will be. For those who choose their food thoroughly cooked (which all
will who have any regard for their stomachs), twenty minutes to a
pound will not be found too much for gentle simmering by the side of
the fire; allowing more or less time, according to the thickness of
the joint and the coldness of the weather; always remembering, the
slower it boils the better. Without some practice it is difficult to
teach any art; and cooks seem to suppose they must be right, if they
put meat into a pot, and set it over the fire for a certain
time--making no allowance, whether it simmers without a bubble, or
boils at a gallop.

[A LETTER-BOX SAVES MANY KNOCKS.]

1070. Before Boiling.

Fresh killed meat will take much longer time boiling than that which
has been kept till it is what the butchers call ripe, and longer in
cold than in warm weather. If it be frozen it must be thawed before
boiling as before roasting; if it be fresh killed, it will be tough
and hard, if you stew it ever so long, and ever so gently. In cold
weather, the night before you dress it, bring it into a place of which
the temperature is not less than forty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's
thermometer.

The size of the boiling-pots should be adapted to what they are to
contain; the larger the saucepan the more room it takes upon the fire;
and a larger quantity of water requires a proportionate increase of
fire to boil it. In small families block tin saucepans are best, as
being lightest and safest: moreover, if proper care is taken of them,
and they are well dried after they are cleansed, they are by far the
cheapest; the purchase of a new tin saucepan being little more than
the expense of tinning a copper one. Take care that the covers of your
boiling-pots fit close, not only to prevent unnecessary evaporation of
the water, but that the smoke may not insinuate itself under the edge
of the lid, and give the meat a bad taste.

1071. Average Boiling Times.

The following Table will be useful as an average of the time required
to boil the various articles:

H.M.
A ham, 20 lbs. weight, requires 6 30
A tongue (if dry), after soaking 4 O
A tongue out of pickle 2-1/2 to 3 O
A neck of mutton 1 30
A chicken O 20
A large fowl