The Virginia Housewife: or, Methodical Cook
By Mary Randolph 1762-1828
Baltimore: Plaskitt, Fite, 1838
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POULTRY Recipes
TO ROAST A GOOSE.
CHOP a few sage leaves and two onions very fine, mix them with a good lump of butter, a tea-spoonful of pepper, and two of salt, put it in the goose, then spit it, lay it down, and dust it with flour; when it is thoroughly hot, baste it with nice lard; if it be a large one, it will require an hour and a half, before a good clear fire; when it is enough, dredge and baste it, pull out the spit, and pour in a little boiling water.
TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A GOOSE.
PARE, core and slice some apples; put them in a sauce pan, with as much water as will keep them from burning, set them over a very slow fire, keep them closely covered till reduced to a pulp, then put in a lump of butter, and sugar to your taste, beat them well, and send them to the table in a china bowl.
TO BOIL DUCKS WITH ONION SAUCE.
SCALD and draw your ducks, put them in warm water for a few minutes, then take them out and put them in an earthen pot; pour over them a pint of boiling milk, and let them lie in it two or three hours; when you take them out, dredge them well with flour, and put them in a copper of cold water; put on the cover, let them boil slowly twenty minutes, then take them out, and smother them with onion sauce.
TO MAKE ONION SAUCE.
BOIL eight or ten large onions, change the water two or three times while they are boiling; when enough, chop them on a board to keep them a good colour, put them in a sauce pan with a quarter of a pound of butter and two spoonsful of thick cream; boil it a little, and pour it over the ducks.
TO ROAST DUCKS.
WHEN you have drawn the ducks, shred one onion and a few sage leaves, put them into the ducks with pepper and salt, spit and dust them with flour, and baste them with lard: if your fire be very hot, they will roast in twenty minutes; and the quicker they are roasted, the better they will taste. Just before you take them from the spit, dust them with flour and baste them. Get ready some gravy made of the gizzards and pinions, a large blade of mace, a few pepper corns, a spoonful of catsup, a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle; strain it and pour it on the ducks, and send onion sauce in a boat.
TO BOIL A TURKEY WITH OYSTER SAUCE.
GRATE a loaf of bread, chop a score or more of oysters fine, add nutmeg, pepper and salt to your taste, mix it up into a light forcemeat with a quarter of a pound of butter, a spoonful or two of cream, and three eggs; stuff the craw with it, and make the rest into balls and boil them; sew up the turkey, dredge it well with flour, put it in a kettle of cold water, cover it, and set it over the fire; as the scum begins to rise, take it off, let it boil very slowly for half an hour, then take off your kettle and keep it closely covered; if it be of a middle size, let it stand in the hot water half an hour, the steam being kept in, will stew it enough, make it rise, keep the skin whole, tender, and very white; when you dish it, pour on a little oyster sauce, lay the balls round, and serve it up with the rest of the sauce in a boat.
N. B. Set on the turkey in time, that it may stew as above; it is the best way to boil one to perfection. Put it over the fire to heat, just before you dish it up.
TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A TURKEY.
As you open the oysters, put a pint into a bowl, wash them out of their own liquor, and put them in another bowl; when the liquor has settled, pour it off into a sauce pan with a little white gravy, and a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle--thicken it with flour and a good lump of butter; boil it three or four minutes, put in a spoonful of good cream, add the oysters, keep shaking them over the fire till they are quite hot, but don't let them boil, for it will make them hard and appear small.
TO ROAST A TURKEY.
MAKE the forcemeat thus: take the crumb of a loaf of bread, a quarter of a pound of beef suet shred fine, a little sausage meat or veal scraped and pounded very fine, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to your taste; mix it lightly with three eggs, stuff the craw with it, spit it, and lay it down a good distance from the fire, which should be clear and brisk; dust and baste it several times with cold lard; it makes the froth stronger than basting it with the hot out of the dripping pan, and makes the turkey rise better; when it is enough, froth it up as before, dish it, and pour on the same gravy as for the boiled turkey, or bread sauce; garnish with lemon and pickles, and serve it up; if it be of a middle size, it will require one hour and a quarter to roast.
TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A TURKEY.
CUT the crumb of a loaf of bread in thin slices, and put it in cold water with a few pepper corns, a little salt and onion--then boil it till the bread is quite soft, beat it well, put in a quarter of a pound of butter, two spoonsful of thick cream, and put it in the dish with the turkey.
TO BOIL FOWLS.
DUST the fowls well with flour, put them in a kettle of cold water, cover it close, set it on the fire; when the scum begins to rise, take it off, let them boil very slowly for twenty minutes, then take them off, cover them close, and the heat of the water will stew them enough in half an hour; it keeps the skin whole, and they will be both whiter and plumper than if they had boiled fast; when you take them up, drain them, and pour over them white sauce or melted butter.
TO MAKE WHITE SAUCE FOR FOWLS.
TAKE a scrag of veal, the necks of fowls, or any bits of mutton or veal you have; put them in a sauce pan with a blade or two of mace, a few black pepper corns, one anchovy, a head of celery, a bunch of sweet herbs, a slice of the end of a lemon; put in a quart of water, cover it close, let it boil till it is reduced to half a pint, strain it, and thicken it with a quarter of a pound of butter mixed with flour, boil it five or six minutes, put in two spoonsful of pickled mushrooms, mix the yelks of two eggs with a tea cup full of good cream and a little nutmeg--put it in the sauce, keep shaking it over the fire, but don't let it boil.
FRICASSEE OF SMALL CHICKENS.
TAKE off the legs and wings of four chickens, separate the breasts from the backs, cut off the necks and divide the backs across, clean the gizzards nicely, put them with the livers and other parts of the chicken, after being washed clean, into a sauce pan, add pepper, salt, and a little mace, cover them with water, and stew them till tender--then take them out, thicken half a pint of the water with two table spoonsful of flour rubbed into four ounces of butter, add half a pint of new milk, boil all together a few minutes, then add a gill of white wine, stirring it in carefully that it may not curdle; put the chickens in, and continue to shake the pan until they are sufficiently hot, and serve them up.
TO ROAST LARGE FOWLS.
TAKE the fowls when they are ready dressed, put them down to a good fire, dredge and baste them well with lard; they will be near an hour in roasting; make a gravy of the necks and gizzards, strain it, put in a spoonful of brown flour; when you dish them, pour on the gravy, and serve them up with egg sauce in a boat.
TO MAKE EGG SAUCE.
BOIL four eggs for ten minutes, chop half the whites, put them with the yelks, and chop them both together, but not very fine; put them into a quarter of a pound of good melted butter, and put it in a boat.
TO BOIL YOUNG CHICKENS.
PUT the chickens in scalding water; as soon as the feathers will slip off, take them out, or it will make the skin hard and break: when you have drawn them, lay them in skimmed milk for two hours, then truss and dust them well with flour, put them in cold water, cover them close, set them over a very slow fire, take off the scum, let them boil slowly for five or six minutes, take them off the fire, keep them closely covered in the water for half an hour, it will stew them enough; when you are going to dish them, set them over the fire to make them hot, drain them, and pour over white sauce made the same way as for the boiled fowls.
TO ROAST YOUNG CHICKENS.
WHEN you kill young chickens, pluck them very carefully, truss and put them down to a good fire, dredge and baste them with lard; they will take a quarter of an hour in roasting; froth them up, lay them on the dish, pour butter and parsley on, and serve them up hot.
FRIED CHICKENS.
CUT them up as for the fricassee, dredge them well with flour, sprinkle them with salt, put them into a good quantity of boiling lard, and fry them a light brown; fry small pieces of mush and a quantity of parsley nicely picked, to be served in the dish with the chickens; take half a pint of rich milk, add to it a small bit of butter, with pepper, salt, and chopped parsley; stew it a little, and pour it over the chickens, and then garnish with the fried parsley.
TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.
PLUCK, but do not draw them, put them on a small spit, dredge and baste them well with lard, toast a few slices of bread, put them on a clean plate, and set it under the birds while they are roasting; if the fire be good, they will take about ten minutes; when you take them from the spit, lay them upon the toasts on the dish, pour melted butter round them, and serve them up.
TO ROAST WILD DUCKS OR TEAL.
WHEN the ducks are ready dressed, put in them a small onion, pepper, salt, and a spoonful of red wine; if the fire be good, they will roast in twenty minutes; make gravy of the necks and gizzards, a spoonful of red wine, half an anchovy, a blade or two of mace, one onion, and a little cayenne pepper; boil it till it is wasted to half a pint, strain it through a hair sieve, and pour it on the ducks--serve them up with onion sauce in a boat; garnish the dish with raspings of bread.
TO BOIL PIGEONS.
SCALD the pigeons, draw them, take the craw out, wash them in several waters, cut off the pinions, turn the legs under the wings, dredge them, and put them in soft cold water; boil them slowly a quarter of an hour, dish them up, pour over them good melted butter,
lay round a little brocoli in bunches, and send butter and parsley in a boat.
TO ROAST PIGEONS.
WHEN you have dressed your pigeons as before, roll a good lump of butter in chopped parsley, with pepper and salt, put it in your pigeons, spit, dust and baste them; if the fire be good, they will roast in twenty minutes; when they are through, lay round them bunches of asparagus, with parsley and butter for sauce.
TO ROAST PARTRIDGES OR ANY SMALL BIRDS.
LARD them with slips of bacon, put them on a skewer, tie it to the spit at both ends, dredge and baste them, let them roast ten minutes, take the grated crumb of half a loaf of bread, with a piece of butter, the size of a walnut, put it in a stew pan, and shake it over a gentle fire till it is of a light brown, lay it between your birds, and pour over them a little melted butter.
TO STEW WILD DUCKS.
HAVING prepared the fowls, rub the insides with salt, pepper, and a little powdered cloves; put a shallot or two with a lump of butter in the body of each, then lay them in a pan that will just hold them, putting butter under and over them, with vinegar and water, and add pepper, salt, lemon peel, and a bunch of sweet herbs; then cover the pan close, and let them stew till done--pass the liquor through a sieve, pour it over the ducks, and serve them up hot, with a garnish of lemon sliced, and raspings of bread fried. The same way may teal, &c. be dressed.
TO DRESS DUCKS WITH JUICE OF ORANGES.
THE ducks being singed, picked, and drawn, mince the livers with a little scraped bacon, some butter, green onions, sweet herbs and parsley, seasoned with salt, pepper, and mushrooms; these being all minced together, put them into the bodies of the ducks, and roast them, covered with slices of bacon, and wrapped up in paper; then put a little gravy, the juice of an orange, a few shallots minced, into a stew pan, and shake in a little pepper; when the ducks are roasted, take off the bacon, dish them, and pour your sauce with the juice of oranges over them, and serve them up hot.
TO DRESS DUCKS WITH ONIONS.
STUFF the ducks as before, cut the roots off small onions, blanch them in scalding water, then pick and put them into a stew pan with a little gravy, set them over a gentle fire, and let them simmer; when they are done, thicken them with cream and flour, and when the ducks are roasted, dish them, pour the ragout of onions over, and serve them up hot.![]()
By Mary Randolph 1762-1828
Baltimore: Plaskitt, Fite, 1838
POULTRY Recipes
TO ROAST A GOOSE.
CHOP a few sage leaves and two onions very fine, mix them with a good lump of butter, a tea-spoonful of pepper, and two of salt, put it in the goose, then spit it, lay it down, and dust it with flour; when it is thoroughly hot, baste it with nice lard; if it be a large one, it will require an hour and a half, before a good clear fire; when it is enough, dredge and baste it, pull out the spit, and pour in a little boiling water.
TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A GOOSE.
PARE, core and slice some apples; put them in a sauce pan, with as much water as will keep them from burning, set them over a very slow fire, keep them closely covered till reduced to a pulp, then put in a lump of butter, and sugar to your taste, beat them well, and send them to the table in a china bowl.
TO BOIL DUCKS WITH ONION SAUCE.
SCALD and draw your ducks, put them in warm water for a few minutes, then take them out and put them in an earthen pot; pour over them a pint of boiling milk, and let them lie in it two or three hours; when you take them out, dredge them well with flour, and put them in a copper of cold water; put on the cover, let them boil slowly twenty minutes, then take them out, and smother them with onion sauce.
TO MAKE ONION SAUCE.
BOIL eight or ten large onions, change the water two or three times while they are boiling; when enough, chop them on a board to keep them a good colour, put them in a sauce pan with a quarter of a pound of butter and two spoonsful of thick cream; boil it a little, and pour it over the ducks.
TO ROAST DUCKS.
WHEN you have drawn the ducks, shred one onion and a few sage leaves, put them into the ducks with pepper and salt, spit and dust them with flour, and baste them with lard: if your fire be very hot, they will roast in twenty minutes; and the quicker they are roasted, the better they will taste. Just before you take them from the spit, dust them with flour and baste them. Get ready some gravy made of the gizzards and pinions, a large blade of mace, a few pepper corns, a spoonful of catsup, a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle; strain it and pour it on the ducks, and send onion sauce in a boat.
TO BOIL A TURKEY WITH OYSTER SAUCE.
GRATE a loaf of bread, chop a score or more of oysters fine, add nutmeg, pepper and salt to your taste, mix it up into a light forcemeat with a quarter of a pound of butter, a spoonful or two of cream, and three eggs; stuff the craw with it, and make the rest into balls and boil them; sew up the turkey, dredge it well with flour, put it in a kettle of cold water, cover it, and set it over the fire; as the scum begins to rise, take it off, let it boil very slowly for half an hour, then take off your kettle and keep it closely covered; if it be of a middle size, let it stand in the hot water half an hour, the steam being kept in, will stew it enough, make it rise, keep the skin whole, tender, and very white; when you dish it, pour on a little oyster sauce, lay the balls round, and serve it up with the rest of the sauce in a boat.
N. B. Set on the turkey in time, that it may stew as above; it is the best way to boil one to perfection. Put it over the fire to heat, just before you dish it up.
TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A TURKEY.
As you open the oysters, put a pint into a bowl, wash them out of their own liquor, and put them in another bowl; when the liquor has settled, pour it off into a sauce pan with a little white gravy, and a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle--thicken it with flour and a good lump of butter; boil it three or four minutes, put in a spoonful of good cream, add the oysters, keep shaking them over the fire till they are quite hot, but don't let them boil, for it will make them hard and appear small.
TO ROAST A TURKEY.
MAKE the forcemeat thus: take the crumb of a loaf of bread, a quarter of a pound of beef suet shred fine, a little sausage meat or veal scraped and pounded very fine, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to your taste; mix it lightly with three eggs, stuff the craw with it, spit it, and lay it down a good distance from the fire, which should be clear and brisk; dust and baste it several times with cold lard; it makes the froth stronger than basting it with the hot out of the dripping pan, and makes the turkey rise better; when it is enough, froth it up as before, dish it, and pour on the same gravy as for the boiled turkey, or bread sauce; garnish with lemon and pickles, and serve it up; if it be of a middle size, it will require one hour and a quarter to roast.
TO MAKE SAUCE FOR A TURKEY.
CUT the crumb of a loaf of bread in thin slices, and put it in cold water with a few pepper corns, a little salt and onion--then boil it till the bread is quite soft, beat it well, put in a quarter of a pound of butter, two spoonsful of thick cream, and put it in the dish with the turkey.
TO BOIL FOWLS.
DUST the fowls well with flour, put them in a kettle of cold water, cover it close, set it on the fire; when the scum begins to rise, take it off, let them boil very slowly for twenty minutes, then take them off, cover them close, and the heat of the water will stew them enough in half an hour; it keeps the skin whole, and they will be both whiter and plumper than if they had boiled fast; when you take them up, drain them, and pour over them white sauce or melted butter.
TO MAKE WHITE SAUCE FOR FOWLS.
TAKE a scrag of veal, the necks of fowls, or any bits of mutton or veal you have; put them in a sauce pan with a blade or two of mace, a few black pepper corns, one anchovy, a head of celery, a bunch of sweet herbs, a slice of the end of a lemon; put in a quart of water, cover it close, let it boil till it is reduced to half a pint, strain it, and thicken it with a quarter of a pound of butter mixed with flour, boil it five or six minutes, put in two spoonsful of pickled mushrooms, mix the yelks of two eggs with a tea cup full of good cream and a little nutmeg--put it in the sauce, keep shaking it over the fire, but don't let it boil.
FRICASSEE OF SMALL CHICKENS.
TAKE off the legs and wings of four chickens, separate the breasts from the backs, cut off the necks and divide the backs across, clean the gizzards nicely, put them with the livers and other parts of the chicken, after being washed clean, into a sauce pan, add pepper, salt, and a little mace, cover them with water, and stew them till tender--then take them out, thicken half a pint of the water with two table spoonsful of flour rubbed into four ounces of butter, add half a pint of new milk, boil all together a few minutes, then add a gill of white wine, stirring it in carefully that it may not curdle; put the chickens in, and continue to shake the pan until they are sufficiently hot, and serve them up.
TO ROAST LARGE FOWLS.
TAKE the fowls when they are ready dressed, put them down to a good fire, dredge and baste them well with lard; they will be near an hour in roasting; make a gravy of the necks and gizzards, strain it, put in a spoonful of brown flour; when you dish them, pour on the gravy, and serve them up with egg sauce in a boat.
TO MAKE EGG SAUCE.
BOIL four eggs for ten minutes, chop half the whites, put them with the yelks, and chop them both together, but not very fine; put them into a quarter of a pound of good melted butter, and put it in a boat.
TO BOIL YOUNG CHICKENS.
PUT the chickens in scalding water; as soon as the feathers will slip off, take them out, or it will make the skin hard and break: when you have drawn them, lay them in skimmed milk for two hours, then truss and dust them well with flour, put them in cold water, cover them close, set them over a very slow fire, take off the scum, let them boil slowly for five or six minutes, take them off the fire, keep them closely covered in the water for half an hour, it will stew them enough; when you are going to dish them, set them over the fire to make them hot, drain them, and pour over white sauce made the same way as for the boiled fowls.
TO ROAST YOUNG CHICKENS.
WHEN you kill young chickens, pluck them very carefully, truss and put them down to a good fire, dredge and baste them with lard; they will take a quarter of an hour in roasting; froth them up, lay them on the dish, pour butter and parsley on, and serve them up hot.
FRIED CHICKENS.
CUT them up as for the fricassee, dredge them well with flour, sprinkle them with salt, put them into a good quantity of boiling lard, and fry them a light brown; fry small pieces of mush and a quantity of parsley nicely picked, to be served in the dish with the chickens; take half a pint of rich milk, add to it a small bit of butter, with pepper, salt, and chopped parsley; stew it a little, and pour it over the chickens, and then garnish with the fried parsley.
TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.
PLUCK, but do not draw them, put them on a small spit, dredge and baste them well with lard, toast a few slices of bread, put them on a clean plate, and set it under the birds while they are roasting; if the fire be good, they will take about ten minutes; when you take them from the spit, lay them upon the toasts on the dish, pour melted butter round them, and serve them up.
TO ROAST WILD DUCKS OR TEAL.
WHEN the ducks are ready dressed, put in them a small onion, pepper, salt, and a spoonful of red wine; if the fire be good, they will roast in twenty minutes; make gravy of the necks and gizzards, a spoonful of red wine, half an anchovy, a blade or two of mace, one onion, and a little cayenne pepper; boil it till it is wasted to half a pint, strain it through a hair sieve, and pour it on the ducks--serve them up with onion sauce in a boat; garnish the dish with raspings of bread.
TO BOIL PIGEONS.
SCALD the pigeons, draw them, take the craw out, wash them in several waters, cut off the pinions, turn the legs under the wings, dredge them, and put them in soft cold water; boil them slowly a quarter of an hour, dish them up, pour over them good melted butter,
lay round a little brocoli in bunches, and send butter and parsley in a boat.
TO ROAST PIGEONS.
WHEN you have dressed your pigeons as before, roll a good lump of butter in chopped parsley, with pepper and salt, put it in your pigeons, spit, dust and baste them; if the fire be good, they will roast in twenty minutes; when they are through, lay round them bunches of asparagus, with parsley and butter for sauce.
TO ROAST PARTRIDGES OR ANY SMALL BIRDS.
LARD them with slips of bacon, put them on a skewer, tie it to the spit at both ends, dredge and baste them, let them roast ten minutes, take the grated crumb of half a loaf of bread, with a piece of butter, the size of a walnut, put it in a stew pan, and shake it over a gentle fire till it is of a light brown, lay it between your birds, and pour over them a little melted butter.
TO STEW WILD DUCKS.
HAVING prepared the fowls, rub the insides with salt, pepper, and a little powdered cloves; put a shallot or two with a lump of butter in the body of each, then lay them in a pan that will just hold them, putting butter under and over them, with vinegar and water, and add pepper, salt, lemon peel, and a bunch of sweet herbs; then cover the pan close, and let them stew till done--pass the liquor through a sieve, pour it over the ducks, and serve them up hot, with a garnish of lemon sliced, and raspings of bread fried. The same way may teal, &c. be dressed.
TO DRESS DUCKS WITH JUICE OF ORANGES.
THE ducks being singed, picked, and drawn, mince the livers with a little scraped bacon, some butter, green onions, sweet herbs and parsley, seasoned with salt, pepper, and mushrooms; these being all minced together, put them into the bodies of the ducks, and roast them, covered with slices of bacon, and wrapped up in paper; then put a little gravy, the juice of an orange, a few shallots minced, into a stew pan, and shake in a little pepper; when the ducks are roasted, take off the bacon, dish them, and pour your sauce with the juice of oranges over them, and serve them up hot.
TO DRESS DUCKS WITH ONIONS.
STUFF the ducks as before, cut the roots off small onions, blanch them in scalding water, then pick and put them into a stew pan with a little gravy, set them over a gentle fire, and let them simmer; when they are done, thicken them with cream and flour, and when the ducks are roasted, dish them, pour the ragout of onions over, and serve them up hot.
