A New System of Domestic Cookery

page 23

Simmer the oysters a few minutes in the liquor, then put them in small jars, and
boil the pickle up, skim it, and when cold, pour over the oysters: cover close.

Another way to pickle Oysters.

Open the number you intend to pickle, put them into a saucepan with their own
liquor for ten minutes, simmer them very gently; then put them into a jar, one
by one, that none of the grit may stick to them, and cover them when cold with
the pickle thus made.--Boil the liquor with a bit of mace, lemon-peel, and black
peppers, and to every hundred put two spoonfuls of the best undistilled vinegar.

They should be kept in small jars, and tied close with bladder, for the air will
spoil them.

Note.--Directions for making Fish Pies will be found under the head PIES.

PART II. MEATS. To choose Meats.

Venison.--If the fat be clear, bright, and thick, and the cleft part smooth and
close, it is young; but if the cleft is wide and tough, it is old. To judge of
its sweetness, run a very sharp narrow knife into the shoulder or haunch, and
you will know by the scent. Few people like it when it has much of the haut
gout.

Beef.--If the flesh of ox-beef is young, it will have a fine smooth open grain,
be of a good red, and feel tender. The fat should look white rather than yellow;
for when that is of a deep colour, the meat is seldom good: beef fed by
oil-cakes is in general so, and the flesh is flabby. The grain of cow-beef is
closer, and the fat whiter, than that of ox-beef; but the lean is not of so
bright a red. The grain of bull-beef is closer still, the fat hard and skinny,
the lean of a deep red, and a

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