Cooking for profit

I thought he was going to say the drainage or climate or railroad connections or something large, but, after all it is the small troubles that are hardest to bear — he said he couldn't get a bit of corned beef fit to put on the table, and he had all the directors of the new concern there, hawk-eyed and exacting to the smallest particulars; just as is always the case whilst a new hotel is the new toy of a company. They had salt beef but it would not turn to that pink or scarlet color which you like to see — a streak of pink and a streak of fat — upon a bed of pale green boiled cabbage for your New England boiled dinner; for plain salt beef turns dark, almost black after slicing, and has something of the depressing effect upon the diner of a cloudy day. It was not only their own which they had tried to pickle, but the village butcher's was equally poor. It ia saltpeter that gives the required color. They had both employed saltpeter. They were a good way from a large town, but both had obtained their stores from the same place. Told the steward that I thought I used to know that there are two sorts of saltpeter, but it does not make any difference if ypu make sure to get the large crystals, size of your thumb, look like washing soda or alum. That which they had used vvas small like common salt. We obtained the right article the next day, made new brine according to the following receipt ; dropped some oeef in it while it was warm — almost hot — and in twelve hours thereafter used some of the thin pieces that boiled as red as a painted town. 650— Corned Beef Brine. 6 gallons water— nearly 3 pailfuls. 3 to 6 ounces saltpeter, in water. I pint sugar. 10 pounds coarse salt. Boil the above all together and skim while it is boiling. Pour it into two stone jars or a keg or barrel. The jars are best m places where there are pieces of beef unsuitable for roasting, to be rolled up and tied in shape and dropped in every day, one jar to receive the fresh additions and the other to use out of that which is sufficiently corned. For this use the larger Quantity of saltpeter is needed. Beef dropped in this pickle will be ready for use in a week. But when a quarter of beef is to be cut up and put down in brine to remain in it a very long time, 3 or 4 ounces of saltpeter is sufficient. The barrel should be kept in a cool, dry cellar. Put a board on top of the meat and a rock upon that. Keep covered. While they are cooking soften 4 ounces of butter, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, add a dust of cayenne, a tablespoonful chopped parsley or other green and spoonful of water. Serve the sweetbreads hot from the broiler with sauce poured over and garnish of lemon and parsley or seed-bed celery. Anything cooked a la maitre d'hotel has a combination of green herbs with an acid ; it may be in butter or in thin white sauce. 652— Tapioca Pudding without Eggs, Costs 10 or 12 cents or i cent each order. 1 heaping cup tapioca — ^ lb. 4 cups milk — a quart. 2 tablespoons sugar. Small lump of butter.