Cooking Beans

"If, my dear aunt, J. R., you ever should wish,
For breakfast or dinner a tempting dish,
Of the beans, so famous in Boston town,
You must read the rules I here lay down;
When the sun has set in golden light,
And round you fall the shades of night,
A large deep dish you first prepare,
A quart of beans select with care;
And pick them over until you find
Not a speck or a mote is left behind.
A lot of cold water on them pour,
'Til every bean is covered o'er,
And they seem to your poetic eye
Like pearls in the depth of the sea to lie;
Here, if you please, you make let them stay
'Till just after breakfast the very next day,
When a parboiling process must be gone through;
(I mean for the beans and not for you);
Then if in your pantry there still should be
The bean pot, so famous in history,
With, all due deference, bring it out,
And, if there's a skimmer lying about,
Skim half the beans from the boiling pan
Into the bean pot as fast as you can
Then turn to Biddy and calmly tell her
To take a huge knife and go to the cellar;
For you must have, like Shylock of old,
'A pound of flesh,' ere your beans grow cold;
But very unlike that ancient Jew,
Nothing but pork will do for you.
Then tell once more your maiden fair,
In the choice of the piece to take great care;
For a streak of fat and a streak of lean,
Will give the right flavor to every bean!
This you must wash, and rinse, and score,
Put into the pot and round it pour
The rest, till the view presented seems
Like an island of pork in an ocean of beans;
Pour on boiling hot water enough to cover
The tops of the beans completely over,
Shove into the oven and bake till done,
And the triumph of Yankee cookery's won."

from The Cook's Friend: A Collection of Valuable Recipes compiled by the ladies of the Broadway Presbyterian Church, Logansport, Indiana, 1878, pp. 46-47.(Retrieved from the University of Michigan libraries special collections)

Soup Stew

Half a pound of beef cut in small bits,
(Or mutton or pork, if you please,)
Slice in six potatoes, four turnips,
And throw in a pint of dry peas.

Put these in seven pints of water,
And onions or leeks don’t omit;
Four hours and a half gently boil,
With some oatmeal to make it thick.

When you have mixed the oatmeal in,
And added some salt and pepper;
Boil again, stirring all the time,
And you’ll find no soup can be better.

N. B. – This is excellent soup
Without any meat,
If you’ll put in herbs
Which are called sweet.

“Stew Soup” (#4), Cookery Rhymes. The Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey. Original from The British Library. The original citation is from Cookery Rhymes, Simple Remedies, and Useful Hints, Intended for Girls’ Day Schools by Miss Potter, 7th ed. London: Jarrold and Sons, 1862.