan, with a knife. Then spread out the grains in large flat dishes or shallow pans, and set them in an oven, after the bread, pies, &c., are done, and have been taken out. Let the corn remain in the oven till it is all well dried. If your oven is heated every day, you may put the corn into it a second time. When quite dry, and after it has cooled, put it into a large thick bag; tie the bag tightly, and hang it up in a cool store-room. When wanted for use, corn thus prepared will be found excellent for boiling in winter soup; or boiled by itself and drained, and sent to table in a vegetable-dish to eat with meat; first mixing with it some butter, and a little pepper and salt. It will boil as soft, and taste as well as when fresh from the garden. It will be better for soaking all night in water, before cooking.
Bakers who heat their ovens every day, would find it profitable to buy Indian corn in large quantities, and prepare it as above, to sell afterwards for table use. If the corn is not young and fresh, it will require half an hour’s boiling before it is dried in the oven.
What is called sweet corn is excellent for this purpose.
EXCELLENT RECEIPT FOR PORK AND BEANS.—Take a good piece of pickled pork (not very fat) and to each pound of pork allow a quart of dried white beans. The bone should be removed from the pork, and the beans well picked and washed. The evening before they are wanted for cooking, put the beans and pork to soak in separate pans; and just before bed-time, drain off the water, and replace it with fresh. Let them soak all night. Early in the morning, drain them well from the water, and wash first the beans, and then the pork in a cullender. Having scored the skin in stripes or diamonds, put the pork into a pot with fresh cold water, and the beans into another pot with sufficient cold water to cook them well. Season the pork with a little pepper, but of course no salt. Boil them separately and slowly till the pork is thoroughly done (skimming it well) and till the beans have all burst open. Afterwards take them out, and drain them well from the water. Then lay the pork in the middle of a tin pan, (there must be no liquid fat about it) and the beans round it; and over it, so as nearly to bury it from sight. Pour in a very little water, and set the dish into a hot oven, to bake or brown for half an hour. If kept too long in the oven the beans will become dry and hard. If sufficiently boiled when separate, half an hour will be long enough for the pork and beans to bake together. Carefully skim off any liquid fat that may rise to the surface. Cover the dish, and send it to table hot.
For a small dish, two quarts of beans and two pounds of pork will be enough. To this quantity when put to bake in the oven you may allow half a pint of water.
This is a good plain dish, very popular in New England, and generally liked in other parts of the country.
