E. A. Wallis Budge - "Legends Of The Gods"

Georg Buchner - "Dantons Tod"

Amanda Minnie Douglas - "A Little Girl in Old Detroit"

Various - "The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 97, November, 1865"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

E >> Eliza Leslie >> Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches





OYSTER FRITTERS.

Have ready some of the finest and largest oysters; drain them from
the liquor and wipe them dry.

Beat six eggs very light, and stir into them gradually six table-spoonfuls
of line sifted flour. Add by degrees a pint and a half
of rich milk and some grated nutmeg, and beat it to a smooth
batter.

Make your frying-pan very hot, and put into it a piece of butter
or lard. When it has melted and begins to froth, put in a small
ladle-full of the batter, drop an oyster in the middle of it, and
fry it of a light brown. Send them to table hot.

If you find your batter too thin, so that it spreads too much in
the frying-pan, add a little more flour beaten well into it. If it
is too thick, thin it with some additional milk.


OYSTER PIE.

Make a puff-paste, in the proportion of a pound and a half of
fresh butter to two pounds of sifted flour. Roll it out rather
thick, into two sheets. Butter a deep dish, and line the bottom
and sides of it with paste. Fill it up with crusts of bread for
the purpose of supporting the lid while it is baking, as the
oysters will be too much done if they are cooked in the pie. Cover
it with the other sheet of paste, having first buttered the flat
rim of the dish. Notch the edges of the pie handsomely, or
ornament them with leaves of paste which you may form with tin
cutters made for the purpose. Make a little slit in the middle of
the lid, and stick firmly into it a paste tulip or other flower.
Put the dish into a moderate oven, and while the paste is baking
prepare the oysters, which should he large and fresh. Put them
into a stew-pan with half their liquor thickened with yolk of egg
boiled hard and grated, enriched with pieces of butter rolled in
bread crumbs, and seasoned with mace and nutmeg. Stew the oysters
five minutes. When the paste is baked, carefully take off the lid,
remove the pieces of bread, and put in the oysters and gravy.
Replace the lid, and send the pie to table warm.


TO BOIL A LOBSTER.

Put a handful of salt into a large kettle or pot of boiling water.
When the water boils very hard put in the lobster, having first
brushed it, and tied the claws together with a bit of twine. Keep
it boiling from half an hour to an hour in proportion to its size.
If boiled too long the meat will be hard and stringy. When it is
done, take it out, lay it on its claws to drain, and then wipe it
dry. Send it to table cold, with the body and tail split open, and
the claws taken off. Lay the large claws next to the body, and the
small ones outside. Garnish with double parsley.

It is scarcely necessary to mention that the head of a lobster,
and what are called the lady-fingers are not to be eaten.


TO DRESS LOBSTER COLD.

Put a table-spoonful of cold water on a clean plate and with the
back of a wooden spoon mash into it the coral or scarlet meat of
the lobster, adding a salt-spoonful of salt, and about the same
quantity of cayenne. On another part of the plate mix well
together with the back of the spoon two table-spoonfuls of sweet
oil, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard. Then mix the whole till
they are well incorporated and perfectly smooth, adding, at the
last, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar.

This quantity of seasoning is for a small lobster. For a large
one, more of course will be required. Many persons add a tea-spoonful
of powdered white sugar, thinking that it gives a
mellowness to the whole.

The meat of the body and claws of the lobster must be carefully
extracted from the shell and minced very small When the dressing
is smoothly and thoroughly amalgamated mix the meat with it, and
let it be handed round to the company.

The vinegar from a jar of Indian pickle is by some preferred for
lobster dressing.

You may dress the lobster immediately _before_ you send it to
table. When the dressing and meat are mixed together, pile it in a
deep dish, and smooth it with the back of a spoon. Stick a bunch
of the small claws in the top, and garnish with curled parsley.

Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and
tough.


STEWED LOBSTER.

Having boiled the lobster, extract the meat from the shell, and
cut it into very small pieces. Season it with a powdered nutmeg, a
few blades of mace, and cayenne and salt to your taste. Mix with
it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter cut small, and two glasses
of white wine or of vinegar. Put it into a stew-pan, and set it on
hot coals. Stew it about twenty minutes, keeping the pan closely
covered lest the flavour should evaporate. Serve it up hot.

If you choose, you can send it to table in the shell, which must
first be nicely cleaned. Strew the meat over with sifted bread-crumbs,
and brown the top with a salamander, or a red hot shovel
held over it.


FRICASSEED LOBSTER.

Put the lobster into boiling salt and water, and let it boil
according to its size from a quarter of an hour to half an hour.
The intention is to have it parboiled only, as it is afterwards to
be fricasseed. Extract the meat from the shell, and cut it into
small pieces. Season it with white pepper, salt, and nutmeg; and
put it into a stew-pan with as much cream as will cover it. Keep
the lid close; set the pan on hot coals, and stew it slowly for
about as long a time as it was previously boiled. Just before you
take it from the fire, stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. Send it
to table in a small dish placed on a larger one, and arrange the
small claws nicely round it on the large dish.


POTTED LOBSTER.

Parboil the lobster in boiling water well salted. Then pick out
all the meat from the body and claws, and beat it in a mortar with
nutmeg, mace, cayenne, and salt, to your taste. Beat the coral
separately. Then put the pounded meat into a large potting can of
block tin with a cover. Press it down hard, having arranged it in
alternate layers of white meat and coral to give it a marbled or
variegated appearance. Cover it with fresh butter, and put it into
a slow oven for half an hour. When cold, take off the butter and
clarify it, by putting it into a jar, which, must be set in a pan
of boiling water. Watch it well, and when it melts, carefully skim
off the buttermilk which will rise to the top. When no more scum
rises, take it off and let it stand for a few minutes to settle,
and then strain it through a sieve.

Put the lobster into small potting-cans, pressing it down very
hard. Pour the clarified butter over it, and secure the covers
tightly.

Potted lobster is used to lay between thin slices of bread as
sandwiches. The clarified butter that accompanies it is excellent
for fish sauce.

Prawns and crabs may be potted in a similar manner.


LOBSTER PIE.

Put two middle-sized lobsters into boiling salt and water. When
they are half boiled, take the meat from the shell, cut it into
very small pieces, and put it into a pie dish. Break up the
shells, and stew them in a very little water with half a dozen
blades of mace and a wine-glass of vinegar. Then strain off the
liquid. Beat the coral in a mortar, and thicken the liquid with
it. Pour this into the dish of lobster to make the gravy. Season
it with cayenne, salt, and mushroom catchup, and add bits of
butter. Cover it with a lid of paste, made in the proportion of
half a pound of butter to a pound of flour, notched handsomely,
and ornamented with paste leaves. Do not send it to table till it
has cooled.


TO BOIL PRAWNS.

Throw a handful of salt into a pot of boiling water. When it boils
very hard, put in the prawns. Let them boil a quarter of an hour,
and when you take them out lay them on a sieve to drain, and then
wipe them on a dry cloth, and put them aside till quite cold.

Lay a handful of curled parsley in the middle of a dish. Put one
prawn on the top of it, and lay the others, all round, as close as
you can, with the tails outside. Garnish with parsley.

Eat them with salt, cayenne, sweet oil, mustard and vinegar, mixed
together as for lobsters.


CRABS

Crabs are boiled in the same manner, and in serving up may be
arranged like prawns.


HOT CRABS.

Having boiled the crabs, extract all the meat from the shell, cut
it fine, and season it to your taste with nutmeg, salt, and
cayenne pepper. Add a bit of butter, some grated bread crumbs, and
sufficient vinegar to moisten it. Fill the back-shells of the crab
with the mixture; set it before the fire, and brown it by holding
a red-hot shovel or a salamander a little above it.

Cover a large dish, with small slices of dry toast with the crust
cut off. Lay on each slice a shell filled with the crab. The shell
of one crab will contain the meat of two.


COLD CRABS.

Having taken all the meat out of the shells, make a dressing with
sweet oil, salt, cayenne pepper, mustard and vinegar, as for
lobster. You may add to it some hard-boiled yolk of egg, mashed in
the oil. Put the mixture into the back shells of the crabs, and
serve it up. Garnish with the small claws laid nicely round.


SOFT CRABS.

These crabs must be cooked directly, as they will not keep till
next day.

Remove the spongy substance from each side of the crab, and also
the little sand-bag. Put some lard into a pan, and when it is
boiling hot, fry the crabs in it. After you take them out, throw
in a handful of parsley, and let it crisp; but withdraw it before
it loses its colour. Strew it over the crabs when you dish them.

Make the gravy by adding cream or rich milk to the lard, with some
chopped parsley, pepper and salt. Let them all boil together for a
few minutes, and then serve it up in a sauce-boat.


TERRAPINS.

Have ready a pot of boiling water. When it is boiling very hard
put in the terrapins, and let them remain in it till quite dead.
Then take them out, pull off the outer skin and the toe-nails,
wash the terrapins in warm water and boil them again, allowing a
tea-spoonful of salt to each terrapin. When the flesh becomes
quite tender so that you can pinch it off, take them out of the
shell, remove the sand-bag, and the gall, which you must be
careful not to break, as it will make the terrapin so bitter as to
be uneatable. Cut up all the other parts of the inside with the
meat, and season it to your taste with black and cayenne pepper,
and salt. Put all into a stew-pan with the juice or liquor that it
has given out in cutting up, but not any water. To every two
terrapins allow a quarter of a pound of butter divided into pieces
and rolled in flour, two glasses of Madeira, and the yolks of two
eggs. The eggs must be beaten, and not stirred in till a moment
before it goes to table. Keep it closely covered. Stew it gently
till every thing is tender, and serve it up hot in a deep dish.

Terrapins, after being boiled by the cook, may be brought to table
plain, with all the condiments separate, that the company may
dress them according to taste.

For this purpose heaters or chafing-dishes must be provided for
each plate.


PICKLED LOBSTER.

Take half a dozen fine lobsters. Put them into boiling salt and
water, and when they are all done, take them out and extract all
the meat from the shells, leaving that of the claws as whole as
possible, and cutting the flesh of the body into large pieces
nearly of the same size. Season a sufficient quantity of vinegar
very highly with whole pepper-corns, whole cloves, and whole
blades of mace. Put the pieces of lobster into a stew-pan, and
pour on just sufficient vinegar to keep them well covered. Set it
over a moderate fire; and when it has boiled hard about five
minutes, take out the lobster, and let the pickle boil by itself
for a quarter of an hour. When the pickle and lobster are both
cold, put them together into a broad flat stone jar. Cover it
closely, and set it away in a cool place.

Eat the pickled lobster with oil, mustard, and vinegar, and have
bread and butter with it.




DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING MEAT.


BEEF.

GENERAL REMARKS.

When beef is good, it will have a fine smooth open grain, and it
will feel tender when squeezed or pinched in your fingers. The
lean should be of a bright carnation red, and the fat white rather
than yellow--the suet should be perfectly white. If the lean looks
dark or purplish, and the fat very yellow, do not buy the meat.

See that the butcher has properly jointed the meat before it goes
home. For good tables, the pieces generally roasted are the
sirloin and the fore and middle ribs. In genteel houses other
parts are seldom served up as _roast-beef_. In small families
the ribs are the most convenient pieces. A whole sirloin is too
large, except for a numerous company, but it is the piece most
esteemed.

The best beef-steaks are those cut from the ribs, or from the
inner part of the sirloin. All other pieces are, for this purpose,
comparatively hard and tough.

The round is generally corned or salted, and boiled. It is also
used for the dish called beef a-la-mode.

The legs make excellent soup; the head and tail are also used for
that purpose.

The tongue when fresh is never cooked except for mince-pies.
Corned or salted it is seldom liked, as in that state it has a
faint sickly taste that few persons can relish. But when pickled
and afterwards smoked (the only good way of preparing a tongue) it
is highly and deservedly esteemed.

The other pieces of the animal are generally salted and boiled. Or
when fresh they may be used for soup or stews, if not too fat.

If the state of the weather will allow you to keep fresh beef two
or three days, rub it with salt, and wrap it in a cloth.

In summer do not attempt to keep it more than twenty-four hours;
and not then unless you can conveniently lay it in ice, or in a
spring-house.

In winter if the beef is brought from market frozen, do not cook
it that day unless you dine very late, as it will be impossible to
get it sufficiently done--meat that has been frozen requiring
double the usual time. To thaw it, lay it in cold water, which is
the only way to extract the frost without injuring the meat. It
should remain in the water three hours, or more.


TO ROAST BEEF.

The fire should be prepared at least half an hour before the beef
is put down, and it should be large, steady, clear, and bright,
with plenty of fine hot coals at the bottom.

The best apparatus for the purpose is the well-known roaster
frequently called a tin-kitchen.

Wash the meat in cold water, and then wipe it dry, and rub it with
salt. Take care not to run the spit through the best parts of it.
It is customary with some cooks to tie blank paper over the fat,
to prevent it from melting and wasting too fast.

Put it evenly into the roaster, and do not set it too near the
fire, lest the outside of the meat should be burned before the
inside is heated.

Put some nice beef-dripping or some lard into the pan or bottom of
the roaster, and as soon as it melts begin to baste the beef with
it; taking up the liquid with a long spoon, and pouring it over
the meat so as to let it trickle down again, into the pan. Repeat
this frequently while it is roasting; after a while you can baste
it with its own fat. Turn the spit often, so that the meat may be
equally done on all sides.

Once or twice draw back the roaster, and improve the fire by
clearing away the ashes, bringing forward the hot coals, and
putting on fresh fuel at the back. Should a coal fall into the
dripping-pan take it out immediately. An allowance of about twenty
minutes to each pound of meat is the time commonly given for
roasting; but this rule, like most others, admits of exceptions
according to circumstances. Also, some persons like their meat
very much done; others prefer it rare, as it is called. In summer,
meat will roast in a shorter time than in winter.

When the beef is nearly done, and the steam draws towards the
fire, remove the paper that has covered the fat part, sprinkle on
a little salt, and having basted the meat well with the dripping,
pour off nicely (through the spout of the roaster) all the liquid
fat from the top of the gravy.

Lastly, dredge the meat very lightly with a little flour, and
baste it with fresh butter. This will give it a delicate froth. To
the gravy that is now running from the meat add nothing but a tea-cup
of boiling water. Skim it, and send it to table in a boat.
Serve up with the beef in a small deep plate, scraped horseradish
moistened with vinegar.

Fat meat requires more roasting than lean, and meat that has been
frozen will take nearly double the usual time.

Basting the meat continually with flour and water is a bad
practice, as it gives it a coddled parboiled appearance, and
diminishes the flavour.

These directions for roasting beef will apply equally to mutton.

Pickles are generally eaten with roast beef. French mustard is an
excellent condiment for it. In carving begin by cutting a slice
from the side.


TO SAVE BEEF-DRIPPING.

Pour off through the spout of the roaster or tin-kitchen, all the
fat from the top of the gravy, after you have done basting the
meat with it. Hold a little sieve under the spout, and strain the
dripping through it into a pan. Set it away in a cool place; and
next day when it is cold and congealed, turn the cake of fat, and
scrape with a knife the sediment from the bottom. Pat the dripping
into a jar; cover it tightly, and set it away in the refrigerator,
or in the coldest place you have. It will be found useful for
frying, and for many other purposes.

Mutton-dripping cannot be used for any sort of cooking, as it
communicates to every thing the taste of tallow.


BAKED BEEF.

This is a plain family dish, and is never provided for company.

Take a nice but not a fat piece of fresh beef. Wash it, rub it
with salt, and place it on a trivet in a deep block tin or iron
pan. Pour a little water into the bottom, and put under and round
the trivet a sufficiency of pared potatoes, either white or sweet
ones. Put it into a hot oven, and let it bake till thoroughly
done, basting it frequently with its own gravy. Then transfer it
to a hot dish, and serve up the potatoes in another. Skim the
gravy, and send it to table in a boat.

Or you may boil the potatoes, mash them with milk, and put them
into the bottom of the pan about half an hour before the meat is
done baking. Press down the mashed potatoes hard with the back of
a spoon, score them in cross lines over the top, and let them,
brown under the meat, serving them up laid round it.

Instead of potatoes, you may put in the bottom of the pan what is
called a Yorkshire pudding, to be baked under the meat.

To make this pudding,--stir gradually four table-spoonfuls of
flour into a pint of milk, adding a salt-spoon of salt. Beat three
eggs very light, and mix them gradually with the milk and flour.
See that the batter is not lumpy. Do not put the pudding under the
meat at first, as if baked too long it will be hard and solid.
After the meat has baked till the pan is quite hot and well
greased with the drippings, you may put in the batter; having
continued stirring it till the last moment.

If the pudding is so spread over the pan as to be but an inch
thick, it will require about two hours baking, and need not be
turned. If it is thicker than an inch, you must (after it is brown
on the top) loosen it in the pan, by inserting a knife beneath it,
and having cut it across into four pieces, turn them all nicely
that the other side may be equally done. But this pudding is
lighter and better if laid so thin as not to require turning.

When you serve up the beef lay the pieces of pudding round it, to
be eaten with the meat.

Veal may be baked in this manner with potatoes or a pudding. Also
fresh pork.


TO BOIL CORNED OR SALTED BEEF.

The best piece is the round. You may either boil it whole, or
divide it into two, or even three pieces if it is large, taking
care that each piece shall have a portion of the fat. Wash it
well; and, if very salt, soak it in two waters. Skewer it up
tightly and in a good compact shape, wrapping the flap piece
firmly round it. Tie it round with broad strong tape, or with a
strip of coarse linen. Put it into a large pot, and cover it well
with water. It will be found a convenience to lay it on a fish
drainer.

Hang it over a moderate fire that it may heat gradually all
through. Carefully take off the scum as it rises, and when no more
appears, keep the pot closely covered, and let it boil slowly and
regularly, with the fire at an equal temperature. Allow three
hours and a half to a piece weighing about twelve pounds, and from
that to four or five hours in proportion to the size. Turn the
meat twice in the pot while it is boiling. Put in some carrots and
turnips about two hours after the meat. Many persons boil cabbage
in the same pot with the beef, but it is a much nicer way to do
the greens in a separate vessel, lest they become saturated with
the liquid fat. Cauliflower or brocoli (which are frequent
accompaniments to corned beef) should never be boiled with it.

Wash the cabbage in cold water, removing the outside leaves, and
cutting the stalk close. Examine all the leaves carefully, lest
insects should be lodged among them. If the cabbage is large,
divide it into quarters. Put it into a pot of boiling water with a
handful of salt, and boil it till the stalk is quite tender. Half
an hour will generally be sufficient for a small young cabbage; an
hour for a large full-grown one. Drain it well before you dish it.
If boiled separately from the meat, have ready some melted butter
to eat with it.

Should you find the beef under-done, you may reboil it next day;
putting it into boiling-water and letting it simmer for half an
hour or more, according to its size.

Cold corned beef will keep very well for some days wrapped in
several folds of a thick linen cloth, and set away in a cool dry
place.

In carving a round of beef, slice it horizontally and very thin.
Do not help any one to the outside pieces, as they are generally
too hard and salt. French mustard is very nice with corned beef.
[Footnote: French mustard is made of the very best mustard powder,
diluted with vinegar, and flavoured with minced tarragon leaves,
and a minced clove of garlic; all mixed with a wooden spoon.]

This receipt will apply equally to any piece of corned beef,
except that being less solid than the round, they will, in
proportion to their weight, require rather less time to boil.

In dishing the meat, remove the wooden skewers and substitute
plated or silver ones.

Many persons think it best (and they are most probably right) to
stew corned beef rather than to boil it. If you intend to stew it,
put no more water in the pot than will barely cover the meat, and
keep it gently simmering over a slow fire for four, five, or six
hours, according to the size of the piece.


TO BROIL BEEF-STEAKS.

The best beef-steaks are those cut from the ribs or from the
inside of the sirloin. All other parts are for this purpose
comparatively hard and tough.

They should be cut about three quarters of an inch thick, and,
unless the beef is remarkably fine and tender, the steaks will be
much improved by beating them on both sides with a steak mallet,
or with a rolling-pin. Do not season them till you take them from
the fire.

Have ready on your hearth a fine bed of clear bright coals,
entirely free from smoke and ashes. Set the gridiron over the
coals in a slanting direction, that the meat may not be smoked by
the fat dropping into the fire directly under it. When the
gridiron is quite hot, rub the bars with suet, sprinkle a little
salt over the coals, and lay on the steaks. Turn them frequently
with a pair of steak-tongs, or with a knife and fork. A quarter of
an hour is generally sufficient time to broil & beef-steak. For
those who like them under-done or rare, ten or twelve minutes will
be enough.

When the fat blazes and smokes very much as it drips into the
fire, quickly remove the gridiron for a moment, till the blaze has
subsided. After they are browned, cover the upper side of the
steaks with an inverted plate or dish to prevent the flavour from
evaporating. Rub a dish with a shalot, or small onion, and place
it near the gridiron and close to the fire, that it may be well
heated. In turning the steak drop the gravy that may be standing
on it into this dish, to save it from being lost. When the steaks
are done, sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper, and lay
them in a hot dish, putting on each a piece of fresh butter. Then,
if it is liked, season them with, a very little raw shalot, minced
as finely as possible, and moistened with a spoonful of water; and
stir a tea-spoonful of catchup into the gravy. Send the steaks to
table very hot, in a covered dish. You may serve up with them
onion sauce in a small tureen.

Pickles are frequently eaten with beef-steaks.

Mutton chops may be broiled in the same manner.


TO FRY BEEF-STEAKS.

Beef-steaks for frying should be cut thinner than for broiling.
Take them from the ribs or sirloin, and remove the bone. Beat them
to make them tender. Season them with salt and pepper.

Put some fresh butter, or nice beef-dripping into a frying pan,
and hold it over a clear bright fire till it boils and has done
hissing. Then put in the steaks, and (if you like them) some
sliced onions. Fry them about a quarter of an hour, turning them
frequently. Steaks, when fried, should be thoroughly done. After
they are browned, cover them with a large plate to keep in the
juices,

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