The English Housewife: Boiled Meat and Broths

It resteth now that we speak of boyled meats and broth, which forasmuch as our House-Wife is intended to be general, one that can as well feed the poor as the rich, we first begin with those ordinary wholsome boyl'd meats which are of use in every good mans house; therefore to make the best ordinary Pottage, you shalltake a rack of mutton cut into pieces, or a leg of mutton cut into pieces; for this meat, and these joynts are the best, although any other joynt or any fresh Beef will likewise make god Pottage; and having washt your meat well, put it into a clean pot with fair water, and set it on the fire, then take Violet leaves, Succory, Strawberry leaves, Spinage, Langedebeef, Marygold flowers, Scallions, and a little Parsley, and chop them very small together; then take half so much Oat-meal well beaten as there is herbs, and mix it with the herbs, and chop all very well together, then when the pot is ready to boyl, scum it very well, and then put in your Herbs, and so let it boyl with a quick fire stirring the meat oft in the pot, til the meat be boyl'd enough, and that the herbs and water are mixt together without any separation, which will be after the consumption of more than a third part: Then season them with salt, and serve them up with the meat, either with sippets or without.

Some desire to have their Pottage green, yet no herbs to be seen, in this case you must take your Herbs and Oatmeal, and after it is chopt put it in to a stone mortar or bowl, and with a wooden pestel beat it exceedingly, then with some of the warm liquor in the pot strain it as hard as may be, and so put it in and boyl it.

Others desire to have pottage without any herbs at all, and then you must only take Oat-meal beaten, and good store of Onions, and put them in and boyl them together; and thus doing you must take a greater quantity of Oat-meal then before.

If you will make Pottage of the best and daintiest kind, you shall take Mutton, Veal or Kid, and having broken the bones, but not cut the flesh in pieces, and wash it, put it into a pot with fair water; after it is ready to boyl, and thoroughly scum'd, you shall put in a good handful or two of small Oat-meal: and then take whole Lettuce of the best and most inward leaves, whole Spinage, Endive, Succory, and whole leaves of Cole flowers, or the inward part of white Cabbage, with two or three slic't Onions, and put all into the pot, and boyl them well together till the meat be enough, and the Herbs so soft as may be, and stir them oft well together, and then season it with salt, and as much Verjuyce as will onely turn the taste of the Pottage, and to serve them up, covering the meat with the whole Herbs, and adorning the dish with sippets.

To make ordinary stew'd broth, you shall take a neck of Veal, or a legg, or marrow-bone of Beef, or a Pullet, or Mutton, and after the meat is washt, put it into a pot with fair water, and being ready to boyl, scum it well; then you shall take a couple of Manchets, and pairing away the crust, cut it into thick slices, and lay them in a dish and cover them with hot broth out of the pot; when they are steept, put them and some of the broth into a strainer and strain it, and then put it into a pot: then take half a pound of Prunes, half a pound of Raisins, and a quarter of a pound of Currants clean pickt and washt, with a little whole Mace ,and two or three bruised cloves, and put them into the pot, and stir all well together, and so let them boyl till the meat be enough, then if you will alter the colour of the broth, put in a little Turnfoyl or red Sanders, and so serve it upon sippets, and the fruit uppermost.

To make an excellent boyled meat, take four pieces of a rack of mutton, and wash them clean, and put them into a pot well scoured with fair water; then take a good quantity of Wine and Verjuyce, and put it into it; then slice a handful of Onions, and put them in also, and so let them boyl a good while, then take a piece of sweet Butter white Ginger and Salt, and put it to also, and then make the broth thick with grated bread and so serve it forth with sippets.

To boyl a Mallard curiously, take the Mallard when it is fair dressed, washed and trust, and put it on a spit and roast it till you get the gravy out of it; then take it from the spit and boyl it, then take the best of the broth into a pipkin, and the gravy which you saved, with a piece of sweet Butter, and Currants, Vinegar, Pepper, and grated bread: Thus boyl all these together and when the Mallard is boyled sufficiently, lay it on a dish with sippets and the broth upon it, and so serve it forth.

To make an excellent Olepotride, which is the only principle dish of boyled meat which is esteemed in all Spain; you shall take a very large vessel Pot or Kettle, and filling it with water you shall set it on the fire, and first put in good thick gobbets of well fed Beef, and being ready to boyl, scum your pot; when the Beef is half boyled, you shall put in Potato-roots[1], Turneps and Carrets; also like gobbets of the best Mutton, and the best Pork: after they ahve boyled a while, you shall put in the like gobbets of Veal, Kid, and Lamb; a little space after these, the fore-parts of a fat Pigge, and a cramb'd Pullet; then put in Spinage, Endive, Succory, Marygold leaves and flowers, Lettuce, Violet leaves, Strawberry leaves, Bugloss and Scaillions all whole and unchopt, then when they have boyled a while, put in a Partridge and a Chicken chopt in pieces, with Quails, Rayls, Black Birds, Larks, Sparrows, and other small Birds; all being well and tenderly boyled, season up the broth with good store of Sugar, Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon, Ginger and Nutmeg, mixt together in a good quantity of Verjuyce and Salt, and so stir up the pot well from the bottom: then dish it up upon great Chargers or long Spanish dishes, laying store, of sippets in the bottom: then cover the meat all over with Prunes, Raisins, Currants, and blancht Almonds, boyled in a thing by themselves; then cover the fruit and the whole boyled herbs, and the herbs with slices of Oranges and Lemmons, and lay the roots round about the sides of the dish, and strew good store of Sugar all over, and so serve it forth.

To make the best white broth, whether it be with Veal, Capon, Chickens, or any other Fowl or Fish; First boyl the flesh or fish by is self, then take the value of a quart of strong Mutton broth, or sad Kid broth, and put it into a pipkin by itself, and put into a bunch of Thyme, Marjerom, Spinage and Endive bound together; then when it seethes, put in a pretty quantity of Beef marrow, and the marrow of Mutton, with some whole Mace, and a few bruised Cloves: then put in a pint of White Wine, with a few whole slices of Ginger: after hey have boyled a while together, take blancht Almonds and having beaten them together in a morter with some of the broth, strain them and put it in also: then in another Pipkin boyl Currants, Prunes, Raisins and whole Cinnamon in Verjuyce and Sugar with a few sliced Dates, and boyl them till the Verjuyce be most part consumed, or at least come to syrup; then drain the fruit from the syrup, and if you see it be high coloured, make it white with sweet Cream warmed, and so mix it with your Wine broth; then take out the Capon or the other flesh or fish, and dish it up dry, in a dish; then pour the broth upon it, and lay the fruit on the top of the meat, and adorn the side of the dish with very dainty sippets, First Oranges, Lemons and Sugar, and so serve it forth to the Table.

To boyl any wild Fowl, Mallard, Teal, Widgeon, or such like: First boyl the Fowl by it self, then take a quart of strong Mutton broth, and put it into a Pipkin and boyl it; then put unto it good store of sliced Onions, a bunch of sweet pot herbs, and a lump of sweet butter, after it hath boyled well, season it with Verjuyce, Salt and Sugar, and a little whole Pepper; which done, take up your fowl, and break it according to the fashion of Carbing, and stick a few Cloves about it; then put it into the broth with Onions, and there let it take a boyl or two, and so serve it and the broth forth upon sippets: Some use to thicken it wth toasts of bread steept and strained; but that is as pleases the Cook.

To boyl a leg of Mutton, or any other Joynt of meat whatsoever, first after you have washt it clean, parboyl it a little, then spit it and give it half a dozen turns before the fire, then draw it whn it begins to drop, and press it between two dishes, and save the gravy; then slash it with your knife, and give it half a dozen turns more, and then presse it again: and thus do as often as you can force any moisture to come from it; then mixing Mutton Broth, White Wine, and Verjuyce together, boyl the Mutton therein till it be tener, and that most part of the liquor is clean consumed; then having all that while kept the gravy that you took from the Mutton, stewing gently upon a Chafing-dish and coals, you shall adde unto it good store of Salt, Sugar, Cinnamon and Ginger, with some Lemon slices, and a little of an Orange peel, with a few fine white bread crums; then taking up the Mutton, put the remainder of the broth in and put in likewise the gravy, and then serve it up with sippets, lay the Lemmon slices uppermost, and trimming the dish about with Sugar.

If you will boyl Chickens, young Turkeys, Pea-hens, or House fowl daintily; you shall, after you have trimmed them, drawn them, trust them, and washt them, fill their bellies full of parsley as they can hold; then boyl them with salt and water only till they be enough: then take a dish and put into it Verjuyce and Butter, and Salt, then and when the butter is melted, take the Parsley out of the Chickens belly and mince it very small, and then put to it the Verjuyce and Butter, and stirre it well together; then lay in the Chickens, and drim the dish with sippets and so serve it forth.

If you will make broth with any fresh Fish whatsoever, whethere it be Pike Bream, Carp, Eel, Barbel, or such like, you shall boyl water, Verjuce and Salt together with a handful of sliced Onions, then you shall thicken it with two or three spoonfuls of Ale barm, then put in a good quantity of whole Barberies, both branches and other, as also pretty store of Currants then when it is boyled enough, Dish up your Fish and pour your broth unto it, laying your fruit and Onions uppermost. Some to this broth will put Prunes and Dates sliced, but it is according to the fancy of the Cook, or the Will of the Householder.

Thus I have from these few Presidents shewed you the true Art and making of all sorts of boyled meats & broths and though men may coyn strange names, and feign strange Arts, yet be assured she that can do these, may make any other whatsoever, altering the taste by the alteration of the compounds as she shall see occasion: And when a broth is too sweet, to sharppen it with verjuyce; when too tart, to sweeten it with Sugar; when flat and wallowish, to wuicken it with Oranges and Lemmons, and when to bitter, to make it pleasant with Herbs and Spices.

Take a Mallard when it is clean dressed, washed and trust, and parboyl it in water, till it be scumm'd and purified; then take it up, and put it into a Pipkin with the neck downward, and the tayl upward, standing as it were upright, then fill the Pipkin half full with that water in which the Mallard was parboyled, and fill up the other half with white Wine; then peel and slice thin a good quantity of Onions, and put them in with whole fine herbs, according to the time of the year, ae Lettuce, Strawberry leaves, Violet leaves, Vine leaves, Spinage, Endive, Succory, and such like, which have no bitter or hard taste, and a pretty quantity of Currants and Dates sliced; then cover it close, and set it on a gentle fire, and let it stew, and smoar till the Herbs and Onions be soft, and the Mallard enough, then take out the Mallard, and Carve it as if it where to go to the Table: then to the Broth put a good lump of Butter, Sugar, Cinnamon; and if it be in Summer, so many Gooseberries as well give it a sharp taste; but in the Winter, as much Wine Vinegar; then heat it on the fire, and stir all well together: then lay the Mallard in a Dish with sippets, and pour all this broth upon it, then trim the edge of the dish with Sugar, and so serve it up. And in this manner you may also smoar the hinder parts of a Hare, or a whole old Cony, being trust up close together.

After your Pike is drest and opened in the bakc, and laid flat, as if it were to fry, then lay it in a large dish for the purpose, able to receive it; then put as much White Wine to it as will cover it all over; then set it on a chafing-dish and Coals to boyl very gently, and if any scum arise, take it away; then put to it Currants, Sugar, Cinnamon, Barberies, and as much Prunes as will serve to garnish the dish, then cover it close with another dish, and let it stew till the fruit be soft, and the Pike enough; then put to it a good lump of sweet Butter; then with a fine Scumer take up the fish, and lay it in a clean dish with sippets, then take a couple of yelks of eggs, the film taken away, and beat them well together with a spoonful or two of Cream, and as soon as the Pike is taken out put it into the broth and stir it exceedingly to keep it from curding; then pour the broth upon the Pike and trim the sides of the dish with Sugar, Prunes, and Barberies, slices of Oranges or Lemmons, and so serve it up. And thus may you also stew Roches, Gurnets, or almost any Sea fish or fresh fish.

Take a Lambs head and Purtenance, clean washt and pickt, and put it into Pipkin with fair water, and let it boyl, and scum it clean then put Currants and a few sliced Dates, and a bunch of the best farcing herbs tyed up together, and so let it boyl well till the meat be enough, then take up the Lambs head and Purtenance, and put it into a clean dish with sippets; then put in a good lump of Butter, and beat the yelks of two eggs with a little Cream, and put it to the broth with Sugar, Cinnamon, and a spoonfull or two of Verjuyce and whole Mace, and as many Prunes as will garnish a dish, which should be put in when it is but half boyled, and so pour it upon the Lambs head and Purtenance, and adorn the sides of the dish with Sugar, Prunes, Barberries, Oranges and Lemmons, and in no case forget to season it well with Salt, and so serve it up.

Take a very good brest of Mutton chopt into sundry large pieces, and when it is clean washt, put it into a pipkin with fair water, and set it on the fire to boyl; then scum it very well, then put in of the finest Parsnips cut into large pieces as long as ones hand, and clean washt and scrap't; then good store of the best Onions, and all manner of sweet pleasant Pot-herbs and Lettuce, all grossly chopt, and good store of Pepper and Salt, and then conver it, and let it stew till the mutton be enough, then take up the Mutton, and lay it in a clean dish with sippets, and to the broth put a little wine vinegar, and so pour it on the Mutton with the Parsnips whole, and adorn the sies of the dish with Sugar, and so serve it up. And as you do with the brest, so you may do with any other Joynt of Mutton.

Take a Neats foot that is very well boyl'd (for the tenderer it is, the better it is) and cleave it in two, and with a clean cloth dry it well from the Souse-drink, then lay it in a deep earthen platter and cover it with Verjuyce, than set it on a Chaffing-dish and coals, and put to it a few Currants, and as many Prunes and will garnish the dish, then cover it and let it boyl well, many times stirring it up with your Knife, for fear it stick to the bottom of the dish; then when it is sufficiently stewed; which will appear by the tenderness of the meat and softness of the fruit; then put in a good lump of Butter, great store of Sugar and Cinnamon, and let it boyl a little after: then put it all together ther into a clean dish with sippets, and adorn the sides of the dish with Sugar and Prunes, and so serve it up.