The household cook book

TO CLEAN BEEF TRIPE— Rinse carefully in cold water (after emptying the contents, none of which should be allowed to touch the outside). Then sprinkle on lime, put it in a tub, pour on hot water and leave 2 hours ; then try scraping it with a knife — if the dark does not come off readily, spread on more lime and put in the tub another hour or two; then scrape, and rinse clean with cold water. Put it in salt water, enough to cover it, and leave 3 days; change the water each day. Take it out, cut in strips, and whiten by laying it in buttermilk for a few hours; then rinse clean, and boil for a few hours — or till it is tender enough to mash with the fingers. Then it is ready to cook as desired. RENNET, TO PREPARE — Rennets should not be saved from calves less than a week old; those from 3 to 4 weeks old make the best. Never use a stomach of an animal the least out of health. Take the rennet out immediately after the animal is killed, turn inside out without washing, cure thoroughly with dairy salt, dry perfectly, and keep in paper bags till wanted for use. For use, soak in clean whey, saturated with salt, for 24 hours before using, frequently squeezing them with the hand to macerate. After being soaked, keep the liquor as cool as possible in tightly covered vessels until used. TO PREPARE BLADDERS FOR USE — Soak them for 24 hours in a basin of water in which a little chloride of lime has been dissolved; then clear all extraneous matter from the bladders, wash them thoroughly in clean water, and hang them up to dry. SAUSAGES. — Use the trimmings and other lean and fat portions of pork, selecting about twice as much lean as fat. Some consider it an improvement to add about one-sixth the weight of beef. Season to taste. Some use salt and pepper alone (say 1 teaspoon to 2 lbs. of meat), and others add sage, thyme, mace, cloves and other spices. If the meat is put into muslin bags 2| to 3 inches in diameter, and, after being filled, are dipped into melted lard and hung up in a cool, dry place, it will keep very satisfactorily. PORK SAUSAGES.— For these the right proportions of fat and lean meat is about ^ fat, and for every 10 lbs. of the minced sausage 4 oz. of salt, 1 oz. of pulverized black pepper, and 1 tablespoon pulverized sage is nearly the right proportion of seasoning. Mix thoroughly, but add no water. It can be packed down in stone jars, with hot lard poured over it, to be cut out in slices for cooking; put in cheesecloth bags of the right size to cut off pieces to serve, or it can be filled into the small intestines for beef or pigs, and tied into links. The intestines should be cut into pieces about a yard long; strip out the contents, turn them inside out on a stick; take them off and wash thoroughly in warm salted water; put to soak over night in another salted water; the next day thoroughly scrape them on a board with a dull knife; then soak them another night in salted water, when they will be ready for use.