This section is from the book "Temperance Cook Book", by Mary G. Smith. Also available from Amazon: Temperance Cook Book.
You can buy these for a trifle, and they are nice for dinner or tea, if cooked in the following way: "Wash clean, and put on to boil in cold water, salt well and boil till tender. Some vinegar and one tablespoonful of the following spices: Whole black pepper, allspice, and three bay leaves. Put in your meat, and if you prepare it in the morning, it will be ready for tea. Slice very thin and serve cold.
Take stale bread and cut into small, square pieces; make a batter as follows: One cup of sour milk, one egg, half a teaspoon of soda, flour enough to make like griddle cakes, a little salt. You can use sweet milk with baking powder. Dip in the bread, and fry in nice drippings or lard. Serve with syrup for breakfast.
Take some stale bread and pour on cold water enough to moisten it. Season with salt and pepper, add two well beaten eggs, make into little oval balls, roll into flour or cornmeal, and fry in hot lard or nice drippings, enough to cover them. Serve with roast beef.
Put into a wide mouthed bottle, fresh, clean mint leaves, enough to fill it loosely, then fill up the bottle with good vinegar; after it has been stopped close for two or three weeks, it is to be poured off clean, into another bottle, and kept well corked for use. Serve with lamb or any cold meat.
Ask for sausage for dressing. Get one can of truffles and one can of chestnuts, chop fine and mix the sausage, salt and pepper to taste; chop two small onions very fine and mix well. The dressing will be very good without the trufles and chestnuts, if prefered, but of course not so nice.
Crack the bone well, put it in a stew-kettle, and just cover it with water. "When it simmers, begin the skimming, and when the water looks clear, add a bunch of sweet herbs, or if the flavor is not liked, one dozen berries of black pepper, the same of allspice; stew very gently until the bones slip easily from the meat; take out, remove bones, and chop the meat fine, skim off the grease from the liquor in the pot, and return the chopped meat to it; season highly with salt and pepper, and a little powdered sage if liked; pour in pans, and set in a cool place. This is nice sliced for tea or for breakfast, fried in nice drippings, or you can mix it with bread or cracker crumbs; make into little cakes and brown in the oven. Or you can make croquettes or hash of the meat; they are excellent. Another nice way to save bits of cold meat is to drop them in a jar of vinegar; at the end of the week you will have enough for a batch of mince pies or spiced beef.
It is not fashionable to have gravy made for roast beef or mutton, as the juice of the meat is preferred, which, on the plate, is mixed with catsup or whatever is preferred. Almost any kind of meat liquor or soup stock, from which all fat has been removed, may be made into nice gravy, by simply adding a little seasoning and thickening; if browned flour is used, the gravy will require but little cooking, but, when thickened with raw flour, it must cook until thoroughly done, or the gravy will taste raw. All gravies should be well stirried over a hot fire, they must be quickly made, and must boil, not simmer.
 
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