Edward Elmer Smith - "Triplanetary"

Leslie Stephen - "Hours in a Library, Volume I. (of III.)"

Benvenuto Cellini - "The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini"

Booth Tarkington - "In the Arena"

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




Serve them up hot, with mushroom sauce in a boat, or with a brown
gravy, flavoured with red wine. You may make the gravy of the
bones and trimmings, stewed in a little water, skimmed well, and
strained when sufficiently stewed. Thicken it with flour browned
in a Dutch oven, and add a glass of red wine.

You may bake these cutlets in a Dutch oven without the papers.
Moisten them frequently with a little oiled butter.


STEWED MUTTON CHOPS.

Cut a loin or neck of mutton into chops, and trim away the fat and
bones. Beat and flatten them. Season them with pepper and salt,
and put them into a stew-pan, with barely sufficient water to
cover them, and some sliced carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes,
and a bunch of sweet herbs, or a few tomatas. Let the whole stew
slowly about three hours, or till every thing is tender. Keep the
pan closely covered, except when you are skimming it.

Send it to table with sippets or three-cornered pieces of toasted
bread, lain all round the dish.


HASHED MUTTON.

Cut into small pieces the lean of some cold mutton that has been
under-done, and season it with pepper and salt. Take the bones and
other trimmings, put them into a sauce-pan with as much water as
will cover them, and some sliced onions, and let them stew till
you have drawn from them a good gravy. Having skimmed it well,
strain the gravy into a stew-pan, and put the mutton into it. Have
ready-boiled some carrots, turnips, potatoes and onions. Slice
them, and add them to the meat and gravy. Set the pan on hot
coals, and let it simmer till the meat is warmed through, but do
not allow it to boil, as it has been once cooked already. Cover
the bottom of a dish with slices of buttered toast. Lay the meat
and vegetables upon it, and pour over them the gravy.

Tomatas will be found an improvement.

If green peas, or Lima beans are in season, you may boil them, and
put them to the hashed mutton; leaving out the other vegetables,
or serving them up separately.


A CASSEROLE OF MUTTON.

Butter a deep dish or mould, and line it with potatoes mashed with
milk or putter, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Fill it with
slices of the lean of cold mutton, or lamb, seasoned also. Cover
the whole with more mashed potatoes. Put it into an oven, and bake
it till the meat is thoroughly warmed, and the potatoes brown.
Then carefully turn it out on a large dish; or you may, if more
convenient, send it to table in the dish it was baked in.


MUTTON HARICO.

Take a neck of mutton, cut it into chops, and fry them brown. Then
put them into a stew-pan with a bunch of sweet herbs, two or three
cloves, a little mace, and pepper and salt to your taste. Cover
them with boiling water, and let them stew slowly for about an
hour. Then cut some carrots and turnips into dice; slice some
onions, and cut up a head of celery; put them all into the stew-pan,
and keep it closely covered except when you are skimming off
the fat. Let the whole stew gently for an hour longer, and then
send it to table in a deep dish, with the gravy about it.

You may make a similar harico of veal steaks, or of beef cut very
thin.


STEWED LEG OF MUTTON.

Take a leg of mutton and trim it nicely. Put it into a pot with
three pints of water; or with two pints of water and one quart of
gravy drawn from bones, trimmings, and coarse pieces of meat. Add
some slices of carrots, and a little salt. Stew it slowly three
hours. Then put in small onions, small turnips, tomatas or tomata
catchup, and shred or powdered sweet marjoram to your taste, and
let it stew three hours longer. A large leg will require from
first to last from six hours and a half to seven hours stewing.
But though it must be tender and well done all through, do not
allow it to stew to rags. Serve it up with the vegetables and
gravy round it. Have mashed potatoes in another dish.


TO ROAST LAMB.

The best way of cooking lamb is to roast it; when drest otherwise
it is insipid, and not so good as mutton. A hind-quarter of eight
pounds will be done in about two hours; a fore-quarter of ten
pounds, in two hours and a half; a leg of five pounds will take
from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half; a loin about an
hour and a half. Lamb, like veal and pork, is not eatable unless
thoroughly done; no one preferring it rare, as is frequently the
case with beef and mutton.

Wash the meat, wipe it dry, spit it, and cover the fat with paper.
Place it before a clear brisk fire. Baste it at first with a
little salt and water, and then with its own drippings. Remove the
paper when the meat is nearly done, and dredge the lamb with a
little flour. Afterwards baste it with butter. Do not take it off
the spit till you see it drop white gravy.

Prepare some mint sauce by stripping from the stalks the leaves of
young green mint, mincing them very fine, and mixing them with
vinegar and sugar. There must be just sufficient vinegar to
moisten the mint, but not enough to make the sauce liquid. Send it
to table in a boat, and the gravy in another boat. Garnish with
sliced lemon.

In carving a quarter of lamb, separate the shoulder from the
breast, or the leg from the ribs, sprinkle a little salt and
pepper, and squeeze on some lemon juice.

It should be accompanied by asparagus, green peas, and lettuce.




PORK, HAM, &c.


GENERAL REMARKS.

In cutting up pork, you have the spare-rib, shoulder, griskin or
chine, the loin, middlings and leg; the head, feet, heart and
liver. On the spare-rib and chine there is but little meat, and
the pieces called middlings consist almost entirely of fat. The
best parts are the loin, and the leg or hind-quarter. Hogs make
the best pork when from two and a half to four years old. They
should be kept up and fed with corn at least six weeks before they
are killed, or their flesh will acquire a disagreeable taste from
the trash and offal which they eat when running at large. The
Portuguese pork, which is fed on chestnuts, is perhaps the finest
in the world.

If the meat is young, the lean will break on being pinched, and
the skin will dent by nipping it with the fingers; the fat will be
white, soft, and pulpy. If the skin or rind is rough, and cannot
he nipped, it is old.

Hams that have short shank-bones, are generally preferred. If you
put a knife under the bone of a ham, and it comes out clean, the
meat is good; but quite the contrary if the knife appears smeared
and slimy. In good bacon the fat is white, and the lean sticks
close to the bone; if it is streaked with yellow, the meat is
rusty, and unfit to eat.

Pork in every form should be thoroughly cooked. If the least
under-done, it is disgusting and unwholesome.


TO ROAST A PIG.

Begin your preparations by making the stuffing. Take a sufficient
quantity of grated stale bread, and mix it with sage and sweet
marjoram rubbed fine or powdered; also some grated lemon-peel.
Season it with pepper, salt, powdered nutmeg and mace; mix in
butter enough to moisten it, and some beaten yolk of egg to bind
it. Let the whole be very well incorporated.

The pig should be newly killed, (that morning if possible,) nicely
cleaned, fat, and not too large. Wash it well in cold water, and
cut off the feet close to the joints, leaving some skin all round
to fold over the ends. Take out the liver and heart, and reserve
them, with the feet, to make the gravy. Truss back the legs. Fill
the body with the stuffing (it must be quite full) and then sew it
up, or tie it round with a buttered twine. Put the pig on the
spit, and place it before a clear brisk fire, but not too near
lest it scorch. The fire should be largest at the ends, that the
middle of the pig may not be done before the extremities. If you
find the heat too great in the centre, you may diminish it by
placing a flat-iron before the fire. When you first put it down,
wash the pig all over with salt and water; afterwards rub it
frequently with a feather dipped in sweet oil, or with fresh
butter tied in a rag. If you baste it with any thing else, or with
its own dripping, the skin will not be crisp. Take care not to
blister or burn the outside by keeping it too near the fire. A
good sized pig will require at least three hours' roasting.

Unless a pig is very small it is seldom sent to table whole. Take
the spit from the fire, and place it across a large dish: then,
having cut off the head with a sharp knife, and cut down the back,
slip the spit out. Lay the two halves of the body close together
in the dish, and place half the head on each side. Garnish with
sliced lemon.

For the gravy,--take, that from the dripping-pan and skim it well.
Having boiled the heart, liver, and feet, with some minced sage in
a very little water, cut the meat from the feet, and chop it. Chop
also the liver and heart. Put all into a small sauce-pan, adding a
little of the water that they were boiled in, and some bits of
butter rolled in flour. Flavour it with a glass of Madeira, and
some grated nutmeg. Give it a boil up, and send it to table in a
gravy-boat.

You may serve up with the pig, apple-sauce, cranberry sauce, or
bread-sauce in a small tureen; or currant jelly.

If you bake the pig instead of roasting it, rub it from time to
time with fresh butter tied in a rag.


TO ROAST A LEG OF PORK.

Take a sharp knife and score the skin across in narrow stripes
(you may cross it again so as to form diamonds) and rub in some
powdered sage. Raise the skin at the knuckle, and put in a
stuffing of minced onion and sage, bread-crumbs, pepper, salt, and
beaten yolk of egg. Fasten it down with a buttered string, or with
skewers. You may make deep incisions in the meat of the large end
of the leg, and stuff them also; pressing in the filling very
hard. Rub a little sweet oil all over the skin with a brush or a
goose feather, to make it crisp and of a handsome brown. Do not
place the spit too near the fire, lest the skin should burn and
blister. A leg of pork will require from three to four hours to
roast. Moisten it all the time by brushing it with sweet oil, or
with fresh butter tied in a rag. To baste it with its own dripping
will make the skin tough and hard. Skim the fat carefully from the
gravy, which should be thickened with a little flour.

A roast leg of pork should always be accompanied by apple-sauce,
and by mashed potato and mashed turnips.


TO ROAST A LOIN OF PORK.

Score the skin in narrow strips, and rub it all over with a
mixture of powdered sage leaves, pepper and salt. Have ready a
force-meat or stuffing of minced onions and sage, mixed with a
little grated bread and beaten yolk of egg, and seasoned with
pepper and salt. Make deep incisions between the ribs and fill
them with this stuffing. Put it on the spit before a clear fire
and moisten it with butter or sweet oil, rubbed lightly over it.
It will require three hours to roast.

Having skimmed the gravy well, thicken it with a little flour, and
serve it up in a boat. Have ready some apple-sauce to eat with the
pork. Also mashed turnips and mashed potatoes.

You may roast in the same manner, a shoulder, spare-rib, or chine
of pork; seasoning it with sage and onion.


TO ROAST A MIDDLING OR SPRING PIECE OF PORK.

Make a force-meat of grated bread, and minced onion and sage,
pepper, salt, and beaten yolk of egg; mix it well, and spread it
all over the inside of the pork. Then roll up the meat, and with a
sharp knife score it round in circles, rubbing powdered sage into
the cuts. Tie a buttered twine round the roll of meat so as to
keep it together in every direction. Put a hook through one end,
and roast the pork before a clear brisk fire, moistening the skin
occasionally with butter. Or you may bake it in a Dutch oven. It
is a good side dish. Thicken the gravy with a little flour, and
flavour it with a glass of wine. Have currant jelly to eat with
it.

It should be delicate young pork.


TO STEW PORK.

Take a nice piece of the fillet or leg of fresh pork; rub it with
a little salt, and score the skin. Put it into a pot with
sufficient water to cover it, and stew it gently for two hours or
more, in proportion to its size. Then put into the same pot a
dozen or more sweet potatoes, scraped, split, and cut in pieces.
Let the whole stew gently together for an hour and a half, or till
all is thoroughly done, skimming it frequently. Serve up all
together in a large dish.

This stew will be found very good. For sweet potatoes you may
substitute white ones mixed with sliced turnips, or parsnips
scraped or split.


TO BOIL CORNED PORK.

Take a nice piece of fresh pork, (the leg is the best,) rub it
with salt, and let it lie in the salt two days. Boil it slowly in
plenty of water, skimming it well. When the meat is about half
done, you may put into the same pot a fine cabbage, washed clean
and quartered. The pork and the cabbage should be thoroughly done,
and tender throughout. Send them to table in separate dishes,
having drained and squeezed all the water out of the cabbage. Take
off the skin of the pork, and touch the outside at intervals with
spots of cayenne pepper. Eat mustard with it.

Pork is never boiled unless corned or salted.


PICKLED PORK AND PEASE PUDDING.

Soak the pork all night in cold water, and wash and scrape it
clean. Put it on early in the day, as it will take a long time to
boil, and must boil slowly. Skim it frequently. Boil in a separate
pot greens or cabbage to eat with it; also parsnips and potatoes.

Pease pudding is a frequent accompaniment to pickled pork, and is
very generally liked. To make a small pudding, you must have ready
a quart of dried split pease, which have been soaked all night in
cold water. Tie them in a cloth, (leaving room for them to swell,)
and boil them slowly till they are tender. Drain them, and rub
them through a cullender or a sieve into a deep dish; season them
with pepper and salt, and mix with them an ounce of butter, and
two beaten eggs. Beat all well together till thoroughly mixed. Dip
a clean cloth in hot water, sprinkle it with flour, and put the
pudding into it. Tie it up very tightly, leaving a small space
between the mixture and the tying, (as the pudding will still
swell a little,) and boil it an hour longer. Send it to table and
eat it with the pork.

You may make a pease pudding in a plain and less delicate way, by
simply seasoning the pease with pepper and salt, (having first
soaked them well,) tying them in a cloth, and putting them to boil
in the same pot with the pork, taking care to make the string very
tight, so that the water may not get in. When all is done, and you
turn out the pudding, cut it into thick slices and lay it round
the pork.

Pickled pork is frequently accompanied by dried beans and hominy.


PORK AND BEANS.

Allow two pounds of pickled pork to two quarts of dried beans. If
the meat is very salt put it in soak over night. Put the beans
into a pot with cold water, and let them hang all night over the
embers of the fire, or set them in the chimney corner, that they
may warm as well as soak. Early in the morning rinse them through
a cullender. Score the rind of the pork, (which should not be a
very fat piece,) and put the meat into a clean pot with the beans,
which must be seasoned with pepper. Let them boil slowly together
for about two hours, and carefully remove all the scum and fat
that rises to the top. Then take them out; lay the pork in a tin
pan, and cover the meat with the beans, adding a very little
water. Put it into an oven, and bake it four hours.

This is a homely dish, but is by many persons much liked. It is
customary to bring it to table in the pan in which it is baked.


PORK STEAKS.

Pork steaks or chops should be taken from the neck, or the loin.
Cut them about half an inch thick, remove the skin, trim them
neatly, and beat them. Season them with pepper, salt, and powdered
sage-leaves or sweet marjoram, and broil them over a clear fire
till quite done all through, turning them once. They require much
longer broiling than beef-steaks of mutton chops. When you think
they are nearly done, take up one on a plate and try it. If it is
the least red inside, return it to the gridiron. Have ready a
gravy made of the trimmings, or any coarse pieces of pork stewed
in a little water with chopped onions and sage, and skimmed
carefully. When all the essence is extracted, take out the bits of
meat, &c., and serve up the gravy in a boat to eat with the
steaks.

They should be accompanied with apple-sauce.


PORK CUTLETS.

Cut them from the leg, and remove the skin; trim them and beat
them, and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Prepare some beaten egg in
a pan; and on a flat dish a mixture of bread-crumbs, minced onion,
and sage. Put some lard or drippings into a frying-pan over the
fire; and when it boils, put in the cutlets; having dipped every
one first in the egg, and then in the seasoning. Fry them twenty
or thirty minutes, turning them often. After you have taken them
out of the frying-pan, skim the gravy, dredge in a little flour,
give it one boil, and then pour it on the dish round the cutlets.

Have apple-sauce to eat with them.

Pork cutlets prepared in this manner may be stewed instead of
being fried. Add to them a little water, and stew them slowly till
thoroughly done, keeping them closely covered except when you
remove the lid to skim them.


PORK PIE.

Take the lean of a leg or loin of fresh pork, and season it with
pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Cover the bottom and sides of a deep
dish, with, a good paste, made with a pound of butter to two
pounds of flour, and rolled out thick. Put in a layer of pork, and
then a layer of pippin apples, pared, cored, and cut small. Strew
over the apples sufficient sugar to make them very sweet. Then
place another layer of pork, and so on till the dish is full. Pour
in half a pint or more of water, or of white wine. Cover the pie
with a thick lid of paste, and notch and ornament it according to
your taste.

Set it in a brisk oven, and bake it well.


HAM PIE.

Cover the sides and bottom of a dish with a good pasts rolled out
thick. Have ready some slices of cold boiled ham, about half an
inch thick, some eggs boiled hard and sliced, and a large young
fowl cleaned and Cut up. Put a layer of ham at the bottom, then
the fowl, then the eggs, and then another layer of ham. Shake on
some pepper, and pour in some water, or what will be much better,
some veal gravy. Cover the pie with a crust, notch and ornament
it, and bake it well.

Some mushrooms will greatly improve it.

Small button mushrooms will keep very well in a bottle of sweet
oil--first peeling the skin, and cutting off the stalks.


HAM SANDWICHES

Cut some thin slices of bread very neatly, having slightly
buttered them; and, if you choose, spread on a very little
mustard. Have ready some very thin slices of cold boiled ham, and
lay one between two slices of bread. You may either roll them up,
or lay them flat on the plates. They are used at supper, or at
luncheon.

You may substitute for the ham, cold smoked tongue, shred or
grated.


BROILED HAM.

Cut the ham into very thin slices, (the thinner the better.) Soak
them in hot water at least half an hour, (a whole hour is better,)
to draw out some of the salt; changing the water several times,
and always pouring it on scalding hot. This process will not only
extract the superfluous salt (which would otherwise ooze out in
broiling and remain sticking about the surface of the meat) but it
makes the ham more tender and mellow. After soaking, dry the
slices in a cloth, and then heat your gridiron, and broil them
over a clear fire.

If you have cold boiled ham, it is better for broiling than that
which is raw; and being boiled, will require no soaking before you
put it on the gridiron.

If you wish to serve up eggs with the ham, put some lard into a
very clean frying-pan, and make it boiling hot. Break the eggs
separately into a saucer, that in case a bad one should be among
them it may not mix with the rest. Slip each egg gently into the
frying-pan. Do not turn them while they are frying, but keep
pouring some of the hot lard over them with an iron spoon; this
will do them sufficiently on the upper side. They will be done
enough in about three minutes; the white must retain its
transparency so that the yolk will be seen through it. When done,
take them up with a tin slice, drain off the lard, and if any part
of the white is discoloured or ragged, trim it off. Lay a fried
egg upon each slice of the broiled ham, and send them to table
hot.

This is a much nicer way than the common practice of frying the
ham or bacon with the eggs. Some persons broil or fry the ham
without eggs, and send it to table cut into little slips or
mouthfuls.

To curl small pieces of ham for garnishing, slice as thin as
possible some that has been boiled or parboiled. The pieces should
be about two inches square. Roll it up round little wooden
skewers, and put it into a cheese toaster, or into a tin oven, and
set it before the fire for eight or ten minutes. When it is done,
slip out the skewers.


TO BOIL A HAM.

Hams should always be soaked in water previous to boiling, to draw
out a portion of the salt, and to make them tender. They will
soften more easily if soaked in lukewarm water. If it is a new
ham, and not very salt or hard, you need not put it in water till
the evening before you intend to cook it. An older one will
require twenty-four hours' soaking; and one that is very old and
hard should be kept in soak two or three days, frequently changing
the water, which must be soft. Soak it in a tub, and keep it well
covered. When you take it out of the water to prepare it for
boiling, scrape and trim it nicely, and pare off all the bad
looking parts.

Early in the morning put it into a large pot or kettle with plenty
of cold water. Place it over a slow fire that it may heat
gradually; it should not come to a boil in less than an hour and a
half, or two hours. When it boils, quicken the fire, and skim the
pot carefully. Then simmer it gently four or fire hours or more,
according to its size. A ham weighing fifteen pounds should simmer
five hours after it has come to a boil. Keep the pot well skimmed.

When it is done, take it up, carefully strip off the skin, and
reserve it to cover the ham when it is put away cold. Rub the ham
all over with some beaten egg, and strew on it fine bread-raspings
shaken through the lid of a dredging box. Then place it in an oven
to brown and crisp, or on a hot dish set over the pot before the
fire. Cut some writing paper into a handsome fringe, and twist it
round the shank-bone before you send the ham to table. Garnish the
edge of the dish with little piles or spots of rasped crust of
bread.

In carving a ham, begin not quite in the centre, but a little
nearer to the hock. Cut the slices very thin. It is not only a
most ungenteel practice to cut ham in thick slices, but it much
impairs the flavour.

When you put it away after dinner, skewer on again the skin. This
will make it keep the better.

Ham should always be accompanied by green vegetables, such as
asparagus, peas, beans, spinach, cauliflower, brocoli, &c.

Bacon also should be well soaked before it is cooked; and it
should be boiled very slowly, and for a long time. The greens may
be boiled with the meat. Take care to skim the pot carefully, and
to drain and squeeze the greens very well before you send them to
table. If there are yellow streaks in the lean of the bacon, it is
rusty, and unfit to eat.


TO ROAST A HAM.

Take a very fine ham (a Westphalia one if you can procure it) and
soak it in lukewarm water for a day or two, changing the water
frequently. The day before you intend cooking it, take the ham out
of the water, and (having removed the skin) trim it nicely, and
pour over it a bottle of Madeira or sherry. Let it steep till next
morning, frequently during the day washing the wine over it. Put
it on the spit in time to allow at least six hours for slowly
roasting it. Baste it continually with hot water. When it is done,
dredge it all over with fine bread-raspings shaken on through the
top of the dredging box; and set it before the fire to brown.

For gravy, take the wine in which the ham was steeped, and add to
it the essence or juice which flowed from the meat when taken from
the spit. Squeeze in the juice of two lemons. Put it into a sauce-pan,
and boil and skim it. Send it to table in a boat. Cover the
shank of the ham (which should have been sawed short) with bunches
of double parsley, and ornament it with a cluster of flowers cut
out with a penknife from raw carrots, beets, and turnips; and made
to imitate marygolds, and red and white roses.


DIRECTIONS FOR CURING HAM OR BACON.

Ham or bacon, however well cured, will never be good unless the
pork of which it is made has been properly fed. The hogs should be
well fattened on corn, and fed with it about eight weeks, allowing
ten bushels to each hog. They are best for curing when from two to
four years old, and should not weigh more than one hundred and
fifty or one hundred and sixty pounds. The first four weeks they
may be fed on mush, or on Indian meal moistened with water; the
remaining four on corn unground; giving them always as much as
they will eat. Soap-suds may be given to them three or four times
a week; or oftener if convenient.

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