Chapter I. Marketing

While meats are in season all the year, they are better at stated times; for instance, pork is prime in late autumn and winter; veal should be avoided in summer for sanitary reasons; and even our staples, beef and mutton, vary in quality. The flesh of healthy animals is hard and fresh colored, the fat next the skin is firm and thick, and the suet or kidney-fat clear white and abundant; if this fat is soft, scant and stringy, the animal has been poorly fed or overworked. Beef should be of a bright red color, well marbled with yellowish fat, and surrounded with a thick outside layer of fat; poor beef is dark red, and full of gristle, and the fat is scant and oily. Mutton is bright red, with plenty of hard white fat; poor mutton is dull red in color, with dark, muddy-looking fat. Veal and pork should be bright flesh color with abundance of hard, white, semi-transparent fat; when the fat is reddish and dark, the meat is of an inferior quality; veal and pork should be eaten very fresh. When meat of any kind comes into the house it should be hung up at once in some cool, dark place, and left until wanted.

Fresh poultry may be known by its full bright eyes, pliable feet, and soft moist skin; the best is plump, fat, and nearly white, and the grain of the flesh is fine. The feet and neck of a young fowl are large in proportion to its size, and the tip of the breast-bone is soft, and easily bent between the fingers; the body of a capon is large, fat, and round, the head comparatively small, and the comb pale and withered; a young cock, has short, loose, soft spurs, and a long, full, bright red comb; old fowls have long, thin necks and feet, and the flesh on the legs and back has a purplish shade; chickens, capons, and fowls, are always in season.

Turkeys when good are white and plump, have full breasts and smooth legs, generally black, with soft, loose spurs; hen turkeys are smaller, fatter, and plumper, but of inferior flavor; full grown turkeys are the best for boning and boiling, as they do not tear in dressing; old turkeys have long hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on the legs and back. About March they deteriorate in quality. Turkey-poults are tender, but lack flavor.

Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent fat, soft breast-bone, tender flesh, leg joints which will break by the weight of the bird, fresh colored and brittle beaks, and windpipes that break when pressed between the thumb and fore-finger. They are best in fall and winter.

Young pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full, fresh colored legs; when the legs are thin, and the breast is very dark, the birds are old. Squabs are tender and delicious.

The giblets of poultry consist of the head, neck, wings, feet, gizzard, heart, and liver; and make good soup, fricassees, pies, and various entrées, or side dishes.

Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of the breast is firm and plump, the skin clear; and if a few feathers be plucked from the inside of the leg and around the vent, the flesh of freshly killed birds will be fat and fresh colored; if it is dark, and discolored, the game has been hung a long time. The wings of good ducks, geese, pheasants, and woodcock are tender to the touch; the tips of the long wing feathers of partridges are pointed in young birds, and round in old ones. Quail, snipe, and small birds should have full tender breasts.

Young rabbits and hares have short necks, thick knees, and forepaws which can be easily broken; old ones are very poor.

Buffalo meat is somewhat similar in appearance to beef, save that the flesh is darker, and the fat redder; it is tender and juicy when it has been kept long enough, say about two months in winter; the tongue, when cured, is excellent.

Venison should be tender, and very fat, or it will be dry and tasteless.

Bear meat, when fat and tender, is savory and nourishing.

Sea fish, and those which live in both salt and fresh water, such as salmon, shad, and smelts, are the finest flavored; the muddy taste of some fresh water species can be overcome by soaking them in cold water and salt for two hours or more before cooking; all kinds are best just before spawning, the flesh becoming poor and watery after that period. Fresh fish have firm flesh, rigid fins, bright, clear eyes, and ruddy gills.

Oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels, should be eaten very fresh, as they soon lose their flavor after being removed from the shell.

Lobsters and crabs should be chosen by their brightness of color, lively movement, and great weight in proportion to their size.

All juicy vegetables should be very fresh and crisp; and if a little wilted, can be restored by being sprinkled with water and laid in a cool, dark place; all roots and tubers should be pared and laid in cold water an hour or more before using. Green vegetables are best just before they flower; and roots and tubers are prime from their ripening until spring germination begins.

All fruit should be purchased ripe and sound; it is poor economy to buy imperfect or decayed kinds, as they are neither satisfactory nor healthy eating; while the mature, full-flavored sorts are invaluable as food.

Sweet and savory herbs are absolutely indispensable to good cooking; they give variety and savory flavors to any dish into which they enter, and are nearly all of some decided sanitary use; the different kinds called for in the various receipts further on in this work can be bought at almost any grocery store, or in the market; but we advise our readers to obtain seeds from some good florist and make little kitchen gardens of their own, even if the space planted be only a box of mould in the kitchen window. Sage, thyme, summer savory, sweet marjoram, tarragon, sweet basil, rosemary, mint, burnet, chervil, dill, and parsley, will grow abundantly with very little care; and when dried, and added judiciously to food, greatly improve its flavor. Parsley, tarragon and fennel, should be dried in May, June, and July, just before flowering; mint in June and July; thyme, marjoram, and savory in July and August; basil and sage in August and September; all herbs should be gathered in the sunshine, and dried by artificial heat; their flavor is best preserved by keeping them in air-tight tin cans.

Bay leaves can be procured at any drug store, or German grocery, at a very moderate expense; they have the flavor of laurel.

An excellent and convenient spice-salt can be made by drying, powdering, and mixing by repeated siftings the following ingredients: one quarter of an ounce each of powdered thyme, bay leaf, and pepper; one eighth of an ounce each of rosemary, marjoram, and cayenne pepper, or powdered capsicums; one half of an ounce each of powdered clove and nutmeg; to every four ounces of this powder add one ounce of salt, and keep the mixture in an air-tight vessel. One ounce of it added to three pounds of stuffing, or forcemeat of any kind, makes a delicious seasoning.

The bouquet, or fagot, of sweet herbs, so often called for in foreign cooking, is made as follows: wash three or four sprigs of parsley, lay in their midst one sprig of thyme, and two bay leaves; fold the parsley over the thyme and bay leaves, tie it in a cork-shaped roll, about three inches long and one inch thick. The bouquet is used for seasoning soups, sauces, stews, and savory dishes in general, and is removed when the dish is served.