Do not buy veal unless the vein in the shoulder looks blue or bright red. If of any other color, the veal is not fresh. A calf's head should have the eyes full and prominent. If they are dull and sunken, the head is stale. The kidney should be well covered with firm white fat. All the fat must be firm, dry, and white, and the lean fine in the grain, and light colored. If any part is found clammy or discolored, do not buy that veal. The best pieces of the calf are the loin and the fillet. The loin consists of the best and the chump end; the hind knuckle, and the fore knuckle. The inferior pieces are the neck, blade-bone, and breast. The brisket end of a breast of veal is very coarse, hard, and tough; the best end is rather better, having sweet-bread belonging to it.

Veal, like all other meat, should be well washed in cold water before cooking. Being naturally the most tasteless and insipid of all meat, it requires the assistance of certain articles to give it flavor. It is too weak to make rich soup without various additions. But well cooked, it is very nice as roasted loin, fillet, or fried cutlets.

ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.—

Wash the meat well in cold water, wipe it dry, and rub it slightly with mixed pepper and salt. Make a stuffing of bread soaked in milk, or grated bread-crumbs, cold ham minced, sweet marjoram minced, and the juice and yellow grated rind of a lemon; also, a little fresh butter. Loosen with a sharp knife the skin, and put the stuffing under it, skewering down the flap to keep it in. Put the veal to roast before a strong clear fire, and pour a little water in the bottom of the roaster. Baste it with this till the gravy begins to run. Then baste it with that. Set the spit at first not very close to the fire, but bring it nearer as the roasting proceeds.

Send it to table with its own gravy, well skimmed and slightly thickened with a little flour.

Always choose a fine fresh loin of veal with plenty of fat about the kidney. No meat spoils so soon.

The breast and shoulder are roasted in the same manner as the loin, of which two dishes may be made, the kidney end, and the chump end.

FILLET OF VEAL.—

When a fillet is to be roasted or baked, let it be well washed, and then dried in a clean towel. Take out the bone, fold the flap round, and skewer it to the meat. Make plenty of forcemeat or stuffing, of bread soaked in milk, or grated dry and mixed with plenty of fresh butter, or some of the fat or suet finely minced. Season with pepper, grated nutmeg, powdered mace, fresh lemon peel grated, and sweet marjoram and sweet basil minced fine. The hole that contained the bone must be stuffed full, and also the space between the flap and the side of the meat. This should be secured by three skewers. Dredge the meat all over lightly with flour before you put it down. At first, place the spit at a distance from the fire, which should be strong and clear. Then, as the meat begins to roast, set it nearer, and till the gravy begins to fall, baste it with fresh butter, or lard. Just before it is finished, (it will take about four hours,) dredge it with flour, and baste it well with its own gravy. When the meat is dished, skim the gravy, thicken it with a little flour, and pour it round the veal in the dish, or serve it in a sauce-boat.

A ham is the usual accompaniment to roast veal, whether fillet or loin.

Take whatever cold roast veal was left from yesterday. To prepare it for a breakfast dish, cut it into small bits, and put it (without any water) into a stew-pan, adding to it the veal gravy that was left from yesterday, and a table-spoonful of fresh butter or lard, dredged with flour. Cover it, and after stewing it half an hour by itself, put in two large table-spoonfuls of well spiced tomato catchup, an article no family should be without. After the catchup is in, cover the hash again, and let it stew half an hour longer. If you have no catchup, put in with the cold veal at the beginning, two or three large ripe tomatos, peeled and quartered, or sliced, and seasoned with powdered mace, nutmeg, and ginger; and let all stew together in gravy or butter. Mushroom catchup is a good substitute for tomato in hashing cold meat. If you have neither, put in a large table-spoonful of tarragon or French mustard, to be bought in bottles at all the best groceries.

Cold roast venison is very good hashed as above.

VEAL A-LA-MODE.—

Remove the bone from a fillet of veal, and make a large quantity of forcemeat or stuffing of grated bread-crumbs; beef-suet or veal-suet minced fine, the grated yellow rind and juice of a ripe lemon or orange, or some chopped mushrooms that have been previously stewed, some grated yolk of hard-boiled eggs, and some sweet marjoram. Press in the stuffing, till the hole left by the bone is well filled; and also, put stuffing between the flap and the side of the meat, before you skewer the flap. Have ready some lardons or slips of cold ham, or tongue, and with a larding pin draw them all through the surface of the veal. Or else, make deep cuts or incisions throughout the meat, and press down into each a small thin square bit of bacon-fat, seasoning every one with a little of the stuffing. Lay the veal in a deep baking-pan, or iron bake-oven. Surround it with nice lard, and bake it till thoroughly done all through. Then take it out, skim the gravy, and transfer it to a small sauce-pan. Stir in a dessert-spoonful of flour; add a glass of white wine to the gravy, and give it one boil up. Send it to table in a sauce-tureen, accompanying the veal.

TERRAPIN VEAL.—

Take some nice veal, (from the fillet, or the loin) and cut it into very small mouthfuls. Put it into a stew-pan. Have ready a dressing made of six or seven hard-boiled eggs, minced fine, a small tea-spoonful of made mustard, (tarragon or French mustard will be best,) a salt-spoon of salt, and the same of cayenne; two glasses of sherry or Madeira, and half a pint of rich cream. If you cannot conveniently obtain cream, substitute a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four pieces, and each piece dredged with flour. All the ingredients for this dressing must be thoroughly mixed. Then, pour it over the veal, and give the whole a hard stir. Cover it, and let it stew over the fire for about ten minutes. Fresh venison is excellent, cooked in this manner. So, also, are ducks, pheasants, partridges, or grouse, making a fine side dish for company.

TO HASH COLD MEAT.—

The best way of re-cooking cold roast meat, (veal, beef, or pork,) is to hash it, cutting it into mouthfuls, and stewing it in its own gravy, without a drop of water. For this purpose, save as much as you can of the dripping or gravy that fell from it when roasting. When you have done basting the roast meat, skim off all the fat from the surface, and strain the gravy through a small sieve. What is left of it, should be carefully set away in a cold place. Next day, when it has congealed into a cake, scrape it with a knife on both sides. If not wanted for immediate use, cut it in pieces, and put it up in a jar well covered. Use it (instead of water) for stews and hashes; and if well seasoned the meat will be found nearly as good (for a breakfast dish,) as if not previously cooked. Whenever it is possible, make your hashes without any water; and if you have saved no gravy, substitute lard, or fresh butter. But gravy or drippings of the same meat is best. A hash of cold meat, stewed merely in water, and with no seasoning but salt and pepper, is a poor thing. Cold potatos, when re-cooked, always remain hard and indigestible. In all cookery it is best to use fresh vegetables, even if the meat has been previously drest. Cold meat is of no use for soups or pies. It is better to slice it, and eat it cold—or, better still to give it the poor. Roast beef or mutton, if very much underdone, may be sliced and broiled on a gridiron, and well seasoned with pepper. Cold roast pork is best sliced plain, and eaten cold. Ham also.

VEAL CUTLETS IN PAPERS (en papillotes.)—

Make a nice sauce of sweet herbs, bread-crumbs, powdered mace and nutmeg, butter and beaten egg. Lay the cutlets in a deep dish, (having first broiled them and saved the gravy,) pour the sauce over them, with the veal gravy added to it. Cover them, and let them rest till cold. Allow, for each cutlet, a sheet of foolscap paper, cut it into the shape of a heart, and go over it with sweet oil, or fresh butter or lard. Lay a cutlet with a little of the sauce upon it, on one-half of each sheet of paper; turn the other half over the meat. Fold a narrow rim all round, so as to unite both edges. Begin at the top of the heart, and pleat both edges together so as to form a good shape without puckering. When you come to the bottom, where the paper is to cover the bone, give it a few extra twists. Broil the cutlets slowly on a gridiron for half an hour, seeing that no blaze catches the papers—or put them in the oven for half an hour. If the papers are not too much burnt or disfigured, dish the cutlets still wrapped in them, to be removed by those who eat them. If the covers are scorched black, and ragged, take out the cutlets and lay them on a hot dish. Serve up with them a dish of mashed potatos or potatoe cake, browned on the surface with a salamander. CÔtelettes À la Maintenon, are mutton or lamb steaks cooked in papers, in the above manner.

VEAL STEAKS.—

Cut the steaks from the neck, leaving the bone very short, and polishing what there is of it. Make a seasoning of boiled onions minced, and sage or sweet marjoram leaves, or of chopped parsley. Lay on each steak a bit of fresh butter, spread the seasoning thickly over each, and fry them in the gravy or drippings of cold roast veal or beef. They will be the better for beating them slightly with a rolling pin. Put into the frying-pan three or four table-spoonfuls of mushroom or tomato catchup; or, fry them with fresh mushrooms or fresh tomatos, sliced.

VEAL CUTLETS.—

Cut your veal cutlets from the fillet or round about half an inch thick. Season them slightly with a little salt and cayenne. Have ready a pan with grated bread-crumbs, and another with beaten egg. Have ready, in a frying pan, plenty of boiling lard, or drippings of cold veal. Dredge each cutlet slightly with flour; then dip it twice in the pan of beaten egg, and then twice also in the bread-crumbs. Fry them well, and send them to table in their own gravy. Saffron, scattered thickly over them while frying, is an improvement much relished by the eaters.

Veal is too insipid to be fried or broiled plain.

If you live where cream is plenty, add to this fry two or three spoonfuls.

Minced veal, cold, is an excellent ingredient for forcemeats.

KNUCKLE OF VEAL AND BACON.—

Unless your family is very small, get two knuckles of veal, and have them sawed into three pieces each. Put them into a pot with two pounds of ham or bacon; cover them with water, and stew them slowly, skimming them well. Season them with a little pepper, but no salt, as the bacon will be salt enough. When the scum ceases to rise, put in four onions and four turnips, and six potatos pared, and quartered; also, a carrot and two parsnips, scraped and cut into pieces. Let the whole boil till all the meat and all the vegetables are thoroughly done, and very tender. Drain them well, and serve up the whole on one large dish, having other vegetables served separately.

If you wish to have green vegetables, such as greens, young sprouts, poke, or string beans, flavored with bacon, put them to boil in a pot with the bacon only, and take another pot for the veal, and white vegetables, such as onions, turnips, &c. You may put the veal and bacon on the same dish.

SOUTHERN STEW (of veal.)—

Peel and boil a half dozen fresh spring onions, and then drain them well and slice them thin. Have ready two pounds or more of nice veal, sliced very thin, small, and evenly. Lay the veal in a stew-pan, and season it slightly with salt, and a very little cayenne. Cover the veal with the sliced onions, and lay upon them some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. If you cannot obtain very excellent fresh butter, substitute lard, or cold gravy, or dripping of roast veal, which last will be best if you have enough of it. Finish with a flavoring of powdered nutmeg or mace, and the grated yellow rind of a fresh lemon.

This stew is very nice. It may be made with lamb or chicken, cut very small.

VEAL KEBOBBED, (or kibaubed.)—

Cut into small thin slices some lean veal from the loin, chump end, or fillet. Trim them into a round or circular form. Season them with pepper, salt, and turmeric or curry powder. If onions are liked, slice some large ones, and lay them on the pieces of veal. Cover them with slices of ham, cut round like the veal, but a little smaller. Roll up the slices, (the ham inside,) and tie them on skewers. Then roast or bake them. When done, take them off the skewers, and send them to table in the gravy that has fallen from them. This is a Turkish dish, and is much liked.

VEAL FRITTERS.—

Take some thin slices of cold roast veal, and trim them round or circular. Beat them with a rolling-pin, to make them very tender, and season them with a little salt and pepper and some powdered nutmeg. Also some grated fresh yellow rind of lemon-peel. Make a very light batter, of eggs, milk, and flour; in the proportion of four well-beaten eggs to a pint of milk; and a large half pint of sifted flour: the eggs beaten first, and then stirred gradually into the milk in turn with the flour. Have ready a frying-pan, nearly full of boiling lard. Drop into it two large spoonfuls of the batter. Then put in a slice of the veal, and cover it with two more large spoonfuls of the batter. As the fritters are fried, take them up with a perforated skimmer, and drain them.

VEAL PATTIES.—

Mince very fine, some cold roast veal, or some cold chicken, mixing with it some cold minced ham, or cold smoked tongue. Add some yolk of hard-boiled eggs, crumbled or minced. Season the mixture with powdered mace and nutmeg, moistened with cream or soft fresh butter. Have ready some nice puff-paste, rolled out thin, and cut into oval or circular pieces. Cover the half of each with the mixture, spread on evenly and thickly. Then, upon that, fold over the other half, (uniting both,) and crimp them together, in very small notches. Brush their outsides all over with some raw egg, slightly beaten, and lay them in large square tin pans to bake. Send them to table on china dishes.

These patties are excellent made of cold game. The green tops of boiled asparagus will improve the mixture.

FRIED LIVER.—

Put into a frying-pan some nice thin slices of ham or bacon, that have soaked all night, and fry them in their own fat. Have ready your calf's liver, cut into slices not too thin, as that will render them hard. Take out the ham as soon as it is done, put it into a hot dish, and cover it closely. Lay the slices of liver into the gravy of the bacon that is left in the frying-pan, sprinkling it well with chopped parsley. It must be thoroughly done. Then dish with the bacon.

To those who like them, some onions will be thought an improvement to fried liver. First parboil the onions: then slice them, season them with a little salt and pepper, and fry them with the liver.

If lettuces are in season, quarter a fresh one, and lay it under the liver when you dish it, having previously removed the thickest part of the stalk. The liver of beef or sheep is not seen at good tables. It is very inferior to that of calf's, being hard and coarse.

LARDED LIVER.—

Wash and drain a nice fat calf's liver. Liver of beef or mutton is never seen at a good table; they are hard, coarse, and tasteless, and only eaten by the poor, while the livers of veal and poultry are considered very nice. Divide it into equal portions. Lard them thickly with small slips of fat bacon, inserted at regular distances with a larding-needle, and very near each other. Season the liver with powdered nutmeg and mace. Put into a stew-pan, in the bottom of which you have laid a large slice or two of fat bacon. Let it stew gently, till thoroughly done and tender throughout. When you take the liver out of the stew-pan, stir into the gravy left at the bottom, some thick catchup, either mushroom or tomato. Do not send the slices of bacon to table with the liver.

If liked, surround the liver while cooking, with small button onions, (peeled and washed,) and see that they are well done. Serve them up on the same dish. It is best always to boil onions before frying them.

STEWED LIVER.—

Having soaked a fine calf's liver for two hours in cold water, cut it into thick slices, and then cut the slices into mouthfuls. Chop fine a small bunch of sweet marjoram, and sprinkle it among the liver, seasoning with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and powdered mace. Put it into a stew-pan, and cook it in lard or fresh butter. Make some nice toast, and dip it for a minute in hot water, having pared off all the crust. Lay the toast in the bottom of a deep dish, after covering it all over with the stewed liver.

LIVER RISSOLES.—

Take a calf's liver, and remove carefully all the veins. Weigh a pound of it, boil it, and when cold, mince it very finely with a quarter of a pound of suet, either of beef or veal. Add a quarter of a pound of finely grated bread-crumbs. Season it with cayenne, powdered mace, and nutmeg, and a very little salt. Mix in two well-beaten eggs. Shape them into oval forms, about the size of large walnuts, and fry them in plenty of boiling hot lard, draining them all on a perforated skimmer, before they go to table.

LIVER PIE.—

Prepare a fine fresh calf's liver. Split it in long pieces. Lay it in a pan of cold water for an hour or two. Afterwards take it out and wipe it dry, and boil it till tender. Drain it when done, and chop it large with a slice of cold ham. Season it with pepper and nutmeg, (no salt for any thing that has ham in it,) and add some minced sweet marjoram and sweet basil, and two yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced. The grated yellow rind of a fresh lemon will be an improvement. Make a very nice light paste, and line a pie dish with it. Then fill it high with the mixture, laying on the top several pieces of fine fresh butter. Cover it with a lid of paste, notching the edges handsomely, and cutting a cross-slit on the top. Bake it light brown, and serve it up, either hot or cold. It will be found very nice.

With the same mixture you may make liver dumplings, enclosing them in a nice paste, and boiling them; or a liver pudding, boiling the mixture in one large paste, and tying it in a cloth, leaving room for it to swell.

CHITTERLINGS OR CALF'S TRIPE.—

This is very delicate and digestible, and is nice at breakfast, or as a side dish at dinner. To prepare it for cooking, it should be cut open with scissors, emptied, and thoroughly cleaned, and then laid all night, or for several hours, in cold water, slightly salted. It can be bought of the veal butchers ready prepared, and run on a wooden skewer. Wash it again just before cooking. Cut it into small pieces, and boil it slowly till quite tender, in water enough to keep it well covered. When entirely done, take it up, drain it, and keep it warm. Have ready some onions boiled in milk till quite soft, and sliced thin. Melt some excellent fresh butter, in milk thickened with flour. Make a round of very nice toast, with the crust pared off. Dip it for a minute in hot water; lay it in the bottom of a deep dish. Cover it thickly with the onion sauce, and place the chitterlings upon it, seasoning them with pepper and vinegar. It will be an improvement to boil with them four or five blades of mace. Eat vinegar with it, always. Tarragon vinegar is best. This dish deserves to be more in use. Try it.

FRIED CHITTERLINGS.—

Get chitterlings ready prepared by the butcher. Wash them, and let them lie an hour or two in weak salt and water. Then drain them, cut them in pieces, and parboil them. Dry them in a clean cloth. Make a batter of two or three beaten eggs, and a pint of milk, with a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Put into a frying-pan an ample portion of the dripping of roast veal or pork, and when it boils, (having first dipped each piece of the chitterling into the batter,) fry them in the dripping. They must be thoroughly done. You may fry them in lard, or fresh butter.

This is a nice breakfast dish.

BAKED CHITTERLINGS.—

Having first parboiled the chitterlings, lay among them some bits of fresh butter, season them with powdered nutmeg, put them into a deep dish, set it into an oven, and bake them brown.

This is a side dish at dinner.

FINE VEAL PIE.—

Boil, in two quarts of water, two unskinned calf's feet, adding the yellow rind of a large lemon, pared as thin as possible, or grated, and its squeezed juice. Also, two broken-up sticks of cinnamon, half a dozen blades of mace, and two glasses of sweet wine. Boil all these together (skimming well,) till the calf's feet are in rags, and all their flesh has dropped from the bone. Then put the whole into a jelly-bag and let it drip into a broad bowl. Set it away closely covered. Have ready two pounds of the parboiled chump end of a loin of veal cut into square pieces. Make a nice puff paste, and line with it a deep pie-dish. Put the pieces of veal into it, (all the fat cut off,) and intersperse them with a dozen or more forcemeat balls, each about as large as an English walnut. The balls may be made of cold minced chicken and ham, minced suet, bread-crumbs, and hard-boiled yolk of egg grated or crumbled fine; seasoned with sweet herbs, and grated lemon rind. Or they may be sweet balls of bread-crumbs, butter, chopped sultana raisins, and chopped citron, seasoned with nutmeg. Having dispersed them among the pieces of veal, put in the jelly made from the calf's feet. Cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste, cut a cross slit in the centre; notch the edges, and bake it brown. This pie is for a company dish.

A PLAIN VEAL PIE.—

Cut the meat from an uncooked breast of veal, and stew it in a very little water. Have ready a pie dish lined with a nice paste. Put in a layer of stewed veal, with its gravy, and cover it with a layer of sausage meat; then veal again, and then sausage meat. Repeat this till the dish is full, finishing with the sausage. Cover it with a lid of paste, and bake it brown. This is a cheap and easy family pie.

VEAL LOAF.—

Take a cold fillet of veal, and (omitting the fat and skin) mince the meat as fine as possible. Mix with it a quarter of a pound of the fattest part of a cold ham, also chopped small. Add a tea-cupful of grated bread-crumbs; a grated nutmeg; half a dozen blades of mace, powdered; the grated yellow rind of a lemon; and two beaten eggs. Season with a salt-spoon of salt, and half a salt-spoon of cayenne. Mix the whole well together, and make it into the form of a loaf. Then glaze it over with beaten yolk of egg; and strew the surface evenly, all over, with bread raspings, or with pounded cracker. Set the dish into a dutch-oven, and bake it half an hour, or till hot all through. Have ready a gravy made of the trimmings of the veal, stewed in some of the gravy that was left when the fillet was roasted the day before. When sufficiently cooked, take out the meat, and thicken the gravy with beaten yolk of egg, stirred in about three minutes before you take it from the fire.

Send the veal loaf to table, in a deep dish, with the gravy poured round it.

Chicken loaf, or turkey loaf, may be made in this manner.

STEWED CALF'S HEAD.—

Take a fine, large calf's head; empty it; wash it clean, and boil it till it is quite tender, in just water enough to cover it. Then carefully take out the bones, without spoiling the appearance of the head. Season it with a little salt and cayenne, and a grated nutmeg. Pour over it the liquor in which it has been boiled, adding a jill of vinegar, and two table-spoonfuls of capers, or of green nasturtion seeds, that have been pickled. Let it stew very slowly for half an hour. Have ready some forcemeat balls made of minced veal-suet, grated bread-crumbs, grated lemon-peel, and sweet marjoram,—adding beaten yolk of egg to bind the other ingredients together. Put in the forcemeat balls, and stew it slowly a quarter of an hour longer, adding some bits of butter rolled in flour to enrich the gravy. Send it to table hot.

EXCELLENT MINCED VEAL.—

Take three or four pounds of the lean only of a fillet or loin of veal, and mince it very finely, adding a slice or two of cold ham, minced also. Add two or three small young onions, chopped small, a tea-spoonful of sweet marjoram leaves rubbed from the stalks, the yellow rind of a small lemon grated, and a tea-spoonful of mixed mace and nutmeg powdered. Mix all well together, and dredge it with a little flour. Put it into a stew-pan, with sufficient gravy of cold roast veal to moisten it, and a large table-spoonful or more of fresh butter. Stir it well, and let it stew till thoroughly done. If the veal has been previously cooked, a quarter of an hour will be sufficient. It will be much improved by adding a pint or more of small button mushrooms, cut from the stems, and then chopped small. Also, by stirring in two table-spoonfuls of cream about five minutes before it is taken from the fire.

VEAL WITH OYSTERS.—

Take two fine cutlets of about a pound each. Divide them into several pieces, cut thin. Put them into a frying-pan, with boiling lard, and let them fry awhile. When the veal is almost done, add to it a pint of large, fine oysters,—their liquor thickened with a few grated bread-crumbs, and seasoned with mace and nutmeg powdered. Continue the frying till the veal and oysters are thoroughly done. Send it to table in a covered dish.

TERRAPIN VEAL.—

Take some cold roast veal, (the fillet or the loin) and cut it into mouthfuls. Put it in a skillet or stew-pan. Have ready a dressing made of six or seven hard-boiled eggs, minced fine; a small tea-spoonful of tarragon mustard; a salt-spoonful of salt; and the same of cayenne pepper; a large tea-cupful (half a pint) of cream, and two glasses of sherry or Madeira wine. The dressing must be thoroughly mixed. Pour it over the veal, and then give the whole a hard stir. Cover it, and let it stew over the fire for ten minutes. Then transfer it to a deep dish, and send it to table hot.

Cold roast duck or fowl may be drest as above. Also, venison.

VEAL OLIVES.—

Take some cold fillet of veal and cold ham, and cut them into thin square slices of the same size and shape, trimming the edges evenly. Lay a slice of veal on every slice of ham, and spread some beaten yolk of egg over the veal. Have ready a thin forcemeat, made of grated bread-crumbs, sweet marjoram rubbed fine, fresh butter, and grated lemon-peel, seasoned with nutmeg and a little cayenne pepper. Spread this over the veal, and then roll up each slice tightly with the ham. Tie them round securely with coarse thread or fine twine; run a bird-spit through them, and roast them well. For sauce, simmer in a small sauce-pan, some cold veal gravy with two spoonfuls of cream, and some mushroom catchup.

VEAL RISSOLES.—

Take as much fine wheat bread as will weigh one pound, after all the crust is cut off. Slice it; put it into a pan and pour over it as much rich milk as will soak it thoroughly. After it has soaked a quarter of an hour, lay it in a sieve and press it dry. Mince as finely as possible a pound of veal cutlet with six ounces of veal suet; then mix in gradually the bread; adding a salt-spoonful of salt, a slight sprinkling of cayenne, and a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed; also the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Beat two eggs, and moisten the mixture with them. Then divide it into equal portions, and with a little flour on your hands roll it into oval balls rather smaller than an egg. Strew over them some dry bread-crumbs; then fry them in lard or fresh butter—drain them well, and send them to table hot. For gravy (which should be commenced before the rissoles) put some bits and trimmings of veal into a small sauce-pan, with as much water as will cover them; a very little pepper and salt; and three or four blades of mace. Cover the sauce-pan closely, and let the meat stew till all the strength is extracted; skimming it well. Then strain it; return the liquor to the sauce-pan; add a bit of butter rolled in flour; and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Give it a boil up, and then, at the last, stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. Serve up this gravy in a sauce-boat, to eat with the rissoles.

Instead of stewing meat for the purpose, you may make this gravy with the drippings of roast veal saved from the day before. You have then only to melt it over the fire; adding the seasoning; and giving it one boil.

Similar rissoles may be made of minced chicken or turkey.

TO PREPARE SWEETBREADS.—

The sweetbread belonging to the breast of the calf is far superior to that which is found about the throat, being larger, whiter, more tender, and more delicate. Always buy them in preference. They should be set immediately on ice, and prepared for cooking as speedily as possible, for they spoil very soon. Soak them in warm water till all the blood is discharged. Then put them into boiling water, and boil them five minutes. After this, lay them immediately in a pan of very cold water. This sudden transition from hot water to cold, will blanch or whiten them. Dark-colored sweetbreads make a very bad appearance. Four are generally sufficient for a small dish. But as, if well cooked, they are much liked, it is best to have six; or else eight upon two dishes. If the sweetbreads are to be cut up before cooking, remove and throw away the gristle or pipe that pervades every one. If they are to be cooked whole, you may leave the pipe in, to be taken out by the eaters.

For company, it is usual to lard sweetbreads with slips of fat ham or bacon, or of cold smoked tongue.

Sweetbreads are used as side-dishes at dinners, or at nice breakfasts.

SWEETBREAD CROQUETTES.—

Having trimmed some sweetbreads nicely, and removed the gristle, parboil them, and then mince them very fine. Add grated bread, and season with a very little salt and pepper; some powdered mace and nutmeg; and some grated lemon-rind. Moisten the whole with cream, and make them up into small cones or sugar-loaves; forming and smoothing them nicely. Have ready some beaten egg, mixed with grated bread-crumbs. Dip into it each croquette, and fry them slowly in fresh butter. Serve them hot; standing up on the dish, and with a sprig of parsley in the top of each.

Sweetbreads should never be used unless perfectly fresh. They spoil very rapidly. As soon as they are brought from market they should be split open, and laid in cold water. Never attempt to keep sweetbreads till next day, except in cold weather; and then on ice.

Similar croquettes may be made of cold boiled chicken; or cold roast veal; or of oysters, minced raw, and seasoned and mixed as above.

FRICASSEED SWEETBREADS.—

Take half a dozen sweetbreads; clean them thoroughly, and lay them for an hour or two in a pan of water, having first removed the strings and gristle. Then put them into a stew-pan with as much rich milk or cream as will cover them well, and a very little salt. Stew them slowly, till tender throughout, and thoroughly done, saving the liquid. Then take them up; cover them; and set them near the fire to keep warm. Prepare a quarter of a pound of butter, divided into four pieces, and rolled in flour. Put the butter into the milk in which the sweetbreads were boiled, and add a few sprigs of parsley cut small; five or six blades of mace; half a nutmeg grated; and a very little cayenne pepper. Have ready the yolks of three eggs well-beaten. Return the sweetbreads to the gravy; let it just come to a boil; and then stir in the beaten egg immediately before you take the fricassee from the fire, otherwise it will curdle. Serve it up in a deep dish with a cover.

Chickens, cut up, may be fricasseed in this manner.

TOMATO SWEETBREADS.—

Cut up a quarter of a peck (or more) of fine ripe tomatos; set them over the fire, and let them stew with nothing but their own juice, till they go entirely to pieces. Then press them through a sieve, to clear the liquid from the seeds and skins. Have ready four or five sweetbreads that have been trimmed nicely, cleared from the gristle, and laid open to soak in warm water. Put them into a stew-pan with the tomato-juice, seasoned with a little salt and cayenne. Add two or three table-spoonfuls of butter rolled in flour. Set the sauce-pan over the fire, and stew the sweetbreads in the tomato-juice till they are thoroughly done. A few minutes before you take them off, stir in two beaten yolks of eggs Serve up the sweetbreads in a deep dish, with the tomato poured over them.

SWEETBREADS AND CAULIFLOWERS.—

Take four large sweetbreads, and two fine cauliflowers. Split open the sweetbreads and remove the gristle. Soak them awhile in lukewarm water. Then put them into a sauce-pan of boiling water, and let them boil ten minutes over the fire. Afterwards, lay them in a pan of very cold water. The parboiling will render them white; and putting them directly from the hot water into the cold will give them firmness. Having washed and drained the cauliflowers, quarter them, and lay them in a broad stew-pan with the sweetbreads upon them, seasoned with a very little cayenne, four or five blades of mace, and some nutmeg. Add as much water as will cover them; put on closely the lid of the pan, and let the whole stew for about an hour. Then take a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and roll it in two table-spoonfuls of flour. Add it to the stew with a tea-cupful of rich milk or cream, and give it one boil up, not more, or the milk may curdle. Serve it hot in a deep dish; the sweetbreads in the middle with the gravy poured over them, and the quartered cauliflowers laid handsomely round. This stew will be found delicious.

Broccoli may be thus stewed with sweetbreads.

SWEETBREAD OMELET.—

For an omelet of six or seven eggs, take two fine sweetbreads. Split them, take out the gristle, and soak them in two lukewarm waters, to extract all the blood. Then put them into very hot water, boil them ten minutes, take them out, set them away to cool, and afterwards mince them small, and season them with a very little salt and cayenne pepper, and some grated nutmeg. Beat the eggs (omitting the whites of two) till very light. Then mix in the chopped sweetbreads. Put three ounces or more of fresh butter into a small frying-pan, and place it over the fire. Stir the butter with a spoon, as it melts, and when it comes to a boil put in the mixture, stirring it awhile after it is all in. Fry it a rich brown. Heat the plate or dish in which you turn it out of the pan. An omelet should never be turned while frying. The top may be well browned by holding above it a salamander or red-hot shovel.

If you wish it very thick, have three sweetbreads.

While frying the omelet, lift the edge occasionally by slipping a knife-blade under it, that the butter may get well underneath.

If omelets are cooked too much they will become tough, and leather-like. Many persons prefer having them sent to table as soft omelets, before they have set, or taken the form of a cake. In this case, serve up the omelet in a deep dish, and help it with a spoon.

SWEETBREADS AND OYSTERS.—

Take four sweetbreads, and when they have been soaked and blanched, quarter them, and remove the pipe. Strain the liquor from three dozen large fresh oysters, season it with powdered nutmeg and mace, and a little cayenne. Put the quartered sweetbreads into a stew-pan, and pour over them enough of the oyster-liquor to cover them well, adding, if you have it, three large spoonfuls of the gravy of roast veal, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut into four bits; each bit rolled or dredged in flour. When the sweetbreads are done, put in the oysters, (first removing their gristle or hard part,) and take them out again as soon as they are plumped, which should be in five minutes. If allowed to boil, the oysters will shrivel, and become hard and tasteless. Add, at the last, two wine-glasses of cream, and shake the pan about, for a few minutes. Serve up in a deep dish.

SWEETBREAD PIES.—

Make shells of puff-paste, and bake them empty. When done, fill them to the top with the above mixture. Have ready a lid for each pie, baked on a flat plate, and lay it on the top of the filling.

STEWED SWEETBREADS.—

After blanching them, extract the pipe very carefully, and fill its place with a stuffing made of cold minced chicken or veal, minced ham or tongue sweet marjoram, nutmeg, grated lemon-peel, and the crumbled yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Fasten the openings with small wooden skewers, and put the sweetbreads into a broad stew-pan with a thin slice of ham under each, and another on the top of each, kept in place by a splinter-skewer. Stew the sweetbreads in the gravy of roast veal, and before you send them to table take out the skewers.

Or make a gravy of uncooked trimmings of veal or beef, stewed slowly in as much water as will cover them well, and seasoned with pepper and salt—or, stew with the fresh meat, as much ham or bacon as will flavor the gravy, (using no other salt.) When all the essence is extracted from the meat, stir in a bit of butter dredged with flour. The flour for gravies should be browned. Strain the gravy, and add any other flavoring you like.

To brown flour, spread it evenly on a large dish or flat tin, and place it before the fire, or in a rather cool oven. Scrape it up from the edges where it will get the brownest. Take care it burns or blackens nowhere. Keep it for use in a dry tin box.

BAKED SWEETBREADS.—

Parboil four large sweetbreads, having first blanched them. When cold, lard them all over the surface, with slips of bacon the size of small straws. Lay them in a shallow pan, putting under each sweetbread a piece of nice fresh butter with a very little flour mixed into it. Pour into the pan a glass of nice white wine, mixed with the juice and grated yellow rind of a lemon. Season also with grated nutmeg. Or for sauce, you may use mushroom catchup, with a little salad oil stirred into it.

If you do not live in a place where nice fresh butter is to be obtained, endeavor to do without butter at all, rather than use that which is strong, rancid, or too salt. Bad butter tastes through every thing—spoils every thing, and is also extremely unwholesome, as decomposition (or in plain terms putrefaction,) has already commenced. Rather than use what makes all your food taste worse instead of better, try to substitute something else—such as beef or fresh pork drippings, suet, lard, or olive oil; or, molasses, honey, or stewed fruit. We know that with these it is possible to live in health for years, without tasting butter. Nevertheless, good butter is a good thing, and an improvement to all sorts of cookery.