mmon cooks.
Only stew them till they are just tender, and do not stew them to rags;
therefore, what you prepare the day before it is to be eaten, do not
dress quite enough the first day.

We have given receipts for the most easy and simple way to make HASHES,
&c. Those who are well skilled in culinary arts can dress up things in
this way, so as to be as agreeable as they were the first time they were
cooked. But hashing is a very bad mode of cookery: if meat has been done
enough the first time it is dressed, a second dressing will divest it of
all its nutritive juices; and if it can be smuggled into the stomach by
bribing the palate with _piquante_ sauce, it is at the hazard of an
indigestion, &c.

I promise those who do me the honour to put my receipts into practice,
that they will find that the most nutritious and truly elegant dishes
are neither the most difficult to dress, the most expensive, nor the
most indigestible. In these compositions experience will go far to
diminish expense: meat that is too old or too tough for roasting, &c.,
may by gentle stewing be rendered savoury and tender. If some of our
receipts do differ a little from those in former cookery books, let it
be remembered we have advanced nothing in this work that has not been
tried, and experience has proved correct.

N.B. See No. 483, an ingenious and economical system of FRENCH COOKERY,
written at the request of the editor by an accomplished ENGLISH LADY,
which will teach you how to supply your table with elegant little made
dishes, &c. at as little expense as plain cookery.

FOOTNOTES:

[106-*] Sauce for ragouts, &c., should be thickened till it is of the
consistence of good rich cream, that it may adhere to whatever it is
poured over. When you have a large dinner to dress, keep ready-mixed
some fine-sifted flour and water well rubbed together till quite smooth,
and about as thick as butter. See No. 257.

THE

COOK'S ORACLE.

BOILING.

[Read the first chapter of the Rudiments of Cookery.]

_Leg of Mutton._--(No. 1.)

Cut off the shank bone, and trim the knuckle, put it into lukewarm water
for ten minutes, wash it clean, cover it with cold water, and let it
simmer _very gently_, and skim it carefully. A leg of nine pounds will
take two and a half or three hours, if you like it thoroughly done,
especially in very cold weather.

For the accompaniments, see the following receipt.

N.B. The _tit-bits_ with an epicure are the