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Preparation of Food by Keeping

41. THE COOK SHOULD WATCH most carefully all the meat and game under her care, and inform her mistress as soon as she sees the slightest sign by which she may consider it is approaching the proper termination of keeping. Butcher's meat shows its state by the smell, by the touch, and by the look. The slightest taint in warm weather is enough to put the cook on her guard, and especially if the meat begins to feel tender on pressure; if it is turning green on the surface, also, she must consider it as a very sure sign; and especially if, at the same time, the stiffness of the joint is giving way, or bending. Thus, a little practice, with attention to these signs, will soon render her expert, and she may always at first be careful to err on the safe side. In deciding upon the time to keep game, some people hang the feathered kinds up by their tails, and consider they are fit to dress as soon as they drop, and leave their tails behind them. For those who like game "rather high," this is not a bad test in the cool weather of autumn; but in the early part of the season, the feathers adhere too long to give this rule any value, or rather it may be said that, if adhered to, it will cause the spoiling of many brace of grouse and partridges, which will seldom bear much keeping until after the middle of October. 42. FISH will sometimes be the better for a day's keeping, or, in cool weather, even two days will not injure its flavour. It should, however, always be kept in a cool place; and it may generally be hung up with advantage, rather than to deposit it on the floor, as is generally done. If, however, it is of a kind which would be injured by becoming dry-as, for instance, turbot-the latter place is the best; but cod-fish and haddock are better suspended. Ice will always keep fish for an indefinite time, if such is desired; but when it is of a kind which is the better for keeping, the ice will suspend the good effects of that operation, and should not therefore be had recourse to longer than necessary. 43. WHEN MEAT, POULTRY, OR GAME is evidently in a state which will not allow it to be kept until the time when it will be wanted, it may be parboiled or half-roasted, which will postpone its "going" for at least two or even three days. It must be boiled or roasted for nearly half the proper time in the first process; and, in the second, it will generally take about three-quarters of that ordered for it in the usual way. 44. APPLES AND PEARS should be stored in a dry room, not exposed to any draught of air, by which they are dried too much, and become shrivelled on the surface. They should also be kept in the dark, if it is desired to postpone the time of their becoming ripe. They should be arranged on wooden shelves, in such a way that each apple is distinct from its neighbours-contact with each other being very apt to cause decay. Every week, at least, they should be looked over carefully, and the rotten fruit picked out. Some people keep them in straw or sand, but neither of these modes is equal to the plan described above. 45. POTATOES AND JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES are kept either stored in a dark and dry cellar, heaped up in a corner or stored in casks; or out of doors, in heaps or "buries" covered over with earth, and sometimes thatched. A shallow trench is first made in a situation free from wet-that is to say, well drained. In this the potatoes are heaped up in a pyramidal form, at as high an angle as they will sustain without falling. The earth removed from the trench is next laid over them, and beaten down with a spade so as to form a smooth sloping surface on all sides, which in some soils is a sufficient protection, but in loose sands will demand the addition of ordinary thatch.

CHAP. IV.- GENERAL REMARKS ON ROASTING AND BAKING.