asted
pork may be prevented by soaking it in salt and water the night before
you cook it. If called to prepare it on short notice, it will answer
to baste it with weak brine while roasting; and then turn the brine
off, and throw it away.

ROAST PIG.

Strew fine salt over it an hour before it is put down. It should not
be cut entirely open; fill it up plump with thick slices of buttered
bread, salt, sweet-marjoram and sage. Spit it with the head next the
point of the spit; take off the joints of the leg, and boil them with
the liver, with a little whole pepper, allspice, and salt, for gravy
sauce. The upper part of the legs must be braced down with skewers.
Shake on flour. Put a little water in the dripping-pan, and stir it
often. When the eyes drop out, the pig is half done. When it is nearly
done, baste it with butter. Cut off the head, split it open between
the eyes. Take out the brains, and chop them fine with the liver and
some sweet-marjoram and sage; put this into melted butter, and when
it has boiled a few minutes, add it to the gravy in the dripping-pan.
When your pig is cut open, lay it with the back to the edge of the
dish; half a head to be placed at each end. A good sized pig needs to
be roasted three hours.

SAUSAGES.

Three tea-spoons of powdered sage, one and a half of salt, and one of
pepper, to a pound of meat, is good seasoning for sausages.

MINCE MEAT.

There is a great difference in preparing mince meat. Some make it
a coarse, unsavory dish; and others make it nice and palatable. No
economical house-keeper will despise it; for broken bits of meat and
vegetables cannot so well be disposed of in any other way. If you
wish to have it nice, mash your vegetables fine, and chop your meat
very fine. Warm it with what remains of sweet gravy, or roast-meat
drippings, you may happen to have. Two or three apples, pared, cored,
sliced, and fried, to mix with it, is an improvement. Some like a
little sifted sage sprinkled in.

It is generally considered nicer to chop your meat fine, warm it in
gravy, season it, and lay it upon a large slice of toasted bread to be
brought upon the table without being mixed with potatoes; but if you
have cold vegetables, use them.

BEANS AND PEAS.

Baked beans are a very simple dish, yet few cook them well. They
should be put in cold water, and hung over the fire, the night before
they are baked. In the morning, they should be put in a colander, and
rinsed tw