Modern cookery for private families
Date: 2023-12-23T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Cooking; English

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Title: Modern cookery for private families

Author: Eliza Acton

Release date: December 23, 2023 [eBook #72482]

Language: English

Original publication: London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1882

Credits: Aaron Adrignola and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES ***

MODERN COOKERY

FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES

BY ELIZA ACTON
NEW EDITION
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER
1882.

PREFACE.

It cannot be denied that an improved system of practical domestic cookery, and a better knowledge of its first principles, are still much needed in this country; where, from ignorance, or from mismanagement in their preparation, the daily waste of excellent provisions almost exceeds belief. This waste is in itself a very serious evil where so large a portion of the community often procure—as they do in England—with painful difficulty, and with the heaviest labour, even sufficient bread to sustain existence; but the amount of positive disease which is caused amongst us by improper food, or by food rendered unwholesome by a bad mode of cooking it, seems a greater evil still. The influence of diet upon health is indeed a subject of far deeper importance than it would usually appear to be considered, if we may judge by the profound indifference with which it is commonly treated. It has occupied, it is true, the earnest attention of many eminent men of science, several of whom have recently investigated it with the most patient and laborious research, the results of which they have made known to the world in their writings, accompanied, in some instances, by information of the highest value as to the most profitable and nutritious modes of preparing various kinds of viands. In arranging the present enlarged edition of this volume for publication, I have gladly taken advantage of such of their instructions (those of Baron Liebig especially) as have seemed to me adapted to its character, and likely to increase its real utility. These, I feel assured, if carefully followed out, will much assist our progress in culinary art, and diminish the unnecessary degree of expenditure which has hitherto attended its operations; for it may safely be averred that good cookery is the best and truest economy, turning to full account every wholesome article of food, and converting into palatable meals, what the ignorant either render uneatable, or throw away in disdain. It is a popular error to imagine that what is called good cookery is adapted only to the establishments of the wealthy, and that it is beyond the reach of those who are not affluent. On the contrary, it matters comparatively little whether some few dishes, amidst an abundant variety, be prepared in their perfection or not; but it is of the utmost consequence that the food which is served at the more simply supplied tables of the middle classes should all be well and skilfully prepared, particularly as it is from these classes that the men principally emanate to whose indefatigable industry, high intelligence, and active genius, we are mainly indebted for our advancement in science, in art, in literature, and in general civilisation.

When both the mind and body are exhausted by the toils of the day, heavy or unsuitable food, so far from recruiting their enfeebled powers, prostrates their energies more completely, and acts in every way injuriously upon the system; and it is no exaggeration to add, that many a valuable life has been shortened by disregard of this fact, or by the impossibility of obtaining such diet as nature imperatively required. It may be urged, that I speak of rare and extreme cases; but indeed it is not so; and the impression produced on me by the discomfort and the suffering which have fallen under my own observation, has rendered me extremely anxious to aid in discovering an efficient remedy for them. With this object always in view, I have zealously endeavoured to ascertain, and to place clearly before my readers, the most rational and healthful methods of preparing those simple and essential kinds of nourishment which form the staple of our common daily fare; and have occupied myself but little with the elegant superfluities or luxurious novelties with which I might perhaps more attractively, though not more usefully, have filled my pages. Should some persons feel disappointed at the plan I have pursued, and regret the omissions which they may discover, I would remind them, that the fashionable dishes of the day may at all times be procured from an able confectioner; and that part of the space which I might have allotted to them is, I hope and believe, better occupied by the subjects, homely as they are, to which I have devoted it—that is to say, to ample directions for dressing vegetables, and for making what cannot be purchased in this country—unadulterated bread of the most undeniably wholesome quality; and those refreshing and finely-flavoured varieties of preserved fruit which are so conducive to health when judiciously taken, and for which in illness there is often such a vain and feverish craving when no household stores of them can be commanded.[1]

1.  Many of those made up for sale are absolutely dangerous eating; those which are not adulterated are generally so oversweetened as to be distasteful to invalids.

Merely to please the eye by such fanciful and elaborate decorations as distinguish many modern dinners, or to flatter the palate by the production of new and enticing dainties, ought not to be the principal aim, at least, of any work on cookery. “Eat,—to live” should be the motto, by the spirit of which all writers upon it should be guided. I must here obtrude a few words of personal interest to myself. At the risk of appearing extremely egotistic, I have appended “Author’s Receipt” and “Author’s Original Receipt” to many of the contents of the following pages; but I have done it solely in self-defence, in consequence of the unscrupulous manner in which large portions of my volume have been appropriated by contemporary authors, without the slightest acknowledgment of the source from which they have been derived. I have allowed this unfairness, and much beside, to pass entirely unnoticed until now; but I am suffering at present too severe a penalty for the over-exertion entailed on me by the plan which I adopted for the work, longer to see with perfect composure strangers coolly taking the credit and the profits of my toil. The subjoined passage from the preface of my first edition will explain in what this toil—so completely at variance with all the previous habits of my life, and, therefore, so injurious in its effects—consisted; and prevent the necessity of recapitulating here, in another form, what I have already stated in it. “Amongst the large number of works on cookery which we have carefully perused, we have never yet met with one which appeared to us either quite intended for, or entirely suited to the need of the totally inexperienced! none, in fact, which contained the first rudiments of the art, with directions so practical, clear, and simple, as to be at once understood, and easily followed, by those who had no previous knowledge of the subject. This deficiency, we have endeavoured in the present volume to supply, by such thoroughly explicit and minute instructions as may, we trust, be readily comprehended and carried out by any class of learners; our receipts, moreover, with a few trifling exceptions which are scrupulously specified, are confined to such as may be perfectly depended on, from having been proved beneath our own roof and under our own personal inspection. We have trusted nothing to others; but having desired sincerely to render the work one of general usefulness, we have spared neither cost nor labour to make it so, as the very plan on which it has been written must of itself, we think, evidently prove. It contains some novel features, calculated, we hope, not only to facilitate the labours of the kitchen, but to be of service likewise to those by whom they are directed. The principal of these is the summary appended to the receipts, of the different ingredients which they contain, with the exact proportion of each, and the precise time required to dress the whole. This shows at a glance what articles have to be prepared beforehand, and the hour at which they must be ready; while it affords great facility as well, for an estimate of the expense attending them. The additional space occupied by this closeness of detail has necessarily prevented the admission of so great a variety of receipts as the book might otherwise have comprised; but a limited number, thus completely explained, may perhaps be more acceptable to the reader than a larger mass of materials vaguely given.

“Our directions for boning poultry, game, &c., are also, we venture to say, entirely new, no author that is known to us having hitherto afforded the slightest information on the subject; but while we have done our utmost to simplify and to render intelligible this, and several other processes not generally well understood by ordinary cooks, our first and best attention has been bestowed on those articles of food of which the consumption is the most general, and which are therefore of the greatest consequence; and on what are usually termed plain English dishes. With these we have intermingled many others which we know to be excellent of their kind, and which now so far belong to our national cookery, as to be met with commonly at all refined modern tables.”

Since this extract was written, a rather formidable array of works on the same subject has issued from the press, part of them from the pens of celebrated professional gastronomers; others are constantly appearing; yet we make, nevertheless, but slight perceptible progress in this branch of our domestic economy. Still, in our cottages, as well as in homes of a better order, goes on the “waste” of which I have already spoken. It is not, in fact, cookery-books that we need half so much as cooks really trained to a knowledge of their duties, and suited, by their acquirements, to families of different grades. At present, those who thoroughly understand their business are so few in number, that they can always command wages which place their services beyond the reach of persons of moderate fortune. Why should not all classes participate in the benefit to be derived from nourishment calculated to sustain healthfully the powers of life? And why should the English, as a people, remain more ignorant than their continental neighbours of so simple a matter as that of preparing it for themselves? Without adopting blindly foreign modes in anything merely because they are foreign, surely we should be wise to learn from other nations, who excel us in aught good or useful, all that we can which may tend to remedy our own defects; and the great frugality, combined with almost universal culinary skill, or culinary knowledge, at the least—which prevails amongst many of them—is well worthy of our imitation. Suggestions of this nature are not, however, sufficient for our purpose. Something definite, practical, and easy of application, must open the way to our general improvement. Efforts in the right direction are already being made, I am told, by the establishment of well-conducted schools for the early and efficient training of our female domestic servants. These will materially assist our progress; and if experienced cooks will put aside the jealous spirit of exclusiveness by which they are too often actuated, and will impart freely the knowledge they have acquired, they also may be infinitely helpful to us, and have a claim upon our gratitude which ought to afford them purer satisfaction than the sole possession of any secrets—genuine or imaginary—connected with their craft.

The limits of a slight preface do not permit me to pursue this or any other topic at much length, and I must in consequence leave my deficiencies to be supplied by some of the thoughtful, and, in every way, more competent writers, who, happily for us, abound at the present day; and make here my adieu to the reader.

ELIZA ACTON

London, May, 1855.

VOCABULARY OF TERMS,

PRINCIPALLY FRENCH, USED IN MODERN COOKERY.

Aspic—fine transparent savoury jelly, in which cold game, poultry, fish, &c., are moulded; and which serves also to decorate or garnish them.

Assiette Volante—a dish which is handed round the table without ever being placed upon it. Small fondus in paper cases are often served thus; and various other preparations, which require to be eaten very hot.

Blanquette—a kind of fricassee.

Boudin—a somewhat expensive dish, formed of the French forcemeat called quenelles, composed either of game, poultry, butcher’s meat, or fish, moulded frequently into the form of a rouleau, and gently poached until it is firm; then sometimes broiled or fried, but as frequently served plain.

Bouilli—boiled beef, or other meat, beef being more generally understood by the term.

Bouillie—a sort of hasty pudding.

Bouillon—broth.

Casserole—a stewpan; and the name also given to a rice-crust, when moulded in the form of a pie, then baked and filled with a mince or purée of game, or with a blanquette of white meat.

Court Bouillon—a preparation of vegetables and wine, in which (in expensive cookery) fish is boiled.

Consommé—very strong rich stock or gravy.

Croustade—a case or crust formed of bread, in which minces, purées of game, and other preparations are served.

Crouton—a sippet of bread.

Entrée—a first-course side or corner dish.[2]

2.  Neither the roasts nor the removes come under the denomination of entrées; and the same remark applies equally to the entremets in the second course. Large standing dishes at the sides, such as raised pies, timbales, &c., served usually in grand repasts, are called flanks; but in an ordinary service all the intermediate dishes between the joints and roasts are distinguished by the name of entrées, or entremets.

Entremets—a second-course side or corner dish.

Espagnole, or Spanish sauce—a brown gravy of high savour.

Farce—forcemeat.

Fondu—a cheese soufflé.

Gâteau—a cake, also a pudding, as Gâteau de Riz; sometimes also a kind of tart, as Gâteau de Pithiviers.

Hors d’œuvres—small dishes of anchovies, sardines, and other relishes of the kind, served in the first course.

Macaroncini—a small kind of maccaroni.

Maigre—made without meat.

Matelote—a rich and expensive stew of fish with wine, generally of carp, eels, or trout.

Meringue—a cake, or icing, made of sugar and whites of egg beaten to snow.

Meringué—covered or iced with a meringue-mixture.

Nouilles—a paste made of yolks of egg and flour, then cut small like vermicelli.

Purée—meat, or vegetables, reduced to a smooth pulp, and then mixed with sufficient liquid to form a thick sauce or soup.

Quenelles—French forcemeat, for which see page 163.

Rissoles—small fried pastry, either sweet or savoury.

Sparghetti—Naples vermicelli.

Stock—the unthickened broth or gravy which forms the basis of soups and sauces.

Tammy—a strainer of fine thin woollen canvas.

Timbale—a sort of pie made in a mould.

Tourte—a delicate kind of tart, baked generally in a shallow tin pan, or without any: see page 574.

Vol-au-vent—for this, see page 357.

Zita—Naples maccaroni.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

SOUPS.

| Page
Ingredients which may all be used for making Soup of various kinds | 1
A few directions to the Cook | 2
The time required for boiling down Soup or Stock | 4
To thicken Soups | 4
To fry Bread to serve with Soup | 5
Sippets à la Reine | 5
To make Nouilles (an elegant substitute for Vermicelli) | 5
Vegetable Vermicelli (Vegetables cut very fine for Soups) | 5
Extract of Beef, or very strong Beef Gravy-Soup (Baron Liebig’s receipt) | 6
Bouillon (the common Soup of France), cheap and very wholesome | 7
Clear pale Gravy Soup, or Consommé | 10
Another receipt for Gravy Soup | 10
Cheap clear Gravy Soup | 11
Glaze (Note) | 11
Vermicelli Soup (Potage au Vermicelle) | 12
Semoulina Soup (Soupe à la Semoule) | 12
Macaroni Soup | 13
Soup of Soujee | 13
Potage aux Nouilles, or Taillerine Soup | 14
Sago Soup | 14
Tapioca Soup | 14
Rice Soup | 14
White Rice Soup | 15
Rice-Flour Soup | 15
Stock for White-Soup | 15
Mutton Stock for Soups | 16
Mademoiselle Jenny Lind’s Soup | 16
The Lord Mayor’s Soup | 17
The Lord Mayor’s Soup (Author’s receipt) | 18
Cocoa-Nut Soup | 19
Chestnut Soup | 19
Jerusalem Artichoke, or Palestine Soup | 19
Common Carrot Soup | 20
A finer Carrot Soup | 20
Common Turnip Soup | 21
A quickly made Turnip Soup | 21
Potato Soup | 21
Apple Soup | 21
Parsnep Soup | 22
Another Parsnep Soup | 22
Westerfield White Soup | 22
A richer White Soup | 23
Mock-Turtle Soup | 23
Old-fashioned Mock-Turtle | 26
Good Calf’s-Head Soup (not expensive) | 27
Soupe des Galles | 28
Potage à la Reine (a delicate White Soup) | 29
White Oyster Soup (or Oyster Soup à la Reine) | 30
Rabbit Soup à la Reine | 31
Brown Rabbit Soup | 31
Superlative Hare Soup | 32
A less expensive Hare Soup | 32
Economical Turkey Soup | 33
Pheasant Soup | 33
Another Pheasant Soup | 34
Partridge Soup | 35
Mullagatawny | 35
To boil Rice for Mullagatawny, or for Curries | 36
Good Vegetable Mullagatawny | 37
Cucumber Soup | 38
Spring Soup, and Soup à la Julienne | 38
An excellent Green Peas Soup | 39
Green Peas Soup without meat | 39
A cheap Green Peas Soup | 40
Rich Peas Soup | 41
Common Peas Soup | 41
Peas Soup without meat | 42
Ox-tail Soup | 43
A cheap and good Stew Soup | 43
Soup in haste | 43
Veal or Mutton Broth | 44
Milk Soup with Vermicelli (or with Rice, Semoulina, Sago, &c.) | 44
Cheap Rice Soup | 44
Carrot Soup Maigre | 45
Cheap Fish Soups | 46
Buchanan Carrot Soup (excellent) | 46
Observation | 47

CHAPTER II.

FISH.

| Page
To choose Fish | 48
To clean Fish | 50
To keep Fish | 51
To sweeten tainted Fish | 51
The mode of cooking best adapted to different kinds of Fish | 51
The best mode of boiling Fish | 53
Brine for boiling Fish | 54
To render boiled Fish firm | 54
To know when Fish is sufficiently boiled, or otherwise cooked | 55
To bake Fish | 55
Fat for frying Fish | 55
To keep Fish hot for table | 56
To boil a Turbot (and when in season) | 56
Turbot à la Crême | 57
Turbot au Béchamel | 57
Mould of cold Turbot with Shrimp Chatney (refer to Chapter VI.) |
To boil a John Dory (and when in season) | 58
Small John Dories baked. Good (Author’s receipt) | 58
To boil a Brill | 58
To boil Salmon (and when in season) | 59
Salmon à la Genevese | 50
Crimped Salmon | 60
Salmon à la St. Marcel | 60
Baked Salmon over mashed Potatoes | 69
Salmon Pudding, to be served hot or cold (a Scotch receipt. Good) | 60
To boil Cod Fish (and when in season) | 61
Slices of Cod Fish Fried | 61
Stewed Cod | 62
Stewed Cod Fish in brown sauce | 62
To boil Salt Fish | 62
Salt Fish à la Maître d’Hôtel | 63
To boil Cods’ Sounds | 63
To fry Cods’ Sounds in batter | 63
To fry Soles (and when in season) | 64
To boil Soles | 64
Fillets of Soles | 65
Soles au Plat | 66
Baked Soles (a simple but excellent receipt) | 66
Soles stewed in cream | 67
To fry Whitings (and when in season) | 67
Fillets of Whitings | 68
To boil Whitings (French receipt) | 68
Baked Whitings à la Française | 68
To boil Mackerel (and when in season) | 69
To bake Mackerel | 69
Baked Mackerel or Whitings (Cinderella’s receipt. Good) | 70
Fried Mackerel (Common French receipt) | 70
Fillets of Mackerel (fried or broiled) | 71
Boiled fillets of Mackerel | 71
Mackerel broiled whole (an excellent receipt) | 71
Mackerel stewed with Wine (very good) | 72
Fillets of Mackerel stewed in Wine (excellent) | 72
To boil Haddocks (and when in season) | 73
Baked Haddocks | 73
To fry Haddocks | 73
To dress Finnan Haddocks | 74
To boil Gurnards (with directions for dressing them in other ways) | 74
Fresh Herrings. Farleigh receipt (and when in season) | 74
To dress the Sea Bream | 75
To boil Plaice or Flounders (and when in season) | 75
To fry Plaice or Flounders | 75
To roast, bake, or broil Red Mullet (and when in season) | 76
To boil Grey Mullet | 76
The Gar Fish (to bake) | 77
The Sand Launce, or Sand Eel (mode of dressing) | 77
To fry Smelts (and when in season) | 77
Baked Smelts | 78
To dress White Bait. Greenwich receipt (and when in season) | 78
Water Souchy (Greenwich receipt) | 78
Shad, Touraine fashion (also à la mode de Touraine) | 79
Stewed Trout. Good common receipt (and when in season) | 80
To boil Pike (and when in season) | 80
To bake Pike (common receipt) | 81
To bake Pike (superior receipt) | 81
To stew Carp (a common country receipt) | 82
To boil Perch | 82
To fry Perch or Tench | 83
To fry Eels (and when in season) | 83
Boiled Eels (German receipt) | 83
To dress Eels (Cornish receipt) | 84
Red Herrings à la Dauphin | 84
Red Herrings (common English mode) | 84
Anchovies fried in batter | 84

CHAPTER III.

DISHES OF SHELL-FISH.

| Page
Oysters, to cleanse and feed (and when in season) | 85
To scallop Oysters | 86
Scalloped Oysters à la Reine | 86
To stew Oysters | 86
Oyster Sausages (a most excellent receipt) | 87
To boil Lobsters (and when in season) | 88
Cold dressed Lobster and Crab | 88
Lobsters fricasseed, or au Béchamel (Entrée) | 89
Hot Crab or Lobster | 89
Potted Lobsters | 90
Lobster cutlets (a superior Entrée) | 91
Lobster Sausages | 91
Boudinettes of Lobsters, Prawns, or Shrimps. Entrée (Author’s receipt) | 92
To boil Shrimps or Prawns | 93
To dish cold Prawns | 93
To shell Shrimps and Prawns quickly and easily | 93

CHAPTER IV.

GRAVIES.

| Page
Introductory remarks | 94
Jewish smoked Beef (extremely useful for giving flavour to Soups and Gravies) | 95
To heighten the colour and flavour of Gravies | 96
Baron Liebeg’s Beef Gravy (most excellent for Hashes, Minces, and other dishes made of cold meat) | 96
Shin of Beef Stock for Gravies | 97
Rich pale Veal Gravy or Consommé | 97
Rich deep coloured Veal Gravy | 98
Good Beef or Veal Gravy (English receipt) | 99
A rich English brown Gravy | 99
Plain Gravy for Venison | 100
A rich Gravy for Venison | 100
Sweet Sauce, or Gravy for Venison | 100
Espagnole, Spanish Sauce (a highly flavoured Gravy) | 100
Espagnole with Wine | 100
Jus des Rognons, or Kidney Gravy | 101
Gravy in haste | 101
Cheap Gravy for a Roast Fowl | 101
Another cheap Gravy for a Fowl | 102
Gravy or Sauce for a Goose | 102
Orange Gravy for Wild Fowl | 102
Meat Jellies for Pies and Sauces | 103
A cheaper Meat Jelly | 103
Glaze | 104
Aspic, or clear savoury Jelly | 104

CHAPTER V.

SAUCES.

| Page
Introductory remarks | 105
To thicken Sauces | 105
French thickening, or brown Roux | 106
White Roux, or French thickening | 106
Sauce Tournée, or pale thickened Gravy | 106
Béchamel | 107
Béchamel Maigre (a cheap white Sauce) | 108
Another common Béchamel | 108
Rich melted Butter | 108
Melted Butter (a good common receipt) | 108
French melted Butter | 109
Norfolk Sauce, or rich melted Butter without Flour | 109
White melted Butter | 109
Burnt or browned Butter | 109
Clarified Butter | 110
Very good Egg Sauce | 110
Sauce of Turkeys’ Eggs Sauce (excellent) | 110
Common Egg Sauce | 110
Egg Sauce for Calf’s Head | 111
English White Sauce | 111
Very common White Sauce | 111
Dutch Sauce | 111
Fricassee Sauce | 112
Bread Sauce | 112
Bread Sauce with Onion | 113
Common Lobster Sauce | 113
Good Lobster Sauce | 113
Crab Sauce | 114
Good Oyster Sauce | 114
Common Oyster Sauce | 114
Shrimp Sauce | 115
Anchovy Sauce | 115
Cream Sauce for Fish | 114
Sharp Maître d’Hôtel Sauce (English receipt) | 116
French Maître d’Hôtel, or Steward’s Sauce | 116
Maître d’Hôtel Sauce Maigre, or without Gravy | 117
The Lady’s Sauce for Fish | 117
Genevese Sauce, or Sauce Genevoise | 117
Sauce Robert | 118
Sauce Piquante | 118
Excellent Horseradish Sauce, to serve hot or cold with roast Beef | 118
Hot Horseradish Sauce | 119
Christopher North’s own Sauce for many Meats | 119
Gooseberry Sauce for Mackerel | 120
Common Sorrel Sauce | 120
Asparagus Sauce for Lamb Cutlets | 120
Caper Sauce | 121
Brown Caper Sauce | 121
Caper Sauce for Fish | 121
Common Cucumber Sauce | 121
Another common Sauce of Cucumbers | 122
White Cucumber Sauce | 122
White Mushroom Sauce | 122
Another Mushroom Sauce | 123
Brown Mushroom Sauce | 123
Common Tomata Sauce | 123
A finer Tomata Sauce | 124
Boiled Apple Sauce | 124
Baked Apple Sauce | 124
Brown Apple Sauce | 125
White Onion Sauce | 125
Brown Onion Sauce | 125
Another brown Onion Sauce | 125
Soubise | 126
Soubise (French receipt) | 126
Mild Ragout of Garlic, or l’Ail à la Bordelaise | 126
Mild Eschalot Sauce | 127
A fine Sauce, or Purée of Vegetable Marrow | 127
Excellent Turnip, or Artichoke Sauce, for boiled Meat | 127
Olive Sauce | 128
Celery Sauce | 128
White Chestnut Sauce | 129
Brown Chestnut Sauce | 129
Parsley-green, for colouring Sauces | 129
To crisp Parsley | 130
Fried Parsley | 130
Mild Mustard | 130
Mustard, the common way | 130
French Batter for frying vegetables, and for Apple, Peach, or Orange fritters | 130
To prepare Bread for frying Fish | 131
Browned Flour for thickening Soups and Gravies | 131
Fried Bread-Crumbs | 131
Fried Bread for Garnishing | 131
Sweet Pudding Sauces, Chapter XXII. |

CHAPTER VI.

COLD SAUCES, SALADS, ETC.

| Page
Superior Mint Sauce, to serve with Lamb | 132
Common Mint Sauce | 132
Strained Mint Sauce | 132
Fine Horseradish Sauce, to serve with cold roast, stewed, or boiled Beef | 133
Cold Maître d’Hôtel, or Steward’s Sauce | 133
Cold Dutch or American Sauce, for Salads of dressed Vegetables, Salt Fish, or hard Eggs | 133
English Sauce for Salad, cold Meat, or cold Fish | 134
The Poet’s receipt for Salad | 135
Sauce Mayonnaise, for Salads, cold Meat, Poultry, Fish, or Vegetables | 135
Red or green Mayonnaise Sauce | 136
Imperial Mayonnaise, an elegant Jellied Sauce or Salad dressing | 136
Remoulade | 137
Oxford Brawn Sauce | 137
Forced Eggs for garnishing Salads | 137
Anchovy Butter (excellent) | 138
Lobster Butter | 138
Truffled Butter, and Truffles potted in Butter for the Breakfast or Luncheon table | 139
English Salads | 140
French Salad | 140
French Salad—Dressing | 140
Des Cerneaux, or Walnut Salad | 141
Suffolk Salad | 141
Yorkshire Ploughman’s Salad | 141
An excellent Salad of young Vegetables | 141
Sorrel Salad, to serve with Lamb Cutlets, Veal Cutlets, or roast Lamb | 142
Lobster Salad | 142
An excellent Herring Salad (Swedish receipt) | 143
Tartar Sauce (Sauce à la Tartare) | 143
Shrimp Chatney (Mauritian receipt) | 144
Capsicum Chatney | 144

CHAPTER VII.

STORE SAUCES.

| Page
Observations | 145
Chetney Sauce (Bengal receipt) | 146
Fine Mushroom Catsup | 146
Mushroom Catsup (another receipt) | 148
Double Mushroom Catsup | 148
Compound, or Cook’s Catsup | 149
Walnut Catsup | 149
Another good receipt for Walnut Catsup | 150
Lemon Pickle, or Catsup | 150
Pontac Catsup for Fish | 150
Bottled Tomatas, or Tomata Catsup | 151
Epicurean Sauce | 151
Tarragon Vinegar | 151
Green Mint Vinegar | 152
Cucumber Vinegar | 152
Celery Vinegar | 152.
Eschalot, or Garlic Vinegar | 152.
Eschalot Wine | 153
Horseradish Vinegar | 153
Cayenne Vinegar | 153
Lemon Brandy for flavouring Sweet Dishes | 153
Dried Mushrooms | 153
Mushroom Powder | 154
Potato Flour, or Arrow Root (Fecule de Pommes de Terre) | 154
To make Flour of Rice | 154
Powder of Savoury Herbs | 154
Tartar Mustard | 154
Another Tartar Mustard | 154

CHAPTER VIII.

FORCEMEATS.

| Page
General remarks on Forcemeats | 156
Good common Forcemeat for Veal, Turkeys, &c., No. 1 | 157
Another good common Forcemeat, No. 2 | 157
Superior Suet Forcemeat, No. 3 | 158
Common Suet Forcemeat, No. 4 | 158
Oyster Forcemeat, No. 5 | 159
Finer Oyster Forcemeat, No. 6 | 159
Mushroom Forcemeat, No. 7 | 159
Forcemeat for Hare, No. 8 | 160
Onion and Sage stuffing for Geese, Ducks, &c., No. 9 | 160
Mr. Cooke’s Forcemeat for Geese or Ducks, No. 10 | 161
Forcemeat Balls for Mock Turtle Soups, No. 11 | 161
Egg Balls, No. 12 | 162
Brain Cakes, No. 13 | 162
Another receipt for Brain Cakes, No. 14 | 162
Chestnut Forcemeat, No. 15 | 162
An excellent French Forcemeat, No. 16 | 163
French Forcemeat, called Quenelles, No. 17 | 163
Forcemeat for raised and other cold Pies, No. 18 | 164
Panada, No. 19 | 165

CHAPTER IX.

BOILING, ROASTING, ETC.

| Page
To boil Meat | 167
Poélée | 169
A Blanc | 169
Roasting | 169
Steaming | 172
Stewing | 173
Broiling | 175
Frying | 176
Baking, or Oven Cookery | 178
Braising | 180
Larding | 181
Boning | 182
To blanch Meat or Vegetables | 182
Glazing | 182
Toasting | 183
Browning with Salamander | 183

CHAPTER X.

BEEF.

| Page
To choose Beef | 184
When in season | 184
To roast Sirloin or Ribs of Beef | 184
Roast Rump of Beef | 186
To roast part of a Round of Beef | 186
To roast a Fillet of Beef | 187
Roast Beef Steak | 187
To broil Beef Steaks | 187
Beef Steaks à la Française (Entrée) | 188
Beef Steaks à la Française (another receipt) (Entrée) | 189
Stewed Beef Steak (Entrée) | 189
Fried Beef Steaks | 189
Beef Stewed in its own Gravy (good and wholesome) | 189
Beef or Mutton Cake (very good) (Entrée) | 190
German Stew | 190
Welsh Stew | 191
A good English Stew | 191
To stew Shin of Beef | 192
French Beef à la Mode (common receipt) | 192
Stewed Sirloin of Beef | 193
To stew a Rump of Beef | 194
Beef Palates (Entrée) | 197
Beef Palates (Neapolitan mode) | 195
Stewed Ox-tails (Entrée) | 195
Broiled Ox-tail (good) (Entrée) | 195
To salt and pickle Beef in various ways | 196
To salt and boil a round of Beef | 196
Hamburgh Pickle for Beef, Hams, and Tongues | 197
Another Pickle for Tongues, Beef, and Hams | 197
Dutch, or Hung Beef | 197
Collared Beef | 198
Collared Beef (another receipt) | 198
A common receipt for Salting Beef | 198
Spiced Round of Beef (very highly flavoured) | 199
Spiced Beef (good and wholesome) | 199
A miniature Round of Beef | 199
Beef Roll, or Canellon de Bœuf (Entrée) | 201
Minced Collops au Naturel (Entrée) | 201
Savoury minced Collops (Entrée) | 201
A richer variety of minced Collops (Entrée) | 202
Scotch minced Collops | 202
Beef Tongues | 202
Beef Tongues (a Suffolk receipt) | 203
To dress Beef Tongues | 203
Bordyke receipt for stewing a Tongue | 203
To roast a Beef Heart | 204
Beef Kidney | 204
Beef Kidney, a plainer way | 205
An excellent hash of cold Beef or Mutton | 205
A common hash of cold Beef or Mutton | 205
Breslaw of Beef (good) | 206
Norman Hash | 206
French receipt for hashed Bouilli | 206
Baked minced Beef | 207
Saunders | 207
To boil Marrow-bones | 207
Baked Marrow-bones | 208
Clarified Marrow for keeping | 208
Ox-cheek stuffed and baked | 208

CHAPTER XI.

VEAL.

| Page
Different joints of Veal | 209
When in season | 209
To take the hair from a Calf’s Head with the skin on | 210
Boiled Calf’s Head | 210
Calf’s Head, the Warder’s way (an excellent receipt) | 211
Prepared Calf’s Head (the Cook’s receipt) | 211
Burlington Whimsey | 212
Cutlets of Calf’s Head (Entrée) | 213
Hashed Calf’s Head (Entrée) | 213
Cheap hash of Calf’s Head | 213
To dress cold Calf’s Head, or Veal, à la maître d’hôtel (English receipt). (Entrée) | 214
Calf’s Head Brawn (Author’s receipt) | 215
To roast a Fillet of Veal | 216
Fillet of Veal, au Béchamel, with Oysters | 216
Boiled Fillet of Veal | 217
Roast Loin of Veal | 217
Boiled Loin of Veal | 218
Stewed Loin of Veal | 218
Boiled Breast of Veal | 218
To roast a Breast of Veal | 219
To bone a Shoulder of Veal, Mutton, or Lamb | 219
Stewed Shoulder of Veal (English receipt) | 219
Roast Neck of Veal | 220
Neck of Veal à la Créme, or au Béchamel | 220
Veal Goose (City of London receipt) | 220
Knuckle of Veal, en ragout | 221
Boiled Knuckle of Veal | 221
Knuckle of Veal, with Rice or Green Peas | 221
Small Pain de Veau, or Veal Cake (Entrée) | 222
Bordyke Veal Cake (good.) (Entrée) | 222
Fricandeau of Veal (Entrée) | 223
Spring stew of Veal (Entrée) | 224
Norman Harrico | 224
Plain Veal Cutlets (Entrée) | 225
Veal Cutlets à l’Indienne, or Indian fashion (Entrée) | 225
Veal Cutlets, or Collops, à la Française (Entrée) | 226
Scotch Collops (Entrée) | 226
Veal Cutlets, à la mode de Londres, or London fashion (Entrée) | 226
Sweetbreads, simply stewed, fricasseed, or glazed (Entrées) | 227
Sweetbread Cutlets (Entrée) | 227
Stewed Calf’s Feet (cheap and good) | 228
Calf’s Liver stoved or stewed | 228
To roast Calf’s Liver | 229
Blanquette of Veal, or Lamb, with Mushrooms (Entrée) | 229
Minced Veal (Entrée) | 230
Minced Veal with Oysters (Entrée) | 231
Veal Sydney (good) | 231
Fricasseed Veal (Entrée) | 231
Small Entreés of Sweetbreads, Calf’s Brains and Ears, &c. | 232

CHAPTER XII.

MUTTON AND LAMB.

| Page
Different joints of Mutton | 233
When in season | 233
To choose Mutton | 233
To roast a Haunch of Mutton | 234
Roast Saddle of Mutton | 235
To roast a Leg of Mutton | 235
Superior receipt for roast Leg of Mutton | 235
Braised Leg of Mutton | 236
Leg of Mutton boned and forced | 236
A boiled Leg of Mutton, with Tongue and Turnips (an excellent receipt) | 237
Roast or stewed Fillet of Mutton | 238
To roast a Loin of Mutton | 238
To dress a Loin of Mutton like Venison | 239
Roast Neck of Mutton | 239
To Roast a Shoulder of Mutton | 239
The Cavalier’s broil | 240
Forced Shoulder of Mutton | 240
Mutton Cutlets stewed in their own Gravy | 240
To broil Mutton Cutlets (Entrée) | 241
China Chilo | 241
A good family stew of Mutton | 242
An Irish stew | 242
A Baked Irish stew | 243
Cutlets of cold Mutton | 243
Mutton Kidneys à la Française (Entrée) | 243
Broiled Mutton Kidneys | 244
Oxford receipt for Mutton Kidneys (Breakfast dish or Entrée) | 244
To roast a Fore Quarter of Lamb | 244
Saddle of Lamb | 245
Roast Loin of Lamb | 245
Stewed Leg of Lamb, with white Sauce (Entrée) | 245
Loin of Lamb stewed in butter (Entrée) | 246
Lamb or Mutton Cutlets, with Soubise Sauce (Entrée) | 246
Lamb Cutlets in their own Gravy | 246
Cutlets of cold Lamb | 246

CHAPTER XIII.

PORK.

| Page
Different joints of Pork | 247
When in season | 247
To choose Pork | 247
To melt Lard | 248
To preserve unmelted Lard for many months | 248
To roast a Sucking Pig | 249
Baked Pig | 250
Pig à la Tartare (Entrée) | 250
Sucking Pig, en blanquette (Entrée) | 250
To roast Pork | 251
To roast a Saddle of Pork | 251
To broil or fry Pork Cutlets | 251
Cobbett’s receipt for curing Bacon | 252
A genuine Yorkshire receipt for curing Hams and Bacon | 253
Kentish mode of cutting up and curing a Pig | 254
French Bacon for larding | 254
To pickle Cheeks of Bacon and Hams | 257
Monsieur Ude’s receipt for Hams superior to Westphalia | 255
Super-excellent Bacon | 256
Hams (Bordyke receipt) | 256
To boil a Ham | 256
To garnish and ornament Hams in various ways | 257
French receipt for boiling a Ham | 258
To bake a Ham | 258
To boil Bacon | 259
Bacon broiled or fried | 259
Dressed Rashers of Bacon | 259
Tonbridge Brawn | 260
Italian Pork Cheese | 260
Sausage-meat Cake, or Pain de Porc Frais | 261
Sausages | 261
Kentish Sausage-meat | 261
Excellent Sausages | 262
Pounded Sausage-meat (very good) | 262
Boiled Sausages (Entrée) | 262
Sausages and Chestnuts (an excellent dish.) (Entrée) | 262
Truffled Sausages, or Saucisses aux truffles | 263

CHAPTER XIV.

POULTRY.

| Page
To choose Poultry | 264
To bone a Fowl or Turkey without opening it | 265
Another mode of boning a Fowl or Turkey | 265
To bone Fowls for Fricassees, Curries, and Pies | 266
To roast a Turkey | 267
To boil a Turkey Poult | 267
Turkey boned and forced (an excellent dish) | 268
Turkey à la Flamande, or dinde Poudrée | 270
To roast a Turkey | 270
To roast a Goose (and when in season) | 271
To roast a green Goose | 271
To roast a Fowl | 272
Roast Fowl (a French receipt) | 272
To roast a Guinea Fowl | 272
Fowl à la Carlsfors (Entrée) | 273
Boiled Fowls | 273
To broil a Chicken or Fowl | 274
Fricasseed Fowls or Chickens (Entrée) | 274
Chicken Cutlets (Entrée) | 275
Cutlets of Fowls, Partridges, or Pigeons (French receipt) (Entrée) | 275
Fried Chicken, à la Malabar (Entrée) | 275
Hashed Fowl (Entrée) | 276
French, and other receipts for minced Fowl (Entrée) | 276
Minced Fowl (French receipt) (Entrée) | 275
Fritot or Friteau of cold Fowls (Entrée) | 277
Scallops of Fowls au Béchamel (Entrée) | 277
Grillade of cold Fowls | 277
Fowls à la Mayonnaise | 278
To roast Ducks (and when in season) | 278
Stewed Duck (Entrée) | 278
To roast Pigeons (and when in season) | 279
Boiled Pigeons | 279

CHAPTER XV.

GAME.

| Page
To choose Game | 281
To roast a Haunch of Venison | 282
To stew a Shoulder of Venison | 283
To Hash Venison | 284
To roast a Hare | 284
Roast Hare (superior receipt) | 285
Stewed Hare | 286
To roast a Rabbit | 286
To boil Rabbits | 286
Fried Rabbit | 287
To roast a Pheasant | 287
Boudin of Pheasant, à la Richelieu (Entrée) | 288
To roast Partridges | 288
Boiled Partridges | 289
Partridges with Mushrooms | 289
Broiled Partridge (breakfast dish) | 290
Broiled Partridge (French receipt) | 290
The French, or Red-legged Partridge | 290
To roast the Landrail or Corn-Crake | 291
To roast Black Cock and Gray Hen (and when in season) | 291
To roast Grouse | 292
A salmi of Moorfowl, Pheasants, or Partridges (Entrée) | 292
French salmi, or hash of Game (Entrée) | 292
To roast Woodcocks or Snipes (and their season) | 293
To roast the Pintail or Sea-Pheasant, with the season of all Wild Fowl | 294
To roast Wild Ducks | 294
A salmi or hash of Wild Fowl | 294

CHAPTER XVI.

CURRIES, POTTED MEATS, ETC.

| Page
Remarks on Curries | 296
Mr. Arnott’s Currie Powder | 297
Mr. Arnott’s Currie | 297
A Bengal Currie | 298
A dry Currie | 298
A common Indian Currie | 299
Selim’s Curries (Captain White’s) | 300
Curried Macaroni | 300
Curried Eggs | 301
Curried Sweetbreads | 301
Curried Oysters | 302
Curried Gravy | 302
Potted Meats | 303
Potted Ham (an excellent receipt) | 304
Potted Chicken, Partridge, or Pheasant | 305
Potted Ox Tongue | 305
Potted Anchovies | 306
Lobster Butter (Chapter VI.) |
Potted Shrimps or Prawns (delicious) | 306
Potted Mushrooms (see Chapter XVII.) |
Moulded Potted Meat or Fish, for the second course | 306
Potted Hare | 307

CHAPTER XVII.

VEGETABLES.

| Page
Observations on Vegetables | 308
To clear Vegetables from Insects | 309
To boil Vegetables green | 309
Potatoes,—remarks on their properties and importance | 309
To boil Potatoes as in Ireland | 310
To boil Potatoes (the Lancashire way) | 311
To boil new Potatoes | 311
New Potatoes in Butter | 312
To boil Potatoes (Captain Kater’s receipt) | 312
To roast or bake Potatoes | 312
Scooped Potatoes (Entremets) | 312
Crisped Potatoes, or Potato-Ribbons (Entremets), or to serve with Cheese | 313
Fried Potatoes (Entremets) (plainer receipt) | 313
Mashed Potatoes | 313
English Potato-Balls, or Croquettes | 314
Potato Boulettes (Entremets) (good) | 314
Potato Rissoles (French) | 315
Potatoes à la Maître d’Hôtel | 315
Potatoes à la Crème | 315
Kohl-Cannon, or Kale-Cannon (an Irish receipt) | 315
To boil Sea-Kale | 316
Sea-Kale stewed in Gravy (Entremets) | 316
Spinach (Entremets) (French receipt) | 316
Spinach à l’Anglaise, or English fashion (Entremets) | 317
Spinach (common English mode) | 317
Another common English receipt for Spinach | 317
To dress Dandelions like Spinach, or as a Salad (very wholesome) | 318
Boiled Turnip Radishes | 318
Boiled Leeks | 318
Stewed Lettuces | 319
To boil Asparagus | 319
Asparagus points dressed like Peas (Entremets) | 319
To boil Green Peas | 320
Green Peas à la Française, or French fashion (Entremets) | 320
Green Peas with Cream (Entremets) | 321
To boil French Beans | 321
French Beans à la Française (Entremets) | 321
An excellent receipt for French Beans à la Française | 322
To boil Windsor Beans | 322
Dressed Cucumbers | 322
Mandrang, or Mandram (West Indian receipt) | 323
Another receipt for Mandram | 323
Dressed Cucumbers (Author’s receipt) | 323
Stewed Cucumbers (English mode) | 323
Cucumbers à la Poulette | 324
Cucumbers à la Créme | 324
Fried Cucumbers, to serve in common hashes and minces | 324
Melon | 325
To boil Cauliflowers | 325
Cauliflowers (French receipt) | 325
Cauliflowers with Parmesan Cheese | 325
Cauliflowers à la Française | 326
Brocoli | 326
To boil Artichokes | 326
Artichokes en Salade (see Chapter VI.) |
Vegetable Marrow | 327
Roast Tomatas (to serve with roast Mutton) | 327
Stewed Tomatas | 327
Forced Tomatas (English receipt) | 327
Forced Tomatas (French receipt) | 328
Purée of Tomatas | 328
To boil Green Indian Corn | 329
Mushrooms au Beurre | 329
Potted Mushrooms | 330
Mushroom-Toast, or Croule aux Champignons (excellent) | 330
Truffles, and their uses | 331
Truffles à la Serviette | 331
Truffles à l’Italienne | 331
To prepare Truffles for use | 332
To boil Sprouts, Cabbages, Savoys, Lettuces, or Endive | 332
Stewed Cabbage | 333
To boil Turnips | 333
To mash Turnips | 333
Turnips in white Sauce (Entremets) | 334
Turnips stewed in Butter (good) | 334
Turnips in Gravy | 335
To boil Carrots | 335
Carrots (the Windsor receipt) (Entremets) | 335
Sweet Carrots (Entremets) | 336
Mashed (or Buttered) Carrots (a Dutch receipt) | 336
Carrots au Beurre, or Buttered Carrots (French receipt) | 336
Carrots in their own Juice (a simple but excellent receipt) | 337
To boil Parsneps | 337
Fried Parsneps | 337
Jerusalem Artichokes | 337
To fry Jerusalem Artichokes (Entremets) | 338
Jerusalem Artichokes à la Reine | 338
Mashed Jerusalem Artichokes | 338
Haricots Blancs | 338
To boil Beet-Root | 339
To bake Beet-Root | 339
Stewed Beet-Root | 340
To stew Red Cabbage (Flemish receipt) | 340
Brussels Sprouts | 340
Salsify | 341
Fried Salsify (Entremets) | 341
Boiled Celery | 341
Stewed Celery | 341
Stewed Onions | 342
Stewed Chestnuts | 342

CHAPTER XVIII.

PASTRY.

| Page
Introductory remarks | 344
To glaze or ice Pastry | 345
Feuilletage, or fine French Puff Paste | 345
Very good light Paste | 346
English Puff Paste | 346
Cream Crust (very good) (Author’s receipt) | 347
Pâte Brisée (or French Crust for hot or cold Meat Pies) | 347
Flead Crust | 347
Common Suet-Crust for Pies | 348
Very superior Suet-Crust | 348
Very rich short Crust for Tarts | 349
Excellent short Crust for Sweet Pastry | 349
Bricche Paste | 349
Modern Potato Pasty, an excellent family dish | 350
Casserole of Rice | 351
A good common English Game Pie | 352
Modern Chicken Pie | 353
A common Chicken Pie | 353
Pigeon Pie | 354
Beef-steak Pie | 354
Common Mutton Pie | 355
A good Mutton Pie | 355
Raised Pies | 356
A Vol-au-Vent (Entrée) | 357
A Vol-au-Vent of Fruit (Entremets) | 358
A Vol-au-Vent à la Créme (Entremets) | 358
Oyster Patties (Entrée) | 359
Common Lobster Patties | 359
Superlative Lobster Patties (Author’s receipt) | 359
Good Chicken Patties (Entrée) | 359
Patties à la Pontife, a fast-day or maigre dish (Entrée) | 360
Excellent Meat Rolls | 360
Small Vols-au-Vents, or Patty-cases | 361
Another receipt for Tartlets | 361
A Sefton, or Veal Custard | 362
Apple Cake, or German Tart | 362
Tourte Meringuée, or Tart with royal icing | 363
A good Apple Tart | 363
Tart of very young green Apples (good) | 364
Barberry Tart | 364
The Lady’s Tourte, and Christmas Tourte à la Châtelaine | 364
Genoises à la Reine, or her Majesty’s Pastry | 366
Almond Paste | 367
Tartlets of Almond Paste | 367
Fairy Fancies (Fantaisies des Fées) | 368
Mincemeat (Author’s receipt) | 368
Superlative Mincemeat | 369
Mince Pies (Entremets) | 369
Mince Pies Royal (Entremets) | 370
The Monitor’s Tart, or Tourte à la Judd | 370
Pudding Pies (Entremets) | 371
Pudding Pies (a commoner kind) | 371
Cocoa-Nut cheese-cakes (Entremets) (Jamaica receipt) | 371
Common Lemon Tartlets | 372
Madame Werner’s Rosenvik cheese-cakes | 372
Apfel Krapfen (German receipt) | 373
Créme Pâtissière, or Pastry Cream | 373
Small Vols-au-Vent, à la Parisienne (Entremets) | 374
Pastry Sandwiches | 374
Lemon Sandwiches | 374
Fanchonnettes (Entremets) | 374
Jelly-Tartlets, or Custards | 375
Strawberry Tartlets (good) | 375
Raspberry Puffs | 375
Creamed Tartlets | 375
Ramakins à l’Ude, or Sefton-Fancies | 375

CHAPTER XIX.

SOUFFLÉS, OMLETS, ETC.

| Page
Soufflés | 377
Louise Franks’ Citron Soufflé | 378
A Fondu, or Cheese Souffle | 379
Observations on Omlets, Fritters, &c. | 380
A common Omlet | 380
An Omlette Soufflé (second course, remove of roast) | 381
Plain Common Fritters | 381
Pancakes | 382
Fritters of Cake and Pudding | 382
Mincemeat Fritters | 383
Venetian Fritters (very good) | 383
Rhubarb Fritters | 383
Apple, Peach, Apricot, or Orange Fritters | 384
Brioche Fritters | 384
Potato Fritters (Entremets) | 384
Lemon Fritters (Entremets) | 384
Cannelons (Entremets) | 385
Cannelons of Brioche paste (Entremets) | 385
Croquettes of Rice (Entremets) | 385
Finer Croquettes of Rice (Entremets) | 386
Savoury Croquettes of Rice (Entrée) | 386
Rissoles (Entrée) | 387
Very savoury Rissoles (Entrée) | 387
Small fried Bread Patties, or Croustades of various kinds | 387
Dresden Patties, or Croustades (very delicate) | 387
To prepare Beef Marrow for frying Croustades, Savoury Toasts, &c. | 388
Small Croustades, or Bread Patties, dressed in Marrow (Author’s receipt) | 388
Small Croustades, à la Bonne Maman (the Grandmamma’s Patties) | 389
Curried Toasts with Anchovies | 389
To fillet Anchovies | 389
Savoury Toasts | 390
To choose Macaroni, and other Italian Pastes | 390
To boil Macaroni | 391
Ribbon Macaroni | 391
Dressed Macaroni | 392
Macaroni à la Reine | 393
Semoulina and Polenta à l’Italienne (Good) (To serve instead of Macaroni) | 393

CHAPTER XX.

BOILED PUDDINGS.

| Page
General Directions | 395
To clean Currants for Puddings or Cakes | 397
To steam a Pudding in a common stewpan or saucepan | 397
To mix Batter for Puddings | 397
Suet Crust for Meat or Fruit Pudding | 398
Butter Crust for Puddings | 398
Savoury Puddings | 399
Beef-steak, or John Bull’s Pudding | 399
Small Beef-steak Pudding | 400
Ruth Pinch’s Beef-steak Pudding | 401
Mutton Pudding | 401
Partridge Pudding (very good) | 401
A Peas Pudding (to serve with Boiled Pork) | 401
Wine-sauce for Sweet Puddings | 402
Common Wine-sauce | 402
Punch-sauce for Sweet Puddings | 402
Clear arrow-root-sauce (with receipt for Welcome Guest’s Pudding) | 403
A German Custard Pudding-sauce | 403
A delicious German Pudding-sauce | 403
Red Currant or Raspberry-sauce (good) | 404
Common Raspberry-sauce | 404
Superior Fruit Sauces for Sweet Puddings | 404
Pine-apple Pudding-sauce | 405
A very fine Pine-apple Sauce or Syrup for Puddings, or other Sweet Dishes | 405
German Cherry-sauce | 406
Common Batter Pudding | 406
Another Batter Pudding | 406
Black-cap Pudding | 407
Batter Fruit Pudding | 407
Kentish Suet Pudding | 407
Another Suet Pudding | 408
Apple, Currant, Cherry, or other Fresh Fruit Pudding | 408
A common Apple Pudding | 409
Herodotus’ Pudding (A genuine classical receipt) | 409
The Publisher’s Pudding | 410
Her Majesty’s Pudding | 410
Common Custard Pudding | 411
Prince Albert’s Pudding | 411
German Pudding and Sauce (very good) | 412
The Welcome Guest’s own Pudding (light and wholesome. Author’s receipt) | 412
Sir Edwin Landseer’s Pudding | 412
A Cabinet Pudding | 413
A very fine Cabinet Pudding | 414
Snowdon Pudding (a genuine receipt) | 414
Very good Raisin Puddings | 415
The Elegant Economist’s Pudding | 415
Pudding à la Scoones | 416
Ingoldsby Christmas Puddings | 416
Small and very light Plum Pudding | 416
Vegetable Plum Pudding (cheap and good) | 417
The Author’s Christmas Pudding | 417
A Kentish Well-Pudding | 417
Rolled Pudding | 418
A Bread Pudding | 418
A Brown Bread Pudding | 419
A good boiled Rice Pudding | 419
Cheap Rice Pudding | 420
Rice and Gooseberry Pudding | 420
Fashionable Apple Dumplings | 420
Orange Snow-balls | 420
Apple Snow-balls | 421
Light Currant Dumplings | 421
Lemon Dumplings (light and good) | 421
Suffolk, or hard Dumplings | 421
Norfolk Dumplings | 421
Sweet boiled Patties (good) | 422
Boiled Rice, to be served with stewed Fruits, Preserves, or Raspberry Vinegar | 422

CHAPTER XXI.

BAKED PUDDINGS.

| Page
Introductory Remarks | 423
A baked Plum Pudding en Moule, or Moulded | 424
The Printer’s Pudding | 424
Almond Pudding | 425
The Young Wife’s Pudding (Author’s receipt) | 425
The Good Daughter’s Mincemeat Pudding (Author’s receipt) | 426
Mrs. Howitt’s Pudding (Author’s receipt) | 426
An excellent Lemon Pudding | 426
Lemon Suet Pudding | 427
Bakewell Pudding | 427
Ratifia Pudding | 427
The elegant Economist’s Pudding | 428
Rich Bread and Butter Pudding | 428
A common Bread and Butter Pudding | 429
A good baked Bread Pudding | 429
Another baked Bread Pudding | 430
A good Semoulina or Soujee Pudding | 430
French Semoulina Pudding, or Gâteau de Semoule | 430
Saxe-Gotha Pudding, or Tourte | 431
Baden Baden Puddings | 431
Sutherland, or Castle Puddings | 432
Madeleine Puddings (to be served cold) | 432
A good French Rice Pudding, or Gâteau de Riz | 433
A common Rice Pudding | 433
Quite cheap Rice Pudding | 434
Richer Rice Pudding | 434
Rich Pudding Meringué | 434
Good ground Rice Pudding | 435
Common ground Rice Pudding | 435
Green Gooseberry Pudding | 435
Potato Pudding | 436
A Richer Potato Pudding | 436
A good Sponge-cake Pudding | 436
Cake and Custard, and various other inexpensive Puddings | 437
Baked Apple Pudding, or Custard | 437
Dutch Custard, or Baked Raspberry Pudding | 438
Gabrielle’s Pudding, or sweet Casserole of Rice | 438
Vermicelli Pudding, with apples or without, and Puddings of Soujee and Semola | 439
Rice à la Vathek, or Rice Pudding à la Vathek (extremely good) | 440
Good Yorkshire Pudding | 440
Common Yorkshire Pudding | 441
Normandy Pudding (good) | 441
Common baked Raisin Pudding | 441
A richer baked Raisin Pudding | 442
The Poor Author’s Pudding | 442
Pudding à la Paysanne (cheap and good) | 442
The Curate’s Pudding | 442
A light baked Batter Pudding | 443

CHAPTER XXII.

EGGS AND MILK.

| Page
To preserve Eggs fresh for many weeks | 444
To cook Eggs in the shell without boiling them (an admirable receipt) | 445
To boil Eggs in the shell | 445
To dress the Eggs of the Guinea Fowl and Bantam | 446
To dress Turkeys’ Eggs | 447
Forced Turkeys’ Eggs (or Swans’), an excellent entremets | 447
To boil a Swan’s Egg hard | 448
Swan’s Egg en Salade | 448
To poach Eggs of different kinds | 449
Poached Eggs with Gravy (Œufs Pochés au Jus. Entremets.) | 449
Œufs au Plat | 450
Milk and Cream | 450
Devonshire, or Clotted Cream | 451
Du Lait a Madame | 451
Curds and Whey | 451
Devonshire Junket | 452

CHAPTER XXIII.

SWEET DISHES, OR ENTREMETS.

| Page
To prepare Calf’s Feet Stock | 453
To clarify Calf’s Feet Stock | 454
To clarify Isinglass | 454
Spinach Green, for colouring Sweet Dishes, Confectionary, or Soups | 455
Prepared Apple or Quince Juice | 456
Cocoa-nut flavoured Milk (for Sweet Dishes, &c.) | 456
Remarks upon Compotes of Fruit, or Fruit stewed in Syrup | 456
Compote of Rhubarb | 457
—— of Green Currants | 457
—— of Green Gooseberries | 457
—— of Green Apricots | 457
—— of Red Currants | 457
—— of Raspberries | 458
—— of Kentish or Flemish Cherries | 458
—— of Morella Cherries | 458
—— of the green Magnum Bonum, or Mogul Plum | 458
—— of Damsons | 458
—— of ripe Magnum Bonums, or Mogul Plums | 458
—— of the Shepherd’s and other Bullaces | 458
—— of Siberian Crabs | 458
—— of Peaches | 459
Another receipt for stewed Peaches | 459
Compote of Barberries for Dessert | 459
Black Caps, par excellence (for the Second Course, or for Dessert) | 460
Gâteau de Pommes | 460
Gâteau of mixed Fruits (good) | 461
Calf’s Feet Jelly (entremets) | 461
Another receipt for Calf’s Feet Jelly | 462
Modern varieties of Calf’s Feet Jelly | 463
Apple Calf’s Feet Jelly | 464
Orange Calf’s Feet Jelly (Author’s receipt) | 464
Orange Isinglass Jelly | 465
Very fine Orange Jelly (Sussex Place receipt) | 465
Oranges filled with Jelly | 466
Lemon Calf’s Feet Jelly | 467
Constantia Jelly | 467
Rhubarb Isinglass Jelly (Author’s original receipt) (good) | 468
Strawberry Isinglass Jelly | 468
Fancy Jellies, and Jelly in Belgrave mould | 469
Queen Mab’s Pudding (an elegant summer dish) | 470
Nesselróde Cream | 471
Crême à la Comtesse, or the Countess’s Cream | 472
An excellent Trifle | 473
Swiss Cream, or Trifle (very good) | 473
Tipsy Cake, or Brandy Trifle | 474
Chantilly Basket filled with whipped Cream and fresh Strawberries | 474
Very good Lemon Cream, made without Cream | 475
Fruit Creams, and Italian Creams | 475
Very superior whipped Syllabubs | 476
Good common Blanc-mange, or Blanc Manger (Author’s receipt) | 476
Richer Blanc-mange | 477
Jaumange, or Jaune Manger; sometimes called Dutch Flummery | 477
Extremely good Strawberry Blanc-mange, or Bavarian Cream | 477
Quince Blanc-mange (delicious) | 478
Quince Blanc-mange, with Almond Cream | 478
Apricot Blanc-mange, or Crême Parisienne | 479
Currant Blanc-mange | 479
Lemon Sponge, or Moulded Lemon Cream | 480
An Apple Hedgehog, or Suédoise | 480
Imperial Gooseberry-fool | 480
Very good old-fashioned boiled Custard | 481
Rich boiled Custard | 481
The Queen’s Custard | 481
Currant Custard | 482
Quince or Apple Custards | 482
The Duke’s Custard | 482
Chocolate Custards | 483
Common baked Custard | 483
A finer baked Custard | 483
French Custards or Creams | 484
German Puffs | 484
A Meringue of Rhubarb, or green Gooseberries | 485
Creamed Spring Fruit, or Rhubarb Trifle | 486
Meringue of Pears, or other fruit | 486
An Apple Charlotte, or Charlotte de Pommes | 486
Marmalade for the Charlotte | 487
A Charlotte à la Parisienne | 486
A Gertrude à la Créme | 486
Pommes au Beurre (Buttered Apples) (excellent) | 488
Suédoise of Peaches | 488
Aroce Doce, or Sweet Rice à la Portugaise | 489
Cocoa Nut Doce | 490
Buttered Cherries (Cerises au Beurre) | 490
Sweet Macaroni | 490
Bermuda Witches | 491
Nesselróde Pudding | 491
Stewed Figs (a very nice Compote) | 492

CHAPTER XXIV.

PRESERVES.

| Page
General Remarks on the use and value of Preserved Fruits | 493
A few General Rules and Directions for Preserving | 496
To Extract the Juice of Plums for Jelly | 497
To weigh the Juice of Fruit | 498
Rhubarb Jam | 498
Green Gooseberry Jelly | 498
Green Gooseberry Jam (firm and of good colour) | 499
To dry green Gooseberries | 499
Green Gooseberries for Tarts | 499
Red Gooseberry Jam | 500
Very fine Gooseberry Jam | 500
Jelly of ripe Gooseberries (excellent) | 500
Unmixed Gooseberry Jelly | 501
Gooseberry Paste | 501
To dry ripe Gooseberries with Sugar | 501
Jam of Kentish or Flemish Cherries | 502
To dry Cherries with Sugar (a quick and easy method) | 502
Dried Cherries (superior receipt) | 503
Cherries dried without Sugar | 503
To dry Morella Cherries | 504
Common Cherry Cheese | 504
Cherry Paste (French) | 504
Strawberry Jam | 504
Strawberry Jelly, a very superior Preserve (new receipt) | 505
Another very fine Strawberry Jelly | 505
To preserve Strawberries or Raspberries, for Creams or Ices, without boiling | 506
Raspberry Jam | 506
Very rich Raspberry Jam, or Marmalade | 506
Good Red or White Raspberry Jam | 507
Raspberry Jelly for flavouring Creams | 507
Another Raspberry Jelly (very good) | 508
Red Currant Jelly | 508
Superlative Red Currant Jelly (Norman receipt) | 509
French Currant Jelly | 509
Delicious Red Currant Jam | 509
Very fine White Currant Jelly | 510
White Currant Jam, a beautiful Preserve | 510
Currant Paste | 510
Fine Black Currant Jelly | 511
Common Black Currant Jelly | 511
Black Currant Jam and Marmalade | 511
Nursery Preserve | 512
Another good common Preserve | 512
A good Mélange, or mixed Preserve | 513
Groseillée, (another good Preserve) | 513
Superior Pine-apple Marmalade (a new receipt) | 513
A fine Preserve of the green Orange Plum (sometimes called the Stonewood Plum) | 514
Greengage Jam, or Marmalade | 515
Preserve of the Magnum Bonum, or Mogul Plum | 515
To dry or preserve Mogul Plums in syrup | 515
Mussel Plum Cheese and Jelly | 516
Apricot Marmalade | 516
To dry Apricots (a quick and easy method) | 517
Dried Apricots (French receipt) | 517
Peach Jam, or Marmalade | 518
To preserve or to dry Peaches or Nectarines (an easy and excellent receipt) | 518
Damson Jam (very good) | 519
Damson Jelly | 519
Damson or Red Plum Solid (good) | 519
Excellent Damson Cheese | 520
Red Grape Jelly | 520
English Guava (a firm, clear, bright Jelly) | 520
Very fine Imperatrice Plum Marmalade | 521
To dry Imperatrice Plums (an easy method) | 521
To bottle Fruit for winter use | 522
Apple Jelly | 522
Exceedingly fine Apple Jelly | 523
Quince Jelly | 524
Quince Marmalade | 523
Quince and Apple Marmalade | 525
Quince Paste | 525
Jelly of Siberian Crabs | 526
To preserve Barberries in bunches | 526
Barberry Jam (First and best receipt) | 506
Barberry Jam (second receipt) | 527
Superior Barberry Jelly, and Marmalade | 527
Orange Marmalade (a Portuguese receipt) | 527
Genuine Scotch Marmalade | 528
Clear Orange Marmalade (Author’s receipt) | 529
Fine Jelly of Seville Oranges (Author’s original receipt) | 530

CHAPTER XXV.

PICKLES.

| Page
Observations on Pickles | 531
To pickle Cherries | 532
To pickle Gherkins | 532
To pickle Gherkins (a French receipt) | 533
To pickle Peaches, and Peach Mangoes | 534
Sweet Pickle of Lemon (Foreign receipt) (to serve with roast meat) | 534
To pickle Mushrooms | 535
Mushrooms in brine, for winter use (very good) | 536
To pickle Walnuts | 536
To pickle Beet-Root | 537
Pickled Eschalots (Author’s receipt) | 537
Pickled Onions | 537
To pickle Lemons and Limes (excellent) | 538
Lemon Mangoes (Author’s original receipt) | 538
To pickle Nasturtiums | 539
To pickle red Cabbage | 539

CHAPTER XXVI.

CAKES.

| Page
General Remarks on Cakes | 540
To blanch and to pound Almonds | 542
To reduce Almonds to a Paste (the quickest and easiest way) | 542
To colour Almonds or Sugar-grains, or Sugar-candy, for Cakes or Pastry | 542
To prepare Butter for rich Cakes | 543
To whisk Eggs for light rich Cakes | 543
Sugar Glazings and Icings, for fine Cakes and Pastry | 543
Orange-Flower Macaroons (delicious) | 544
Almond Macaroons | 544
Very fine Cocoa-nut Macaroons | 545
Imperials (not very rich) | 545
Fine Almond Cake | 545
Plain Pound or Currant Cake (or rich Brawn Brack or Borrow Brack) | 546
Rice Cake | 546
White Cake | 546
A good Sponge Cake | 547
A smaller Sponge Cake (very good) | 547
Fine Venetian Cake or Cakes | 547
A good Madeira Cake | 548
A Solimemne (a rich French breakfast cake, or Sally Lunn) | 549
Banbury Cakes | 549
Meringues | 550
Italian Meringues | 551
Thick, light Gingerbread | 551
Acton Gingerbread | 552
Cheap and very good Ginger Oven-cake or Cakes | 552
Good common Gingerbread | 553
Richer Gingerbread | 553
Cocoa-nut Gingerbread (original receipts) | 553
Delicious Cream Cake and Sweet Rusks | 554
A good light Luncheon-cake and Brawn Brack | 554
A very cheap Luncheon-biscuit, or Nursery-cake | 555
Isle of Wight Dough-nuts | 556
Queen Cakes | 556
Jumbles | 556
A good Soda Cake | 556
Good Scottish Short-bread | 557
A Galette | 557
Small Sugar Cakes of various kinds | 558
Fleed, or Flead Cakes | 558
Light Buns of different kinds | 559
Exeter Buns | 559
Threadneedle-street Biscuits | 560
Plain Dessert Biscuits and Ginger Biscuits | 560
Good Captain’s Biscuits | 560
The Colonel’s Biscuits | 561
Aunt Charlotte’s Biscuits | 561
Excellent Soda Buns | 561

CHAPTER XXVII.

CONFECTIONARY.

| Page
To clarify Sugar | 562
To boil Sugar from Syrup to Candy, or to Caramel | 563
Caramel (the quickest way) | 563
Barley-sugar | 564
Nougat | 564
Ginger-candy | 565
Orange-flower Candy | 565
Orange-flower Candy (another receipt) | 566
Cocoa-nut Candy | 566
Everton Toffee | 567
Chocolate Drops | 567
Chocolate Almonds | 568
Seville Orange Paste | 568

CHAPTER XXVIII.

DESSERT DISHES.

| Page
Dessert Dishes | 569
Pearled Fruit, or Fruit en Chemise | 570
Salad of mixed Summer Fruits | 570
Peach Salad | 570
Orange Salad | 571
Tangerine Oranges | 571
Peaches in Brandy (Rotterdam receipt) | 571
Brandied Morella Cherries | 571
Baked Compôte of Apples (our little lady’s receipt) | 572
Dried Norfolk Biffins | 572
Normandy Pippins | 572
Stewed Pruneaux de Tours, or Tours dried Plums | 573
To bake Pears | 573
Stewed Pears | 573
Boiled Chestnuts | 574
Roasted Chestnuts | 574
Almond Shamrocks (very good and very pretty) | 574
Small Sugar Soufflés | 575
Ices | 575

CHAPTER XXIX.

SYRUPS, LIQUEURS, ETC.

| Page
Strawberry Vinegar, of delicious flavour | 577
Very fine Raspberry Vinegar | 578
Fine Currant Syrup, or Sirop de Groseilles | 579
Cherry Brandy (Tappington Everard receipt) | 579
Oxford Punch | 580
Oxford receipt for Bishop | 580
Cambridge Milk Punch | 581
To mull Wine (an excellent French receipt) | 581
A Birthday Syllabub | 581
An admirable cool cup | 582
The Regent’s, or George the Fourth’s Punch | 582
Mint Julep (an American receipt) | 582
Delicious Milk Lemonade | 583
Excellent portable Lemonade | 583
Excellent Barley Water (Poor Xury’s receipt) | 583
Raisin Wine, which, if long kept, really resembles foreign | 583
Very good Elderberry Wine | 584
Very Good Ginger Wine | 584
Excellent Orange Wine | 585
The Counsellor’s Cup | 585

CHAPTER XXX.

COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, ETC.

| Page
Coffee | 587
To roast Coffee | 588
A few general directions for making Coffee | 589
Excellent Breakfast Coffee | 590
To boil Coffee | 591
Café Noir | 592
Burnt Coffee, or Coffee à la militaire (In France vulgarly called Gloria) | 592
To make Chocolate | 592
A Spanish recipe for making and serving Chocolate | 592
To make Cocoa | 593

CHAPTER XXXI.

BREAD.

| Page
Remarks on Home-made Bread | 594
To purify Yeast for Bread or Cakes | 595
The Oven | 595
A few rules to be observed in making Bread | 596
Household Bread | 596
Bordyke Bread (Author’s receipt) | 597
German Yeast (and Bread made with German Yeast) | 598
Professor Liebig’s Bavarian Brown Bread (very nutritious and wholesome) | 599
English Brown Bread | 599
Unfermented Bread | 599
Potato Bread | 600
Dinner or Breakfast Rolls | 600
Geneva Rolls or Buns | 601
Rusks | 602
Excellent Dairy Bread, made without Yeast (Author’s receipt) | 602
To keep Bread | 603
To freshen stale Bread (and Pastry, &c.) and preserve it from mould | 603
To know when Bread is sufficiently baked | 604
On the proper fermentation of Dough | 604

CHAPTER XXXII.

FOREIGN AND JEWISH COOKERY.

| Page
Foreign and Jewish Cookery | 605
Remarks on Jewish Cookery | 606
Jewish Smoked Beef | 606
Chorissa (or Jewish Sausage) with Rice | 607
To fry Salmon and other Fish in Oil (to serve cold) | 607
Jewish Almond Pudding | 608
The Lady’s or Invalid’s new Baked Apple Pudding (Author’s original receipt. Appropriate to the Jewish table) | 608
A few general directions for the Jewish table | 609
Tomata and other Chatnies (Mauritian receipt) | 609
Indian Lobster Cutlets | 610
An Indian Burdwan (Entrée) | 611
The King of Oude’s Omlet | 611
Kedgeree or Kidgeree, an Indian breakfast-dish | 612
A simple Syrian Pilaw | 612
Simple Turkish or Arabian Pilaw (From Mr. Lane, the Oriental traveller) | 613
A real Indian Pilaw | 613
Indian receipt for Curried Fish | 614
Bengal Currie Powder, No. 1 | 614
Risotto à la Mayonnaise | 615
Stufato (a Neapolitan receipt) | 615
Broiled Eels with sage (Entrée) (German receipt. Good) | 616
A Swiss Mayonnaise | 615
Tendrons de Veau | 617
Poitrine de Veau Glacée (Breast of Veal stewed and glazed) | 618
Breast of Veal simply stewed | 618
Compote de Pigeons (Stewed Pigeons) | 619
Mai Trank (May Drink) (German) | 620
A Viennese Soufflé Pudding, called Salzburger Nockerl | 620

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

TRUSSING.

| Page
Remarks on Trussing | xxxiii
General Directions for Trussing | xxxiii
To truss a Turkey, Fowl, Pheasant, or Partridge, for roasting | xxxiv
To truss Fish | xxxv

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

CARVING.

| Page
Remarks on Carving | xxxvii
No. 1. Cod’s head and shoulder (and Cod fish generally) | xxxviii
No. 2. A Turbot | xxxviii
No. 2a. Soles | xxxviii
No. 3. Salmon | xxxviii
No. 4. Saddle of Mutton | xxxviii
No. 5. A Haunch of Venison (or Mutton) | xxxix
No. 6. Sirloin or Rump of Beef | xxxix
No. 6a. Ribs of Beef | xxxix
No. 6b. A round of Beef | xxxix
No. 6c. A brisket of Beef | xl
No. 7. Leg of Mutton | xl
No. 8. Quarter of Lamb | xl
No. 9. Shoulder of Mutton or Lamb | xl
No. 10. A Sucking Pig | xl
No. 10a. A fillet of Veal | xli
No. 10b. A loin of Veal | xli
No. 11. A breast of Veal | xli
No. 12. A tongue | xli
No. 13. A calf’s head | xli
No. 14. A ham | xlii
No. 15. A pheasant | xlii
No. 16. A boiled fowl | xliii
No. 17. A roast fowl | xliv
No. 18. A partridge | xliv
No. 19. A woodcock | xlv
No. 20. A pigeon | xlv
No. 21. A snipe | xlv
No. 22. A goose | xlv
Ducks | xlvi
No. 23. A wild duck | xlvi
No. 24. A turkey | xlvi
No. 25. A hare | xlvii
No. 26. A fricandeau of veal | xlvii

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.

TRUSSING.

Trussing Needles.

Common and untrained cooks are often deplorably ignorant of this branch of their business, a knowledge of which is, nevertheless, quite as essential to them as is that of boiling or roasting; for without it they cannot, by any possibility, serve up dinners of decently creditable appearance. We give such brief general directions for it as our space will permit, and as our own observations enable us to supply; but it has been truly said, by a great authority in these matters, that trussing cannot be “taught by words;” we would, therefore, recommend, that instead of relying on any written instructions, persons who really desire thoroughly to understand the subject, and to make themselves acquainted with the mode of entirely preparing all varieties of game and poultry more especially for table, in the very best manner, should apply for some practical lessons to a first-rate poulterer; or, if this cannot be done, that they should endeavour to obtain from some well experienced and skilful cook the instruction which they need.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR TRUSSING.

Before a bird is trussed, the skin must be entirely freed from any down which may be on it, and from all the stubble-ends of the feathers;[3] the hair also must be singed from it with lighted writing paper, care being taken not to smoke nor blacken it in the operation. Directions for cleansing the insides of birds after they are drawn, are given in the receipts for dressing them, Chapters XIV. and XV. Turkeys, geese, ducks, wild or tame, fowls, and pigeons, should all have the necks taken off close to the bodies, but not the skin of the necks, which should be left sufficiently long to turn down upon the backs for a couple of inches or more, where it must be secured, either with a needle and coarse soft cotton, or by the pinions of the birds when trussed.

3.  This should be particularly attended to.

For boiling, all poultry or other birds must have the feet drawn off at the first joint of the leg, or as shown in the engraving. (In the latter case, the sinews of the joint must be slightly cut, when the bone may be easily turned back as here.) The skin must then be loosened with the finger entirely from the legs, which must be pushed back into the body, and the small ends tucked quite under the apron, so as to be entirely out of sight.

The wings of chickens, fowls, turkeys, and pigeons, are left on entire, whether for roasting or boiling. From geese, ducks, pheasants, partridges, black game, moor-fowl, woodcocks, snipes, wild-fowl of all kinds, and all small birds, the first two joints are taken off, leaving but one joint on, thus:—

The feet are left on ducks, and those of tame ones are trussed as will be seen at page 278, and upon roast fowls, pheasants, black and moor-game, pigeons, woodcocks, and snipes. The thick coarse skin of the legs of these must be stripped, or rubbed off with a hard cloth after they have been held in boiling water, or over a clear fire for a few minutes. The sharp talons must be pulled out, and the nails clipped. The toes of the pigeons for roasting should be cut off.

Geese, sucking-pigs, hares, and rabbits have the feet taken off at the first joint.

The livers and gizzards are served in the wings of roast turkeys and fowls only.

The heads are still commonly left on pheasants, partridges, and black game and moor-game; but the fashion is declining. Of this we shall speak more particularly in the ensuing chapter.

Poultry and birds in general, except perhaps quite the larger kinds, are more easily trussed into plump handsome form with twine and needles proper to the purpose (for which see page 1), than with skewers. The manner in which the legs and wings are confined is much the same for all; the principal difference being in the arrangement of the former for boiling, which has already been explained.

There is a present mode of trussing very large fowls for boiling or stewing which to our taste is more novel than attractive. The feet are left on, and after the skin has been loosened from them in every part, the legs are thrust entirely into the body by means of a slight incision made in the skin just above the first joint on the underside, the feet then appear almost as if growing out of the sides of the breast: the effect of this is not pleasing.

TO TRUSS A TURKEY, FOWL, PHEASANT OR PARTRIDGE, FOR ROASTING.

First draw the skin of the neck down over the back, and secure it from slipping up; then thread a trussing needle of convenient size,[4] for the occasion, with packthread or small twine (the former, from being the most flexible, is best); pass it through the pinion of the bird, then through the thick part of the thigh, which must be brought up close under the wing, and in a straight line quite through the body, and through the leg and pinion on the other side; draw them close, and bring the needle back, passing it through the thick part of the leg, and through the second joint of the pinion, should it be left on the bird; tie it quite tight; and then to secure the legs, pierce the sidebone and carry the twine over the legs, then pass the needle through the other sidebone, and tie them close down. If skewers be used they should be driven through the pinions and the legs, and a twine passed across the back of the bird, and caught over the points of it, and then tied in the centre of the back: this is only needful when the trussing is not firm.

4.  These may be had, of various sizes, at any good ironmongers.

When the head is left on a bird, it may still be trussed in the same way, and the head brought round, as shown here, and kept in place by a skewer passed through it, and run through the body. When the bird is trussed entirely with skewers, the point of one is brought from the other side, through the pinions and the thighs, and the head is fixed upon it. The legs are then pressed as much as possible under the breast, between it and the side-bones, where they are lettered a b. The partridge in the engraving is shown with the skewers just withdrawn after being roasted.

Hares, after being filled with forcemeat, and sewn or securely fastened up with skewers, are brought into proper roasting form by having the head fixed between the shoulders, and either fastened to the back by means of a long skewer, run through the head quite into it, or by passing one through the upper part of the shoulders and the neck together, which will keep it equally well in place, though less thrown back. The fore-legs are then laid straight along the sides of the hare, and a skewer is thrust through them both and the body at the same time; the sinews are just cut through under the hind-legs, and they are brought forward as much as possible, and skewered in the same manner as the others. A string is then thrown across, under the hare and over the points of both skewers, being crossed before it is passed over the second, and then tied above the back. The ears of a hare are left on; those of a rabbit, which is trussed in the same way, are taken off.

Paste Brush.

Joints of meat require but little arrangement, either for the spit or for boiling. A fillet of veal must have the flap, or part to which the fat adheres, drawn closely round the outside, and be skewered or bound firmly into good shape: this will apply equally to a round of beef. The skin or flank of loins of meat must be wrapped over the ends of the bones, and skewered on the underside. The cook should be particularly careful to separate the joints when it has not been done by the butcher, and necks of veal or mutton also, or much trouble will often arise to the carver.

Cutlet Bat.

To flatten and bring cutlets into uniform shape, a bat of this form is used: and to egg or to cover them with clarified butter when they are to be crumbed, a paste-brush should be at hand. Indeed, these and many other small means and appliances, ought to be provided for every cook who is expected to perform her duty in a regular and proper manner, for they save much time and trouble, and their first expense is very slight; yet many kitchens are almost entirely without them.

TO TRUSS FISH.

Salmon, salmon-peel, pike, and some few other large fish, are occasionally trussed in the form of an S by passing a string through the head, and tying it securely, then through the centre of the body, and next round the tail, which should be turned the reverse way of the head, and the whole should then be drawn closely together and well fastened. Whitings and other fish of small size are trussed with the tails merely skewered into their mouths. Obs.—It is indispensable for cooks to know how to carve neatly for pies, puddings, fricassees, and curries, at the least, hares, rabbits, fowls, and other birds. For those who are quite without experience in this branch of their business, the directions and the illustrations in the next chapter for carving a fowl into joints, will be found useful; and probably many of the other instructions also.

CARVING.

Fish Carvers.

Whether the passing fashion of the day exact it of her or not, a gentlewoman should always, for her own sake, be able to carve well and easily, the dishes which are placed before her, that she may be competent to do the honours of a table at any time with propriety and self-possession.[5] To gentlemen, and especially to those who mix much in society, some knowledge of this art, and a certain degree of skill in the exercise of it, are indispensable, if they would avoid the chance of appearing often to great disadvantage themselves, and of causing dissatisfaction and annoyance to others; for the uncouth operations of bad carvers occasion almost as much discomfort to those who witness, as they do generally of awkwardness and embarrassment to those who exhibit them.

5.  As this can only be accomplished by practice, young persons should be early accustomed to carve at home, where the failure of their first attempts will cause them much less embarrassment than they would in another sphere, and at a later period of life.

The precise mode of carving various dishes must of course depend on many contingencies. For a plain family-dinner, or where strict economy is an imperative consideration, it must sometimes, of necessity, differ from that which is laid down here. We have confined our instructions to the fashion usually adopted in the world.

Carving knives and forks are to be had of many forms and sizes, and adapted to different purposes: the former should always have a very keen edge, and the latter two prongs only.

No. 1. COD’S HEAD AND SHOULDERS (AND COD FISH GENERALLY.)

The thick part of the back of this, as of all large fish—salmon excepted—is the firmest and finest eating. It should be carved across, rather thick, and, as much as possible, in unbroken slices, from a to b. The sound, which is considered a delicacy, lies underneath, and lines the back-bone: it must be reached with a spoon in the direction c. The middle of the fish, when served to a family party, may be carved in the same manner, or in any other which convenience and economy may dictate.

No. 2. A TURBOT.

In carving this most excellent fish, the rich gelatinous skin attached to it, and a portion of the thick part of the fins, should be served with every slice. If the point of the fish-knife be drawn down the centre of the back through to the bone, in the lines a b c, and from thence to d d d, the flesh may easily be raised upon the blade in handsome portions,. The thickest parts of all flat fish are the best. A brill and a John Dory are served exactly like a turbot.

SOLES.

The more elegant mode of serving these, and the usual one at good tables, is to raise the flesh from the bones as from a turbot, which is easily done when the fish are large; but when they are too small well to admit of it, they must be divided across quite through the bone: the shoulders, and thick part of the body, are the superior portions.

No. 3. SALMON.

It is customary to serve a slice of the thick part of the back of this fish, which is marked from a to b, with one of the thinner and richer portions of it, shown by the line from c to d. It should be carved quite straight across, and the fine flakes of the flesh should be preserved as entire as possible. Salmon-peel, pike, haddocks, large whitings, and all fish which are served curled round, and with the backs uppermost, are carved in the same manner; the flesh is separated from the bone in the centre of the back, and taken off, on the outer side first, in convenient portions for serving. The flesh of mackerel is best raised from the bones by passing the fish-slice from the tail to the head: it may then be divided in two.

No. 4. SADDLE OF MUTTON.

The manner of trussing this joint varies almost from season to season, the mode which is considered in good taste one year being obsolete the next, in families where passing fashions are closely observed. It seems really immaterial whether it be served as shown in the engraving; or whether two or three joints of the tail be left on and surrounded with a paper frill. This joint is now trussed for roasting in the manner shown in the engraving; and when it is dished a silver skewer replaces the one marked e. It is likewise often still served in good families with only two or three joints of the tail left on. The most usual mode of carving it is in thin slices cut quite along the bone, on either side, in the line a to b; but it is sometimes sliced obliquely from c to d: this last fashion is rather gaining ground. The thick end of the joint must then, of course, be to the left of the carver. A saddle of pork or of lamb is carved exactly in the same manner.

No. 5. A HAUNCH OF VENISON (OR MUTTON.)

An incision must first be made entirely across the knuckle end of this joint, quite down to the bone, in the line a b, to let the gravy escape; it must then be carved in thin slices taken as deep as they can be, the whole length of the haunch, from c to d. A portion of the fat should invariably be served with the venison.

No. 6. SIRLOIN OR RUMP OF BEEF.

As the very tender part of this favourite joint, which lies under the bone, and is called the fillet, is preferred by many eaters, the beef should be raised, and some slices be taken from it in the direction a b, before the carver proceeds further. The slices should be cut quite across the joint, from side to side, as indicated by the line from c to d, in which direction the whole of the meat is occasionally carved, though it is much more usual to slice the upper part from e to f. When the brown outside has been taken off this, it should be evenly carved in thin slices, and served with some of the gravy in the dish, and accompanied with horseradish very lightly and finely scraped, with tufts of which the beef is commonly garnished.

RIBS OF BEEF.

Are carved in the same manner as the sirloin; but there is no fillet attached to them.

A ROUND OF BEEF.

To carve this well, a very sharp-edged and thin-bladed knife is requisite. A thick slice should first be taken entirely off the top of the joint, leaving it very smooth; it should then be cut as thin and as evenly as possible, and delicate slices of the fat or udder should be served with the lean.

A BRISKET OF BEEF

Is carved in slices quite across the bones.

No. 7. LEG OF MUTTON.

This, whether roast or boiled, is dished as it lies in the engraving, unless when fanciful eaters prefer the underside of the joint laid uppermost, and carved quite across the middle, for the sake of the finely grained meat which lies beneath the part commonly called the Pope’s eye. In a general way, the mutton should be sliced, rather thick than thin as directed by the line between a b; the fat will be found in the direction c d.

No. 8. QUARTER OF LAMB.

The shoulder must be divided, and raised entirely from the breast in the direction of the letters a b c d. A slice of butter sprinkled with cayenne and salt is then usually laid between them, and a little lemon-juice is added, or a cold Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce is substituted for these. The shoulder may then be removed into another dish or not, as is most convenient. The brisket is next separated from the long bones in the line e f, and carved in the direction g h; the rib-bones are divided from i i to j j. The choice of the different parts is offered in serving them.

No. 9. SHOULDER OF MUTTON OR LAMB.

Commence by cutting from the outer edge direct to the bone of the shoulder in the line a b, and carve as many slices from that part of the joint as it will afford: then, if more be required, draw the knife on either side of the ridge of the blade-bone in the direction c c d d. The fat must be carved in the line e f. Some eaters have a preference for the juicy, but not very finely-grained flesh on the underside of the shoulder, which must be turned, for it to be carved. For the mode of boning a shoulder of mutton or veal, and giving it a more agreeable appearance, see 219.

No. 10. A SUCKING PIG.

Every part of a sucking pig is good, but some persons consider the flesh of the neck which lies between the shoulders, and the ribs as the most delicate portion of it. The shoulders themselves are preferred by others. They should be taken off, and the legs also, by passing the knife under them at the letters a b c. The ribs may then be easily divided from e to d. The flesh only of the larger joints should be served to ladies; but gentlemen often prefer it sent to them on the bones.

A FILLET OF VEAL.

There is no difference between the mode of carving this and a round of beef; but the brown outside slice of the veal is much liked by many eaters, and a portion of it should be served to them when it is known to be so. The forcemeat must be reached by cutting deeply into the flap, and a slice of it served always with the veal.

A LOIN OF VEAL.

This may be carved at choice quite across through the thick part of the flesh, or in slices taken in the direction of the bones. A slice of the kidney, and of the fat which surrounds it, should accompany the veal.

No. 11. A BREAST OF VEAL.

The brisket or gristles[6] of this joint must first be entirely separated from the rib-bones by pressing the knife quite through it in the line between a and b; this part may then be divided as shown by the letters c c c d d d, and the long bones or ribs may easily be separated in the direction e f. The taste of those who are served should be consulted as to the part of the joint which is preferred. The sweetbread is commonly sent to table with a roast breast of veal, and laid upon it: a portion of it should be served with every plate of the breast.

6.  The tendons are literally the small white gristles themselves, which are found under the flesh in this part of the joint. When freed from the bone attached to them, they may be dressed in a variety of ways, and are extremely good: but they require from four to six hours’ stewing to render them perfectly tender, even when each tendon is divided into three or four slices. The upper flesh must be laid back from the tendons before they are taken from the breast, not left adhering to them. They are very good simply stewed in white gravy, and served with green peas, à la Française, in the centre. The breast entirely boned, forced, and rolled, makes a handsome dish, either roasted or stewed.

No. 12. A TONGUE.

This is sliced, not very thin, through the thickest and best part, shown by the letters a b. The fat of the root, when it is liked, must be carved by turning the tongue, and cutting in the direction c d.

No. 13. A CALF’S HEAD.

An entire calf’s head, served in its natural form, recalls too forcibly the appearance of the living animal to which it has belonged not to be very uninviting. Even when the half of one only is sent to table, something of the same aspect remains, and as it is in every way improved, and rendered most easy to carve when boned[7] and rolled, we would recommend its being so prepared whenever it can be done without difficulty. Our engraving does not give a very flattering representation of it in that form, but having been dressed with the skin on, it was not quite so easily brought into handsome shape as if it had been freed from it; yet we would nevertheless advise its being generally retained. When the head is served without being boned, it is carved across the cheek, in the line from a to b; the part which in flavour and appearance resembles a sweetbread, and which is regarded as a delicacy, lies in the direction indicated by the letters c d. The flesh of the eye is another favourite morsel, which must be detached from the head by passing the point of the carving knife deeply round the eye-hole, in the circle marked e e.

7.  This will be more easily accomplished by an experienced cook after the head has been boiled for half an hour and then allowed to cool; but it should not be left until cold before it is altogether prepared for dressing. After the bones are removed, it should be laid on a clean cloth, and the inside sprinkled over or rubbed with a little salt, mace, and cayenne, well mixed together; the tongue may be laid upon, and rolled up in it. It must be secured, first with a skewer, and then bound tightly round with tape. It should be boiled or stewed extremely tender; and is excellent when just covered with good stock, and simmered for two hours, or when strong broth is substituted for this, and the bones are added to it. The head may be glazed, and served with rich brown gravy, or with the ordinary sauces if preferred; and it may be eaten cold, with Oxford brawn sauce, which is compounded of brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, and salt, mixed to the taste, with the addition of oil when it is liked.

No. 14. A HAM.

Strict economists sometimes commence the carving of a ham at the knuckle, and so gradually reach the choicer portion of it; but this method is not at all to be recommended. It should be cut at once through the thick part of the flesh, quite down to the bone, in the line a b, and sliced very thin and evenly, without separating the fat from the lean. The decoration of the ham No. 14, is formed by leaving on it a portion of the rind at the knuckle in a semi-circle, and then trimming it into scollops or points at pleasure; and the ornamental part of the top is formed from the fat which is pared away from the thick end and the edges. A paper ruffle, as will be seen, is wrapped round the bone of the knuckle.

No. 15. A PHEASANT.

This bird was formerly always sent to table with the head on, but it was a barbarous custom, which has been partially abandoned of late in the best houses, and which it is hoped may soon be altogether superseded by one of better taste. The breast is by far the finest part of a pheasant, and it is carved in slices from pinion to pinion, in the lines a a b b; the legs may then be taken off, in the direction c d. The bird, when it is preferred so, may be entirely dismembered by the directions for a fowl, No. 16. Black and moor-game are trussed and served like pheasants. The breasts of both are very fine eating, and the thigh of the black-cock is highly esteemed.

No. 16. A BOILED FOWL.

The boiled fowl of plate 6 is represented as garnished with branches of parsley, which is an error, as they would be appropriate to it only if it were cold, and it is seldom served so, being considered insipid. Small tufts of cauliflower would have been in better keeping with it, as the bird is supposed to be dished for the dinner-table. Unless it be for large family parties, fowls are seldom carved there entirely into joints; but when it is wished to divide them so, the fork should be fixed firmly in the centre of the breast, and the leg, being first disengaged from the skin, may be taken off with the wing in the line a b; or, the wing being previously removed, by carving it down the line to b, and there separating it from the neck-bone, the leg may be released from the skin, and easily taken off, by cutting round it from a to c, and then turning it with the fork, back from the body, when the joint will readily be perceived.

After the leg and wing on the other side have been taken off in the same manner, the merrythought must follow. To remove this, the knife must be drawn through the flesh in the line d e, and then turned towards the neck quite under the merrythought, which it will so lift from the breast, in this form:—The neck-bones—which lie close under the upper part of the wings, and are shaped thus—must next be disengaged from the fowl, by putting the knife in at the top of the joint, dividing the long part of the bone from the flesh, and breaking the short one off by raising it up, and turning it from the body; the breast, which is shown here, may then be divided from it by merely cutting through the tender ribs on either side.

It is seldom that further disjointing than this is required at table; but when it is necessary to cut up the entire fowl, the remainder of it must be laid with the back uppermost, and to take off the side-bones, which are of this shape—the point of the knife must be pressed through the back-bone, near the top, about half an inch from the centre, and brought down towards the end of the back, quite through the bone, then turned in the opposite direction, when the joints will separate without difficulty. All which then remains to be done is, to lay the edge of the knife across the middle of the only two undivided bones, and then with the fork to raise the small end of the fowl, which will part them immediately: to carve a boiled fowl or chicken in a more modern manner, see the directions which follow. The breast, wings, and merrythought, are the most delicate parts of a fowl. On the upper part of the sidebone is the small round portion of flesh called the oyster, by many persons considered as a great delicacy.

No. 17. A ROAST FOWL.

It is not usual to carve fowls entirely at table in the manner described above. The wings, and any other joints are taken off only as they are required. The breast of a very large fowl may be carved in slices like that of a turkey; or the whole of that of a small one may be taken off with the wings, as shown by the line a b. As the liver is a delicacy, the handsomer mode of serving these last is to remove the gizzard, which is seldom eaten, then to divide the liver, and to send an equal portion of it with each wing. The whole of a roast fowl may be carved by the directions we have already given for No. 16.

No. 18. A PARTRIDGE.

When partridges are served to ladies only, or in parties where they are present, it is now customary to take off the heads, to truss the legs short, and to make them appear (in poulterer’s phrase) all breast. For gentlemen’s dinners, the heads may be left on or not at choice. The most ready mode of carving a partridge is to press back the legs, then to fix the fork firmly in the inside of the back, and by passing the blade of the knife flat under the lower part of the breast, to raise it, with the wings, entire from the body, from which it easily separates. The breast may then be divided in the middle, as shown by the line from a to b in the engraving here. This is by far the best and handsomest manner of carving a partridge, but when the supply of game at table is small, and it is necessary to serve three persons from the choicer parts of one bird, a not very large wing should be taken off with the leg on either side, in the line from a to b in No. 13, and sufficient of the breast will still remain to send to a third eater. The high game-flavour of the back of a partridge, as well as that of various other birds,[8] is greatly relished by many persons.

8.  A great man o the north eloquently describes that of a grouse as “the most pungent, palate-piercing, wild bitter-sweet.”

No. 19. A WOODCOCK.

The thigh and back are the most esteemed parts of a woodcock which, being a small bird, may be carved entirely through the centre of the breast and back, or distributed in the same manner as the partridge for three, which we have described; or even carved down like a fowl, if needful. In whatever way it is divided, however, a portion of the toast which has received the trail, and on which it should always be sent to table, must invariably be served to all who partake of it. The very old fashion of trussing the bird with its own bill, by running it through the thighs and body, is again adopted by very good cooks of the present day; but the common method of preparing either woodcocks or snipes for table is this: the trussing of the legs is, however, better shown at Nos. 19 and 21 of Plate 6.

No. 20. A PIGEON.

The breast and wings of a pigeon may be raised in the same way as those of a partridge (see No. 18); or the bird may be carved entirely through in the line a b. For the second course, pigeons should be dished upon young delicate water-cresses.

No. 21. A SNIPE.

This bird is trussed, roasted, and served exactly like a woodcock. It is not of a size to require any carving, beyond dividing in two, if at all.

No. 22. A GOOSE.

The skin below the breast, called the apron, must first be cut off in a circular direction as indicated by the letters a a a, when a glass of port-wine or of claret, ready mixed with a teaspoonful of mustard, may be poured into the body or not, at choice. Some of the stuffing should then be drawn out with a spoon, and the neck of the goose, which ought to be to the right and not to the left hand, as here, being turned a little towards the carver, the flesh of the breast should be sliced in the lines from b b b to c c c, on either side of the bone. The wings may then be taken off like those of any other bird, and then the legs, which, in the engraving No. 22, are trussed so completely under the apron as to render their outline scarcely distinguishable. Graceful and well-skilled carvers never turn birds on their sides to remove any of the joints, but those of a goose, unless it be very young, are sometimes severed from it with difficulty; and the common directions for assisting the process in that case are, to turn it on its side, and with the fork to press down the small end of the leg; then to pass the knife quite under it from the top down to the joint, when the leg should be turned back from the bird with the fork, while the thigh-bone is loosened from its socket with the knife. The end of the pinion marked d is then held down in the same manner, to facilitate the separation of the bones at e, from which point the knife is drawn under the wing, which it takes off. The merrythought of a goose is small, and, to remove it the knife must first be turned a little from the neck, after the flesh has been cut through, and then passed under it, back towards the neck. For the remainder of the carving, the directions for that of a fowl will suffice.

DUCKS.

Tame ducks are served with the feet (which are liked by many people) left upon them and trussed up over the backs. If large they may be carved like a goose, but when very young may be disjointed like chickens; the only material difference between them being the position of the thigh-joints, which lie much further towards the back-bone than those of a fowl.

No. 23. A WILD DUCK.

The breasts of wild-fowl are the only parts of them held in much estimation, and these are carved in slices from the legs to the neck The legs and pinions may, if required, be taken off exactly like those of a pheasant.

No. 24. A TURKEY.

The carving of a turkey commences by taking slices off the breast, from the letters b b quite through the forcemeat, which lies under the letter a, to c c: the greater part of the flesh of the wings is thus taken off likewise. When the bird is boned and filled with sausage or other forcemeat, the breast is carved entirely across in the direction d e, nearly, or quite down to the back, which it is better not altogether to divide at first, as the appearance of the turkey is not then so good. When it has been prepared in the ordinary manner, after the breast has been disposed of, the pinions and the legs may be taken off, the first in the line from f to g, and the latter by passing the knife under it at h, and bringing it down to the joint at i j, where it must be taken off in the line shown. The whole of the joints being in form exactly like those of a fowl, may be separated in the same manner. The gizzard is more commonly eaten broiled after having been scored, and very highly seasoned with cayenne and with a sufficiency of salt, than in any other way. A slice or portion of the liver should be served with the white flesh of the turkey as far as possible.

No. 25. A HARE.

A hare should be placed with its head to the left of the carver, therefore the engraving No. 25 shows it turned in the wrong direction. It is so very great an improvement to take out the back-bone before a hare is roasted, that we would recommend it to be done wherever it can be so without difficulty: it may then be carved in the line a b quite through, or only partially so at choice. When the bone remains in, slices may be taken down the whole length of the back from c c to d d; the legs, which, next to the back, are considered the best eating, may then be taken off in the direction e f and the flesh divided from or served upon them, after the small bones have been parted from the thighs. The shoulders, which are not generally much esteemed, though sometimes liked by sportsmen, may next be taken off by passing the knife at the letters g h between the joint and the body. When a hare is young, the back is sometimes divided at the joints into three or four parts, after being freed from the ribs and under-skin.

No. 26. A FRICANDEAU OF VEAL.

This is usually stewed, or rather braised sufficiently tender to be divided with a spoon, and requires no carving; but the fat (or underpart of the fillet) attached to it, marked a a a, which is sometimes, but not invariably served with it now, may be carved in even slices. The larding differs somewhat from that which we have described, but the mode shown here allows the fricandeau to be glazed with more facility.

The engraving of the entrée No. 26 is intended merely to show the manner of dishing the cutlets. They may be of mutton, lamb, veal, or pork; and the centre may be filled with the sauce or stewed, vegetable appropriate to either; as soubise, purée of asparagus, of mushrooms, or of tomatas; or green peas à la Française, stewed cucumbers, or aught else that is suited to the kind of meat which is served.

Plate 1.

1
COD’S HEAD.

2
TURBOT.

3
MIDDLE OF SALMON.

H. Adlard, sc.

Plate 2.

4
SADDLE OF MUTTON.

5
HAUNCH OF VENISON.

6
SIRLOIN OF BEEF.

H. Adlard, sc.

Plate 3.

7
LEG OF MUTTON.

8
QUARTER OF LAMB.

9
SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

H. Adlard sc.

Plate 4.

10
SUCKING PIG.

11
BREAST OF VEAL.

H. Adlard, sc.

Plate 5.

12
OX-TONGUE.

13
CALF’S HEAD.

14
HAM.

H. Adlard, sc.

Plate 6.

15
PHEASANT.

18
PARTRIDGE.

19
WOODCOCK.

16
BOILED FOWL.

20
PIGEON.

21
SNIPE.

17
ROAST FOWL.

H. Adlard, sc.

Plate 7.

22
GOOSE.

23
WILD DUCK.

24
TURKEY.

H. Adlard, sc.

Plate 8.

26
ENTRÉE OF CUTLETS.

25
HARE.

27
FRICANDEAU OF VEAL.

H. Adlard, sc.

MODERN COOKERY.

CHAPTER I.

Soups.

Ingredients which may all be used for making Soup of various kinds:—Beef—Mutton—Veal—Hams—Salted Pork—Fat Bacon—Pigs’ Ears and Feet—Venison—Black and Moor Game—Partridges—Pheasants—Wild Pigeons—Hares—Rabbits—Turkeys—Fowls—Tame Pigeons—Sturgeon—Conger Eel, with all sorts of Fish usually eaten—All Shell-Fish—Every kind of Vegetable and Herb fit for food—Butter—Milk—Eggs—Rice—Sago—Arrow-Root—Indian Corn—Hominy—Soujee—Tapioca—Pearl Barley—Oatmeal—Polenta[9]—Macaroni—Vermicelli—Semoulina, and other Italian Pastes.

9.  The name given in English commerce to the maize flour or meal of Italy.

The art of preparing good, wholesome, palatable soups, without great expense, which is so well understood in France, and in other countries where they form part of the daily food of all classes of the people, has hitherto been very much neglected in England;[10] yet it really presents no difficulties which a little practice, and the most common degree of care, will not readily overcome; and we strongly recommend increased attention to it, not only on account of the loss and inconvenience which ignorance of it occasions in many households, but because a better knowledge of it will lead naturally to improvement in other branches of cookery connected with it in which our want of skill is now equally apparent.

10.  The inability of servants to prepare delicately and well even a little broth suited to an invalid, is often painfully evident in cases of illness, not only in common English life, but where the cookery is supposed to be of a superior order.

We have endeavoured to show by the list at the beginning of this chapter the immense number of different articles of which soup may be in turn compounded. It is almost superfluous to add, that it may be rendered at pleasure exceedingly rich, or simple in the extreme; composed, in fact, of all that is most choice in diet, or of little beyond herbs and vegetables. From the varied produce of a well-stored kitchen garden, it may be made excellent at a very trifling cost; and where fish is fresh and abundant it may be cheaply supplied nearly equal in quality to that for which a full proportion of meat is commonly used. It is best suited to the colder seasons of the year when thickened well with rice, semoulina, pearl barley, or other ingredients of the same nature; and adapted to the summer months when lighter and more refreshing. Families who have resided much abroad, and those accustomed to continental modes of service, prefer it usually in any form to the more solid and heavy dishes which still often supersede it altogether at our tables[11] (except at those of the more affluent classes of society, where it appears, as a matter of course, in the daily bills of fare), and which are so oppressive, not only to foreigners, but to all persons generally to whom circumstances have rendered them unaccustomed diet; and many a housekeeper who is compelled by a narrow income to adopt a system of rigid domestic economy, would find it assist greatly in furnishing comfortable meals in a very frugal manner, if the proper modes of making it were fully comprehended as they ought to be.[12]

11.  The popular taste in England, even at the present day, is far more in favour of what is termed “substantial” food, than of any kind of pottage.

12.  We are unable to give further space to this subject here, but may probably resume it at another part of the book, if practical.

The reader who desires to understand the principles of soup-making is advised to study with attention the directions for “Baron Liebeg’s Extract of Beef,” in the present chapter, and the receipt for bouillon which follows it.

A FEW DIRECTIONS TO THE COOK.

In whatever vessel soup is boiled, see that it be perfectly clean, and let the inside of the cover and the rim be equally so. Wash the meat, and prepare the vegetables with great nicety before they are laid into it; and be careful to keep it always closely shut when it is on the fire. Never, on any account, set the soup by in it, but strain it off at once into a clean pan, and fill the stock-pot immediately with water; pursue the same plan with all stewpans and saucepans directly they are emptied.

Skim the soup thoroughly when it first begins to boil, or it will not be easy afterwards to render it clear; throw in some salt, which will assist to bring the scum to the surface, and when it has all been taken off, add the herbs and vegetables; for if not long stewed in the soup, their flavour will prevail too strongly. Remember that the trimmings, and the bones of fresh meat, the necks of poultry, the liquor in which a joint has been boiled, and the shank-bones of mutton, are all excellent additions to the stock-pot, and should be carefully reserved for it. The remains of roast poultry and game also will improve both the colour and the flavour of broth or soup.

Let the soup be very slowly heated, and after it has been well skimmed, and has boiled for a few minutes, draw it to the side of the stove and keep it simmering softly, but without ceasing, until it is done; for on this, as will hereafter be shown, its excellence principally depends. Every good cook understands perfectly the difference produced by the fast boiling, or the gentle stewing, of soups and gravies, and will adhere strictly to the latter method.[13]

13.  It is most difficult to render rapidly-boiled soup or gravy clear for table; but that which is only simmered will clarify itself if allowed to remain undisturbed for some little time (half an hour or so) after it is withdrawn from the fire; it should then be poured very gently from the sediment. Calf’s feet stock likewise may be converted into transparent jelly with far greater facility when it has not been thickened by too quick boiling, by which so many preparations in our English kitchens are injured.

Pour boiling water, in small quantities at first, to the meat and vegetables of which the soup is to be made when they have been fried or browned; but otherwise, always add cold water to the meat. Unless precise orders to the contrary have been given, onions, eschalots, and garlic, should be used for seasoning with great moderation; for not only are they very offensive to many eaters, but to persons of delicate habit their effects are sometimes extremely prejudicial; and it is only in coarse cookery that their flavour is allowed ever strongly to prevail.

A small proportion of sugar, about an ounce to the gallon, will very much improve the flavour of gravy-stock, and of all rich brown soups; it may be added also to some others with advantage; and for this, directions will be given in the proper places.

Two ounces of salt may be allowed for each gallon of soup or broth, in which large quantities of vegetables are stewed; but an ounce and a half will be sufficient for such as contain few or none; it is always easy to add more if needful, but oversalting in the first instance is a fault for which there is no remedy but that of increasing the proportions of all the other ingredients, and stewing the whole afresh, which occasions needless trouble and expense, even when time will admit of its being done.

As no particle of fat should be seen floating on soup when sent to table, it is desirable that the stock should be made the day before it is wanted, that it may become quite cold; when the fat may be entirely cleared off without difficulty.

When cayenne pepper is not mixed with rice-flour, or with any other thickening, grind it down with the back of a spoon, and stir a little liquid to it before it is thrown into the stewpan, as it is apt to remain in lumps, and to occasion great irritation of the throat when swallowed so.

Serve, not only soups and sauces, but all other dishes, as hot as possible.

THE TIME REQUIRED FOR BOILING DOWN SOUP OR STOCK.

This must be regulated by several considerations; for though the mere juices of meat require but little boiling after they have been fully extracted by the slow heating recommended by Baron Liebeg, soup to which many vegetables are added (winter vegetables especially) requires long stewing to soften and to blend properly the flavour of all the ingredients which it contains, as that of no one in particular ought to be allowed to predominate over the rest. We have in consequence retained the old directions as to time, in many of the following receipts; but an intelligent cook will soon ascertain from practice and observation how and when to vary it with advantage. Over-boiling renders all preparations insipid, and causes undue reduction of them likewise: it is a fault, therefore, which should be carefully avoided.

TO THICKEN SOUPS.

Except for white soups, to which arrow-root is, we think, more appropriate, we prefer, to all other ingredients generally used for this purpose, the finest and freshest rice-flour, which, after being passed through a lawn sieve, should be thoroughly blended with the salt, pounded spices, catsup, or wine, required to finish the flavouring of the soup. Sufficient liquid should be added to it very gradually to render it of the consistence of batter, and it should also be perfectly smooth; to keep it so, it should be moistened sparingly at first, and beaten with the back of a spoon until every lump has disappeared. The soup should boil quickly when the thickening is stirred into it, and be simmered for ten minutes afterwards. From an ounce and a half to two ounces of rice-flour will thicken sufficiently a quart of soup.

Instead of this, arrow-root or the condiment known by the name of tous les mois, which greatly resembles it, or potato flour, or the French thickening called roux (see Chapter V.), may be used in the following proportions:—Two and a half ounces of either of the first three, to four pints and a half of soup; to be mixed gradually with a little cold stock or water, stirred into the boiling soup, and simmered for a minute.

Six ounces of flour with seven of butter, made into a roux, or merely mixed together with a large knife, will be required to thicken a tureen of soup; as much as half a pound is sometimes used; these must be added by degrees, and carefully stirred round in the soup until smoothly blended with it, or they will remain in lumps. We would, however, recommend any other thickening rather than this unwholesome mixture.

All the ingredients used for soups should be fresh, and of good quality, particularly Italian pastes of every kind (macaroni, vermicelli, &c.), as they contract, by long keeping, a peculiarly unpleasant, musty flavour.

Onions, freed from the outer skin, dried gradually to a deep brown, in a slow oven, and flattened like Norfolk biffins, will keep for almost any length of time, and are extremely useful for heightening the colour and flavour of broths and gravies.[14]

14.  The fourth part of one these dried onions (des ognons brûlés), of moderate size, is sufficient for a tureen of soup. They are sold very commonly in France, and may be procured in London at many good foreign warehouses.

TO FRY BREAD TO SERVE WITH SOUP.

Cut some slices a quarter of an inch thick from a stale loaf; pare off the crust and divide the bread into dice, or cut it with a small paste-cutter into any other form. For half a pound of bread put two ounces of the best butter into a frying-pan, and when it is quite melted, add the bread; keep it turned over a gentle fire until it is equally coloured to a very pale brown, then drain it from the butter, and dry it on a soft cloth, or on a sheet of paper placed before a clear fire upon a dish, or upon a sieve reversed.

SIPPETS À LA REINE.

Having cut the bread as for common sippets, spread it on a dish, and pour over it a few spoonsful of thin cream, or of good milk: let it soak for an hour, then fry it in fresh butter of a delicate brown, drain and serve the sippets very hot.

TO MAKE NOUILLES.

(An elegant substitute for Vermicelli.)

Wet with the yolks of four eggs, as much fine dry sifted flour as will make them into a firm but very smooth paste. Roll it out as thin as possible, and cut it into bands of about an inch and a quarter in width. Dust them lightly with flour, and place four of them one upon the other. Cut them obliquely into the finest possible strips; separate them with the point of a knife, and spread them upon writing paper, so that they may dry a little before they are used. Drop them gradually into the boiling soup, and in ten minutes they will be done.

Various other forms may be given to this paste at will. It may be divided into a sort of ribbon macaroni; or stamped with small confectionary cutters into different shapes. It is much used in the more delicate departments of cookery, and when cut as for soup, and prepared as for the Genoises à la Reine of Chapter XVIII. makes very superior puddings, pastry, fritters, and other sweet dishes.

VEGETABLE VERMICELLI.

(Vegetables cut very fine for soups.)

Cut the carrots into inch lengths, then pare them round and round in ribands of equal thickness, till the inside is reached; next cut these ribands into straws, or very small strips; celery is prepared in the same way, and turnips also are first pared into ribands, then sliced into strips; these last require less boiling than the carrots, and attention must be paid to this, for if broken, the whole would have a bad appearance in soup. The safer plan is to boil each vegetable separately, till tolerably tender, in a little pale broth (in water if this be not at hand), to drain them well, and put them into the soup, which should be clear, only a few minutes before it is dished. For cutting them small, in other forms, the proper instruments will be found at the ironmonger’s.

EXTRACT OF BEEF; OR, VERY STRONG PLAIN BEEF GRAVY SOUP.

(Baron Liebeg’s Receipt.)

Observation.—This admirable preparation is not only most valuable as a restorative of the best kind for invalids who require light but highly nutritious diet, it is also of the utmost utility for the general purposes of the kitchen, and will enable a cook who can take skilful advantage of it, to convert the cold meat which often abounds so inconveniently in an English larder, from our habit of having joints of large size so much served, into good nourishing dishes, which the hashes and minces of our common cookery are not, though they may answer well enough as mere varieties of diet. We shall indicate in the proper chapters the many other uses to which this beef juice—for such indeed it is—will be found eminently adapted. Of its value in illness it is impossible to speak too highly; and in every family, therefore, the exact mode of making it ought to be thoroughly understood. The economist who may consider it expensive, must remember that drugs and medical advice are usually far more so; and in cases of extreme debility the benefit derived from it, when it is well prepared and judiciously administered, is often remarkable. It should be given in small quantities at first, and in its pure state. It may afterwards be varied by the addition of vermicelli, semoulina, or other preparations of the kind; and also by using for it a portion of mutton, calf’s head, poultry, or game, when these suit a patient as well as the beef.

Receipt.—Take a pound of good, juicy beef (rump-steak is best for the purpose), from which all the skin and fat that can possibly be separated from it, has been cut away. Chop it up small like sausage-meat; then mix it thoroughly with an exact pint of cold water, and place it on the side of the stove to heat very slowly indeed; and give it an occasional stir. It may stand two or three hours before it is allowed to simmer, and will then require at the utmost but fifteen minutes of gentle boiling. Professor Liebeg directs even less time than this, but the soup then occasionally retains a raw flavour which is distasteful. Salt should be added when the boiling first commences, and for invalids, this, in general, is the only seasoning required. When the extract is thus far prepared, it may be poured from the meat into a basin, and allowed to stand until any particles of fat it may exhibit on the surface can be skimmed off entirely, and the sediment has subsided and left the soup quite clear (which it speedily becomes), when it may be poured gently off, heated in a clean saucepan, and served at once. It will contain all the nutriment which the meat will yield. The scum should always be well cleared from the surface of the soup as it accumulates.

To make light beef tea or broth, merely increase the proportion of water to a pint and a half or a quart; but in all else proceed as above.

Meat (without fat or skin), 1 lb.; cold water, exact pint: heating 2 hours or more; to boil 15 minutes at the utmost. Beef tea or broth.—Beef, 1 lb.; water, 1-1/2 pint or 1 quart.

Obs.—To mingle vegetable diet in its best form with this extract, it will be sufficient, as we have explained in “Cookery for Invalids,” to boil down the kind of vegetable desired, sliced or cut up small, in a very moderate quantity of water, until its juices are well drawn out; then to strain off the liquid from it with slight pressure, and, when it has become cold, to pour it to the chopped meat instead of water. Several different sorts can be mixed together, and cooked in this way: the water must boil before they are added to it.

They should be much more tender than when merely boiled for table, but not reduced to pulp. The juice should remain clear; no salt should be added; and it should be quite cold before it is stirred to the meat.

When the extract is wanted for gravy, a small portion of onion, and of herbs, carrots, celery, and the other usual vegetables, may be stewed together, to give it the requisite flavour.

About an inch square of the Jewish beef (see Chapter of Foreign Cookery), whether cooked or uncooked, will impart a fine savour to it; the smoked surface of this should be pared off before it is used, and it may be added in thin slices.

BOUILLON.

(The Common Soup or Beef-Broth of France; cheap, and very wholesome.)

This soup, or broth as we should perhaps designate it in England, is made once or twice in the week, in every family of respectability in France; and by the poorer classes as often as their means will enable them to substitute it for the vegetable or maigre soups, on which they are more commonly obliged to subsist. It is served usually on the first day with slices of untoasted bread soaked in it; on the second, it is generally varied with vermicelli, rice, or semoulina. The ingredients are, of course, often otherwise proportioned than as we have given them, and more or less meat is allowed according to the taste or circumstances of the persons for whom the bouillon is prepared; but the process of making it is always the same, and is thus described (rather learnedly) by one of the most skilful cooks in Europe: “The stock-pot of the French artisan,” says Monsieur Carême, “supplies his principal nourishment; and it is thus managed by his wife, who, without the slightest knowledge of chemistry, conducts the process in a truly scientific manner. She first lays the meat into an earthen stock-pot, and pours cold water to it in the proportion of about two quarts to three pounds of the beef;[15] she then places it by the side of the fire, where it slowly becomes hot; and as it does so, the heat enlarges the fibre of the meat, dissolves the gelatinous substances which it contains, allows the albumen (or the muscular part which produces the scum) to disengage itself, and rise to the surface, and the OZMAZOME (which is the most savoury part of the meat) to be diffused through the broth. Thus, from the simple circumstance of boiling it in the gentlest manner, a relishing and nutritious soup will be obtained, and a dish of tender and palatable meat; but if the pot be placed and kept over a quick fire, the albumen will coagulate, harden the meat, prevent the water from penetrating it, and the ozmazome from disengaging itself; the result will be a broth without flavour or goodness, and a tough, dry bit of meat.”

15.  This is a large proportion of meat for the family of a French artisan, a pound to the quart would be nearer the reality; but it is not the refuse-meat which would be purchased by persons of the same rank in England for making broth.

It must be observed in addition, that as the meat of which the bouillon is made, is almost invariably sent to table, a part of the rump, the mouse-buttock, or the leg-of-mutton piece of beef, should be selected for it; and the simmering should be continued only until this is perfectly tender. When the object is simply to make good, pure-flavoured, beef broth, part of the shin or leg, with a pound or two of the neck, will best answer the purpose. When the bouilli (that is to say, the beef which is boiled in the soup), is to be served, bind it into a good shape, add to it a calf’s foot if easily procurable, as this much improves the quality of the bouillon; pour cold water to it in the proportion mentioned above, and proceed, as Monsieur Carême directs, to heat the soup slowly by the side of the fire; remove carefully the head of scum which will gather on the surface before the boiling commences, and continue the skimming at intervals for about twenty minutes longer, pouring in once or twice a little cold water. Next, add salt in the proportion of two ounces to the gallon; this will cause a little more scum to rise; clear it quite off and throw in three or four turnips, as many carrots, half ahead of celery, four or five young leeks, an onion stuck with six or eight cloves, a large half teaspoonful of peppercorns, and a bunch of savoury herbs. Let the whole stew VERY softly without ceasing, from four hours and a half to six hours, according to the quantity: the beef in that time will be extremely tender but not overdone. It will be excellent eating if properly managed, and might often, we think, be substituted with great advantage for the hard, half-boiled, salted beef so often seen at an English table. It should be served with a couple of cabbages, which have been first boiled in the usual way, then pressed very dry, and stewed for ten minutes in a little of the broth, and seasoned with pepper and salt. The other vegetables from the bouillon may be laid round it or not at choice. The soup if served on the same day must be strained, well cleared from fat, and sent to table with fried or toasted bread, unless the continental mode of putting slices or crusts of untoasted bread into the tureen, and soaking them for ten minutes in a ladleful or two of the bouillon, be, from custom, preferred.

Beef, 8 to 9 lbs.; water, 6 quarts; salt, 3 oz. (more, if needed); carrots, 4 to 6; turnips, 4 or 5; celery, one small head; leeks, 4 to 6; one onion, stuck with 6 cloves; peppercorns, one small teaspoonful; large bunch of savoury herbs (calf’s foot if convenient); to simmer 5 to 6 hours.

Obs. 1.—This broth forms in France the foundation of all richer soups and gravies. Poured on fresh meat (a portion of which should be veal) instead of water, it makes at once an excellent consommé or strong jellied stock. If properly managed, it is very clear and pale; and with an additional weight of beef and some spoonsful of glaze, may easily be converted into an amber-coloured gravy-soup, suited to modern taste.

Obs. 2.—It is a common practice abroad to boil poultry, pigeons, and even game, in the pot-au-feu or soup-pot.[16] They should be properly trussed, stewed in the broth just long enough to render them tender, and served, when ready, with a good sauce. A small ham, if well soaked, washed exceedingly clean, and freed entirely from any rusty or blackened parts, laid with the beef when the water is first added to it, and boiled from three hours and a half to four hours in the bouillon, is very superior in flavour to those cooked in water only, and infinitely improves the soup, which cannot however so well be eaten until the following day, when all the fat can easily be taken from it: it would, of course, require no salt.

16.  In wealthy families the soup is boiled in a metal soup-pot, called a marmite.

CLEAR, PALE GRAVY SOUP OR CONSOMMÉ.

Rub a deep stewpan or soup-pot with butter, and lay into it three quarters of a pound of ham freed entirely from fat, skin, and rust, four pounds of leg or neck of veal, and the same weight of lean beef, all cut into thick slices; set it over a clear and rather brisk fire, until the meat is of a fine amber-colour; it must be often moved, and closely watched, that it may not stick to the pan, nor burn. When it is equally browned, lay the bones upon it, and pour in gradually four quarts of boiling water. Take off the scum carefully as it rises, and throw in a pint of cold water at intervals to bring it quickly to the surface. When no more appears, add two ounces of salt, two onions, two large carrots, two turnips, one head of celery, a faggot of savoury herbs, a dozen cloves, half a teaspoonful of whole white pepper, and two large blades of mace. Let the soup boil gently from five hours and a half to six hours and a half; then strain it through a very clean fine cloth, laid in a hair sieve. When it is perfectly cold, remove every particle of fat from the top; and, in taking out the soup, leave the sediment untouched; heat in a clean pan the quantity required for table, add salt to it if needed, and a few drops of chili or of cayenne vinegar. Harvey’s sauce, or very fine mushroom catsup, may be substituted for these. When thus prepared the soup is ready to serve: it should be accompanied by pale sippets of fried bread, or sippets à la reine. (At tables where English modes of service entirely prevailed, clear gravy-soup, until very recently, was always accompanied by dice, or sippets as they are called, of delicately toasted bread. These are now seldom seen, but some Italian paste, or nicely prepared vegetable, is served in the soup instead). Rice, macaroni in lengths or in rings, vermicelli, or nouilles, may in turn be used to vary it; but they must always be boiled apart, till tender, in broth or water, and well drained before they are slipped into it. The addition of young vegetables, too, and especially of asparagus, will convert it into superior spring-soup; but they, likewise, must be separately cooked.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR GRAVY SOUP.

Instead of browning the meat in its own juices, put it with the onions and carrots, into a deep stewpan, with a quarter of a pint of bouillon, set it over a brisk fire at first, and when the broth is somewhat reduced, let it boil gently until it has taken a fine colour, and forms a glaze (or jelly) at the bottom of the stewpan; then pour to it the proper quantity of water, and finish the soup by the preceding receipt.[17]

17.  The juices of meat, drawn out with a small portion of liquid, as directed here, may easily be reduced to the consistency in which they form what is called glaze; for particulars of this, see Chapter IV. The best method, though perhaps not the easiest, of making the clear, amber-coloured stock, is to pour a ladleful or two of pale but strong beef-broth to the veal, and to boil it briskly until well reduced, thrusting a knife when this is done into the meat, to let the juices escape; then to proceed more slowly and cautiously as the liquid approaches the state in which it would burn. It must be allowed to take a dark amber-colour only, and the meat must be turned, and often moved in it. When the desired point is reached, pour in more boiling broth, and let the pan remain off the fire for a few minutes, to detach and melt the glaze; then shake it well round before the boiling is continued. A certain quantity of deeply coloured glaze, made apart, and stirred into strong, clear, pale stock, would produce the desired effect of this, with much less trouble.

Obs.—A rich, old-fashioned English brown gravy-soup may be made with beef only. It should be cut from the bones, dredged with flour, seasoned with pepper and salt, and fried a clear brown; then stewed for six hours, if the quantity be large, with a pint of water to each pound of meat, and vegetables as above, except onions, of which four moderate-sized ones, also fried, are to be added to every three quarts of the soup, which, after it has been strained and cleared from fat, may be thickened with six ounces of fresh butter, worked up very smoothly with five of flour. In twenty minutes afterwards, a tablespoonful of the best soy, half a pint of sherry, and a little cayenne, may be added to the soup, which will then be ready to serve.

CHEAP, CLEAR GRAVY SOUP.

The shin or leg of beef, if not large or coarse, will answer extremely well for this soup, and afford at the same time a highly economical dish of boiled meat, which will be found very tender, and very palatable also, if it be served with a sauce of some piquancy. From about ten pounds of the meat let the butcher cut evenly off five or six from the thick fleshy part, and again divide the knuckle, that the whole may lie compactly in the vessel in which it is to be stewed. Pour in three quarts of cold water, and when it has been brought slowly to boil, and been well skimmed, as directed for bouillon (Page 8), throw in an ounce and a half of salt, half a large teaspoonful of peppercorns, eight cloves, two blades of mace, a faggot of savoury herbs, a couple of small carrots, and the heart of a root of celery; to these add a mild onion or not, at choice. When the whole has stewed very softly for four hours, probe the larger bit of beef, and if quite tender, lift it out for table; let the soup be simmered from two to three hours longer, and then strain it through a fine sieve, into a clean pan. When it is perfectly cold, clear off every particle of fat; heat a couple of quarts, stir in, when it boils, half an ounce of sugar, a small tablespoonful of good soy, and twice as much of Harvey’s sauce, or instead of this, of clear and fine mushroom catsup. If carefully made, the soup will be perfectly transparent and of good colour and flavour. A thick slice of lean ham will improve it, and a pound or so of the neck of beef with an additional pint of water, will likewise enrich its quality. A small quantity of good broth may be made of the fragments of the whole boiled down with a few fresh vegetables.

Brown caper, or hot horseradish sauce, or sauce Robert, or sauce piquante, made with the liquor in which it is boiled, may be served with the portion of the meat which is sent to table.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

(Potage au Vermicelle.)

Drop very lightly, and by degrees, six ounces of vermicelli, broken rather small, into three quarts of boiling bouillon or clear gravy soup; let it simmer for half an hour[18] over a gentle fire, and stir it often. This is the common French mode of making vermicelli soup, and we can recommend it as a particularly good one for family use. In England it is customary to soak, or to blanch the vermicelli, then to drain it well, and to stew it for a shorter time in the soup; the quantity also, must be reduced quite two ounces, to suit modern taste.

18.  When of very fine quality, the vermicelli will usually require less boiling than this. We have named to the reader, in another part of the volume, Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, as supplying all the Italian pastes extremely good. There are, of course, many other houses in London where they may be procured equally so; but in naming Mr. Cobbett, who is personally unknown to us, we merely give the result of our own experience of many years. Some articles of very superior quality purchased for us at his warehouse by a person merely commissioned to procure the best that could be had “from Town,” first directed our attention to his house (a long established one, we believe), which is justly noted, especially amongst affluent country families, for the excellence of the goods which it sends out. We give this explanation, because it seems invidious to select, from the large number of deservedly celebrated establishments of the same class which are to be found here, any one in particular for mention in a work of this nature.

Bouillon, or gravy soup, 3 quarts; vermicelli, 6 oz.; 30 minutes. Or, soup, 3 quarts; vermicelli, 4 oz.; blanched in boiling water 5 minutes; stewed in soup 10 to 15 minutes.

SEMOULINA SOUP.

(Soupe à la Sémoule.)

Semoulina is used in the same way as the vermicelli. It should be dropped very lightly and by degrees into the boiling soup, which should be stirred all the time it is being added, and very frequently afterwards; indeed, it should scarcely be quitted until it is ready for table. Skim it carefully, and let it simmer from twenty to five-and-twenty minutes. This, when the semoulina is good and fresh, is, to our taste, an excellent soup.

Soup, 3 quarts; semoulina, 6 oz.; nearly, or quite 25 minutes.

MACARONI SOUP.

Throw four ounces of fine fresh[19] mellow Naples maccaroni into a pan of fast-boiling water, with about an ounce of fresh butter, and a small onion stuck with three or four cloves.[20] When it has swelled to its full size, and become tender, drain it well, cut it into half-inch lengths, and slip it into a couple of quarts of clear gravy-soup: let it simmer for a few minutes, when it will be ready for table. Observe, that the macaroni should be boiled quite tender; but it should by no means be allowed to burst, nor to become pulpy. Serve grated Parmesan cheese with it.

19.  We must here repeat our warning against the use of long-kept macaroni, vermicelli, or semoulina; as when stale they will render any dish into which they are introduced quite unfit for table.

20.  For white soups omit the onion.

Macaroni, 4 oz.; butter, 1 oz.; 1 small onion; 5 cloves; 3/4 hour, or more. In soup, 5 to 10 minutes.

Obs.—The macaroni for soups should always be either broken into short lengths before it is boiled, or cut as above, or sliced quickly into small rings not more than the sixth of an inch thick after it is boiled, unless the cut or ring macaroni, which may be purchased at the Italian warehouses, be used; this requires but ten minutes’ boiling, and should be dropped into the soup in the same way as vermicelli.[21] Four ounces of it will be sufficient for two quarts of stock. It may be added to white soup after having been previously boiled in water or veal-broth, and well drained from it: it has a rather elegant appearance in clear gravy-soup, but should have a boil in water before it is thrown into it.

21.  For the different varieties of macaroni and vermicelli, and the time required to boil each of them, see Chapter XXI.

If served in very clear bright stock (consommé), it should be boiled apart until tender in a little good broth, which ought also to be clear and entirely free from fat; then well drained, and put into the soup for a minute, or into the tureen, the instant before the soup is dished.

SOUP OF SOUJEE.

The soujee is of Indian origin, but is now well manufactured in England,[22] and is, we think, somewhat more delicate than semoulina in flavour; and being made from wheat of the finest quality, is also quite as nutritious, or more so. For each quart of soup allow two ounces of soujee (the proportions can always be otherwise adapted to the taste after the first trial); drop it gradually into the boiling liquid, and simmer it for ten or twelve minutes. Bullock’s semola is another preparation which may be used in exactly the same manner to thicken soup; but both this and soujee are more expensive at present than semoulina.

22.  By Messrs. Stephens and Co., 2 White’s Row, Bishopsgate.

POTAGE AUX NOUILLES, OR TAILLERINE SOUP

Make into nouille-paste, with very fine dry flour, the yolks of four fresh eggs, and when ready cut, drop it gradually into five pints of boiling soup; keep this gently stirred for ten minutes, skim it well, and serve it quickly. This is a less common, and a more delicately flavoured soup than the vermicelli, provided always that the nouilles be made with really fresh eggs. The same paste may be cut into very small diamonds, squares, stars, or any other form, then left to dry a little, and boiled in the soup until swollen to its full size, and tender.

Nouille-paste of four eggs; soup, 5 pints: 10 minutes.

SAGO SOUP.

Wash in several waters, and float off the dirt from six ounces of fine pearl sago; put it into three quarts of good cold gravy-stock; let it stew gently from half to three quarters of an hour, and stir it occasionally, that it may not burn nor stick to the stewpan. A quarter of an ounce more of sago to each pint of liquid, will thicken it to the consistence of peas-soup. It may be flavoured with half a wineglassful of Harvey’s sauce, as much cayenne as it may need, the juice of half a lemon, an ounce of sugar, and two glasses of sherry; or these may be omitted, and good beef-broth may be substituted for the gravy-soup, for a simple family dinner, or for an invalid; or, again, it may be converted into inexpensive white soup by the addition of some cream smoothly mixed with a dessertspoonful of arrow-root, or of thick cream and new milk in equal portions. Veal broth would be the most appropriate for this, or it might be made with half veal and half mutton.

Sago, 6 oz.; soup, 3 quarts: 30 to 45 minutes.

TAPIOCA SOUP.

This is made in the same manner, and with the same proportions as the preceding soup, but it must be simmered from fifty to sixty minutes.

RICE SOUP.

In France, this soup is served well thickened with the rice, which is stewed in it for upwards of an hour and a half, and makes thus, even with the common bouillon of the country, an excellent winter potage. Wipe in a dry cloth, eight ounces of the best rice; add it, in small portions, to four quarts of hot soup, of which the boiling should not be checked as it is thrown in. When a clear soup is wanted wash the rice, give it five minutes’ boil in water, drain it well, throw it into as much boiling stock or well-flavoured broth as will keep it covered till done, and simmer it very softly until the grains are tender but still separate; drain it, drop it into the soup, and let it remain in it a few minutes before it is served, but without simmering. When stewed in the stock it may be put at once, after being drained, into the tureen, and the clear consommé may be poured to it.

An easy English mode of making rice-soup is this: put the rice into plenty of cold water; when it boils throw in a small quantity of salt, let it simmer for ten minutes, drain it well, throw it into the boiling soup, and simmer it gently from ten to fifteen minutes longer.[23] An extra quantity of stock must be allowed for the reduction of this soup which is always considerable.

23.  The Patna requires much less boiling than the Carolina.

WHITE RICE SOUP.

Throw four ounces of well-washed rice into boiling water, and in five minutes after pour it into a sieve, drain it well, and put it into a couple of quarts of good white boiling stock; let it stew until tender; season the soup with salt, cayenne, and pounded mace; stir to it three quarters of a pint of very rich cream, give it one boil, and serve it quickly.

Rice, 4 oz.: boiled 5 minutes. Soup, 2 quarts: 3/4 hour or more. Seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne; cream, 3/4 pint: 1 minute.

RICE-FLOUR SOUP.

Mix to a smooth batter, with a little cold broth, eight ounces of fine rice-flour, and pour it into a couple of quarts of fast-boiling broth or gravy soup. Add to it a seasoning of mace and cayenne, with a little salt if needful. It will require but ten minutes’ boiling. Soup, 2 quarts; rice-flour, 8 oz.: 10 minutes.

Obs.—Two dessertspoonsful of currie-powder, and the strained juice of half a moderate-sized lemon will greatly improve this soup: it may also be converted into a good common white soup (if it be made of veal stock), by the addition of three quarters of a pint of thick cream to the rice.

STOCK FOR WHITE SOUP.

Though a knuckle of veal is usually preferred for this stock, part of the neck will answer for it very well. Whichever joint be chosen, let it be thoroughly washed, once or twice divided, and laid into a delicately clean soup-pot, or well-tinned large stout iron saucepan, upon a pound of lean ham, freed entirely from skin and fat, and cut into thick slices; or, instead of this, one half a pound of the Jewish smoked beef, of which we have already spoken, and from which the smoked surface, and all fat, must be carefully carved away.

Dutch or hung beef also will answer the same purpose, but similar precautions must be observed with regard to the smoked portions of either; as they would impart a very unpleasant flavour to any preparation. Should very rich soup be wished for, pour in a pint only of cold water for each pound of meat, but otherwise a pint and a half may be allowed. When the soup has been thoroughly cleared from scum, which should be carefully taken off from the time of its first beginning to boil, throw in an ounce of salt to the gallon (more can be added afterwards if needed), two mild onions, a moderate-sized head of celery, two carrots, a small teaspoonful of whole white pepper, and two blades of mace; and let the soup stew very softly from five to six hours, if the quantity be large: it should simmer until the meat falls from the bones. The skin of a calf’s head, a calf’s foot, or an old fowl may always be added to this stock with good effect. Strain it into a clean deep pan, and keep it in a cool place till wanted for use.

Lean ham, 1 lb.; veal, 7 lbs; water, 4 to 6 quarts; salt, 1-1/2 oz. (more if needed); onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 2; peppercorns, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades: 5 to 6 hours.

MUTTON-STOCK FOR SOUPS.

Equal parts of beef and mutton, with the addition of a small portion of ham, or dried beef, make excellent stock, especially for winter-soups. The necks of fowls, the bones of an undressed calf’s head, or of any uncooked joint, may be added to it with advantage. According to the quality of soup desired, pour from a pint to a pint and a half of cold water to each pound of meat; and after the liquor has been well skimmed, on its beginning to boil, throw in an ounce and a half of salt to the gallon, two small heads of celery, three mild middling-sized onions, three well-flavoured turnips, as many carrots, a faggot of thyme and parsley, half a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, twelve cloves, and a large blade of mace. Draw the soup-pot to the side of the fire, and boil the stock as gently as possible for about six hours; then strain, and set it by for use. Be particularly careful to clear it entirely from fat before it is prepared for table. One third of beef or veal, with two of mutton, will make very good soup; or mutton only will answer the purpose quite well upon occasion.

Beef, 4 lbs.; mutton, 4 lbs. (or, beef or veal from 2 to 3 lbs.; mutton from 5 to 6 lbs.); water, 1 to 1-1/2 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; mild turnips, 1 lb.; onions, 6 oz.; carrots, 3/4 lb.; celery, 6 to 8 oz.; 1 bunch of herbs; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; cloves, 12; mace, 1 large blade: 6 hours.

Obs.—Salt should be used sparingly at first for stock in which any portion of ham is boiled; allowance should also be made for its reduction, in case of its being required for gravy.

MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND’S SOUP.

(Authentic Receipt)

This receipt does not merely bear the name of “Mademoiselle Lind,” but is in reality that of the soup which was constantly served to her, as it was prepared by her own cook. We are indebted for it to the kindness of the very poplar Swedish authoress, Miss Bremer, who received it direct from her accomplished countrywoman.[24]

24.  We were informed by Miss Bremer that Mademoiselle Lind was in the habit of taking this soup before she sang, as she found the sago and eggs soothing to the chest, and beneficial to the voice.

The following proportions are for a tureen of this excellent potage:—

Wash a quarter of a pound of the best pearl sago until the water poured from it is clear; then stew it quite tender and very thick in water or thick broth (it will require nearly or quite a quart of liquid, which should be poured to it cold, and heated slowly): then mix gradually with it a pint of good boiling cream, and the yolks of four fresh eggs, and mingle the whole carefully with two quarts of strong veal or beef stock, which should always be kept ready boiling. Send the soup immediately to table.

THE LORD MAYOR’S SOUP.

Wash thoroughly two sets of moderate sized pigs’ ears and feet from which the hair has been carefully removed; add to them five quarts of cold water, and stew them very gently with a faggot of savoury herbs, and one large onion stuck with a dozen cloves, for nearly four hours, when the ears may be lifted out; stew the feet for another hour, then take them up, strain the soup, and set it in a cool place that it may become cold enough for the fat to be quite cleared from it. Next, bone the ears and feet, cut the flesh down into dice, throw a clean folded cloth over it, and leave it so until the soup requires to be prepared for table; then strew upon it two tablespoonsful of savoury herbs minced small, half a saltspoonful of cayenne, a little white pepper, and some salt. Put into a large saucepan half a pound of good butter, and when it begins to simmer thicken it gradually with as much flour as it will absorb; keep these stirred over a very gentle fire for ten minutes or more, but do not allow them to take the slightest colour; pour the soup to them by degrees, letting it boil up after each portion is added; put in the meat, and half a pint of sherry; simmer the whole from three to five minutes; dish the soup, and slip into it two or three dozens of delicately fried forcemeat-balls. (See Chapter VIII.)

Pigs’ feet, 8; ears, 4; water, 5 quarts; bunch savoury herbs; 1 large onion; cloves, 12: 3-1/2 to 4 hours, feet, 1 hour more. Butter, 1/2 lb.; flour, 6 oz.[25]: 10 to 12 minutes. Minced herbs, 2 tablespoonsful; cayenne and common pepper, each 1/2 saltspoonful; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful or more; sherry, 1/2 pint: 3 to 5 minutes. Forcemeat-balls, 2 to 3 dozens.

25.  The safer plan for an inexperienced cook is to weigh the flour, and then to sprinkle it from a dredging-box into the butter.

Obs.—We have given this receipt with the slightest possible variation from the original, which we derived from a neighbourhood where the soup made by it was extremely popular. We have better adapted it to our own taste by the following alterations.

THE LORD MAYOR’S SOUP.

(Author’s Receipt.)

We prefer to have this soup made, in part, the evening before it is wanted. Add the same proportion of water to the ears and feet as in the preceding directions; skim it thoroughly when it first boils, and throw in a tablespoonful of salt, two onions of moderate size, a small head of celery, a bunch of herbs, two whole carrots, a small teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and a blade of mace. Stew these softly until the ears and feet are perfectly tender, and, after they are lifted out, let the liquor be kept just simmering only, while they are being boned, that it may not be too much reduced. Put the bones back into it, and stew them as gently as possible for an hour; then strain the soup into a clean pan, and set it by until the morrow in a cool place. The flesh should be cut into dice while it is still warm, and covered with the cloth before it becomes quite cold. To prepare the soup for table clear the stock from fat and sediment, put it into a very clean stewpan, or deep saucepan, and stir to it when it boils, six ounces of the finest rice-flour smoothly mixed with a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne, three times as much of mace and salt, the strained juice of a lemon, three tablespoonsful of Harvey’s sauce, and half a pint of good sherry or Madeira. Simmer the whole for six or eight minutes, add more salt if needed, stir the soup often, and skim it thoroughly; put in the meat and herbs, and after they have boiled gently for five minutes, dish the soup, add forcemeat-balls or not, at pleasure, and send it to table quickly.

Moderate-sized pigs’ feet, 8; ears, 4; water, 5 quarts; salt, 1 tablespoonful; onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 2; bunch of herbs; peppercorns, 1 small teaspoonful; mace, 1 blade: 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. Stock, 5 pints; rice-flour, 6 oz.; cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful; mace and salt, each 3/4 of a teaspoonful; juice of 1 lemon; Harvey’s sauce, 3 tablespoonsful; sherry or Madeira, 1/2 pint: 6 to 8 minutes. Savoury herbs, 2 tablespoonsful: 5 minutes.

Obs. 1.—Should the quantity of stock exceed five pints, an additional ounce or more of rice must be used, and the flavouring be altogether increased in proportion. Of the minced herbs, two-thirds should be parsley, and the remainder equal parts of lemon thyme and winter savoury, unless sweet basil should be at hand, when a teaspoonful of it may be substituted for half of the parsley. To some tastes a seasoning of sage would be acceptable; and a slice or two of lean ham will much improve the flavour of the soup.

Obs. 2.—Both this soup, and the preceding one, may be rendered very rich by substituting strong bouillon (see page 8) or good veal broth for water, in making them.

COCOA-NUT SOUP.

Pare the dark rind from a very fresh cocoa-nut, and grate it down small on an exceedingly clean, bright grater; weigh it, and allow two ounces for each quart of soup. Simmer it gently for one hour in the stock, which should then be strained closely from it, and thickened for table.

Veal stock, gravy-soup, or broth, 5 pints; grated cocoa-nut, 5 oz., 1 hour. Flour of rice, 5 oz.; mace, 1/2 teaspoonful; little cayenne and salt; mixed with 1/4 pint of cream: 10 minutes.

Or: gravy-soup, or good beef broth, 5 pints: 1 hour. Rice flour, 5 oz.; soy and lemon-juice, each 1 tablespoonful; finely pounded sugar, 1 oz.; cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful; sherry, 2 glassesful.

Obs.—When either cream or wine is objected to for these soups, a half-pint of the stock should be reserved to mix the thickening with.

CHESTNUT SOUP.

Strip the outer rind from some fine, sound Spanish chestnuts, throw them into a large pan of warm water, and as soon as it becomes too hot for the fingers to remain in it, take it from the fire, lift out the chestnuts, peel them quickly, and throw them into cold water as they are done; wipe, and weigh them; take three quarters of a pound for each quart of soup, cover them with good stock, and stew them gently for upwards of three quarters of an hour, or until they break when touched with a fork; drain, and pound them smoothly, or bruise them to a mash with a strong spoon, and rub them through a fine sieve reversed; mix with them by slow degrees the proper quantity of stock; add sufficient mace, cayenne, and salt to season the soup, and stir it often until it boils. Three quarters of a pint of rich cream, or even less, will greatly improve it. The stock in which the chestnuts are boiled can be used for the soup when its sweetness is not objected to; or it may in part be added to it.

Chestnuts, 1-1/2 lb.: stewed from 2/3 to 1 hour. Soup, 2 quarts; seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne: 1 to 3 minutes. Cream, 3/4 pint (when used).

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, OR PALESTINE SOUP.

Wash and pare quickly some freshly-dug artichokes, and to preserve their colour, throw them into spring water as they are done, but do not let them remain in it after all are ready. Boil three pounds of them in water for ten minutes; lift them out, and slice them into three pints of boiling stock; when they have stewed gently in this from fifteen to twenty minutes, press them with the soup, through a fine sieve, and put the whole into a clean saucepan with a pint and a half more of stock; add sufficient salt and cayenne to season it, skim it well, and after it has simmered for two or three minutes, stir it to a pint of rich boiling cream. Serve it immediately.

Artichokes, 3 lbs., boiled in water: 10 minutes. Veal stock, 3 pints 15 to 20 minutes. Additional stock, 1-1/2 pint; little cayenne and salt 2 to 3 minutes. Boiling cream, 1 pint.

Obs.—The palest veal stock, as for white soup, should be used for this; but for a family dinner, or where economy is a consideration excellent mutton-broth, made the day before and perfectly cleared from fat, will answer very well as a substitute; milk too may in part take the place of cream when this last is scarce: the proportion of artichokes should then be increased a little.

Vegetable-marrow, when young, makes a superior soup even to this, which is an excellent one. It should be well pared, trimmed, and sliced into a small quantity of boiling veal stock or broth, and when perfectly tender, pressed through a fine sieve, and mixed with more stock and some cream. In France the marrow is stewed, first in butter, with a large mild onion or two also sliced; and afterwards in a quart or more of water, which is poured gradually to it; it is next passed through a tammy,[26] seasoned with pepper and salt, and mixed with a pint or two of milk and a little cream.

26.  Derived from the French tamis, which means a sieve or strainer.

COMMON CARROT SOUP.

The most easy method of making this favourite English soup is to boil some highly coloured carrots quite tender in water slightly salted, then to pound or mash them to a smooth paste, and to mix with them boiling gravy soup or strong beef broth (see Bouillon) in the proportion of two quarts to a pound and a half of the prepared carrots; then to pass the whole through a strainer, to season it with salt and cayenne, to heat it in a clean stewpan, and to serve it immediately. If only the red outsides of the carrots be used, the colour of the soup will be very bright; they should be weighed after they are mashed. Turnip soup may be prepared in the same manner.

Obs.—An experienced and observant cook will know the proportion of vegetables required to thicken this soup appropriately, without having recourse to weights and measures; but the learner had always better proceed by rule.

Soup, 2 quarts; pounded carrot, 1-1/2 lb.; salt, cayenne: 5 minutes.

A FINER CARROT SOUP.

Scrape very clean, and cut away all blemishes from some highly-flavoured red carrots; wash, and wipe them dry, and cut them into quarter-inch slices. Put into a large stewpan three ounces of the best butter, and when it is melted, add two pounds of the sliced carrots, and let them stew gently for an hour without browning; pour to them then four pints and a half of brown gravy soup, and when they have simmered from fifty minutes to an hour, they ought to be sufficiently tender. Press them through a sieve or strainer with the soup; add salt, and cayenne if required; boil the whole gently for five minutes, take off all the scum, and serve the soup as hot as possible.

Butter, 3 oz.; carrots, 2 lbs.: 1 hour. Soup, 4-1/2 pints: 50 to 60 minutes. Salt, cayenne: 5 minutes.

COMMON TURNIP SOUP.

Wash and wipe the turnips, pare and weigh them; allow a pound and a half for every quart of soup. Cut them in slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Melt four ounces of butter in a clean stewpan, and put in the turnips before it begins to boil; stew them gently for three quarters of an hour, taking care that they shall not brown, then have the proper quantity of soup ready boiling, pour it to them, and let them simmer in it for three quarters of an hour. Pulp the whole through a coarse sieve or soup strainer, put it again on the fire, keep it stirred until it has boiled three minutes or four, take off the scum, add salt and pepper if required, and serve it very hot. Turnips, 3 lbs.; butter, 4 oz.: 3/4 hour. Soup, 2 quarts: 3/4 hour. Last time: three minutes.

A QUICKLY MADE TURNIP SOUP.

Pare and slice into three pints of veal or mutton stock or of good broth, three pounds of young mild turnips; stew them gently from twenty-five to thirty minutes, or until they can be reduced quite to pulp; rub the whole through a sieve, and add to it another quart of stock, a seasoning of salt and white pepper, and one lump of sugar: give it two or three minutes’ boil, skim and serve it. A large white onion when the flavour is liked may be sliced and stewed with the turnips. A little cream improves much the colour of this soup.

Turnips, 3 lbs.; soup, 5 pints: 25 to 30 minutes.

POTATO SOUP.

Mash to a smooth paste three pounds of good mealy potatoes, which have been steamed, or boiled very dry; mix with them by degrees, two quarts of boiling broth, pass the soup through a strainer, set it again on the fire, add pepper and salt, and let it boil for five minutes. Take off entirely the black scum that will rise upon it, and serve it very hot with fried or toasted bread. Where the flavour is approved, two ounces of onions minced and fried a light brown, may be added to the soup, and stewed in it for ten minutes before it is sent to table.

Potatoes, 3 lbs.; broth, 2 quarts: 5 minutes. (With onions, 2 oz.) 10 minutes.

APPLE SOUP.

(Soupe à la Bourguignon.)

Clear the fat from five pints of good mutton broth, bouillon, or shin of beef stock, and strain it through a fine sieve; add to it when it boils, a pound and a half of good cooking apples, and stew them down in it very softly to a smooth pulp; press the whole through a strainer, add a small teaspoonful of powdered ginger and plenty of pepper, simmer the soup for a couple of minutes, skim, and serve it very hot, accompanied by a dish of rice, boiled as for curries.

Broth, 5 pints; apples, 1-1/2 lb.: 25 to 40 minutes. Ginger, 1 teaspoonful; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful: 2 minutes.

PARSNEP SOUP.

Dissolve, over a gentle fire, four ounces of good butter, in a wide stewpan or saucepan, and slice in directly two pounds of sweet tender parsneps; let them stew very gently until all are quite soft, then pour in gradually sufficient veal stock or good broth to cover them, and boil the whole slowly from twenty minutes to half an hour; work it with a wooden spoon through a fine sieve, add as much stock as will make two quarts in all, season the soup with salt and white pepper or cayenne, give it one boil, skim, and serve it very hot. Send pale fried sippets to table with it.

Butter, 4-1/2 oz.; parsneps, 2 lbs.: 3/4 hour, or more. Stock, 1 quart; 20 to 30 minutes; 1 full quart more of stock; pepper, salt: 1 minute.

Obs.—We can particularly recommend this soup to those who like the peculiar flavour of the vegetable.

ANOTHER PARSNEP SOUP.

Slice into five pints of boiling veal stock or strong colourless broth, a couple of pounds of parsneps, and stew them as gently as possible from thirty minutes to an hour; when they are perfectly tender, press them through a sieve, strain the soup to them, season, boil, and serve it very hot. With the addition of cream, parsnep soup made by this receipt resembles in appearance the Palestine soup.

Veal stock or broth, 5 pints; parsneps, 2 lbs.: 30 to 60 minutes. Salt and cayenne: 2 minutes.

WESTERFIELD WHITE SOUP.

Break the bone of a knuckle of veal in one or two places, and put it on to stew, with three quarts of cold water to the five pounds of meat; when it has been quite cleared from scum, add to it an ounce and a half of salt, and one mild onion, twenty corns of white pepper, and two or three blades of mace, with a little cayenne pepper. When the soup is reduced one-third by slow simmering strain it off, and set it by till cold; then free it carefully from the fat and sediment, and heat it again in a very clean stewpan. Mix with it when it boils, a pint of thick cream smoothly blended with an ounce of good arrow-root, two ounces of very fresh vermicelli previously boiled tender in water slightly salted and well drained from it, and an ounce and a half of almonds blanched and cut in strips: give it one minute’s simmer, and serve it immediately, with a French roll in the tureen.

Veal, 5 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; 1 mild onion; 20 corns white pepper; 2 large blades of mace: 5 hours or more. Cream, 1 pint; almonds, 1-1/2 oz.; vermicelli, 1 oz.: 1 minute. Little thickening if needed.

Obs.—We have given this receipt without any variation from the original, as the soup made by it—of which we have often partaken—seemed always much approved by the guests of the hospitable country gentleman from whose family it was derived, and at whose well-arranged table it was very commonly served; but we would suggest the suppression of the almond spikes, as they seem unsuited to the preparation, and also to the taste of the present day.

A RICHER WHITE SOUP.

Pound very fine indeed six ounces of sweet almonds, then add to them six ounces of the breasts of roasted chickens or partridges, and three ounces of the whitest bread which has been soaked in a little veal broth, and squeezed very dry in a cloth. Beat these altogether to an extremely smooth paste; then pour to them boiling and by degrees, two quarts of rich veal stock; strain the soup through a fine hair sieve, set it again over the fire, add to it a pint of thick cream, and serve it, as soon as it is at the point of boiling. When cream is very scarce, or not easily to be procured, this soup may be thickened sufficiently without it, by increasing the quantity of almonds to eight or ten ounces, and pouring to them, after they have been reduced to the finest paste, a pint of boiling stock, which must be again wrung from them through a coarse cloth with very strong pressure: the proportion of meat and bread also should then be nearly doubled. The stock should be well seasoned with mace and cayenne before it is added to the other ingredients.

Almonds, 6 oz.; breasts of chickens or partridges, 6 oz.; soaked bread, 3 oz.; veal stock, 2 quarts; cream, 1 pint.

Obs. 1.—Some persons pound the yolks of four or five hard-boiled eggs with the almonds, meat, and bread for this white soup; French cooks beat smoothly with them an ounce or two of whole rice, previously boiled from fifteen to twenty minutes.

Obs. 2.—A good plain white soup maybe made simply by adding to a couple of quarts of pale veal stock or strong well-flavoured veal broth, a thickening of arrow-root, and from half to three quarters of a pint of cream. Four ounces of macaroni boiled tender and well-drained may be dropped into it a minute or two before it is dished, but the thickening may then be diminished a little.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

To make a single tureen of this favourite English soup in the most economical manner when there is no stock at hand, stew gently down in a gallon of water four pounds of the fleshy part of the shin of beef, or of the neck, with two or three carrots, one onion, a small head of celery, a bunch of savoury herbs, a blade of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, and an ounce of salt. When the meat is quite in fragments, strain off the broth, and pour it when cold upon three pounds of the knuckle or of the neck of veal; simmer this until the flesh has quite fallen from the bones, but be careful to stew it as softly as possible, or the quantity of stock will be so much reduced as to be insufficient for the soup. Next, take the half of a fine calf’s head with the skin on, remove the brains, and then bone it[27] entirely, or let the butcher do this, and return the bones with it; these, when there is time, may be stewed with the veal to enrich the stock, or boiled afterwards with the head and tongue. Strain the soup through a hair-sieve into a clean pan, and let it drain closely from the meat. When it is nearly or quite cold, clear off all the fat from it; roll the head lightly round, leaving the tongue inside, or taking it out, as is most convenient, secure it with tape or twine, pour the soup over, and bring it gently to boil upon a moderate fire; keep it well skimmed, and simmer it from an hour to an hour and a quarter; then lift the head into a deep pan or tureen, add the soup to it, and let it remain in until nearly cold, as this will prevent the edges from becoming dark. Cut into quarter-inch slices, and then divide into dice, from six to eight ounces of the lean of an undressed ham, and if possible, one of good flavour; free it perfectly from fat, rind, and the smoked edges; peel and slice four moderate-sized eschalots, or if these should not be at hand, one mild onion in lieu of them. Dissolve in a well-tinned stewpan or thick iron saucepan which holds a gallon or more, four ounces of butter; put in the ham and eschalots, or onion, with half a dozen cloves, two middling-sized blades of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, three or four very small sprigs of thyme, three teaspoonsful of minced parsley, one of lemon thyme and winter savoury mixed, and when the flavour is thought appropriate, the very thin rind of half a small fresh lemon. Stew these as softly as possible for nearly or quite an hour, and keep the pan frequently shaken: then put into a dredging box two ounces of fine dry flour, and sprinkle it to them by degrees; mix the whole well together, and after a few minutes more of gentle simmering, add very gradually five full pints of the stock taken free of fat and sediment, and made boiling before it is poured in; shake the pan strongly round as the first portions of it are added, and continue to do so until it contains from two to three pints, when the remainder may be poured in at once, and the pan placed by the side of the fire that it may boil in the gentlest manner for an hour. At the end of that time turn the whole into a hair-sieve placed over a large pan, and if the liquid should not run through freely, knock the sides of the sieve, but do not force it through with a spoon, as that would spoil the appearance of the stock. The head in the meanwhile should have been cut up, ready to add to it. For the finest kind of mock turtle, only the skin, with the fat that adheres to it, should be used; and this, with the tongue, should be cut down into one inch squares, or if preferred into strips of an inch wide. For ordinary occasions, the lean part of the flesh may be added also, but as it is always sooner done than the skin, it is better to add it to the soup a little later. When it is quite ready, put it with the strained stock into a clean pan, and simmer it from three quarters of an hour to a full hour: it should be perfectly tender, without being allowed to break. Cayenne, if needed, should be thrown into the stock before it is strained; salt should be used sparingly, on account of the ham, until the whole of the other ingredients have been mixed together, when a sufficient quantity must be stirred into the soup to season it properly. A couple of glasses of good sherry or Madeira, with a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice, are usually added two or three minutes only before the soup is dished, that the spirit and flavour of the wine may not have time to evaporate; but it is sometimes preferred mellowed down by longer boiling. The proportion of lemon-juice may be doubled at will, but much acid is not generally liked. We can assure the reader of the excellence of the soup made by this receipt; it is equally palatable and delicate, and not heavy or cloying to the stomach, like many of the elaborate compositions which bear its name. The fat, through the whole process, should be carefully skimmed off. The ham gives far more savour, when used as we have directed, than when, even in much larger proportion, it is boiled down in the stock. Two dozens of forcemeat-balls, prepared by the receipt No. 11, Chap. VIII., should be dropped into the soup when it is ready for table. It is no longer customary to serve egg-balls in it.

27.  This is so simple and easy a process, that the cook may readily accomplish it with very little attention. Let her only work the knife close to the bone always, so as to take the flesh clean from it, instead of leaving large fragments on. The jaw-bone may first be removed, and the flesh turned back from the edge of the other.

First broth:—shin, or neck of beef, 4 lbs.; water, 4 quarts; carrots, 2 or 3; large mild onion, 1; celery, small head; bunch savoury herbs; mace, 1 large blade; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; cloves, 6; salt, 1 oz.: 5 hours or more, very gently. For stock: the broth and 3 lbs. neck or knuckle of veal (bones of head if ready): 4 to 5 hours. Boned half-head with skin on and tongue, 1 to 1-1/4 hour. Lean of undressed ham, 6 to 8 oz. (6 if very salt); shalots, 4, or onion, 1; fresh butter, 4 oz.; cloves, 6; middling-sized blades of mace, 2; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; small sprigs of thyme, 3 or 4; minced parsley, 3 large teaspoonsful; minced savoury and lemon-thyme mixed, 1 small teaspoonful (thin rind 1/2 small lemon, when liked): 1 hour. Flour, 2 oz.: 5 minutes. Stock, full five pints; flesh of head and tongue, 1-3/4 to 2 lbs.: 3/4 of an hour to 1 hour (salt, if needed, to be added in interim). Good sherry or Madeira, 2 wineglassesful; lemon-juice, 1 to 2 dessertspoonsful; forcemeat-balls, 24.

Obs. 1.—The beef, veal, bones of the head, and vegetables may be stewed down together when more convenient: it is only necessary that a really good, well flavoured, and rather deeply-coloured stock should be prepared. A calf’s foot is always an advantageous addition to it, and the skin of another calf’s head[28] a better one still.

28.  Country butchers, in preparing a calf’s head for sale in the ordinary way, take off the skin (or scalp), considered so essential to the excellence of this soup, and frequently throw it away; it may, therefore, often be procured from them at very slight cost, and is the best possible addition to the mock turtle. It is cleared from the head in detached portions with the hair on, but this may easily be removed after a few minutes’ scalding as from the head itself, or the feet, by the direction given in Chapter of Sweet Dishes. In London it is sold entire, and very nicely prepared, and may be served in many forms, besides being added to soup with great advantage.

Obs. 2.—A couple of dozens mushroom-buttons, cleaned with salt and flannel, then wiped very dry, and sliced, and added to the ham and herbs when they have been simmered together about half an hour, will be found an improvement to the soup.

Claret is sometimes added instead of sherry or Madeira, but we do not think it would in general suit English taste so well. From two to three tablespoonsful of Harvey’s sauce can be stirred in with the wine when it is liked, or when the colour requires deepening.

OLD-FASHIONED MOCK TURTLE.

After having taken out the brain and washed and soaked the head well, pour to it nine quarts of cold water, bring it gently to boil, skim it very clean, boil it if large an hour and a half, lift it out, and put into the liquor eight pounds of neck of beef lightly browned in a little fresh butter, with three or four thick slices of lean ham, four large onions sliced, three heads of celery, three large carrots, a large bunch of savoury herbs, the rind of a lemon pared very thin, a dessertspoonful of peppercorns, two ounces of salt, and after the meat has been taken from the head, all the bones and fragments. Stew these gently from six to seven hours, then strain off the stock and set it into a very cool place, that the fat may become firm enough on the top to be cleared off easily. The skin and fat of the head should be taken off together and divided into strips of two or three inches in length, and one in width; the tongue may be carved in the same manner, or into dice. Put the stock, of which there ought to be between four and five quarts, into a large soup or stewpot; thicken it when it boils with four ounces of fresh butter[29] mixed with an equal weight of fine dry flour, a half-teaspoonful of pounded mace, and a third as much of cayenne (it is better to use these sparingly at first, and to add more should the soup require it, after it has boiled some little time); pour in half a pint of sherry, stir the whole together until it has simmered for a minute or two, then put in the head, and let it stew gently from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half: stir it often, and clear it perfectly from scum. Put into it just before it is ready for table three dozens of small forcemeat-balls; the brain cut into dice (after having been well soaked, scalded,[30] and freed from the film), dipped into beaten yolk of egg, then into the finest crumbs mixed with salt, white pepper, a little grated nutmeg, fine lemon-rind, and chopped parsley fried a fine brown, well drained and dried; and as many egg-balls, the size of a small marble, as the yolks of four eggs will supply. (See Chapter VIII). This quantity will be sufficient for two large tureens of soup; when the whole is not wanted for table at the same time, it is better to add wine only to so much as will be required for immediate consumption, or if it cannot conveniently be divided, to heat the wine in a small saucepan with a little of the soup, to turn it into the tureen, and then to mix it with the remainder by stirring the whole gently after the tureen is filled. Some persons simply put in the cold wine just before the soup is dished, but this is not so well.

29.  When the butter is considered objectionable, the flour, without it, may be mixed to the smoothest batter possible, with a little cold stock or water, and stirred briskly into the boiling soup: the spices should be blended with it.

30.  The brain should be blanched, that is, thrown into boiling water with a little salt in it, and boiled from five to eight minutes, then lifted out and laid into cold water for a quarter of an hour: it must be wiped very dry before it is fried.

Whole calf’s head with skin on, boiled 1-1/2 hour. Stock: neck of beef, browned in butter, 8 lbs.; lean of ham, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.; onions, 4; large carrots, 3; heads of celery, 3; large bunch herbs; salt, 2 oz. (as much more to be added when the soup is made as will season it sufficiently); thin rind, 1 lemon; peppercorns, 1 dessertspoonful; bones and trimmings of head: 8 hours. Soup: stock, 4 to 5 quarts; flour and butter for thickening, of each 4 oz.; pounded mace, half-teaspoonful; cayenne, third as much (more of each as needed); sherry, half pint: 2 to 3 minutes. Flesh of head and tongue, nearly or quite 2 lbs.: 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour. Forcemeat-balls, 36; the brain cut and fried; egg-balls, 16 to 24.

Obs.—When the brain is not blanched it must be cut thinner in the form of small cakes, or it will not be done through by the time it has taken enough colour: it may be altogether omitted without much detriment to the soup, and will make an excellent corner dish if gently stewed in white gravy for half an hour, and served with it thickened with cream and arrow-root to the consistency of good white sauce, then rather highly seasoned, and mixed with plenty of minced parsley, and some lemon-juice.

GOOD CALF’S HEAD SOUP.

(Not expensive.)

Stew down from six to seven pounds of the thick part of a shin of beef with a little lean ham, or a slice of hung beef, or of Jewish beef, trimmed free from the smoky edges, in five quarts of water until reduced nearly half, with the addition, when it first begins to boil, of an ounce of salt, a large bunch of savoury herbs, one large onion, a head of celery, three carrots, two or three turnips, two small blades of mace, eight or ten cloves, and a few white or black peppercorns. Let it boil gently that it may not be too much reduced, for six or seven hours, then strain it into a clean pan and set it by for use. Take out the bone from half a calf’s head with the skin on (the butcher will do this if desired), wash, roll, and bind it with a bit of tape or twine, and lay it into a stewpan, with the bones and tongue; cover the whole with the beef stock, and stew it for an hour and a half; then lift it into a deep earthen pan and let it cool in the liquor, as this will prevent the edges from becoming dry or discoloured. Take it out before it is quite cold; strain, and skim all the fat carefully from the stock; and heat five pints in a large clean saucepan, with the head cut into small thick slices or into inch-squares. As quite the whole will not be needed, leave a portion of the fat, but add every morsel of the skin to the soup, and of the tongue also. Should the first of these not be perfectly tender, it must be simmered gently till it is so; then stir into the soup from six to eight ounces of fine rice-flour mixed with a quarter-teaspoonful of cayenne, twice as much freshly pounded mace, half a wineglassful of mushroom catsup,[31] and sufficient cold broth or water to render it of the consistence of batter; boil the whole from eight to ten minutes; take off the scum, and throw in two glasses of sherry; dish the soup and put into the tureen some delicately and well fried forcemeat-balls made by the receipt No. 1, 2, or 3, of Chapter VIII. A small quantity of lemon-juice or other acid can be added at pleasure. The wine and forcemeat-balls may be omitted, and the other seasonings of the soup a little heightened. As much salt as may be required should be added to the stock when the head first begins to boil in it: the cook must regulate also by the taste the exact proportion of cayenne, mace, and catsup, which will flavour the soup agreeably. The fragments of the head, with the bones and the residue of the beef used for stock, if stewed down together with some water and a few fresh vegetables, will afford some excellent broth, such as would be highly acceptable, especially if well thickened with rice, to many a poor family during the winter months.

31.  Unless very good and pure in flavour, we cannot recommend the addition of this or of any other catsup to soup or gravy.

Stock: shin of beef, 6 to 7 lbs.; water, 5 quarts: stewed down (with vegetables, &c.) till reduced nearly half. Boned half-head with skin on stewed in stock: 1-1/2 hour. Soup: stock, 5 pints; tongue, skin of head, and part of flesh: 15 to 40 minutes, or more if not quite tender. Rice-flour, 6 to 8 oz.; cayenne, quarter-teaspoonful; mace, twice as much; mushroom catsup, 1/2 wineglassful: 10 minutes. Sherry, 2 wineglassesful, forcemeat-balls, 20 to 30.

SOUP DES GALLES.

Add to the liquor in which a knuckle of veal has been boiled the usual time for table as much water as will make altogether six quarts, and stew in it gently sixpennyworth of beef bones and sixpennyworth of pork-rinds. When the boiling is somewhat advanced, throw in the skin of a calf’s head; and in an hour afterwards, or when it is quite tender, lift it out and set it aside till wanted. Slice and fry four large mild onions, stick into another eight or ten cloves, and put them into the soup after it has stewed from six to seven hours. Continue the boiling for two or three hours longer, then strain off the soup, and let it remain until perfectly cold. When wanted for table, take it quite clear from the fat and sediment, and heat it anew with the skin of the calf’s head cut into dice, three ounces of loaf sugar, four tablespoonsful of strained lemon-juice, two of soy, and three wineglassesful of sherry; give it one boil, skim it well, and serve it as hot as possible. Salt must be added to it sparingly in the first instance on account of the soy: a proper seasoning of cayenne or pepper must not, of course, be omitted.

This receipt was given to the writer, some years since, as a perfectly successful imitation of a soup which was then, and is still, she believes, selling in London at six shillings the quart. Never having tasted the original Soupe des Galles she cannot say how far it is a correct one; but she had it tested with great exactness when she received it first, and found the result a very good soup prepared at an extremely moderate cost. The pork-rinds, when long boiled, afford a strong and flavourless jelly, which might be advantageously used to give consistence to other soups. They may be procured during the winter, usually at the butcher’s, but if not, at the porkshops: they should be carefully washed before they are put into the soup-pot. When a knuckle of veal cannot conveniently be had, a pound or two of the neck and a morsel of scrag of mutton may instead be boiled down with the beef-bones; or two or three pounds of neck or shin of beef: but these will, of course, augment the cost of the soup.

POTAGE À LA REINE.

(A Delicate White Soup.)

Should there be no strong veal broth, nor any white stock in readiness, stew four pounds of the scrag or knuckle of veal, with a thick slice or two of lean ham, a faggot of sweet herbs, two moderate-sized carrots, and the same of onions, a large blade of mace, and a half-teaspoonful of white peppercorns, in four quarts of water until reduced to about five pints; then strain the liquor, and set it by until the fat can be taken entirely from it. Skin and wash thoroughly, a couple of fine fowls, or three young pullets, and take away the dark spongy substance which adheres to the insides; pour the veal broth to them, and boil them gently from three quarters of an hour to an hour; then lift them out, take off all the white flesh, mince it small, pound it to the finest paste, and cover it with a basin until wanted for use. In the mean time let the bodies of the fowls be put again into the stock, and stewed gently for an hour and a half; add as much salt and cayenne, as will season the soup properly, strain it off when sufficiently boiled, and let it cool; skim off every particle of fat; steep, in a small portion of it, which should be boiling, four ounces of the crumb of light stale bread sliced thin, and when it has simmered a few minutes, drain or wring the moisture from it in a clean cloth, add it to the flesh of the chickens, and pound them together until they are perfectly blended; then pour the stock to them in very small quantities at first, and mix them smoothly with it; pass the whole through a sieve or tammy, heat it in a clean stewpan, stir to it from a pint to a pint and a half of boiling cream, and add, should it not be sufficiently thick, an ounce and a half of arrow-root, quite free from lumps, and moistened with a few spoonsful of cold milk or stock.

Remark.—This soup, and the two which immediately follow it, if made with care and great nicety by the exact directions given here for them, will be found very refined and excellent. For stock: veal, 4 lbs.; ham, 6 oz.; water, 4 quarts; bunch of herbs; carrots, 2; onions, 2; mace, large blade; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt: 5 hours. Fowls, 2, or pullets, 3: 3/4 to 1 hour; stewed afterwards 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Crumb of bread, 4 oz.; cream, 1 to 1-1/2 pint; arrow-root (if needed), 1-1/2 oz.

Obs.—Some cooks pound with the bread and chickens the yolks of three or four hard-boiled eggs, but these improve neither the colour nor the flavour of the potage.

WHITE OYSTER SOUP.

(or Oyster Soup à la Reine.)

When the oysters are small, from two to three dozens for each pint of soup should be prepared, but this number can of course be diminished or increased at pleasure. Let the fish (which should be finely conditioned natives) be opened carefully; pour the liquor from them, and strain it; rinse them in it well, and beard them; strain the liquor a second time through a lawn sieve or folded muslin, and pour it again over the oysters. Take a portion from two quarts of the palest veal stock, and simmer the beards in it from twenty to thirty minutes. Heat the soup, flavour it with mace and cayenne, and strain the stock from the oyster-beards into it. Plump the fish in their own liquor, but do not let them boil; pour the liquor to the soup, and add to it a pint of boiling cream; put the oysters into the tureen, dish the soup, and send it to table quickly. Should any thickening be required, stir briskly to the stock an ounce and a half of arrow-root entirely free from lumps, and carefully mixed with a little milk or cream; or, in lieu of this, when a rich soup is liked, thicken it with four ounces of fresh butter well blended with three of flour.

Oysters, 8 to 12 dozens; pale veal stock, 2 quarts; cream, 1 pint; thickening, 1 oz. arrow-root, or butter, 4 oz., flour, 3 oz.

RABBIT SOUP À LA REINE.

Wash and soak thoroughly three young rabbits, put them whole into the soup-pot, and pour on them seven pints of cold water or of clear veal broth; when they have stewed gently about three quarters of an hour lift them out, and take off the flesh of the backs, with a little from the legs should there not be half a pound of the former; strip off the skin, mince the meat very small, and pound it to the smoothest paste; cover it from the air, and set it by. Put back into the soup the bodies of the rabbits, with two mild onions of moderate size, a head of celery, three carrots, a faggot of savoury herbs, two blades of mace, a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns, and an ounce of salt. Stew the whole softly three hours; strain it off, let it stand to settle, pour it gently from the sediment, put from four to five pints into a clean stewpan, and mix it very gradually while hot with the pounded rabbit-flesh; this must be done with care, for if the liquid be not added in very small portions at first, the meat will gather into lumps and will not easily be worked smooth afterwards. Add as much pounded mace and cayenne as will season the soup pleasantly, and pass it through a coarse but very clean sieve; wipe out the stewpan, put back the soup into it, and stir in when it boils, a pint and a quarter of good cream[32] mixed with a tablespoonful of the best arrow-root: salt, if needed, should be thrown in previously.

32.  We give this receipt exactly as we had it first compounded, but less cream and rather more arrow-root might be used for it, and would adapt it better to the economist.

Young rabbits, 3; water, or clear veal broth, 7 pints: 3/4 of an hour. Remains of rabbits; onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 3; savoury herbs; mace, 2 blades; white peppercorns, a half-teaspoonful; salt, 1 oz.: 3 hours. Soup, 4 to 5 pints; pounded rabbit-flesh, 8 oz.; salt, mace, and cayenne, if needed; cream, 1-1/4 pint; arrow-root, 1 tablespoonful (or 1-1/2 ounce).

BROWN RABBIT SOUP.

Cut down into joints, flour, and fry lightly, two full grown, or three young rabbits; add to them three onions of moderate size, also fried to a clear brown; on these pour gradually seven pints of boiling water, throw in a large teaspoonful of salt, clear off all the scum with care as it rises, and then put to the soup a faggot of parsley, four not very large carrots, and a small teaspoonful of peppercorns; boil the whole very softly from five hours to five and a half; add more salt if needed, strain off the soup, let it cool sufficiently for the fat to be skimmed clean from it, heat it afresh, and send it to table with sippets of fried bread. Spice, with a thickening of rice-flour, or of wheaten flour browned in the oven, and mixed with a spoonful or two of very good mushroom catsup, or of Harvey’s sauce, can be added at pleasure to the above, with a few drops of eschalot-wine, or vinegar; but the simple receipt will be found extremely good without them.

Rabbits, 2 full grown, or 3 small; onions fried, 3 middling-sized; water, 7 pints; salt, 1 large teaspoonful or more; carrots, 4, a faggot of parsley; peppercorns, 1 small teaspoonful: 5 to 5-1/2 hours.

SUPERLATIVE HARE SOUP.

Cut down a hare into joints, and put into a soup-pot, or large stewpan, with about a pound of lean ham, in thick slices, three moderate-sized mild onions, three blades of mace, a faggot of thyme, sweet marjoram, and parsley, and about three quarts of good beef stock. Let it stew very gently for full two hours from the time of its first beginning to boil, and more, if the hare be old. Strain the soup and pound together very fine the slices of ham and all the flesh of the back, legs, and shoulders of the hare, and put this meat into a stewpan with the liquor in which it was boiled, the crumb of two French rolls, and half a pint of port wine. Set it on the stove to simmer twenty minutes; then rub it through a sieve, place it again on the stove till very hot, but do not let it boil: season it with salt and cayenne, and send it to table directly.

Hare, 1; ham, 12 to 16 oz.; onions, 3 to 6; mace, 3 blades; faggot of savoury herbs; beef stock, 3 quarts: 2 hours. Crumb of 2 rolls; port wine, 1/2 pint; little salt and cayenne: 20 minutes.

A LESS EXPENSIVE HARE SOUP.[33]

33.  The remains of a roasted hare, with the forcemeat and gravy, are admirably calculated for making this soup.

Pour on two pounds of neck or shin of beef and a hare well washed and carved into joints, one gallon of cold water, and when it boils and has been thoroughly skimmed, add an ounce and a half of salt, two onions, one large head of celery, three moderate-sized carrots, a teaspoonful of black peppercorns, and six cloves.

Let these stew very gently for three hours, or longer, should the hare not be perfectly tender. Then take up the principal joints, cut the meat from them, mince, and pound it to a fine paste, with the crumb of two penny rolls (or two ounces of the crumb of household bread) which has been soaked in a little of the boiling soup, and then pressed very dry in a cloth; strain, and mix smoothly with it the stock from the remainder of the hare; pass the soup through a strainer, season it with cayenne, and serve it when at the point of boiling; if not sufficiently thick, add to it a tablespoonful of arrow-root moistened with a little cold broth, and let the soup simmer for an instant afterwards. Two or three glasses of port wine, and two dozens of small forcemeat-balls, may be added to this soup with good effect.

Beef, 2 lbs.; hare, 1; water, 1 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; onions, 2; celery, 1 head; carrots, 3; bunch of savoury herbs; peppercorns, 1 teaspoonful; cloves, 6: 3 hours, or more. Bread, 2 oz.; cayenne, arrow-root (if needed), 1 tablespoonful.

ECONOMICAL TURKEY SOUP.

The remains of a roast turkey, even after they have supplied the usual mince and broil, will furnish a tureen of cheap and excellent soup with the addition of a little fresh meat. Cut up rather small two pounds of the neck or other lean joint of beef, and pour to it five pints of cold water. Heat these very slowly; skim the liquor when it begins to boil, and add to it an ounce of salt, a small, mild onion (the proportion of all the vegetables may be much increased when they are liked), a little celery, and the flesh and bones of the turkey, with any gravy or forcemeat that may have been left with them. Let these boil gently for about three hours; then strain off the soup through a coarse sieve or cullender, and let it remain until the fat can be entirely removed from it. It may then be served merely well thickened with rice[34] which has previously been boiled very dry as for currie, and stewed in it for about ten minutes; and seasoned with one large heaped tablespoonful or more of minced parsley, and as much salt and pepper or cayenne as it may require. This, as the reader will perceive, is a somewhat frugal preparation, by which the residue of a roast turkey may be turned to economical account; but it is a favourite soup at some good English tables, where its very simplicity is a recommendation. It can always be rendered more expensive, and of richer quality, by the addition of lean ham or smoked beef,[35] a larger weight of fresh meat, and catsup or other store-sauces.

34.  It will be desirable to prepare six ounces of rice, and to use as much of it as may be required, the reduction of the stock not being always equal, and the same weight of rice therefore not being in all cases sufficient. Rice-flour can be substituted for the whole grain and used as directed for Rice Flour Soup, page 15.

35.  As we have stated in our chapter of Foreign Cookery, the Jewish smoked beef, of which we have given particulars there, imparts a superior flavour to soups and gravies; and it is an economical addition to them, as a small portion of it will much heighten their savour.

Turkey soup à la reine is made precisely like the Potage à la Reine of fowls or pullets, of which the receipt will be found in another part of this chapter.

PHEASANT SOUP.

Half roast a brace of well-kept pheasants, and flour them rather thickly when they are first laid to the fire. As soon as they are nearly cold take all the flesh from the breasts, put it aside, and keep it covered from the air; carve down the remainder of the birds into joints, bruise the bodies thoroughly, and stew the whole gently from two to three hours in five pints of strong beef broth; then strain off the soup, and press as much of it as possible from the pheasants. Let it cool; and in the mean time strip the skins from the breasts, mince them small, and pound them to the finest paste, with half as much fresh butter, and half of dry crumbs of bread; season these well with cayenne, sufficiently with salt, and moderately with pounded mace and grated nutmeg, and add, when their flavour is liked, three or four eschalots previously boiled tender in a little of the soup, left till cold, and minced before they are put into the mortar. Moisten the mixture with the yolks of two or three eggs, roll it into small balls of equal size, dust a little flour upon them, skim all the fat from the soup, heat it in a clean stewpan, and when it boils throw them in and poach them from ten to twelve minutes, but first ascertain that the soup is properly seasoned with salt and cayenne. We have recommended that the birds should be partially roasted before they are put into the soup-pot, because their flavour is much finer when this is done than when they are simply stewed; they should be placed rather near to a brisk fire that they may be quickly browned on the surface without losing any of their juices, and the basting should be constant. A slight thickening of rice-flour and arrow-root can be added to the soup at pleasure, and the forcemeat-balls may be fried and dropped into the tureen when they are preferred so. Half a dozen eschalots lightly browned in butter, and a small head of celery, may also be thrown in after the birds begin to stew, but nothing should be allowed to prevail ever the natural flavour of the game itself; and this should be observed equally with other kinds, as partridges, grouse, and venison.

Pheasants, 2. roasted 20 to 25 minutes. Strong beef broth, or stock, 5 pints: 2 to 3 hours. Forcemeat-balls: breasts of pheasants, half as much dry bread-crumbs and of butter, salt, mace, cayenne; yolks of 2 or 3 eggs (and at choice 3 or 4 boiled eschalots).

Obs.—The stock may be made of six pounds of shin of beef, and four quarts of water reduced to within a pint of half. An onion, a large carrot, a bunch of savoury herbs, and some salt and spice should be added to it: one pound of neck of veal or of beef will improve it.

ANOTHER PHEASANT SOUP.

Boil down the half-roasted birds as directed in the foregoing receipt, and add to the soup, after it is strained and re-heated, the breasts pounded to the finest paste with nearly as much bread soaked in a little of the stock and pressed very dry; for the proper manner of mixing them, see Potage à la Reine, page 29. Half a pint of small mushrooms cleaned as for pickling, then sliced rather thickly, and stewed from ten to fifteen minutes without browning, in an ounce or two of fresh butter, with a slight seasoning of mace, cayenne, and salt, then turned into the mortar and pounded with the other ingredients, will be found an excellent addition to the soup, which must be passed through a strainer after the breasts are added to it, brought to the point of boiling, and served with sippets à la Reine, or with others simply fried of a delicate brown and well dried. We have occasionally had a small quantity of delicious soup made with the remains of birds which have been served at table; and where game is frequently dressed, the cook, by reserving all the fragments for the purpose, and combining different kinds, may often send up a good tureen of such, made at a very slight cost.

Pheasants, 2; stock, 5 pints; bread soaked in gravy (see Panada, Chapter VIII), nearly as much in bulk as the flesh of the breasts of the birds; mushrooms, 1/2 pint, stewed in one or two oz. of butter 10 to 15 minutes, then pounded with flesh of pheasants. Salt, cayenne and mace, to season properly.

PARTRIDGE SOUP.

This is, we think, superior in flavour to the pheasant soup. It should be made in precisely the same manner, but three birds allowed for it instead of two. Grouse and partridges together will make a still finer one; the remains of roast grouse even, added to a brace of partridges, will produce a very good effect.

MULLAGATAWNY SOUP.

Slice, and fry gently in some good butter three or four large onions, and when they are of a fine equal amber-colour lift them out with a slice and put them into a deep stewpot, or large thick saucepan; throw a little more butter into the pan, and then brown lightly in it a young rabbit, or the prime joints of two, or a fowl cut down small, and floured. When the meat is sufficiently browned, lay it upon the onions, pour gradually to them a quart of good boiling stock, and stew it gently from three quarters of an hour to an hour; then take it out, and pass the stock and onions through a fine sieve or strainer. Add to them two pints and a half more of stock, pour the whole into a clean pan, and when it boils stir to it two tablespoonsful of currie-powder mixed with nearly as much of browned flour, and a little cold water or broth, put in the meat, and simmer it for twenty minutes or longer should it not be perfectly tender, add the juice of a small lemon just before it is dished, serve it very hot, and send boiled rice to table with it. Part of a pickled mango cut into strips about the size of large straws, is sometimes served in this soup, after being stewed in it for a few minutes; a little of the pickle itself should be added with it. We have given here the sort of receipt commonly used in England for mullagatawny, but a much finer soup may be made by departing from it in some respects. The onions, of which the proportion may be increased or diminished to the taste, after being fried slowly and with care, that no part should be overdone, may be stewed for an hour in the first quart of stock with three or four ounces of grated cocoa-nut,[36] which will impart a rich mellow flavour to the whole. After all of this that can be rubbed through the sieve has been added to as much more stock as will be required for the soup, and the currie-powder and thickening have been boiled in it for twenty minutes, the flesh of part of a calf’s head,[37] previously stewed almost tender, and cut as for mock turtle, with a sweetbread also parboiled or stewed in broth, and divided into inch-squares, will make an admirable mullagatawny, if simmered in the stock until they have taken the flavour of the currie-seasoning. The flesh of a couple of calves’ feet, with a sweetbread or two, may, when more convenient, be substituted for the head. A large cupful of thick cream, first mixed and boiled with a teaspoonful of flour or arrow-root to prevent its curdling, and stirred into the soup before the lemon-juice, will enrich and improve it much.

36.  That our readers to whom this ingredient in soups is new, may not be misled, we must repeat here, that although the cocoa-nut when it is young and fresh imparts a peculiarly rich flavour to any preparation, it is not liked by all eaters, and is better omitted when the taste of a party is not known, and only one soup is served.

37.  The scalp or skin only of a calf’s head will make excellent mullagatawny, with good broth for stock; and many kinds of shell-fish also.

Rabbit, 1, or the best joints of, 2, or fowl, 1; large onions, 4 to 6; stock, 1 quart: 3/4 to 1 hour. 2-1/2 pints more of stock; currie-powder, 2 heaped tablespoonsful, with 2 of browned flour; meat and all simmered together 20 minutes or more; juice of lemon, 1 small; or part of pickled mango stewed in the soup 3 to 4 minutes.

Or,—onions, 3 to 6; cocoa-nut, 3 to 4 oz.; stock, 1 quart; stewed 1 hour. Stock, 3 pints (in addition to the first quart); currie-powder and thickening each, 2 large tablespoonsful: 20 minutes. Flesh of part of calf s head and sweetbread, 15 minutes or more. Thick cream, 1 cupful; flour or arrow-root, 1 teaspoonful; boiled 2 minutes, and stirred to the soup. Chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful, or lemon-juice, 2 tablespoonsful.

Obs. 1.—The brain of the calf’s head stewed for twenty minutes in a little of the stock, then rubbed through a sieve, diluted gradually with more of the stock, and added as thickening to the soup, will be found an admirable substitute for part of the flour.

Obs. 2.—Three or four pounds of a breast of veal, or an equal weight of mutton, free from bone and fat, may take the place of rabbits or fowls in this soup, for a plain dinner. The veal should be cut into squares of an inch and a half, or into strips of an inch in width, and two in length; and the mutton should be trimmed down in the same way, or into very small cutlets.

Obs. 3.—For an elegant table, the joints of rabbit or of fowl should always be boned before they are added to the soup, for which, in this case, a couple of each will be needed for a single tureen, as all the inferior joints must be rejected.

TO BOIL RICE FOR MULLAGATAWNY SOUPS, OR FOR CURRIES.

The Patna, or small-grained rice, which is not so good as the Carolina, for the general purposes of cookery, ought to be served with currie. First take out the unhusked grains, then wash the rice in several waters, and put it into a large quantity of cold water; bring it gently to boil, keeping it uncovered, and boil it softly for fifteen minutes, when it will be perfectly tender, and every grain will remain distinct. Throw it into a large cullender, and let it drain for ten minutes near the fire; should it not then appear quite dry, turn it into a dish, and set it for a short time into a gentle oven, or let it steam in a clean saucepan near the fire. It should neither be stirred, except just at first, to prevent its lumping while it is still quite hard, nor touched with either fork or spoon; the stewpan may be shaken occasionally, should the rice seem to require it, and it should be thrown lightly from the cullender upon the dish. A couple of minutes before it is done, throw in some salt, and from the time of its beginning to boil remove the scum as it rises.

Patna rice, 1/2 lb.; cold water, 2 quarts: boiled slowly, 15 minutes. Salt, 1 large teaspoonful.

Obs.—This, of all the modes of boiling rice which we have tried, and they have been very numerous, is indisputably the best. The Carolina rice answers well dressed in the same manner, but requires four or five minutes longer boiling: it should never be served until it is quite tender. One or two minutes, more or less, will sometimes, from the varying quality of the grain, be requisite to render it tender.

GOOD VEGETABLE MULLAGATAWNY.

Dissolve in a large stewpan or thick iron saucepan, four ounces of butter, and when it is on the point of browning, throw in four large mild onions sliced, three pounds weight of young vegetable marrow cut in large dice and cleared from the skin and seeds, four large or six moderate-sized cucumbers, pared, split, and emptied likewise of their seeds, and from three to six large acid apples, according to the taste; shake the pan often, and stew these over a gentle fire until they are tolerably tender; then strew lightly over and mix well amongst them, three heaped tablespoonsful of mild currie powder, with nearly a third as much of salt, and let the vegetables stew from twenty to thirty minutes longer; then pour to them gradually sufficient boiling water (broth or stock if preferred) to just cover them, and when they are reduced almost to a pulp press the whole through a hair-sieve with a wooden spoon, and heat it in a clean stewpan, with as much additional liquid as will make two quarts with that which was first added. Give any flavouring that may be needed, whether of salt, cayenne, or acid, and serve the soup extremely hot. Should any butter appear on the surface, let it be carefully skimmed off, or stir in a small dessertspoonful of arrow-root (smoothly mixed with a little cold broth or water) to absorb it. Rice may be served with this soup at pleasure, but as it is of the consistence of winter peas soup, it scarcely requires any addition. The currie powder may be altogether omitted for variety, and the whole converted into a plain vegetable potage; or it may be rendered one of high savour, by browning all the vegetables lightly, and adding to them rich brown stock. Tomatas, when in season, may be substituted for the apples, after being divided, and freed from their seeds.

Butter, 4 oz.; vegetable marrow, pared and scooped, 3 lbs.; large mild onions, 4; large cucumbers, 4; or middling-sized, 6; apples, or large tomatas, 3 to 6; 30 to 40 minutes. Mild currie-powder, 3 heaped tablespoonsful; salt, one small tablespoonful 20 to 32 minutes. Water, broth, or good stock, 2 quarts.

CUCUMBER SOUP.

Pare, split, and empty from eight to twenty[38] fine, well grown, but not old cucumbers,—those which have the fewest seeds are best for the purpose; throw a little salt over them, and leave them for an hour to drain, then put them with the white part only of a couple of mild onions into a deep stewpan or delicately clean saucepan, cover them nearly half an inch with pale but good veal stock, and stew them gently until they are perfectly tender, which will be in from three quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter; work the whole through a hair-sieve, and add to it as much more stock as may be needed to make the quantity of soup required for table; and as the cucumbers, from their watery nature, will thicken it but little, stir to it when it boils, as much arrow-root, rice-flour, or tous les mois (see page 1), as will bring it to a good consistence; add from half to a whole pint of boiling cream, and serve the soup immediately. Salt and cayenne sufficient to season it, should be thrown over the cucumbers while they are stewing. The yolks of six or eight eggs, mixed with a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar, may be used for this soup instead of cream; three dessertspoonsful of minced parsley may then be strewed into it a couple of minutes before they are added: it must not, of course, be allowed to boil after they are stirred in.

38.  This is a great disparity of numbers; but some regard must be had to expense, where the vegetable cannot be obtained with facility.

SPRING SOUP AND SOUP À LA JULIENNE.

Throw into three quarts of strong clear broth, or shin of beef stock, or of consommé, half a pint each of turnips and carrots prepared by the directions of page 20, or turned into any other shape that may be preferred, with rather less of the solid part of some white celery stems, and of leeks or of very mild onions[39] mixed. The latter must, if used, be sliced, drawn into rings, and divided into slight shreds. When these have simmered from twenty to thirty minutes, add the leaves of one or two lettuces and a few of sorrel, trimmed or torn, about the size of half-a-crown. Continue the gentle boiling until these are tender, and add at the moment of serving half a pint of asparagus-points boiled very green, and as many French beans cut into small lozenges, and also boiled apart; or substitute green peas for these last.

39.  Only a very subdued flavour of these is, we think, admissible for a delicate vegetable soup of any kind.

For the Julienne soup, first stew the carrots, &c. tolerably tender in a couple of ounces of butter; pour the stock boiling to them; skim off all the fat from the surface, and finish as above. Sprigs of chervil, spinach (boiled apart, and sparingly added), green onions, very small tufts of brocoli or cauliflower, may all be used in these soups at choice. Both the kind and the proportion of the vegetables can be regulated entirely by the taste. Bread stamped out with a very small round cutter, and dried a pale brown in the oven, is added sometimes to this spring soup, but is, we should say, no improvement. Winter vegetables should have three or four minutes’ previous boiling (or blanching) before they are put into the soup.

AN EXCELLENT GREEN PEAS SOUP.

Take at their fullest size, but before they are of bad colour or worm-eaten, three pints of fine large peas, and boil them as for table (see Chapter XVII.) with half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda in the water, that they may be very green. When they are quite tender, drain them well, and put them into a couple of quarts of boiling, pale, but good beef or veal stock, and stew them in it gently for half an hour; then work the whole through a fine hair-sieve, put it into a clean pan and bring it to the point of boiling; add salt, should it be needed, and a small teaspoonful of pounded sugar; clear off the scum entirely, and serve the soup as hot as possible. An elegant variety of it is made by adding a half pint more of stock to the peas, and about three quarters of a pint of asparagus points, boiled apart, and well drained before they are thrown into it, which should be done only the instant before it is sent to table.

Green peas, 3 pints: boiled 25 to 30 minutes, or more. Veal or beef stock, 2 quarts (with peas): 1/2 an hour. Sugar, one small teaspoonful; salt, if needed.

Obs.—When there is no stock at hand, four or five pounds of shin of beef boiled slowly down with three quarts of water to two, and well seasoned with savoury herbs, young carrots, and onions, will serve instead quite well. A thick slice of lean, undressed ham, or of Jewish beef, would improve it.

Should a common English peas soup be wished for, make it somewhat thinner than the one above, and add to it, just before it is dished, from half to three quarters of a pint of young peas boiled tender and well drained.

GREEN PEAS SOUP, WITHOUT MEAT.

Boil tender in three quarts of water, with the proportions of salt and soda directed for them in Chapter XVII., one quart of large, full grown peas; drain and pound them in a mortar, mix with them gradually five pints of the liquor in which they were cooked, put the whole again over the fire, and stew it gently for a quarter of an hour; then press it through a hair-sieve. In the mean time, simmer in from three to four ounces of butter,[40] three large, or four small cucumbers pared and sliced, the hearts of three or four lettuces shred small, from one to four onions, according to the taste, cut thin, a few small sprigs of parsley, and, when the flavour is liked, a dozen leaves or more of mint roughly chopped: keep these stirred over a gentle fire for nearly or quite an hour, and strew over them a half-teaspoonful of salt, and a good seasoning of white pepper or cayenne. When they are partially done drain them from the butter, put them into the strained stock, and let the whole boil gently until all the butter has been thrown to the surface, and been entirely cleared from it; then throw in from half to three quarters of a pint of young peas boiled as for eating, and serve the soup immediately.

40.  Some persons prefer the vegetables slowly fried to a fine brown, then drained on a sieve, and well dried before the fire; but though more savoury so, they do not improve the colour of the soup.

When more convenient, the peas, with a portion of the liquor, may be rubbed through a sieve, instead of being crushed in a mortar; and when the colour of the soup is not so much a consideration as the flavour, they may be slowly stewed until perfectly tender in four ounces of good butter, instead of being boiled: a few green onions, and some branches of parsley may then be added to them.

Green peas, 1 quart; water, 5 pints: cucumbers, 3 to 6; lettuces, 3 or 4; onions, 1 to 4; little parsley; mint (if liked), 12 to 20 leaves; butter, 3 to 4 oz.; salt, half-teaspoonful; seasoning of white pepper or cayenne: 50 to 60 minutes. Young peas, 1/2 to 3/4 of a pint.

Obs.—We must repeat that the peas for these soups must not be old, as when they are so, their fine sweet flavour is entirely lost, and the dried ones would have almost as good an effect; nor should they be of inferior kinds. Freshly gathered marrowfats, taken at nearly or quite their full growth, will give the best quality of soup. We are credibly informed, but cannot assert it on our own authority, that it is often made for expensive tables in early spring, with the young tender plants or halms of the peas, when they are about a foot in height. They are cut off close to the ground, like small salad, we are told, then boiled and pressed through a strainer, and mixed with the stock. The flavour is affirmed to be excellent.

A CHEAP GREEN PEAS SOUP.

Wash very clean and throw into an equal quantity of boiling water salted as for peas, three quarts of the shells, and in from twenty to thirty minutes, when they will be quite tender, turn the whole into a large strainer, and press the pods strongly with a wooden spoon. Measure the liquor, put two quarts of it into a clean deep saucepan, and when it boils add to it a quart of full grown peas, two or even three large cucumbers, as many moderate-sized lettuces freed from the coarser leaves and cut small, one large onion (or more if liked) sliced extremely thin and stewed for half an hour in a morsel of butter before it is added to the soup, or gently fried without being allowed to brown; a branch or two of parsley, and, when the flavour is liked, a dozen leaves of mint. Stew these softly for an hour, with the addition of a small teaspoonful, or a larger quantity if required of salt, and a good seasoning of fine white pepper or of cayenne; then work the whole of the vegetables with the soup through a hair-sieve, heat it afresh, and send it to table with a dish of small fried sippets. The colour will not be so bright as that of the more expensive soups which precede it, but it will be excellent in flavour.

Pea-shells, 3 quarts; water, 3 quarts: 20 to 30 minutes. Liquor from these, 2 quarts; full-sized green peas, 1 quart; large cucumbers, 2 or 3; lettuces, 3; onion, 1 (or more); little parsley; mint, 12 leaves; seasoning of salt and pepper or cayenne: stewed 1 hour.

Obs.—The cucumbers should be pared, quartered, and freed from the seeds before they are added to the soup. The peas, as we have said already more than once, should not be old, but taken at their full growth, before they lose their colour: the youngest of the shells ought to be selected for the liquor.

RICH PEAS SOUP.

Soak a quart of fine yellow split peas for a night, drain them well, and put them into a large soup-pot with five quarts of good brown gravy stock; and when they have boiled gently for half an hour, add to the soup three onions, as many carrots, and a turnip or two, all sliced and fried carefully in butter; stew the whole softly until the peas are reduced to pulp, then add as much salt and cayenne as may be needed to season it well, give it two or three minutes’ boil, and pass it through a sieve, pressing the vegetables with it. Put into a clean saucepan as much as may be required for table, add a little fresh stock to it should it be too thick, and reduce it by quick boiling if too thin; throw in the white part of some fresh celery sliced a quarter of an inch thick, and when this is tender send the soup quickly to table with a dish of small fried or toasted sippets. A dessertspoonful or more of currie-powder greatly improves peas soup: it should be smoothly mixed with a few spoonsful of it, and poured to the remainder when this first begins to boil after having been strained.

Split peas, 1 quart: soaked one night. Good brown gravy soup, 5 quarts: 30 minutes. Onions and carrots browned in butter, 3 of each; turnips, 2: 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours. Cayenne and salt as needed. Soup, 5 pints; celery, sliced, 1 large or 2 small heads: 20 minutes.

Obs.—When more convenient, six pounds of neck of beef well scored and equally and carefully browned, may be boiled gently with the peas and fried vegetables in a gallon of water (which should be poured to them boiling) for four or five hours.

COMMON PEAS SOUP.

Wash well a quart of good split peas, and float off such as remain on the surface of the water; soak them for one night, and boil them with a bit of soda the size of a filbert in just sufficient water to allow them to break to a mash. Put them into from three to four quarts of good beef broth, and stew them in it gently for an hour; then work the whole through a sieve, heat afresh as much as may be required for table, season it with salt and cayenne or common pepper, clear it perfectly from scum, and send it to table with fried or toasted bread. Celery sliced and stewed in it as directed for the rich peas soup, will be found a great improvement to this.

Peas, 1 quart: soaked 1 night; boiled in 2 quarts or rather more of water, 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Beef broth, 3 to 4 quarts: 1 hour. Salt and cayenne or pepper as needed: 3 minutes.

PEAS SOUP WITHOUT MEAT.

To a pint of peas, freed from all that are worm-eaten, and well washed, put five pints of cold water, and boil them tolerably tender; then add a couple of onions (more or less according to the taste), a couple of fine carrots grated, one large or two moderate-sized turnips sliced, all gently fried brown in butter; half a teaspoonful of black pepper, and three times as much of salt. Stew these softly, keeping them often stirred, until the vegetables are sufficiently tender to pass through a sieve; then rub the whole through one, put it into a clean pan, and when it boils throw in a sliced head of celery, heighten the seasoning if needful, and in twenty minutes serve the soup as hot as possible, with a dish of fried or toasted bread cut into dice. A little chili vinegar can be added when liked: a larger proportion of vegetables also may be boiled down with the peas at pleasure. Weak broth, or the liquor in which a joint has been boiled, can be substituted for the water; but the soup is very palatable as we have given the receipt for it. Some persons like it flavoured with a little mushroom catsup. All peas soup is rendered more wholesome by the addition of a small quantity of currie-paste or powder.

Split peas, 1 pint; water, 5 pints: 2 hours or more. Onions, 2; carrots, 2; large turnip, 1; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, 1-1/2 teaspoonful: 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Celery, 1 head: 20 minutes.

OX-TAIL SOUP.

An inexpensive and very nutritious soup may be made of ox-tails, but it will be insipid in flavour without the addition of a little ham, knuckle of bacon, or a pound or two of other meat. Wash and soak three tails, pour on them a gallon of cold water, let them be brought gradually to boil, throw in an ounce and a half of salt, and clear off the scum carefully as soon as it forms upon the surface; when it ceases to rise, add four moderate-sized carrots, from two to four onions, according to the taste, a large faggot of savoury herbs, a head of celery, a couple of turnips, six or eight cloves, and a half-teaspoonful of peppercorns. Stew these gently from three hours to three and a half, if the tails be very large; lift them out, strain the liquor, and skim off all the fat; divide the tails into joints, and put them into a couple of quarts or rather more of the stock; stir in, when these begin to boil, a thickening of arrow-root or of rice flour (see page 4), mixed with as much cayenne and salt as may be required to flavour the soup well, and serve it very hot. If stewed down until the flesh falls away from the bones, the ox-tails will make stock which will be quite a firm jelly when cold; and this, strained, thickened, and well flavoured with spices, catsup, or a little wine, would, to many tastes, be a superior soup to the above. A richer one still may be made by pouring good beef broth instead of water to the meat in the first instance.

Ox-tails, 3; water, 1 gallon; salt, 1-1/2 oz.; carrots, 4; onions, 2 to 4; turnips, 2; celery, 1 head; cloves, 8; peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoonful; faggot of savoury herbs: 3 hours to 3-1/2. For a richer soup, 5 to 6 hours. (Ham or gammon of bacon at pleasure, with other flavourings.)

Obs.—To increase the savour of this soup when the meat is not served in it, the onions, turnips, and carrots may be gently fried until of a fine light brown, before they are added to it.

A CHEAP AND GOOD STEW SOUP.

Put from four to five pounds of the gristly part of the shin of beef into three quarts of cold water, and stew it very softly indeed, with the addition of the salt and vegetables directed for bouillon (see page 7), until the whole is very tender; lift out the meat, strain the liquor, and put it into a large clean saucepan, add a thickening of rice-flour or arrow-root, pepper and salt if needed, and a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup. In the mean time, cut all the meat into small, thick slices, add it to the soup, and serve it as soon as it is very hot. The thickening and catsup may be omitted, and all the vegetables, pressed through a strainer, may be stirred into the soup instead, before the meat is put back into it.

SOUP IN HASTE.

Chop tolerably fine a pound of lean beef, mutton, or veal, and when it is partly done, add to it a small carrot and one small turnip cut in slices, half an ounce of celery, the white part of a moderate-sized leek, or a quarter of an ounce of onion. Mince all these together, and put the whole into a deep saucepan with three pints of cold water. When the soup boils take off the scum, and add a little salt and pepper. In half an hour it will be ready to serve with or without straining: it may be flavoured at will, with cayenne, catsup, or aught else that is preferred, or it may be converted into French spring broth, by passing it through a sieve, and boiling it again for five or six minutes, with a handful of young and well washed sorrel. Meat, 1 lb.; carrot, 2 oz.; turnip, 1-1/2 oz.; celery, 1/2 oz.; onion, 1/4 oz. water, 3 pints: half an hour. Little pepper and salt.

Obs.—Three pounds of beef or mutton, with two or three slices of ham, and vegetables in proportion to the above receipt, all chopped fine, and boiled in three quarts of water for an hour and a half, will make an excellent family soup on an emergency: additional boiling will of course improve it, and a little spice should be added after it has been skimmed and salted. It may easily be converted into carrot, turnip, or ground-rice soup after it is strained.

VEAL OR MUTTON BROTH.

To each pound of meat add a quart of cold water, bring it gently to boil, skim it very clean, add salt in the same proportion as for bouillon (see page 7), with spices and vegetables also, unless unflavoured broth be required, when a few peppercorns, a blade or two of mace, and a bunch of savoury herbs, will be sufficient; though for some purposes even these, with the exception of the salt, are better omitted. Simmer the broth for about four hours, unless the quantity be very small, when from two and a half to three, will be sufficient. A little rice boiled down with the meat will both thicken the broth, and render it more nutritious. Strain it off when done, and let it stand till quite cold that the fat may be entirely cleared from it: this is especially needful when it is to be served to an invalid.

Veal or mutton, 4 lbs.; water, 4 quarts; salt. (For vegetables, &c., see page 7;) rice (if used), 4 oz.: 4 hours or more.

MILK SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.

Throw into five pints of boiling milk a small quantity of salt, and then drop lightly into it five ounces of good fresh vermicelli; keep the milk stirred as this is added, to prevent its gathering into lumps, and continue to stir it very frequently from fifteen to twenty minutes, or until it is perfectly tender. The addition of a little pounded sugar and powdered cinnamon renders this a very agreeable dish. In Catholic countries, milk soups of various kinds constantly supply the place of those made with meat, on maigre days; and with us they are sometimes very acceptable, as giving a change of diet for the nursery or sick room. Rice, semoulina, sago, cocoa-nut, and maccaroni may all in turn be used for them as directed for other soups in this chapter, but they will be required in rather smaller proportions with the milk.

Milk, 5 pints; vermicelli, 5 oz.: 15 to 20 minutes.

CHEAP RICE SOUP.

Place a gallon of water on the fire (more or less according to the quantity of soup required), and when it boils, throw in a moderate-sized tablespoonful of salt, and two or three onions, thickly sliced, a faggot of sweet herbs, a root of celery, and three or four large carrots split down into many divisions, and cut into short lengths. Boil these gently for an hour and a half, or two hours, and then strain the liquor from them. When time will permit, let it become cold; then for each quart, take from three to four ounces of well washed rice, pour the soup on it, heat it very slowly, giving it an occasional stir, and stew it gently until it is perfectly tender, and the potage quite thick. A moderate seasoning of pepper, and an ounce or two of fresh butter well blended with a teaspoonful of flour, may be thoroughly stirred up with the soup before it is served; or, in lieu of the butter, the yolks of two or three new-laid eggs, mixed with a little milk, may be carefully added to it.

It may be more quickly prepared by substituting vermicelli, semoulina, or soujee for the rice, as this last will require three quarters of an hour or more of stewing after it begins to boil, and the three other ingredients—either of which must be dropped gradually into the soup when it is in full ebullition—will be done in from twenty to thirty minutes; and two ounces will thicken sufficiently a quart of broth.

A large tablespoonful of Captain White’s currie-paste, and a small one of flour, diluted with a spoonful or twos of the broth, or with a little milk or cream, if perfectly mixed with the rice and stewed with it for fifteen or twenty minutes before it is dished, render it excellent: few eaters would discover that it was made without meat.

Good beef or mutton broth can be used instead of water for the above soup, and in that case the vegetables sliced small, or rubbed through a strainer, may be added to it before it is served.

CARROT SOUP MAIGRE.

Throw two ounces of salt into a gallon of boiling water, then add three or four carrots quartered or thickly sliced, one onion or more according to the taste, and a faggot of parsley, or some parsley roots. When these have boiled gently for upwards of an hour, strain off the liquor and put it back into the saucepan. Have ready more carrots, nicely scraped and washed; split them down into strips about the size of large macaroni and cut them into half finger lengths. Two quarts of these will not be too much for persons who like the soup well filled with the vegetable; boil them perfectly tender, and turn them with their liquor into the tureen, first adding pepper sufficient to season it properly, and more salt if needed. The proportion of carrots may be diminished, and a quart or more of Brussels sprouts, boiled and drained, may be substituted for part of them. Some persons have these soups thickened, or enriched as they think, with flour and butter; but the latter ingredient should at least be sparingly used; and any other kind of thickening is more wholesome. A few ounces of vermicelli stewed in them for twenty minutes or rather longer, will be found a very good one. Celery, leeks, and turnips may be boiled down in the carrot-stock, or added when the fresh vegetables have been stewed in it for about ten minutes.

CHEAP FISH SOUPS.

An infinite variety of excellent soups may be made of fish, which may be stewed down for them in precisely the same manner as meat, and with the same addition of vegetables and herbs. When the skin is coarse or rank it should be carefully stripped off before the fish is used; and any oily particles which may float on the surface should be entirely removed from it.

In France, Jersey, Cornwall, and many other localities, the conger eel, divested of its skin, is sliced up into thick cutlets and made into soup, which we are assured by English families who have it often served at their tables, is extremely good. A half-grown fish is best for the purpose. After the soup has been strained and allowed to settle, it must be heated afresh, and rice and minced parsley may be added to it as for the turkey soup of page 32; or it may be thickened with rice-flour only, or served clear. Curried fish-soups, too, are much to be recommended.

When broth or stock has been made as above with conger eel, common eels, whitings, haddocks, codlings, fresh water fish, or any common kind, which may be at hand, flakes of cold salmon, cod fish, John Dories, or scallops of cold soles, plaice,[41] &c., may be heated and served in it; and the remains of crabs or lobsters mingled with them. The large oysters sold at so cheap a rate upon the coast, and which are not much esteemed for eating raw, serve admirably for imparting flavour to soup, and the softer portions of them may be served in it after a few minutes of gentle simmering. Anchovy or any other store fish-sauce may be added with good effect to many of these pottages if used with moderation. Prawns and shrimps likewise would generally be considered an improvement to them.

41.  Some persons prefer the vegetables slowly fried to a fine brown, then drained on a sieve, and well dried before the fire; but though more savoury so, they do not improve the colour of the soup.

For more savoury preparations, fry the fish and vegetables, lay them into the soup-pot, and add boiling, instead of cold water to them.

BUCHANAN CARROT SOUP.

(Excellent.)

Make two quarts of soup by either of the foregoing receipts, using for it good brown stock (for a common family dinner strong beef broth will do). Mix smoothly with a little liquid, a tablespoonful of fine currie-powder, and boil it in the soup for ten minutes; or instead of this, season it rather highly with cayenne pepper, and then stir into it from six ounces to half a pound of Patna rice boiled dry and tender as for a currie. The whole may then remain by the side of the fire without even simmering for ten minutes longer, and then be served immediately. As a winter potage this is generally much liked. A spoonful of Captain White’s currie-paste will flavour it very agreeably if smoothly diluted, and simmered in it for two or three minutes: we prefer it always to the powder. Three or four ounces of pearl-barley well washed, soaked for some hours, and boiled extremely tender in broth or water, may on occasion be substituted for the rice.

Obs.—This receipt was, from inadvertence, omitted at its proper place, page 20, where it ought to have been inserted after the carrot soups which will be found there, and to which the reader is referred for the method of preparing the present one in part.

OBSERVATION.

The present chapter already so far exceeds the limits within which it ought to have been confined, that we are obliged to reserve several additions which we were desirous of making to it, for the chance of being able to insert them in an appendix.

CHAPTER II.

Fish.

TO CHOOSE FISH.

Copper Fish or Ham Kettle.

The cook should be well acquainted with the signs of freshness and good condition in fish, as they are most unwholesome articles of food when stale, and many of them are also dangerous eating when they are out of season. The eyes should always be bright, the gills of a fine clear red, the body stiff, the flesh firm, yet elastic to the touch, and the smell not disagreeable.

When all these marks are reversed, and the eyes are sunken, the gills very dark in hue, the fish itself flabby and of offensive odour, it is bad, and should be avoided. The chloride of soda, will, it is true, restore it to a tolerably eatable state,[42] if it be not very much over-kept, but it will never resemble in quality and wholesomeness fish which is fresh from the water.

42.  We have known this applied very successfully to salmon which from some hours’ keeping in sultry weather had acquired a slight degree of taint, of which no trace remained after it was dressed; as a general rule, however, fish which is not wholesomely fresh should be rejected for the table.

Mackerel Kettle.

A good turbot is thick, and full fleshed, and the under side is of a pale cream colour or yellowish white; when this is of a bluish tint, and the fish is thin and soft, it should be rejected. The same observations apply equally to soles.

The best salmon and cod fish are known by a small head, very thick shoulders, and a small tail; the scales of the former should be bright, and its flesh of a fine red colour; to be eaten in perfection it should be dressed as soon as it is caught, before the curd (or white substance which lies between the flakes of flesh) has melted and rendered the fish oily. In that state it is really crimp, but continues so only for a very few hours; and it bears therefore a much higher price in the London market then, than when mellowed by having been kept a day or two.

The flesh of cod fish should be white and clear before it is boiled, whiter still after it is boiled, and firm though tender, sweet and mild in flavour, and separated easily into large flakes. Many persons consider it rather improved than otherwise by having a little salt rubbed along the inside of the back-bone and letting it lie from twenty-four to forty-eight hours before it is dressed,. It is sometimes served crimp like salmon, and must then be sliced as soon as it is dead, or within the shortest possible time afterwards.

Herrings, mackerel, and whitings, unless newly caught, are quite uneatable. When they are in good condition their natural colours will be very distinct and their whole appearance glossy and fresh. The herring when first taken from the water is of a silvery brightness; the back of the mackerel is of a bright green marked with dark stripes; but this becomes of a coppery colour as the fish grows stale. The whiting is of a pale brown or fawn colour with a pinkish tint; but appears dim and leaden-hued when no longer fresh.

Eels should be alive and brisk in movement when they are purchased, but the “horrid barbarity,” as it is truly designated, of skinning and dividing them while they are so, is without excuse, as they are easily destroyed “by piercing the spinal marrow close to the back part of the skull with a sharp pointed knife or skewer. If this be done in the right place all motion will instantly cease.” We quote Dr. Kitchener’s assertion on this subject; but we know that the mode of destruction which he recommends is commonly practised by the London fishmongers. Boiling water also will immediately cause vitality to cease, and is perhaps the most humane and ready method of destroying the fish.

Lobsters, prawns, and shrimps, are very stiff when freshly boiled, and the tails turn strongly inwards; when these relax, and the fish are soft and watery, they are stale; and the smell will detect their being so, instantly, even if no other symptoms of it be remarked. If bought alive, lobsters should be chosen by their weight and “liveliness.” The hen lobster is preferred for sauce and soups, on account of the coral; but the flesh of the male is generally considered of finer flavour for eating. The vivacity of their leaps will show when prawns and shrimps are fresh from the sea.

Oysters should close forcibly on the knife when they are opened: if the shells are apart ever so little they are losing their condition, and when they remain far open the fish are dead, and fit only to be thrown away. Small plump natives are very preferable to the larger and coarser kinds.

TO CLEAN FISH.

Let this be always done with the most scrupulous nicety, for nothing can more effectually destroy the appetite, or disgrace the cook, than fish sent to table imperfectly cleaned. Handle it lightly, and never throw it roughly about, so as to bruise it; wash it well, but do not leave it longer in the water than is necessary; for fish, like meat, loses its flavour from being soaked. When the scales are to be removed, lay the fish flat upon its side and hold it firmly with the left hand, while they are scraped off with the right; turn it, and when both sides are done, pour or pump sufficient water to float off all the loose scales; then proceed to empty it; and do this without opening it more than is absolutely necessary for the purposes of cleanliness. Be sure that not the slightest particle of offensive matter be left in the inside; wash out the blood entirely, and scrape or brush it away if needful from the back-bone. This may easily be accomplished without opening the fish so much as to render it unsightly when it is sent to table. When the scales are left on, the outside of the fish should be well washed and wiped with a coarse cloth, drawn gently from the head to the tail. Eels to be wholesome should be skinned, but they are sometimes dressed without; boiling water should then be poured upon them, and they should be left in it from five to ten minutes before they are cut up. The dark skin of the sole must be stripped off when it is fried, but it should be left on it like that of a turbot when the fish is boiled, and it should be dished with the white side upwards. Whitings are skinned before they are egged and crumbed for frying, but for boiling or broiling, the skin is left on them. The gills of all fish (the red mullet sometimes excepted), must be taken out. The fins of a turbot, which are considered a great delicacy, should be left untouched; but those of most other fish must be cut off.

TO KEEP FISH.

We find that all the smaller kinds of fish keep best if emptied and cleaned as soon as they are brought in, then wiped gently as dry as they can be, and hung separately by the head on the hooks in the ceiling of a cool larder, or in the open air when the weather will allow. When there is danger of their being attacked by flies, a wire safe, placed in a strong draught of air, is better adapted to the purpose. Soles in winter will remain good for two days when thus prepared; and even whitings and mackerel may be kept so without losing any of their excellence. Salt may be rubbed slightly over cod fish, and well along the back-bone; but it injures the flavour of salmon, the inside of which may be rubbed with vinegar and peppered instead. When excessive sultriness renders all of these modes unavailing, the fish must at once be partially cooked to preserve it, but this should be avoided if possible, as it is very rarely so good when this method is resorted to.

TO SWEETEN TAINTED FISH.

The application of strong vinegar, or of acetic acid (which may be purchased at the chemists’), will effect this when the taint is but slight. The vinegar should be used pure; and one wineglassful of the acid should be mixed with two of water. Pour either of these over the fish, and rub it on the parts which require it; then leave it untouched for a few minutes, and wash it afterwards well, changing the water two or three times. When the fish is in a worse state the chloride of soda, from its powerful anti-putrescent properties, will have more effect: it may be diluted, and applied in the same manner as the acid.

Obs.—We have retained here the substance of the directions which we had given in former editions of this book for rendering eatable fish (and meat) tainted by being closely packed or overkept; and it is true that they may be deprived of their offensive flavour and odour by the application of strong acids and other disinfecting agents,—Beaufoy’s chloride of soda more especially—but we are very doubtful whether they can by any process be converted into unquestionably wholesome food, unless from some accidental circumstance the mere surface should be affected, or some small portion of them, which could be entirely cut away. We cannot, therefore, conscientiously recommend the false economy of endangering health in preference to rejecting them for the table altogether.

THE MODE OF COOKING BEST ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH.

It is not possible, the reader will easily believe, to insert in a work of the size of the present volume, all the modes of dressing the many varieties of fish which are suited to our tables; we give, therefore, only the more essential receipts in detail, and add to them such general information as may, we trust, enable even a moderately intelligent cook to serve all that may usually be required, without difficulty.

There is no better way of dressing a good turbot, brill, John Dory, or cod’s head and shoulders, than plain but careful boiling. Salmon is excellent in almost every mode in which it can be cooked or used. Boiled entire or in crimped slices; roasted in a cradle-spit or Dutch oven; baked; fried in small collops; collared; potted; dried and smoked; pickled or soused (this is the coarsest and least to be recommended process for it, of any); made into a raised or common pie, or a potato-pasty; served cold in or with savoury jelly, or with a Mayonnaise sauce; or laid on potatoes and baked, as in Ireland, it will be found Good.

Soles may be either boiled, or baked, or fried entire, or in fillets; curried; stewed in cream; or prepared by any of the directions given for them in the body of this chapter.

Plaice, unless when in full season and very fresh, is apt to be watery and insipid; but taken in its perfection and carefully cooked, it is very sweet and delicate in flavour. If large, it may be boiled with advantage either whole or in fillets; but to many tastes it is very superior when filleted, dipped into egg and bread-crumbs, and fried. The flesh may also be curried; or the plaice may be converted into water-souchy, or soupe-maigre: when small it is often fried whole.

Red mullet should always be baked, broiled, or roasted: it should on no occasion be boiled.

Mackerel, for which many receipts will be found in this chapter, when broiled quite whole, as we have directed, or freed from the bones, divided, egged, crumbed, and fried, is infinitely superior to the same fish cooked in the ordinary manner.

The whiting, when very fresh and in season, is always delicate and good; and of all fish is considered the best suited to invalids. Perhaps quite the most wholesome mode of preparing it for them, is to open it as little as possible when it is cleansed, to leave the skin on, to dry the fish well, and to broil it gently. It should be sent very hot to table, and will require no sauce: twenty minutes will usually be required to cook it, if of moderate size.

The haddock is sometimes very large. We have had it occasionally from our southern coast between two and three feet in length, and it was then remarkably good when simply boiled, even the day after it was caught, the white curd between the flakes of flesh being like that of extremely fresh salmon. As it is in full season in mid-winter, it can be sent to a distance without injury. It is a very firm fish when large and in season; but, as purchased commonly at inland markets, is often neither fine in size nor quality. One of the best modes of cooking it is, to take the flesh entire from the bones, to divide it, dip it into egg and bread-crumbs, mixed with savoury herbs finely minced, and a seasoning of salt and spice, and to fry it like soles. Other receipts for it will be found in the body of this chapter.

The flesh of the gurnard is exceedingly dry, and somewhat over firm, but when filled with well-made forcemeat and gently baked, it is much liked by many persons. At good tables, it is often served in fillets fried or baked, and richly sauced: in common cookery it is sometimes boiled.

Portions only of the skate, which is frequently of enormous size, are used as food: these are in general cut out by the fisherman or by the salesman, and are called the wings. The flesh is commonly served here divided into long narrow fillets, called crimped skate, which are rolled up and fastened, to preserve them in that form, while they are cooked. In France, it is sent to table raised from the bones in large portions, sauced with beurre-noir (burned or browned butter), and strewed with well-crisped parsley.

Trout, which is a delicious fish when stewed in gravy, either quite simply, or with the addition of wine and various condiments, and which when of small size is very sweet and pleasant, eating nicely fried, is poor and insipid when plainly boiled.[43]

43.  We have been informed by Mr. Howitt, the well-known author of several highly interesting works on Germany, that this fish, when boiled the instant it was caught—as he had eaten it often on the banks of some celebrated German trout-streams—was most excellent, especially when it was of large size; but, as a general rule, almost any other mode of cooking is to be recommended for it in preference.

Pike, of which the flesh is extremely dry, is we think better baked than dressed in any other way; but it is often boiled.

Carp should either be stewed whole in the same manner as trout, or served cut in slices, in a rich sauce called a matelote.

Smelts, sand-eels, and white-bait, are always fried; the last two sometimes after being dipped into batter.

THE BEST MODE OF BOILING FISH.

We have left unaltered in the following receipts the greater number of our original directions for boiling fish, which were found when carefully followed, to produce a good result; but Baron Liebeg and other scientific writers explain clearly the principles on which the nutriment contained in fish or flesh is best retained by bringing the surface of either when it is cooked, into immediate contact with boiling water; and then (after a few minutes of ebullition) lowering the temperature by the addition of cold water, and keeping it somewhat below the boiling point for the remainder of the process. This method is at least worthy of a trial, even if it be attended with a slight degree more of trouble than those in general use; but when fish is served with a variety of other dishes, the escape of some portion of its nutritious juices is of less importance than when it forms the principal food of any part of the community: in that case, the preservation of all the nourishment which can be derived from it, is of real consequence.

Directions.—Throw into as much water as will cover the fish entirely, a portion of the salt which is to be added in cooking it, and when it boils quickly take off the scum, lay in the fish, and let it boil moderately fast from three to ten minutes, according to its weight and thickness; then pour in as much cold water as there is of the boiling, take out a part, leaving sufficient only to keep the fish well covered until it is ready to serve; add the remainder of the salt, draw the fish-kettle to the side of the fire, and keep the water just simmering, and no more, until the fish is done.

The cook will understand that if a gallon of water be required to cover the fish while it is cooking, that quantity must be made to boil; and that a gallon of cold must be added to it after the fish has been laid in, and kept boiling for a very few minutes. For example:—A large turbot or cod’s head for ten minutes; a moderate-sized plaice or John Dory, about five; and whitings, codlings, and other small fish, from three to four minutes. That one gallon must then be taken out of the kettle, which should immediately be drawn from the fire, and placed at the side of the stove, that the fish may be gradually heated through as the water is brought slowly to the point of simmering.

The whole of the salt may be added after a portion of the water is withdrawn, when the cook cannot entirely depend on her own judgment for the precise quantity required.

Obs.—This is the best practical application that we can give of Baron Liebeg’s instructions.

BRINE FOR BOILING FISH.

Fish is exceedingly insipid if sufficient salt be not mixed with the water in which it is boiled, but the precise quantity required for it will depend, in some measure, upon the kind of salt which is used. Fine common salt is that for which our directions are given; but when the Maldon salt, which is very superior in strength, as well as in other qualities, is substituted for it, a smaller quantity must be allowed. About four ounces to the gallon of water will be sufficient for small fish in general; an additional ounce, or rather more, will not be too much for cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, and shrimps; and salmon will require eight ounces, as the brine for this fish should be strong: the water should always be perfectly well skimmed from the moment the scum begins to form upon the surface.

Mackerel, whiting, and other small fish, 4 ounces of salt to a gallon of water. Cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, shrimps, 5 to 6 oz. Salmon, 8 ozs.

TO RENDER BOILED FISH FIRM.

Put a small bit of saltpetre with the salt into the water in which it is boiled: a quarter of an ounce will be sufficient for a gallon.

TO KNOW WHEN FISH IS SUFFICIENTLY BOILED, OR OTHERWISE COOKED.

If the thickest part of the flesh separates easily from the back-bone, it is quite ready to serve, and should be withdrawn from the pan without delay, as further cooking would be injurious to it. This test can easily be applied to a fish which has been divided, but when it is entire it should be lifted from the water when the flesh of the tail breaks from the bone, and the eyes loosen from the head.

TO BAKE FISH.

A gentle oven may be used with advantage, for cooking almost every kind of fish, as we have ascertained from our own observation; but it must be subjected to a mild degree of heat only. This penetrates the flesh gradually, and converts it into wholesome succulent food; whereas, a hot oven evaporates all the juices rapidly, and renders the fish hard and dry. When small, they should be wrapped in oiled or buttered paper before they are baked; and when filleted, or left in any other form, and placed in a deep dish with or without any liquid before they are put into the oven, a buttered paper should still be laid closely upon them to keep the surface moist. Large pieces of salmon, conger eel, and other fish of considerable size are sometimes in common cookery baked like meat over potatoes pared and halved.

FAT FOR FRYING FISH.

This, whether it be butter, lard, or oil should always be excellent in quality, for the finest fish will be rendered unfit for eating if it be fried in fat that is rancid. When good, and used in sufficient quantity, it will serve for the same purpose several times, if strained after each frying, and put carefully away in a clean pan, provided always that it has not been smoked nor burned in the using.

Lard renders fish more crisp than butter does; but fresh, pure olive-oil (salad oil, as it is commonly called in England) is the best ingredient which can be used for it, and as it will serve well for the same purpose, many times in succession, if strained and carefully stored as we have already stated, it is not in reality so expensive as might be supposed for this mode of cooking. There should always be an ample quantity of it (or of any other friture[44]) in the pan, as the fish should be nearly covered with it, at the least; and it should cease to bubble before either fish or meat is laid into it, or it will be too much absorbed by the flesh, and will impart neither sufficient firmness, nor sufficient colour.

44.  The French term for fat of all kinds used in frying.

TO KEEP FISH HOT FOR TABLE.

Never leave it in the water after it is done, but if it cannot be sent to table as soon as it is ready to serve, lift it out, lay the fish-plate into a large and a very hot dish, and set it across the fish-kettle; just dip a clean cloth into the boiling water, and spread it upon the fish, place a tin cover over it, and let it remain so until two or three minutes before it is wanted, then remove the cloth, and put the fish back into the kettle for an instant that it may be as hot as possible: drain, dish, and serve it immediately: the water should be kept boiling the whole time.

TO BOIL A TURBOT.

[In season all the year.]

Turbot.

A fine turbot, in full season, and well served, is one of the most delicate and delicious fish that can be sent to table; but it is generally an expensive dish, and its excellence so much depends on the manner in which it is dressed, that great care should be taken to prepare it properly. After it is emptied, wash the inside until it is perfectly cleansed, and rub lightly a little fine salt over the outside, as this will render less washing and handling necessary, by at once taking off the slime; change the water several times, and when the fish is as clean as it is possible to render it, draw a sharp knife through the thickest part of the middle of the back nearly through to the bone.[45] Never cut off the fins of a turbot when preparing it for table, and remember that it is the dark side of the fish in which the incision is to be made, to prevent the skin of the white side from cracking. Dissolve in a well-cleaned turbot or common fish-kettle, in as much cold spring water as will cover the fish abundantly, salt, in the proportion of four ounces to the gallon; wipe the fish-plate with a clean cloth, lay the turbot upon it with the white side upwards, place it in the kettle, bring it slowly to boil, and clear off the scum thoroughly as it rises. Let the water only just simmer until the fish is done, then lift it out, drain, and slide it gently on to a very hot dish, with a hot napkin neatly arranged over the drainer. Send it immediately to table with rich lobster sauce and good plain melted butter. For a simple dinner, anchovy or shrimp sauce is sometimes served with a small turbot. Should there be any cracks in the skin of the fish, branches of curled parsley may be laid lightly over them, or part of the inside coral of a lobster, rubbed through a fine hair-sieve, may be sprinkled over the fish; but it’s better without either, when it is very white and unbroken. When garnishings are in favour, a slice of lemon and a tuft of curled parsley, may be placed alternately round the edge of the dish. A border of fried smelts or of fillets of soles, was formerly served round a turbot, and is always a very admissible addition, though no longer so fashionable as it was. From fifteen to twenty minutes will boil a moderate-sized fish, and from twenty to thirty a large one; but as the same time will not always be sufficient for a fish of the same weight, the cook must watch it attentively, and lift it out as soon as its appearance denotes its being done.

45.  This is the common practice even of the best cooks, but is very unscientific nevertheless. When the incision is made really into the flesh the turbot should be cooked altogether on Liebeg’s plan, for which see “The Best Mode of Boiling Fish,” in the preceding pages.

Moderate sized turbot, 15 to 20 minutes. Large, 20 to 30 minutes. Longer, if of unusual size.

Obs.—A lemon gently squeezed, and rubbed over the fish, is thought to preserve its whiteness. Some good cooks still put turbot into boiling water, and to prevent its breaking, tie it with a cloth tightly to the fish-plate.

TURBOT À LA CRÊME.

Raise carefully from the bones the flesh of a cold turbot, and clear it from the dark skin; cut it into small squares, and put it into an exceedingly clean stewpan or saucepan; then make and pour upon it the cream sauce of Chapter V., or make as much as may be required for the fish by the same receipt, with equal proportions of milk and cream and a little additional flour. Heat the turbot slowly in the sauce, but do not allow it to boil, and send it very hot to table. The white skin of the fish is not usually added to this dish, and it is of better appearance without it; but for a family dinner, it may be left on the flesh, when it is much liked. No acid must be stirred to the sauce until the whole is ready for table.

TURBOT AU BÉCHAMEL, OR, IN BÉCHAMEL SAUCE.

Prepare the cold turbot as for the preceding receipt, but leave no portion of the skin with it. Heat it in a rich bechamel sauce, and serve it in a vol-au-vent, or in a deep dish with a border of fried bread cut in an elegant form, and made with one dark and one light sippet, placed alternately. The surface may be covered with a half-inch layer of delicately fried bread-crumbs, perfectly well drained and dried; or they may be spread over the fish without being fried, then moistened with clarified butter, and browned with a salamander.

For Mould of Cold Turbot with Shrimp Chatney, see Chapter VI.

TO BOIL A JOHN DORY.

[In best season from Michaelmas to Christmas, but good all the year.]

John Dory.

The John Dory, though of uninviting appearance, is considered by some persons as the most delicious fish that appears at table; in the general estimation, however, it ranks next to the turbot, but it is far less abundant in our markets, and is not commonly to be procured of sufficient size for a handsome dish, except in some few parts of our coast which are celebrated for it. It may easily be known by its yellow gray colour, its one large dark spot on either side, the long filaments on the back, a general thickness of form, and its very ugly head. It is dressed in the same manner, and served usually with the same sauces as a turbot, but requires less time to boil it. The fins should be cut off before it is cooked.

SMALL JOHN DORIES BAKED.

(Author’s Receipt—good.)

We have found these fish when they were too small to be worth cooking in the usual way, excellent when quite simply baked in the following manner, the flesh being remarkably sweet and tender, much more so than it becomes by frying or broiling. After they have been cleaned, dry them in a cloth, season the insides slightly with fine salt, dredge a little flour on the fish, and stick a few very small bits of butter on them, but only just sufficient to prevent their becoming dry in the oven; lay them singly on a flat dish, and bake them very gently from fourteen to sixteen minutes. Serve them with the same sauce as baked soles.

When extremely fresh, as it usually is in the markets of the coast, fish thus simply dressed au four is preferable to that more elaborately prepared by adding various condiments to it after it is placed in a deep dish, and covering it with a thick layer of bread-crumbs, moistened with clarified butter.

The appearance of the John Dories is improved by taking off the heads, and cutting away not only the fins but the filaments of the back.

TO BOIL A BRILL.

A fresh and full-sized brill always ranks high in the list of fish, as it is of good appearance, and the flesh is sweet and delicate. It requires less cooking than the turbot, even when it is of equal size; but otherwise may be dressed and served in a similar manner. It has not the same rich glutinous skin as that fish, nor are the fins esteemed. They must be cut off when the brill is cleaned; and it may be put into nearly boiling water, unless it be very large. Simmer it gently, and drain it well upon the fish-plate when it is lifted out; dish it on a napkin, and send lobster, anchovy, crab, or shrimp sauce to table with it. Lobster coral, rubbed through a sieve, is commonly sprinkled over it for a formal dinner. The most usual garnish for boiled flat fish is curled parsley placed round it in light tufts; how far it is appropriate, individual taste must decide.

Brill, moderate-sized, about 20 minutes; large, 30 minutes.

Obs.—The precise time which a fish will require to be boiled cannot be given: it must be watched, and not allowed to remain in the water after it begins to crack.

TO BOIL SALMON.

[In full season from May to August: may be had much earlier, but is scarce and dear.]

To preserve the fine colour of this fish, and to set the curd when it is quite freshly caught, it is usual to put it into boiling, instead of into cold water. Scale, empty, and wash it with the greatest nicety, and be especially careful to cleanse all the blood from the inside. Stir into the fish-kettle eight ounces of common salt to the gallon of water, let it boil quickly for a minute or two, take off all the scum, put in the salmon and boil it moderately fast, if it be small, but more gently should it be very thick; and assure yourself that it is quite sufficiently done before it is sent to table, for nothing can be more distasteful, even to the eye, than fish which is under dressed.

From two to three pounds of the thick part of a fine salmon will require half an hour to boil it, but eight or ten pounds will be done enough in little more than double that time; less in proportion to its weight should be allowed for a small fish, or for the thin end of a large one. Do not allow the salmon to remain in the water after it is ready to serve, or both its flavour and appearance will be injured. Dish it on a hot napkin, and send dressed cucumber, and anchovy, shrimp, or lobster sauce, and a tureen of plain melted butter to table with it.

To each gallon water, 8 oz. salt. Salmon, 2 to 3 lbs. (thick), 1/2 hour; 8 to 10 lbs., 1-1/4 hour; small, or thin fish, less time.

SALMON À LA GENEVESE.

A fashionable mode of serving salmon at the present day is to divide the larger portion of the body into three equal parts; to boil them in water, or in a marinade; and to serve them dished in a line, but not close together, and covered with a rich Genevese sauce (for which see Chapter V.) It appears to us that the skin should be stripped from any fish over which the sauce is poured, but in this case it is not customary.

CRIMPED SALMON.

Cut into slices an inch and a half, or two inches thick, the body of a salmon quite newly caught; throw them into strong salt and water as they are done, but do not let them soak in it; wash them well, lay them on a fish-plate, and put them into fast boiling water, salted and well skimmed. In from ten to fifteen minutes they will be done. Dish them on a napkin, and send them very hot to table with lobster sauce, and plain melted butter; or with the caper fish-sauce of Chapter V. The water should be salted as for salmon boiled in the ordinary way, and the scum should be cleared off with great care after the fish is in.

In boiling water, 10 to 15 minutes.

SALMON À LA ST. MARCEL.

Separate some cold boiled salmon into flakes, and free them entirely from the skin; break the bones, and boil them in a pint of water for half an hour. Strain off the liquor, put it into a clean saucepan and stir into it by degrees when it begins to boil quickly, two ounces of butter mixed with a large teaspoonful of flour, and when the whole has boiled for two or three minutes add a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, one of good mushroom catsup, half as much lemon-juice or chili vinegar, a half saltspoonful of pounded mace, some cayenne, and a very little salt. Shell from half to a whole pint of shrimps, add them to the salmon, and heat the fish very slowly in the sauce by the side of the fire, but do not allow it boil. When it is very hot, dish and send it quickly to table. French cooks, when they re-dress fish or meat of any kind, prepare the flesh with great nicety, and then put it into a stewpan, and pour the sauce upon it, which is, we think, better than the more usual English mode of laying it into the boiling sauce. The cold salmon may also be re-heated in the cream sauce of V., or in the Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce which follows it; and will be found excellent with either. This receipt is for a moderate sized dish.

SALMON BAKED OVER MASHED POTATOES.

We are informed by a person who has been a resident in Ireland, that the middle of a salmon is there often baked over mashed potatoes, from which it is raised by means of a wire stand, as meat is in England. We have not been able to have it tried, but an ingenious cook will be at no loss for the proper method of preparing, and the time of cooking it. The potatoes are sometimes merely pared and halved; the fish is then laid upon them.

SALMON PUDDING, TO BE SERVED HOT OR COLD.

(A Scotch Receipt—Good.)

Pound or chop small, or rub through a sieve one pound of cold boiled salmon freed entirely from bone and skin; and blend it lightly but thoroughly with half a pound of fine bread-crumbs a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, a quarter of a pint of cream, a seasoning of fine salt and cayenne, and four well whisked eggs. Press the mixture closely and evenly into a deep dish or mould, buttered in every part, and bake it for one hour in a moderate oven.

Salmon, 1 lb.; bread-crumbs, 1/2 lb.; essence of anchovies, 1 teaspoonful; cream, 1/4 pint; eggs, 4; salt and cayenne; baked 1 hour.

TO BOIL COD FISH.

[In highest season from October to the beginning of February; in perfection about Christmas.]

When this fish is large the head and shoulders are sufficient for a handsome dish, and they contain all the choicer portion of it, though not so much substantial eating as the middle of the body, which, in consequence, is generally preferred to them by the frugal housekeeper. Wash the fish, and cleanse the inside, and the back-bone in particular, with the most scrupulous care; lay it into the fish-kettle and cover it well with cold water mixed with five ounces of salt to the gallon, and about a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre to the whole. Place it over a moderate fire, clear off the scum perfectly, and let the fish boil gently until it is done. Drain it well[46] and dish it carefully upon a very hot napkin with the liver and the roe as a garnish. To these are usually added tufts of lightly scraped horseradish round the edge. Serve well-made oyster sauce and plain melted butter with it; or anchovy sauce, when oysters cannot be procured. The cream sauce of Chapter V., is also an appropriate one for this fish.

46.  This should be done by setting the fish plate across the kettle for a minute or two.

Moderate size, 20 to 30 minutes. Large, 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

SLICES OF COD FISH FRIED.

Cut the middle or tail of the fish into slices nearly an inch thick, season them with salt and white pepper or cayenne, flour them well, and fry them of a clear equal brown on both sides; drain them on a sieve before the fire, and serve them on a well-heated napkin, with plenty of crisped parsley round them. Or, dip them into beaten egg, and then into fine crumbs mixed with a seasoning of salt and pepper (some cooks add one of minced herbs also), before they are fried. Send melted butter and anchovy sauce to table with them. 8 to 12 minutes.

Obs.—This is a much better way of dressing the thin part of the fish than boiling it, and as it is generally cheap, it makes thus an economical, as well as a very good dish: if the slices are lifted from the frying-pan into a good curried gravy, and left in it by the side of the fire for a few minutes before they are sent to table, they will be found excellent.

STEWED COD.

Put into boiling water, salted as usual, about three pounds of fresh cod fish cut into slices an inch and a half thick, and boil them gently for five minutes; lift them out, and let them drain. Have ready heated in a wide stewpan nearly a pint of veal gravy or of very good broth, lay in the fish, and stew it for five minutes, then add four tablespoonsful of extremely fine bread-crumbs, and simmer it for three minutes longer. Stir well into the sauce a large teaspoonful of arrow-root quite free from lumps, a fourth part as much of mace, something less of cayenne, and a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, mixed with a glass of white wine and a dessertspoonful of lemon juice. Boil the whole for a couple of minutes, lift out the fish carefully with a slice, pour the sauce over, and serve it quickly.

Cod fish, 3 lbs.: boiled 5 minutes. Gravy, or strong broth, nearly 1 pint: 5 minutes. Bread-crumbs, 4 tablespoonsful: 3 minutes. Arrow-root, 1 large teaspoonful; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; less of cayenne; essence of anchovies, 1 tablespoonful; lemon-juice, 1 dessertspoonful; sherry or Maidera, 1 wineglassful: 2 minutes.

Obs.—A dozen or two of oysters, bearded, and added with their strained liquor to this dish two or three minutes before it is served, will to many tastes vary it very agreeably.

STEWED COD FISH, IN BROWN SAUCE.

Slice the fish, take off the skin, flour it well, and fry it quickly a fine brown; lift it out and drain it on the back of a sieve, arrange it in a clean stewpan, and pour in as much good boiling brown gravy as will nearly cover it; add from one to two glasses of port wine, or rather more of claret, a dessertspoonful of Chili vinegar, or the juice of half a lemon, and some cayenne, with as much salt as may be needed. Stew the fish very softly until it just begins to break, lift it carefully with a slice into a very hot dish, stir into the gravy an ounce and a half of butter smoothly kneaded with a large teaspoonful of flour, and a little pounded mace, give the sauce a minute’s boil, pour it over the fish, and serve it immediately. The wine may be omitted, good shin of beef stock substituted for the gravy, and a teaspoonful of soy, one of essence of anchovies, and two tablespoonsful of Harvey’s sauce added to flavour it.

TO BOIL SALT FISH.

When very salt and dry, this must be long soaked before it is boiled, but it is generally supplied by the fishmongers nearly or quite ready to dress. When it is not so, lay it for a night into a large quantity of cold water, then let it lie exposed to the air for some time, then again put it into water, and continue thus until it is well softened. Brush it very clean, wash it thoroughly, and put it with abundance of cold water into the fish kettle, place it near the fire and let it heat very slowly indeed. Keep it just on the point of simmering, without allowing it ever to boil (which would render it hard), from three quarters of an hour to a full hour, according to its weight; should it be quite small and thin, less time will be sufficient for it; but by following these directions, the fish will be almost as good as if it were fresh. The scum should be cleared off with great care from the beginning. Egg sauce and boiled parsneps are the usual accompaniment to salt fish, which should be dished upon a hot napkin, and which is sometimes also thickly strewed with chopped eggs.

SALT FISH, À LA MÂITRE D’HÔTEL.

Boil the fish by the foregoing receipt, or take the remains of that which has been served at table, flake it off clear from the bones, and strip away every morsel of the skin; then lay it into a very clean saucepan or stewpan, and pour upon it the sharp Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce of Chapter IV.; or dissolve gently two or three ounces of butter with four or five spoonsful of water, and a half-teaspoonful of flour; add some pepper or cayenne, very little salt, and a dessertspoonful or more of minced parsley. Heat the fish slowly quite through in either of these sauces, and toss or stir it until the whole is well mixed; if the second be used, add the juice of half a lemon, or a small quantity of Chili vinegar just before it is taken from the fire. The fish thus prepared may be served in a deep dish, with a border of mashed parsneps or potatoes.

TO BOIL CODS’ SOUNDS.

Should they be highly salted, soak them for a night, and on the following day rub off entirely the discoloured skin; wash them well, lay them into plenty of cold milk and water, and boil them gently from thirty to forty minutes, or longer should they not be quite tender. Clear off the scum as it rises with great care, or it will sink and adhere to the sounds, of which the appearance will then be spoiled. Drain them well, dish them on a napkin, and send egg sauce and plain melted butter to table with them.

TO FRY CODS’ SOUNDS IN BATTER.

Boil them as directed above until they are nearly done, then lift them out, lay them on to a drainer, and let them remain till they are cold; cut them across in strips of an inch deep, curl them round, dip them into a good French or English batter, fry them of a fine pale brown, drain and dry them well, dish them on a hot napkin, and garnish them with crisped parsley.

TO FRY SOLES.

[In season all the year.]

All fish to fry well must be not only fresh but perfectly free from moisture, particularly when they are to be dressed with egg and bread-crumbs, as these will not otherwise adhere to them. Empty, skin, and wash the soles with extreme nicety, from one to two hours before they are wanted for table; and after having cleansed and wiped them very dry both inside and out, replace the roes, fold and press them gently in a soft clean cloth, and leave them wrapped in it until it is time to fry them; or suspend them singly upon hooks in a current of cool air, which is, perhaps, the better method of proceeding when it can be done conveniently. Cover them equally in every part, first with some beaten egg, and then with fine dry crumbs of bread, mixed with a very little flour to make them adhere with more certainty: a small teaspoonful will be sufficient for two large soles. Melt in a large and exceedingly clean frying pan over a brisk and clear fire, as much very pure-flavoured lard as will float the fish, and let it be sufficiently hot before they are laid in to brown them quickly; for if this be neglected it will be impossible to render them crisp or dry. When the fat ceases to bubble, throw in a small bit of bread, and if it takes a good colour immediately the soles may be put in without delay. An experienced cook will know, without this test, when it is at the proper point; but the learner will do better to avail herself of it until practice and observation shall have rendered it unnecessary to her. Before the fish are laid into the pan, take them by the head and shake the loose crumbs from them. When they are firm, and of a fine amber-colour on one side, turn them with care, passing a slice under them and a fork through the heads, and brown them on the other. Lift them out, and either dry them well on a soft cloth laid upon a sieve reversed, before the fire, turning them often, or press them lightly in hot white blotting paper. Dish them on a drainer covered with a hot napkin and send them to table without delay with shrimp or anchovy sauce, and plain melted butter.

Very small soles will be done in six minutes, and large ones in about ten. They may be floured and fried, without being egged and crumbed, but this is not a very usual mode of serving them.

Small soles, 6 minutes; large, about 10 minutes.

TO BOIL SOLES.

The flesh of a fine fresh sole, when boiled with care, is remarkably sweet and delicate: if very large it may be dressed and served as turbot, to which it will be found little inferior in flavour. Empty it, take out the gills, cut off the fins, and cleanse and wash it with great nicety, but do not skin it; then either lay it into cold water in which the usual proportion of salt has been dissolved, and heat it rather slowly, and then simmer it from five to ten minutes, according to its size; or boil it in the manner directed in the first pages of this chapter. Drain it well on the fish-plate as it is lifted out, and dish it on a napkin, the white side upwards, and serve it quickly with anchovy, shrimp, or lobster sauce. It may also be sent to table thickly covered with the Cream Fish Sauce, Caper Fish Sauce, or Lady’s Sauce, of Chapter VI.; though this is a mode of service less to be recommended, as the sauce cools more speedily when spread over the surface of the fish: it is, however, the continental fashion, and will therefore find more favour with some persons.

Very large sole, 5 to 10 minutes; moderate sized, 4 to 6 minutes.

FILLETS OF SOLES.

The word fillet, whether applied to fish, poultry, game, or butcher’s meat, means simply the flesh of either (or of certain portions of it), raised clear from the bones in a handsome form, and divided or not, as the manner in which it is to be served may require. It is an elegant mode of dressing various kinds of fish, and even those which are not the most highly esteemed, afford an excellent dish when thus prepared. Soles to be filletted with advantage should be large; the flesh may then be divided down the middle of the back, next, separated from the fins, and with a very sharp knife raised clear from the bones.[47] When thus prepared, the fillets may be divided, trimmed into a good form, egged, covered with fine crumbs, fried in the usual way, and served with the same sauces as the whole fish; or each fillet may be rolled up, in its entire length, if very small, or after being once divided if large, and fastened with a slight twine, or a short thin skewer; then egged, crumbed, and fried in plenty of boiling lard; or merely well floured and fried from eight to ten minutes. When the fish are not very large, they are sometimes boned without being parted in the middle, and each side is rolled from the tail to the head, after being first spread with pounded shrimps mixed with a third of their volume of butter, a few bread-crumbs, and a high seasoning of mace and cayenne; or with pounded lobster mixed with a large portion of the coral, and the same seasoning, and proportion of butter as the shrimps; then laid into a dish, with the ingredients directed for the soles au plat; well covered with crumbs of bread and clarified butter, and baked from twelve to sixteen minutes, or until the crumbs are coloured to a fine brown in a moderate oven.

47.  A celebrated French cook gives the following instructions for raising these fillets:—“them up by running your knife first between the bones and the flesh, then between the skin and the fillet; by leaning pretty hard on the table they will come off very neatly.”

The fillets may likewise be cut into small strips or squares of uniform size, lightly dredged with pepper or cayenne, salt and flour, and fried in butter over a brisk fire; then well drained, and sauced with a good béchamel, flavoured with a teaspoonful of minced parsley.

SOLES AU PLAT.

Clarify from two to three ounces of fresh butter, and pour it into the dish in which the fish are to be served; add to it a little salt, some cayenne, a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, and from one to two glasses of sherry, or of any other dry white wine; lay in a couple of fine soles which have been well cleaned and wiped very dry, strew over them a thick layer of fine bread-crumbs, moisten them with clarified butter, set the dish into a moderate oven, and bake the fish for a quarter of an hour. A layer of shrimps placed between the soles is a great improvement; and we would also recommend a little lemon-juice to be mixed with the sauce.

Baked, 15 minutes.

Obs.—The soles are, we think, better without the wine in this receipt. They require but a small portion of liquid, which might be supplied by a little additional butter, a spoonful of water or pale gravy, the lemon-juice, and store-sauce. Minced parsley may be mixed with the bread-crumbs when it is liked.

BAKED SOLES.

(A simple but excellent Receipt.)

Fresh large soles, dressed in the following manner, are remarkably tender and delicate eating; much more so than those which are fried. After the fish has been skinned and cleansed in the usual way, wipe it dry, and let it remain for an hour or more, if time will permit, closely folded in a clean cloth; then mix with a slightly beaten egg about an ounce of butter, just liquefied but not heated at the mouth of the oven, or before the fire; brush the fish in every part with this mixture, and cover it with very fine dry bread-crumbs, seasoned with a little salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg. Pour a teaspoonful or two of liquid butter into a flat dish which will contain the fish well; lay it in, sprinkle it with a little more butter, press the bread-crumbs lightly on it with a broad-bladed knife, and bake it in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes. If two or more soles are required for table at the same time, they should be placed separately, quite flat, in a large dish, or each fish should be laid on a dish by itself. On our first essay of this receipt, the fish dressed by it (it was baked for twenty-five minutes in a very slack iron oven) proved infinitely nicer than one of the same size which was fried, and served with it. The difference between them was very marked, especially as regarded the exceeding tenderness of the flesh of that which was baked; its appearance, however, would have been somewhat improved by a rather quicker oven. When ready to serve, it should be gently glided on to the dish in which it is to be sent to table. About three ounces of bread-crumbs, and two and a half of butter, will be sufficient for a large pair of soles. They will be more perfectly encrusted with the bread if dipped into, or sprinkled with it a second time, after the first coating has been well moistened with the butter.

SOLES STEWED IN CREAM.

Prepare some very fresh middling sized soles with exceeding nicety, put them into boiling water slightly salted, and simmer them for two minutes only; lift them out, and let them drain; lay them into a wide stewpan with as much sweet rich cream as will nearly cover them; add a good seasoning of pounded mace, cayenne, and salt; stew the fish softly from six to ten minutes, or until the flesh parts readily from the bones; dish them, stir the juice of half a lemon to the sauce, pour it over the soles, and send them immediately to table. Some lemon-rind may be boiled in the cream, if approved; and a small teaspoonful of arrow-root, very smoothly mixed with a little milk, may be stirred to the sauce (should it require thickening) before the lemon-juice is added. Turbot and brill also may be dressed by this receipt, time proportioned to their size being of course allowed for them.

Soles, 3 or 4: boiled in water 2 minutes. Cream, 1/2 to whole pint; salt, mace, cayenne: fish stewed, 6 to 10 minutes. Juice of half a lemon.

Obs.—In Cornwall the fish is laid at once into thick clotted cream, and stewed entirely in it; but this method gives to the sauce, which ought to be extremely delicate, a coarse fishy flavour which the previous boil in water prevents.

At Penzance, grey mullet, after being scaled, are divided in the middle, just covered with cold water, and softly boiled, with the addition of branches of parsley, pepper and salt, until the flesh of the back parts easily from the bone; clotted cream, minced parsley, and lemon-juice are then added to the sauce, and the mullets are dished with the heads and tails laid even to the thick parts of the back, where the fish were cut asunder. Hake, too, is there divided at every joint (having previously been scaled), dipped into egg, then thickly covered with fine bread-crumbs mixed with plenty of minced parsley, and fried a fine brown; or, the back-bone being previously taken out, the fish is sliced into cutlets, and then fried.

TO FRY WHITINGS.

[In full season from Michaelmas to beginning of February.]

Clean, skin, and dry them thoroughly in a cloth, fasten their tails to their mouths, brush slightly beaten eggs equally over them, and cover them with the finest bread-crumbs, mixed with a little flour; fry them a clear golden brown in plenty of boiling lard, drain and dry them well, dish them on a hot napkin, and serve them with good melted butter, and the sauce cruets, or with well made shrimp or anchovy sauce. A small half-teaspoonful of salt should be beaten up with the eggs used in preparing the whitings: two will be sufficient for half a dozen fish.

5 to 8 minutes, according to their size.

FILLETS OF WHITINGS.

Empty and wash thoroughly, but do not skin the fish. Take off the flesh on both sides close to the bones, passing the knife from the tail to the head; divide each side in two, trim the fillets into good shape, and fold them in a cloth, that the moisture may be well absorbed from them; dip them into, or draw them through, some beaten egg, then dip them into fine crumbs mixed with a small portion of flour, and fry them a fine light brown in lard or clarified butter; drain them well, press them in white blotting-paper, dish them one over the other in a circle, and send the usual sauce to table with them. The fillets may also be broiled after being dipped into eggs seasoned with salt and pepper, then into crumbs of bread, next into clarified butter, and a second time into the bread-crumbs (or, to shorten the process, a portion of clarified butter may be mixed with the eggs at first), and served with good melted butter, or thickened veal gravy seasoned with cayenne, lemon-juice, and chopped parsley.

Five minutes will fry the fillets, even when very large rather more time will be required to broil them.

TO BOIL WHITINGS.

(French Receipt)

Having scraped, cleansed, and wiped them, lay them on a fish-plate, and put them into water at the point of boiling; throw in a handful of salt, two bay leaves, and plenty of parsley well washed and tied together; let the fish just simmer from five to ten minutes, and watch them closely that they may not be overdone. Serve parsley and butter with them, and use in making it the liquor in which the whitings have been boiled.

Just simmered from 5 to 10 minutes.

BAKED WHITINGS À LA FRANÇAISE.

Proceed with these exactly as with the soles au plat of this chapter; or, pour a little clarified butter into a deep dish, and strew it rather thickly with finely-minced mushrooms mixed with a teaspoonful of parsley, and (when the flavour is liked, and considered appropriate) with an eschalot or two, or the white part of a few green onions, also chopped very small. On these place the fish after they have been scaled, emptied, thoroughly washed, and wiped dry: season them well with salt and white pepper, or cayenne; sprinkle more of the herbs upon them; pour gently from one to two glasses of light white wine into the dish, cover the whitings with a thick layer of fine crumbs of bread, sprinkle these plentifully with clarified butter, and bake the fish from fifteen to twenty minutes. Send a cut lemon only to table with them. When the wine is not liked, a few spoonsful of pale veal gravy can be used instead; or a larger quantity of clarified butter, with a tablespoonful of water, a teaspoonful of lemon-pickle and of mushroom catsup, and a few drops of soy.

15 to 20 minutes.

TO BOIL MACKEREL.

[In full season in May, June, and July; may be had also in early spring.]

Mackerel.

Open the fish sufficiently to admit of the insides being perfectly cleansed, but not more than is necessary for this purpose; empty them with care, lay the roes apart, and wash both them and the mackerel delicately clean. It is customary now to lay these, and the greater number of other fish as well, into cold water when they are to be boiled; formerly all were plunged at once into fast-boiling water. For such as are small and delicate, it should be hot; they should be brought gently to boil, and simmered until they are done; the scum should be cleared off as it rises, and the usual proportion of salt stirred into the water before the mackerel are put in. The roes are commonly replaced in the fish; but as they sometimes require more boiling than the mackerel themselves, it is better, when they are very large, to lay them upon the fish-plate by their sides. From fifteen to twenty minutes will generally be sufficient to boil a full-sized mackerel some will be done in less time; but they must be watched and lifted out as soon as the tails split, and the eyes are starting.

Dish them on a napkin, and send fennel or gooseberry sauce to table with them, and plain melted butter also.

Small mackerel, 10 to 15 minutes; large, 15 to 20 minutes.

TO BAKE MACKEREL.

After they have been cleaned and well washed, wipe them very dry, fill the insides with the forcemeat, No. 1 of Chapter VIII., sew them up, arrange them, with the roes, closely together in a coarse baking-dish, flour them lightly, strew a little fine salt over, and stick bits of butter upon them; or pour some equally over them, after having just dissolved it in a small saucepan. Half an hour in a moderate oven will bake them. Oyster forcemeat is always appropriate for any kind of fish which is in season while the oysters are so; but the mackerel are commonly served, and are very good with that which we have named. Lift them carefully into a hot dish after they are taken from the oven, and send melted butter and a cut lemon to table with them.

1/2 hour.

BAKED MACKEREL, OR WHITINGS.

(Cinderella’s Receipt—good.)

The fish for this receipt should be opened only so much as will permit of their being emptied and perfectly cleansed. Wash and wipe them dry, then fold them in a soft cloth, and let them remain in it awhile. Replace the roes, and put the fish into a baking-dish of suitable size, with a tablespoonful of wine, a few drops of chili vinegar, a little salt and cayenne, and about half an ounce of butter, well-blended with a saltspoonful of flour, for each fish. They must be turned round with the heads and tails towards each other, that they may lie compactly in the dish, and the backs should be placed downwards, that the sauce may surround the thickest part of the flesh. Lay two buttered papers over, and press them down upon them; set the dish into a gentle oven for twenty minutes, take off the papers, and send the fish to table in their sauce.

A few minutes more of time must be allowed for mackerel when it is large, should the oven be very slow.

Full-sized whitings are excellent thus dressed if carefully managed, and many eaters would infinitely prefer mackerel so prepared, to boiled ones. The writer has port-wine always used for the sauce, to which a rather full seasoning of chili vinegar, cayenne, and pounded mace, is added; but sherry, Bucellas, or any other dry wine, can be used instead; and the various condiments added to it, can be varied to the taste. This receipt is a very convenient one, as it is prepared with little trouble, and a stove-oven, if the heat be properly moderated, will answer for the baking. It is an advantage to take off the heads of the fish before they are dressed, and they may then be entirely emptied without being opened. When preferred so, they can be re-dished for table, and the sauce poured over them.

Obs.—The dish in which they are baked, should be buttered before they are laid in.

FRIED MACKEREL.

(Common French Receipt.)

After the fish have been emptied and washed extremely clean, cut off the heads and tails, split the bodies quite open, and take out the backbones (we recommend in preference that the flesh should be taken off the bones as in the following receipt), wipe the mackerel very dry, dust fine salt and pepper (or cayenne) over them, flour them well, fry them a fine brown in boiling lard, drain them thoroughly, and serve them with the following sauce:—Dissolve in a small saucepan an ounce and a half of butter smoothly mixed with a teaspoonful of flour, some salt, pepper, or cayenne; shake these over a gentle fire until they are lightly coloured, then add by slow degrees nearly half a pint of good broth or gravy, and the juice of one large lemon; boil the sauce for a couple of minutes, and serve it very hot. Or, instead of this, add a large teaspoonful of strong made mustard, and a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar, to some thick melted butter, and serve it with the fish. A spoonful of Harvey’s sauce or of mushroom catsup can be mixed with this last at pleasure.

FILLETS OF MACKEREL.

(Fried or Broiled.)

Take off the flesh quite whole on either side, from three fine mackerel, which have been opened and properly cleaned; let it be entirely free from bone, dry it well in a cloth, then divide each part in two, and dip them into the beaten yolks of a couple of eggs, seasoned with salt and white pepper, or cayenne; cover them equally with fine dry crumbs of bread, and fry them like soles; or dip them into clarified butter, and then again into the crumbs, and broil them over a very clear fire of a fine brown. Dish them in a circle one over the other, and send them to table with the Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce of Chapter V., or with the one which follows it. The French pour the sauce into the centre of the dish; but for broiled fillets this is not so well, we think, as serving it in a tureen. The roes of the fish, after being well washed and soaked, may be dressed with them, or they may be made into patties. Minced parsley can be mixed with the bread-crumbs when it is liked.

BOILED FILLETS OF MACKEREL.

After having taken off and divided the flesh of the fish, as above, place it flat in one layer in a wide stewpan or saucepan, and just cover the fillets with cold water; throw in a teaspoonful of salt, and two or three small sprigs of parsley; bring the mackerel slowly to a boil, clear off the scum with care, and after two or three minutes of slow simmering try the fillets with a fork; if the thick part divides with a touch, they are done. Lift them out cautiously with a slice; drain, and serve them very hot with good parsley and butter; or strip off the skin quickly, and pour a Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce over them.

MACKEREL BROILED WHOLE.

(An excellent Receipt.)

Empty and cleanse perfectly a fine and very fresh mackerel, but without opening it more than is needful; dry it well, either in a cloth or by hanging it in a cool air until it is stiff; make with a sharp knife a deep incision the whole length of the fish on either side of the back bone, and about half an inch from it, and with a feather put in a little cayenne and fine salt, mixed with a few drops of good salad oil or clarified butter. Lay the mackerel over a moderate fire upon a well-heated gridiron which has been rubbed with suet; loosen it gently should it stick, which it will do unless often moved; and when it is equally done on both sides, turn the back to the fire. About half an hour will broil it well. If a sheet of thickly-buttered writing-paper be folded round it, and just twisted at the ends before it is laid on the gridiron, it will be finer eating than if exposed to the fire; but sometimes when this is done, the skin will adhere to the paper, and be drawn off with it, which injures its appearance. A cold Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce (see Chapter V.), may be put into the back before it is sent to table. This is one of the very best modes of dressing a mackerel, which in flavour is quite a different fish when thus prepared to one which is simply boiled. A drop of oil is sometimes passed over the skin to prevent its sticking to the iron. It may be laid to the fire after having been merely cut as we have directed, when it is preferred so.

30 minutes; 25 if small.

MACKEREL STEWED WITH WINE.

(Very good.)

Work very smoothly together a large teaspoonful of flour with two ounces of butter, put them into a stewpan, and stir or shake them round over the fire until the butter is dissolved; add a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, twice as much salt, and some cayenne; pour in by slow degrees three glasses of claret; and when the sauce boils, lay in a couple of fine mackerel well cleaned, and wiped quite dry; stew them very softly from fifteen to twenty minutes, and turn them when half done; lift them out, and dish them carefully; stir a teaspoonful of made mustard to the sauce, give it a boil, and pour it over the fish. When more convenient, substitute port wine and a little lemon-juice, for the claret.

Mackerel, 2; flour, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 2 oz.; seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne; claret, 3 wineglassesful; made mustard, 1 teaspoonful: 15 to 20 minutes.

FILLETS OF MACKEREL STEWED IN WINE.

(Excellent.)

Raise the flesh entire from the bones on either side of the mackerel, and divide it once, if the fish be small, but cut the whole into six parts of equal size should they be large. Mix with flour, and dissolve the butter as in the preceding receipt; and when it has simmered for a minute, throw in the spice, a little salt, and the thinly pared rind of half a small fresh lemon, lay in the fillets of fish, shake them over a gentle fire from four to five minutes, and turn them once in the time; then pour to them in small portions a couple of large wineglassesful of port wine, a tablespoonful of Harvey’s sauce, a teaspoonful of soy, and one of lemon-juice; stew the mackerel very softly until the thinner parts begin to break, lift them out with care, dish and serve them in their sauce as hot as possible. We can recommend the dish to our readers as a very excellent one. A garnish of fried sippets can be placed round the fish at will. A teaspoonful of made mustard should be stirred to the sauce before it is poured over the fish.

Fillets of mackerel, 2; butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful; rind of 1/2 lemon; salt, cayenne, pounded mace: 2 minutes. Fish, 4 to 5 minutes. Port wine, two large glassesful; Harvey’s sauce, 1 tablespoonful; soy and lemon-juice each, 1 teaspoonful: 4 to 6 minutes. Mustard, 1 teaspoonful.

Obs.—Trout may be dressed by this receipt.

TO BOIL HADDOCKS.

In the best season in October, November, and December.

Haddock.

Scrape the outsides very clean, open the fish, empty them, wash the insides thoroughly, take out the gillet, curl the haddocks round, fasten the tails to the mouths, arrange them on a fish-plate, and lay them into hot water salted as for mackerel. Take off all the scum, and simmer them from seven to ten minutes or longer, according to their size, which, as we have said in the directions for “the best mode of cooking various kind of fish,” at the commencement of this chapter, varies greatly, as they are sometimes very large; they must then be brought more slowly to boil, and more time must be allowed for them. Send them very hot to table, with a tureen of melted butter, and one of anchovy sauce.

7 to 10 minutes.

Obs.—In Scotland haddocks are skinned before they are boiled, and the heads are taken off; but we see no advantage in this mode of dressing them. Whitings, fresh herrings, and codlings, may all be dressed by this receipt, the time only being varied according to the size of the fish.

BAKED HADDOCKS

After they have been cleaned, dry them thoroughly, then bake them, as directed in the common receipt for pike, or fill them with oyster forcemeat, or with No. 1 of Chapter VIII., if more convenient, and proceed as for baked mackerel.

20 to 30 minutes; longer if very large.

TO FRY HADDOCKS

Follow the directions given for fillets of whitings; or, should a more simple method be preferred, clean and dry the fish well, cut off the heads and tails, take out the backbones, cut each fish in three, egg and crumb them, fry them in boiling lard a fine golden brown, and serve them, well drained and dried, with the same sauces as boiled haddocks.

TO DRESS FINNAN HADDOCKS.

These are slightly salted and dried. They are excellent eating, if gently heated through upon the gridiron without being hardened; and are served usually at the breakfast or supper table; a feather dipped in oil may be passed over them before they are laid to the fire.

TO BOIL GURNARDS.

(With directions for dressing them in other ways.)

Gurnard.

It is more usual to fill gurnards with forcemeat, and to bake them, or to have the flesh raised from the bones and dressed in fillets, than to serve them simply boiled; they may, however, be cooked in any of the modes directed for mackerel,[48] rather more time being allowed for them, as they are much firmer-fleshed, thicker in the bodies, and generally of larger size altogether. Cut off all the fins, take out the gills, and empty and cleanse them like other fish, washing the insides well; put them into hot water ready salted and skimmed, and boil them gently from twenty minutes to half an hour; serve them with anchovy sauce, or with parsley and butter rendered acid with chili vinegar, lemon-juice, or caper-pickle.

48.  Whitings or haddocks.

FRESH HERRINGS.

(Farleigh Receipt.)

In season from May to October.

Scale and clean the fish with the utmost nicety, split them quite open, and wash the insides with particular care; dry them well in a cloth, take off the heads and tails, and remove the backbones; rub the insides with pepper, salt, and a little pounded mace; stick small bits of butter on them, and skewer two of the fish together as flat as possible, with the skin of both outside; flour, and broil or fry them of a fine brown, and serve them with melted butter mixed with a teaspoonful or more of mustard, some salt, and a little vinegar or lemon-juice.

To broil from 20 to 25 minutes; to fry about 10 minutes.

TO DRESS THE SEA BREAM.

Sea Bream.

The sea-bream, which is common in many of our markets, is not considered a fish of first-rate quality; but if well broiled or baked, it will afford a good, and generally a cheap, dish of excellent appearance, the bream being of handsome size and form. Open and cleanse it perfectly, but do not remove the scales; fold it in a dry cloth to absorb the moisture which hangs about it; lay it over a gentle fire, and broil it slowly, that the heat may gradually penetrate the flesh, which is thick. Should any cracks appear on the surface, dredge a little flour upon them. If of ordinary weight, the bream will require quite half an hour’s broiling; it should be turned, of course, when partially done. Send plain melted butter and anchovy sauce to table with it. In carving it, remove the skin and scales, and serve only the flesh which lies beneath them, and which will be very white and succulent. A more usual and less troublesome mode of dressing the bream is to season the inside slightly with salt and pepper or cayenne, to dust a little more salt on the outside, spread a few bits of butter upon it, and send it to a gentle oven. It is sometimes filled with common veal-stuffing, and then requires to be rather longer baked; and it is often merely wrapped in a buttered paper, and placed in a moderate oven for twenty-five or thirty minutes.

TO BOIL PLAICE OR FLOUNDERS.

Plaice in season from May to January;
flounders in September, October, and November.

Plaice.

After having emptied and well cleaned the fish, make an incision in the back as directed for turbot; lay them into cold spring water; add salt and saltpetre in the same proportion as for cod fish, and let them just simmer for four or five minutes after the water first begins to boil, or longer should their size require it, but guard against their being broken. Serve them with plain melted butter. 4 to 5 minutes; longer if needful.

TO FRY PLAICE OR FLOUNDERS.

Sprinkle them with salt, and let them lie for two or three hours before they are dressed. Wash and clean them thoroughly, wipe them very dry, flour them well, and wipe them again with a clean cloth; dip them into egg, and fine bread-crumbs, and fry them in plenty of lard. If the fish be large, raise the flesh in handsome fillets from the bones, and finish them as directed for fillets of soles. Obs.—Plaice is said to be rendered less watery by beating it gently with a paste-roller before it is cooked. It is very sweet and pleasant in flavour while it is in the best season, which is from the end of May to about September.

TO ROAST, BAKE, OR BROIL RED MULLET.

[In best season through the summer: may be had all the year.]

Red Mullet.

First wash and then dry the fish thoroughly in a cloth, but neither scale nor open it, but take out the gills gently and carefully with the small intestine which will adhere to them; wrap it closely in a sheet of thickly buttered paper, tie this securely at the ends, and over the mullet with packthread, and roast it in a Dutch oven, or broil it over a clear and gentle fire, or bake it in a moderate oven: from twenty to twenty-five minutes will be sufficient generally to dress it in either way. For sauce, put into a little good melted butter the liquor which has flowed from the fish, a small dessertspoonful of essence of anchovies, some cayenne, a glass of port wine, or claret, and a little lemon-juice. Remove the packthread, and send the mullet to table in the paper case. This is the usual mode of serving it, but it is dished without the paper for dinners of taste. The plain red mullet, shown at the commencement of this receipt, is scarcely ever found upon our coast. That which abounds here during the summer months is the striped red mullet, or surmullet, which, from its excellence, is always in request, and is therefore seldom cheap. It rarely exceeds twelve, or at the utmost fourteen, inches in length.

20 to 30 minutes.

TO BOIL GREY MULLET.

Grey Mullet.

This fish varies so much in size and quality, that it is difficult to give exact directions for the time of cooking it. When quite young and small, it may be boiled by the receipt for whitings, haddocks, and other fish of about their size; but at its finest growth it must be laid into cold water, and managed like larger fish. We have ourselves partaken of one which was caught upon our eastern coast, that weighed ten pounds, of which the flesh was quite equal to that of salmon, but its weight was, we believe, an unusual one. Anchovy, or caper fish sauce, with melted butter, may be sent to table with grey mullet.

THE GAR-FISH.

Gar-Fish.

This is a fish of very singular appearance, elongated in form, and with a mouth which resembles the bill of the snipe, from which circumstance it is often called the snipe-fish. Its bones are all of a bright green colour. It is not to be recommended for the table, as the skin contains an oil of exceedingly strong rank flavour; when entirely divested of this, the flesh is tolerably sweet and palatable. Persons who may be disposed from curiosity to taste it will find either broiling or baking in a gentle oven the best mode of cooking it. It should be curled round, and the tail fastened into the bill. As it is not of large size, from fifteen to twenty minutes will dress it sufficiently. Anchovy sauce, parsley and butter, or plain melted butter, may be eaten with it.

SAND-LAUNCE, OR, SAND-EEL.

Sand-Eel.

The sand-launce, which is abundant on many parts of our coast, and the name of which is derived from its habit of burrowing in the sands when the tide retires, may be distinguished from the larger species, the true sand-eel, by its lighter colour and more transparent appearance, as well as by its inferior size. The common mode of dressing the fish, which is considered by many a great delicacy, is to divest them of their heads, and to remove the insides with the gills, to dry them well in a cloth with flour, and to fry them until crisp. They are sometimes also dipped in batter like smelts. We have not ourselves had an opportunity of testing them, but we have received the particulars which we have given here from various friends who have resided where they were plentiful. The sand-eels are not so good as the smaller kind of these fish called launces.

TO FRY SMELTS.

[In season from beginning of November to May.]

Smelts when quite fresh have a perfume resembling that of a cucumber, and a peculiarly delicate and agreeable flavour when dressed. Draw them at the gills, as they must not be opened; wash and dry them thoroughly in a cloth; dip them into beaten egg-yolk, and then into the finest bread-crumbs, mixed with a very small quantity of flour; fry them of a clear golden brown, and serve them crisp and dry, with good melted butter in a tureen. They are sometimes dipped into batter and then fried; when this is done, we would recommend for them the French batter of Chapter V.

3 to 4 minutes.

BAKED SMELTS.

Prepare them as for frying; pour some clarified butter into the dish in which they are to be sent to table, arrange them neatly in it, with the tails meeting in the centre, strew over them as much salt, mace, and cayenne, mixed, as will season them agreeably, cover them smoothly with a rather thick layer of very fine bread-crumbs, moisten them equally with clarified butter poured through a small strainer, and bake the fish in a moderately quick oven, until the crumbs are of a fine light brown. A glass of sherry, half a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, and a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, are sometimes poured into the dish before the smelts are laid in.

About 10 minutes.

TO DRESS WHITE BAIT.

(Greenwich Receipt.)

[In season in July, August, and September.]

This delicate little fish requires great care to dress it well. Do not touch it with the hands, but throw it from your dish or basket into a cloth, with three or four handsful of flour, and shake it well; then put it into a bait sieve, to separate it from the superfluous flour. Have ready a very deep frying-pan, nearly full of boiling fat, throw in the fish, which will be done in an instant: they must not be allowed to take any colour, for if browned, they are spoiled. Lift them out, and dish them upon a silver or earthenware drainer, without a napkin, piling them very high in the centre. Send them to table with a cut lemon, and slices of brown bread and butter.

WATER SOUCHY.

(Greenwich Receipt.)

This is a very simple and inexpensive dish, much served at the regular fish-dinners for which Greenwich is celebrated, as well as at private tables. It is excellent if well prepared; and as it may be made with fish of various kinds when they are too small to present a good appearance or to be palatable dressed in any other way, it is also very economical. Flounders, perch, tench, and eels, are said to answer best for water souchy; but very delicate soles, and several other varieties of small white fish are often used for it with good effect: it is often made also with slices of salmon, or of salmon-peel, freed from the skin.

Throw into rather more than sufficient water to just cover the quantity of fish required for table, from half to three quarters of an ounce of salt to the quart, a dozen corns of white pepper, a small bunch of green parsley, and two or three tender parsley roots, first cut into inch lengths, and then split to the size of straws. Simmer the mixture until these last are tender, which will be in from half to a whole hour; then lay in the fish delicately cleaned, cleared from every morsel of brown skin, and divided into equal portions of about two inches in width. Take off all the scum as it rises, and stew the fish softly from eight to twelve minutes, watching it that it may not break from being overdone.

Two minutes before it is dished, strew in a large tablespoonful or more of minced parsley, or some small branches of the herb boiled very green in a separate saucepan (we prefer the latter mode); lift out the fish carefully with a slice, and the parsley roots with it; pour over it the liquor in which it has been boiled, but leave out the peppercorns. For a superior water souchy, take all the bones out of the fish, and stew down the inferior portions of it to a strong broth: about an hour will be sufficient for this. Salt, parsley, and a little cayenne may be added to it. Strain it off clear through a sieve, and use it instead of water for the souchy. The juice of half a good lemon may be thrown into the stew before it is served. A deep dish will of course be required for it. The parsley-roots can be boiled apart when more convenient, but they give an agreeable flavour when added to the liquor at first. Slices of brown or white bread and butter must be sent to table always with water souchy: the first is usually preferred, but to suit all tastes some of each may be served with it.

SHAD, TOURAINE FASHION.

(Alose à la mode de Touraine.)

[In season in April, May, and early part of June.]

Empty and wash the fish with care, but do not open it more than is needful; fill it either with the forcemeat No. 1, or No. 2 of Chapter VIII., and its own roe; then sew it up, or fasten it securely with very fine skewers, wrap it in a thickly buttered paper, and broil it gently for an hour over a charcoal fire. Serve it with caper sauce, or with chili vinegar and melted butter.

We are indebted for this receipt to a friend who has been long resident in Touraine, at whose table the fish is constantly served thus dressed, and is considered excellent. It is likewise often gently stewed in the light white wine of the country, and served covered with a rich béchamel. Many fish more common with us than the shad might be advantageously prepared in the same manner. The charcoal fire is not indispensable: any one that is entirely free from smoke will answer. We would suggest as an improvement, that oyster-forcemeat should be substituted for that which we have indicated, until the oyster season ends.

Broiled gently, 1 hour, more or less, according to the size.

STEWED TROUT.

(Good common Receipt.)

[In season from May to August.]

Trout.

Melt three ounces of butter in a broad stewpan, or well tinned iron saucepan, stir to it a tablespoonful of flour, some mace, cayenne, and nutmeg; lay in the fish after it has been emptied, washed very clean, and wiped perfectly dry; shake it in the pan, that it may not stick, and when lightly browned on both sides, pour in three quarters of a pint of good veal stock, add a small faggot of parsley, one bay leaf, a roll of lemon-peel, and a little salt: stew the fish very gently from half to three quarters of an hour, or more, should it be unusually fine. Dish the trout, skim the fat from the gravy, and pass it through a hot strainer over the fish, which should be served immediately. A little acid can be added to the sauce at pleasure, and a glass of wine when it is considered an improvement. This receipt is for one large or for two middling-sized fish. We can recommend it as a good one from our own experience.

Butter, 3 oz.; flour, 1 tablespoonful; seasoning of mace, cayenne, and nutmeg; trout, 1 large, or 2 moderate-sized; veal stock, 3/4 pint; parsley, small faggot; 1 bay-leaf; roll of lemon-rind; little salt: 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

Obs.—Trout may be stewed in equal parts of strong veal gravy, and of red or white wine, without having been previously browned; the sauce should then be thickened, and agreeably flavoured with lemon-juice, and the usual store-sauces, before it is poured over the fish. They are also good when wrapped in buttered paper, and baked or broiled: if very small, the better mode of cooking them is to fry them whole. They should never be plain boiled, as, though naturally a delicious fish, they are then very insipid.

TO BOIL PIKE.

[In best season from September to February.]

Pike.

Take out the gills, empty and clean the fish very thoroughly, and soak it for half an hour with a cup of vinegar thrown into as much water as will cover it well, should there be any danger of its having a muddy taste.[49] Wipe the inside dry, and fill it with oyster-forcemeat, or with common veal forcemeat made either with butter or with suet (for which see Chapter VIII.); curl the fish round, and fasten it with the tail in the mouth, lay it on a fish-plate, cover it well with cold water, throw in some salt as soon as it boils, skim it well, and boil the fish gently from half to a whole hour according to its size. Some persons prefer the scales taken off the pike when it is prepared for this mode of dressing; and many cooks still put the fish into boiling water well salted and skimmed. Serve it with plain melted butter, or anchovy sauce.

49.  Soaking fish is always better avoided when it can be so; well washing the inside with strong vinegar would perhaps remove the objectionable flavour without it.

Moderate sized, 1/2 hour; large, 1 hour.

Obs.—We must repeat that it is impossible to give for fish which varies so much in quality as well as in size, directions for the exact time which is required to cook it; a few minutes, more or less, must often be allowed; and it should always be watched attentively, and lifted from the water as soon as it is done.

TO BAKE PIKE.

(Common Receipt.)

Pour warm water over the outside of the fish, and wipe it very clean with a coarse cloth drawn from the head downwards, that the scales may not be disturbed; then wash it well in cold water, empty, and cleanse the inside with the greatest nicety, fill it either with the common forcemeat No. 1, or with No. 4 of Chapter VIII., sew it up, fasten the tail to the mouth, give it a slight dredging of flour, stick small bits of butter thickly over it, and bake it from half to three quarters of an hour, should it be of moderate size, and upwards of an hour, if it be large. Should there not be sufficient sauce with it in the dish, melted butter and a lemon, or anchovy sauce may be sent to table with it. When more convenient the forcemeat may be omitted, and a little fine salt and cayenne, with some bits of butter, put into the inside of the fish, which will then require rather less baking. A buttered paper should always be laid over it in the oven, should the outside appear likely to become too highly coloured or too dry before the fish is done; and it is better to wrap quite small pike in buttered paper at once before they are sent to the oven.

Moderate-sized pike, 30 to 45 minutes; large pike, 1 to 1-1/4 hour.

TO BAKE PIKE.

(Superior Receipt.)

Scale and wash the fish, take out the gills, then open it just sufficiently to allow the inside to be emptied and perfectly cleansed, but not more than is necessary for that purpose. Wipe it as dry as possible in every part, then hang it for an hour or two on a hook in a cool larder, or wrap it in a soft cloth. Fill the body with the forcemeat No. 1 or 3, or with the oyster forcemeat of Chapter VIII.; sew it up very securely, curl it round, and fasten the tail into the mouth with a thin skewer, then dip it into the beaten yolks of two or more eggs, seasoned with nearly half a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper or cayenne; cover it equally with the finest bread-crumbs, dip it a second time into the egg and crumbs, then pour some clarified butter gently over it, through a small strainer, and send it to a well heated oven for an hour and a quarter or more, should it be very large, but for less time if it be only of moderate size. As it is naturally a very dry fish, it should not be left in the oven after it is thoroughly done, but it should never be sent to table until it is so. The crumbs of bread are sometimes mixed with a sufficient quantity of minced parsley to give the surface of the fish a green hue. Send plain melted butter, and brown caper, or Dutch sauce to table with it.

TO STEW CARP.

(A common Country Receipt.)

Carp.

Scale and clean the fish with exceeding care, lay it into a stewpan, and cover it with good cold beef or veal broth; add one small onion stuck with a few cloves, a faggot of savoury herbs, three or four slices of carrot, and a little salt, and stew the carp as gently as possible for nearly an hour. Have ready some good brown gravy, mixed with a couple of glassesful of port wine; add a squeeze of lemon-juice, dish the carp very carefully, pour the sauce over, and serve it immediately. We would recommend the Genevese Sauce, of Chapter V., as superior to any other for this dish.

This receipt is for a fish which averages from five to six pounds in weight, but the carp sometimes attains to a very large size; and sufficient time to cook it perfectly should always be allowed for it.

TO BOIL PERCH.[50]

50.  The figure of this fish is very disproportioned in size to that of the carp and other kinds inserted here, as it is quite small at its fullest growth compared with the carp, which sometimes attains to a great weight.

Perch.

First wipe or wash off the slime, then scrape off the scales, which adhere rather tenaciously to this fish; empty and clean the insides perfectly, take out the gills, cut off the fins, and lay the perch into equal parts of cold and of boiling water, salted as for mackerel: from eight to ten minutes will boil them unless they are very large. Dish them on a napkin, garnish them with curled parsley, and serve melted butter with them, or Maître d’Hôtel Sauce Maigre.

Very good French cooks put them at once into boiling water and keep them over a brisk fire for about fifteen minutes. They dress them also without taking off the scales or fins until they are ready to serve, when they strip the whole of the skin off carefully, and stick the red fins into the middle of the backs; the fish are then covered with the Steward’s sauce, thickened with eggs.

In warm water, 8 to 10 minutes; in boiling, 12 to 15 minutes.

TO FRY PERCH OR TENCH.

Scale, and clean them perfectly; dry them well, flour and fry them in boiling lard. Serve plenty of crisped or fried parsley round them.

TO FRY EELS.

[In season all the year, but not so well-conditioned in April and May as in other months.]

First kill, then skin, empty, and wash them as clean as possible; cut them into four-inch lengths, and dry them well in a soft cloth. Season them with fine salt, and white pepper, or cayenne, flour them thickly, and fry them a fine brown in boiling lard; drain and dry them as directed for soles, and send them to table with plain melted butter or anchovy sauce. Eels are sometimes dipped into batter and then fried; or into egg and fine bread-crumbs (mixed with minced parsley or not, at pleasure), and served with plenty of crisped parsley round, and on them.

It is an improvement for these modes of dressing the fish to open them entirely; and remove the bones: the smaller parts should be thrown into the pan a minute or two later than the thicker portions of the bodies or they will not be equally done.

BOILED EELS.

(German Receipt.)

Pare a fine lemon, and strip from it entirely the white inner rind; slice it, and remove the pips with care; put it with a blade of mace, a small half-teaspoonful of white peppercorns, nearly twice as much of salt, and a moderate-sized bunch of parsley, into three pints of cold water, bring them gently to boil, and simmer them for twenty minutes; let them become quite cold; then put in three pounds of eels skinned; and cleaned with great nicety, and cut into lengths of three or four inches; simmer them very softly from ten to fifteen minutes, lift them with a slice into a very hot dish, and serve them with a good Dutch sauce, or with parsley and butter acidulated with lemon-juice, or with chili vinegar.

For boiled eels with sage (German Receipt), see Chapter of Foreign Cookery.

EELS.

(Cornish Receipt.)

Skin, empty, and wash as clean as possible, two or three fine eels, cut them into short lengths, and just cover them with cold water; add sufficient salt and cayenne to season them, and stew them very softly indeed from fifteen to twenty minutes, or longer should they require it. When they are nearly done, strew over them a teaspoonful of minced parsley, thicken the sauce with a teaspoonful of flour mixed with a slice of butter, and add a quarter of a pint or more of clotted cream. Give the whole a boil, lift the fish into a hot dish, and stir briskly the juice of half a lemon into the sauce; pour it upon the eels, and serve them immediately: Very sweet thick cream is, we think, preferable to clotted cream for this dish. The sauce should be of a good consistence, and a dessertspoonful of flour will be needed for a large dish of the stew, and from one and a half to two ounces of butter. The size of the fish must determine the precise quantity of liquid and of seasoning which they will require.

RED HERRINGS, À LA DAUPHIN.

Take off the heads, open the backs of the fish, and remove the backbones: soak the herrings, should they be very dry, for two or three hours in warm milk and water, drain and wipe them. Dissolve a slice of fresh butter, and mix it with the beaten yolks of a couple of eggs and some savoury herbs minced small: dip the fish into these, and spread them thickly with fine bread-crumbs; broil them of a light brown, over a moderate fire, and serve them on hot buttered toasts, sprinkled with a little cayenne.

RED HERRINGS, COMMON ENGLISH MODE.

This fish is rendered infinitely more delicate by pouring boiling water on it before it is dressed, and leaving it to soak for half an hour, or more, should it be highly dried. The fresh Yarmouth bloaters do not require this. Cut off the heads and tails, open the herrings at the back, and warm them through before the fire, or upon the gridiron. They may be rubbed with a bit of cold butter, and seasoned with a slight sprinkling of pepper or cayenne, when these are liked, or served quite plain.

ANCHOVIES FRIED IN BATTER.

Scrape very clean a dozen or more of fine anchovies, and soak them in plenty of spring water from two to six hours: then wipe them dry, open them, and take out the backbones, without dividing the fish. Season the insides highly with cayenne, close the anchovies, dip them into the French batter of Chapter V., or into a light English batter, and fry them a pale amber-colour: in from four to five minutes they will be quite sufficiently done.

CHAPTER III.

Dishes of Shell-Fish

OYSTERS.

[In season from September to April.]

The old-fashioned plan of feeding oysters with a sprinkling of oatmeal or flour, in addition to the salt and water to which they were committed, has long been rejected by all genuine amateurs of these nutritious and excellent fish, who consider the plumpness which the oysters are supposed to gain from the process, but poor compensation for the flavour which they are sure to lose. To cleanse them when they first come up from the beds, and to keep them in good condition for four or five days, they only require to be covered with cold water, with five ounces of salt to the gallon dissolved in it before it is poured on them; this should be changed with regularity every twenty-four hours. By following this plan with exactness they may be kept alive from a week to ten days, but will remain in perfect condition scarcely more than half that time. Oysters should be eaten always the instant they are opened. Abroad they are served before the soup in the first course of a dinner, arranged usually in as many plates as there are guests at table. In England they are sometimes served after the soup. A sense of appropriateness must determine how far the variations of fashion should be followed in such matters.

Obs.—We were accustomed formerly to have the brine which was supplied to oysters intended to be kept for some days, changed twice in the twenty-four hours; but we were informed by an oyster merchant in an extensive business that once was sufficient.

TO SCALLOP OYSTERS.

Large coarse oysters should never be dressed in this way. Select small plump ones for the purpose, let them be opened carefully, give them a scald in their own liquor, wash them in it free from grit, and beard them neatly. Butter the scallop shells and shake some fine bread-crumbs over them; fill them with alternate layers of oysters, crumbs of bread, and fresh butter cut into small bits; pour in the oyster-liquor, after it has been strained, put a thick, smooth layer of bread-crumbs on the top, moisten them with clarified butter,[51] place the shells in a Dutch oven before a clear fire, and turn them often until the tops are equally and lightly browned: send them immediately to table.

51.  Common cooks merely stick small bits of butter on them.

Some persons like a little white pepper or cayenne, and a flavouring of nutmeg added to the oysters; others prefer pounded mace. French cooks recommend with them a mixture of minced mushrooms stewed in butter till quite tender, and sweet herbs finely chopped. The fish is sometimes laid into the shells after having been bearded only.

SCALLOPED OYSTERS À LA REINE.

Plump and beard the oysters, after having rinsed them well in their own strained liquor; add to this about an equal quantity of very rich white sauce, and thicken it, if needful, with half a teaspoonful of flour, mixed with a small slice of butter, or with as much arrow-root only; put in the oysters, and keep them at the point of simmering for three or four minutes: lay them into the shells, and cover the tops thickly with crumbs fried a delicate brown and well dried; or heap over them instead, a layer of fine crumbs; pour clarified butter on them, and brown them with a salamander.

TO STEW OYSTERS.

A pint of small plump oysters will be sufficient for a quite moderate-sized dish, but twice as many will be required for a large one. Let them be very carefully opened, and not mangled in the slightest degree; wash them free from grit in their own strained liquor, lay them into a very clean stewpan or well-tinned saucepan, strain the liquor a second time, pour it on them, and heat them slowly in it. When they are just beginning to simmer, lift them out with a slice or a bored wooden spoon, and take off the beards; add to the liquor a quarter of a pint of good cream, a seasoning of pounded mace, and cayenne, and a little salt, and when it boils, stir in from one to two ounces of good butter, smoothly mixed with a large teaspoonful of flour; continue to stir the sauce until these are perfectly blended with it, then put in the oysters, and let them remain by the side of the fire until they are very hot: they require so little cooking that, if kept for four or five minutes nearly simmering, they will be ready for table, and they are quickly hardened by being allowed to boil, or by too much stewing. Serve them garnished with pale fried sippets.

Small plump oysters, 1 pint: their own liquor: brought slowly to the point of simmering. Cream, 1/4 pint; seasoning of pounded mace and cayenne; salt as needed; butter, 1 to 2 oz.; flour, 1 large teaspoonful.

Obs.—A little lemon-juice should be stirred quickly into the stew just as it is taken from the fire. Another mode of preparing this dish, is to add the strained liquor of the oysters to about an equal quantity of rich bechamel, with a little additional thickening; then to heat them in it, after having prepared and plumped them properly. Or, the beards of the fish may be stewed for half an hour in a little pale gravy, or good broth, and this, when strained and mixed with the oyster-liquor, may be brought to the consistency of cream with the French thickening of Chapter V., or, with flour and butter, then seasoned with spice as above: the process should be quite the same in all of these receipts, though the composition of the sauce is varied. Essence of anchovies, cavice, chili vinegar, or yolks of eggs can be added to the taste.

For Curried Oysters see Chapter XVI.

OYSTER SAUSAGES.

(A most excellent Receipt.)

Beard, rinse well in their strained liquor, and mince but not finely, three dozens and a half of plump native oysters, and mix them with ten ounces of fine bread-crumbs, and ten of beef-suet chopped extremely small; add a saltspoonful of salt, and one of pepper, or less than half the quantity of cayenne, twice as much pounded mace, and the third of a small nutmeg grated: moisten the whole with two unbeaten eggs, or with the yolks only of three, and a dessertspoonful of the whites. When these ingredients have been well worked together, and are perfectly blended, set the mixture in a cool place for two or three hours before it is used; make it into the form of small sausages or sausage cakes, flour and fry them in butter of a fine light brown; or throw them into boiling water for three minutes, drain, and let them become cold, dip them into egg and bread-crumbs, and broil them gently until they are lightly coloured. A small bit should be cooked and tasted before the whole is put aside, that the seasoning may be heightened if required. The sausages thus made are extremely good: the fingers should be well floured in making them up.

Small plump oysters, 3-1/2 dozens; bread-crumbs, 10 oz.; beef suet, 10 oz.; seasoning of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg; unbeaten eggs 2, or yolks of 3.

TO BOIL LOBSTERS.

[In full season from April to October: may be had all the year.]

Choose them by the directions given at the commencement of this chapter, and throw them into plenty of fast-boiling salt and water, that life may be destroyed in an instant.

To 1 gallon of water, 5 ounces salt: moderate sized lobster, 15 to 20 minutes; large lobster, 30 to 40 minutes; very large, 1 hour or more.

COLD DRESSED LOBSTER AND CRAB.

Dressed Lobster.

Before a lobster is sent to table take off the large claws, hold each of them firmly with the edge upwards, and with a quick light blow from a cutlet bat or ought else convenient for the purpose, crack the shell without disfiguring the fish. Split the tail open with a very sharp knife and dish the lobster in the manner shown in the engraving, either with, or without a napkin under it. When the soft part of the body is required to mix with the dressing, take it out before it is served, and add it to the remoulade, or other sauce with which it is to be mingled. The shrimp chatney of Chapter VI. is a wholesome accompaniment to this fish; which we must remark here should be sparingly eaten, or altogether avoided, by persons in delicate health, and especially at night. It is too much the fashion to serve it as a supper dish at parties; and it sometimes produces dangerous attacks of indigestion and other illness. The flesh of the crab is much lighter. This is served in the shell, which should be entirely emptied and nicely cleaned out; the sides filled with the white flesh divided into small flakes, and the centre with the soft part or cream as it is called.

Dressed Crab.

The flesh of two crabs can be served in one shell when a dish of handsome appearance is required, and the sauce can be mixed with it the instant before it is sent to table, though it will be whiter, and of better appearance without it. The centre may be filled with a red Imperial Mayonnaise, when a good effect is wanted. For other appropriate sauces see Chapter VI.

LOBSTERS, FRICASSEED, OR AU BÉCHAMEL. (ENTRÉE.)

Take the flesh from the claws and tails of two moderate-sized lobsters; cut it into small scallops or dice; heat it slowly quite through in about three quarters of a pint of good white sauce or béchamel; and serve it when it is at the point of boiling, after having stirred briskly to it a little lemon-juice just as it is taken from the fire. The coral, pounded and mixed gradually with a few spoonsful of the sauce, should be added previously. Good shin of beef stock made without vegetables (see page 97), and somewhat reduced by quick boiling, if mixed with an equal proportion of cream, and thickened with arrow-root, will answer extremely well in a general way for this dish, which is most excellent if well made. The sauce should never be thin; nor more than sufficient in quantity to just cover the fish. For a second course dish, only as much must be used as will adhere to the fish, which after being heated should be laid evenly into the shells, which ought to be split quite through the centre of the backs in their entire length, without being broken or divided at the joint, and nicely cleaned. When thus arranged, the lobster may be thickly covered with well dried, fine, pale fried crumbs of bread, or with unfried ones, which must then be equally moistened with clarified butter, and browned with a salamander. A small quantity of salt, mace, and cayenne, may be required to finish the flavouring of either of these preparations.

HOT CRAB, OR LOBSTER.

(In season during the same time as Lobsters.)

Slice quite small, or pull into light flakes with a couple of forks, the flesh of either fish; put it into a saucepan with a few bits of good butter lightly rolled in flour, and heat it slowly over a gentle fire; then pour over and thoroughly mix with it, from one to two teaspoonsful or more of common or of chili vinegar; if with the former, add to it a tolerable seasoning of cayenne. Grate in a little nutmeg, and when the whole is well heated serve it immediately, either in the shell of the crab or lobster, or in scallop-shells, and serve it plain, or with bread-crumbs over, as in the preceding receipt. A spoonful or so of good meat jelly is, we think, a great improvement to this dish, for which an ounce and a half of butter will be quite sufficient.

This is sometimes called Buttered Crab.

POTTED LOBSTERS.

Separate carefully the flesh of freshly-boiled lobsters from the shells, and from the tough red skin of the tails, mince the fish up quickly with a very sharp knife, turn it immediately into a large mortar, and strew over it a mixed seasoning of fine cayenne, pounded mace, lightly grated nutmeg, and salt: this last should be sparingly used in the first instance, and it should be reduced to powder before it is added. Pound the lobsters to a perfect paste with from two to three ounces of firm new butter to each fish if of large size, but with less should it be small; and the lobster-coral previously rubbed through a sieve, or with a portion of it only, should any part of it be required for other purposes. When there is no coral, a fine colour may be given to the mixture by stewing the red skin of the tails very softly for ten or twelve minutes in part of the butter which is used for it, but which must be strained and left to become perfectly cold before it is mingled with the fish. The degree of seasoning given to the mixture can be regulated by the taste; but no flavour should predominate over that of the lobster itself; and for all delicate preparations, over-spicing should be particularly avoided. A quart or more of fine brown shrimps, if very fresh and quickly shelled at the instant of using, may be chopped up and pounded with the lobsters with excellent effect. Before the mixture is taken from the mortar it should be placed in a cool larder, or set over ice for a short time, to render it firm before it is pressed into the potting-pans or moulds. In putting it into these, be careful to press it into a compact, even mass; smooth the surface, run a little clarified butter over, when it is only just liquid, for if hot it would prevent the fish from keeping—and send the lobster to table, neatly garnished with light green foliage; or with ornamentally-cut paper fastened round the mould; or with a small damask napkin tastefully arranged about it.

Obs.—By pounding separately part of the white flesh of the fish, freed from every particle of the skin, and by colouring the remainder highly with the coral of the lobster, and then pressing the two in alternate and regular layers into a mould, a dish of pretty appearance is produced, which should be turned out of the mould for table. Ham and turkey (or any other white meat) are often potted in this way.

LOBSTER CUTLETS.

(A Superior Entrée.)

Prepare and pound with exceeding nicety, by the preceding receipt for Potted Lobsters, about three quarters of a pound of the flesh of a couple of fine fresh lobsters, of which one must be a hen lobster; add to it, when it is partially beaten, an ounce and a half of sweet new butter, a saltspoonful of salt, and about two-thirds as much of mixed mace and cayenne, with a dessertspoonful of the inside coral, the whole of which should be rubbed with a wooden spoon through a hair sieve, to be in readiness for use. When all these ingredients are well blended, and beaten to the finest and smoothest paste, the mixture should be tested by the taste, and the seasoning heightened if needful; but, as the preparation is very delicate, it should not be over-spiced. Mould it into the form of small cutlets about the third of an inch thick, stick into each a short bit of the smallest claws, strew the coral lightly over them so as to give them the appearance of being crumbed with it, arrange them round the dish in which they are to be sent to table, place them in a very gentle oven for eight or ten minutes only to heat them through, or warm them in a Dutch or American oven, placed at some distance from the fire, that the brilliant colour of the coral may not be destroyed; and pour into the centre some good béchamel (see page 108), or the Lady’s Sauce, or the Cream Sauce of Chapter IV. A very white sauce best contrasts with the colour of the cutlets. This is an excellent and elegant dish, of which an admirable variety is made by the addition of three or four ounces of the freshest shrimps, quickly shelled, and chopped before they are thrown into the mortar, with half an ounce of butter and a little spice. All the coral can be added to the cutlets at pleasure; but it is generally in request for many purposes, and is required for this one only in part.

Obs.—As lobsters are well known to be the most indigestible of shell fish, and as they sometimes prove dangerously so to persons out of health, these pounded preparations are the best and safest forms in which they can be served: they should at all times be beaten to a smooth, fibreless paste, before they are taken from the mortar; and no fish that is not entirely fresh should ever be used for them. Prawns may be advantageously served in the same manner.

For Indian Lobster Cutlets, see Chapter of Foreign Cookery.

LOBSTER SAUSAGES.

Let the fish be pounded as for the cutlets above or for boudinettes, but mix half or more of the coral with the flesh of the lobsters; shape it like small sausages, sprinkle them with the powdered coral, and heat them through in a Dutch or American oven. They may be brushed with clarified butter before the coral is strewed over them, but they scarcely need it. A fierce degree of heat will destroy the excellence of all these preparations.

BOUDINETTES OF LOBSTERS, PRAWNS, OR SHRIMPS. (ENTRÉE).

(Author’s Receipt.)

When the fish has been prepared as above, mould it in as many very small round cups as will suffice for a dish; heat them gently through at the mouth of the oven or before the fire, and serve them dry, or with a little rich white sauce, coloured with lobster-coral poured round, but not upon them. These boudinettes are delicious, made entirely of shrimps or prawns, which it is an advantage to have prepared as follows, either for this purpose or for potting simply, as they will then be firmer, and will also remain good much longer:—Shell them quickly, and touch them as little as possible in the process; put them into an enamelled saucepan with about three ounces of butter to the quart, and strew the spice upon them; place them by the side of a gentle fire that they may heat through very gradually, and shake the saucepan round occasionally to mingle the seasoning equally with them. Do not allow them to boil, as that would render them tough, but when they are heated quite through and the butter approaches the point of simmering, draw them from the fire; let them remain for a few minutes in the saucepan, then lay them very evenly and closely into the pans and pour the butter on them; but let it be clear from sediment, or from any liquid which may be perceptible at the bottom of the saucepan. When merely required for boudinettes, the fish may be turned into a large pan or basin and left until thoroughly cold, then chopped small upon a dish with the butter in which they are imbedded, and pounded as usual; no additional butter will be required for them, and part of that in which they have been heated may be set aside for fish-sauce when the proportion of it directed here is considered too large. As it should cover the shrimps entirely when they are potted whole, sufficient to do so should be melted with them. It is an excellent plan to dissolve it in a separate saucepan, to skim it well, and after it has stood to become clear, to pour it gently over the shrimps, leaving all the buttermilk behind. They should not be placed immediately by the fire, or they will heat too quickly: they should be set away from it until the butter has cooled upon them. If carefully prepared, and agreeably seasoned, they will be excellent, and can be sent to a great distance without detriment if packed so as to be kept cool. The red shrimps may be substituted for the brown, when they can be more easily procured.

Obs.—Lobsters and shrimps, or prawns, in equal proportions, answer extremely well for boudinettes as for potting.

TO BOIL SHRIMPS OR PRAWNS.

Throw them into plenty of fast boiling water, to which salt has been added in the proportion of from five to six ounces to the gallon; take off all the scum, boil the shrimps for five or six minutes, or rather less should they be very small, and the prawns for about two minutes longer. The shrimpers[52] of the coast frequently cook them in sea-water, but the flavour is not then so agreeable as when fresh brine is used for them. They are always unwholesome when not sufficiently boiled; and even more so when they are stale. As soon as they are tender, drain them well in a cullender, and spread them out on a soft cloth to cool; or dish them on a napkin, and send them hot to table when they are liked so. The large brown shrimps are considered the best, and they are more easily shelled than the red ones: these last, however, are sometimes preferred to them. Prawns, though superior to shrimps only in size, are always much higher in price.

52.  Or pandlers, as they are often called.

Shrimps, 5 to 6 minutes if large. Prawns, 6 to 8 minutes.

Obs.—Ready-dressed shrimps or prawns may be preserved fit for eating at least twelve hours longer than they would otherwise keep, by throwing them for an instant into boiling salt and water, when they first begin to lose their freshness, and then draining them as above.

TO DISH COLD PRAWNS.

When they are quite cold, dish them singly upon a very white napkin neatly arranged over a saucer or small basin reversed in a dish, and garnish the base with a wreath of curled parsley, or with small leaves of the purple endive.

TO SHELL SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS QUICKLY AND EASILY.

This, though a most simple process, would appear, from the manner in which it is performed by many people, to be a very difficult one; indeed it is not unusual for persons of the lower classes, who, from lack of a little skill, find it slow and irksome, to have resource to the dangerous plan of eating the fish entire. It need scarcely be remarked that very serious consequences may accrue from the shells being swallowed with them, particularly when they are taken in large quantities. Unless the fish be stale, when they are apt to break, they will quit the shells easily if the head be held firmly in the right hand and the tail in the other, and the fish be straightened entirely, then the two hands pressed quickly towards each other, and the shell of the tail broken by a slight vibratory motion of the right hand, when it will be drawn of with the head adhering to it: a small portion, only will then remain on at the other end, which can be removed in an instant.

CHAPTER IV.

Gravies.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Gravy Kettle.

Gravies are not often required either in great variety, or in abundant quantities, when only a moderate table is kept, and a clever cook will manage to supply, at a trifling cost, all that is generally needed for plain family dinners; while an unskilful or extravagant one will render them sources of unbounded expense.[53] But however small the proportions in which they are made, their quality should be particularly attended to, and they should be well adapted in flavour to the dishes they are to accompany. For some, a high degree of savour is desirable, but for fricassees, and other preparations of delicate white meats, this should be avoided, and a soft, smooth sauce of refined flavour should be used in preference to any of more piquant relish.

53.  We know of an instance of a cook who stewed down two or three pounds of beef to make gravy for a single brace of partridges; and who complained of the meanness of her employers (who were by no means affluent) because this was objected to.

Instead of frying the ingredients for brown gravies, which is usually done in common English kitchens, French cooks pour to them at first a small quantity of liquid, which is reduced by rapid boiling to what is technically called glaze; particular directions for which will be found in the next receipt to this, and also at pages 10 and 104. When the glaze has acquired the proper colour, boiling broth should be added in small portions, and well shaken round the stewpan to detach it entirely; the meat may then be stewed gently for three or four hours with a few mushrooms, should they be at hand, a bunch of parsley, and some green onions, or with a Portugal onion instead.

A thick slice or two of an unboiled ham, is an almost indispensable addition to rich soup or gravy, and to supply it in the most economical manner, a large, highly cured one, or more, not over fatted, should be kept for the purpose, and cut as required. The bones of undressed meat will supply almost, or quite as good gravy-stock as the meat itself, if well boiled down, particularly those of the loin, or neck of veal; and as the flesh of these may be dressed in many ways advantageously without them, the whole joint may be turned to excellent account by so dividing it.

The necks of poultry, with the feet properly skinned, a few herbs, a morsel or two of ham or of lean bacon, and such slight flavourings beside as the spice-box can supply, with a few drops of good mushroom catsup, will of themselves, if well managed, produce sufficient gravy to serve with the birds from which they are taken; and if not wanted for the purpose, they should always be stewed down, or thrown into the stock pot, for which the shank bones of legs of mutton, and all trimmings of meats should likewise be reserved. Excellent broth for the sick or for the needy, may also be made of them at little cost, when they are not required for other uses.

To deepen the colour of gravies, the thick mushroom pressings of Chapter VII., or a little soy (when its flavour is admissible), or cavice [TN: illegible], or Harvey’s sauce, may be added to it; and for some dishes, a glass of claret, or of port wine.

Vermicelli, or rasped cocoa-nut, lightly, and very gently browned in a small quantity of butter, will both thicken and enrich them, if about an ounce of either to the pint of gravy be stewed gently in it, from half an hour to an hour, and then strained out.

All the ingredients indicated at page 4, for giving consistency to soups, will answer equally for gravies, which should not, however, be too much thickened, particularly with the unwholesome mixture of flour and butter, so commonly used for the purpose. Arrow-root or rice-flour, or common flour gradually browned in a slow oven, are much better suited to a delicate stomach. No particle of fat should ever be perceptible upon them when they are sent to table; and when it cannot be removed by skimming, they should be allowed to become sufficiently cold for it to congeal, and be taken off at once without trouble. It may be cleared from such as have not been thickened by passing them through a closely woven cloth, which has previously been laid into, and well wrung from, some cold water.

JEWISH SMOKED BEEF.

(Extremely useful for giving flavour to soup and gravy.)

This beef, of which we have more fully spoken in Chapter XXXIV.[TN: chapter missing], imparts a remarkably fine flavour to soup or gravy; but great care must be taken in using it to cut quite away all the external parts which have been discoloured in the drying: the whole of the surface, indeed, should be rather thickly pared off, or it will give a smoky taste to the gravy. An ounce or two of the lean thus cleared from the outsides and from all skin and fat, and divided first into thick slices, and then into small squares, will flavour a pint or more of stock of any kind: it may be added to the meat in making Liebeg gravy when it is first put into the stewpan.

TO HEIGHTEN THE COLOUR AND THE FLAVOUR OF GRAVIES.

This is best done by the directions given for making Espagnole. An ounce or two of the lean of unboiled ham, cut into dice and coloured slowly in a small stewpan, or smoothly-tinned iron saucepan, with less than an ounce of butter, a blade of mace, two or three cloves, a bay-leaf, a few small sprigs of savoury herbs, and an eschalot or two, or about a teaspoonful of minced onion, and a little young parsley root, when it can be had, will convert common shin of beef stock, or even strong broth, into an excellent gravy, if it be gradually added to them after they have stewed slowly for quite half an hour, and then boiled with them for twenty minutes or more. The liquid should not be mixed with the other ingredients until the side of the stewpan is coloured of a reddish brown; and should any thickening be required, a teaspoonful of flour should be stirred in well, and simmered for three or four minutes before the stock is added; the pan should be strongly shaken round afterwards, to detach the browning from it, and this must be done often while the ham is stewing.

Obs.—The cook who is not acquainted with this mode of preparing or enriching gravies, will do well to make herself acquainted with it; as it presents no difficulties, and is exceedingly convenient and advantageous when they are wanted in small quantities, very highly flavoured and well coloured. An unboiled ham, kept in cut, will be found, as we have already said, a great economy for this, and other purposes, saving much of the expense commonly incurred for gravy-meats. As eschalots, when sparingly used, impart a much finer savour than onions, though they are not commonly so much used in England, we would recommend that a small store of them should always be kept.

BARON LIEBEG’s BEEF GRAVY.

(Most excellent for hashes, minces, and other dishes made of cold meat.)

For particulars of this most useful receipt, for extracting all its juices from fresh meat of every kind in the best manner, the cook is referred to the first part of the chapter on soups. The preparation, for which minute directions are given there, if poured on a few bits of lean ham lightly browned, with the other ingredients indicated above, will be converted into gravy of fine flavour and superior quality.

With no addition, beyond that of a little thickening and spice, it will serve admirably for dressing cold meat, in all the usual forms of hashes, minces, blanquettes, &c., &c., and convert it into dishes as nourishing as those of meat freshly cooked, and it may be economically made in small quantities with any trimmings of undressed beef, mutton, or veal, mixed together, which are free from fat, and not sinewy: flavour may be given to it at once by chopping up with them the lean part only of a slice or two of ham, or of highly-cured beef.

SHIN OF BEEF STOCK FOR GRAVIES.

There is no better foundation for strong gravies than shin of beef stewed down to a jelly (which it easily becomes), with the addition only of some spice, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a moderate proportion of salt; this, if kept in a cool larder, boiled softly for two or three minutes every second or third day, and each time put into a clean, well-scalded pan, will remain good for many days, and may easily be converted into excellent soup or gravy. Let the bone be broken in one or two places, take out the marrow, which, if not wanted for immediate use, should be clarified, and stored for future occasions; put a pint and a half of cold water to the pound of beef, and stew it very gently indeed for six or seven hours, or even longer should the meat not then be quite in fragments. The bones of calf’s feet which have been boiled down for jelly, the liquor in which the head has been cooked, and any remains of ham quite freed from the smoky parts, from rust, and fat, will be serviceable additions to this stock. A couple of pounds of the neck of beef may be added to six of the shin with very good effect; but for white soup or sauces this is better avoided.

Shin of beef, 6 lbs.; water, 9 pints; salt, 1 oz.; large bunch of savoury herbs; peppercorns, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades.

RICH PALE VEAL GRAVY, OR CONSOMMÉ.

The French, who have always at hand their stock-pot of good bouillon (beef soup or broth), make great use of it in preparing their gravies. It is added instead of water to the fresh meat, and when this, in somewhat larger proportions, is boiled down in it, with the addition only of a bunch of parsley, a few green onions, and a moderate seasoning of salt, a strong and very pure-flavoured pale gravy is produced. When the best joints of fowls, or of partridges have been taken for fricassees or cutlets, the remainder may be stewed with a pound or two of veal into a consommé, which then takes the name of chicken or of game gravy. For a large dinner it is always desirable to have in readiness such stock as can easily and quickly be converted into white and other sauces. To make this, arrange a slice or two of lean ham in a stewpan or saucepan with three pounds of the neck of veal once or twice divided (unless the thick fleshy part of the knuckle can be had), and pour to them three full pints of strong beef or veal broth; or, if this cannot conveniently be done, increase the proportion of meat or diminish that of the liquid, substituting water for the broth; throw in some salt after the boiling has commenced, and the gravy has been well skimmed, with one mild onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, a little celery, a carrot, a blade of mace, and a half-saltspoonful of peppercorns; stew those very gently for four hours; then, should the meat be quite in fragments, strain off the gravy, and let it become sufficiently cold to allow the fat to be entirely cleared from it. A handful of nicely prepared mushroom-buttons will much improve its flavour; and the bones of boiled calf’s feet, or the fresh ones of fowls, will be found excellent additions to it. A better method of making it, when time and trouble are not regarded, is to heat the meat, which ought to be free of bones, quite through, with from a quarter to half a pint of broth only, and when on probing it with the point of a knife no blood issues from it, and it has been turned and equally done, to moisten it with the remainder of the broth, which should be boiling.

Lean of ham, 6 to 8 oz.; neck or knuckle of veal, 3 lbs.; strong broth, 3 pints (or veal, 4 lbs., and water, 3 pints); salt; bunch of savoury herbs; mild onion, 1; carrot, 1 large or 2 small; celery 1/2 small head; mace, 1 large blade; peppercorns, 1/2 saltspoonful; 4 hours or more. Or: ham, 1/2 lb.; veal, 4 lbs.; broth, third of a pint; nearly 1 hour. Additional broth, 3 pints: 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.

RICH DEEP-COLOURED VEAL GRAVY.

Lay into a large thick stewpan or saucepan, from half to three quarters of a pound of undressed ham, freed entirely from fat, and from the smoked edges, and sliced half an inch thick; on this place about four pounds of lean veal, cut from the best part of the knuckle or from the neck (part of the fillet, which in France is often used for it instead, not being generally purchasable here, the butchers seldom dividing the joint); pour to them about half a pint of good broth,[54] and place the pan over a brisk fire until it is well reduced; then thrust a knife into the meat, and continue the stewing more gently until a glaze is formed as we have described at page 10. The latter part of the process must be very slow; the stewpan must be frequently shaken, and the gravy closely watched that it may not burn: when it is of a fine deep amber colour, pour in sufficient boiling broth to cover the meat, add a bunch of parsley, and a few mushrooms and green onions. A blade or two of mace, a few white peppercorns, and a head of celery, would, we think, be very admissible additions to this gravy, but it is extremely good without. Half the quantity can be made, but it will then be rather more troublesome to manage.

54.  When there is no provision of this in the house, the quantity may be made with a small proportion of beef, and the trimmings of the veal, by the directions for Bouillon, Chapter I.

Undressed ham, 8 to 12 oz.; lean veal, 4 lbs.; broth, 1/2 pint; 1 to 2 hours. Broth, 3 to 4 pints: bunch of parsley and green onions, or 1 Portugal onion; mushrooms, 1/4 to 1/2 pint: 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

GOOD BEEF OR VEAL GRAVY. (ENGLISH RECEIPT.)

Flour and fry lightly in a bit of good butter a couple of pounds of either beef or veal; drain the meat well from the fat, and lay it into a small thick stewpan or iron saucepan; pour to it a quart of boiling water; add, after it has been well skimmed and salted, a large mild onion sliced, very delicately fried, and laid on a sieve to drain, a carrot also sliced, a small bunch of thyme and parsley, a blade of mace, and a few peppercorns; stew these gently for three hours or more, pass the gravy through a sieve into a clean pan, and when it is quite cold clear it entirely from fat, heat as much as is wanted for table, and if not sufficiently thick stir into it from half to a whole teaspoonful of arrow-root mixed with a little mushroom catsup. Beef or veal, 2 lbs.; water, 2 pints; fried onion, 1 large; carrot, 1; small bunch of herbs; salt, 1 small teaspoonful or more; mace, 1 blade; peppercorns, 20: 3 to 3-1/2 hours.

A RICH ENGLISH BROWN GRAVY.

Brown lightly and carefully from four to six ounces of lean ham, thickly sliced and cut into large dice; lift these out, and put them into the pan in which the gravy is to be made; next, fry lightly also, a couple of pounds of neck of beef dredged moderately with flour, and slightly with pepper; put this, when it is done, over the ham; and then brown gently and add to them two or three eschalots, or a Portugal onion; should neither of these be at hand, one not large common onion must be used instead. Pour over these ingredients a quart of boiling water, or of weak but well-flavoured broth; bring the whole slowly to a boil, clear off the scum with great care, throw in a saltspoonful of salt, four cloves, a blade of mace, twenty corns of pepper, a bunch of savoury herbs, a carrot, and a few slices of celery: these last two may be fried or not as is most convenient. Boil the gravy very softly until it is reduced to little more than a pint; strain, and set it by until the fat can be taken from it. Heat it anew, add more salt if needed and a little mushroom catsup, cayenne-vinegar, or whatever flavouring it may require for the dish with which it is to be served; it will seldom require any thickening. A dozen small mushrooms prepared as for pickling, or two or three morels, previously well washed and soaked, may be added to it at first with advantage. Half this quantity of gravy will be sufficient for a single tureen, and the economist can diminish a little the proportion of meat when it is thought too much.

PLAIN GRAVY FOR VENISON.

Trim away the fat from some cutlets, and lay them into a stewpan; set them over a clear fire, and let them brown a little in their own gravy; then add a pint of boiling water to each pound of meat. Take off the scum, throw in a little salt, and boil the gravy until reduced one half. Some cooks broil the cutlets lightly, boil the gravy one hour, and reduce it after it is strained. For appropriate gravy to serve with venison, see “Haunch of Venison,” Chapter XV.

A RICH GRAVY FOR VENISON.

There are few eaters to whom this would be acceptable, the generality of them preferring infinitely the flavour of the venison itself to any which the richest gravy made of other meats can afford; but when the flavour of a well-made Espagnole is likely to be relished, prepare it by the receipt of the following page, substituting plain strong mutton stock for the veal gravy.

SWEET SAUCE, OR GRAVY FOR VENISON.

Add to a quarter-pint of common venison gravy a couple of glasses of port wine or claret, and half an ounce of sugar in lumps. Christopher North’s sauce, mixed with three times its measure of gravy, would be an excellent substitute for this.

ESPAGNOLE (SPANISH SAUCE).

A highly-flavoured Gravy.

Dissolve a couple of ounces of good butter in a thick stewpan or saucepan, throw in from four to six sliced eschalots, four ounces of the lean of an undressed ham, three ounces of carrot, cut in small dice, one bay leaf, two or three branches of parsley, and one or two of thyme, but these last must be small; three cloves, a blade of mace, and a dozen corns of pepper; add part of a root of parsley, if it be at hand, and keep the whole stirred or shaken over a moderate fire for twenty minutes, then add by degrees one pint of very strong veal stock or gravy, and stew the whole gently from thirty to forty minutes; strain it, skim off the fat, and it will be ready to serve.

Butter, 2 oz.; eschalots, 4 to 6; lean of undressed ham, 4 oz.; carrots, 3 oz.; bay leaf, 1; little thyme and parsley, in branches; cloves, 3; mace, 1 blade; peppercorns, 12; little parsley root: fried gently, 20 minutes. Strong veal stock, or gravy, 1 pint: stewed very softly, 30 to 40 minutes.

ESPAGNOLE, WITH WINE.

Take the same proportions of ingredients as for the preceding Espagnole, with the addition, if they should be at hand, of a dozen small mushrooms prepared as for stewing; when these have fried gently in the stewpan until it appears of a reddish colour all round, stir in a tablespoonful of flour, and when it is lightly browned, add in small portions, letting each one boil up before the next is poured in, and shaking the pan well round, three quarters of a pint of hot and good veal gravy, and nearly half a pint of Madeira or sherry. When the sauce has boiled gently for half an hour, add to it a small quantity of cayenne and some salt, if this last be needed; then strain it, skim off the fat entirely should any appear upon the surface, and serve it very hot. A smaller proportion of wine added a few minutes before the sauce is ready for table, would perhaps better suit with English taste, as with longer boiling its flavour passes off almost entirely. Either of these Espagnoles, poured over the well bruised remains of pheasants, partridges, or moor fowl, and boiled with them for an hour, will become most admirable game gravy, and would generally be considered a superlative addition to other roast birds of their kind, as well as to the hash or salmi, for which see Chapter XV.

Ingredients as in preceding receipt, with mushrooms 12 to 18; Madeira, or good sherry, 1/4 to 1/2 pint.

JUS DES ROGNONS, OR, KIDNEY GRAVY.

Strip the skin and take the fat from three fresh mutton kidneys, slice and flour them; melt two ounces of butter in a deep saucepan, and put in the kidneys, with an onion cut small, and a teaspoonful of fine herbs stripped from the stalks. Keep these well shaken over a clear fire until nearly all the moisture is dried up; then pour in a pint of boiling water, add half a teaspoonful of salt, and a little cayenne or common pepper, and let the gravy boil gently for an hour and a half, or longer, if it be not thick and rich. Strain it through a fine sieve, and take off the fat. Spice or catsup may be added at pleasure.

Mutton kidneys, 3; butter, 2 oz.; onion, 1; fine herbs, 1 teaspoonful: 1/2 hour. Water, 1 pint; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; little cayenne, or black pepper: 1-1/2 hour.

Obs.—This is an excellent cheap gravy for haricots, curries, or hashes of mutton; it may be much improved by the addition of two or three eschalots, and a small bit or two of lean meat.

GRAVY IN HASTE.

Chop fine a few bits of lean meat, a small onion, a few slices of carrot and turnip, and a little thyme and parsley; put these with half an ounce of butter into a thick saucepan, and keep them stirred until they are slightly browned; add a little spice, and water in the proportion of a pint to a pound of meat; clear the gravy from scum, let it boil half an hour, then strain it for use.

Meat, 1 lb.; 1 small onion; little carrot, turnip, thyme, and parsley; butter, 1/2 oz.; cloves, 6; corns of pepper, 12; water, 1 pint: 1/2 hour.

CHEAP GRAVY FOR A ROAST FOWL.

When there is neither broth nor gravy to be had, nor meat of which either can be made, boil the neck of the fowl after having cut it small, in half a pint of water, with any slight seasonings of spice or herbs, or with a little salt and pepper only; it should stew very softly for an hour or more, or the quantity will be too much reduced. When the bird is just ready for table, take the gravy from the dripping-pan, and drain off the fat from it as closely as possible; strain the liquor from the neck to it, mixing them smoothly, pass the gravy again through the strainer, heat it, add salt and pepper or cayenne, if needed, and serve it extremely hot. When this is done, the fowl should be basted with good butter only, and well floured when it is first laid to the fire. Many cooks always mix the gravy from the pan when game is roasted, with that which they send to table with it, as they think that it enriches the flavour; but to many persons it is peculiarly distasteful.

Neck of fowl; water, 1/2 pint; pepper, salt (little vegetable and spice at choice): stewed gently, 1 hour; strained, stirred to the gravy of the roast, well cleared from fat.

ANOTHER CHEAP GRAVY FOR A FOWL.

A little good broth added to half a dozen dice of lean ham, lightly browned in a morsel of butter, with half a dozen corns of pepper and a small branch or two of parsley, and stewed for half an hour, will make excellent gravy of a common kind. When there is no broth, the neck of the chicken must be stewed down to supply its place.

GRAVY OR SAUCE FOR A GOOSE.

Mince, and brown in a small saucepan, with a slice of butter, two ounces of mild onion,. When it begins to brown, stir to it a teaspoonful of flour, and in five or six minutes afterwards, pour in by degrees the third of a pint of good brown gravy; let this simmer fifteen minutes; strain it, bring it again to the point of boiling, and add to it a teaspoonful of made mustard mixed well with a glass of port wine. Season it with cayenne and pepper and salt, if this last be needed. Do not let the sauce boil after the wine is added, but serve it very hot.

Onions, 2 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.: 10 to 15 minutes. Flour, 1 teaspoonful: 5 to 6 minutes. Gravy, 1/3 pint: 15 minutes. Mustard, 1 teaspoonful; port wine, 1 glassful; cayenne pepper; salt. See also Christopher North’s own sauce, page 119.

ORANGE GRAVY FOR WILD FOWL.

Boil for about ten minutes, in half a pint of rich and highly-flavoured brown gravy, or Espagnole, half the rind of a Seville orange, pared as thin as possible, and a small strip of lemon-rind, with a bit of sugar the size of a hazel-nut. Strain it off, add to it a quarter pint of port or claret, the juice of half a lemon, and a tablespoonful of Seville orange-juice: season it with cayenne, and serve it as hot as possible.

Gravy, 1/2 pint; 1/2 the rind of a Seville orange; lemon-peel, 1 small strip; sugar, size of hazel-nut: 10 minutes. Juice of 1/2 a lemon; Seville orange-juice, 1 tablespoonful; cayenne. See also Christopher North’s own sauce, page 119.

MEAT JELLIES FOR PIES AND SAUCES.

A very firm meat jelly is easily made by stewing slowly down equal parts of shin of beef, and knuckle or neck of veal, with a pint of cold water to each pound of meat; but to give it flavour, some thick slices of lean unboiled ham should be added to it, two or three carrots, some spice, a bunch of parsley, one mild onion, or more, and a moderate quantity of salt; or part of the meat may be omitted, and a calf’s head, or the scalp of one, very advantageously substituted for it, though the flavouring must then be heightened, because, though very gelatinous, these are in themselves exceedingly insipid to the taste. If rapidly boiled, the jelly will not be clear, and it will be difficult to render it so without clarifying it with the whites of eggs, which it ought never to require; if very gently stewed, on the contrary, it will only need to be passed through a fine sieve, or cloth. The fat must be carefully removed, after it is quite cold. The shin of beef recommended for this and other receipts, should be from the middle of the leg of young heifer beef, not of that which is large and coarse.

Middle of small shin of beef, 3 lbs.; knuckle or neck of veal, 3 lbs.; lean of ham, 1/2 lb.; water, 3 quarts; carrots, 2 large, or 3 small; bunch of parsley; 1 mild onion, stuck with 8 cloves; 2 small bay-leaves; 1 large blade of mace; small saltspoonful of peppercorns; salt, 3/4 oz. (more if needed): 5 to 6 hours’ very gentle stewing.

Obs.—A finer jelly may be made by using a larger proportion of veal than of beef, and by adding clear beef or veal broth to it instead of water, in a small proportion at first, as directed in the receipt for consommé, see page 98, and by pouring in the remainder when the meat is heated through. The necks of poultry, any inferior joints of them omitted from a fricassee or other dish, or an old fowl, will further improve it much; an eschalot or two may at choice be boiled down in it, instead of the onion, but the flavour should be scarcely perceptible.

A CHEAPER MEAT JELLY.

One calf’s foot, a pound and a half or two pounds of neck of veal or beef, a small onion, a carrot, a bunch of parsley, a little spice, a bit or two of quite lean ham, dressed or undressed, and five half pints of water, boiled very slowly for five or six hours will give a strong, though not a highly-flavoured jelly. More ham, any bones of unboiled meat, poultry, or game will, in this respect, improve it; and the liquor in which fowls or veal have been boiled for table should, when at hand, be used for it instead of water. These jellies keep much better and longer when no vegetables are stewed down in them.

GLAZE.

This is merely strong, clear gravy or jelly boiled quickly down to the consistence of thin cream; but this reduction must be carefully managed that the glaze may be brought to the proper point without being burned; it must be attentively watched, and stirred without being quitted for a moment from the time of its beginning to thicken; when it has reached the proper degree of boiling, it will jelly in dropping from the spoon, like preserve, and should then be poured out immediately, or it will burn. When wanted for use, melt it gently by placing the vessel which contains it (see article Glazing, Chapter IX.) in a pan of boiling water, and with a paste-brush lay it on to the meat, upon which it will form a sort of clear varnish. In consequence of the very great reduction which it undergoes, salt should be added to it sparingly when it is made. Any kind of stock may be boiled down to glaze; but unless it be strong, a pint will afford but a spoonful or two: a small quantity of it, however, is generally sufficient, unless a large repast is to be served. Two or three layers must be given to each joint. The jellies which precede this will answer for it extremely well; and it may be made also with shin of beef stock, for common occasions, when no other is at hand.

ASPIC, OR CLEAR SAVOURY-JELLY.

Boil a couple of calf’s feet, with three or four pounds of knuckle of veal, three quarters of a pound of lean ham, two large onions, three whole carrots, and a large bunch of herbs, in a gallon of water, till it is reduced more than half. Strain it off; when perfectly cold, remove every particle of fat and sediment, and put the jelly into a very clean stewpan, with four whites of eggs well beaten; keep it stirred until it is nearly boiling; then place it by the side of the fire to simmer for a quarter of an hour. Let it settle, and pour it through a jelly-bag until it is quite clear. Add, when it first begins to boil, three blades of mace, a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and sufficient salt to flavour it properly, allowing for the ham, and the reduction. French cooks flavour this jelly with tarragon vinegar when it is clarified; cold poultry, game, fish, plovers’ eggs, truffles, and various dressed vegetables, with many other things often elaborately prepared, and highly ornamental, are moulded and served in it, especially at large dejeuners and similar repasts. It is also much used to decorate raised pies, and hams; and for many other purposes of the table.

Calf’s feet, 2; veal, 4 lbs.; ham, 3/4 lb.; onions, 2; carrots, 3; herbs, large bunch; mace, 3 blades; white whole pepper, 1 teaspoonful; water, 1 gallon: 5 to 6 hours. Whites of eggs, 4: 15 minutes.

CHAPTER V.

Sauces.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Bain Marie, or Water Bath.

The difference between good and bad cookery can scarcely be more strikingly shown than in the manner in which sauces are prepared and served. If well made, appropriate to the dishes they accompany, and sent to table with them as hot as possible, they not only give a heightened relish to a dinner, but they prove that both skill and taste have been exerted in its arrangements. When coarsely or carelessly prepared, on the contrary, as they too often are, they greatly discredit the cook, and are anything but acceptable to the eaters. Melted butter, the most common of all—the “one sauce of England,” as it is called by foreigners, and which forms in reality the basis of a large number of those which are served in this country—is often so ill prepared, being either oiled or lumpy, or composed principally of flour and water, that it says but little for the state of cookery amongst us. We trust that the receipts in the present chapter are so far clearly given, that if strictly followed they will materially assist the learner in preparing tolerably palatable sauces at the least. The cut at the commencement of the chapter exhibits a vessel called a bain marie, in which saucepans are placed when it is necessary to keep their contents hot without allowing them to boil: it is extremely useful when dinners are delayed after they are ready to serve.

TO THICKEN SAUCES.

When this is done with the yolks of eggs, they should first be well beaten, and then mixed with a spoonful of cold stock should it be at hand, and with one or two of the boiling sauce, which should be stirred very quickly to them, and they must in turn be stirred briskly to the sauce, which may be held over the fire, and well shaken for an instant afterwards, but never placed upon it, nor allowed to boil.

To the roux or French thickening (which follows), the gravy or other liquid which is to be mixed with it should be poured boiling and in small quantities, the saucepan being often well shaken round, and the sauce made to boil up after each portion is added. If this precaution be observed, the butter will never float upon the surface, but the whole will be well and smoothly blended: it will otherwise be difficult to clear the sauce from it perfectly.

For invalids, or persons who object to butter in their soups or sauces, flour only mixed to a smooth batter, and stirred into the boiling liquid may be substituted for other thickening: arrow-root also used in the same way, will answer even better than flour.

FRENCH THICKENING, OR BROWN ROUX.

For ordinary purposes this may be made as it is wanted for use; but when it is required for various dishes at the same time or for cookery upon a large scale, it can be prepared at once in sufficient quantity to last for several days, and it will remain good for some time. Dissolve, with a very gentle degree of heat, half a pound of good butter, then draw it from the fire, skim it well, give time for it to settle, pour it gently from the sediment into a very clean frying-pan, and place it over a slow but clear fire. Put into a dredging box about seven ounces of fine dry flour; add it gradually to the butter, shake the pan often as it is thrown in, and keep the thickening constantly stirred until it has acquired a clear light brown colour. It should be very slowly and equally done, or its flavour will be unpleasant. Pour it into a jar, and stir a spoonful or two as it is needed into boiling soup or gravy. When the butter is not clarified it will absorb an additional ounce of flour, the whole of which ought to be fine and dry. This thickening may be made in a well-tinned stewpan even better than in a frying-pan, and if simmered over a coal fire it should be placed high above it, and well guarded from smoke.

WHITE ROUX, OR FRENCH THICKENING.

Proceed exactly as for the preceding receipt, but dredge in the flour as soon as the butter is in full simmer, and be careful not to allow the thickening to take the slightest colour: this is used for white gravies or sauces.

SAUCE TOURNÉE, OR PALE THICKENED GRAVY.

Sauce tournée is nothing more than rich pale gravy made with veal or poultry (see Consommé, Chapter IV.) and thickened with delicate white roux. The French give it a flavouring of mushrooms and green onions, by boiling some of each in it for about half an hour before the sauce is served: it must then be strained, previously to being dished. Either first dissolve an ounce of butter, and then dredge gradually to it three-quarters of an ounce of flour, and proceed as for the preceding receipt; or blend the flour and butter perfectly with a knife before they are thrown into the stewpan, and keep them stirred without ceasing over a clear and gentle fire until they have simmered for some minutes, then place the stewpan high over the fire, and shake it constantly until the roux has lost the raw taste of the flour; next, stir very gradually to it a pint of the gravy, which should be boiling. Set it by the side of the stove for a few minutes, skim it thoroughly, and serve it without delay.

Butter, 1 oz.; flour, 3/4 oz.; strong pale gravy, seasoned with mushrooms and green onions, 1 pint.

Obs. 3.—With the addition of three or four yolks of very fresh eggs, mixed with a seasoning of mace, cayenne, and lemon-juice, this becomes German sauce, now much used for fricassees, and other dishes; and minced parsley (boiled) and chili vinegar, each in sufficient quantity to flavour it agreeably, convert it into a good fish sauce.

BÉCHAMEL.

This is a fine French white sauce, now very much served at good English tables. It may be made in various ways, and more or less expensively; but it should always be thick, smooth, and rich, though delicate in flavour. The most ready mode of preparing it is to take an equal portion of very strong, pale veal gravy, and of good cream (a pint of each for example), and then, by rapid boiling over a very clear fire, to reduce the gravy nearly half; next, to mix with part of the cream a tablespoonful of fine dry flour, to pour it to the remainder, when it boils, and to keep the whole stirred for five minutes or more over a slow fire, for if placed upon a fierce one it would be liable to burn; then to add the gravy, to stir and mix the sauce perfectly, and to simmer it for a few minutes longer. All the flavour should be given by the gravy, in which French cooks boil a handful of mushrooms, a few green onions, and some branches of parsley before it is reduced: but a good béchamel may be made without them, with a strong consommé (see pale veal gravy, page 98) well reduced.

Strong pale veal gravy (flavoured with mushrooms or not), 1 pint: reduced half. Rich cream, 1 pint; flour, 1 tablespoonful: 5 minutes. With gravy, 4 or 5 minutes.

Obs.—Velouté, which is a rather thinner sauce or gravy, is made by simply well reducing the cream and stock separately, and then mixing them together without any thickening.

BÉCHAMEL MAIGRE.

(A cheap White Sauce.)

A good béchamel may be made entirely without meat, when economy is an object, or when no gravy is at hand. Put into a stewpan, or a well-tinned and thick saucepan, with from two to three ounces of butter, a carrot, and a couple of small onions, cut in slices, with a handful of nicely-cleaned mushroom buttons, when these last can be easily procured; and when they have stewed slowly for half an hour, or until the butter is nearly dried up, stir in two tablespoonsful of flour, and pour in a pint of new milk, a little at a time, shaking the stewpan well round, that the sauce may be smooth. Boil the béchamel gently for half an hour; add a little salt, and cayenne; strain, and reduce it, if not quite thick, or pour it boiling to the yolks of two fresh eggs.

ANOTHER COMMON BÉCHAMEL.

Cut half a pound of veal, and a slice of lean ham or smoked beef, into small dice, and stew them in butter, with vegetables, as directed in the foregoing receipt: stir in the same proportion of flour, then add the milk, and let the sauce boil very gently for an hour. It should not be allowed to thicken too much before it is strained.

Obs.—Common béchamel, with the addition of a spoonful of made-mustard, is an excellent sauce for boiled mutton.

RICH MELTED BUTTER.

This is more particularly required in general for lobster sauce, when it is to be served with turbot or brill, and for good oyster sauce. Salmon is itself so rich, that less butter is needed for it than for sauce which is to accompany a drier fish. Mix to a very smooth batter a dessertspoonful of flour, a half-saltspoonful of salt, and half a pint of cold water: put these into a delicately clean saucepan, with from four to six ounces of well-flavoured butter, cut into small bits, and shake the sauce strongly round, almost without cessation, until the ingredients are perfectly blended, and it is on the point of boiling; let it simmer for two or three minutes, and it will be ready for use. The best French cooks recommend its not being allowed to boil, as they say it tastes less of flour if served when it is just at the point of simmering.

Cold water, 1/2 pint; salt, 1/2 spoonful; flour, 1 dessertspoonful: 3 to 4 minutes. Butter, 4 to 6 oz.

MELTED BUTTER.

(A good common Receipt.)

Put into a basin a large teaspoonful of flour, and a little salt, then mix with them very gradually and very smoothly a quarter of a pint of cold water; turn these into a small clean saucepan, and shake or stir them constantly over a clear fire until they have boiled a couple of minutes, then add an ounce and a half of butter cut small, keep the sauce stirred until this is entirely dissolved, give the whole a minute’s boil, and serve it quickly. The more usual mode is to put the butter in at first with the flour and water; but for inexperienced or unskilful cooks the safer plan is to follow the present receipt.

Water, 1/4 pint; flour, 1 teaspoonful: 2 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; 1 minute.

Obs.—To render this a rich sauce, increase or even double the proportion of butter.

FRENCH MELTED BUTTER.

Pour half a pint of good but not very thick, boiling melted butter to the well-beaten yolks of two or three fresh eggs, and stir them briskly as it is added; put the sauce again into the saucepan, and shake it high over the fire for an instant, but do not allow it to boil or it will curdle. Add a little lemon-juice or vinegar, and serve it immediately.

NORFOLK SAUCE, OR RICH MELTED BUTTER WITHOUT FLOUR.

Put three tablespoonsful of water into a small saucepan, and when it boils add four ounces of fresh butter; as soon as this is quite dissolved, take the saucepan from the fire, and shake it round until the sauce looks thick and smooth. It must not be allowed to boil after the butter is added.

Water, 3 tablespoonsful; butter, 4 oz.

WHITE MELTED BUTTER.

Thicken half a pint of new milk with rather less flour than is directed for the common melted butter, or with a little arrow-root, and stir into it by degrees after it has boiled, a couple of ounces of fresh butter cut small; do not cease to stir the sauce until this is entirely dissolved, or it may become oiled, and float upon the top Thin cream, substituted for the milk, and flavoured with a few strips of lemon-rind cut extremely thin, some salt, and a small quantity of pounded mace, if mixed with rather less flour, and the same proportion of butter, will make an excellent sauce to serve with fowls or other dishes, when no gravy is at hand to make white sauce in the usual way.

BURNT OR BROWNED BUTTER.

Melt in a frying-pan three ounces of fresh butter, and keep it stirred slowly over a gentle fire until it is of a dark brown colour; then pour to it a couple of tablespoonsful of good hot vinegar, and season it with black pepper and a little salt. In France this is a favourite sauce with boiled skate, which is served with plenty of crisped parsley, in addition, strewed over it. It is also often poured over poached eggs there: it is called beurre noir.

Butter, 3 oz.; vinegar, 2 tablespoonsful; pepper; salt.

CLARIFIED BUTTER.

Put the butter into a very clean and well-tinned saucepan or enamelled stewpan, and melt it gently over a clear fire; when it just begins to simmer, skim it thoroughly, draw it from the fire, and let it stand a few minutes that the buttermilk may sink to the bottom; then pour it clear of the sediment through a muslin strainer or a fine hair-sieve; put it into jars, and store them in a cool place. Butter thus prepared will answer for all the ordinary purposes of cookery, and remain good for a great length of time. In France, large quantities are melted down in autumn for winter use. The clarified butter ordered for the various receipts in this volume, is merely dissolved with a gentle degree of heat in a small saucepan, skimmed, and poured out for use, leaving the thick sediment behind.

VERY GOOD EGG SAUCE.

Boil four fresh eggs for quite fifteen minutes, then lay them into plenty of fresh water, and let them remain until they are perfectly cold. Break the shells by rolling them on a table, take them off, separate the whites from the yolks, and divide all of the latter into quarter-inch dice; mince two of the whites tolerably small, mix them lightly, and stir them into the third of a pint of rich melted butter or of white sauce: serve the whole as hot as possible.

Eggs, 4: boiled 15 minutes, left till cold. The yolks of all, whites of 2; third of pint of good melted butter or white sauce. Salt as needed.

SAUCE OF TURKEYS’ EGGS.

(Excellent.)

The eggs of the turkey make a sauce much superior to those of the common fowl. They should be gently boiled in plenty of water for twenty minutes. The yolks of three, and the whites of one and a half, will make a very rich sauce if prepared by the directions of the foregoing receipt. The eggs of the guinea fowl also may be converted into a similar sauce with ten minutes’ boiling. Their delicate size will render it necessary to increase the number taken for it.

COMMON EGG SAUCE.

Boil a couple of eggs hard, and when quite cold cut the whites and yolks separately; mix them well, put them into a very hot tureen, and pour boiling to them a quarter of a pint of melted butter, stir, and serve the sauce immediately.

Whole eggs, 2; melted butter, 1/4 pint.

EGG SAUCE FOR CALF’S HEAD.

This is a provincial sauce, served sometimes with fish, and with calf’s head likewise. Thicken to the proper consistence with flour and butter some good pale veal gravy, throw into it when it boils from one to two large teaspoonsful of minced parsley, add a slight squeeze of lemon-juice, a little cayenne, and then the eggs.

Veal gravy, 1/2 pint; flour, 1-1/2 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; minced parsley, 1 dessertspoonful; lemon-juice, 1 teaspoonful; little cayenne; eggs, 3 to 4.

ENGLISH WHITE SAUCE.

Boil softly in half a pint of well-flavoured pale veal gravy a few very thin strips of fresh lemon-rind, for just sufficient time to give their flavour to it; stir in a thickening of arrow-root, or of flour and butter, add salt if needed, and mix with the gravy a quarter of a pint of boiling cream. For the best kind of white sauce, see béchamel, page 107.

Good pale veal gravy, 1/2 pint; third of 1 lemon-rind: 15 to 20 minutes. Freshly pounded mace, third of saltspoonful; butter, 1 to 2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful (or arrow-root an equal quantity); cream, 1/4 pint.

VERY COMMON WHITE SAUCE.

The neck and the feet of a fowl, nicely cleaned, and stewed down in half a pint of water, until it is reduced to less than a quarter of a pint, with a thin strip or two of lemon-rind, a small blade of mace, a small branch or two of parsley, a little salt, and half a dozen corns of pepper, then strained, thickened, and flavoured by the preceding receipt, and mixed with something more than half the quantity of cream, will answer for this sauce extremely well; and if it be added, when made, to the liver of the chicken, previously boiled for six minutes in the gravy, then bruised to a smooth paste, and passed through a sieve, an excellent liver sauce. A little strained lemon-juice is generally added to it when it is ready to serve: it should be stirred very briskly in.

DUTCH SAUCE.

Put into a small saucepan the yolks of three fresh eggs, the juice of a large lemon, three ounces of butter, a little salt and nutmeg, and a wineglassful of water. Hold the saucepan over a clear fire, and keep the sauce stirred until it nearly boils: a little cayenne may be added. The safest way of making all sauces that will curdle by being allowed to boil, is to put them into a jar, and to set the jar over the fire in a saucepan of boiling water, and then to stir the ingredients constantly until the sauce is thickened sufficiently to serve.

Yolks of eggs, 3; juice, 1 lemon; butter, 3 oz.; little salt and nutmeg; water, 1 wineglassful; cayenne at pleasure.

Obs.—A small cupful of veal gravy, mixed with plenty of blanched and chopped parsley, may be used instead of water for this sauce, when it is to be served with boiled veal, or with calf’s head.

FRICASSEE SAUCE.

Stir briskly, but by degrees, to the well-beaten yolks of two large or of three small fresh eggs, half a pint of common English white sauce; put it again into the saucepan, give it a shake over the fire, but be extremely careful not to allow it to boil, and just before it is served stir in a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice. When meat or chickens are fricasseed, they should be lifted from the saucepan with a slice, drained on it from the sauce, and laid into a very hot dish before the eggs are added, and when these are just set, the sauce should be poured on them.

BREAD SAUCE.

Pour quite boiling, on half a pint of the finest bread-crumbs, an equal measure of new milk; cover them closely with a plate, and let the sauce remain for twenty or thirty minutes; put it then into a delicately clean saucepan, with a small saltspoonful of salt, half as much pounded mace, a little cayenne, and about an ounce of fresh butter; keep it stirred constantly over a clear fire for a few minutes, then mix with it a couple of spoonsful of good cream, give it a boil, and serve it immediately. When cream is not to be had, an additional spoonful or two of milk must be used. The bread used for sauce should be stale, and lightly grated down into extremely small crumbs, or the preparation will look rough when sent to table. Not only the crust, but all heavy-looking or imperfectly baked portions of it, should be entirely pared off, and it should be pressed against the grater only so much as will reduce it easily into crumbs. When stale bread cannot be procured, the new should be sliced thin, or broken up small, and beaten quite smooth with a fork after it has been soaked. As some will absorb more liquid than others, the cook must increase a little the above proportion should it be needed. Equal parts of milk and of thin cream make an excellent bread sauce: more butter can be used to enrich it when it is liked.

Bread-crumbs and new milk, each 1/2 pint (or any other measure); soaked 20 to 30 minutes, or more. Salt, small saltspoonful; mace, half as much; little cayenne; butter, 1 oz.; boiled 4 to 5 minutes. 2 to 4 spoonsful of good cream (or milk): 1 minute. Or: bread-crumbs, 1/2 pint; milk and cream, each 1/4 pint; and from 2 to 4 spoonsful of either in addition.

Obs.—Very pale, strong veal gravy is sometimes poured on the bread-crumbs, instead of milk; and these, after being soaked, are boiled extremely dry, and then brought to the proper consistence with rich cream. The gravy may be highly flavoured with mushrooms when this is done.

BREAD SAUCE WITH ONION.

Put into a very clean saucepan nearly half a pint of fine bread-crumbs, and the white part of a large mild onion cut into quarters; pour to these three-quarters of a pint of new milk, and boil them very gently, keeping them often stirred until the onion is perfectly tender, which will be in from forty minutes to an hour. Press the whole through a hair-sieve, which should be as clean as possible; reduce the sauce by quick boiling should it be too thin; add a seasoning of salt and grated nutmeg, an ounce of butter, and four spoonsful of cream; and when it is of a proper thickness, dish, and send it quickly to table.

Bread-crumbs, nearly 1/2 pint; white part of 1 large mild onion; new milk, 3/4 pint: 40 to 60 minutes. Seasoning of salt and grated nutmeg; butter, 1 oz.; cream, 4 tablespoonsful: to be boiled till of a proper consistence.

Obs.—This is an excellent sauce for those who like a subdued flavour of onion in it; but as many persons object to any, the cook should ascertain whether it be liked before she follows this receipt.

COMMON LOBSTER SAUCE.

Add to half a pint of good melted butter a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, a small half-saltspoonful of freshly pounded mace, and less than a quarter one of cayenne. If a couple of spoonsful of cream should be at hand, stir them to the sauce when it boils; then put in the flesh of the tail and claws of a small lobster cut into dice (or any other form) of equal size. Keep the saucepan by the side of the fire until the fish is quite heated through, but do not let the sauce boil again: serve it very hot. A small quantity can be made on occasion with the remains of a lobster which has been served at table.

Melted butter, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 1 tablespoonful; pounded mace, small 1/2 saltspoonful; less than 1/4 one of cayenne; cream (if added), 2 tablespoonsful; flesh of small lobster.

GOOD LOBSTER SAUCE.

Select for this a perfectly fresh hen lobster; split the tail carefully, and take out the inside coral; pound half of it in a mortar very smoothly with less than an ounce of butter, rub it through a hair-sieve, and put it aside. Cut the firm flesh of the fish into dice of not less than half an inch in size; and when these are ready, make as much good melted butter as will supply the quantity of sauce required for table, and if to be served with a turbot or other large fish to a numerous company, let it be plentifully provided. Season it slightly with essence of anchovies, and well with cayenne, mace, and salt; add to it a few spoonsful of rich cream, and then mix a small portion of it very gradually with the pounded coral; when this is sufficiently liquefied pour it into the sauce, and stir the whole well together; put in immediately the flesh of the fish, and heat the sauce thoroughly by the side of the fire without allowing it to boil, for if it should do so its fine colour would be destroyed. The whole of the coral may be used for the sauce when no portion of it is required for other purposes.

CRAB SAUCE.

The flesh of a fresh well-conditioned crab of moderate size is more tender and delicate than that of a lobster, and may be converted into an excellent fish sauce. Divide it into small flakes, and add it to some good melted butter, which has been flavoured as for either of the sauces above. A portion of the cream contained in the fish may first be smoothly mingled with the sauce.

GOOD OYSTER SAUCE.

At the moment they are wanted for use, open three dozen of fine plump native oysters; save carefully and strain their liquor, rinse them separately in it, put them into a very clean saucepan, strain the liquor again, and pour it to them; heat them slowly, and keep them from one to two minutes at the simmering point, without allowing them to boil, as that will render them hard. Lift them out and beard them neatly; add to the liquor three ounces of butter smoothly mixed with a large dessertspoonful of flour; stir these without ceasing until they boil, and are perfectly mixed; then add to them gradually a quarter of a pint, or rather more, of new milk, or of thin cream (or equal parts of both), and continue the stirring until the sauce boils again; add a little salt, should it be needed, and a small quantity of cayenne in the finest powder; put in the oysters, and keep the saucepan by the side of the fire until the whole is thoroughly hot and begins to simmer, then turn the sauce into a well-heated tureen, and send it immediately to table.

Small plump oysters, 3 dozen; butter, 3 oz.; flour, 1 large dessertspoonful; the oyster liquor; milk or cream, full 1/4 pint; little salt and cayenne.

COMMON OYSTER SAUCE.

Prepare and plump two dozen of oysters as directed in the receipt above; add their strained liquor to a quarter of a pint of thick melted butter made with milk, or with half milk and half water; stir the whole until it boils, put in the oysters, and when they are quite heated through send the sauce to table without delay. Some persons like a little cayenne and essence of anchovies added to it when it is served with fish; others prefer the unmixed flavour of the oysters.

Oysters, 2 dozens; their liquor; melted butter, 1/4 pint. (Little cayenne and 1 dessertspoonful of essence of anchovies when liked.)

SHRIMP SAUCE.

The fish for this sauce should be very fresh. Shell quickly one pint of shrimps and mix them with half a pint of melted butter, to which a few drops of essence of anchovies and a little mace and cayenne have been added. As soon as the shrimps are heated through, dish, and serve the sauce, which ought not to boil after they are put in. Many persons add a few spoonsful of rich cream to all shell-fish sauces. Shrimps, 1 pint; melted butter, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; cayenne, very little.

ANCHOVY SAUCE.

To half a pint of good melted butter add three dessertspoonsful of essence of anchovies, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, and a rather high seasoning of cayenne; or pound the flesh of two or three fine mellow anchovies very smooth, mix it with the boiling butter, simmer these for a minute or two, strain the sauce if needful, add the spices, give it a boil, and serve it.

Melted butter, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 3 dessertspoonsful; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; cayenne, to taste. Or, 3 large anchovies finely pounded, and the same proportions of butter and spice.

CREAM SAUCE FOR FISH.

Knead very smoothly together with a strong-bladed knife, a large teaspoonful of flour with three ounces of good butter; stir them in a very clean saucepan or stewpan over a gentle fire until the butter is dissolved, then throw in a little salt and some cayenne, give the whole one minute’s simmer, and add, very gradually, half a pint of good cream; keep the sauce constantly stirred until it boils, then mix with it a dessertspoonful of essence of anchovies, and half as much chili vinegar or lemon-juice. The addition of shelled shrimps or lobsters cut in dice, will convert this at once into a most excellent sauce of either. Pounded mace may be added to it with the cayenne; and it may be thinned with a few spoonsful of milk should it be too thick. Omit the essence of anchovies, and mix with it some parsley boiled very green and minced, and it becomes a good sauce for poultry.

Butter, 3 oz.; flour, 1 large teaspoonful: 2 to 3 minutes. Cream, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 1 large dessertspoonful (more if liked); chili vinegar or lemon-juice, 1 teaspoonful; salt, 1/4 saltspoonful.

SHARP MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE.

(English Receipt.)

For a rich sauce of this kind, mix a dessertspoonful of flour with four ounces of good butter, but with from two to three ounces only for common occasions; knead them together until they resemble a smooth paste, then proceed exactly as for the sauce above, but substitute good pale veal gravy, or strong, pure-flavoured veal broth, or shin of beef stock (which if well made has little colour), for the cream; and when these have boiled for two or three minutes, stir in a tablespoonful of common vinegar and one of chili vinegar, with as much cayenne as will flavour the sauce well, and some salt, should it be needed; throw in from two to three dessertspoonsful of finely-minced parsley, give the whole a boil, and it will be ready to serve. A tablespoonful of mushroom catsup or of Harvey’s sauce may be added with the vinegar when the colour of the sauce is immaterial. It may be served with boiled calf’s head, or with boiled eels with good effect; and various kinds of cold meat and fish may be re-warmed for table in it, as we have directed in another part of this volume. With a little more flour, and a flavouring of essence of anchovies, it will make, without the parsley, an excellent sauce for these last, when they are first dressed.

Butter, 2 to 4 oz.; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; pale veal gravy or strong broth, or shin of beef stock, 1/2 pint; cayenne; salt, if needed; common vinegar, 1 tablespoonful; chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful. (Catsup or Harvey’s sauce, according to circumstances.)

FRENCH MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL,[55] OR STEWARD’S SAUCE.

55.  The Maître d’Hôtel is, properly, the House Steward.

Add to half a pint of rich, pale veal gravy, well thickened with the white roux of page 108, a good seasoning of pepper, salt, minced parsley, and lemon-juice; or make the thickening with a small tablespoonful of flour, and a couple of ounces of butter; keep these stirred constantly over a very gentle fire from ten to fifteen minutes, then pour the gravy to them boiling, in small portions, mixing the whole well as it is added, and letting it boil up between each, for unless this be done the butter will be likely to float upon the surface. Simmer the sauce for a few minutes, and skim it well, then add salt should it be needed, a tolerable seasoning of pepper or of cayenne in fine powder, from two to three teaspoonsful of minced parsley, and the strained juice of a small lemon. For some dishes, this sauce is thickened with the yolks of eggs, about four to the pint. The French work into their sauces generally a small bit of fresh butter just before they are taken from the fire, to give them mellowness: this is done usually for the Maître d’Hôtel Sauce.

MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE MAIGRE,[56] OR WITHOUT GRAVY.

56.  Maigre, made without meat.

Substitute half a pint of good melted butter for the gravy, and add to it the same seasonings as above. A double quantity of these sauces will be needed when they are required to cover a large fish; in that case they should be thick enough to adhere to it well. Melted butter, 1/2 pint; seasoning of salt and pepper, or cayenne; minced parsley, 2 to 3 teaspoonsful; juice, 1 small lemon.

For Cold Maître d’Hôtel Sauce, see Chapter VI.

THE LADY’S SAUCE.

(For Fish.)

Pound to a very smooth paste the inside coral of a lobster with a small slice of butter, and some cayenne; rub it through a hair-sieve, gather it together, and mix it very smoothly with from half to three-quarters of a pint of sauce tournée or of cream fish-sauce, previously well seasoned with cayenne and salt, and moderately with pounded mace; bring it to the point of boiling only; stir in quickly, but gradually, a tablespoonful of strained lemon-juice, and serve it very hot. When neither cream nor gravy is at hand, substitute rich melted butter mixed with a dessertspoonful or two of essence of anchovies, and well seasoned. The fine colour of the coral will be destroyed by boiling. This sauce, which the French call Sauce à l’Aurore, may be served with brill, boiled soles, gray mullet, and some few other kinds of fish: it is quickly made when the lobster butter of Chapter VI. is in the house.

Coral of lobster, pounded; cream sauce, or sauce tournée (thickened pale veal gravy), 1/2 to 3/4 pint; lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful; salt, cayenne, and mace, as needed. Or: rich melted butter, instead of other sauce; essence of anchovies, 2 dessertspoonsful; other seasoning, as above.

Obs.—The proportion of spices here must, of course, depend on the flavouring which the gravy or sauce may already have received.

GENEVESE SAUCE, OR SAUCE GÉNÉVOISE.

Cut into dice three ounces of the lean of a well-flavoured ham, and put them with half a small carrot, four cloves, a blade of mace, two or three very small sprigs of lemon thyme and of parsley, and rather more than an ounce of butter, into a stewpan; just simmer them from three-quarters of an hour to a whole hour, then stir in a teaspoonful of flour; continue the slow stewing for about five minutes, and pour in by degrees a pint of good boiling veal gravy, and let the sauce again simmer softly for nearly an hour. Strain it off, heat it in a clean saucepan, and when it boils, stir in a wineglassful and a half of good sherry or Madeira, two tablespoonsful of lemon-juice, some cayenne, a little salt if needed, and a small tablespoonful of flour very smoothly mixed with two ounces of butter. Give the whole a boil after the thickening is added, pour a portion of the sauce over the fish (it is served principally with salmon and trout), and send the remainder very hot to table in a tureen.

Lean of ham, 3 oz.; 1/2 small carrot; 4 to 6 cloves; mace, 1 large blade; thyme and parsley, 3 or 4 small sprigs of each; butter, 1 to 1-1/2 oz.: 50 to 60 minutes. Veal gravy, 1 pint: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sherry or Madeira, 1-1/2 glassful; lemon-juice, 2 tablespoonsful; seasoning of cayenne and salt; flour, 1 tablespoonful; butter, 2 oz.: 1 minute.

Obs.—A teaspoonful or more of essence of anchovies is usually added to the sauce, though it is scarcely required.

SAUCE ROBERT.

Cut four or five large onions into small dice, and brown them in a stewpan, with three ounces of butter and a dessertspoonful of flour. When of a deep yellow brown, pour to them half a pint of beef or of veal gravy, and let them simmer for fifteen minutes; skim the sauce, add a seasoning of salt and pepper, and at the moment of serving, mix a dessertspoonful of made mustard with it.

Large onions, 4 or 5; butter, 3 oz.; flour, dessertspoonful; 10 to 15 minutes. Gravy, 1/2 pint: 15 minutes. Mustard, dessertspoonful.

SAUCE PIQUANTE.

Brown lightly in an ounce and a half of butter a tablespoonful of minced eschalots or three of onions; add a teaspoonful of flour when they are partially done; pour to them half a pint of gravy or of good broth, and when it boils add three chilies, a bay-leaf, and a very small bunch of thyme. Let these simmer for twenty minutes; take out the thyme and bay-leaf, add a high seasoning of black pepper, and half a wineglassful of the best vinegar. A quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne may be substituted for the chilies.

Eschalots, 1 tablespoonful, or three of onions; flour, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 1-1/2 oz.: 10 to 15 minutes. Gravy or broth, 1/2 pint; chilies, 3; bay-leaf; thyme, small bunch: 20 minutes. Pepper, plenty; vinegar, 1/2 wineglassful.

EXCELLENT HORSERADISH SAUCE.

(To serve hot or cold with roast beef.)

Wash and wipe a stick of young horseradish, scrape off the outer skin, grate it as small as possible on a fine grater, then with two ounces (or a couple of large tablespoonsful) of it mix a small teaspoonful of salt and four tablespoonsful of good cream; stir in briskly, and by degrees, three dessertspoonsful of vinegar, one of which should be chili vinegar when the horseradish is mild. To heat the sauce, put it into a small and delicately clean saucepan, hold it over, but do not place it upon the fire, and stir it without intermission until it is near the point of simmering; but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle instantly.

Horseradish pulp, 2 oz. (or 2 large tablespoonsful); salt, 1 teaspoonful; good cream, 4 tablespoonsful; vinegar, 3 dessertspoonsful (of which one should be chili when the root is mild).

Obs.—Common English salad-mixture is often added to the grated horseradish when the sauce is to be served cold.

HOT HORSERADISH SAUCE.

(To serve with boiled or stewed meat or fish.)

Mix three ounces of young tender grated horseradish with half a pint of good brown gravy, and let it stand by the side of the fire until it is on the point of boiling; add salt if required, a teaspoonful of made mustard, and a dessertspoonful of garlic or of eschalot vinegar; or the same quantity of chili vinegar, or twice as much common vinegar.

Some cooks stew the horseradish in vinegar for ten minutes, and, after having drained it from this, mix it with nearly half a pint of thick melted butter.

Horseradish, grated, 3 oz.; brown gravy, 1/2 pint; made mustard, 1 teaspoonful; eschalot or garlic vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful (or chili vinegar, the same quantity, or common vinegar twice as much).

CHRISTOPHER NORTH’S OWN SAUCE FOR MANY MEATS.

Throw into a small basin a heaped saltspoonful of good cayenne pepper, in very fine powder, and half the quantity of salt;[57] add a small dessertspoonful of well-refined, pounded, and sifted sugar; mix these thoroughly; then pour in a tablespoonful of the strained juice of a fresh lemon, two of Harvey’s sauce, a teaspoonful of the very best mushroom catsup (or of cavice), and a small wineglassful of port wine. Heat the sauce by placing the basin in a saucepan of boiling water, or turn it into a jar, and place this in the water. Serve it directly it is ready with geese or ducks, tame or wild; roast pork, venison, fawn, a grilled blade-bone, or any other broil. A slight flavour of garlic or eschalot vinegar may be given to it at pleasure. Some persons eat it with fish. It is good cold; and, if bottled directly it is made, may be stored for several days. It is the better for being mixed some hours before it is served. The proportion of cayenne may be doubled when a very pungent sauce is desired.

57.  Characteristically, the salt of this sauce ought, perhaps, to prevail more strongly over the sugar, but it will be found for most tastes sufficiently piquant as it is.

Good cayenne pepper in fine powder, 1 heaped saltspoonful; salt, half as much; pounded sugar, 1 small dessertspoonful; strained lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful; Harvey’s sauce, 2 tablespoonsful; best mushroom catsup (or cavice), 1 teaspoonful; port wine, 3 tablespoonsful, or small wineglassful. (Little eschalot, or garlic vinegar at pleasure.)

Obs.—This sauce is exceedingly good mixed with the brown gravy of a hash or stew, or with that which is served with game or other dishes.

GOOSEBERRY SAUCE FOR MACKEREL.

Cut the stalks and tops from half to a whole pint of quite young gooseberries, wash them well, just cover them with cold water, and boil them very gently indeed, until they are tender; drain and mix them with a small quantity of melted butter, made with rather less flour than usual. Some eaters prefer the mashed gooseberries without any addition; others like that of a little ginger. The best way of making this sauce is to turn the gooseberries into a hair-sieve to drain, then to press them through it with a wooden spoon, and to stir them in a clean stewpan or saucepan over the fire with from half to a whole teaspoonful of sugar, just to soften their extreme acidity, and a bit of fresh butter about the size of a walnut. When the fruit is not passed through the sieve it is an improvement to seed it.

COMMON SORREL SAUCE.

Strip from the stalks and the large fibres, from one to a couple of quarts of freshly-gathered sorrel; wash it very clean, and put it into a well-tinned stewpan or saucepan (or into an enamelled one, which would be far better), without any water; add to it a small slice of good butter, some pepper and salt, and stew it gently, keeping it well stirred until it is exceedingly tender, that it may not burn; then drain it on a sieve, or press the liquid well from it; chop it as fine as possible, and boil it again for a few minutes with a spoonful or two of gravy, or the same quantity of cream or milk, mixed with a half-teaspoonful of flour, or with only a fresh slice of good butter. The beaten yolk of an egg or two stirred in just as the sorrel is taken from the fire will soften the sauce greatly, and a saltspoonful of pounded sugar will also be an improvement.

ASPARAGUS SAUCE, FOR LAMB CUTLETS.

Green cut the tender points of some young asparagus into half-inch lengths, or into the size of peas only; wash them well, then drain and throw them into plenty of boiling salt and water. When they are quite tender, which may be in from ten to fifteen minutes, turn them into a hot strainer and drain the water thoroughly from them; put them, at the instant of serving, into half a pint of thickened veal gravy (see sauce tournée, page 106), mixed with the yolks of a couple of eggs, and well seasoned with salt and cayenne, or white pepper, or into an equal quantity of good melted butter: add to this last a squeeze of lemon-juice. The asparagus will become yellow if reboiled, or if left long in the sauce before it is served.

Asparagus points, 1/2 pint: boiled 10 to 15 minutes, longer if not quite tender. Thickened veal gravy, 1/2 pint; yolks of eggs, 2. Or: good melted butter, 1/2 pint; lemon-juice, small dessertspoonful, seasoning of salt and white pepper.

CAPER SAUCE.

Stir into the third of a pint of good melted butter from three to four dessertspoonsful of capers; add a little of the vinegar, and dish the sauce as soon as it boils. Keep it stirred after the berries are added: part of them may be minced and a little chill vinegar substituted for their own. Pickled nasturtiums make a very good sauce, and their flavour is sometimes preferred to that of the capers. For a large joint, increase the quantity of butter to half a pint.

Melted butter, third of pint; capers, 3 to 4 dessertspoonsful.

BROWN CAPER SAUCE.

Thicken half a pint of good veal or beef gravy as directed for sauce tournée, and add to it two tablespoonsful of capers, and a dessertspoonful of the pickle liquor, or of chili vinegar, with some cayenne if the former be used, and a proper seasoning of salt.

Thickened veal, or beef gravy, 1/2 pint; capers, 2 tablespoonsful; caper liquor or chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful.

CAPER SAUCE FOR FISH.

To nearly half a pint of very rich melted butter add six spoonsful of strong veal gravy or jelly, a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, and some chili vinegar or cayenne, and from two to three tablespoonsful of capers. When there is no gravy at hand substitute a half wineglassful of mushroom catsup, or of Harvey’s sauce; though these deepen the colour more than is desirable.

COMMON CUCUMBER SAUCE.

Pare, slice, dust slightly with pepper and with flour, two or three young cucumbers, and fry them a fine brown in a little butter, or dissolve an ounce and a half in a small stewpan or iron saucepan, and shake them in it over a brisk fire from twelve to fifteen minutes; pour to them by degrees nearly half a pint of strong beef broth, or of brown gravy; add salt, and more pepper if required; stew the whole for five minutes, and send the sauce very hot to table. A minced onion may be browned with the cucumbers when it is liked, and a spoonful of vinegar added to them before they are served.

Cucumbers, 2 or 3; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; broth or gravy, nearly 1/2 pint; salt, pepper.

ANOTHER COMMON SAUCE OF CUCUMBERS.

Cucumbers which have the fewest seeds are best for this sauce. Pare and slice two or three, should they be small, and put them into a saucepan, in which two ounces, or rather more, of butter have been dissolved, and are beginning to boil; place them high over the fire, that they may stew as softly as possible, without taking colour, for three-quarters of an hour, or longer should they require it; add to them a good seasoning of white pepper and some salt, when they are half done; and just before they are served stir to them half a teaspoonful of flour, mixed with a morsel of butter; strew in some minced parsley, give it a boil, and finish with a spoonful of good vinegar.

WHITE CUCUMBER SAUCE.

Quarter some young quickly-grown cucumbers, without many seeds in them; empty them of these, and take off the rinds. Cut them into inch lengths, and boil them from fifteen to eighteen minutes in salt and water; press the water from them with the back of a spoon, and work them through a sieve; mix them with a few spoonsful of béchamel, or thick white sauce; do not let them boil again, but serve them very hot. A sauce of better flavour is made by boiling the cucumbers in veal gravy well seasoned, and stirring in the beaten yolks of two or three eggs, and a little chili vinegar or lemon-juice, at the instant of serving. Another also of cucumbers sliced, and stewed in butter, but without being at all browned, and then boiled in pale veal gravy, which must be thickened with rich cream, is excellent. A morsel of sugar improves this sauce.

Cucumbers, 3: 15 to 18 minutes. White sauce, 1/4 pint.

WHITE MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Cut off the stems closely from half a pint of small button mushrooms; clean them with a little salt and a bit of flannel, and throw them into cold water, slightly salted, as they are done; drain them well, or dry them in a soft cloth, and throw them into half a pint of boiling béchamel (see page 108), or of white sauce made with very fresh milk, or thin cream, thickened with a tablespoonful of flour and two ounces of butter. Simmer the mushrooms from ten to twenty minutes, or until they are quite tender, and dish the sauce, which should be properly seasoned with salt, mace, and cayenne.

Mushrooms, 1/2 pint; white sauce, 1/2 pint; seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne: 10 minutes.

ANOTHER MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Prepare from half to a whole pint of very small mushroom-buttons with great nicety, and throw them into an equal quantity of sauce tournée; when they are tender add a few spoonsful of rich cream, give the whole a boil, and serve it. Either of these sauces may be sent to table with boiled poultry, breast of veal, or veal cutlets: the sauce tournée should be thickened rather more than usual when it is to be used in this receipt.

Mushrooms and sauce tournée each, 1/2 to whole pint: stewed till tender. Cream, 4 to 8 tablespoonsful.

BROWN MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Very small flaps, peeled and freed entirely from the fur, will answer for this sauce. Leave them whole or quarter them, and stew them tender in some rich brown gravy; give a full seasoning of mace and cayenne, add thickening and salt if needed, and a tablespoonful of good mushroom catsup.

COMMON TOMATA SAUCE.

Tomatas are so juicy when ripe that they require little or no liquid to reduce them to a proper consistence for sauce; and they vary so exceedingly in size and quality that it is difficult to give precise directions for the exact quantity which in their unripe state is needed for them. Take off the stalks, halve the tomatas, and gently squeeze out the seeds and watery pulp; then stew them softly with a few spoonsful of gravy or of strong broth until they are quite melted. Press the whole through a hair-sieve, and heat it afresh with a little additional gravy should it be too thick, and some cayenne, and salt. Serve it very hot.

Fine ripe tomatas, 6 or 8; gravy or strong broth, 4 tablespoonsful: 1/2 to 3/4 hour, or longer if needed. Salt and cayenne sufficient to season the sauce, and two or three spoonsful more of gravy if required.

Obs.—For a large tureen of this sauce, increase the proportions; and should it be at first too liquid, reduce it by quick boiling. When neither gravy nor broth is at hand, the tomatas may be stewed perfectly tender, but very gently, in a couple of ounces of butter, with some cayenne and salt only, or with the addition of a very little finely minced onion; then rubbed through a sieve, and heated, and served without any addition, or with only that of a teaspoonful of chili vinegar; or, when the colour is not a principal consideration, with a few spoonsful of rich cream, smoothly mixed with a little flour to prevent its curdling. The sauce must be stirred without ceasing should the last be added, and boiled for four or five minutes.

A FINER TOMATA SAUCE.

Stew very gently a dozen fine red tomatas, prepared as for the preceding receipt, with two or three sliced eschalots, four or five chilies or a capsicum or two (or in lieu of either, with a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper), a few small dice of lean ham, and half a cupful of rich gravy. Stir these often, and when the tomatas are reduced quite to a smooth pulp, rub them through a sieve; put them into a clean saucepan, with a few spoonsful more of rich gravy, or Espagnole, add salt if needed, boil the sauce stirring it well for ten minutes, and serve it very hot. When the gravy is exceedingly good and highly flavoured, the ham may be omitted: a dozen small mushrooms nicely cleaned may also be sliced and stewed with the tomatas, instead of the eschalots, when their flavour is preferred, or they may be added with them. The exact proportion of liquid used is immaterial, for should the sauce be too thin it may be reduced by rapid boiling, and diluted with more gravy if too thick.

BOILED APPLE SAUCE.

Apples of a fine cooking sort require but a very small portion of liquid to boil down well and smoothly for sauce, if placed over a gentle fire in a close-shutting saucepan, and simmered as softly as possible until they are well broken; and their flavour is injured by the common mode of adding so much to them, that the greater part must be drained off again before they are sent to table. Pare the fruit quickly, quarter it, and be careful entirely to remove the cores; put one tablespoonful of water into a saucepan before the apples are thrown in, and proceed, as we have directed, to simmer them until they are nearly ready to serve: finish the sauce by the receipt which follows.

Apples, 1/2 lb.; water, 1 tablespoonful; stewed very softly: 30 to 60 minutes.

Obs.—These proportions are sufficient only for a small tureen of the sauce, and should be doubled for a large one.

For this, and all other preparations, apples will be whiter if just dipped into fresh water the instant before they are put into the stewpan. They should be quickly lifted from it, and will stew down easily to sauce with only the moisture which hangs about them. They should be watched and often gently stirred, that they may be equally done.

BAKED APPLE SAUCE.

(Good.)

Put a tablespoonful of water into a quart basin, and fill it with good boiling apples, pared, quartered, and carefully cored: put a plate over, and set them into a moderate oven for about an hour, or until they are reduced quite to a pulp; beat them smooth with a clean wooden spoon, adding to them a little sugar and a morsel of fresh butter, when these are liked, though they will scarcely be required.

The sauce made thus is far superior to that which is boiled. When no other oven is at hand, a Dutch or an American one would probably answer for it; but we cannot assert this on our own experience.

Good boiling apples, 1 quart: baked 1 hour (more or less according to the quality of the fruit, and temperature of the oven); sugar, 1 oz.; butter, 1/2 oz.

BROWN APPLE SAUCE.

Stew gently down to a thick and perfectly smooth marmalade, a pound of pearmains, or of any other well-flavoured boiling apples, in about the third of a pint of rich brown gravy: season the sauce rather highly with black pepper or cayenne, and serve it very hot. Curry sauce will make an excellent substitute for the gravy when a very piquant accompaniment is wanted for pork or other rich meat.

Apples pared and cored, 1 lb.; good brown gravy, third of pint 3/4 to 1-1/4 hour. Pepper or cayenne as needed.

WHITE ONION SAUCE.

Strip the skin from some large white onions, and after having taken off the tops and roots cut them in two, throw them into cold water as they are done, cover them plentifully with more water, and boil them very tender; lift them out, drain, and then press the water thoroughly from them; chop them small, rub them through a sieve or strainer, put them into a little rich melted butter mixed with a spoonful or two of cream or milk, and a seasoning of salt, give the sauce a boil, and serve it very hot. Portugal onions are superior to any others, both for this and for most other purposes of cookery.

For the finest kind of onion sauce, see Soubise, page 126, which follows.

BROWN ONION SAUCE.

Cut off both ends of the onions, and slice them into a saucepan in which two ounces of butter have been dissolved; keep them stewing gently over a clear fire until they are lightly coloured; then pour to them half a pint of brown gravy, and when they have boiled until they are perfectly tender, work the sauce altogether through a strainer, season it with a little cayenne, and serve it very hot.

ANOTHER BROWN ONION SAUCE.

Mince the onions, stew them in butter until they are well coloured, stir in a dessertspoonful of flour, shake the stewpan over the fire for three or four minutes, pour in only as much broth or gravy as will leave the sauce tolerably thick, season, and serve it.

SOUBISE.

(English Receipt.)

Skin, slice, and mince quickly two pounds’ weight of the white part only of some fine mild onions, and stew them in from two to three ounces of good butter over a very gentle fire until they are reduced to a pulp, then pour to them three-quarters of a pint of rich veal gravy; add a seasoning of salt and cayenne, if needed; skim off the fat entirely, press the sauce through a sieve, heat it in a clean stewpan, mix it with a quarter of a pint of rich boiling cream, and serve it directly.

Onions, 2 lbs.; butter, 2 to 3 oz.: 30 minutes to 1 hour. Veal gravy, 3/4 pint; salt, cayenne: 5 minutes. Cream, 1/4 pint.

SOUBISE.

(French Receipt.)

Peel some fine white onions, and trim away all tough and discoloured parts; mince them small, and throw them into plenty of boiling water; when they have boiled quickly for five minutes drain them well in a sieve, then stew them very softly indeed in an ounce or two of fresh butter until they are dry and perfectly tender; stir to them as much béchamel as will bring them to the consistence of very thick pea-soup, pass the whole through a strainer, pressing the onion strongly that none may remain behind, and heat the sauce afresh, without allowing it to boil. A small half-teaspoonful of pounded sugar is sometimes added to this soubise.

White part of onions, 2 lbs.: blanched 5 minutes. Butter, 2 oz.: 30 to 50 minutes. Béchamel, 3/4 to 1 pint, or more.

Obs.—These sauces are served more frequently with lamb or mutton cutlets than with any other dishes; but they would probably find many approvers if sent to table with roast mutton, or boiled veal. Half the quantity given above will be sufficient for a moderate-sized dish.

MILD RAGOUT OF GARLIC, OR, L’AIL À LA BORDELAISE.

Divide some fine cloves of garlic, strip off the skin, and when all are ready throw them into plenty of boiling water slightly salted; in five minutes drain this from them, and pour in as much more, which should also be quite boiling; continue to change it every five or six minutes until the garlic is quite tender: throw in a moderate proportion of salt the last time to give it the proper flavour. Drain it thoroughly, and serve it in the dish with roast mutton, or put it into good brown gravy or white sauce for table. By changing very frequently the water in which it is boiled, the root will be deprived of its naturally pungent flavour and smell, and rendered extremely mild: when it is not wished to be quite so much so, change the water every ten minutes only.

Garlic, 1 pint: 15 to 25 minutes, or more. Water to be changed every 5 or 6 minutes; or every 10 minutes when not wished so very mild. Gravy or sauce, 1 pint.

MILD ESCHALOT SAUCE.

Prepare and boil from half to a whole pint of eschalots by the preceding receipt; unless very large, they will be tender in about fifteen minutes, sometimes in less, in which case the water must be poured from them shortly after it has been changed for the second time. When grown in a suitable soil, and cultivated with care, the eschalots are sometimes treble the size that they are under other circumstances; and this difference must be allowed for in boiling them. Drain them well, and mix them with white sauce or gravy, or with good melted butter, and serve them very hot.

A FINE SAUCE, OR PURÉE OF VEGETABLE MARROW.

Pare one or two half-grown marrows and cut out all the seeds; take a pound of the vegetable, and slice it, with one ounce of mild onion, into a pint of strong veal broth or of pale gravy; stew them very softly for nearly or quite an hour; add salt and cayenne, or white pepper, when they are nearly done; press the whole through a fine and delicately clean hair-sieve; heat it afresh, and stir to it when it boils about the third of a pint of rich cream. Serve it with boiled chickens, stewed or boiled veal, lamb cutlets, or any other delicate meat. When to be served as a purée, an additional half-pound of the vegetable must be used; and it should be dished with small fried sippets round it. For a maigre dish, stew the marrow and onion quite tender in butter, and dilute them with half boiling water and half cream.

Vegetable marrow, 1 lb.; mild onion, 1 oz.; strong broth or pale gravy, 1 pint: nearly or quite 1 hour. Pepper or cayenne, and salt as needed; good cream, from 1/4 to 3/4 of pint. For purée, 1/2 lb. more of marrow.

EXCELLENT TURNIP, OR ARTICHOKE SAUCE FOR BOILED MEAT.

Pare, slice, and boil quite tender, some finely-grained mild turnips, press the water from them thoroughly, and pass them through a sieve. Dissolve a slice of butter in a clean saucepan, and stir to it a large teaspoonful of flour, or mix them smoothly together before they are put in, and shake the saucepan round until they boil: pour to them very gradually nearly a pint of thin cream (or of good milk mixed with a portion of cream), add the turnips with a half-teaspoonful or more of salt, and when the whole is well mixed and very hot, pour it over boiled mutton, veal, lamb, or poultry. There should be sufficient of the sauce to cover the meat entirely;[58] and when properly made it improves greatly the appearance of a joint. A little cayenne tied in a muslin may be boiled in the milk before it is mixed with the turnips. Jerusalem artichokes make a more delicate sauce of this kind even than turnips; the weight of both vegetables must be taken after they are pared.

58.  The objection to masking a joint with this or any other sauce is, that it speedily becomes cold when spread over its surface: a portion of it at least should be served very hot in a tureen.

Pared turnips or artichokes, 1 lb.; fresh butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 large teaspoonful (twice as much if all milk be used); salt, 1/2 teaspoonful or more; cream, or cream and milk mixed, from 3/4 to 1 pint.

OLIVE SAUCE.

Remove the stones from some fine French or Italian olives by paring the fruit close to them, round and round in the form of a corkscrew: they will then resume their original shape when done. Weigh six ounces thus prepared, throw them into boiling water, let them blanch for five minutes; then drain, and throw them into cold water, and leave them in it from half an hour to an hour, proportioning the time to their saltness; drain them well, and stew them gently from fifteen to twenty-five minutes in a pint of very rich brown gravy or Espagnole (see Chapter IV.); add the juice of half a lemon, and serve the sauce very hot. Half this quantity will be sufficient for a small party.

Olives, stoned, 6 oz.; rich gravy, 1 pint: 15 to 25 minutes. Juice, 1/2 lemon.

Obs.—In France this sauce is served very commonly with ducks, and sometimes with beef-steaks, and with stewed fowl.

CELERY SAUCE.

Slice the white part of from three to five heads of young tender celery; peel it if not very young, and boil it in salt and water for twenty minutes. If for white sauce put the celery, after it has been well drained, into half a pint of veal broth or gravy, and let it stew until it is quite soft; then add an ounce and a half of butter, mixed with a dessertspoonful of flour, and a quarter of a pint of thick cream or the yolks of three eggs. The French, after boiling the celery, which they cut very small, for about twenty minutes, drain and chop it; then put it with a slice of butter into a stewpan, and season it with pepper, salt, and nutmeg; they keep these stirred over the fire for two or three minutes, and then dredge in a dessertspoonful of flour: when this has lost its raw taste, they pour in a sufficient quantity of white gravy to moisten the celery, and to allow for twenty minutes’ longer boiling. A very good common celery sauce is made by simply stewing the celery cut into inch-lengths in butter, until it begins to be tender; and then adding a spoonful of flour, which must be allowed to brown a little, and half a pint of good broth or beef gravy, with a seasoning of pepper or cayenne.

Celery, 3 to 5 heads: 20 minutes. Veal broth, or gravy, 1/2 pint; 20 to 40 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; cream, 1/4 pint, or three yolks of eggs.

WHITE CHESTNUT SAUCE.

Strip the outer rind from six ounces of sound sweet chestnuts, then throw them into boiling water, and let them simmer for two or three minutes, when the second skin will easily peel off. Add to them three quarters of a pint of good cold veal gravy, and a few strips of lemon rind, and let them stew gently for an hour and a quarter. Press them, with the gravy, through a hair-sieve reversed and placed over a deep dish or pan, as they are much more easily rubbed through thus than in the usual way: a wooden spoon should be used in preference to any other for the process. Add a little cayenne and mace, some salt if needed, and about six tablespoonsful of rich cream. Keep the sauce stirred until it boils, and serve it immediately.

Chestnuts without their rinds, 6 oz.; veal gravy, 1 pint; rind of 1/2 lemon: 1-1/4 hour. Salt; spice; cream, 6 tablespoonsful.

Obs.—This sauce may be served with turkey, with fowls, or with stewed veal cutlets.

BROWN CHESTNUT SAUCE.

Substitute rich brown gravy for the veal stock, omit the lemon-rind and cream, heighten the seasonings, and mix the chestnuts with a few spoonsful of Espagnole or highly flavoured gravy, after they have been passed through the sieve.

PARSLEY-GREEN, FOR COLOURING SAUCES.

Gather a quantity of young parsley, strip it from the stalks, wash it very clean, shake it as dry as possible in a cloth, pound it in a mortar, press all the juice closely from it through a hair-sieve reversed, and put it into a clean jar; set it into a pan of boiling water, and in about three minutes, if gently simmered, the juice will be poached sufficiently; lay it then upon a clean sieve to drain, and it will be ready for use.

Spinach-green, for which particular directions will be found at the commencement of Chapter XXIV., is prepared in the same manner. The juice of various herbs pounded together may be pressed from them through a sieve and added to cold sauces.

TO CRISP PARSLEY.

Wash some branches of young parsley well, drain them from the water, and swing them in a clean cloth until they are quite dry; place them on a sheet of writing paper in a Dutch oven, before a brisk fire, and keep them frequently turned until they are quite crisp. They will become so in from six to eight minutes.

FRIED PARSLEY.

When the parsley has been prepared as for crisping, and is quite dry, throw it into plenty of lard or butter, which is on the point of boiling; take it up with a skimmer the instant it is crisp, and drain it on a cloth spread upon a sieve reversed, and placed before the fire.

MILD MUSTARD.

Mustard for instant use should be mixed with milk, to which a spoonful or two of very thin cream may be added.

MUSTARD THE COMMON WAY.

The great art of mixing mustard is to have it perfectly smooth, and of a proper consistency. The liquid with which it is moistened should be added to it in small quantities, and the mustard should be well rubbed, and beaten with a spoon. Mix half a teaspoonful of salt with two ounces of the flour of mustard, and stir to them by degrees sufficient boiling water to reduce it to the appearance of a thick batter: do not put it into the mustard-glass until it is cold. Some persons like a half-teaspoonful of sugar in the finest powder mixed with it. It ought to be sufficiently diluted always to drop easily from the spoon; and to bring it to this state more than a quarter of a pint, and less than half a pint of liquid will be needed for four ounces of the best Durham mustard.

For Tartar mustard see Chapter VII.

FRENCH BATTER.

(For frying vegetables, and for apple, peach, or orange fritters.)

Cut a couple of ounces of good butter into small bits, pour on it less than a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and when it is dissolved add three quarters of a pint of cold water, so that the whole shall not be quite milk warm; mix it then by degrees and very smoothly with twelve ounces of fine dry flour and a small pinch of salt if the batter be for fruit fritters, but with more if for meat or vegetables. Just before it is used, stir into it the whites of two eggs beaten to a solid froth; but previously to this, add a little water should it appear too thick, as some flour requires more liquid than other to bring it to the proper consistence; this is an exceedingly light crisp batter, excellent for the purposes for which it is named.

Butter, 2 oz.; water, from 3/4 to nearly 1 pint; little salt; flour, 3/4 lb.; whites of 2 eggs, beaten to snow.

TO PREPARE BREAD FOR FRYING FISH.

Cut thick slices from the middle of a loaf of light stale bread, pare the crust entirely from them, and dry them gradually in a cool oven until they are crisp quite through; let them become cold, then roll or beat them into fine crumbs, and keep them in a dry place for use. To strew over hams or cheeks of bacon, the bread should be left all night in the oven, which should be sufficiently heated to brown, as well as to harden it: it ought indeed to be entirely converted into equally-coloured crust. It may be sifted through a dredging-box on to the hams after it has been reduced almost to powder.

BROWNED FLOUR FOR THICKENING SOUPS AND GRAVIES.

Spread it on a tin or dish and colour it, without burning, in a gentle oven or before the fire in a Dutch or American oven: turn it often, or the edges will be too much browned before the middle is enough so. This, blended with butter, makes a convenient thickening for soups or gravies of which it is desirable to deepen the colour; and it requires less time and attention than the French roux of page 10.

FRIED BREAD-CRUMBS.

Grate lightly into very fine crumbs four ounces of stale bread, and shake them through a cullender;[59] without rubbing or touching them with the hands. Dissolve two ounces of fresh butter in a frying-pan, throw in the crumbs, and stir them constantly over a moderate fire, until they are all of a clear golden colour; lift them out with a skimmer, spread them on a soft cloth, or upon white blotting paper, laid upon a sieve reversed, and dry them before the fire. They may be more delicately prepared by browning them in a gentle oven without the addition of butter.

59.  This is not necessary when they are lightly and finely grated of uniform size.

Bread, 4 oz.; butter, 2 oz.

FRIED BREAD FOR GARNISHING.

Cut the crumb of a stale loaf in slices a quarter of an inch thick; form them into diamonds or half diamonds, or shape them with a paste-cutter in any another way; fry them in fresh butter, some of a very pale brown and others a deeper colour; dry them well, and place them alternately round the dish that is to be garnished. They may be made to adhere to the edge of the dish when they are required for ornament only, by means of a little flour and white of egg brushed over the side which is placed on it: this must be allowed to dry before they are served.

For Sweet-pudding Sauces, see Chapter XX.

CHAPTER VI.

Cold Sauces, Salads, etc.

SUPERIOR MINT-SAUCE.

(To serve with lamb.)

The mint for this sauce should be fresh and young, for when old it is tough and indigestible. Strip the leaves from the stems, wash them with great nicety, and drain them on a sieve, or dry them in a cloth; chop them very fine, put them into a sauce-tureen, and to three heaped tablespoonsful of the mint add two of pounded sugar; let them remain a short time well mixed together, then pour to them gradually six tablespoonsful of good vinegar. The sauce thus made is excellent, and far more wholesome than when a larger proportion of vinegar and a smaller one of sugar is used for it; but, after the first trial, the proportions can easily be adapted to the taste of the eaters.

COMMON MINT-SAUCE.

Two tablespoonsful of mint, one large tablespoonful of pale brown sugar, well mixed together, and a quarter of a pint of vinegar, stirred until the sugar is entirely dissolved.

STRAINED MINT SAUCE.

Persons with whom the mint in substance disagrees can have the flavour of the herb without it, by mixing the ingredients of either of the preceding receipts, and straining the sauce after it has stood for two or three hours; the mint should be well pressed when this is done. The flavour will be the more readily extracted if the mint and sugar are well mixed, and left for a time before the vinegar is added.

FINE HORSERADISH SAUCE.

(To serve with cold, roast, stewed, or boiled beef.)

The root for this excellent sauce should be young and tender, and grated down on a very fine bright grater, quite to a pulp, after it has been washed, wiped, and scraped free from the outer skin. We have given the proportions for it in the preceding chapter, but repeat them here.

Horseradish, 2 heaped tablespoonsful; salt, 1 moderate teaspoonful; rich cream, 4 tablespoonsful; good vinegar, 3 dessertspoonsful (of which one may be chili vinegar when the root is mild.) When the other ingredients are smoothly mingled, the vinegar must be stirred briskly to them in very small portions. A few drops of garlic or shalot vinegar can be added to them when it is liked.

COLD MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL, OR STEWARD’S SAUCE.

Work well together until they are perfectly blended, two or three ounces of good butter, some pepper, salt, minced parsley, and the strained juice of a sound lemon of moderate size. The sauce thus prepared is often put into broiled fish; and laid in the dish under broiled kidneys, beef-steaks, and other meat.

For 2 oz. butter, 1 heaped teaspoonful young minced parsley; juice of 1 lemon; 1 small saltspoonful salt; seasoning of white pepper.

Obs.—The proportion of parsley may be doubled when a larger quantity is liked: a little fine cayenne would often be preferred to the pepper.

COLD DUTCH OR AMERICAN SAUCE, FOR SALADS OF DRESSED VEGETABLES, SALT FISH, OR HARD EGGS.

Put into a saucepan three ounces of good butter very smoothly blended with a quite small teaspoonful of flour, and add to them a large wineglassful of cold water, half as much sharp vinegar (or very fresh, strained, lemon-juice) a saltspoonful of salt, and half as much cayenne in fine powder. Keep these shaken briskly round, or stirred over a clear fire, until they form a smooth sauce and boil rapidly; then stir them very quickly to the beaten yolks of four fresh eggs, which will immediately give the sauce the consistence of custard; pour it hot over the salad, and place it on ice, or in a very cool larder until it is quite cold: if properly made, it will be very thick and smooth, and slightly set, as if it contained a small portion of isinglass. A dessertspoonful of parsley,—or of tarragon,—can be mingled with it at pleasure, or any flavour given to it with store-sauces which is liked. It converts flakes of salt-fish, sliced potatoes (new or old), and hard eggs, into excellent salads.

ENGLISH SAUCE FOR SALAD, COLD MEAT, OR COLD FISH.

The first essential for a smooth, well-made English salad dressing is to have the yolks of the eggs used for it sufficiently hard to be reduced easily to a perfect paste. They should be boiled at least fifteen minutes, and should have become quite cold before they are taken from the shells; they should also be well covered with water when they are cooked, or some parts of them will be tough, and will spoil the appearance of the sauce by rendering it lumpy, unless they be worked through a sieve, a process which is always better avoided if possible. To a couple of yolks broken up and mashed to a paste with the back of a wooden spoon, add a small saltspoonful of salt, a large one of pounded sugar, a few grains of fine cayenne, and a teaspoonful of cold water; mix these well, and stir to them by degrees a quarter of a pint of sweet cream; throw in next, stirring the sauce briskly, a tablespoonful of strong chili vinegar, and add as much common or French vinegar as will acidulate the mixture agreeably. A tablespoonful of either will be sufficient for many tastes, but it is easy to increase the proportion when more is liked. Six tablespoonsful of olive oil, of the purest quality, may be substituted for the cream: it should be added in very small portions to the other ingredients, and stirred briskly as each is added until the sauce resembles custard. When this is used, the water should be omitted. The piquancy of this preparation—which is very delicate, made by the directions just given—may be heightened by the addition of a little eschalot vinegar, Harvey’s sauce, essence of anchovies, French mustard, or tarragon vinegar; or by bruising with the eggs a morsel of garlic, half the size of a hazel-nut: it should always, however, be rendered as appropriate as may be to the dish with which it is to be served.

Obs. 1.—As we have before had occasion to remark, garlic, when very sparingly and judiciously used, imparts a remarkably fine savour to a sauce or gravy, and neither a strong nor a coarse one, as it does when used in larger quantities. The veriest morsel (or, as the French call it, a mere soupçon) of the root, is sufficient to give this agreeable piquancy, but unless the proportion be extremely small, the effect will be quite different. The Italians dress their salads upon a round of delicately toasted bread, which is rubbed with garlic, saturated with oil, and sprinkled with cayenne, before it is laid into the bowl: they also eat the bread thus prepared, but with less of oil, and untoasted often, before their meals, as a digester.

Obs. 2.—French vinegar is so infinitely superior to English in strength, purity, and flavour, that we cannot forbear to recommend it in preference for the use of the table. We have for a long time past been supplied with some of most excellent quality (labelled Vinaigre de Bordeaux) imported by the Messrs. Kent & Sons, of Upton-on-Severn, who supply it largely, we believe, both to wholesale and retail venders in town and country.

THE POET’S RECEIPT FOR SALAD.[60]

60.  Note.—This receipt, though long privately circulated amongst the friends and acquaintance of its distinguished and regretted author, now (with permission) appears for the first time in print. We could not venture to deviate by a word from the original, but we would suggest, that the mixture forms almost a substitute for salad, instead of a mere dressing. It is, however, an admirable compound for those to whom the slight flavouring of onion is not an objection.

“Two large potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve

Unwonted softness to the salad give;
Of mordent mustard, add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment which bites so soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault,
To add a double quantity of salt;

Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,

And once with vinegar, procured from town;
True flavour needs it, and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs;
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole;
And lastly, in the flavoured compound toss
A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce:

Then, though green turtle fail, though venison’s tough,

And ham and turkey are not boiled enough,
Serenely full, the epicure may say—
Fate cannot harm me,—I have dined to-day.”

Two well-boiled potatoes, passed through a sieve; a teaspoonful of mustard; two teaspoonsful of salt; one of essence of anchovy; about a quarter of a teaspoonful of very finely-chopped onions, well bruised into the mixture; three tablespoonsful of oil; one of vinegar; the yolks of two eggs, hard boiled. Stir up the salad immediately before dinner, and stir it up thoroughly.

N.B.—As this salad is the result of great experience and reflection, it is hoped young salad makers will not attempt to make any improvements upon it.

SAUCE MAYONNAISE.

(For salads, cold meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables.)

This is a very fine sauce when all the ingredients used for it are good; but it will prove an uneatable compound to a delicate taste unless it be made with oil of the purest quality.

Put into a large basin the yolks only of two very fresh eggs, carefully freed from specks, with a little salt and cayenne; stir these well together, then add about a teaspoonful of the purest salad oil, and work the mixture round with a wooden spoon until it appears like cream. Pour in by slow degrees nearly half a pint of oil, continuing at each interval to work the sauce as at first until it resumes the smoothness of cream, and not a particle of the oil remains visible; then add a couple of tablespoonsful of plain French or of tarragon vinegar, and one of cold water to whiten the sauce. A bit of clear veal jelly the size of an egg will improve it greatly. The reader who may have a prejudice against the unboiled eggs which enter into the composition of the Mayonnaise, will find that the most fastidious taste would not detect their being raw, if the sauce be well made; and persons who dislike oil may partake of it in this form, without being aware of its presence, provided always that it be perfectly fresh, and pure in flavour, for otherwise it will be easily perceptible.

Yolks of fresh unboiled eggs, 2; salt, 1/2 saltspoonful, or rather more; cayenne; oil, full third of pint; French or tarragon vinegar, 2 tablespoonsful; cold water, 1 tablespoonful; meat jelly (if at hand), size of an egg.

RED OR GREEN MAYONNAISE SAUCE.

Colour may be given either to the preceding or to the following Sauce Mayonnaise by mingling with it some hard lobster-coral reduced to powder by rubbing it through a very fine hair-sieve: the red hue of this is one of the most brilliant and beautiful that can be seen, but the sauce for which it is used can only be appropriately served with fish or fish-salads. Spinach-green will impart a fine tint to any preparation, but its flavour is objectionable: that of parsley-green is more agreeable. Directions for both of these are contained in the previous chapter.

IMPERIAL MAYONNAISE.

(An elegant jellied sauce, or salad-dressing.)

Put into a bowl half a pint of aspic, or of any very clear pale jellied stock (that made usually for good white soup will serve for the purpose excellently); add to it a couple of spoonsful of the purest olive-oil, one of sharp vinegar, and a little fine salt and cayenne. Break up the jelly quite small with the points of a whisk of osier-twigs, stir the ingredients well together, and then whisk them gently until they are converted into a smooth white sauce. This receipt was derived originally from an admirable French cook,[61] who stood quite at the head of his profession; but as he was accustomed to purvey for the tables of kings and emperors, his directions require some curtailment and simplifying to adapt them to the resources of common English life. He directs the preparation to be mixed and worked—to use a technical expression—over ice, which cannot always be commanded, except in opulent establishments, and in large towns. It is not, however, essential to the success of this sauce, which will prove extremely good if made and kept in a cool larder; or, if the bowl in which it is mingled be placed in a pan of cold water, into which plenty of saltpetre and sal-ammoniac, roughly powdered, are thrown at the moment it is set into it. In this country a smaller proportion of oil, and a larger one of acid, are usually preferred to the common French salad-dressings, in which there is generally a very small portion of vinegar. To some tastes a spoonful or two of cream would improve the present Mayonnaise, which may be varied also with chili, tarragon, or other flavoured vinegar. It should be served heaped high in the centre of the salad, for which, if large, double the quantity directed here should be prepared.

61.  Monsieur Carême, to whose somewhat elaborate but admirable works, published thirty years or more since, all modern cooks appear to be specially indebted.

REMOULADE.

This differs little from an ordinary English salad-dressing. Pound very smoothly indeed the yolks of two or three hard-boiled eggs with a teaspoonful of mustard, half as much salt, and some cayenne, or white pepper. Mix gradually with them, working the whole well together, two or three tablespoonsful of oil and two of vinegar. Should the sauce be curdled, pour it by degrees to the yolk of a raw egg, stirring it well round as directed for the Mayonnaise. A spoonful of tarragon, cucumber, or eschalot-vinegar, may be added with very good effect; and to give it increased relish, a teaspoonful of cavice, or a little of Harvey’s sauce, and a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar may be thrown into it. This last is an excellent addition to all cold sauces, or salad-dressings.

Hard yolks of 2 or of 3 eggs; mustard, 1 teaspoonful (more when liked); salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; pepper or cayenne; oil, 3 tablespoonsful; vinegar, 2. If curdled, yolk of 1 raw egg. Good additions: tarragon or eschalot, or cucumber-vinegar, 1 tablespoonful; chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful; cavice or Harvey’s sauce at pleasure.

Obs.—A dessertspoonful of eschalots, or a morsel of garlic, very finely minced, are sometimes pounded with the yolks of eggs for this sauce.

OXFORD BRAWN SAUCE.

Mingle thoroughly a tablespoonful of brown sugar with a teaspoonful of made mustard, a third as much of salt, some pepper, from three to four tablespoonsful of very fine salad-oil, and two of strong vinegar; or apportion the same ingredients otherwise to the taste.

FORCED EGGS FOR GARNISHING SALAD.

Pound and press through the back of a hair-sieve the flesh of three very fine, or of four moderate-sized anchovies, freed from the bones and skin. Boil six fresh eggs for twelve minutes, and when they are perfectly cold, halve them lengthwise, take out the yolks, pound them to a paste with a third of their volume of fresh butter, then add the anchovies, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, and as much cayenne as will season the mixture well; beat these together thoroughly, and fill the whites of egg neatly with them. A morsel of garlic, perfectly blended with the other ingredients, would to some tastes improve this preparation: a portion of anchovy-butter, or of potted ham, will supply the place of fish in it very advantageously.

Eggs, 6; anchovies, 4; butter, size of 2 yolks; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; cayenne, third as much.

ANCHOVY BUTTER.

(Excellent.)

Scrape the skin quite clear from a dozen fine mellow anchovies, free the flesh entirely from the bones, and pound it as smooth as possible in a mortar; rub it through the back of a hair-sieve with a wooden spoon; wipe out the mortar, and put back the anchovies with three quarters of a pound of very fresh butter, a small half-saltspoonful of cayenne, and more than twice as much of finely grated nutmeg, and freshly pounded mace; and beat them together until they are thoroughly blended. If to serve cold at table, mould the butter in small shapes, and turn it out. A little rose pink (which is sold at the chemists’) is sometimes used to give it a fine colour, but it must be sparingly used, or it will impart an unpleasant flavour, and we cannot much recommend its use: it should be well pounded, and very equally mixed with it. For kitchen use, press the butter down into jars or pattypans, and keep it in a cool place.

Fine anchovies, 12; butter, 3/4 lb.; cayenne, small 1/2 saltspoonful; nutmeg and mace, each more than twice as much; rose pink (if used), 1/2 teaspoonful.

This proportion differs from potted anchovies only in the larger proportion of butter mixed with the fish, and the milder seasoning of spice. It will assist to form an elegant dish if made into pats, and stamped with a tasteful impression, then placed alternately with pats of lobster-butter, and decorated with light foliage. It is generally eaten with much relish when carefully compounded, and makes excellent sandwiches. To convert it into a good fish sauce, mix two or three ounces of it with a teaspoonful of flour and a few spoonsful of cold water, or of pale veal stock, and keep them constantly stirred until they boil. The butter should not be moulded directly it is taken from the mortar, as it is then very soft from the beating. It should be placed until it is firm in a very cool place or over ice, when it can be done conveniently.

LOBSTER BUTTER.

Pound to the smoothest possible paste the coral of one or two fresh hen lobsters, mix with it about an equal proportion of fresh firm butter, and a moderate seasoning of mace and cayenne, with a little salt if needed. Let the whole be thoroughly blended, and set it aside in a cool larder, or place it over ice until it is sufficiently firm to be made into pats. Serve it garnished with curled parsley, or with any light foliage which will contrast well with its brilliant colour. The coral may be rubbed through a fine sieve before it is put into the mortar, and will then require but little pounding.

An excellent preparation is produced by mingling equal proportions of lobster and of anchovy butter in the mortar, or one-third of the anchovy with two of lobster: to this some of the white flesh of the latter can be added to give another variety, after it has been prepared by the receipt for boudirettes, Chapter III.

TRUFFLED BUTTER (AND TRUFFLES POTTED IN BUTTER.)

(For the breakfast or luncheon table.)

Cut up a pound of sweet fresh butter, and dissolve it gently over a clear fire; take off the scum which will gather thickly upon it, and when it has simmered for three or four minutes, draw it from the fire, and let it stand until all the buttermilk has subsided; pour it softly from this upon six ounces of ready-pared sound French truffles, cut into small, but rather thick, slices, and laid into a delicately clean enamelled saucepan; add a full seasoning of freshly pounded mace and fine cayenne, a small saltspoonful of salt, and half a not large nutmeg. When the butter has become quite cold, proceed to heat the truffles slowly, shaking the saucepan often briskly round, and stew them as gently as possible for twenty minutes, or longer should they not then be very tender. If allowed to heat, and to boil quickly, they will become hard, and the preparation, as regards the truffles, will be a comparative failure. Lift them with a spoon into quite dry earthen or china pans, and pour the butter on them; or add to them sufficient of it only to cover them well and to exclude the air, and pot the remainder of the butter apart: it will be finely flavoured, and may be eaten by delicate persons to whom the truffle itself would be injurious. It may also be used in compounding savoury sauces, and for moistening small croustades before they are fried or baked. The truffles themselves will remain good for months when thus prepared, if kept free from damp; and in flavour they will be found excellent. The parings taken from them will also impart a very agreeable savour to the butter, and will serve extremely well for it for immediate use. They will also be valuable as additions to gravies or to soups.

We should observe, that the juice which will have exuded from the truffles in the stewing will cause the preparation to become mouldy, or otherwise injure it, if it be put into the pans either with them or with the butter. The truffles must be well drained from it when they are taken from the saucepan, and the butter must remain undisturbed for a few minutes, when it can be poured clear from the juice, which will have subsided to the bottom of the pan. We have given here the result of our first experiment, which we found on further trial to answer perfectly.

ENGLISH SALADS.

The herbs and vegetables for a salad cannot be too freshly gathered; they should be carefully cleared from insects and washed with scrupulous nicety; they are better when not prepared until near the time of sending them to table, and should not be sauced until the instant before they are served. Tender lettuces, of which the stems should be cut off, and the outer leaves be stripped away, mustard and cress, young radishes, and occasionally chives or small green onions (when the taste of a party is in favour of these last) are the usual ingredients of summer salads. (In early spring, as we have stated in another chapter, the young white leaves of the dandelion will supply a very wholesome and excellent salad, of which the slight bitterness is to many persons as agreeable as that of the endive.) Half-grown cucumbers sliced thin, and mixed with them, are a favourite addition with many persons. In England it is customary to cut the lettuces extremely fine; the French, who object to the flavour of the knife, which they fancy this mode imparts, break them small instead. Young celery alone, sliced and dressed with a rich salad mixture, is excellent: it is still in some families served thus always with roast pheasants.

Beet-root, baked or boiled, blanched endive, small salad-herbs which are easily raised at any time of the year, celery, and hardy lettuces, with any ready-dressed vegetable, will supply salads through the winter. Cucumber vinegar is an agreeable addition to these.

FRENCH SALAD.

In winter this is made principally of beautifully-blanched endive, washed delicately clean and broken into small branches with the fingers, then taken from the water and shaken dry in a basket of peculiar form, appropriated to the purpose,[62] or in a fine cloth; then arranged in the salad bowl, and strewed with herbs (tarragon generally, when in season) minced small: the dressing is not added until just before the salad is eaten. In summer, young lettuces are substituted for the endive, and intermixed with a variety of herbs, some of which are not generally cultivated in England.

62.  Salad-baskets are also to be found in many good English kitchens, but they are not in such general use here as on the continent.

FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.

Stir a saltspoonful of salt and half as much pepper into a large spoonful of oil, and when the salt is dissolved, mix with them four additional spoonsful of oil, and pour the whole over the salad; let it be well turned, and then add a couple of spoonsful of tarragon vinegar; mix the whole thoroughly, and serve it without delay. The salad should not be dressed in this way until the instant before it is wanted for table: the proportions of salt and pepper can be increased at pleasure, and common or cucumber vinegar may be substituted for the tarragon, which, however, is more frequently used in France than any other.

Salt, 1 spoonful: pepper, 1/2 as much; oil, 5 saladspoonsful; tarragon, or other vinegar, 2 spoonsful.

DES CERNEAUX, OR WALNUT SALAD.

This is a common summer salad in France, where the growth of walnuts is generally abundant, but is not much served in England; though the sweet flavour of the just-formed nut is very agreeable. Take the walnuts when a pin will pierce them easily, pare them down to the kernels, and toss them gently, just before they are served, in a French or English salad-dressing (the former would generally be preferred we think), and turn them into the salad-bowl for table.

SUFFOLK SALAD.

Fill a salad-bowl from half to three parts full with very tender lettuces shred small, minced lean of ham, and hard-boiled eggs, or their yolks only also minced, placed in alternate layers; dress the mixture with English salad sauce, but do not pour it into the bowl until the instant of serving. A portion of cold chicken (or veal), cut in thin slices about the size of a shilling, may be added when convenient; the ham and eggs also may be sliced instead of being minced, and the whole neatly arranged in a chain or otherwise round the inside of the bowl.

YORKSHIRE PLOUGHMAN’S SALAD.

Mix treacle and vinegar, in the proportion of one tablespoonful of the first to two of the latter; add a little black pepper, and eat the sauce with lettuces shred small (with an intermixture of young onions when they are liked).

AN EXCELLENT SALAD OF YOUNG VEGETABLES.

Pare off the coarse, fibrous parts from four or five artichoke bottoms, boiled quite tender, well drained, and freed carefully from the insides; cut them into quarters, and lay them into the salad-bowl; arrange over them some cold new potatoes and young carrots sliced moderately thin, strew minced tarragon, chervil, or any other herbs which may be better liked, thickly over the surface, and sauce the salad with an English or French dressing just before it is sent to table. Very young French beans cut into short lozenge-shaped lengths, or asparagus points, can be added to this dish at pleasure; or small tufts of cauliflower may be placed round it. When these additions are made, the herbs are better omitted: a little of the liquor of pickled Indian mangoes may be advantageously mixed with the sauce for this salad, or in lieu of it some chili vinegar or cayenne pepper. The Dutch or American sauce of the previous pages would also make an appropriate dressing for it.

SORREL SALAD.

(To serve with Lamb-cutlets, Veal cutlets, or Roast Lamb.)

This, though a very agreeable and refreshing salad, is not to be recommended when there is the slightest tendency to disorder of the system; for the powerful acid of the uncooked sorrel might in that case produce serious consequences.[63]

63.  It should be especially avoided when dysentery, or other diseases of a similar nature, are prevalent. We mention this, because if more general precaution were observed with regard to diet, great suffering would, in many instances, be avoided.

Take from the stems some very young tender sorrel, wash it delicately clean, drain it well, and shake it dry in a salad-basket, or in a soft cloth held by the four corners; arrange it lightly in the bowl, and at the instant of serving, sauce it simply with the preceding French dressing of oil with a small portion of vinegar, or with a Mayonnaise mixed with chili instead of a milder vinegar. The sorrel may be divided with the fingers and mingled with an equal proportion of very tender lettuces; and, when it is not objected to,[64] mixed tarragon may be strewed thickly upon them. To some tastes a small quantity of green onions or of eschalots would be more agreeable.

64.  The peculiar flavour of this fine aromatic herb is less generally relished in England than in many other countries; but when it is not disliked it may be used with great advantage in our cookery: it is easily cultivated, and quite deserves a nook in every kitchen-garden.

LOBSTER SALAD.

First, prepare a sauce with the coral of a hen lobster, pounded and rubbed through a sieve, and very gradually mixed with a good mayonnaise, remoulade, or English salad-dressing of the present chapter. Next, half fill the bowl or more with small salad herbs, or with young lettuces finely shred, and arrange upon them spirally, or in a chain, alternate slices of the flesh of a large lobster, or of two middling-sized ones, and some hard-boiled eggs cut thin and evenly. Leave a space in the centre, pour in the sauce, heap lightly some small salad on the top, and send the dish immediately to table. The coral of a second lobster may be intermingled with the white flesh of the fish with very good effect; and the forced eggs of page 137 may be placed at intervals round the edge of the bowl as a decoration, and an excellent accompaniment as well. Another mode of making the salad is to lay the split bodies of the fish round the bowl, and the claws, freed carefully from the shells, arranged high in the centre on the herbs; the soft part of the bodies may be mixed with the sauce when it is liked; but the colour will not then be good.

Obs.—The addition of cucumber in ribbons (see Author’s Receipt, Chapter XVII.), laid lightly round it, is always an agreeable one to lobster salad: they may previously be sauced, and then drained from their dressing a little.

A more wholesome and safer mode of imparting the flavour of the cucumber, however, is to use for the salad vinegar in which that vegetable has been steeped for some hours after having been cut up small.

AN EXCELLENT HERRING SALAD.

(Swedish Receipt.)

Soak, skin, split, and bone a large Norway herring; lay the two sides along a dish, and slice them slopingly (or substitute for this one or two fine Dutch herrings). Arrange in symmetrical order over the fish slices of cooked beet-root, cold boiled potatoes, and pickled gherkins; then add one or two sharp apples chopped small, and the yolks and whites, separately minced, of some hard-boiled eggs, with any thing else which may be at hand, and may serve to vary tastefully the decoration of the dish. Place these ingredients in small heaps of well-contrasting colours on the surface of the salad, and lay a border of curled celery leaves or parsley round the bowl. For sauce, rub the yolk of one hard-boiled egg quite smooth with some salt; to this add oil and vinegar as for an ordinary salad, and dilute the whole with some thick sour cream.

Obs.—“Sour cream” is an ingredient not much approved by English taste, but it enters largely into German cookery, and into that of Sweden, and of other northern countries also. About half a pound of cold beef cut into small thin shavings or collops, is often added to a herring-salad abroad: it may be either of simply roasted or boiled, or of salted and smoked meat.

TARTAR SAUCE.

(Sauce à la Tartare).

Add to the preceding remoulade, or to any other sauce of the same nature, a teaspoonful or more of made mustard, one of finely-minced shalots, one of parsley or tarragon, and one of capers or of pickled gherkins, with a rather high seasoning of cayenne, and some salt if needed. The tartar-mustard of the previous chapter, or good French mustard, is to be preferred to English for this sauce, which is usually made very pungent, and for which any ingredients can be used to the taste which will serve to render it so. Tarragon vinegar, minced tarragon and eschalots, and plenty of oil, are used for it in France, in conjunction with the yolks of one or two eggs, and chopped capers, or gherkins, to which olives are sometimes added.

SHRIMP CHATNEY.

(Mauritian Receipt.)

Shell with care a quart of fresh shrimps (for the mode of doing this see Chapter III.), mince them quickly upon a dish with a large sharp knife, then turn them into a mortar and pound them to a perfectly smooth paste. Next, mix with them very gradually two or three spoonsful of salad oil of the best quality, some young green chilies chopped small (or when these cannot be procured, some good cayenne pepper as a substitute), some young onions finely minced, a little salt if required, and as much vinegar or strained lemon juice as will render the sauce pleasantly acid. Half a saltspoonful or more of powdered ginger is sometimes used in addition to the above ingredients.

When they are preferred, two or three small shalots minced and well bruised with the shrimps may be substituted for the onions.[65] The proportion of oil should be double that of the vinegar used; but in this preparation, as in all others of the same nature, individual taste must regulate the proportion of the most powerful condiments which enter into its composition. All chatneys should be quite thick, almost of the consistence of mashed turnips, or stewed tomatas, or stiff bread sauce. They are served with curries; and also with steaks, cutlets, cold meat, and fish. In the East the native cooks crush to a pulp upon a stone slab, and with a stone roller, the ingredients which we direct to be pounded. On occasion the fish might be merely minced. When beaten to a paste, they should be well separated with a fork as the chilies, &c., are added.

65.  The sauce can be made without either when their flavour is not liked.

CAPSICUMB CHATNEY.

Slice transversely and very thin, into a bowl or pan of spring water, some large tender green capsicumbs, and let them steep for an hour or two; then drain, and dress with oil, vinegar, and salt.

For Tomata and Sausage Chatney, see Chapter of Foreign Cookery.

CHAPTER VII.

Store Sauces.

Mushrooms, Eschalots, and Tomatas.

OBSERVATIONS.

A well selected stock of these will always prove a convenient resource in simple cookery for giving colour and flavour to soups, gravies, and made dishes; but unless the consumption be considerable, they should not be over-abundantly provided, as few of them are improved by age, and many are altogether spoiled by long keeping, especially if they be not perfectly secured from the air by sound corking, or if stored where there is the slightest degree of damp. To prevent loss, they should be examined at short intervals, and at the first appearance of mould or fermentation, such as will bear the process should be reboiled, and put, when again quite cold, into clean bottles; a precaution often especially needful for mushroom catsup when it has been made in a wet season, or when it has not been very carefully prepared. This, with essence of anchovies, walnut catsup, Harvey’s sauce, cavice, lemon-pickle, chili, cucumber, and eschalot vinegar, will be all that is commonly needed for family use; but there is at the present day an extensive choice of these stores on sale, some of which are excellent.

CHETNEY SAUCE.

(Bengal Receipt).

Garlic.

Stone four ounces of good raisins, and chop them small, with half a pound of crabs, sour apples, unripe bullaces,[66] or of any other hard acid fruit. Take four ounces of coarse brown sugar, two of powdered ginger, and the same quantity of salt and cayenne pepper; grind these ingredients separately in a mortar, as fine as possible; then pound the fruits well, and mix the spices with them, one by one; beat them together until they are perfectly blended, and add gradually as much vinegar as will make the sauce of the consistence of thick cream. Put it into bottles with an ounce of garlic, divided into cloves, and cork it tightly.

66.  Hard acid fruit in a crude state is, we think, an ingredient not much to be recommended; and it is always better to deviate a little from “an approved receipt” than to endanger health by the use of ingredients of a questionable character. Gooseberries or tomatas, after being subjected to a moderate degree of heat, might be eaten with far less hazard.

Stoned raisins, 4 oz.; crabs, or other acid fruit, 1/2 lb.; coarse sugar, 4 oz.; powdered ginger, 2 oz.; salt, 2 oz.; cayenne pepper, 2 oz.; garlic, 1 oz.; vinegar, enough to dilute it properly.

Obs.—This favourite oriental sauce is compounded in a great variety of ways; but some kind of acid fruit is essential to it. The mango is used in India; here gooseberries, while still hard and green, are sometimes used for it; and ripe red chilies and tomatas are mixed with the other ingredients. The sauce keeps better if it be exposed to a gentle degree of heat for a week or two, either by the side of the fire, or in a full southern aspect in the sun: the heat of a very slow oven, in which it might be left for a night, would probably have a still better effect. In this case it must be put into a jar or bottles, and well secured from the air. Half a pound of gooseberries, or of these and tamarinds from the shell, and green apples mixed, and the same weight of salt, stoned raisins, brown sugar, powdered ginger, chilies, and garlic, with a pint and a half of vinegar, and the juice of three large lemons, will make another genuine Bengal chetney.

FINE MUSHROOM CATSUP.

One of the very best and most useful of store sauces is good home-made mushroom catsup, which, if really well prepared, imparts an agreeable flavour to any soup or sauce with which it is mingled, and at the same time heightens the colour without imparting the “bitter sweetness” which the burnt sugar used as “browning” in clumsy cookery so often does. The catsup ought, in fact, to be rather the pure essence of mushrooms, made with so much salt and spice only as are required to preserve it for a year or longer, than the compound of mushroom-juice, anchovies, shalots, allspice, and other condiments of which it is commonly composed, especially for sale.

Directions to be observed in making and for keeping the catsup.—Let the mushrooms be collected when the weather is dry, for if gathered during, or immediately after rain, the catsup made with them will not keep well.

Cut off the stalk-ends to which the earth adheres, before the mushrooms are broken up, and throw them aside, as they should never be used for the catsup. Reject also such of the flaps as are worm-eaten or decayed. Those which are too stale for use may be detected by the smell, which is very offensive.

When the mushroom first opens, the underside is of a fine pale salmon colour; this changes soon to a sort of ashy-brown, which deepens almost to black as the mushroom passes from its maturity to a state of decay. As it yields a greater abundance of juice when it is fully ripe, it is usually taken in that state for these sauces; but catsup of fine and delicate flavour, though somewhat pale in colour, can be made even of mushroom-buttons if they be sliced up small and turned often in the liquid which will be speedily drawn from them by the application of salt; a rather smaller proportion of which should be mingled with them than is directed for the following receipt.

Every thing used in preparing the catsup should be delicately clean and very dry. The bottles in which it is stored, after being dried in the usual way, should be laid into a cool oven for an hour or two before they are filled, to ensure their being free from the slightest degree of moisture, but they must be quite cold before the catsup is poured into them. If the corks be sealed so as to exclude the air effectually, or if well-cleansed bits of bladder first dried, and then rendered flexible with a little spirit of any kind (spirits of wine is convenient for such purposes), be tied closely over them, and the bottles can be kept in a cool place free from damp, the catsup will remain good for a long time.

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

Receipt:—Break up small into a deep earthen pan, two gallons of large ripe mushroom-flaps, and strew amongst them three quarters of a pound of salt, reserving the larger portion of it for the top. Let them remain two days, and stir them gently with a wooden spoon often during the time; then turn them into a large stewpan or enamelled saucepan, heat them slowly, and simmer them for fifteen or twenty minutes. Strain the liquor closely from them without pressure; strain and measure it; put it into a very clean stewpan, and boil it quickly until it is reduced nearly half. For every quart allow half an ounce of black peppercorns and a drachm of mace; or, instead of the pepper, a quarter of a teaspoonful (ten grains) of good cayenne; pour the catsup into a clean jug or jar, lay a folded cloth over it, and keep it in a cool place until the following day; pour it gently from the sediment, put into small bottles, cork them well, and rosin them down. A teaspoonful of salad oil may be poured into each bottle before it is corked, the better to exclude the air from the catsup.

Mushrooms, 2 gallons; salt, 3/4 lb.; to macerate three or four days. To each quart of liquor, 1/2 oz. black pepper, or quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne; and 1 drachm of mace: to be reduced nearly half.

Obs. 1.—Catsup made thus will not be too salt, nor will the flavour of the mushrooms be overpowered by that of the spices; of which a larger quantity, and a greater variety, can be used at will.

We can, however, answer for the excellence of the present receipt from long experience of it. When the catsup is boiled down quite early in the day, it may be bottled the same night: it is necessary only, that it should perfectly cold before this is done.

Obs. 2.—When the mushrooms are crushed, or mashed, as some authors direct, the liquor will necessarily be very thick; it is better to proceed as above, and then to boil the liquor which may afterwards be extracted from the mushrooms by pressure, with the sediment of the catsup, and sufficient cloves, pepper, allspice, and ginger, to flavour it highly: this second catsup will be found very useful to mix with common thickened sauces, hashes, and stews.

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

(Another Receipt.)

Break a peck of large mushrooms into a deep earthenpan; strew three quarters of a pound of salt amongst them, and set them into a very cool oven for one night, with a fold of cloth or paper over them. The following day strain off the liquor, measure, and boil it for fifteen minutes; then, for each quart, add an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of ginger, and two large blades of mace, and let it boil fast for twenty minutes longer. When thoroughly cold, put it into bottles, cork them well, and dip the necks into melted bottle-cement, or seal them so as to secure the catsup from the air.

Mushrooms, 1 peck; salt, 3/4 lb. Liquor to boil, 15 minutes. To each quart, 1/2 oz. black pepper; 1/4 oz. allspice; 1/2 oz. ginger; 2 blades mace: 20 minutes.

DOUBLE MUSHROOM CATSUP.

On a gallon of fresh mushrooms strew three ounces of salt, and pour to them a quart of ready-made catsup (that which is a year old will do if it be perfectly good); keep these stirred occasionally for four days, then drain the liquor very dry from the mushrooms, and boil it for fifteen minutes with an ounce of whole black pepper, a drachm of mace, an ounce of ginger, and three or four grains only of cayenne.

Mushrooms, 1 gallon; salt, 3 oz.; mushroom catsup, 1 quart; peppercorns, 1 oz.; mace, 1 drachm; ginger, 1 oz.; cayenne, 3 to 4 grains: 15 minutes.

COMPOUND, OR COOK’S CATSUP.

Take a pint and a half of mushroom catsup when it is first made, and ready boiled (the double is best for the purpose), simmer in it for five minutes an ounce of small eschalots nicely peeled; add to these half a pint of walnut catsup, and a wineglassful of cayenne vinegar, or of chili vinegar; give the whole one boil, pour it out, and when cold, bottle it with the eschalots in it.

Mushroom catsup, 1-1/2 pint; eschalots, 1 oz.; walnut catsup or pickle, 1/2 pint; cayenne or chili vinegar, 1 wineglassful.

WALNUT CATSUP.

The vinegar in which walnuts have been pickled, when they have remained in it a year, will generally answer all the purposes for which this catsup is required, particularly if it be drained from them and boiled for a few minutes, with a little additional spice, and a few eschalots; but where the vinegar is objected to, it may be made either by boiling the expressed juice of young walnuts for an hour, with six ounces of fine anchovies, four ounces of eschalots, half an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, and a drachm of mace, to every quart; or as follows:—

Pound in a mortar a hundred young walnuts, strewing amongst them as they are done half a pound of salt; then pour to them a quart of strong vinegar, and let them stand until they have become quite black, keeping them stirred three or four times a day; next add a quart of strong old beer, and boil the whole together for ten minutes; strain it, and let it remain until the next day; then pour it off clear from the sediment, add to it half a pound of anchovies, one large head of garlic bruised, half an ounce of nutmegs bruised, the same quantity of cloves and black pepper, and two drachms of mace: boil these together for half an hour, and the following day bottle and cork the catsup well. It will keep for a dozen years. Many persons add to it, before it is boiled, a bottle of port wine; and others recommend a large bunch of sweet herbs to be put in with the spice.

1st Recipe. Expressed juice of walnuts, 1 quart; anchovies, 6 oz.; eschalots, 4 oz.; black pepper, 1/2 oz.; cloves, 1/4 oz.; mace, 1 drachm: 1 hour.

2nd. Walnuts, 100; salt, 1/2 lb.; vinegar, 1 quart; to stand till black. Strong beer, 1 quart; anchovies, 1/2 lb.; 1 head garlic; nutmegs, 1/2 oz.; cloves, 1/2 oz.; black pepper, 1/2 oz.; mace, 2 drachms: 1/2 hour.

ANOTHER GOOD RECEIPT FOR WALNUT CATSUP.

Beat a hundred green walnuts in a large marble mortar until they are thoroughly bruised and broken, and then put them into a stone jar, with half a pound of eschalots, cut in slices, one head of garlic, half a pound of salt, and two quarts of vinegar; let them stand for ten days, and stir them night and morning. Strain off the liquor, and boil it for half an hour with the addition of two ounces of anchovies, two of whole pepper, half an ounce of cloves, and two drachms of mace; skim it well, strain it off, and when it is quite cold pour it gently from the sediment (which may be reserved for flavouring common sauces) into small dry bottles, secure it from air by sound corking, and store it in a dry place.

Walnuts, 100; eschalots, 1/2 lb.; garlic, 1 head, salt, 1/2 lb.; vinegar, 2 quarts: 10 days. Anchovies, 2 oz.; black pepper, 2 oz.; mace, 1/4 oz.; cloves, 1/2 oz.: 1/2 hour.

LEMON PICKLE OR CATSUP.

Either divide six small lemons into quarters, remove all the pips that are in sight, and strew three ounces of salt upon them, and keep them turned in it for a week, or, merely make deep incisions in them, and proceed as directed for pickled lemons. When they have stood in a warm place for eight days, put into a stone jar two ounces and a half of finely-scraped horseradish, and two ounces of eschalots, or one and a half of garlic; to these add the lemons with all their liquor, and pour on them a pint and a half of boiling vinegar in which half an ounce of bruised ginger, a quarter of an ounce of whole white pepper, and two blades of mace have been simmered for two or three minutes. The pickle will be fit for use in two or three months, but may stand four or five before it is strained off.

Small lemons, 6; salt, 3 oz.: 8 days. Horseradish, 2-1/2 oz.; eschalots, 2 oz., or garlic 1-1/2 oz.; vinegar, 1-1/2 pint; ginger, 1/2 oz.; whole white pepper, 1/4 oz.; mace, 2 blades: 3 to 6 months.

Obs.—These highly-flavoured compounds are still much in favour with a certain class of housekeepers; but they belong exclusively to English cookery: they are altogether opposed to the practice of the French cuisine, as well as to that of other foreign countries.

PONTAC CATSUP FOR FISH.

On one pint of ripe elderberries stripped from the stalks, pour three quarters of a pint of boiling vinegar, and let it stand in a cool oven all night; the next day strain off the liquid without pressure, and boil it for five minutes with a half-teaspoonful of salt, a small race of ginger, a blade of mace, forty corns of pepper, twelve cloves and four eschalots. Bottle it with the spice when it is quite cold.

BOTTLED TOMATAS, OR TOMATA CATSUP.

Cut half a peck of ripe tomatas into quarters; lay them on dishes and sprinkle over them half a pound of salt. The next day drain the juice from them through a hair-sieve into a stewpan, and boil it for half an hour with three dozens of small capsicums and half a pound of eschalots; then add the tomatas, which should be ready pulped through a strainer. Boil the whole for thirty minutes longer; have some clean wide-necked bottles, kept warm by the fire, fill them with the catsup while it is quite hot; cork, and dip the necks into melted bottle-resin or cement.

Tomatas, 1/2 peck; salt, 1/2 lb.; capsicums, 3 doz.; eschalots, 1/2 lb.: 1/2 hour. After pulp is added, 1/2 hour.

Obs.—This receipt has been kindly contributed by a person who makes by it every year large quantities of the catsup, which is considered excellent: for sauce it must be mixed with gravy or melted butter. We have not ourselves been able to make trial of it.

EPICUREAN SAUCE.

Mix well, by shaking them in a bottle, a wineglassful of Indian soy, half a pint of chili vinegar, half a pint of walnut catsup, and a pint and a half of the best mushroom catsup. These proportions make an excellent sauce, either to mix with melted butter, and to serve with fish, or to add to different kinds of gravy; but they can be varied, or added to, at pleasure.

Indian soy, 1 wineglassful; chili vinegar, 1/2 pint; walnut catsup, 1/2 pint; mushroom catsup, 1-1/2 pint.

TARRAGON VINEGAR.

Gather the tarragon just before it blossoms, which will be late in July, or early in August; strip it from the larger stalks, and put it into small stone jars or wide-necked bottles, and in doing this twist some of the branches so as to bruise the leaves and wring them asunder; then pour in sufficient distilled or very pale vinegar to cover the tarragon; let it infuse for two months, or more: it will take no harm even by standing all the winter. When it is poured off, strain it very clear, put it into small dry bottles, and cork them well. Sweet basil vinegar is made in exactly the same way, but it should not be left on the leaves more than three weeks. The jars or bottles should be filled to the neck with the tarragon before the vinegar is added: its flavour is strong and peculiar, but to many tastes very agreeable. It imparts quite a foreign character to the dishes for which it is used.

GREEN MINT VINEGAR.

Slightly chop, or bruise, freshly-gathered mint, and put it into bottles; fill them nearly to the necks, and add vinegar as for tarragon: in forty days, strain it off, and bottle it for use. The mint itself, ready minced for sauce, will keep well in vinegar, though the colour will not be very good. The young leaves stripped from the stems, should be used for this preparation.

CUCUMBER VINEGAR.

First wipe, and then, without paring, slice into a stone jar some young and quickly-grown cucumbers; pour on them as much boiling vinegar as will cover them well, with a teaspoonful of salt, and two-thirds as much of peppercorns to the pint and a half of vinegar: it may remain on them for a month, or even for two, if well defended from the air: it should then be strained, allowed to settle, and poured quite clear into small dry bottles, which should be well corked. A mild onion can be intermixed with the cucumbers, when its flavour is considered an improvement.

CELERY VINEGAR.

Throw into a pint and a half of ready boiling vinegar a few grains of cayenne, or half an ounce of peppercorns, a large saltspoonful of salt, and a pint of the white part of the roots and stems of some fine fresh celery sliced up thin: let it boil for two or three minutes, turn it into a stone jar, and secure it well from the air as soon as it is cold. It may be strained off and bottled in three or four weeks, but may remain as many months in the jar without injury.

ESCHALOT, OR GARLIC VINEGAR.

On from four to six ounces of eschalots or on two of garlic peeled and bruised, pour a quart of the best vinegar; stop the jar or bottle close, and in a fortnight or three weeks the vinegar may be strained off for use: a few drops will give a sufficient flavour to a sauce, or to a tureen of gravy.

Eschalots, 4 to 6 oz.; or, garlic, 2 to 4 oz.; vinegar, 1 quart: 15 to 21 days.

Obs.—These roots may be used in smaller or in larger proportion, as a slighter or a stronger flavour of them is desired, and may remain longer in the vinegar without any detriment to it.

ESCHALOT WINE.

This is a far more useful preparation even than the preceding one, since it can be used to impart the flavour of the eschalot to dishes for which acid is not required. Peel and slice, or bruise, four ounces of eschalots, put them into a bottle, and add to them a pint of sherry; in a fortnight pour off the wine, and should it not be strongly flavoured with the eschalots, steep in it two ounces more, for another fortnight; a half-teaspoonful of cayenne may be added at first. The bottle should be shaken occasionally, while the eschalots are infusing, but should remain undisturbed for the last two or three days, that the wine may be clear when it is poured off to bottle for keeping. Sweet-basil wine is made by steeping the fresh leaves of the herb in wine, from ten to fifteen days.

Eschalots, 4 oz.; sherry, 1 pint: 15 days, or more.

HORSERADISH VINEGAR.

On four ounces of young and freshly-scraped horseradish pour a quart of boiling vinegar, and cover it down closely: it will be ready for use in three or four days, but may remain for weeks, or months, before the vinegar is poured off. An ounce of minced eschalot may be substituted for one of the horseradish, if the flavour be liked.

CAYENNE VINEGAR.

Put from a quarter to half an ounce of the best cayenne pepper into a bottle, and pour on it a pint of pale vinegar. Cork it closely, and shake it well every two or three days. It may remain any length of time before it is poured off, but will very soon be ready for use.

Good cayenne pepper, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; vinegar, 1 pint: infuse from 2 weeks to 12 months.

LEMON BRANDY.

(For flavouring sweet dishes.)

Fill any sized wide-necked bottle lightly with the very thin rinds of fresh lemons, and cover them with good brandy; let them remain for a fortnight or three weeks only, then strain off the spirit and keep it well corked for use: a few apricot-kernels blanched and infused with the lemon-rind will give it an agreeable flavour.

DRIED MUSHROOMS.

Peel small, sound, freshly-gathered flaps, cut off the stems, and scrape out the fur entirely; then arrange the mushrooms singly on tins or dishes, and dry them as gradually as possible in a gentle oven. Put them, when they are done, into tin canisters, and store them where they will be secure from damp. French cooks give them a single boil in water, from which they then are well drained, and dried, as usual. When wanted for table, they should be put into cold gravy, slowly heated, and gently simmered, until they are tender.

MUSHROOM POWDER.

When the mushrooms have been prepared with great nicety, and dried, as in the foregoing receipt, pound them to a very fine powder; sift it, and put it immediately into small and perfectly dry bottles; cork and seal them without delay, for if the powder be long exposed to the air, so as to imbibe any humidity, or if it be not well secured from it in the bottles, it will be likely to become putrid: much of that which is purchased, even at the best Italian warehouses, is found to be so, and, as it is sold at a very high price, it is a great economy, as well as a surer plan, to have it carefully prepared at home. It is an exceedingly useful store, and an excellent addition to many dishes and sauces. To insure its being good, the mushrooms should be gathered in dry weather, and if any addition of spices be made to the powder (some persons mix with it a seasoning of mace and cayenne), they should be put into the oven for a while before they are used: but even these precautions will not be sufficient, unless the powder be stored in a very dry place after it is bottled. A teaspoonful of it, with a quarter of a pint of strong veal gravy, as much cream, and a small dessertspoonful of flour, will make a good béchamel or white sauce.

EXCELLENT POTATO FLOUR, OR ARROW-ROOT.

(Fecule de Pommes de terre.)

Grate into a large vessel full of cold water, six pounds of sound mealy potatoes, and stir them well together. In six hours pour off the water, and add fresh, stirring the mixture well; repeat this process every three or four hours during the day, change the water at night, and the next morning pour it off; put two or three quarts more to the potatoes, and turn them directly into a hair-sieve, set over a pan to receive the flour, which may then be washed through the sieve, by pouring water to it. Let it settle in the pan, drain off the water, spread the potato-sediment on dishes, dry it in a slow oven, sift it, and put it into bottles or jars, and cork or cover them closely. The flour thus made will be beautifully white, and perfectly flavourless. It will remain good for years.

Obs.—This admirable farina, or starch of potatoes, is now much more widely known and vended in England than it was some years since. It can at present be procured at most foreign warehouses and general grocers’; but we would recommend its being home-made by the directions given above, which we have had closely followed for many years with the best possible success.

TO MAKE FLOUR OF RICE.

Take any quantity of whole rice, wash it thoroughly, changing the water several times; drain and press it in a cloth, then spread it on a dish, and dry it perfectly; beat it in a mortar to a smooth powder, and sift it through a fine sieve. When used to thicken soup or sauces, mix it with a small quantity of cold water or of broth, and pour it to them while they are boiling.

This flour, when newly made, is of much purer flavour than any usually prepared for sale.

POWDER OF SAVOURY HERBS.

All herbs which are to be dried for storing should be gathered in fine weather; cleared from dirt and decayed leaves; and dried quickly, but without scorching, in a Dutch oven before the fire, or in any other that is not too much heated. The leaves should then be stripped from the stalks, pounded, sifted, and closely corked in separate bottles; or several kinds may be mixed and pounded together for the convenience of seasoning in an instant gravies, soups, forcemeats, and made dishes: appropriate spices, celery-seed, and dried lemon-peel, all in fine powder, can be added to the herbs.

TARTAR MUSTARD.

Rub four ounces of the best Durham mustard very smooth with a full teaspoonful of salt, and wet it by degrees with strong horseradish vinegar, a dessertspoonful of cayenne, or of chili vinegar, and one or two of tarragon vinegar when its flavour is not disliked. A quarter of a pint of vinegar poured boiling upon an ounce of scraped horseradish, and left for one night, closely covered, will be ready to use for this mustard, but it will be better for standing two or three days.

Durham mustard, 4 oz.; salt, large teaspoonful; cayenne, or chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful; horseradish vinegar, third of pint.

Obs.—This is an exceedingly pungent compound, but has many approvers.

ANOTHER TARTAR MUSTARD.

Mix the salt and mustard smoothly, with equal parts of horseradish vinegar, and of chili vinegar. Mustard made by these receipts will keep long, if put into jars or bottles and closely corked. Cucumber, eschalot, or any other of the flavoured vinegars for which we have given receipts, may in turn be used for it, and mushroom, gherkin, or India pickle-liquor, likewise.

CHAPTER VIII.

Forcemeats.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Weighing Machine.

The coarse and unpalatable compounds so constantly met with under the denomination of forcemeat, even at tables otherwise tolerably well served, show with how little attention they are commonly prepared.

Many very indifferent cooks pique themselves on never doing any thing by rule, and the consequence of their throwing together at random (or “by guess” as they call it) the ingredients which ought to be proportioned with exceeding exactness is repeated failure in all they attempt to do. Long experience, and a very correct eye may, it is true, enable a person to dispense with weights and measures without hazarding the success of their operations; but it is an experiment which the learner will do better to avoid.

A large marble or Wedgwood mortar is indispensable in making all the finer kinds of forcemeat; and equally so indeed for many other purposes in cookery; no kitchen, therefore, should be without one;[67] and for whatever preparation it may be used, the pounding should be continued with patience and perseverance until not a single lump or fibre be perceptible in the mass of the articles beaten together. This particularly applies to potted meats, which should resemble the smoothest paste; as well as to several varieties of forcemeat. Of these last it should be observed, that such as are made by the French method (see quenelles page 163) are the most appropriate for an elegant dinner, either to serve in soups or to fill boned poultry of any kind; but when their exceeding lightness, which to foreigners constitutes one of their great excellences, is objected to, it may be remedied by substituting dry crumbs of bread for the panada, and pounding a small quantity of the lean of a boiled ham, with the other ingredients: however, this should be done only for the balls.

67.  Two or three mortars, varying in size, should be in every household where it is expected that the cookery should be well conducted: they are often required also for many other domestic purposes, yet it is not unusual to find both these and scales, weights, and measures of every kind, altogether wanting in English kitchens.

No particular herb or spice should be allowed to predominate powerfully in these compositions; but the whole of the seasonings should be taken in such quantity only as will produce an agreeable savour when they are blended together.

NO. 1. GOOD COMMON FORCEMEAT, FOR ROAST VEAL, TURKEYS, &C.

Grate very lightly into exceedingly fine crumbs, four ounces of the inside of a stale loaf, and mix thoroughly with it, a quarter of an ounce of lemon-rind pared as thin as possible, and minced extremely small; the same quantity of savoury herbs, of which two-thirds should be parsley, and one-third thyme, likewise finely minced, a little grated nutmeg, a half teaspoonful of salt, and as much common pepper or cayenne as will season the forcemeat sufficiently. Break into these, two ounces of good butter in very small bits, add the unbeaten yolk of one egg, and with the fingers work the whole well together until it is smoothly mixed. It is usual to chop the lemon-rind, but we prefer it lightly grated on a fine grater. It should always be fresh for the purpose, or it will be likely to impart a very unpleasant flavour to the forcemeat. Half the rind of a moderate-sized lemon will be sufficient for this quantity; which for a large turkey must be increased one-half.

Bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; lemon-rind, 1/4 oz. (or grated rind of 1/2 lemon); mixed savoury herbs, minced, 1/4 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; pepper, 1/4 to 1/3 of teaspoonful; butter, 2 oz.; yolk, 1 egg.

Obs.—This, to our taste, is a much nicer and more delicate forcemeat than that which is made with suet, and we would recommend it for trial in preference. Any variety of herb or spice may be used to give it flavour, and a little minced onion or eschalot can be added to it also; but these last do not appear to us suited to the meats for which the forcemeat is more particularly intended. Half an ounce of the butter may be omitted on ordinary occasions: and a portion of marjoram or of sweet basil may take the place of part of the thyme and parsley when preferred to them.

NO. 2. ANOTHER GOOD COMMON FORCEMEAT.

Add to four ounces of bread-crumbs two of the lean of a boiled ham, quite free from sinew, and very finely minced; two of good butter, a dessertspoonful of herbs, chopped small, some lemon-grate, nutmeg, a little salt, a good seasoning of pepper or cayenne and one whole egg, or the yolks of two. This may be fried in balls of moderate size, for five minutes, to serve with roast veal, or it may be put into the joint in the usual way.

Bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; lean of ham, 2 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; minced herbs, 1 dessertspoonful; lemon-grate, 1 teaspoonful; nutmeg, mace, and cayenne, together, 1 small teaspoonful; little salt; 1 whole egg, or yolks of 2.

NO. 3. SUPERIOR SUET FORCEMEAT, FOR VEAL, TURKEYS, &C.

Mix well together six ounces of fine stale crumbs, with an equal weight of beef-kidney suet, chopped extremely small, a large dessertspoonful of parsley, mixed with a little lemon-thyme, a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter one of cayenne, and a saltspoonful or rather more of mace and nutmeg together; work these up with three unbeaten egg-yolks, and three teaspoonsful of milk; then put the forcemeat into a large mortar, and pound it perfectly smooth. Take it out, and let it remain in a cool place for half an hour at least before it is used; then roll it into balls, if it be wanted to serve in that form; flour and fry them gently from seven to eight minutes, and dry them well before they are dished.

Beef suet finely minced, 6 oz.; bread-crumbs, 6 oz.; parsley, mixed with little thyme, 1 large dessertspoonful; salt, 1 teaspoonful; mace, large saltspoonful, and one fourth as much cayenne; unbeaten egg-yolks, 3; milk, 3 teaspoonsful: well pounded. Fried in balls, 7 to 8 minutes, or poached, 6 to 7.

Obs.—The finely grated rind of half a lemon can be added to this forcemeat at pleasure; and for some purposes a morsel of garlic, or three or four minced eschalots, may be mixed with it before it is put into the mortar.

NO. 4. COMMON SUET FORCEMEAT.

Beef suet is commonly used in the composition of this kind of forcemeat, but we think that veal-kidney suet, when it could be obtained, would have a better effect; though the reader will easily comprehend that it is scarcely possible for us to have every variety of every receipt which we insert put to the test; in some cases we are compelled merely to suggest what appear to us likely to be improvements. Strip carefully every morsel of skin from the suet, and mince it small; to six ounces add eight of bread-crumbs, with the same proportion of herbs, spice, salt, and lemon-peel, as in the foregoing receipt, and a couple of whole eggs, which should be very slightly beaten, after the specks have been taken out with the point of a small fork. Should more liquid be required, the yolk of another egg, or a spoonful or two of milk, may be used. Half this quantity will be sufficient for a small joint of veal, or for a dozen balls, which, when it is more convenient to serve it in that form, may be fried or browned beneath the roast, and then dished round it, though this last is not a very refined mode of dressing them. From eight to ten minutes will fry them well.

NO. 5. OYSTER FORCEMEAT.

Open carefully a dozen of fine plump natives, take off the beards, strain their liquor, and rinse the oysters in it. Grate four ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf into fine light crumbs, mince the oysters but not too small, and mix them with the bread; add an ounce and a half of good butter broken into minute bits, the grated rind of half a small lemon, a small saltspoonful of pounded mace, some cayenne, a little salt, and a large teaspoonful of parsley. Mingle these ingredients well, and work them together with the unbeaten yolk of one egg and a little of the oyster liquor, the remainder of which can be added to the sauce which usually accompanies this forcemeat.

Oysters, 1 dozen; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; rind 1/2 small lemon; mace, 1 saltspoonful; some cayenne and salt; minced parsley, 1 large teaspoonful; yolk 1 egg; oyster-liquor, 1 dessertspoonful: rolled into balls, and fried from 7 to 10 minutes, or poached from 5 to 6 minutes.

Obs. 1.—In this preparation the flavour of the oysters should prevail entirely over that of all the other ingredients which are mixed with them.

Obs. 2.—The oyster-sausages of Chapter III. will serve excellently for forcemeat also.

NO. 6. A FINER OYSTER FORCEMEAT.

Pound the preceding forcemeat to the smoothest paste, with the addition only of half an ounce of fresh butter, should it be sufficiently dry to allow of it. It is remarkably good when thus prepared, and may be poached or fried in balls for soups or made dishes, or used to fill boned fowls, or the breasts of boiled turkeys with equally good effect.

NO. 7. MUSHROOM FORCEMEAT.

Cut closely off the stems of some small, just-opened mushrooms, peel them, and take out the fur. Dissolve an ounce and a half of good butter in a saucepan, throw them into it with a little cayenne and a slight sprinkling of mace, and stew them softly, keeping them well shaken, from five to seven minutes; then turn them into a dish, spread them over it, and raise one end, that the liquid may drain from them. When they are quite cold, mince, and then mix them with four ounces of fine bread-crumbs, an ounce and a half of good butter, and part of that in which they were stewed should the forcemeat appear too moist to admit of the whole, as the yolk of one egg, at the least, must be added, to bind the ingredients together; strew in a saltspoonful of salt, a third as much of cayenne, and about the same quantity of mace and nutmeg, with a teaspoonful of grated lemon-rind. The seasonings must be rather sparingly used, that the flavour of the mushrooms may not be overpowered by them. Mix the whole thoroughly with the unbeaten yolk of one egg, or of two, and use the forcemeat poached in small balls for soup, or fried and served in the dish with roast fowls, or round minced veal; or to fill boiled fowls, partridges, or turkeys.

Small mushrooms, peeled and trimmed, 4 oz.; butter 1-1/2 oz.; slight sprinkling mace and cayenne: 5 to 7 minutes. Mushrooms minced; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz. (with part of that used in the stewing); salt, 1 saltspoonful; third as much of cayenne, of mace, and of nutmeg; grated lemon-rind, 1 teaspoonful; yolk of 1 or 2 eggs. In balls, poached, 5 to 6 minutes; fried, 6 to 8 minutes.

Obs.—This, like most other forcemeats, is improved by being well beaten in a large mortar after it is entirely mixed.

NO. 8. FORCEMEAT FOR HARE.

The first receipt of this chapter will be found very good for hare without any variation; but the liver boiled for three minutes and finely minced, may be added to it when it is thought an improvement: another half ounce of butter, and a small portion more of egg will then be required. A couple of ounces of rasped bacon, and a glass of port-wine, are sometimes recommended for this forcemeat, but we think it is better without them, especially when slices of bacon are used to line the hare. A flavouring of minced onion or eschalot can be added when the taste is in its favour; or the forcemeat No. 3 may be substituted for this altogether.

NO. 9. ONION AND SAGE STUFFING, FOR PORK, GEESE, OR DUCKS.

Boil three large onions from ten to fifteen minutes, press the water from them, chop them small, and mix with them an equal quantity of bread-crumbs, a heaped tablespoonful of minced sage, an ounce of butter, a half saltspoonful of pepper, and twice as much of salt, and put them into the body of the goose; part of the liver boiled for two or three minutes and shred fine, is sometimes added to these, and the whole is bound together with the yolk of one egg or two; but they are quite as frequently served without. The onions can be used raw, when their very strong flavour is not objected to, but the odour of the whole dish will then be somewhat overpowering.

Large onions, 3; boiled 20 to 30 minutes. Sage, 2 to 3 dessertspoonsful (or 1/2 to 3/4 oz.); butter, 1 oz.; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, 1 teaspoonful.

The body of a goose is sometimes entirely filled with mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper only; or mixed with a small quantity of eschalot, onion, or herb-seasonings.

NO. 10. MR. COOKE’S FORCEMEAT FOR DUCKS OR GEESE.

Two parts of chopped onion, two parts of bread-crumbs, three of butter, one of pounded sage, and a seasoning of pepper and salt. This receipt we have not proved.

NO. 11. FORCEMEAT BALLS FOR MOCK TURTLE SOUPS.

The French forcemeat, No. 17 of the present Chapter, is the most refined and appropriate forcemeat to serve in mock turtle, but a more solid and highly seasoned one is usually added to it in this country. In very common cookery the ingredients are merely chopped small and mixed together with a moistening of eggs; but when the trouble of pounding and blending them properly is objected to, we would recommend the common veal forcemeat No. 1, in preference; as the undressed veal and suet, when merely minced, do not produce a good effect. Four ounces each of these, with an ounce or so of the lean of a boiled ham, and three ounces of bread-crumbs, a large dessertspoonful of minced parsley, a small portion of thyme or marjoram, a saltspoonful of white pepper, twice as much or more of salt, a little cayenne, half a small nutmeg, and a couple of eggs, well mixed with a fork first to separate the meat, and after the moistening is added, with the fingers, then rolled into balls, and boiled in a little soup for twelve minutes, is the manner in which it is prepared; but the reader will find the following receipt very superior to it:—Rasp, that is to say, scrape with a knife clear from the fibre, four ounces of veal, which should be cut into thick slices, and taken quite free from skin and fat; chop it fine, and then pound it as smoothly as possible in a large mortar, with three ounces of the rasped fat of an unboiled ham of good flavour or of the finest bacon, and one of butter, two ounces of bread-crumbs, a tablespoonful of the lean of a boiled ham, should it be at hand, a good seasoning of cayenne, nutmeg, and mace, mixed together, a heaped dessertspoonful of minced herbs, and the yolks of two eggs; poach a small bit when it is mixed, and add any further seasoning it may require; and when it is of good flavour, roll it into balls of moderate size, and boil them twelve minutes; then drain and drop them into the soup. No forcemeat should be boiled in the soup itself, on account of the fat which would escape from it in the process; a little stock should be reserved for the purpose.

Very common:—Lean of neck of veal, 4 oz.; beef-kidney suet, 4 oz., both finely chopped; bread-crumbs, 3 oz.; minced parsley, large dessertspoonful; thyme or marjoram, small teaspoonful; lean of boiled ham, 1 to 2 oz.; white pepper, 1 saltspoonful; salt, twice as much; 1/2 small nutmeg; eggs, 2: in balls, 12 minutes.

Better forcemeat:—Lean veal rasped, 4 oz.; fat of unboiled ham, or finest bacon, 3 oz; butter, 1 oz.; bread-crumbs, 2 oz.; lean of boiled ham, minced, 1 large tablespoonful; minced herbs, 1 heaped dessertspoonful; full seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, mixed; yolks of eggs, 2: 12 minutes.

NO. 12. EGG BALLS.

Boil four or five new-laid eggs for ten or twelve minutes, and lay them into fresh water until they are cold. Take out the yolks, and pound them smoothly with the beaten yolk of one raw egg, or more, if required; add a little salt and cayenne, roll the mixture into balls the size of marbles, and boil them for two minutes. Half a teaspoonful of flour is sometimes worked up with the eggs.

Hard yolks of eggs, 4; 1 raw; little salt and cayenne: 2 minutes.

NO. 13. BRAIN CAKES.

Wash and soak the brains well in cold water, and afterwards in hot; free them from the skin and large fibres, and boil them in water, slightly salted, from two to three minutes; beat them up with a teaspoonful of sage very finely chopped, or with equal parts of sage and parsley, half a teaspoonful or rather more of salt, half as much mace, a little white pepper or cayenne, and one egg; drop them in small cakes into the pan, and fry them in butter a fine light brown: two yolks of eggs will make the cakes more delicate than the white and yolk of one. A teaspoonful of flour and a little lemon-grate are sometimes added.

NO. 14. ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR BRAIN CAKES.

Boil the brains in a little good veal gravy very gently for ten minutes; drain them on a sieve, and when cold cut them into thick dice; dip them into beaten yolk of egg, and then into very fine bread-crumbs, mixed with salt, pounded spices, and fine herbs minced extremely small; fry them of a light brown, drain and dry them well, and drop them into the soup or hash after it is dished. When broth or gravy is not at hand, the brains may be boiled in water.

NO. 15. CHESTNUT FORCEMEAT.

Strip the outer skin from some fine sound chestnuts, then throw them into a saucepan of hot water, and set them over the fire for a minute or two, when they may easily be blanched like almonds. Put them into cold water as they are peeled. Dry them in a cloth, and weigh them. Stew six ounces of them very gently from fifteen to twenty minutes, in just sufficient strong veal gravy to cover them. Take them up, drain them on a sieve, and when cold pound them perfectly smooth with half their weight of the nicest bacon rasped clear from all rust or fibre, or with an equal quantity of fresh butter, two ounces of dry bread-crumbs, a small teaspoonful of grated lemon rind, one of salt, half as much mace or nutmeg, a moderate quantity of cayenne, and the unbeaten yolks of two or of three eggs. This mixture makes most excellent forcemeat cakes, which must be moulded with a knife, a spoon, or the fingers, dipped in flour; more should be dredged over, and pressed upon them, and they should be slowly fried from ten to fifteen minutes.

Chestnuts, 6 oz.; veal gravy, 1/3 of a pint: 15 to 20 minutes. Bacon or butter, 3 oz.; bread-crumbs, 2 oz.; lemon-peel and salt, 1 teaspoonful each.

NO. 16. AN EXCELLENT FRENCH FORCEMEAT.

Take six ounces of veal free from fat and skin, cut it into dice and put it into a saucepan with two ounces of butter, a large teaspoonful of parsley finely minced, half as much thyme, salt, and grated lemon-rind, and a sufficient seasoning of nutmeg, cayenne, and mace, to flavour it pleasantly. Stew these very gently from twelve to fifteen minutes, then lift out the veal and put into the saucepan two ounces of bread-crumbs; let them simmer until they have absorbed the gravy yielded by the meat; keep them stirred until they are as dry as possible; beat the yolk of an egg to them while they are hot, and set them aside to cool. Mince and pound the veal, add the bread to it as soon as it is cold, beat them well together, with an ounce and a half of fresh butter, and two of the finest bacon, quite freed from rust, and scraped clear of skin and fibre; put to them the yolks of two small eggs and mix them well; then take the forcemeat from the mortar, and set it in a very cool place until it is wanted for use. Veal, 6 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; minced parsley, 1 teaspoonful; thyme, salt, and lemon-peel, each 1/2 teaspoonful; little nutmeg, cayenne, and mace: 12 to 15 minutes. Bread-crumbs, 2 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; rasped bacon, 2 oz.; yolk of eggs, 2 to 3.

Obs.—When this forcemeat is intended to fill boned fowls, the livers of two or three boiled for four minutes, or stewed with the veal for the same length of time, then minced and pounded with the other ingredients, will be found a great improvement; and, if mushrooms can be procured, two tablespoonsful of them chopped small, should be stewed and beaten with it also. A small portion of the best end of the neck will afford the quantity of lean required for this receipt, and the remains of it will make excellent gravy.

NO. 17. FRENCH FORCEMEAT CALLED QUENELLES.

This is a peculiarly light and delicate kind of forcemeat, which by good French cooks is compounded with exceeding care. It is served abroad in a variety of forms, and is made of very finely-grained white veal, or of the undressed flesh of poultry, or of rabbits, rasped quite free from sinew, then chopped and pounded to the finest paste, first by itself, and afterwards with an equal quantity of boiled calf’s udder or of butter, and of panada, which is but another name for bread soaked in cream or gravy and then dried over the fire until it forms a sort of paste. As the three ingredients should be equal in volume, not in weight, they are each rolled into a separate ball before they are mixed, that their size may be determined by the eye. When the fat of the fillet of veal (which in England is not often divided for sale, as it is in France) is not to be procured, a rather less proportion of butter will serve in its stead. The following will be found a very good, and not a troublesome receipt for veal forcemeat of this kind.

Rasp quite clear from sinew, after the fat and skin have been entirely cleared from it, four ounces of the finest veal; chop, and pound it well: if it be carefully prepared there will be no necessity for passing it through a sieve, but this should otherwise be done. Soak in a small saucepan two ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf in a little rich but pale veal gravy or white sauce; then press and drain as much as possible of the moisture from it, and stir it over a gentle fire until it is as dry as it will become without burning: it will adhere in a ball to the spoon, and leave the saucepan quite dry when it is sufficiently done. Mix with it, while it is still hot, the yolk of one egg, and when it is quite cold, add it to the veal with three ounces of very fresh butter, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, half as much cayenne, a little nutmeg, and a saltspoonful of salt. When these are perfectly beaten and well blended together, add another whole egg after having merely taken out the specks: the mixture will then be ready for use, and may be moulded into balls, or small thick oval shapes a little flattened, and poached in soup or gravy from ten to fifteen minutes. These quenelles may be served by themselves in a rich sauce as a corner dish, or in conjunction with other things. They may likewise be first poached for three or four minutes, and left on a drainer to become cold; then dipped into egg and the finest bread-crumbs and fried, and served as croquettes.

NO. 18. FORCEMEAT FOR RAISED AND OTHER COLD PIES.

The very finest sausage-meat highly seasoned, and made with an equal proportion of fat and lean, is an exceedingly good forcemeat for veal, chicken, rabbit, and some few other pies; savoury herbs minced small may be added to heighten its flavour if it be intended for immediate eating; but it will not then remain good quite so long, unless they should have been previously dried. To prevent its being too dry, two or three spoonsful of cold water should be mixed with it before it is put into the pie. One pound of lean veal to one and a quarter of the pork-fat is sometimes used, and smoothly pounded with a high seasoning of spices, herbs, and eschalots, or garlic; but we cannot recommend the introduction of these last into pies unless they are especially ordered: mushrooms or truffles may be mixed with any kind of forcemeat with far better effect. Equal parts of veal and fat bacon, will also make a good forcemeat for pies, if chopped finely, and well spiced.

Sausage-meat, well seasoned. Or: veal, 1 lb.; pork-fat, 1-1/2 lb.; salt, 1 oz.; pepper, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; fine herbs, spice, &c., as in forcemeat No. 1, or sausage-meat. Or: veal and bacon, equal weight, seasoned in the same way.

PANADA.

This is the name given to the soaked bread which is mixed with the French forcemeats, and which renders them so peculiarly delicate. Pour on the crumb of two or three rolls, or on that of any other very light bread, as much good boiling broth, milk, or cream, as will cover and moisten it well; put a plate over to keep in the steam, and let it remain for half an hour, or more; then drain off the superfluous liquid, and squeeze the panada dry by wringing it in a thin cloth into a ball; put it into a small stewpan or enamelled saucepan, and pour to it as much only of rich white sauce or of gravy as it can easily absorb, and stir it constantly with a wooden spoon over a clear and gentle fire, until it forms a very dry paste and adheres in a mass to the spoon; when it is in this state, mix with it thoroughly the unbeaten yolks of two fresh eggs, which will give it firmness, and set it aside to become quite cold before it is put into the mortar. The best French cooks give the highest degree of savour that they can to this panada, and add no other seasoning to the forcemeats of which it forms a part: it is used in an equal proportion with the meat, and with the calf’s udder or butter of which they are composed, as we have shown in the preceding receipt for quenelles. They stew slowly for the purpose, a small bit of lean ham, two or three minced eschalots, a bay-leaf, a few mushrooms, a little parsley, a clove or two, and a small blade of mace in a little good butter, and when they are sufficiently browned, pour to them as much broth or gravy as will be needed for the panada; and when this has simmered from twenty to thirty minutes, so as to have acquired the proper flavour without being much reduced, they strain it over, and boil it into the bread. The common course of cookery in an English kitchen does not often require the practice of the greater niceties and refinements of the art: and trouble (of which the French appear to be perfectly regardless when the excellence of their preparations is concerned) is there in general so much thought of, and exclaimed against, that a more summary process would probably meet with a better chance of success.

A quicker and rougher mode of making the panada, and indeed the forcemeat altogether, is to pour strong veal broth or gravy upon it, and after it has soaked, to boil it dry, without any addition except that of a little fine spice, lemon-grate, or any other favourite English seasoning. Minced herbs, salt, cayenne, and mace, may be beaten with the meat, to which a small portion of well-pounded ham may likewise be added at pleasure.

CHAPTER IX.

Boiling, Roasting, etc.

A thorough practical knowledge of the processes described in the present chapter will form a really good cook far sooner and more completely than any array of mere receipts can do, however minutely they may be explained; they should, therefore, be well studied and comprehended, before any attempt is made to compound difficult dishes; and the principles of roasting, boiling, stewing, and baking, at least, ought to be clearly understood by every servant who undertakes the duties of what is called plain cookery, which is, in fact, of more importance than any other, because it is in almost universal request in this country for families of moderate fortune; and any person who excels in it will easily become expert in what are considered the higher branches of the art.

In a vast number of English kitchens the cookery fails from the hurried manner in which it is conducted, and from the excess of heat produced by the enormous coal-fires constantly kept burning there at all seasons, without which ignorant servants imagine no dinner can be properly cooked; a mistake which cannot fail quickly to become apparent to the most inexperienced reader who will give a patient trial to the slow methods of cooking recommended in the following pages. These will be found to combine exceeding economy in the consumption of fuel, with a degree of superiority in the food prepared by them, which would scarcely be credited unless it were put to the test. In stewing, and baking in closely covered vessels, this superiority is more particularly remarkable; and we would willingly give a far larger space to so useful a subject than our limits will permit: we are, however, compelled, though with regret, to restrict ourselves to such details as we have now supplied in various parts of this volume.

TO BOIL MEAT.

Iron Boiler.

Boiling, in the usual English manner, is the least advantageous of all modes of cooking meat, because a large portion of the nourishment which it contains is withdrawn from it in the process, and it is usually very insipid in flavour.

We have already given, at the commencement of Chapter I., the substance of Liebeg’s instructions for scientific boiling; but for the convenience of the reader, we will briefly recapitulate them here, with such additions as our own observation has enabled us to supply.

In making soup, gravy, or savoury jelly of any kind, the principal object is to extract from the meat used for the preparation, all the nutriment and savour which it can be made to yield. This is effected by putting it into cold water, and heating it very slowly indeed, and then keeping it for a specified time at the point of boiling, or letting it simmer in the gentlest manner; but when the meat itself is required for food, its nutritious juices must be prevented from escaping as much as possible, which is done by plunging it into fast boiling water for a few minutes, to contract the pores of the surface (to harden it, in fact), and adding immediately afterwards as much cold water as will reduce the whole to a moderate temperature. Part of the water should then be taken away, as meat should never be cooked in a larger quantity than is absolutely needed to keep it entirely covered until it is ready to serve; for this reason it should be always boiled in a vessel nearly of its own size.

Large joints should be neatly trimmed, washed extremely clean, and skewered or bound firmly into good shape, when they are of a nature to require it; brought to boil over a moderate fire, and simmered until they are done, the scum being carefully and entirely cleared from the surface of the water, as it gathers there, which will be principally from within a few minutes of its beginning to boil, and during a few minutes afterwards. If not thoroughly skimmed off at the proper time, it will sink, and adhere to the joint, giving it a very uninviting appearance.

Pickled or salted meat requires longer boiling than fresh; and that which is smoked and dried longer still: this last should always be laid into cold water, slowly heated, and if, from any circumstances, time cannot have been allowed for soaking it properly and there is a probability of its being too salt when served, it should be brought very softly to boil in a large quantity of water, which should in part be changed as soon as it becomes quite briny, for as much more that is ready boiling.

It is customary to lay rounds of beef, and other large joints, upon a fish-plate, or to throw some wooden skewers under them, to prevent their sticking to the vessel in which they are cooked; and it is as well to take the precaution, though unless they be placed over a very fierce fire, they cannot be in danger of this. The time allowed for them is about the same as for roasting, from fifteen to twenty minutes to the pound. For cooking rounds of beef, and other ponderous joints, a pan of this form is very convenient.

Large Stock-pot.

By means of two almost equally expensive preparations, called a poêlée, and a blanc, the insipidity which results from boiling meat or vegetables in water only may be removed, and the whiteness of either will be better preserved. Turkeys, fowls, sweetbreads, calf’s brains, cauliflowers, and artichoke bottoms, are the articles for which the poêlée and the blanc are more especially used in expensive foreign cookery: the reader will judge by the following receipts how far they are admissible into that of the economist.

POÊLÉE.

Cut into large dice two pounds of lean veal, and two pounds of fat bacon cured without saltpetre, two large carrots, and two onions; to these add half a pound of fresh butter, put the whole into a stewpan, and stir it with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until the veal is very white, and the bacon is partially melted; then pour to them three pints of clear boiling broth or water, throw in four cloves, a small bunch or two of thyme and parsley, a bay-leaf, and a few corns of white pepper; boil these gently for an hour and a half, then strain the poêlée through a fine sieve, and set it by in a cool place. Use it instead of water for boiling the various articles we have already named: it will answer for several in succession, and will remain good for many days. Some cooks order a pound of butter in addition to the bacon, and others substitute beef-suet in part for this last.

A BLANC.

Put into a stewpan one pound of fat bacon rasped, one pound of beef-suet cut small, and one pound of butter; the strained juice of two lemons, a couple of bay-leaves, three cloves, three carrots, and three onions divided into dice, and less than half a pint of water. Simmer these gently, keeping them often stirred, until the fat is well melted, and the water has evaporated; then pour in rather more than will be required for the dish which is to be cooked in the blanc; boil it softly until all the ingredients have given out their full flavour, skim it well, add salt if needed, and strain it off for use. A calf’s head is often boiled in this.

ROASTING.

Bottle Jack.[68]

68.  The bottle-jack is wound up like a watch, by means of a key, and turns very regularly until it has run down.

Roasting, which is quite the favourite mode of dressing meat in this country, and one in which the English are thought to excel, requires unremitting attention on the part of the cook rather than any great exertion of skill. Large kitchens are usually fitted with a smoke-jack, by means of which several spits if needful can be kept turning at the same time; but in small establishments, a roaster which allows of some economy in point of fuel is more commonly used. That shown in the print is of very advantageous construction in this respect, as a joint may be cooked in it with a comparatively small fire, the heat being strongly reflected from the screen upon the meat: in consequence of this, it should never be placed very close to the grate, as the surface of the joint would then become dry and hard.

Improved Spring Jack.

A more convenient form of roaster, with a spit placed horizontally, and turned by means of a wheel and chain, of which the movement is regulated by a spring contained in a box at the top, is of the same economical order as the one above; but eaters of very delicate taste urge, as an objection to this apparatus, as well as to that shown above, that the meat cooked in either, derives from the tin by which it is closely surrounded, the flavour of baked meat. The bottle-jack, with a common roasting-screen containing shelves for warming plates and dishes, and other purposes, is not liable to the same objection. To roast well with it (or with a smoke-jack), make up a fire proportioned in width and height to the joint which is to be roasted, and which it should surpass in dimensions every way, by two or three inches. Place some moderate-sized lumps of coal on the top; let it be free from smoke and ashes in front; and so compactly arranged that it will neither require to be disturbed, nor supplied with fresh fuel, for some considerable time after the meat is laid down. Spit or suspend the joint, and place it very far from the fire at first; keep it constantly basted, and when it is two parts done, move it nearer to the fire that it may be properly browned; but guard carefully against its being burned. A few minutes before it is taken from the spit, sprinkle a little fine salt over it, baste it thoroughly with its own dripping, or with butter, and dredge it with flour: as soon as the froth is well risen, dish, and serve the meat. Or, to avoid the necessity of the frothing which is often greatly objected to on account of the raw taste retained by the flour, dredge the roast liberally soon after it is first laid to the fire; the flour will then form a savoury incrustation upon it, and assist to prevent the escape of its juices. When meat or poultry is wrapped in buttered paper it must not be floured until this is removed, which should be fifteen or twenty minutes before either is served.

Baron Liebeg, whom we have already so often quoted, says, that roasting should be conducted on the same principle as boiling; and that sufficient heat should be applied to the surface of the meat at once, to contract the pores and prevent the escape of its juices; and that the remainder of the process should be slow. When a joint is first laid to the fire, therefore, it should be placed for twenty minutes or half an hour sufficiently near to effect this, without any part, and the fat especially, being allowed to acquire more than the slightest colour, and then drawn back and finished by the directions at the end of this section.

The speedy application of very hot basting-fat to every part of the meat, would probably be attended with the same result as subjecting it to the full action of the fire. It is certain that roasts which are constantly and carefully basted are always very superior to those which are neglected in this respect.

Remember always to draw back the dripping-pan when the fire has to be stirred, or when fresh coals are thrown on, that the cinders and ashes may not fall into it.

When meat is very lean, a slice of butter, or a small quantity of clarified dripping, should be melted in the pan to baste it with at first; though the use of the latter should be scrupulously avoided for poultry, or any delicate meats, as the flavour it imparts is to many persons peculiarly objectionable. Let the spit be kept bright and clean, and wipe it before the meat is put on; balance the joint well upon it, that it may turn steadily, and if needful secure it with screw-skewers. A cradle spit, which is so constructed that it contains the meat in a sort of framework, instead of passing through it, may be often very advantageously used instead of an ordinary one, as the perforation of the meat by this last must always occasion some escape of the juices; and it is, moreover, particularly to be objected to in roasting joints or poultry which have been boned and filled with forcemeat. The cradle spit (for which see “Turkey Boned and Forced,” Chapter XIV.) is much better suited to these, as well as to a sucking pig, sturgeon, salmon, and other large fish; but it is not very commonly to be found in our kitchens, many of which exhibit a singular scantiness of the conveniences which assist the labours of the cook.

For heavy and substantial joints, a quarter of an hour is generally allowed for every pound of meat; and with a sound fire and frequent basting, will be found sufficient when the process is conducted in the usual manner; but by the slow method, as we shall designate it, almost double the time will be required. Pork, veal, and lamb, should always be well roasted; but many eaters prefer mutton and beef rather underdressed, though some persons have a strong objection to the sight even of any meat that is not thoroughly cooked.

Joints which are thin in proportion to their weight, require less of the fire than thick and solid ones. Ribs of beef, for example, will be sooner ready to serve than an equal weight of the rump, round, or sirloin; and the neck or shoulder of mutton, or spare rib of pork, than the leg.

When to preserve the succulence of the meat is more an object than to economise fuel, beef and mutton should be laid at twice the usual distance from the fire, after the surface has been thoroughly heated, as directed by Liebeg, and allowed to remain so until they are perfectly heated through; the roasting, so managed, will of course be slow; and from three hours and a half to four hours will be necessary to cook by this method a leg of mutton of ordinary size, for which two hours would amply suffice in a common way; but the flesh will be remarkably tender, and the flow of gravy from it most abundant. It should not be drawn near the fire until within the last half or three quarters of an hour, and should then be placed only so close as to brown it properly. No kind of roast indeed should at any time be allowed to take colour too quickly; it should be heated gradually, and kept at least at a moderate distance from the fire until it is nearly done, or the outside will be dry and hard, if not burned while the inside will be only half cooked.

STEAMING.

Saucepan with Steamer.

The application of steam to culinary purposes is becoming very general in our kitchens at the present day, especially in those of large establishments, many of which are furnished with apparatus for its use, so admirably constructed and so complete, that the process may be conducted on an extensive scale with very slight trouble to the cook; and with the further advantage of being at a distance from the fire, the steam being conveyed by pipes to the vessels intended to receive it. Fish, butcher’s meat, poultry, vegetables, puddings, maccaroni, and rice, are all subjected to its action, instead of being immersed in water, as in simple boiling: and the result is to many persons perfectly satisfactory; though, as there is a difference of opinion amongst first-rate cooks, with regard to the comparative merits of the two modes of dressing meat and fish, a trial should be given to the steaming on a small scale, before any great expenses are incurred for it, which may be done easily with a common saucepan or boiler, fitted like the one shown above, with a simple tin steamer. Servants not accustomed to the use of these, should be warned against boiling in the vessel itself any thing of coarse or strong flavour, when the article steamed is of a delicate nature. The vapour from soup containing onions, for example, would have a very bad effect on a sweet pudding, and on many other dishes. Care and discretion, therefore, must be exercised on this point. By means of a kettle fixed over it, the steam of the boiler in the kitchen range may be made available for cooking, in the way shown by the engraving, which exhibits fish, potatoes, and their sauces, all in progress of steaming at the same time.[69] The limits of our work do not permit us to enter at much length upon this subject, but the reader who may wish to understand the nature of steam, and the various modes in which its agency may be applied to domestic purposes, will do well to consult Mr. Webster’s excellent work,[70] of which we have more particularly spoken in another chapter. The quite inexperienced cook may require to be told, that any article of food which is to be cooked by steam in a saucepan of the form exhibited in the first of the engravings of this section, must be prepared exactly as for boiling, and laid into the sort of strainer affixed to the top of the saucepan; and that water, or some other kind of liquid, must be put into the saucepan itself, and kept boiling in it, the lid being first closely fixed into the steamer.

69.  Invented and sold by Mr. Evans, Fish-street Hill.

70.  Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy. Longman & Co.

71.  Securely closed with a band of paste passed round the edges, and pressed tightly over them. The lute or luting used for chemical apparatus is of a kind of clay.

STEWING.

Hot Plate.

This very wholesome, convenient, and economical mode of cookery is by no means so well understood nor profited by in England as on the continent, where its advantages are fully appreciated. So very small a quantity of fuel is necessary to sustain the gentle degree of ebullition which it requires, that this alone would recommend it to the careful housekeeper; but if the process be skilfully conducted, meat softly stoved or stewed, in close-shutting, or luted[71] vessels, is in every respect equal, if not superior, to that which is roasted; but it must be simmered only, and in the gentlest possible manner, or, instead of being tender, nutritious, and highly palatable, it will be dry, hard, and indigestible. The common cooking stoves in this country, as they have hitherto been constructed, have rendered the exact regulation of heat which stewing requires rather difficult; and the smoke and blaze of a large coal fire are very unfavourable to many other modes of cookery as well. The French have generally the advantage of the embers and ashes of the wood which is their ordinary fuel; and they have always, in addition, a stove of this construction, in which charcoal or braise (for explanation of this word, see remarks on preserving, Chapter XXV.) only is burned; and upon which their stewpans can, when there is occasion, be left uncovered, without the danger of their contents being spoiled, which there generally is with us. It is true, that of late great improvements have been made in our own stoves; and the hot plates, or hearths with which the kitchens of good houses are always furnished, are admirably adapted to the simmering system; but when the cook has not the convenience of one, the stewpans must be placed on trivets high above the fire, and be constantly watched, and moved, as occasion may require, nearer to, or further from the flame.

No copper vessels from which the inner tinning is in the slightest degree worn away should be used ever for this or for any other kind of cookery; or not health only, but life itself, may be endangered by them.[72] We have ourselves seen a dish of acid fruit which had been boiled without sugar in a copper pan from which the tin lining was half worn away, coated with verdigris after it had become cold; and from the careless habits of the person who had prepared it, the chances were greatly in favour of its being served to a family afterwards, if it had not been accidentally discovered. Salt acts upon the copper in the same manner as acids: vegetables, too, from the portion of the latter which they contain, have the same injurious effect, and the greatest danger results from allowing preparations containing any of these to become cold (or cool) in the stewpan, in contact with the exposed part of the copper in the inside. Thick, well-tinned iron saucepans will answer for all the ordinary purposes of common English cookery, even for stewing, provided they have tightly-fitting lids to prevent the escape of the steam; but the copper ones are of more convenient form, and better adapted to a superior order of cookery.

72.  Sugar, being an antidote to the poisonous effects of verdigris, should be plentifully taken, dissolved in water, so as to form a syrup, by persons who may unfortunately have partaken of any dish into which this dangerous ingredient has entered.

The enamelled stewpans and saucepans which have now very much superseded the old-fashioned metal ones for many purposes, are peculiarly suited, from the nicety of the composition with which they are lined, and which resembles earthenware, to the preparation of fine preserves, and all very delicate compounds, as well as to those of milk, and of various articles of diet adapted to invalids; and they possess the further advantage of being easily kept beautifully clean. Care should be taken not to allow anything which they may contain to burn to them, which it will quickly do if they be placed flat upon a fierce fire; and when this has once occurred, there will always be some difficulty in preventing their contents from adhering to them where they have been burned. They should always be filled with water immediately after being emptied, and will then merely require to be well washed and rinsed with more boiling water; but when they have been neglected, strong soda and water should be boiled in them for a few minutes.

BROILING.

A Conjuror.

Broiling is the best possible mode of cooking and of preserving the flavour of several kinds of fish, amongst which we may specify mackerel and whitings; it is also incomparably superior to frying for steaks and cutlets, especially of beef and mutton; and it is far better adapted also, to the preparation of food for invalids; but it should be carefully done, for if the heat be too fierce, the outside of the meat will be scorched and hardened so as to render it uneatable; and if, on the contrary, it be too gentle, the gravy will be drawn out, and yet the flesh will remain so entirely without firmness, as to be unpleasant eating. A brisk fire, perfectly free from smoke, a very clean gridiron, tender meat, a dish and plates as hot as they can be, and great despatch in sending it to table when done, all are essential to the serving of a good broil. The gridiron should be heated, and rubbed with mutton suet before the meat is laid on, and it should be placed slopingly over the fire, that the fat may run off to the back of the grate, instead of falling on the live coals and smoking the meat; if this precaution should not prevent its making an occasional blaze, lift the gridiron quickly beyond the reach of the smoke, and hold it away until the fire is clear again. Steaks and chops should be turned often, that the juices may be kept in, and that they may be equally done in every part. If, for this purpose, it should be necessary for want of steak-tongs to use a fork, it should be passed through the outer skin or fat of the steak, but never stuck into the lean, as by that means much of the gravy will escape. Most eaters prefer broiled beef or mutton, rather underdressed; but lamb or pork cutlets should always be thoroughly cooked. When a fowl or any other bird is cut asunder before it is broiled, the inside should first be laid to the fire: this should be done with kidneys also. Fish is less dry and of better flavour, as well as less liable to be smoked, if it be wrapped in a thickly buttered sheet of writing paper before it is placed on the gridiron. For the more delicate-skinned kinds, the bars should be rubbed with chalk instead of suet when the paper is omitted. Cutlets, or meats of any other form, when egged and crumbed for broiling, should afterwards be dipped into clarified butter or sprinkled with it plentifully, as the egg-yolk and bread will otherwise form too dry a crust upon it. French cooks season their cutlets both with salt and pepper, and brush a little oil or butter over them to keep them moist; but unless this be done, no seasoning of salt should be given them until they are just ready to be dished: the French method is a very good one. Steaks or cutlets may be quickly cooked with a sheet or two of lighted paper only, in the apparatus shown in the preceding page, and called a conjuror. Lift off the cover and lay in the meat properly seasoned, with a small slice of butter under it, and insert the lighted paper in the aperture shown in the plate; in from eight to ten minutes the meat will be done, and found to be remarkably tender, and very palatable: it must be turned and moved occasionally during the process. This is an especially convenient mode of cooking for persons whose hours of dining are rendered uncertain by the nature of their avocations. For medical men engaged in extensive country practice it has often proved so; and we would especially recommend it to the notice of emigrants, to whom it would often prove invaluable. The part in which the meat is placed is of block tin, and fits closely into the stand, which is of sheet iron. The conjuror from which our design was drawn, was purchased in a country town in Essex, and was exceedingly well made, and very cheap. We find on inquiry that the maker has quitted the place, or we would insert his address.

FRYING.

Sauté Pan.

This is an operation, which, though apparently very simple, requires to be more carefully and skilfully conducted than it commonly is. Its success depends principally on allowing the fat to attain the exact degree of heat which shall give firmness, without too quick browning or scorching, before anything is laid into the pan; for, if this be neglected, the article fried will be saturated with fat, and remain pale and flaccid. When the requisite degree of colour is acquired before the cooking is complete, the pan should be placed high above the fire, that it may be continued slowly to the proper point. Steaks and cutlets should be seasoned with salt and pepper and dredged on both sides lightly with flour before they are laid into the pan, in which they should be often moved and turned that they may be equally done, and that they may not stick nor burn to it. From ten to fifteen minutes will fry them. They should be evenly sliced, about the same thickness as for broiling, and neatly trimmed and divided in the first instance. Lift them into a hot dish when done; pour the fat from the pan, and throw in a small slice of butter; stir to this a large teaspoonful of flour, brown it gently, and pour in by degrees a quarter of a pint of hot broth or water; shake the pan well round, add pepper, salt, and a little good catsup, or any other store sauce which may be preferred to it, and pour the gravy over the steaks: this is the most common mode of saucing and serving them.

Minute directions for fish, vegetables, omlets, and different preparations of batter, are given in their proper places; but we must again observe, that a very small frying pan (scarcely larger than a dinner-plate) is necessary for many of these; and, indeed, the large and thick one suited to meat and fish, and used commonly for them is altogether unfit for nicer purposes.

The sauté-pan, shown in the preceding page, is much used by French cooks instead of a frying-pan; it is more particularly convenient for tossing quickly over the fire small collops, or aught else which requires but little cooking.

All fried dishes, which are not sauced, should be served extremely dry upon a neatly-folded damask cloth: they are best drained upon a sieve reversed placed before the fire.

Wire Basket for Frying.

A wire basket of this form is convenient for frying parsley and other herbs. It must be placed in a pan well filled with fat, and lifted out quickly when the herbs are done: they may likewise be crisped in it over a clear fire, without any fat.

Wire Lining of Frying-pan.

Modern Sauté Pan.

The frying-pans fitted with wire linings that lift in and out of them, which have lately come much into use in good kitchens, are so excellently adapted to save trouble, and so convenient for preparing delicately light patties, croquettes, rissoles, and other dishes of a similar nature, that no cook who is expected to serve them in the best manner should be without one. They should all be arranged upon this wire lining, and plunged together into the boiling fat; and well drained on it when they are lifted out.

BAKING, OR OVEN COOKERY.

Nottingham Jar.

The improved construction of the ovens connected with all modern cooking stoves, gives great facility at the present day for home baking, even in very small establishments; and without this convenience it is impossible for justice to be done to the person who conducts the cookery; as many and great disadvantages attend the sending to a public oven; and it is very discouraging to a servant who has prepared her dishes with nicety and skill, to have them injured by the negligence of other persons. One of the best modes of cooking with which we are acquainted is by means of a jar, resembling in form that shown above, well pasted down, and covered with a fold of thick paper, and then placed in a gentle oven. Rice is most excellent when thus slowly baked with a certain proportion of liquid, either by itself, or mingled with meat, fish, or fruit; but we must reserve for another volume particulars of this little system of slow oven-cookery, in which for some years past we have had numberless experiments made with almost uniform success: it is especially suited to invalids, from preserving the entire amount of nourishment contained in the articles of food dressed by it; and it is to their use that we hope to appropriate it.

American Oven.[73]

73.  We have scarcely done justice in the former editions of this work to these very useful little ovens, which we have found, after long trial, better adapted to some purposes than brick or iron ones, because preparations which require it, (those of Indian corn, for example) can be heated in them more gradually; and when once the management of them is understood, they will answer admirably for delicate sweet puddings, and for cakes, with the advantage of requiring but a very moderate fire.

The oven may be used with advantage for many purposes for which it is not commonly put into requisition. Calves’ feet, covered with a proper proportion of water, may be reduced to a strong jelly if left in it for some hours; the half-head, boned and rolled, will be found excellent eating, if laid, with the bones, into a deep pan and baked quite tender in sufficient broth or water, to keep it covered in every part until done; good soup also may be made in the same way, the usual ingredients being at once added to the meat, with the exception of the vegetables, which will not become tender if put into cold liquid, and should therefore be thrown in after it begins to simmer. Baking is likewise one of the best modes of dressing various kinds of fish: pike and red mullet amongst others. Salmon cut into thick slices, freed from the skin, well seasoned with spice, mixed with salt (and with minced herbs, at pleasure), then arranged evenly in a dish, and covered thickly with crumbs of bread, moistened with clarified butter, as directed in Chapter II., for baked soles, and placed in the oven for about half an hour, will be found very rich and highly flavoured. Part of the middle of the salmon left entire, well cleaned, and thoroughly dried, then seasoned, and securely wrapped in two or three folds of thickly buttered paper, will also prove excellent eating, if gently baked. (This may likewise be roasted in a Dutch oven, either folded in the paper, or left without it, and basted with butter.) Hams, when freshly cured, and not over salted, if neatly trimmed, and covered with a coarse paste, are both more juicy, and of finer flavour baked than boiled. Savoury or pickled beef too, put into a deep pan with a little gravy, and plenty of butter or chopped suet on the top, to prevent the outside from becoming dry; then covered with paste, or with several folds of thick paper, and set into a moderate oven for four or five hours, or even longer, if it be of large weight, is an excellent dish. A goose, a leg of pork, and a sucking pig, if properly attended to while in the oven, are said to be nearly, or quite as good as if roasted; but baking is both an unpalatable and an unprofitable mode of cooking joints of meat in general, though its great convenience to many persons who have but few other facilities for obtaining the luxury of a hot dinner renders it a very common one. It is usual to raise meat from the dish in which it is sent to the oven by placing it, properly skewered, on a stand, so as to allow potatoes or a batter pudding to be baked under it. A few button onions, freed from the outer skin, or three or four large ones, cut in halves, are sometimes put beneath a shoulder of mutton. Two sheets of paper spread separately with a thick layer of butter, clarified marrow, or any other fat, and fastened securely over the outside of a joint, will prevent its being too much dried by the fierce heat of the oven. A few spoonsful of water or gravy should be poured into the dish with potatoes, and a little salt sprinkled over them. A celebrated French cook recommends braising in the oven; that is to say, after the meat has been arranged in the usual manner, and just brought to boil over the fire, that the braising pan, closely stopped, should be put into a moderate oven, for the same length of time as would be required to stew the meat perfectly tender.

BRAISING.

English Braising-pan.

Braising is but a more expensive mode of stewing meat. The following French recipe will explain the process. We would observe, however, that the layers of beef or veal, in which the joint to be braised is imbedded, can afterwards be converted into excellent soup, gravy, or glaze; and that there need, in consequence, be no waste nor any unreasonable degree of expense attending it; but it is a troublesome process, and quite as good a result may be obtained by simmering the meat in very strong gravy. Should the flavour of the bacon be considered an advantage, slices of it can be laid over the article braised, and secured to it with a fillet of tape.

“To braise the inside (or small fillet, as it is called in France) of a sirloin of beef: Raise the fillet clean from the joint; and with a sharp knife strip off all the skin, leaving the surface of the meat as smooth as possible; have ready some strips of unsmoked bacon, half as thick as your little finger, roll them in a mixture of thyme finely minced, spices in powder, and a little pepper and salt. Lard the fillet quite through with these, and tie it round with tape in any shape you choose. Line the bottom of a stewpan (or braising-pan) with slices of bacon; next put in a layer of beef or veal, four onions, two bay-leaves, two carrots, and a bunch of sweet herbs, and place the fillet on them. Cover it with slices of bacon, put some trimmings of meat all round it, and pour on to it half a pint of good beef broth or gravy. Let it stew as gently as possible for two hours and a half; take it up, and keep it very hot; strain, and reduce the gravy by quick boiling until it is thick enough to glaze with; brush the meat over with it; put the rest in the dish with the fillet, after the tape has been removed from it, and send it directly to table.”

Equal parts of Madeira and gravy are sometimes used to moisten the meat.

No attempt should be made to braise a joint in any vessel that is not very nearly of its own size.

Copper Stewpan.[74]

74.  The line which passes round this stewpan just above the handle, is a mistake of the designer, and conveys an erroneous idea of the form of the cover, and it ought to have been omitted.

A round of buttered paper is generally put over the more delicate kinds of braised meat, to prevent their being browned by the fire, which in France is sometimes put round the lid of the braising-pan, in a groove made on purpose to contain it. The embers of a wood fire mixed with the hot ashes, are best adapted to sustain the regular but gentle degree of heat required for this mode of cooking.

Braising pans are of various forms. They are often shaped like a ham-kettle, and sometimes like the design at the commencement of this section; but a stewpan of modern form, or any other vessel which will admit of embers being placed upon the lid, will answer for the purpose as well. Common cooks sometimes stew meat in a mixture of butter and water, and call it braising.

LARDING.

Larding Pins.

Cut into slices, of the same length and thickness, some bacon of the finest quality; trim away the outsides, place the slices evenly upon each other, and with a sharp knife divide them obliquely into small strips of equal size. For pheasants, partridges, hares, fowls, and fricandeaux, the bacon should be about the eighth of an inch square, and two inches in length; but for meat which is to be larded quite through, instead of on the outside merely, the bits of bacon (properly called lardoons) must be at least the third of an inch square.

In general, the breasts only of birds are larded, the backs and thighs of hares, and the whole of the upper surface of a fricandeau: these should be thickly covered with small lardoons, placed at regular intervals, and in lines which intersect each other, so as to form rather minute diamonds.

The following directions for larding a pheasant will serve equally for poultry, or for other kinds of game:—

Secure one end of the bacon in a slight larding-needle, and on the point of this take up sufficient of the flesh of the bird to hold the lardoon firmly; draw the needle through it, and part of the bacon, of which the two ends should be left of equal length. Proceed thus, until the breast of the pheasant is entirely garnished with lardoons, when it ought to resemble in appearance a cake thickly stuck with strips of almonds.

The larger strips of bacon, after being rolled in a high seasoning of minced herbs and spices, are used to lard the inside of meat, and they should be proportioned to its thickness, as they must be passed quite through it. For example: a four-inch slice from a rump of beef will require lardoons of very nearly that length, which must be drawn through with a large larding-pin, and left in it, with the ends just out of sight on either side.

In France, truffles, anchovies, slices of tongue, and of fat, all trimmed into proper shape, are occasionally used for larding. The bacon employed there for the purpose is cured without any saltpetre (as this would redden the white meats), and it is never smoked: the receipt for it will be found in Chapter XIII.

A turkey is sometimes larded with alternate lardoons of fat bacon and of bullock’s tongue, which has been pickled but not dried: we apprehend that the lean of a half-boiled ham, of good colour, would answer the purpose quite as well, or better.

Larding the surface of meat, poultry, or game, gives it a good appearance, but it is a more positive improvement to meat of a dry nature to interlard the inside with large lardoons of well-seasoned, delicate, striped English bacon.

BONING.

Very minute directions being given in other parts of our volume for this, we confine ourselves here to the following rules:—in disengaging the flesh from it, work the knife always close to the bone, and take every care not to pierce the outer skin.

TO BLANCH MEAT OR VEGETABLES.

This is merely to throw either into a pan of boiling water for a few minutes, which gives firmness to the first, and is necessary for some modes of preparing vegetables.

The breast only of a bird is sometimes held in the water while it boils, to render it firm for larding. To preserve the whiteness of meat, and the bright green of vegetables, they are lifted from the water after they have boiled a few minutes, and are thrown immediately into spring water, and left till cold.

5 to 10 minutes.

GLAZING

This process we have explained at the article Glaze, Chapter IV. The surface of the meat should be covered evenly, with two or three separate layers of the glaze, which, if properly made, soon becomes firm. A ham should be well dried in the oven before it is laid on. Cutlets of all kinds may be glazed before they are sent to table, with very good effect. The figure above represents a glaze-pot and brush, used for heating and applying the preparation: a jar placed in a pan of boiling water may be substituted for the first, when it is not at hand.

TOASTING.

A very cheap apparatus, by which chops can be dressed before a clear fire, is shown by the first of these figures; and the second is peculiarly convenient when bread or muffins are required to be toasted expeditiously and in large quantities, without much time and attention being bestowed upon them.

TO BROWN THE SURFACE OF A DISH WITHOUT BAKING OR PLACING IT AT THE FIRE.

This is done with a salamander, as it is called, formed like the engraving below; it is heated in the fire, and held over the dish sufficiently near to give it colour. It is very much used in a superior order of cookery. A kitchen shovel is sometimes substituted for it on an emergency.

CHAPTER X.

Beef.

No.

1. Sirloin.

2. Rump.

3. Edge-bone.

4. Buttock, or Round.

5. Mouse Buttock.

6. Veiny Piece.

7. Thick Flank.

8. Thin Flank.

9. Leg.

10. Fore Rib. (Five Ribs.)

11. Middle Rib. (Four Ribs.)

12. Chuck Rib. (Three Ribs.)

13. Shoulder, or Leg of Mutton Piece.

14. Brisket.

15. Clod.

16. Neck.

17. Shin.

18. Cheek.

TO CHOOSE BEEF.

Beef is in reality in season through the entire year, but it is best during the winter months, when it will hang a sufficient time to become tender before it is dressed. Meat of a more delicate nature is better adapted for the table in summer. The Christmas beef of England is too much celebrated to require any mention here.

If young and freshly killed, the lean of ox-beef will be smoothly grained, and of a fine, healthy, carnation-red, the fat rather white than yellow, and the suet white and firm. Heifer-beef is more closely grained, and rather less bright of colour, the bones are considerably smaller, and the fat of a purer white.

Of bull-beef we only speak to warn our readers that it is of all meat the coarsest and the most rank in flavour. It may be known by its dark hue, its close tough fibre, and the scanty proportion, bad appearance, and strong odour of its fat.

In choice and well-fed beef, the lean will be found intergrained with fat: very lean meat is generally of an inferior quality.

The ribs, the sirloin, and the rump, are the proper joints for roasting. The round, or buttock, the edgebone, the second round, or mouse-buttock, the shin, the brisket, the shoulder or leg of mutton piece, and the clod, may be boiled or stewed. The neck is generally used for soup or gravy; and the thin flank for collaring. The best steaks are cut from the middle of the rump; the next best from the veiny piece, or from the chuck-rib. The inside of the sirloin, commonly used for the purpose in France, makes by far the most delicate steaks; but though exceedingly tender, they are considered by some English epicures to be wanting in flavour.

The finest part of the sirloin is the chump-end, which contains the larger portion of the fillet; of the ribs, the middle ones are those generally preferred by experienced housekeepers.

TO ROAST SIRLOIN, OR RIBS OF BEEF.

Let the joint hang as long as it can possibly be kept perfectly sweet. When it is first brought in, remove the pipe of marrow which runs along the back-bone; and cut out the kernels from the fat. Be very careful in summer to guard it from flies; examine it frequently in warm or damp weather; and scrape off with a knife, or wipe away with a dry cloth, any moisture which may appear on the surface: when this has been done, dust some powdered ginger or pepper over it. Unless the joint should be very large, its appearance will be improved by taking off the ends of the bones, which may then be salted for a few days, and afterwards boiled. Spit the beef firmly; place it near the fire to render the surface firm, as directed in the article Roasting, of Chapter IX.; then draw it to a distance and let it remain so until the heat has well penetrated the interior; and, if from prejudice the old method be still preferred, heat it very gradually in the first instance (in either case baste it constantly), and let it be drawn nearer to the fire for the last half hour or more of roasting, merely to brown it well. Persons who object to meat being frothed for table, have it dredged with flour when it is first placed at the fire, and sprinkled with fine salt when it is nearly done. It is not necessary to paper the fat of beef, as many cooks direct, if proper attention be given to it while roasting.

As a general rule, it may be observed, that when the steam from the meat draws strongly towards the fire, it is nearly or quite ready to serve. The time required to roast it will depend on the state of the weather,[75] the size and strength of the fire, the thickness of the joint, the use or non-use of a meat-screen or reflector, the general temperature of the kitchen, and other contingencies. A quarter of an hour for each pound of meat is commonly allowed for solid, heavy joints, and, if the directions we have given be attended to, this will not be found too much even for persons who prefer beef somewhat rare: it must be left longer at the fire if wished very thoroughly roasted, and quite double the usual time when the plan we have noticed at page 172, is adopted. When likely to be sent to table hashed, minced, or dressed a second time in any way, the juices of the meat should be dried up as little as possible when it is first cooked.

75.  The meat will be much sooner done in hot weather than in cold. If frozen, it must be thawed very gradually before it is put to the fire, or no length of time will roast it; this will be effected better by laying it into cold water for some hours before it is wanted, than by any other means.

ROAST RUMP OF BEEF.

As this joint is generally too much to serve whole, as much of it as will form a handsome dish should be cut from the chump end to roast. It must be managed as the sirloin, to which it is commonly preferred by connoisseurs. When boned and rolled into the form of a fillet of veal, as it sometimes is, nearly or quite an additional hour should be allowed to dress it.

TO ROAST PART OF A ROUND OF BEEF.

The natural division of the meat will show where the silver side of the round is to be separated from the upper or tongue side, which is the proper part for roasting, and which will be found equally good and profitable for the purpose, if allowed to hang as long as it can be kept sweet before it is dressed. Care should be taken in dividing the meat, not to pierce the inner skin. The silver side, with the udder, if there should be one to the joint, may be pickled, spiced, or simply salted, and will be excellent either way. The outside fat should be drawn tightly round the remainder of the beef, which must be firmly skewered, or bound with tape, to keep it in form. It will require long roasting at a strong, steady fire, and should be kept constantly basted.

Beef, 14 lbs.: 4-1/2 to 5 hours.

Obs.—We think that larding the beef quite through with large lardoons of firm fat, of udder, or of bacon, would be an improvement; and we ought also to observe, that unless it be delicate and of fine quality, it will not answer well for roasting.

TO ROAST A FILLET OF BEEF.

Raise the fillet from the inside of the sirloin, or from part of it, with a sharp knife; leave the fat on, trim off the skin, lard it through, or all over, or roast it quite plain; baste it with butter, and send it very hot to table, with tomata sauce, or sauce piquante, or eschalot sauce, in a tureen. It is sometimes served with brown gravy and currant jelly; it should then be garnished with forcemeat-balls, made as for hare. If not very large, an hour and a quarter will roast it well with a brisk fire.

Obs.—The remainder of the joint may be boned, rolled, and roasted, or braised; or made into meat cakes; or served as a miniature round of beef.

1-1/4 hour.

ROAST BEEF STEAK.

If extremely tender, a large slice from the middle of the rump will make an excellent small dish of roast meat, when a joint is not easily to be procured. Let it be smoothly cut, from an inch to an inch and a half thick, flattened on a table, and the inside sprinkled with a little fine salt and cayenne, or common pepper. Make a roll of forcemeat, as No. 1, Chapter VIII., adding, at pleasure, a flavouring of minced onion or eschalot, and increasing the quantity of spices; place this on one end of the steak, and roll it up tightly in it; skewer and bind the meat so that the forcemeat cannot escape; fasten a buttered paper over it, and roast it an hour and a half, or more, according to its size. Twenty minutes before it is served, take off the paper and flour the meat, which should be kept well basted with butter all the time it is roasting. Send brown gravy to table with it, and pour a little over the beef.

1-1/2 hour, or more.

TO BROIL BEEF STEAKS.

The steaks should be from half to three quarters of an inch thick, equally sliced, and freshly cut from the middle of a well kept, finely grained, and tender rump of beef. They should be neatly trimmed, and once or twice divided, if very large. The fire, as we have already said in the general directions for broiling (page 175), must be strong and clear. The bars of the gridiron should be thin, and not very close together. When they are thoroughly heated, without being sufficiently burning to scorch the meat, wipe and rub them with fresh mutton suet; next pepper the steaks slightly, but never season them with salt before they are dressed; lay them on the gridiron, and when done on one side, turn them on the other, being careful to catch, in the dish in which they are to be sent to table, any gravy which may threaten to drain from them when they are moved. Let them be served the instant they are taken from the fire; and have ready at the moment, dish, cover, and plates, as hot as they can be. From eight to ten minutes will be sufficient to broil steaks for the generality of eaters, and more than enough for those who like them but partially done.

Genuine amateurs seldom take prepared sauce or gravy with their steaks, as they consider the natural juices of the meat sufficient. When any accompaniment to them is desired, a small quantity of choice mushroom catsup may be warmed in the dish that is heated to receive them; and which, when the not very refined flavour of a raw eschalot is liked, as it is by some eaters, may previously be rubbed with one, of which the large end has been cut off. A thin slice or two of fresh butter is sometimes laid under the steaks, where it soon melts and mingles with the gravy which flows from them. The appropriate tureen sauces for broiled beef steaks are onion, tomata, oyster, eschalot, hot horseradish, and brown cucumber, or mushroom sauce.

Obs. 1.—We have departed a little in this receipt from our previous instructions for broiling, by recommending that the steaks should be turned but once, instead of “often,” as all great authorities on the subject direct. By trying each method, our readers will be able to decide for themselves upon the preferable one: we can only say, that we have never eaten steaks so excellent as those which have been dressed exactly in accordance with the receipt we have just given, and we have taken infinite pains to ascertain the really best mode of preparing this very favourite English dish, which so constantly makes its appearance both carelessly cooked and ill served, especially at private tables.

Obs. 2.—It is a good plan to throw a few bits of charcoal on the fire some minutes before the steaks are laid down, as they give forth a strong heat without any smoke: a coke fire is also advantageous for broiling them.

The upright gridirons, by which meat is rather toasted than broiled, though used in many kitchens, and generally pronounced exceedingly convenient where they have been tried, do not appear to as so well adapted for dressing steaks as those of less modern fashion, which are placed over, instead of before the fire.

BEEF STEAKS À LA FRANÇAISE.

The inside of the sirloin freed from skin and cut evenly into round quarter-inch slices, should properly be used for these; but when it cannot be obtained, part of the rump must be substituted for it. Season the steaks with fine salt and pepper, brush them with a little clarified butter, and broil them over a clear brisk fire. Mix a teaspoonful of parsley minced extremely fine, with a large slice of fresh butter, a little cayenne, and a small quantity of salt. When the steaks are done, put the mixture into the dish intended for them, lay them upon it, and garnish them plentifully with fried potatoes. It is an improvement to squeeze the juice of half a lemon on the butter before the meat is heaped over it. The potatoes should be sliced rather thin, coloured of a fine brown, and placed evenly round the meat.

BEEF STEAKS À LA FRANÇAISE (ENTRÉE).

(Another Receipt.)

Cut the beef into small thin steaks as above, season them with fine salt and pepper, dredge them lightly with flour, and fry them in butter over a brisk fire; arrange them in a chain round a very hot dish, and pour into the centre the olive sauce of Chapter V.

STEWED BEEF STEAK (ENTRÉE).

This may be cut from one to two inches thick, and the time of stewing it must be proportioned to its size. Dissolve a slice of butter in a large saucepan or stewpan, and brown the steak on both sides, moving it often that it may not burn; then shake in a little flour, and when it is coloured pour in by degrees rather more than sufficient broth or water to cover the meat. When it boils, season it with salt, take off the scum, slice in one onion, a carrot or two, and half a turnip; add a small bunch of sweet herbs, and stew the steak very softly from two hours and a half to three hours. A quarter of an hour before it is served, stir well into the gravy three teaspoonsful of rice flour smoothly mixed with a little cayenne, half a wineglassful of mushroom catsup, and a slight seasoning of spice. A teaspoonful of currie powder, in addition, will improve both the flavour and the appearance of the sauce. The onion is sometimes browned with the meat; and the quantity is considerably increased. Eschalots may be used instead, where their strong flavour is approved. A few button-mushrooms, stewed from twenty to thirty minutes with the meat, will render the catsup unnecessary. Wine, or any favourite store sauce, can be added at will.

2-1/2 to 3 hours.

FRIED BEEF STEAK.

We have little to add here to the directions of Chapter IX., which are sufficient to enable the cook to send a dish of fried steaks to table properly dressed. Currie sauce, highly onioned, is frequently served with them.

BEEF STEAK STEWED IN ITS OWN GRAVY.

(Good and wholesome.)

Trim all the fat and skin from a rump steak of nearly an inch thick, and divide it once or twice; just dip it into cold water, let it drain for an instant, sprinkle it on both sides with pepper, and then flour it rather thickly; lay it quite flat into a well-tinned iron saucepan or stewpan, which has been rinsed with cold water, of which three or four tablespoonsful should be left in it. Place it over (not upon) a very gentle fire, and keep it just simmering from an hour and a half to an hour and three quarters, when, if the meat be good, it will have become perfectly tender. Add salt to it when it first begins to boil, and turn it when rather more than half done. A couple of spoonsful of gravy, half as much catsup, and a slight seasoning of spice, would, to many tastes, improve this dish, of which, however, the great recommendation is its wholesome simplicity, which renders it suitable to the most delicate stomach. A thick mutton cutlet from the middle of the leg is excellent dressed thus.

1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hour.

BEEF OR MUTTON CAKE.

(Very good.)

Chop two pounds of lean and very tender beef or mutton, with three quarters of a pound of beef suet; mix them well, and season them with a dessertspoonful of salt, nearly as much pounded cloves, a teaspoonful of pounded mace, and half a teaspoonful of cayenne. Line a round baking dish with thin slices of fat bacon, press the meat closely into it, smooth the top, and cover it with bacon, set a plate on it with a weight, and bake it two hours and a quarter. Take off the bacon, and serve the meat hot, with a little rich brown gravy, or set it by until cold, when it will be equally good. The fat of the meat which is used for this dish can be chopped up with it instead of suet, where it is liked as well; and onion, or eschalot, shred fine, minced savoury herbs, grated lemon-peel, rasped bacon, or mushrooms cut small, may in turn be added to vary it in flavour.

Lean beef or mutton, 2 lbs.; suet, 3/4 lb.; salt and cloves in powder, each a dessertspoonful; mace, 1 teaspoonful; half as much cayenne: baked 2-1/4 hours.

Obs.—A larger portion of suet or of fat will render these cakes lighter, but will not otherwise improve them: they may be made of veal or of venison, but one-third of mutton suet or of fat bacon should be mixed with this last.

GERMAN STEW.

Cut into about three-inch squares, two pounds and a half of the leaner part of the veiny piece of beef, or of any joint which is likely to be tender, and set it on to stew, with rather less than a quart of cold broth or water, and one large onion sliced. When these begin to boil, add a teaspoonful of salt, and a third as much of pepper, and let them simmer gently for an hour and a half. Have ready some young white cabbages, parboiled; press the water well from them, lay them in with the beef, and let the whole stew for another hour. More onions, and a seasoning of mixed spices, or a few bits of lean bacon, or of ham, can be added to this stew when a higher flavour is desired; but it is very good without.

Beef, 2-1/2 lbs.; water, or broth, 1-3/4 pint; onion, 1; salt, 1 teaspoonful; third as much pepper: 1-1/2 hour. Parboiled cabbages, 3 or 4: 1 hour.

WELSH STEW.

Take the same proportions of beef, and of broth or water, as for the German Stew. When they have simmered gently for an hour, add the white part of from twenty to thirty leeks, or two dozens of button onions, and five or six young mild turnips, cut in slices, a small lump of white sugar, nearly half a teaspoonful of white pepper and more than twice as much salt. Stew the whole softly from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, after the vegetables are added.

Beef and water as above: 1 hour. Leeks, 20 to 30: or small onions, 24; young turnips, 6; small lump of sugar; white pepper, nearly 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, twice as much: 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour.

A GOOD ENGLISH STEW.

On three pounds of tender rump of beef, freed from skin and fat, and cut down into about two-inch squares, pour rather more than a quart of cold broth or gravy. When it boils add salt if required, and a little cayenne, and keep it just simmering for a couple of hours; then put to it the grated rind of a large lemon, or of two small ones, and half an hour after, stir to it a tablespoonful of rice-flour, smoothly mixed with a wineglassful of mushroom catsup, a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, and a teaspoonful of soy: in fifteen minutes it will be ready to serve. A glass and a half of port, or of white wine, will greatly improve this stew, which may likewise be flavoured with the store-sauce of page 146, or with another, which we find excellent for the purpose, made with half a pint of port wine, the same of mushroom-catsup, a quarter pint of walnut pickle, a tablespoonful of the best soy, and a dessertspoonful of cayenne-vinegar, all well shaken together and poured into a bottle containing the thin rind of a lemon and two fine mellow anchovies, of moderate size. A few delicately fried forcemeat-balls may be slipped into it after it is dished.

Obs.—The limits of our work will not permit us to devote a further space to this class of dishes, but an intelligent cook will find it easy to vary them in numberless ways. Mushrooms, celery, carrots, sweet herbs, parboiled new potatoes, green peas, rice, and currie-powder may be advantageously used for that purpose. Ox-tails, just blanched and cut into joints, will be found excellent substitutes for the beef: mutton and veal also may be dressed in the same way. The meat and vegetables can be browned before broth or water is poured to them; but though, perhaps, more savoury, the stew will then be much less delicate. Each kind of vegetable should be allowed something more than sufficient time to render it perfectly tender, but not so much as would reduce it to pulp.

TO STEW SHIN OF BEEF.

Wash, and set it on to stew in sufficient cold water to keep it just covered until it is done. When it boils, take off the scum and put an ounce and a quarter of salt to the gallon of water. It is usual to add a few cloves and some black pepper, slightly bruised and tied up loosely in a fold of muslin, two or more onions, a root of celery, a bunch of savoury herbs, four or five carrots, and as many turnips, either whole or sliced: if to be served with the meat, the two last will require a little more than the ordinary time of boiling, but otherwise they may be simmered with the meat from the beginning. Give the beef from four to five hours’ gentle stewing; and serve it with part of its own liquor thickened and flavoured, or quite plain. An excellent dish for a family may be made by stewing the thick fleshy part of the shin or leg, in stock made of the knuckle, with a few bits of lean ham, or a slice of hung beef from which the smoked edges have been carefully pared away, and some spice, salt, and vegetables: by frying these last before they are thrown into the soup-pot the savour of the stew will be greatly heightened; and a tureen of good soup may be made of its remains, after it has been served at table.

Ox-cheek, after having been soaked for four or five hours, and washed with great nicety, may be dressed like the shin; but as it has little flavour, the gravy should be strained, and quite cleared from fat, then put into a clean saucepan, and thickened as soon as it boils, with the following mixture:—three dessertspoonsful of rice-flour, nearly a wineglassful of catsup, a teaspoonsful of currie-powder, or a little powdered ginger and cayenne. When these have stewed for ten minutes, dish the head, pour the sauce over, and serve it.

Shin of beef, 4 to 5 hours. Ox-cheek, 2 to 3 hours.

FRENCH BEEF À LA MODE.

(A common Receipt.)

Take seven or eight pounds of a rump of beef (or of any other tender joint), free from bone, and skewer it firmly into a good shape. Put two ounces of butter into a thick saucepan or stewpan, and when it boils stir to it a tablespoonful of flour; keep these well shaken over a gentle fire until they are of a fine amber colour; then lay in the beef, and brown it on both sides, taking care that it shall not stick to the pan. Pour to it by slow degrees, letting each portion boil before the next is added or the butter will float upon the surface and be difficult to clear off afterwards, three quarters of a pint of hot water or gravy; add a bunch of savoury herbs, one large or two small carrots cut in thick slices, two or three moderate-sized onions, two bay-leaves, and sufficient pepper and salt to season the gravy. Let the meat simmer gently from four to five hours, and turn it when it is half done. When ready to serve, lift the beef into a hot dish, lay the vegetables round, and pour the gravy over it, after having taken out the herbs and skimmed away the fat. In France, half or the whole of a calf’s foot is stewed with the beef, which is there generally larded with thick lardoons of fat bacon. (For larding, see Chapter X.) Veal dressed in this way is even better than beef. The stewpan used for either should be as nearly of the size of the meat as possible.

Beef, 7 to 8 lbs.: 4 to 5 hours.

STEWED SIRLOIN OF BEEF.

As a matter of convenience we have occasionally had this joint stewed instead of roasted, and have found it excellent. Cut out the inside or fillet as entire as possible, and reserve it for a separate dish; then remove the bones with care, or let the butcher do this. Spread the meat flat on a table and cover the inside with thin slices of striped bacon, after having first strewed over it a mixed seasoning of a small teaspoonful of salt, half as much mace or nutmeg, and a moderate quantity of pepper or cayenne. Roll and bind the meat up firmly, lay it into a stewpan or thick iron saucepan nearly of its size, and add the bones and as much good beef broth as will nearly cover the joint. Should this not be at hand, put a few slices of lean ham or bacon under the beef, and lay round it three pounds of neck or knuckle of veal, or of stewing beef divided into several parts; then pour to it cold water instead of broth. In either case, so soon as it has boiled a few minutes and been well cleaned from scum, throw in a large faggot of savoury herbs, three or four carrots, as many leeks, or a large onion stuck with a dozen cloves; and an hour later two blades of mace, and half a teaspoonful of peppercorns. Stew the beef very gently indeed from four to five hours, and longer, should the joint be large: serve it with a good Espagnole sauce piquante, or brown caper sauce. Add what salt may be needed before the vegetables are thrown in; and, after the meat is lifted out, boil down to soup or gravy the liquor in which it has been stewed. To many tastes it would be an improvement to flour and brown the outside of the beef in butter before the broth or water is poured to it: it may also be stewed (but somewhat longer) half-covered with rich gravy, and turned when partially done. Minced eschalots may be strewed over the inside before it is rolled, when their strong savour is relished, or veal forcemeat may supply their place.

TO STEW A RUMP OF BEEF.

This joint is more easily carved, and is of better appearance when the bones are removed before it is dressed. Roll and bind it firmly with a fillet of tape, cover it with strong cold beef broth or gravy, and stew it very gently indeed from six hours to between seven and eight; add to it, after the scum has been well cleared off, one large or two moderate-sized onions stuck with thirty cloves, a head of celery, two carrots, two turnips, and a large faggot of savoury herbs. When the beef is perfectly tender quite through, which may be known by probing it with a sharp thin skewer, remove the fillets of tape, dish it neatly, and serve it with a rich Espagnole, and a garnish of forced tomatas, or with a highly-flavoured brown English gravy, and stewed carrots in the dish: for these last the mild preparation of garlic or eschalots, of page 122, may be substituted with good effect. They should be well drained, laid round the meat, and a little brown gravy should be poured over the whole.

This is the most simple and economical manner of stewing the beef; but should a richer one be desired, half roast the joint, and stew it afterwards in strong gravy to which a pint of mushrooms, and a pint of sherry or Madeira, should be added an hour before it is ready for table. Keep it hot while a portion of the gravy is thickened with a well-made brown roux (see Chapter IV.), and seasoned with salt, cayenne, and any other spice it may require. Garnish it with large balls of forcemeat highly seasoned with minced eschalots, rolled in egg and bread-crumbs, and fried a fine golden brown.

Plainly stewed from 6 to 7 or 8 hours. Or: half roasted then stewed from 4 to 5 hours.

Obs.—Grated horseradish, mixed with some well-thickened brown gravy, a teaspoonful of mustard, and a little lemon-juice or vinegar, is a good sauce for stewed beef.

BEEF PALATES. (ENTRÉE.)

First rub them well with salt, to cleanse them well; then wash them thoroughly in several waters, and leave them to soak for half an hour before they are dressed. Set them over the fire in cold water, and boil them gently until the skin will peel off, and the palates are tolerably tender. It is difficult to state the exact time required for this, as some will be done in two hours and a half, and others in not less than from four to five hours. When thus prepared, the palates may be cut into various forms, and simmered until fit to serve in rich brown gravy, highly flavoured with ham, cayenne, wine, and lemon-peel; or they will make an excellent currie. As they are very insipid of themselves, they require a sauce of some piquancy, in which, after they have been peeled and trimmed, they should be stewed from twenty to thirty minutes, or until they are perfectly tender. The black parts of them must be cut away, when the skin is taken off. An onion, stuck with a few cloves, a carrot sliced, a teaspoonful of whole white pepper, a slice of butter, and a teaspoonful of salt, may be boiled with the palates in the first instance; and they will be found very good, if sent to table in the curried gravy of Chapter XVI., or in the Soubise of Chapter VI., made thinner than the receipts direct.

Boiled from 2-1/2 to 4 or 5 hours. Stewed from 20 to 30 minutes.

Obs.—A French cook of some celebrity, orders the palates to be laid on the gridiron until the skin can be easily peeled or scraped off; the plan seems a good one, but we have not tried it.

BEEF PALATES.

(Neapolitan Mode.)

Boil the palates until the skin can be easily removed, then stew them very tender in good veal broth, lay them on a drainer and let them cool; cut them across obliquely into strips of about a quarter-inch in width, and finish them by either of the receipts for dressing maccaroni, which will be found in Chapters XVIII. and XX.

STEWED OX-TAILS.

They should be sent from the butcher ready jointed. Soak and wash them well, cut them into joints or into lengths of two or three joints, and cover them with cold broth or water. As soon as they boil remove the scum, and add a half-teaspoonful of salt or as much more as may be needed, and a little common pepper or cayenne, an onion stuck with half a dozen cloves, two or three small carrots, and a branch or two of parsley. When these have simmered for two hours and a quarter, try the meat with a fork, and should it not be perfectly tender, let it remain over the fire until it is so. Ox-tails sometimes require nearly or quite three hours’ stewing: they may be served with the vegetables, or with the gravy strained from them, and thickened like the English stew of the present chapter.

Ox-tails, 2; water or broth to cover them; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful, or more; little pepper or cayenne; onion, 1; cloves, 6; carrots, 2 or 3; parsley, 2 or 3 branches: 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

BROILED OX-TAIL. (ENTRÉE.)

(Very good.)

When the ox-tail is ready for the stewpan, throw it into plenty of boiling water slightly salted, and simmer it for fifteen minutes; then take it up and put it into fresh water to cool; wipe it, and lay it round in a small stewpan without dividing it, just cover it with good beef gravy, and stew it gently until very tender; drain it a little, sprinkle over it a small quantity of salt and cayenne, dip it into clarified butter and then into some fine bread-crumbs, with which it should be thickly covered, lay it on the gridiron, and when equally browned all over serve it immediately. If more convenient the ox-tail may be set into the oven or before the fire, until properly coloured: it may likewise be sent to table without broiling, dished upon stewed cabbage or in its own gravy thickened, and with tomata sauce, in a tureen.

TO SALT AND PICKLE BEEF, IN VARIOUS WAYS.

Let the meat hang a couple of days in mild weather, and four or five in winter, before it is salted or pickled. During the heat of summer it is better to immerse it entirely in brine, that it may be secured alike from the flies, and from the danger of becoming putrid. Trim it, and take out the kernels from the fat; then rub a little fine dry salt over it, and leave it until the following day; drain it well from the blood, which will be found to have flowed from it, and it will be ready for any of the following modes of curing, which are all excellent of their kind, and have been well proved.

In very cold weather, the salt may be applied quite warm to the meat: it should always be perfectly dry, and reduced to powder.

Saltpetre hardens and renders the meat indigestible; sugar, on the contrary, mellows and improves it much; and it is more tender when cured with bay salt than when common salt is used for it.

TO SALT AND BOIL A ROUND OF BEEF.

Mix an ounce of saltpetre, finely powdered, with half a pound of very coarse sugar, and rub the beef thoroughly with them; in two days add three quarters of a pound of common salt, well dried and beaten; turn and rub the meat well in every part with the pickle for three weeks, when it will be fit to dress. Just wash off the salt, and skewer the beef as round and as even as possible; bind it tightly with broad tape, cover it with cold water, place it over a rather brisk fire, and after it boils draw it to the side of the stove and let it simmer gently for at least five hours. Carrots, mashed turnips, or cabbages, are usually served with boiled beef; and horseradish stewed for ten minutes in equal parts of vinegar and water, then pressed well from them, and mixed with some rich melted butter, is a good sauce for it.

Beef, 20 lbs.; coarse sugar, 1/2 lb.; saltpetre, 1 oz.: 2 days. Salt, 3/4 lb.: 21 days. Boil 5 hours, or more.

Obs.—Beef cured by this receipt if properly boiled, is tender, of good colour and flavour, and not over salt. The rump, edgebone, and brisket may be salted, or pickled in the same way as the round.

HAMBURGH PICKLE FOR BEEF, HAMS, AND TONGUE.

Boil together, for twenty minutes, two gallons of water, three pounds of bay salt, two pounds of coarse sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, and two of black pepper, bruised, and tied in a fold of muslin; clear off the scum thoroughly, as it rises, pour the pickle into a deep earthen pan, and when it is quite cold lay in the meat, of which every part must be perfectly covered with it. A moderate-sized round of beef will be ready for table in a fortnight; it should be turned occasionally in the brine. Five pounds of common salt may be substituted for the quantity of bay salt given above; but the meat will not be so finely flavoured.

Water, 2 gallons; bay-salt, 3 lbs.; saltpetre, 2 oz.; black pepper, 2 oz.; sugar, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes.

ANOTHER PICKLE FOR TONGUES, BEEF, AND HAMS.

To three gallons of spring water add six pounds of common salt, two pounds of bay-salt, two pounds of common loaf sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these over a gentle fire, and be careful to take off all the scum as it rises: when quite cold it will be fit for use. Rub the meat to be cured, with fine salt, and let it drain for a day in order to free it from the blood; then immerse it in the brine, taking care that every part of it shall be covered. Young pork should not remain more than from three to five days in the pickle; but hams for drying may be left in it for a fortnight at least; tongues will be ready in rather less time. Beef may remain from one week to two, according to its size, and the degree of saltness desired for it. A little experience will soon teach the exact time required for the different kinds of meat. When the pickle has been in use for about three months, boil it up again gently, and take the scum carefully off. Add to it three pounds of common salt, four ounces of sugar, and one of saltpetre: it will remain good for many months.

Water, 3 gallons; common salt, 6 lbs.; bay salt, 2 lbs.; loaf sugar, 2 lbs.; saltpetre, 2 oz.: boil 20 to 30 minutes.

DUTCH, OR HUNG BEEF.

For fourteen pounds weight of the round, the rump, or the thick flank of beef, mix two ounces of saltpetre with the same quantity of coarse sugar; rub the meat with them in every part, and let it remain for two days, then add one pound of bay salt, four ounces of common salt, and one ounce of ground black pepper. Rub these ingredients thoroughly into the beef, and in four days pour over it a pound of treacle; rub and turn it daily for a fortnight; drain, and send it to be smoked. When wanted for table, put it into plenty of boiling water, boil it slowly, and press it under a heavy weight while hot. A slice of this beef, from which the edges have been carefully trimmed, will serve to flavour soups or gravies as well as ham.

Beef, 14 lbs.; saltpetre and coarse sugar, each 2 oz.: 2 days. Bay salt, 1 lb.; common salt, 4 oz.: pepper, 1 oz.: 4 days. Treacle, 1 lb.: 14 days.

Obs.—Three quarters of a pound of coarse sugar may be rubbed into the meat at first, and the treacle may be altogether omitted; cloves and mace, too, may be added in the same proportion as for spiced beef.

COLLARED BEEF.

Only the thinnest part of the flank, or the ribs, which are not so generally used for it, will serve conveniently for collaring. The first of these should be hung in a damp place for a day or two, to soften the outer skin; then rubbed with coarse sugar, and left for a couple of days; when, for eight pounds of the meat, one ounce of saltpetre and half a pound of salt should be added. In ten days it will be fit to dress. The bones and tough inner skin must be removed, and the beef sprinkled thickly on the under side with parsley and other savoury herbs shred small, before it is rolled, which should be done very tightly: it must then be secured with a cloth, and bound as closely as possible with broad tape. It will require nearly or quite five hours of gentle boiling, and should be placed while hot under a weight, or in a press, without having the tape and cloth removed.

Beef, 8 lbs.; sugar, 3 oz.; salt, 8 oz.: 10 days. Boil 5 hours.

COLLARED BEEF.

(Another way.)

Mix half an ounce of saltpetre with the same quantity of pepper, four ounces of bay salt, and four of common salt; with these rub well from six to seven pounds of the thin flank, and in four days add seven ounces of treacle; turn the beef daily in the pickle for a week or more; dip it into water, bone it and skin the inside, roll and bind it up very tightly, lay it into cold water, and boil it for three hours and a half. We have found beef dressed by this receipt extremely good: herbs can, of course, be added to it as usual. Spices and juniper berries would to many tastes improve it, but we give the receipt simply as we have been accustomed to have it used.

Thin flank, 6 to 7 lbs.; bay salt, and common salt, each 4 oz.; saltpetre, 1/2 oz.; pepper, 1/2 oz.: 4 days. Treacle, 7 oz.: 8 to 10 days. Boiled 3-1/2 hours.

A COMMON RECEIPT FOR SALTING BEEF.

One ounce of saltpetre, and a pound of common salt, will be sufficient for sixteen pounds of beef. Both should be well dried, and finely powdered; the saltpetre rubbed first equally over the meat, and the salt next applied in every part. It should be rubbed thoroughly with the pickle and turned daily, from a week to ten days. An ounce or two of sugar mixed with the saltpetre will render the beef more tender and palatable.

Beef, 16 lbs.; saltpetre, 1 oz.; salt, 1 lb.: 7 to 10 days.

SPICED ROUND OF BEEF.

(Very highly flavoured.)

Rub the beef well in every part with half a pound of coarse brown sugar, and let it remain two days; then reduce to powder, and mix thoroughly before they are applied to the meat, two ounces of saltpetre, three quarters of a pound of common salt, a quarter of a pound of black pepper, three ounces of allspice, and four of bruised juniper-berries. Rub these ingredients strongly and equally over the joint, and do so daily for three weeks, turning it at the same time. Just wash off the spice, and put the beef into a tin, or covered earthen pan as nearly of its size as possible, with a cup of water or gravy; cover the top thickly with chopped beef-suet, and lay a coarse thick crust over the pan; place the cover on it, and bake the meat from five to six hours in a moderate oven, which should not, however, be sufficiently fierce to harden the outside of the joint, which, if properly managed will be exceedingly tender. Let it cool in the pan; and clear off the suet before it is dished. It is to be served cold, and will remain good for a fortnight.

Beef, 20 to 25 lbs. weight; sugar, 3 oz.: 2 days. Saltpetre, 2 oz.; common salt, 3/4 lb.; black pepper, 4 oz.; allspice, 3 oz.; juniper-berries, 4 oz.: 21 days. Baked 5 to 6 hours.

Obs.—We have not ourselves tested this receipt, but the meat cured by it has received such high commendation from several of our friends who have partaken of it frequently, that we think we may safely insert it without. The proportion of allspice appears to us more than would be agreeable to many tastes, and we would rather recommend that part of it should be omitted, and that a portion of nutmeg, mace, and cloves, should be substituted for it; as we have found these spices to answer well in the following receipt.

SPICED BEEF.

(Good and wholesome.)

For twelve pounds of the round, rump, or thick flank of beef, take a large teaspoonful of freshly-pounded mace, and of ground black pepper, twice as much of cloves, one small nutmeg, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne, all in the finest powder. Mix them well with seven ounces of brown sugar, rub the beef with them and let it lie three days; add to it then half a pound of fine salt, and rub and turn it once in twenty-four hours for twelve days. Just wash, but do not soak it; skewer, or bind it into good form, put it into a stewpan or saucepan nearly of its size, pour to it a pint and a half of good beef broth, and when it begins to boil, take off the scum, and throw in one small onion, a moderate-sized faggot of thyme and parsley, and two large, or four small carrots. Let it simmer quite softly for four hours and a half, and if not wanted to serve hot, leave it in its own liquor until it is nearly cold. This is an excellent and far more wholesome dish than the hard, bright-coloured beef which is cured with large quantities of salt and saltpetre: two or three ounces of juniper-berries may be added to it with the spice, to heighten its flavour.

Beef, 12 lbs.; sugar, 7 oz.; mace and black pepper, each, 1 large teaspoonful; cloves, in powder, 1 large dessertspoonful; nutmeg, 1; cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful: 3 days. Fine salt, 1/2 lb.: 12 days. Beef broth (or bouillon), 1-1/2 pint; onion, 1 small; bunch of herbs; carrots, 2 large, or 4 small: stewed 4-1/2 hours.

Obs.—We give this receipt exactly as we have often had it used, but celery and turnips might be added to the gravy; and when the appearance of the meat is much considered, three-quarters of an ounce of saltpetre may be mixed with the spices; the beef may also be plainly boiled in water only, with a few vegetables, or baked in a deep pan with a little gravy. No meat must ever be left to cool in the stewpan or saucepan in which it is cooked; it must be lifted into a pan of its own depth, and the liquor poured upon it.

A MINIATURE ROUND OF BEEF.

“Select a fine rib of beef, and have it cut small or large in width according to your taste; it may thus be made to weigh from five to twelve pounds, or more. Take out the bone, and wrap the meat round like a fillet of veal, securing it with two or three wooden skewers; place it in a strong pickle for four or five days, and then cook it, taking care that it does not boil, but only simmers, from forty minutes, or more, according to its size. It is best to put it on in hot water, as it will not draw the gravy so much as cold. Many persons adjust a rib of beef in this way for roasting: let them try it salted, and they need not envy the possessor of the finest round of beef.” We give the receipt to our readers in its original form, and we can assure them, from our own experience, that it is a good one; but we would recommend that, in dressing the meat, quite the usual time for each pound of it should be allowed. When boned and rolled at the butcher’s, the skewers should be removed when it is first brought in; it should be well wiped with a dry cloth, or washed with a little fresh brine, and a small quantity of salt and saltpetre should be rubbed over the inside, it may then be firmly bound with tape, and will be quite ready to boil when taken from the pickle. The sirloin, after the inside fillet is removed, may be cured and dressed in the same way, and will be found super-excellent if the beef be well fatted and properly kept. The Hamburgh pickle (see page 197) is perhaps the best for these joints. Part of the rump, taken clear of bone, answers admirably when prepared by this receipt.

BEEF ROLL, OR CANELLON DE BŒUF. (ENTRÉE.)

Chop and mix thoroughly two pounds of lean and very tender beef with one pound of slightly striped bacon; season them with a large teaspoonful of pepper, a little salt, a small nutmeg, or two-thirds as much mace, the grated rind of a lemon, or a teaspoonful of thyme and parsley finely minced. Form the whole into a thick rouleau, wrap a buttered paper round it, enclose it in a paste made of flour and water, and send it to a moderate oven for a couple of hours. Remove the paper and the crust, and serve the meat with a little brown gravy. Lamb and veal are excellent dressed in this way, particularly when mixed with plenty of mushrooms. Brown cucumber sauce should be served with the lamb; and currie, or oyster sauce, when there are no mushrooms, with the veal. A flavouring of onion or of eschalot, where it is liked, can be added at pleasure to the beef: suet, or the fat of the meat, may be substituted for the bacon.

Beef, 2 lbs.; bacon, 1 lb.; pepper, 1/4 oz.; little salt; small nutmeg; rind of 1 lemon, or savoury herbs, 1 tablespoonful: baked 2 hours.

MINCED COLLOPS AU NATUREL.

Mince finely a pound of very tender rump steak, free from fat or skin; season it with a moderate quantity of pepper and salt, set it over a gentle fire, and keep it stirred with a fork until it is quite hot that it may not gather into lumps. Simmer it very slowly in its own gravy from ten to twelve minutes, and then, should it be too dry, add a little boiling water, broth, or gravy; stew it for two minutes longer, and serve it directly.

These collops are particularly suited to persons in delicate health, or of weak digestion; and when an extra dish is required at a short notice, from the expedition with which they may be dressed, they are a convenient resource.

10 to 12 minutes.

SAVOURY MINCED COLLOPS.

Make a little thickening (see Brown Roux, Chapter V.) with about an ounce and a half of butter, and a dessertspoonful of flour; when it begins to be coloured, shake lightly into it a large teaspoonful of finely-shred parsley or mixed savoury herbs, two-thirds as much of salt, and half the quantity of pepper. Keep these stirred over a gentle fire until the thickening is of a deep yellow brown; then add a pound of rump-steak, finely minced, and keep it well separated with a fork until it is quite hot; next pour to it gradually half a cupful of boiling water, and stew the collops very gently for ten minutes. Before they are served, stir to them a little catsup, chili vinegar or lemon-juice: a small quantity of minced onion, eschalot, or a particle of garlic, may be added at first to the thickening when the flavour is not objected to.

A RICHER VARIETY OF MINCED COLLOPS.

Omit the minced herbs from the thickening, and season it with cayenne and a small quarter of a teaspoonful of pounded mace. Substitute beef gravy for the boiling water, and when the collops are nearly done, fill a wineglass with one fourth of mushroom catsup, and three of port wine, and stir these to the meat. Serve the collops very hot, and garnish them with alternate forcemeat balls (see No. 1, Chapter VIII.) and fried sippets. If flavoured with a little gravy made from the bones of a roast hare, and served with currant jelly, these collops will scarcely be distinguished from game.

SCOTCH MINCED COLLOPS.

“Chop the beef small, season it with salt and pepper, put it, in its raw state, into small jars, and pour on the top some clarified butter. When wanted for use put the clarified butter into a frying-pan, and slice some onions into the pan and fry them. Add a little water to them, and put in the minced meat. Stew it well, and in a few minutes it will be fit to serve.”

BEEF TONGUES.

These may be cured by any of the receipts which we have already given for pickling beef, or for those which will be found further on for hams and bacon. Some persons prefer them cured with salt and saltpetre only, and dried naturally in a cool and airy room. For such of our readers as like them highly and richly flavoured we give our own method of having them prepared, which is this:—“Rub over the tongue a handful of fine salt, and let it drain until the following day; then, should it weigh from seven to eight pounds, mix thoroughly an ounce of saltpetre, two ounces of the coarsest sugar, and half an ounce of black pepper; when the tongue has been well rubbed with these, add three ounces of bruised juniper-berries; and when it has laid two days, eight ounces of bay salt, dried and pounded; at the end of three days more, pour on it half a pound of treacle, and let it remain in the pickle a fortnight after this; then hang it to drain, fold it in brown paper, and send it to be smoked over a wood fire for two or three weeks. Should the peculiar flavour of the juniper-berries prevail too much, or be disapproved, they may be in part, or altogether, omitted; and six ounces of sugar may be rubbed into the tongue in the first instance when it is liked better than treacle.”

Tongue, 7 to 8 lbs.; saltpetre, 1 oz.; black pepper, 1/2 oz.; sugar, 2 oz.; juniper-berries, 3 oz.: 2 days. Bay salt, 8 oz.: 3 days. Treacle, 1/2 lb.: 14 days.

Obs.—Before the tongue is salted, the root end, which has an unsightly appearance, should be trimmed away: it is indeed usual to take it off entirely, but some families prefer part of it left on for the sake of the fat.

BEEF TONGUES.

(A Suffolk Receipt.)

For each very large tongue, mix with half a pound of salt two ounces of saltpetre and three quarters of a pound of the coarsest sugar; rub the tongues daily, and turn them in the pickle for five weeks, when they will be fit to be dressed, or to be smoked.

1 large tongue; salt, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 3/4 lb.; saltpetre, 2 oz.: 5 weeks.

TO DRESS BEEF TONGUES.

When taken fresh from the pickle they require no soaking, unless they should have remained in it much beyond the usual time, or have been cured with a more than common proportion of salt; but when they have been smoked and highly dried, they should be laid for two or three hours into cold, and as much longer into tepid water, before they are dressed: if extremely dry, ten or twelve hours must be allowed to soften them, and they should always be brought very slowly to boil. Two or three carrots and a large bunch of savoury herbs, added after the scum is cleared off, will improve them. They should be simmered until they are extremely tender, when the skin will peel from them easily. A highly dried tongue of moderate size will usually require from three and a half to four hours’ boiling; an unsmoked one about an hour less; and for one which has not been salted at all a shorter time will suffice.

BORDYKE RECEIPT FOR STEWING A TONGUE.

After the tongue has been soaked, trimmed, and washed with extreme nicety, lay it into a vessel of fitting size, and place round it three or four pounds of the neck, or of any other lean cuttings of beef, with some bones of undressed veal, and pour in sufficient cold water to keep it covered until it is done; or, instead of this, use strong unseasoned beef broth made with the shin, and any odd bits or bones of veal which may be at hand. Let the tongue be brought to boil very gradually, that it may be plump and tender. Remove the scum when it first rises, and when it is quite cleared off add a large faggot of parsley, thyme, and winter savoury, three carrots, a small onion, and one mild turnip. After three hours and a half of gentle simmering, probe the tongue, and if sufficiently done peel off the skin and serve it quickly. If not wanted hot for table, lay it upon a very clean board or trencher, and fasten it down to it by passing a carving fork through the root, and a smaller one through the tip, drawing the tongue straight with the latter before it is fixed in the board; let it remain thus until it is quite cold. It is much the fashion at present to glaze hams and tongues, but this should never be attempted by a cook not well acquainted with the manner of doing it, and the proper flavour and appearance of the glaze. For directions to make it, see page 104. Where expense is not regarded, three or four pounds of veal may be added to the beef in this receipt, or the tongue may be stewed in a prepared gravy made with equal parts of beef and veal, and vegetables as above, but without salt: this may afterwards be converted into excellent soup. A fresh or an unsmoked tongue may be dressed in this way, but will require less time: for the former, salt must be added to the gravy.

TO ROAST A BEEF HEART.

Wash and soak the heart very thoroughly, cut away the lobes, fill the cavities with a veal forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.), secure it well with a needle and twine, or very coarse thread, and roast it at a good fire for an hour and a half, keeping it basted plentifully with butter. Pour melted butter over it, after it is dished, and send it to table as hot as possible. Many persons boil the heart for three quarters of an hour before it is put to the fire, and this is said to render it more delicate eating; the time of roasting must of course be proportionately diminished. Good brown gravy may be substituted for the melted butter, and currant jelly also may be served with it.

1-1/2 hour, or more.

BEEF KIDNEY.

Slice the kidney rather thin, after having stripped off the skin and removed the fat; season it with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg, and sprinkle over it plenty of minced parsley, or equal parts of parsley and eschalots chopped very small. Fry the slices over a brisk fire, and when nicely browned on both sides, stir amongst them a teaspoonful of flour, and pour in by degrees a cup of gravy and a glass of white wine; bring the sauce to the point of boiling, add a morsel of fresh butter and a tablespoonful of lemon-juice, and pour the whole into a hot dish garnished with fried bread. This is a French receipt, and a very excellent one.

BEEF KIDNEY.

(A plainer way.)

Trim, and cut the kidney into slices; season them with salt and pepper, and dredge them well with flour; fry them on both sides, and when they are done through lift them out, empty the pan, and make gravy for them with a small slice of butter, a dessertspoonful of flour, pepper and salt, and a cup of boiling water; shake these round and give them a minute’s simmering: add a little mushroom catsup, lemon juice, eschalot vinegar, or any store sauce that will give a good flavour. Minced herbs are to many tastes an improvement to this dish, to which a small quantity of onion shred fine can be added when it is liked.

6 to 9 minutes.

AN EXCELLENT HASH OF COLD BEEF.

Put a slice of butter into a thick saucepan, and when it boils throw in a dessertspoonful of minced herbs, and an onion (or two or three eschalots) shred small: shake them over the fire until they are lightly browned, then stir in a tablespoonful of flour, a little cayenne, some mace or nutmeg, and half a teaspoonful of salt. When the whole is well coloured, pour to it three-quarters of a pint or more of broth or gravy, according to the quantity of meat to be served in it. Let this boil gently for fifteen minutes; then strain it, add half a wineglassful of mushroom or of compound catsup, lay in the meat, and keep it by the side of the fire until it is heated through and is on the point of simmering, but be sure not to let it boil. Serve it up in a very hot dish, and garnish it with fried or toasted sippets of bread.

A COMMON HASH OF COLD BEEF OR MUTTON.

Take the meat from the bones, slice it small, trim off the brown edges, and stew down the trimmings with the bones well broken, an onion, a bunch of thyme and parsley, a carrot cut into thick slices, a few peppercorns, four cloves, some salt, and a pint and a half of water. When this is reduced to little more than three quarters of a pint, strain it, clear it from the fat, thicken it with a large dessertspoonful of rice flour, or rather less of arrow-root, add salt and pepper if needed, boil the whole for a few minutes, then lay in the meat and heat it well. Boiled potatoes are sometimes sliced hot into a very common hash.

Obs.—The cook should be reminded that if the meat in a hash or mince be allowed to boil, it will immediately become hard, and can then only be rendered eatable by very long stewing, which is by no means desirable for meat which is already sufficiently cooked.

BRESLAW OF BEEF.

(Good.)

Trim the brown edges from half a pound of undressed roast beef, shred it small, and mix it with four ounces of fine bread-crumbs, a teaspoonful of minced parley, and two-thirds as much of thyme, two ounces of butter broken small, half a cupful of gravy or cream, a high seasoning of pepper and cayenne and mace or nutmeg, a small teaspoonful of salt, and three large eggs well whisked. Melt a little butter in a deep dish, pour in the beef, and bake it half an hour; turn it out, and send it to table with brown gravy in a tureen. When cream or gravy is not at hand, an additional egg or two and rather more butter must be used. We think that grated lemon-rind improves the breslaw. A portion of fat from the joint can be added where it is liked. The mixture is sometimes baked in buttered cups.

Beef, 1/2 lb.; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; gravy or cream, 1/2 cupful; parsley, 1 teaspoonful; thyme, two-thirds of teaspoonful; eggs, 3 or 4, if small; salt, 1 teaspoonful; pepper and nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful each: bake 1/2 hour.

NORMAN HASH.

Peel and fry two dozens of button onions in butter until they are lightly browned, then stir to them a tablespoonful of flour, and when the whole is of a deep amber shade, pour in a wineglassful and a half of red wine, and a large cup of boiling broth or water; add a seasoning of salt and common pepper or cayenne, and a little lemon-pickle catsup or lemon-juice, and boil the whole until the onions are quite tender; cut and trim into small handsome slices the remains of either a roast or boiled joint of beef, and arrange them in a clean saucepan; pour the gravy and onions on them, and let them stand for awhile to imbibe the flavour of the sauce; then place the hash near the fire, and when it is thoroughly hot serve it immediately, without allowing it to boil.

FRENCH RECEIPT FOR HASHED BOUILLI.

Shake over a slow fire a bit of butter the size of an egg, and a tablespoonful of flour; when they have simmered for a minute, stir to them a little finely-chopped onion, and a dessertspoonful of minced parsley; so soon as the whole is equally browned, add sufficient pepper, salt, and nutmeg to season the hash properly, and from half to three quarters of a pint of boiling water or of bouillon. Put in the beef cut into small but thick slices; let it stand by the fire and heat gradually; and when near the point of boiling thicken the sauce with the yolks of three eggs, mixed with a tablespoonful of lemon-juice. For change, omit the eggs, and substitute a tablespoonful of catsup, and another of pickled gherkins minced or sliced.

BAKED MINCED BEEF.

Mince tolerably fine, with a moderate proportion of its own fat, as much of the inside of a cold roast joint as will suffice for a dish: that which is least done is best for the purpose. Season it rather highly with cayenne and mace or nutmeg, and moderately with salt; add, when they are liked, one or two eschalots minced small, with a few chopped mushrooms either fresh or pickled, or two tablespoonsful of mushroom catsup. Mix the whole well with a cupful of good gravy, and put it into a deep dish. Place on the top an inch-thick layer of bread-crumbs, moisten these plentifully with clarified butter passed through a small strainer over them, and send the mince to a slow oven for twenty minutes, or brown it in a Dutch oven.

SAUNDERS.

Spread on the dish in which the saunders are to be served, a layer of smoothly mashed potatoes, which have been seasoned with salt and mixed with about an ounce of butter to the pound. On these spread equally and thickly some underdressed beef or mutton minced and mixed with a little of the gravy that has run from the joint, or with a few spoonsful of any other; and season it with salt, pepper, and a small quantity of nutmeg. Place evenly over this another layer of potatoes, and send the dish to a moderate oven for half an hour. A very superior kind of saunders is made by substituting fresh meat for roasted; but this requires to be baked an hour or something more. Sausage-meat highly seasoned may be served in this way, instead of beef or mutton.

TO BOIL MARROW BONES.

Let the large ends of the bones be sawed by the butcher, so that when they are dished they may stand upright; and if it can be done conveniently, let them be placed in the same manner in the vessel in which they are boiled. Put a bit of paste, made with flour and water, over the ends where the marrow is visible, and tie a cloth tightly over them; take the paste off before the bones are sent to table, and serve them, placed upright in a napkin, with slices of dry toasted bread apart. When not wanted for immediate use, they may be partially boiled, and set into a cool place, where they will remain good for many days.

Large marrow bones, 2 hours; moderate sized, 1-1/2 hour. To keep; boil them 1-1/2 hour, and from 1/2 to 3/4 hour more when wanted for table.

BAKED MARROW BONES.

When the bones have been sawed to the length of a deep pie-dish, wash and wipe them dry, lay them into it, and cover them entirely with a good batter. Send them to a moderate oven for an hour or more, and serve them in the batter.

CLARIFIED MARROW FOR KEEPING.

Take the marrow from the bones while it is as fresh as possible; cut it small, put it into a very clean jar, and melt it with a gentle heat, either in a pan of water placed over the fire, or at the mouth of a cool oven; strain it through a muslin, let it settle for a minute or two, and pour it, clear of sediment, into small jars. Tie skins, or double folds of thick paper, over them as soon as the marrow is cold, and store it in a cool place. It will remain good for months.

OX-CHEEK STUFFED AND BAKED.

(Good, and not expensive.)

Cleanse, with the greatest nicety, a fresh ox-cheek by washing, scraping it lightly with a knife, and soaking out the blood; then put it into plenty of warm water, and boil it gently for about an hour. Throw in a large teaspoonful of salt, and carefully remove all the scum as it rises to the surface. Let it cool after it is lifted out, and then take away the bones, remembering always to work the knife close to them, and to avoid piercing the skin. When the cheek has become cold, put into it a good roll of forcemeat, made by the receipt Nos. 1, 2, or 3, of Chapter IX., or substitute the oyster or mushroom forcemeat which follows; but in any case increase the quantity one-half at least: then skewer or bind up the cheek securely, and send it to a moderate oven for an hour or an hour and a half. It should be baked until it is exceedingly tender quite through. Drain it well from fat, dish it, withdraw the skewers, or unbind it gently, and either sauce it with a little good brown gravy, or send it to table with melted butter in a tureen, a cut lemon, and cayenne, or with any sauce of Chapter V., which may be considered more appropriate.

CHAPTER XI.

Veal.

No.

1. Loin, Best End.

2. Loin, Chump End.

3. Fillet.

4. Hind Knuckle.

5. Fore Knuckle.

6. Neck, Best End.

7. Neck, Scrag End.

8. Blade Bone.

9. Breast, Best End.

10. Breast, Brisket End.

In season all the year, but scarce and expensive in mid-winter, and very early spring.

TO CHOOSE VEAL.

Veal should be fat, finely grained, white, firm, and not overgrown: for when very large it is apt to be coarse and tough. It is more difficult to keep than any other meat except pork, and should never be allowed to acquire the slightest taint before it is dressed, as any approach to putridity renders it equally unwholesome and offensive to the taste. The fillet, the loin, the shoulder, and the best end of the neck, are the parts generally selected for roasting; the breast and knuckle are more usually stewed or boiled, although the former is excellent roasted. The udder or firm white fat of the fillet, is much used by French cooks instead of butter, in the composition of their forcemeats: for these, it is first well boiled, then left until quite cold, and afterwards thoroughly pounded before it is mixed with the other ingredients. The head and feet of the calf are valuable articles of food, both for the nutriment which the gelatinous parts of them afford, and for the great variety of modes in which they may be dressed. The kidneys, with the rich fat that surrounds them, and the sweetbreads, are well known delicacies; the liver and the heart also are very good eating; and no meat is so generally useful for rich soups and gravies as veal.

TO TAKE THE HAIR FROM A CALF’S HEAD WITH THE SKIN ON.

It is better to do this before the head is divided; but if only the half of one with the skin on can be procured, it must be managed in the same way. Put it into plenty of water which is on the point of simmering but which does not positively boil, and let it remain in until it does so, and for five or six minutes afterwards, but at the first full bubble draw it from the fire and let it merely scald; then lift it out, and with a knife that is not sharp scrape off the hair as closely as possible. The butchers have an instrument on purpose for the operation; but we have had the head look quite as well when done in the manner we have just described, as when it has been sent in ready prepared by them. After the hair is off, the head should be well washed, and if it cannot be cooked the same day, it must be wiped extremely dry before it is hung up; and when it has not been divided, it should be left whole until the time approaches for dressing it. The brain must then be taken out, and both that and the head well soaked and washed with the greatest nicety. When the half head only is scalded, the brain should first be removed. Calves’ feet are freed from the hair easily in the same manner; indeed, we find it a better mode of having it cleared from them than the one we have given in Chapter XXII., though that is practised by many good butchers.

BOILED CALF’S HEAD.

When the head is dressed with the skin on, which many persons prefer, the ear must be cut off quite close to it; it will require three quarters of an hour or upwards of additional boiling, and should be served covered with fried crumbs: the more usual mode, however, is to boil it without the skin. In either case first remove the brain, wash the head delicately clean, and soak it for a quarter of an hour; cover it plentifully with cold water, remove the scum as it rises with great care, throw in a little salt, and boil the head gently until it is perfectly tender. In the mean time, wash and soak the brains first in cold and then in warm water, remove the skin or film, boil them in a small saucepan from fourteen to sixteen minutes, according to their sage, and when they are done, chop and mix them with eight or ten size leaves boiled tender and finely minced; or, if preferred, with boiled parsley instead; warm them in a spoonful or two of melted butter, or white sauce; skin the tongue, trim off the root, and serve it in a small dish with the brains round it. Send the head to table very hot with parsley and butter poured over it, and some more in a tureen. A cheek of bacon, or very delicate pickled pork, is the usual accompaniment to boiled calf’s head.

We have given here the common English mode of serving this dish, by some persons considered the best, and by others, as exceedingly insipid. On the continent, tomata sauce takes place of the parsley and butter; and rich oyster or Dutch sauce, are varieties often substituted for it in this country.

With the skin on, from 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 hours; without the skin, from 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

CALF’S HEAD, THE WARDER’S WAY.

(An excellent Receipt.)

Boil the half-head until tolerably tender; let it cool, and bone it entirely; replace the brain, lay the head into a stewpan, and simmer it gently for an hour in rich gravy. From five-and-twenty to thirty minutes before it is dished, add half a pint of mushroom-buttons. Thicken the gravy, if needful, with rice flour or with flour and butter, and serve plenty of forcemeat-balls round the head. For dishes of this kind, a little sweet-basil wine, or a few sprigs of the herb itself, impart a very agreeable flavour. When neither these nor mushrooms are within reach, the very thin rind of a small but fresh lemon may be boiled in the gravy, and the strained juice added at the instant of serving.

Boiled from 1 to 2 hours; stewed 1 hour.

Obs.—The skin, with the ear, may be left on the head for this receipt, and the latter slit into narrow strips from the tip to within an inch and a half of the base; which will give it a feathery and ornamental appearance, the head may then be glazed or not at pleasure.

PREPARED CALF’S HEAD.

(The Cook’s Receipt.)

Take away the brains and tongue from the half of a calf’s head, and then remove the bones, being careful in doing so to keep the knife as close to them as possible, and to avoid piercing the outer skin: in this consists the whole art of boning, in which an attentive cook may easily render herself expert. Next wash the head and dry it in a clean cloth; sprinkle over the inside a little pounded mace, and cayenne or white pepper; roll it up tightly, and bind it round with tape or twine. Lay into a small stewpot three or four pounds of neck of veal or of beef, twice or thrice divided, and place the head upon it with the bones well broken; pour in half a gallon of cold water, or as much as will suffice to keep the head covered until it is done, and simmer it very gently from an hour and a quarter to an hour and three quarters. When it is extremely tender, lift it out, and if wanted for table, remove the binding, and serve it very hot, with currie sauce, rich oyster sauce, or egg sauce and brown gravy; but should the remains, or the whole of it be required for the following receipts, pour no gravy over it: in the latter case do not take off the tape for several hours. The tongue may be stewed with the head, but will require rather less time. We do not think it needful to repeat in every receipt our directions for adding salt to, and removing carefully the scum from, meat that is stewed or boiled, but the cook must not neglect either. When the trouble of boning is objected to, it can be dispensed with for some of the dishes which follow, but not for all. After the head is taken out, boil the gravy until it is well reduced, and rich: it should be strongly jellied when cold. A bone of ham, or a slice of hung beef will much improve its flavour; but vegetables must be avoided if it be wanted to keep: a little spice and a faggot of parsley may be added to it, and a calf’s foot will be sure to give it the requisite degree of firmness. This receipt is for a head without the skin.

BURLINGTON WHIMSEY.

Set aside until quite cold half a calf’s head dressed by the preceding receipt. If, on cutting it, the gelatinous part should not appear perfectly tender, pare it off closely from the head, weigh, and mince it; put it into a pint of good gravy, and stew it gently from ten to fifteen minutes. Mince as much more of the head as will make up a pound in weight after the edges are trimmed off, and part of the fat is taken away; add to this three ounces of the lean of a boiled ham finely chopped, the grated rind of a large lemon, three teaspoonsful of parsley and one of thyme shred very small, three quarters of a teaspoonful of mace, half a small nutmeg grated, a teaspoonful of salt, and a half-quarter one of cayenne; stir the whole well together, and put it, with half a pint more of gravy, to the portion which has been already simmered. When the whimsey has boiled softly from four to five minutes, pour it into moulds or pans, in which slices of the tongue have been evenly arranged, and when quite cold it will turn out very firmly. It may be garnished, before it is sent to table, with branches of parsley, which should, however, be perfectly dry; and when served for supper or luncheon, it may be accompanied by a salad dressing.

Calf’s head, 1 lb.; lean of ham, 3 oz.; gravy, 1-1/2 pint; rind of 1 large lemon; parsley, 3 teaspoonsful; thyme and salt, each 1 teaspoonful; mace, 3/4 teaspoonful; 1/2 nutmeg; cayenne, 1/8 part of teaspoonful: 5 minutes.

Obs.—The remains of a plain boiled head may be made to serve for this dish, provided the gravy used with it be well jellied and of high flavour. Slices from the small end of a boiled and smoked ox-tongue, from their bright colour improve greatly its appearance. It should be tasted before it is poured out, that salt or any other seasoning may be added if needful. After three or four days’ keeping, should any mould appear upon the surface, take it off, re-melt the whimsey, and give it two minutes’ boil. For change, the herbs may be omitted, and the quantity of ham increased, or some minced tongue substituted for it.

CUTLETS OF CALF’S HEAD.

Prepare, by the Cook’s Receipt, half a calf’s head with or without the skin on; only, in the latter case, allow more time for the boiling. When it is quite cold, remove the fillets of tape, and cut the head into slices of half an inch thick, brush them with yolk of egg, and dip them into fine bread-crumbs, seasoned with the grated rind of half a lemon, half a teaspoonful of minced savoury herbs, some cayenne, and a little of the lean of a boiled ham chopped very small, should this last be at hand. Fry the cutlets in butter of a fine light brown, make some gravy in the pan as for veal cutlets, and add to it the juice of half a lemon; or mix a large teaspoonful of currie-powder, and one of flour, very smoothly with the butter, shake them over the fire for four or five minutes, and let the gravy simmer as much longer, after the water is added; or serve the cutlets, covered with good mushroom sauce.

HASHED CALF’S HEAD. (REMOVE.)

When the whole of this dish has to be prepared, make for it a quart of stock, and proceed in all else as directed for mock turtle soup (page 24); but after the head has been parboiled, cut down a full pound and a half of it for the hash, and slice it small and thick, instead of dividing it into dice. Make the brains into cakes (see page 162), and garnish the dish with forcemeat-balls, rolled in egg, and in the finest bread-crumbs, then fried a delicate brown, and well drained, and dried upon a warm sieve reversed. The wine and other seasonings should be the same as for the soup. Rich gravy, 1 quart; flesh of calf’s head, full 1-1/2 lb.; wine, and other seasonings, as for mock turtle soup. Obs.—The gravy for this should be stewed with ham, eschalots, &c., exactly as for the soup.

CHEAP HASH OF CALF’S HEAD.

Take the flesh from the bone of a cold boiled head, and put it aside until wanted; take about three pints of the liquor in which it was cooked; break the bones, and stew them down with a small bunch of savoury herbs, a carrot, or two should they be small, a little carefully fried onion, four cloves, a dozen corns of pepper, and either a slice or two of lean ham or of smoked beef. When the liquid is reduced nearly half, strain it, take off the fat, thicken it with a little well made roux, or, if more convenient, with flour and butter, stirred into it, when it boils, or with rice flour or arrow-root, mixed with a little spice, mushroom catsup, or Harvey’s sauce, and a small quantity of lemon pickle or chili vinegar. Heat the meat slowly in the sauce when it is ready, but do not allow it to boil. The forcemeat, No. 1, of Chapter VIII., may be rolled into balls, fried, and served round it. The gravy should be well seasoned. A little of Liebeg’s extract of beef (see Chapter I.), or as much good beef broth as may be required for the hash, will convert this into a really good dish. For preparations which are of themselves insipid, the Jewish beef, of which we have often already spoken, is an admirable addition.

TO DRESS COLD CALF’S HEAD OR VEAL

À LA MÂITRE D’HÔTEL. (GOOD.)

(English Receipt.)

Cut into small delicate slices, or into scollops of equal size, sufficient cold calf’s head or veal for a dish. Next knead very smoothly together with a knife two ounces of butter, and a small dessertspoonful of flour; put these into a stewpan or well tinned saucepan, and keep them stirred or shaken over a gentle fire until they have simmered for a minute or two, but do not let them take the slightest colour; then add to them in very small portions (letting the sauce boil up after each is poured in) half a pint of pale veal gravy, or of good shin-of-beef stock, and when the whole is very smoothly blended, and has boiled for a couple of minutes, mix together and stir to it a tablespoonful of common vinegar, a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar, a little cayenne, a tablespoonful of good mushroom catsup, and a very small bit of sugar; and when the sauce again boils, strew a tablespoonful of minced parsley over the meat, lay it in, and let it stand by the fire until it is quite heated through, but do not allow it to boil: if kept just at the simmering point for ten or twelve minutes it may be served perfectly hot without. The addition of the mushroom catsup converts this into an English sauce, and renders it in colour, as well as in flavour, unlike the French one which bears the same name, and which is acidulated generally with lemon-juice instead of vinegar. Pickled mushrooms are sometimes added to the dish: the parsley when it is objected to may be omitted, and the yolks of two or three eggs mixed with a little cream may be stirred in, but not allowed to boil, just before the meat is served. When veal is used for this hash instead of calf’s, it should be cut into slices not much larger than a shilling, and freed entirely from fat, sinew, and the brown edges. When neither broth nor gravy is at hand, a morsel or two of lean ham, and a few of the trimmings or bones of the head or joint, may be boiled down to supply its place.

Sufficient cold calf’s head, or meat, for a dish; butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 small dessertspoonful; gravy, or strong broth, 1/2 pint; vinegar, and mushroom catsup, of each 1 tablespoonful; chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful; small bit of sugar; little cayenne, and salt if needed; parsley, 1 tablespoonful (pickled mushrooms or not at pleasure).

Obs.—Soles or cod-fish are very good, if raised neatly from the bones, or flaked, and heated in this Mâitre d’Hôtel sauce.

CALF’S HEAD BRAWN.

(Author’s Receipt.)

The half of a fine large calf’s head with the skin on, will best answer for this brawn. Take out the brains, and bone it entirely, or get the butcher do this; rub a little fine salt over, and leave it to drain for ten or twelve hours; next wipe it dry, and rub it well in every part with three quarters of an ounce of saltpetre finely powdered (or with an ounce should the head be very large) and mixed with four ounces of common salt, and three of bay-salt, also beaten fine; turn the head daily in this pickle for four or five days, rubbing it a little each time; and then pour over it four ounces of treacle, and continue to turn it every day, and baste it with the brine very frequently for a month. Hang it up for a night to drain, fold it in brown paper, and send it to be smoked where wood only is burned, from three to four weeks. When wanted for table, wash and scrape it very clean, but do not soak it; lay it, with the rind downwards, into a saucepan or stewpan, which will hold it easily; cover it well with cold water, as it will swell considerably in the cooking; let it heat rather slowly, skim it thoroughly when it first begins to simmer, and boil it as gently as possible from an hour and three quarters to a couple of hours or more, should it not then be perfectly tender quite through; for unless sufficiently boiled, the skin, which greatly resembles brawn, will be unpleasantly tough when cold. When the fleshy side of the head is done, which will be twenty minutes or half an hour sooner than the outside, pour the water from it, leaving so much only in the stewpan as will just cover the gelatinous part, and simmer it until this is thoroughly tender. The head thus cured is very highly flavoured, and most excellent eating. The receipt for it is entirely new, having originated with ourselves. We give the reader, in addition, the result of our first experiment with it, which was entirely successful:—“A half calf’s head, not very large, without the skin, pickled with three ounces of common salt, two of bay-salt, half an ounce of saltpetre, one ounce of brown sugar, and half an ounce of pepper, left four days; then three ounces of treacle added, and the pickling continued for a month; smoked nearly as long, and boiled between one hour and a half, and two hours.” The pepper was omitted in our second trial, because it did not improve the appearance of the dish, although it was an advantage in point of flavour. Juniper-berries might, we think, be added with advantage, when they are liked; and cayenne tied in a muslin might supply the place of the pepper. It is an infinite improvement to have the skin of the head left on.

TO ROAST A FILLET OF VEAL.

Take out the bone and put a good roll of forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.) under the flap, dividing first, with a sharp knife, the skin from the meat sufficiently to admit the quantity required; secure it well, truss the veal firmly into good shape, place it at a distance from the fire at first, and baste it with butter. The outside will have a richer crust of browning if the meat be washed, wiped tolerably dry, and well floured before it is laid to the fire. It should be carefully watched, and basted often, that the fat may not burn. Pour melted butter over it after it is dished, and serve with it a boiled cheek of bacon and a lemon. Roast it from three hours and a half, to four hours and a half, according to its size.

FILLET OF VEAL, AU BÉCHAMEL, WITH OYSTERS.

Roast, in the usual way, a delicate fillet of veal, and in preparing it for the spit be careful to bind it up tightly, so that no cavity may be left where the bone has been taken out. While it is at the fire, plump gently in their own strained liquor, without allowing them to boil, half a pint of fine native oysters, and, after having freed them from the beards, set them aside; then boil the beards for fifteen or twenty minutes in nearly three quarters of a pint of good veal stock, or in strong veal broth, made for the purpose; strain them out, add the liquor of the oysters, also passed through a muslin or other fine strainer, and convert the broth into rich white sauce, of which there should be a full pint. When the veal is ready to serve, take it from the spit, dish it in a very hot dish, and cut out quickly from the centre in a cup-like form, about a pound of the meat, leaving a wide margin round the joint, to be carved in the usual way. Mince, as rapidly as possible, the white part of the veal which has been cut from the fillet, and the plumped oysters; put the whole into the white sauce, which should be ready heated, bring it to the point of boiling, pour it into the fillet, and send it immediately to table. The joint should be placed under a well-heated cover, while the mince is in course of preparation, and be kept near the fire.

When the knuckle of veal has been sent in with the fillet, a few thick slices from it may be taken for the sauce; but it should be boiled down sufficiently early to allow it to cool, and to have every particle of fat removed from it before it is used. A pound of the meat ought to make, with the addition of the oyster liquor, sufficient gravy for the sauce. When expense is not a consideration, the béchamel of Chapter V. may be made for it, and the fillet may be filled up entirely with whole oysters heated in it; or these may be intermixed with the veal cut into shilling-sized collops. Mushroom-buttons, stewed white in butter, can be substituted for the oysters, when their season is past; and very small forcemeat balls, delicately fried, may then be piled entirely over the open part of the fillet.

Persons who may take exception at the idea of oysters with roast veal, as not being in accordance with the common etiquette of the table, are recommended to give the innovation a trial before they reject its adoption.

BOILED FILLET OF VEAL.

A small and delicately white fillet should be selected for this purpose. Bind it round with tape, after having washed it thoroughly; cover it well with cold water, and bring it gently to boil; watch, and clear off carefully, the scum as it rises, and be, at the same time, very cautious not to allow the water to become smoked. Let the meat be gently simmered from three hours and a half to four and a half, according to its weight. Send it to table with rich white sauce, and a boiled tongue; or make for it in the first instance the oyster forcemeat of Chapter VIII., and serve with the veal a tureen of well-made oyster sauce.

3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.

ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.

It is not usual to stuff a loin of veal, but we greatly recommend the practice, as an infinite improvement to the joint. Make the same forcemeat as for the fillet; and insert it between the skin and the flesh just over the ends of the bones. Skewer down the flap, place the joint at a moderate distance from a sound fire, keep it constantly basted, and be especially careful not to allow the kidney fat to burn: to prevent this, and to ensure the good appearance of the joint, a buttered paper is often fastened round the loin, and removed about half an hour before it is taken from the fire. It is the fashion in some counties to serve egg-sauce and brown gravy with roast loin, or breast of veal.

The cook will scarcely need to be told that she must separate the skin from the flank, with a sharp knife, quite from the end, to the place where the forcemeat is to be put, and then skewer the whole very securely. When the veal is not papered, dredge it well with flour soon after it is laid to the fire.

2 to 2-1/2 hours.

BOILED LOIN OF VEAL.

If dressed with care and served with good sauces, this, when the meat is small and white is an excellent dish, and often more acceptable to persons of delicate habit than roast veal. Take from eight to ten pounds of the best end of the loin, leave the kidney in with all its fat, skewer or bind down the flap, lay the meat into cold water, and boil it as gently as possible from two hours and a quarter to two and a half, clearing off the scum perfectly, as in dressing the fillet. Send it to table with well-made oyster sauce, or béchamel, or with white sauce well flavoured with lemon-juice, and with parsley, boiled, pressed dry, and finely chopped.

2-1/4 to 2-1/2 hours.

STEWED LOIN OF VEAL.

Take part of a loin of veal, the chump end will do; put into a large, thick, well-tinned iron saucepan, or into a stewpan, about a couple of ounces of butter, and shake it over a moderate fire until it begins to brown; flour the veal well all over, lay it into the saucepan, and when it is of a fine, equal, light brown, pour gradually in veal broth, gravy, or boiling water to nearly half its depth; add a little sauce, one or two sliced carrots, a small onion, or more when the flavour is much liked, and a bunch of parsley; stew the veal very softly for an hour or rather more; then turn it, and let it stew for nearly or quite another hour, or longer should it not be perfectly tender. As none of our receipts have been tried with large, coarse veal, the cooking must be regulated by that circumstance, and longer time allowed should the meat be of more than moderate size. Dish the joint, skim all the fat from the gravy, and strain it over the meat; or keep the joint hot while it is rapidly reduced to a richer consistency. This is merely a plain family stew.

BOILED BREAST OF VEAL.

Let both the veal and the sweetbread be washed with exceeding nicety, cover them with cold water, clear off the scum as it rises, throw in a little salt, add a bunch of parsley, a large blade of mace, and twenty white peppercorns; simmer the meat from an hour to an hour and a quarter, and serve it covered with rich onion sauce. Send it to table very hot. The sweetbread may be taken up when half done, and curried, or made into cutlets, or stewed in brown gravy. When onions are objected to, substitute white sauce and a cheek of bacon for them, or parsley and butter, if preferred to it.

1 to 1-1/4 hour.

TO ROAST A BREAST OF VEAL.

Let the caul remain skewered over the joint till with within half an hour of its being ready for table: place it at a moderate distance from a brisk fire, baste it constantly, and in about an hour and a half remove the caul, flour the joint, and let it brown. Dish and pour melted butter over it, and serve it with a cut lemon, and any other of the usual accompaniments to veal. It may be garnished with fried balls of the forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.) about the size of a walnut.

2 to 2-1/2 hours.

TO BONE A SHOULDER OF VEAL, MUTTON, OR LAMB.

Shoulder of Veal boned.

Spread a clean cloth upon a table or dresser, and lay the joint flat upon it, with the skin downwards; with a sharp knife cut off the flesh from the inner side nearly down to the blade bone, of which detach the edges first, then work the knife under it, keeping it always close to the bone, and using all possible precaution not to pierce the outer skin; when it is in every part separated from the flesh, loosen it from the socket with the point of the knife, and remove it; or, without dividing the two bones, cut round the joint until it is freed entirely from the meat, and proceed to detach the second bone. That of the knuckle is frequently left in, but for some dishes it is necessary to take it out; in doing this, be careful not to tear the skin. A most excellent grill may be made by leaving sufficient meat for it upon the bones of a shoulder of mutton, when they are removed from the joint: it will be found very superior to the broiled blade-bone of a roast shoulder, which is so much liked by many people.

STEWED SHOULDER OF VEAL.

(English Receipt.)

Bone a shoulder of veal, and strew the inside thickly with savoury herbs minced small; season it well with salt, cayenne, and pounded mace; and place on these a layer of ham cut in thin slices and freed from rind and rust. Roll up the veal, and bind it tightly with a fillet; roast it for an hour and a half, then simmer it gently in good brown gravy for five hours; add forcemeat balls before it is dished; skim the fat from the gravy, and serve it with the meat. This receipt, for which we are indebted to a correspondent on whom we can depend, and which we have not therefore considered it necessary to test ourselves, is for a joint which weighs ten pounds before it is boned.

ROAST NECK OF VEAL.

The best end of the neck will make an excellent roast. A forcemeat may be inserted between the skin and the flesh, by first separating them with a sharp knife; or the dish may be garnished with the forcemeat in balls. From an hour and a half to two hours will roast it. Pour melted butter over it when it is dished, and serve it like other joints. Let it be floured when first laid to the fire, kept constantly basted, and always at a sufficient distance to prevent its being scorched.

1-1/2 to 2 hours.

For the forcemeat, see No. 1, Chapter VIII. From 8 to 10 minutes will fry the balls.

NECK OF VEAL À LA CRÊME.

(Or Au Béchamel.)

Take the best end of a neck of white and well-fed veal, detach the flesh from the ends of the bones, cut them sufficiently short to give the joint a good square form, fold and skewer the skin over them, wrap a buttered paper round the meat, lay it at a moderate distance from a clear fire, and keep it well basted with butter for an hour and a quarter; then remove the paper and continue the basting with a pint, or more, of béchamel or of rich white sauce, until the veal is sufficiently roasted, and well encrusted with it. Serve some béchamel under it in the dish, and send it very hot to table. For variety, give the béchamel in making it a high flavour of mushrooms, and add some small buttons stewed very white and tender, to the portion reserved for saucing the joint.

2 to 2-1/4 hours.

VEAL GOOSE.

(City of London receipt.)

“This is made with the upper part of the flank of a loin of veal (or sometimes that of the fillet) covered with a stuffing of sage and onions, then rolled, and roasted or broiled. It is served with brown gravy and apple sauce, is extremely savoury, and has many admirers.” We transcribe the exact receipt for this dish, which was procured for us from a house in the city, which is famed for it. We had it tested with the skin of the best end of a fine neck of veal, from which it was pared with something more than an inch depth of the flesh adhering to it. It was roasted one hour, and answered extremely well. It is a convenient mode of dressing the flank of the veal for eaters who do not object to the somewhat coarse savour of the preparation. When the tendrons or gristles of a breast, or part of a breast of veal, are required for a separate dish, the remaining portion of the joint may be dressed in this way after the bones have been taken out; or, without removing them, the stuffing may be inserted under the skin.

KNUCKLE OF VEAL EN RAGOUT.

Cut in small thick slices the flesh of a knuckle of veal, season it with a little fine salt and white pepper, flour it lightly, and fry it in butter to a pale brown, lay it into a very clean stewpan or saucepan, and just cover it with boiling water; skim it clean, and add to it a faggot of thyme and parsley, the white part of a head of celery, a small quantity of cayenne, and a blade or two of mace. Stew it very softly from an hour and three quarters to two hours and a half. Thicken and enrich the gravy if needful with rice-flour and mushroom catsup or Harvey’s sauce, or with a large teaspoonful of flour, mixed with a slice of butter, a little good store-sauce and a glass of sherry or Madeira. Fried forcemeat balls of No. 1, Chapter VIII. may be added at pleasure. With an additional quantity of water, or of broth (made with the bones of the joint), a pint and a half of young green peas stewed with the veal for an hour will give an agreeable variety of this dish.

BOILED KNUCKLE OF VEAL.

After the joint has been trimmed and well washed, put it into a vessel well adapted to it in size, for if it be very large, so much water will be required that the veal will be deprived of its flavour; it should be well covered with it, and very gently boiled until it is perfectly tender in every part, but not so much done as to separate from the bone. Clear off the scum with scrupulous care when the simmering first commences, and throw in a small portion of salt; as this, if sparingly used, will not redden the meat, and will otherwise much improve it. Parsley and butter is usually both poured over, and sent to table with a knuckle of veal, and boiled bacon also should accompany it. From the sinewy nature of this joint, it requires more than the usual time of cooking, a quarter of an hour to the pound not being sufficient for it.

Veal 6 to 7 lbs.: 2 hours or more.

KNUCKLE OF VEAL WITH RICE.

Pour over a small knuckle of veal rather more than sufficient water to cover it; bring it slowly to a boil; take off all the scum with great care, throw in a teaspoonful of salt, and when the joint has simmered for about half an hour, throw in from eight to twelve ounces of well washed rice, and stew the veal gently for an hour and a half longer, or until both the meat and rice are perfectly tender. A seasoning of cayenne and mace in fine powder with more salt, should it be required, must be added twenty or thirty minutes before they are served. For a superior stew good veal broth may be substituted for the water.

Veal, 6 lbs.; water, 3 to 4 pints; salt, 1 teaspoonful: 30 to 40 minutes. Rice, 8 to 12 oz.: 1-1/2 hour.

Obs.—A quart or even more of full grown green peas added to the veal as soon as the scum has been cleared off will make a most excellent stew. It should be well seasoned with white pepper, and the mace should be omitted. Two or three cucumbers, pared and freed from the seeds, may be sliced into it when it boils, or four or five young lettuces shred small may be added instead. Green onions also, when they are liked, may be used to give it flavour.

SMALL PAIN DE VEAU, OR, VEAL CAKE.

Chop separately and very fine, a pound and a quarter of veal quite free from fat and skin, and six ounces of beef kidney-suet; add a teaspoonful of salt, a full third as much of white pepper and of mace or nutmeg, with the grated rind of half a lemon, and turn the whole well together with the chopping-knife until it is thoroughly mixed; then press it smoothly into a small round baking dish, and send it to a moderate oven for an hour and a quarter. Lift it into a clean hot dish, and serve it plain, or with a little brown gravy in a tureen. Three ounces of the lean of a boiled ham minced small, will very much improve this cake, of which the size can be increased at will, and proportionate time allowed for dressing it. If baked in a hot oven, the meat will shrink to half its proper size, and be very dry. When done, it should be of a fine light brown, and like a cake in appearance.

Veal, 1-1/4 lb.; beef-suet, 6 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; pepper and mace, or nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoonful each; rind of 1/2 lemon; ham (when added) 3 oz.; baked 1-1/4 hour.

BORDYKE VEAL CAKE.

(Good.)

Take a pound and a half of veal perfectly clear of fat and skin, and eight ounces of the nicest striped bacon; chop them separately, then mix them well together with the grated rind of a small lemon, half a teaspoonful of salt, a fourth as much of cayenne, the third part of a nutmeg grated, and a half-teaspoonful of freshly pounded mace When it is pressed into the dish, let it be somewhat higher in the centre than at the edge; and whether to be served hot or cold, lift it out as soon as it comes from the oven, and place it on a strainer that the fat may drain from it; it will keep many days if the under side be dry. The bacon should be weighed after the rind, and any rust it may exhibit, have been trimmed from it. This cake is excellent cold, better indeed than the preceding one; but slices of either, if preferred hot, may be warmed through in a Dutch oven, or on the gridiron, or in a few spoonsful of gravy. The same ingredients made into small cakes, well floured, and slowly fried from twelve to fifteen minutes, then served with gravy made in the pan as for cutlets, will be found extremely good.

Veal, 1-1/2 lb.; striped bacon, 8 oz.; salt and mace, 1 teaspoonful each; rind of lemon, 1; third of 1 nutmeg; cayenne, 4 grains; baked 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour.

FRICANDEAU OF VEAL. (ENTRÉE).

French cooks always prefer for this dish, which is a common one in their own country, that part of the fillet to which the fat or udder is attached;[76] but the flesh of the finer part of the neck or loin, raised clear from the bones, may be made to answer the purpose nearly or quite as well, and often much more conveniently, as the meat with us is not divided for sale as in France; and to purchase the entire fillet for the sake of the fricandeau would render it exceedingly expensive. Lay the veal flat upon a table or dresser, with the skin uppermost, and endeavour, with one stroke of an exceedingly sharp knife, to clear this off, and to leave the surface of the meat extremely smooth; next lard it thickly with small lardoons, as directed for a pheasant (page 181), and make one or two incisions in the underside with the point of a knife, that it may the better imbibe the flavour of the seasonings. Take a stewpan, of sufficient size to hold the fricandeau, and the proper quantity of vegetables compactly arranged, without much room being left round the meat. Put into it a couple of large carrots, cut in thick slices, two onions of moderate size, two or three roots of parsley, three bay leaves, two small blades of mace, a branch or two of lemon thyme, and a little cayenne, or a saltspoonful of white peppercorns. Raise these high in the centre of the stewpan, so as to support the meat, and prevent its touching the gravy. Cover them with slices of very fat bacon, and place the fricandeau gently on them; then pour in as much good veal broth, or stock, as will nearly cover the vegetables without reaching to the veal. A calf’s foot, split in two, may with advantage be laid under them in the first instance. Stew the fricandeau very gently for upwards of three hours, or until it is found to be extremely tender when probed with a fine skewer or a larding-pin. Plenty of live embers must then be put on the lid of the stewpan for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, to render the lardoons firm. Lift out the fricandeau and keep it hot; strain and reduce the gravy very quickly, after having skimmed off every particle of fat; glaze the veal, and serve it on a ragout of sorrel, cucumbers, or spinach. This, though rather an elaborate receipt, is the best we can offer to the reader for a dish, which is now almost as fashionable with us as it is common on the Continent. Some English cooks have a very summary method of preparing it; they merely lard and boil the veal until they can “cut it with a spoon.” then glaze and serve it with “brown gravy in the dish.” This may be very tolerable eating, but it will bear small resemblance to the French fricandeau.

76.  Called by them the noix.

3-1/2 to 4 hours.

SPRING-STEW OF VEAL.

Cut two pound of veal, free from fat, into small half-inch thick cutlets; flour them well, and fry them in butter with two small cucumbers sliced, sprinkled with pepper, and floured, one moderate sized lettuce, and twenty-four green gooseberries cut open lengthwise and seeded. When the whole is nicely browned, lift it into a thick saucepan, and pour gradually into the pan half a pint, or rather more, of boiling water, broth, or gravy. Add as much salt and pepper as it requires. Give it a minute’s simmer, and pour it over the meat, shaking it well round the pan as this is done. Let the veal stew gently from three quarters of an hour to an hour. A bunch of green onions cut small may be added to the other vegetables if liked; and the veal will eat better, if slightly seasoned with salt and pepper before it is floured; a portion of fat can be left on it if preferred.

Veal 2 lbs.; cucumbers, 2; lettuce, 1; green gooseberries, 24; water or broth, 1/2 pint or more: 3/4 to 1 hour.

NORMAN HARRICO.

Brown in a stewpan or fry lightly, after having sprinkled them with pepper, salt, and flour, from two to three pounds of veal cutlets. If taken from the neck or loin, chop the bones very short, and trim away the greater portion of the fat. Arrange them as flat as they can be in a saucepan; give a pint of water a boil in the pan in which they have been browned, and pour it on them; add a small faggot of parsley, and, should the flavour be liked, one of green onions also. Let the meat simmer softly for half an hour; then cover it with small new potatoes which have had a single boil in water, give the saucepan a shake, and let the harrico stew very gently for another half hour, or until the potatoes are quite done, and the veal is tender. When the cutlets are thick and the potatoes approaching their full size, more time will be required for the meat, and the vegetables may be at once divided: if extremely young they will need the previous boil. Before the harrico is served, skim the fat from it, and add salt and pepper should it not be sufficiently seasoned. A few bits of lean ham, or shoulder of bacon browned with the veal, will much improve this dish, and for some tastes, a little acid will render it more agreeable. Very delicate pork chops may be dressed in the same way. A cutlet taken from the fillet and freed from fat and skin, answers best for this dish. Additional vegetables, cooked apart, can be added to it after it is dished. Peas boiled very green and well drained, or young carrots sliced and stewed tender in butter, are both well suited to it.

Veal, 2 to 3 lbs.; water (or gravy), 1 pint; new potatoes 1-1/2 to 2 lbs.; faggot, parsley, and green onions: 1 hour or more.

PLAIN VEAL CUTLETS.

Take them if possible free from bone, and after having trimmed them into proper shape, beat them with a cutlet-bat or paste-roller until the fibre of the meat is thoroughly broken; flour them well to prevent the escape of the gravy, and fry them from twelve to fifteen minutes over a fire which is not sufficiently fierce to burn them before they are quite cooked through: they should be of a fine amber brown, and perfectly done. Lift them into a hot dish, pour the fat from the pan, throw in a slice of fresh butter, and when it is melted, stir or dredge in a dessertspoonful of flour; keep these shaken until they are well-coloured, then pour gradually to them a cup of gravy or of boiling water; add pepper, salt, a little lemon-pickle or juice, give the whole a boil, and pour it over the cutlets: a few forcemeat balls fried and served with them, is usually a very acceptable addition to this dish, even when it is garnished or accompanied with rashers of ham or bacon. A morsel of glaze, or of the jelly of roast meat, should when at hand be added to the sauce, which a little mushroom powder would further improve: mushroom sauce, indeed, is considered by many epicures, as indispensable with veal cutlets. We have recommended in this one instance that the meat should be thoroughly beaten, because we find that the veal is wonderfully improved by the process, which, however, we still deprecate for other meat.

12 to 15 minutes.

VEAL CUTLETS A L’INDIENNE, OR INDIAN FASHION. (ENTRÉE.)

Mix well together four ounces of very fine stale bread-crumbs, a teaspoonful of salt, and a tablespoonful of the best currie powder. Cut down into small well-shaped cutlets or collops, two pounds of veal free from fat, skin, or bone; beat the slices flat, and dip them first into some beaten egg-yolks, and then into the seasoned crumbs; moisten them again with egg, and pass them a second time through bread-crumbs. When all are ready, fry them in three or four ounces of butter over a moderate fire, from twelve to fourteen minutes. For sauce, mix smoothly with a knife, a teaspoonful of flour and an equal quantity of currie-powder, with a small slice of butter; shake these in the pan for about five minutes, pour to them a cup of gravy or boiling water, add salt and cayenne if required and the strained juice of half a lemon; simmer the whole till well flavoured, and pour it round the cutlets. A better plan is, to have some good currie sauce ready prepared to send to table with this dish; which may likewise be served with only well-made common cutlet gravy, from the pan, when much of the pungent flavour of the currie-powder is not desired.

Bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; currie powder, 1 tablespoonful; veal, 2 lbs.: 12 to 14 minutes.

Obs.—These cutlets may be broiled; they should then be well beaten first, and dipped into clarified butter instead of egg before they are passed through the curried seasoning.

VEAL CUTLETS, OR COLLOPS, À LA FRANÇAISE. (ENTRÉE.)

Cut the veal into small, thin, round collops of equal size, arrange them evenly in a sauté-pan, or in a small frying-pan, and sprinkle a little fine salt, white pepper, and grated nutmeg on them. Clarify, or merely dissolve in a clean saucepan with a gentle degree of heat, an ounce or two of good butter, and pour it equally over the meat. Set the pan aside until the dinner-hour, then fry the collops over a clear fire, and when they are lightly browned, which will be in from four to five minutes, lift them into a hot dish, and sauce them with a little Espagnole, or with a gravy made quickly in the pan, and flavoured with lemon-juice and cayenne. They are excellent even without any sauce.

3 to 4 minutes.

SCOTCH COLLOPS. (ENTRÉE.)

Prepare the veal as for the preceding receipt, but dip the collops into beaten egg and seasoned bread-crumbs, and fry them directly in good butter, over a moderate fire, of a light golden brown; drain them well in lifting them from the pan, and sauce them like the collops à la Française.

VEAL CUTLETS À LA MODE DE LONDRES, OR, LONDON FASHION. (ENTRÉE.)

Raise the flesh entire from the upper side of the best end of a neck of veal, free it from the skin, and from the greater portion of the fat, slice it equally into cutlets little more than a quarter of an inch thick, brush them with egg, strew them with fine bread-crumbs, and fry them of a light brown. Toast, or fry apart as many small slices of bacon as there are cutlets, and let them be trimmed nearly to the same shape; place them alternately on their edges round the inside of a hot dish (so as to form a sort of chain), and pour into the middle some rich gravy made in the pan, and very slightly flavoured with eschalot; or substitute for this some good brown mushroom sauce. Savoury herbs, grated lemon-rind, nutmeg or mace, salt, and white pepper or cayenne, should be mixed with the bread-crumbs, in the proportions directed at page 213, for cutlets of calf’s head; or they may be varied at pleasure. A cheek of bacon is best adapted to this dish.

SWEETBREADS SIMPLY DRESSED. (ENTRÉE.)

In whatever way sweetbreads are dressed, they should first be well soaked in lukewarm water, then thrown into boiling water to blanch them, as it is called, and to render them firm. If lifted out after they have boiled from five to ten minutes according to their size, and laid immediately into fresh spring water to cool, their colour will be the better preserved. They may then be gently stewed for three quarters of an hour in veal gravy, which with the usual additions of cream, lemon, and egg-yolks, may be converted into a fricassee sauce for them when they are done; or they may be lifted from it, glazed, and served with good Spanish gravy; or, the glazing being omitted, they may be sauced with the sharp Maître d’Hôtel sauce of page 117. They may also be simply floured, and roasted in a Dutch oven, being often basted with butter, and frequently turned. A full sized sweetbread, after having been blanched, will require quite three quarters of an hour to dress it.

Blanched 5 to 10 minutes. Stewed 3/4 hour or more.

SWEETBREAD CUTLETS. (ENTRÉE.)

Boil the sweetbreads for half an hour in water or veal broth, and when they are perfectly cold, cut them into slices of equal thickness, brush them with yolk of egg, and dip them into very fine bread-crumbs seasoned with salt, cayenne, grated lemon-rind, and mace; fry them in butter of a fine light brown, arrange them in a dish placing them high in the centre, and pour under them a gravy made in the pan, thickened with mushroom powder and flavoured with lemon-juice; or, in lieu of this, sauce them with some rich brown gravy, to which a glass of sherry or Madeira has been added. When it can be done conveniently, take as many slices of a cold boiled tongue as there are sweetbread cutlets; pare the rind from them, trim them into good shape, and dress them with the sweetbreads, after they have been egged and seasoned in the same way; and place each cutlet upon a slice of tongue when they are dished. For variety, substitute croutons of fried bread stamped out to the size of the cutlets with a round or fluted paste or cake cutter. The crumb of a stale loaf, very evenly sliced, is best for the purpose.

STEWED CALF’S FEET.

(Cheap and Good.)

This is an excellent family dish, highly nutritious, and often very inexpensive, as the feet during the summer are usually sold at a low rate. Wash them with nicety, divide them at the joint, and split the claws; arrange them closely in a thick stewpan or saucepan, and pour in as much cold water as will cover them about half an inch: three pints will be sufficient for a couple of large feet. When broth or stock is at hand, it is good economy to substitute it for the water, as by this means a portion of strong and well-flavoured jellied gravy will be obtained for general use, the full quantity not being needed as sauce for the feet. The whole preparation will be much improved by laying a thick slice of the lean of an unboiled ham, knuckle of bacon, hung beef, or the end of a dried tongue, at the bottom of the pan, before the other ingredients are added; or, when none of these are at hand, by supplying the deficiency with a few bits of lean beef or veal: the feet being of themselves insipid, will be much more palatable with one or the other of these additions. Throw in from half to three quarters of a teaspoonful of salt when they begin to boil, and after the scum has been all cleared off, add a few branches of parsley, a little celery, one small onion or more, stuck with half a dozen cloves, a carrot or two, a large blade of mace, and twenty corns of whole pepper; stew them softly until the flesh will part entirely from the bones; take it from them, strain part of the gravy, and skim off all the fat, flavour it with catsup or any other store sauce, and thicken it, when it boils, with arrow-root or flour and butter; put in the flesh of the feet, and serve the dish as soon as the whole is very hot. A glass of wine, a little lemon juice, and a few forcemeat balls, will convert this into a very superior stew; a handful of mushroom-buttons also simmered in it for half an hour before it is dished, will vary it agreeably.

Calf’s feet (large), 2; water, 3 pints; salt, 1/2 to 1/3 teaspoonful; onions, 1 to 3; cloves, 6; peppercorns, 20; mace, large blade; little celery and parsley; carrots, 1 or 2: stewed softly, 2-1/2 to 3-1/4 hours. Mushroom catsup, 1 tablespoonful; flour, or arrow-root, 1 large teaspoonful; butter, 1 to 2 oz. Cayenne, to taste.

CALF’S LIVER STOVED, OR STEWED.

From three to four pounds of the best part of the liver will be sufficient for a dish of moderate size. First lard it quite through by the directions of page 181, with large lardoons, rolled in a seasoning of spice, and of savoury herbs very finely minced; then lay it into a stewpan or saucepan just fitted to its size, and pour in about half a pint of broth or gravy; heat it very gently, and throw in, when it begins to simmer, a sliced carrot, a small onion cut in two, a small bunch of parsley, and a blade of mace; stew the liver as softly as possible over a very slow fire from two hours and a half to three hours; thicken the gravy with a little brown roux (see page 107), or with a dessertspoonful of browned flour; add a couple of glasses of white wine, and a little spice if needed, and serve it very hot, after having taken out the herbs and vegetable.

The liver may be stewed without being larded; it may likewise be browned all over in a carefully made roux, before the gravy is poured to it: this must then be made to boil, and be added in small portions, the stewpan being well shaken round as each is thrown in. The wine can be altogether omitted; or a wineglassful of port mixed with a little lemon-juice, may take the place of sherry. After the liver has been wiped very dry, minced herbs may be strewed thickly over it before it is laid into the stewpan; and it may be served in its own gravy, or with a sauce piquante.

Liver, 3 to 4 lbs: 2 to 3 hours.

TO ROAST CALF’S LIVER.

Take the whole or part of a fine white sound liver, and either lard it as a fricandeau upon the surface, or with large strips of highly-seasoned bacon in the inside (see Larding, page 181); or should either of these modes be objected to, merely wrap it in a well buttered paper, and roast it from an hour to an hour and a quarter at a moderate distance from a clear fire, keeping it constantly basted. Remove the paper, and froth the liver well from ten to fifteen minutes before it is done. It should be served with a sauce of some piquancy, such as a poivrade, or brown eschalot, in addition to some good gravy. French cooks steep the liver over-night in vinegar, with a sliced onion and branches of savoury herbs laid over it: this whitens and renders it firm. As an economical mode, some small bits of the liver may be trimmed off, floured, and lightly fried with a sliced onion, and stewed down for gravy in three quarters of a pint of water which has been poured into the pan, with the addition of a few peppercorns, and a small bunch of herbs. A seasoning of salt must not be forgotten, and a little lemon pickle, or juice, would generally be considered an improvement.

1 to 1-1/4 hour.

BLANQUETTE OF VEAL OR LAMB, WITH MUSHROOMS.

(ENTRÉE.)

Slice very thin the white part of some cold veal, divide and trim it into scallops not larger than a shilling, and lay it into a clean saucepan or stewpan. Wipe with a bit of new flannel and a few grains of salt, from a quarter to half a pint of mushroom-buttons, and slice them into a little butter which just begins to simmer; stew them in it from twelve to fifteen minutes, without allowing them to take the slightest colour; then lift them out and lay them on the veal. Pour boiling to them a pint of sauce tournée (see page 108); let the blanquette remain near, but not close to the fire for awhile: bring it nearer, heat it slowly, and when it is on the point of boiling mix a spoonful or two of the sauce from it with the well beaten yolks of four fresh eggs; stir them to the remainder; add the strained juice of half a small lemon; shake the saucepan above the fire until the sauce is just set, and serve the blanquette instantly.

Cold veal, 3/4 lb.; mushrooms, 1/4 to 1/2 pint: stewed in 1-1/2 oz. butter, 12 to 15 minutes. Sauce tournée, or thickened veal gravy, 1 pint; yolks of eggs, 4; lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful.

Obs.—Any white meat may be served en blanquette. The mushrooms are not indispensable for it, but they are always a great improvement. White sauce substituted for the thickened veal gravy will at once convert this dish into an inexpensive English fricassee. Mace, salt, and cayenne, must be added to either preparation, should it require seasoning.

MINCED VEAL.

When there is neither gravy nor broth at hand, the bones and trimmings of the meat must be boiled down to furnish what is required for the mince. As cold meat is very light in weight, a pound of the white part of the veal will be sufficient for a dish, and for this quantity a pint of gravy will be needed. Break down the bones of the joint well, add the trimmings of the meat, a small bunch of savoury herbs, a slice or two of carrot or of celery, a blade of mace, a few white peppercorns, and a bit or two of lean ham, boiled, or unboiled if it can be had, as either will improve the flavour of the mince. Pour to these a pint and a half of water, and stew them gently for a couple of hours; then strain off the gravy, let it cool, and clear it entirely from the fat. Cut the white part of the veal small with a very sharp knife, after all the gristle and brown edges have been trimmed away. Some persons like a portion of fat minced with it, others object to the addition altogether. Thicken the gravy with a teaspoonful and a half of flour smoothly mixed with a small slice of butter, season the veal with a saltspoonful or more of salt, and half as much white pepper and grated nutmeg, or pounded mace; add the lightly-grated rind of half a small lemon; mix the whole well, put it into the gravy, and heat it thoroughly by the side of the fire without allowing it to boil; serve it with pale toasted sippets in and round the dish. A spoonful or two of cream is always an improvement to this mince.

MINCED VEAL AND OYSTERS.

The most elegant mode of preparing this dish is to mince about a pound of the whitest part of the inside of a cold roast fillet or loin of veal, to heat it without allowing it to boil, in a pint of rich white sauce, or béchamel, and to mix with it at the moment of serving, three dozens of small oysters ready bearded, and plumped in their own strained liquor, which is also to be added to the mince; the requisite quantity of salt, cayenne, and mace should be sprinkled over the veal before it is put into the sauce. Garnish the dash with pale fried sippets of bread, or with fleurons[77] of brioche, or of puff-paste. Nearly half a pint of mushrooms minced, and stewed white in a little butter, may be mixed with the veal instead of the oysters; or should they be very small they may be added to it whole: from ten to twelve minutes will be sufficient to make them tender. Balls of delicately fried oyster-forcemeat laid round the dish will give another good variety of it.

77.  Fleurons, flowers, or flower-like figures, cut out with tin shapes.

Veal minced, 1 lb.; white sauce, 1 pint; oysters, 3 dozen, with their liquor; or mushrooms, 1/2 pint, stewed in butter 10 to 12 minutes.

VEAL-SYDNEY. (GOOD.)

Pour boiling on an ounce and a half of fine bread-crumbs nearly half a pint of good veal stock or gravy, and let them stand till cool; mix with them then, two ounces of beef-suet shred very small, half a pound of cold roast veal carefully trimmed from the brown edges, skin, and fat, and finely minced; the grated rind of half a lemon, nearly a teaspoonful of salt, a little cayenne, the third of a teaspoonful of mace or nutmeg, and four well-beaten eggs. Whisk up the whole well together, put it into a buttered dish, and bake it from three quarters of an hour to an hour. Cream may be used instead of gravy when more convenient, but this last will give the better flavour. A little clarified butter put into the dish before the other ingredients are poured in will be an improvement.

Bread-crumbs, 1-1/2 oz.; gravy or cream, nearly 1/2 pint; beef-suet, 2 oz.; cold veal, 1/2 lb.; rind of 1/2 lemon; salt, small teaspoonful; third as much mace and nutmeg; little cayenne; eggs, 4 large or 5 small: 3/4 to 1 hour.

FRICASSEED VEAL.

Divide into small, thick, handsome slices of equal size, about a couple of pounds of veal, quite free from fat, bone, and skin; dissolve a couple of ounces of butter in a wide stewpan, and just as it begins to boil lay in the veal, and shake it over the fire until it is quite firm on both sides, but do not allow it to take the slightest colour. Stir in a tablespoonful of flour, and when it is well mixed with the cutlets, pour gradually to them, shaking the pan often, sufficient boiling veal gravy to almost cover them. Stew them gently from fifteen to sixteen minutes, or longer should they not be perfectly tender. Add a flavouring of mace, some salt, a quarter-pint of rich cream, a couple of egg-yolks, and a little lemon-juice, observing, when the last are added, the directions given for a blanquette of veal, page 229. Strips of lemon-rind can be stewed in the gravy at pleasure. Two or three dozens of mushroom-buttons, added twenty minutes before it is served, will much improve this fricassée.

SMALL ENTRÉES OF SWEETBREADS, CALF’S BRAINS AND EARS, &c. &c.

For tables of which the service consists rather of a great variety of light dishes (entrées) than of substantial English fare, the ears, brains, sweetbreads, gristles or tendrons, and the tail of a calf, may be dressed in many different ways to supply them; but they require a really good style of cookery, and many adjuncts to render them available for the purpose, as they do not possess much decided natural flavour, and their insipidity would be apt to tire if it were not relieved by the mode of preparing them. We shall give some few especial receipts for them in the chapter on Foreign Cookery, should sufficient space remain open for us to admit them; and insert here only such slight general directions as may suffice for preparing some of them in a simple form; as they are not in reality of first-rate importance. All of them may be served with good curried, or highly-flavoured tomato-sauce, after having been stewed in strong broth or gravy. The brains and sweetbreads cut into small dice or scallops, and mixed with béchamel, or with common white sauce, may be used to fill small vol-au-vents, or patty cases. The ears are usually filled in part with forcemeat, or a preparation of the brains, and placed upright when dished; and the upper part is cut into narrow fringe-like strips. For “Tendrons de Veau,” and “Breast of veal rolled and stewed,” the reader is referred to Chapter XXXIV.

CHAPTER XII.

Mutton.

No.

1. Leg.

2. Best End of Loin.

3. Chump End of Loin.

4. Neck, Best End.

5. Neck, Scrag End.

6. Shoulder.

7. Breast.

A Saddle is the Two Loins.

A Chine, the Two Necks.

Mutton is best suited for table in autumn, winter, and early spring. It is not considered quite so good when grass-lamb is in full season, nor during the sultry months of summer.

TO CHOOSE MUTTON.

The best mutton is small-boned, plump, finely-grained, and short-legged; the lean of a dark, rather than of a bright hue, and the fat white and clear: when this is yellow, the meat is rank, and of bad quality. Mutton is not considered by experienced judges to be in perfection until it is nearly or quite five years old; but to avoid the additional expense of feeding the animal so long, it is commonly brought into the market at three years old. The leg and the loin are the superior joints; and the preference would probably be given more frequently to the latter, but for the superabundance of its fat, which renders it a not very economical dish. The haunch consists of the leg and the part of the loin adjoining it; the saddle, of the two loins together, or of the undivided back of the sheep: these last are always roasted, and are served usually at good tables, or for company-dinners, instead of the smaller joints. The shoulder, dressed in the ordinary way, is not very highly esteemed, but when boned, rolled, and filled with forcemeat, it is of more presentable appearance, and to many tastes, far better eating; though some persons prefer it in its natural form, accompanied by stewed onions. It is occasionally boiled or stewed, and covered with rich onion sauce. The flesh of that part of the neck which is commonly called the “best end,” or the back ribs, and which adjoins the loin, is the most succulent and tender portion of the sheep, and makes an excellent small roast, and is extremely good served as cutlets, after being divested of the superabundant fat. It is likewise very frequently boiled; but so cooked it makes but an unsightly and insipid dish, though an idea prevails in this country that it is a very wholesome one. Cutlets (or chops, as the butchers term them) are commonly taken from the loin, and are generally charged at a higher rate than joints of mutton, in consequence, probably, of the constant demand for them. They may likewise be cut from the saddle, but will then be very large, and of no better quality than when the two loins which form the saddle are divided in the usual way, though a certain degree of fashion has of late been accorded to them.[78] The scrag, or that part of it which joins the head, is seldom used for any other purpose than making broth, and should be taken off before the joint is dressed. Cutlets from the thick end of the loin are commonly preferred to any others, but they are frequently taken likewise from the best end of the neck (sometimes called the back-ribs) and from the middle of the leg. Mutton kidneys are dressed in various ways, and are excellent in many. The trotters and the head of a sheep may be converted into very good dishes, but they are scarcely worth the trouble which is required to render them palatable. The loin and the leg are occasionally cured and smoked like hams or bacon.

78.  Many years since, these “saddle-back” cutlets were supplied to us by a country butcher, and though of very fine South Down mutton, had no particular importance attached to them, nor were they considered as remarkably new.

TO ROAST A HAUNCH OF MUTTON.[79]

79.  We recommend Liebig’s directions for roasting (page 171), to be applied here, and for the joints which follow.

This joint should be well kept, and when the larder-accommodations of a house not are good, the butcher should be requested to hang it the proper time. Roast it carefully at a large sound fire, and let it remain at a considerable distance for at least a couple of hours; then draw it nearer, but never sufficiently so to burn or injure the fat. Keep it constantly basted; flour it soon after it is laid to the fire, instead of frothing it, as this latter mode is not generally relished, though fashion is in its favour. In from three and a half to four hours, the haunch will be done, and it will require something less of time when not kept back at first, as we have advised. Serve it with a good Espagnole, or with plain mutton-gravy and currant-jelly. This joint, when the meat is of very fine quality, may be dressed and served exactly like venison.

3-1/2 to 4 hours. 5 hours or more by the slow method.

ROAST SADDLE OF MUTTON.

This is an excellent joint, though not considered a very economical one. It is usual for the butcher to raise the skin from it before it is sent in, and to skewer it on again, that in the roasting the juices of the meat may be better preserved, and the fat prevented from taking too much colour, as this should be but delicately browned. In less than half an hour before the mutton is done, remove the skin, and flour the joint lightly after having basted it well. Our own great objection to frothed meat would lead us to recommend that the skin should be taken off half an hour earlier, and that the joint should be kept at sufficient distance from the fire to prevent the possibility of the fat being burned; and that something more of time should be allowed for the roasting. With constant basting, great care, and good management, the cook may always ensure the proper appearance of this, or of any other joint (except, perhaps, of a haunch of venison) without having recourse to papering or pasting, or even to replacing the skin; but when unremitted attention cannot be given to this one part of the dinner, it is advisable to take all precautions that can secure it from being spoiled.

2-1/2 to 2-3/4 hours. More if very large.

TO ROAST A LEG OF MUTTON.

In a cool and airy larder a leg of mutton will hang many days with advantage, if the kernel be taken out, and the flap wiped very dry when it is first brought in; and it is never tender when freshly killed: in warm weather it should be well dredged with pepper to preserve it from the flies. If washed before it is put upon the spit, it should be wiped as dry as possible afterwards, and well floured soon after it is laid to the fire. When the excellence of the joint is more regarded than the expense of fuel, it should be roasted by what we have denominated the slow method; that is to say, it should be kept at a considerable distance from the fire, and remain at it four hours instead of two: it may be drawn nearer for the last twenty or thirty minutes to give it colour. The gravy will flow from it in great abundance when it is cut, and the meat will be very superior to that roasted in the usual way. When this plan is not pursued, the mutton should still be kept quite a foot from the fire until it is heated through, and never brought sufficiently near to scorch or to harden any part. It should be constantly basted with its own fat, for if this be neglected, all other precautions will fail to ensure a good roast; and after it is dished a little fine salt should be sprinkled lightly on it, and a spoonful or two of boiling water ladled over. This is the most palatable mode of serving it, but it may be frothed when it is preferred so, though we would rather recommend that the flour should be dredged on in the first instance, as it then prevents the juices of the meat from escaping, and forms a savoury coating to it; while the raw taste which it so often retains with mere frothing is to many eaters especially objectionable.

Leg of mutton, 7 to 8 lbs.: slow method 4 hours, common method 1-3/4 to 2 hours.

Obs.—Many common cooks injure their roasts exceedingly by pouring abundance of hot water over them, “to make gravy” as they call it. This should never be done. The use of any portion may, perhaps, be rationally objected to; but when the joint is not carefully cooked it is sometimes very dry without it. A few spoonsful of Liebeg’s extract of meat will supply excellent gravy for this, or for any other dish of roasted meat.

BRAISED LEG OF MUTTON.

Take out the bone as far as the first joint by the directions of the following receipt; roll some large strips of bacon in a seasoning of mixed spice, and of savoury herbs minced extremely fine or dried and reduced to powder, and with these lard the inside of the boned portion of the joint; or fill the cavity with forcemeat highly seasoned with eschalot or garlic. Sew up the meat, and place it in a braising-pan or ham-kettle nearly of its size, with slices of bacon under and over it, two or three onions, four or five carrots, two bay leaves, a large bunch of savoury herbs, a few bones, or bits of undressed mutton or veal, and about three quarters of a pint of gravy. Stew the meat as softly as possible from four to five hours, and keep live embers on the pan (or, as this mode of cooking is not general in England, set the mutton, if it can be done conveniently, into a moderately-heated oven, after having luted the edges of the vessel in which it is arranged with a bit of coarse paste); lift it out, strain the gravy, reduce it quickly to glaze, and brush the meat with it; or merely strain, free it from fat, and pour it over the mutton. White beans (haricots blancs), boiled tender and well drained, or a mild ragout of garlic or eschalots, may be laid in the dish under it. The joint can be braised equally well without any part of it being boned.

3 to 5 hours.

LEG OF MUTTON BONED AND FORCED.

Select for this dish a joint of South Down or of any other delicate-sized mutton, which has been kept sufficiently long to render it very tender. Lay it on a clean cloth spread upon a table, and turn the underside upwards. With a sharp-edged boning-knife cut through the middle of the skin, from the knuckle to the first joint, and raise it from the flesh on the side along which the bone runs, until the knife is just above it, then cut through the flesh down to the bone; work the knife round it in every part till you reach the socket; next remove the flat bone from the large end of the joint, and pass the knife freely round the remaining one, as it is not needful to take it out clear of the meat; when you again reach the middle joint, loosen the skin round it with great care, and the two bones can then be drawn out without being divided. This being done, fill the cavities with the forcemeat, No. 1. (Chapter VIII.), adding to it a somewhat high seasoning of eschalot, garlic, or onion; or cut out with the bone, nearly a pound of the inside of the mutton, chop it fine with six ounces of delicate striped bacon, and mix with it thoroughly three quarters of an ounce of parsley, and half as much of thyme and winter savoury, all minced extremely small; a half teaspoonful of pepper (or a third as much of cayenne); the same of mace, salt, and nutmeg, and either the grated rind of a small lemon, or four eschalots finely shred. When the lower part of the leg is filled, sew the skin neatly together where it has been cut open, and tie the knuckle round tightly, to prevent the escape of the gravy. Replace the flat bone at the large end, and with a long needle and twine, draw the edges of the meat together over it. If it can be done conveniently, it is better to roast the mutton thus prepared in a cradle spit or upon a bottle-jack, with the knuckle downwards. Place it at first far from the fire, and keep it constantly basted. It will require nearly or quite three hours’ roasting. Remove the twine before it is served, and send it very hot to table with some rich brown gravy.

A BOILED LEG OF MUTTON WITH TONGUE AND TURNIPS.

(An excellent Receipt.)

Trim into handsome form a well-kept, but perfectly sweet leg of mutton, of middling weight; wash, but do not soak it; lay it into a vessel as nearly of its size as convenient, and pour in rather more than sufficient cold water[80] to cover it; set it over a good fire, and when it begins to boil take off the scum, and continue to do so until no more appears; throw in a tablespoonful of salt (after the first skimming), which will assist to bring it to the surface, and as soon as the liquor is clear, add two moderate-sized onions stuck with a dozen cloves, a large faggot of parsley, thyme, and winter savoury, and four or five large carrots, and half an hour afterwards as many turnips. Draw the pan to the side of the fire, and let the mutton be simmered gently from two hours to two and a half, from the time of its first beginning to boil. Serve it with caper, brown cucumber, or oyster sauce. If stewed softly, as we have directed, the mutton will be found excellent dressed thus; otherwise, it will but resemble the unpalatable and ragged-looking joints of fast-boiled meat, so constantly sent to table by common English cooks. Any undressed bones of veal, mutton, or beef, boiled with the joint will improve it much, and the liquor will then make excellent soup or bouillon. A small smoked ox-tongue boiled very tender will generally be much approved as an accompaniment to the mutton, though it is out of the usual course to serve them together: innovation on established usages is, however, sometimes to be recommended. The tongue should be garnished with well-prepared mashed turnips, moulded with a tablespoon into the form of a half-egg, and sent to table as hot as possible; or the turnips may be dished apart.

80.  We have left this receipt unaltered, instead of applying to it Baron Liebeg’s directions for his improved method of boiling meat, because his objections to the immersion of the joint in cold water are partially obviated, by its being placed immediately over a sound fire, and heated quickly; and the mutton is very good thus dressed.

2 to 2-1/2 hours.

ROAST OR STEWED FILLET OF MUTTON.

Cut some inches from either end of a large and well-kept leg of mutton, and leave the fillet shaped like one of veal. Remove the bone, and fill the cavity with forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.), which may be flavoured with a little minced eschalot, when its flavour is liked: more forcemeat may be added by detaching the skin sufficiently on the flap side to admit it. When thus prepared, the fillet may be roasted, and served with currant-jelly and brown gravy, or with only melted butter poured over it; or it may be stewed gently for nearly or quite four hours, in a pint of gravy or broth, after having been floured and browned all over in a couple of ounces of butter: it must then be turned every hour that it may be equally done. Two or three small onions, a faggot of herbs, a couple of carrots sliced, four or five cloves, and twenty whole peppercorns can be added to it at will.

Roasted 2 hours, or stewed 4 hours.

Obs.—At a large fire, half an hour less of time will roast the mutton sufficiently for English taste in general.

TO ROAST A LOIN OF MUTTON.

The flesh of the loin of mutton is superior to that of the leg, when roasted; but to the frugal housekeeper this consideration is usually overbalanced by the great weight of fat attached to it; this, however, when economy is more considered than appearance, may be pared off and melted down for various kitchen uses. When thus reduced in size, the mutton will be soon roasted. If it is to be dressed in the usual way, the butcher should be desired to take off the skin; and care should be taken to preserve the fat from being ever so lightly burned: it should be managed, indeed, in the same manner as the saddle, in every respect, and carved also in the same way, either in its entire length or in oblique slices.

Without the fat, 1 to 1-1/2 hour; with 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

TO DRESS A LOIN OF MUTTON LIKE VENISON.

Skin and bone a loin of mutton, and lay it into a stewpan, or braising-pan, with a pint of water, a large onion stuck with a dozen cloves, half a pint of port wine and a spoonful of vinegar; add, when it boils, a small faggot of thyme and parsley, and some pepper and salt: let it stew three hours, and turn it often. Make some gravy of the bones, and add it at intervals to the mutton when required. This receipt comes to us so strongly recommended by persons who have partaken frequently of the dish, that we have not thought it needful to prove it ourselves.

3 hours.

ROAST NECK OF MUTTON.

This is a very favourite joint in many families, the flesh being more tender and succulent than that even of the loin; and when only a small roast is required, the best end of the neck of mutton, or the middle, if divested of a large portion of the fat and cut into good shape, will furnish one of appropriate size and of excellent quality. Let the ends be cut quite even and the bones short, so as to give a handsome squareness of form to the meat. The butcher, if directed to do so, will chop off the chine bone, and divide the long bones sufficiently at the joints to prevent any difficulty in separating them at table. From four to five pounds weight of the neck will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter of roasting at a clear and brisk, but not fierce, fire. It should be placed at a distance until it is heated through, and then moved nearer, and kept thoroughly basted until it is done. Tomatas baked or roasted may be sent to table with it; or a little plain gravy and red currant-jelly; or it may be served without either.

When the entire joint, with the exception of the scrag-end (which should always be taken off), is cooked, proportionate time must be allowed for it.

TO ROAST A SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

Flour it well, and baste it constantly with its own dripping; do not place it close enough to the fire for the fat to be in the slightest degree burned, or even too deeply browned. An hour and a half will roast it, if it be of moderate size. Stewed onions are often sent to table with it. A shoulder of mutton is sometimes boiled, and smothered with onion sauce.

1-1/2 hour.

THE CAVALIER’S BROIL.

Half roast or stew, or parboil, a small, or moderate-sized shoulder of mutton; lift it into a hot dish, score it on both sides down to the bone, season it well with fine salt and cayenne or pepper, and finish cooking it upon the gridiron over a brisk fire. Skim the fat from any gravy that may have flowed from it, and keep the dish which contains it quite hot to receive the joint again. Warm a cupful of pickled mushrooms, let a part of them be minced, and strew them over the broil when it is ready to be served; arrange the remainder round it, and send it instantly to table. The reader will scarcely need to be told that this is an excellent dish.

FORCED SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

Cut off all the flesh from the inside of the joint down to the blade-bone, and reserve it for a separate dish. It may be lightly browned with some turnips or carrots, or both, and made into a small harrico or stewed simply in its own gravy, or it will make in part, a pie or pudding. Bone the mutton (see page 219), flatten it on a table, lay over the inside some thin and neatly-trimmed slices of striped bacon, and spread over them some good veal forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.) to within an inch of the outer edge; roll the joint up tightly towards the knuckle (of which the bone may be left in or not, at pleasure), secure it well with tape or twine, and stew it gently in good gravy, from four hours to four and a half.

4 to 4-1/2 hours.

Obs.—In France it is usual to substitute sausage-meat for the bacon and veal stuffing in this dish, but it does not appear to us to be well suited to it.

MUTTON CUTLETS STEWED IN THEIR OWN GRAVY.

(Good.)

Trim the fat entirely from some cutlets taken from the loin; just dip them into cold water, dredge them moderately with pepper, and plentifully on both sides with flour; rinse a thick iron saucepan with spring water, and leave three or four tablespoonsful in it; arrange the cutlets in one flat layer, if it can be done conveniently, and place them over a very gentle fire; throw in a little salt when they begin to stew, and let them simmer as softly as possible, but without ceasing, from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half. If dressed with great care, which they require, they will be equally tender, easy of digestion, and nutritious; and being at the same time free from everything which can disagree with the most delicate stomach, the receipt will be found a valuable one for invalids. The mutton should be of good quality, but the excellence of the dish mainly depends on its being most gently stewed; for if allowed to boil quickly all the gravy will be dried up, and the meat will be unfit for table. The cutlets must be turned when they are half done: two or three spoonsful of water or gravy may be added to them should they not yield sufficient moisture; or if closely arranged in a single layer at first, water may be poured in to half their depth. The advantage of this receipt is, that none of the nutriment of the meat is lost; for that which escapes from the cutlets remains in the gravy, which should all be served with them: any fat which may be perceived upon it should be carefully skimmed off. Cold broth used for it instead of water will render it extremely good.

1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

TO BROIL MUTTON CUTLETS. (ENTRÉE.)

These may be taken from the loin, or the best end of the neck, but the former are generally preferred. Trim off a portion of the fat, or the whole of it, unless it be liked; pepper the cutlets, heat the gridiron, rub it with a bit of the mutton suet, broil them over a brisk fire, and turn them often until they are done; this, for the generality of eaters, will be in about eight minutes, if they are not more than half an inch thick, which they should not be. French cooks season them with pepper and salt, and brush them lightly with dissolved butter or oil, before they are laid to the fire, and we have found the cutlets so managed extremely good.

Lightly broiled, 7 to 8 minutes. Well done, 10 minutes.

Obs.—A cold Maître d’Hôtel sauce may be laid under the cutlets when they are dished; or they may be served quite dry, or with brown gravy; or with good melted butter seasoned with mushroom catsup, cayenne, and chili vinegar or lemon-juice.

CHINA CHILO

Mince a pound of an undressed loin or leg of mutton, with or without a portion of its fat; mix with it two or three young lettuces shred small, a pint of young peas, a teaspoonful of salt, half as much pepper, four tablespoonsful of water, from two to three ounces of good butter, and, if the flavour be liked, a few green onions minced. Keep the whole well stirred with a fork over a clear and gentle fire until it is quite hot, then place it closely covered by the side of the stove, or on a high trivet, that it may stew as softly as possible for a couple of hours. One or even two half-grown cucumbers, cut small by scoring the ends deeply as they are sliced, or a quarter of a pint of minced mushrooms may be added with good effect; or a dessertspoonful of currie-powder and a large chopped onion. A dish of boiled rice should be sent to table with it.

Mutton, 1 pint; green peas, 1 pint: young lettuces, 2; salt, 1 teaspoonful; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; water, 4 tablespoonsful; butter, 2 to 3 oz.: 2 hours. Varieties: cucumbers, 2; or mushrooms minced, 1/4 pint; or currie-powder, 1 dessertspoonful, and 1 large onion.

A GOOD FAMILY STEW OF MUTTON.

Put into a broad stewpan or saucepan, a flat layer of mutton chops, freed entirely from fat and from the greater portion of the bone, or in preference a cutlet or two from the leg, divided into bits of suitable size, then just dipped into cold water, seasoned with pepper, and lightly dredged with flour; on these put a layer of mild turnips sliced half an inch thick, and cut up into squares; then some carrots of the same thickness, with a seasoning of salt and black pepper between them; next, another layer of mutton, then plenty of vegetables, and as much weak broth or cold water as will barely cover the whole; bring them slowly to a boil, and let them just simmer from two to three hours, according to the quantity. One or two minced onions may be strewed between the other vegetables when their flavour is liked. The savour of the dish will be increased by browning the meat in a little butter before it is stewed, and still more so by frying the vegetables lightly as well, before they are added to it. A head or two of celery would to many tastes improve the flavour of the whole. In summer, cucumber, green onions, shred lettuces, and green peas may be substituted for the winter vegetables.

Mutton, free from fat, 2-1/2 lbs.; turnips, 3 lbs; carrots, 3 lbs.; celery (if added), 2 small heads: 2 to 3 hours.

Obs.—The fat and trimmings of the mutton used for this and for other dishes into which only the lean is admissible, may be turned to useful account by cutting the whole up rather small, and then boiling it in a quart of water to the pound, with a little spice, a bunch of herbs and some salt, until the fat is nearly dissolved: the liquid will then, if strained off and left until cold, make tolerable broth, and the cake of fat which is on the top, if again just melted and poured free of sediment into small pans, will serve excellently for common pies and for frying kitchen dinners. Less water will of course produce broth of better quality, and the addition of a small quantity of fresh meat or bones will render it very good.

AN IRISH STEW.

Take two pounds of small thick mutton cutlets with or without fat, according to the taste of the persons to whom the stew is to be served; take also four pounds of good potatoes, weighed after they are pared; slice them thick, and put a portion of them in a flat layer into a large thick saucepan or stewpan; season the mutton well with pepper, and place some of it on the potatoes; cover it with another layer, and proceed in the same manner with all, reserving plenty of the vegetable for the top; pour in three quarters of a pint of cold water, and add, when the stew begins to boil, an ounce of salt; let it simmer gently for two hours, and serve it very hot. When the addition of onion is liked, strew some minced over the potatoes.

Mutton cutlets, 2 lbs.; potatoes, 4 lbs.; pepper, 1/2 oz.; salt, 1 oz.; water, 3/4 pint: 2 hours.

Obs.—For a real Irish stew the potatoes should be boiled to a mash: an additional quarter of an hour may be necessary for the full quantity here, but for half of it two hours are quite sufficient.

A BAKED IRISH STEW.

Fill a brown upright Nottingham jar with alternate layers of mutton (or beef), sliced potatoes, and mild onions; and put in water and seasoning as above; cover the top closely with whole potatoes (pared), and send the stew to a moderate oven. The potatoes on the top should be well cooked and browned before the stew is served. We have not considered it necessary to try this receipt, which was given to us by some friends who keep an excellent table, and who recommended it much. It is, of course, suited only to a quite plain family dinner. The onions can be omitted when their flavour is not liked.

CUTLETS OF COLD MUTTON.

Trim into well-shaped cutlets, which should not be very thin, the remains of a roast loin or neck of mutton, or of a quite underdressed stewed or boiled joint; dip them into egg and well-seasoned bread-crumbs, and broil or fry them over a quick fire that they may be browned and heated through without being too much done. This is a very good mode of serving a half roasted loin or neck. When the cutlets are broiled they should be dipped into, or sprinkled thickly with butter just dissolved, or they will be exceedingly dry; a few additional crumbs should be made to adhere to them after they are moistened with this.

MUTTON KIDNEYS À LA FRANÇAISE. (ENTRÉE.)

Skin six or eight fine fresh mutton kidneys, and without opening them, remove the fat; slice them rather thin, strew over them a large dessertspoonful of minced herbs, of which two-thirds should be parsley and the remainder thyme, with a tolerable seasoning of pepper or cayenne, and some fine salt. Melt two ounces of butter in a frying-pan, put in the kidneys and brown them quickly on both sides; when nearly done, stir amongst them a dessertspoonful of flour and shake them well in the pan; pour in the third of a pint of gravy (or of hot water in default of this), the juice of half a lemon, and as much of Harvey’s sauce, or of mushroom catsup, as will flavour the whole pleasantly; bring these to the point of boiling, and pour them into a dish garnished with fried sippets, or lift out the kidneys first, give the sauce a boil and pour it on them. In France, a couple of glasses of champagne, or, for variety, of claret, are frequently added to this dish: one of port wine can be substituted for either of these. A dessertspoonful of minced eschalots may be strewed over the kidneys with the herbs; or two dozens of very small ones previously stewed until tender in fresh butter over a gentle fire, may be added after they are dished. This is a very excellent and approved receipt.

Fried 6 minutes.

BROILED MUTTON KIDNEYS.

Split them open lengthwise without dividing them, strip off the skin and fat, run a fine skewer through the points and across the back of the kidneys to keep them flat while broiling, season them with pepper or cayenne, lay them over a clear brisk fire, with the cut sides towards it, turn them in from four to five minutes, and in as many more dish, and serve them quickly, with or without a cold Maître d’Hôtel sauce under them. French cooks season them with pepper and fine salt, and brush a very small quantity of oil or clarified butter over them before they are broiled: we think this an improvement.

8 to 10 minutes.

OXFORD RECEIPT FOR MUTTON KIDNEYS. (BREAKFAST DISH, OR ENTRÉE.)

Fry gently in a little good butter, a dozen croûtons (slices of bread, of uniform shape and size, trimmed free from crust), cut half an inch thick, about two inches and a half wide, and from three to four in length: lift them out and keep them hot. Split quite asunder six fine fresh kidneys, after having freed them from the skin and fat; season them with fine salt and cayenne, arrange them evenly in a clean frying-pan, and pour some clarified butter over them. Fry them over a somewhat brisk fire, dish each half upon a croûton, make a sauce in the pan as for veal cutlets, but use gravy for it instead of water, should it be at hand; add a little wine or catsup, pour it round the croûtons, and serve the kidneys instantly.

10 minutes.

TO ROAST A FORE QUARTER OF LAMB.

This should be laid to a clear brisk fire, and carefully and plentifully basted from the time of its becoming warm until it is ready for table; but though it requires quick roasting, it must never be placed sufficiently near the fire to endanger the fat, which is very liable to catch or burn. When the joint is served, the shoulder should be separated from the ribs with a sharp knife; and a small slice of fresh butter, a little cayenne, and a squeeze of lemon juice should be laid between them; if the cook be an expert carver, this had better be done before the lamb is sent to table. The cold Maître d’Hôtel sauce of Chapter VI. may be substituted for the usual ingredients, the parsley being omitted or not, according to the taste. Serve good mint sauce, and a fresh salad with this roast.

A leg, shoulder, or loin of lamb should be cooked by the same directions as the quarter, a difference only being made in the time allowed for each.

Fore quarter of lamb, 1-3/4 to 2 hours. Leg, 1-1/2 hour (less if very small); shoulder, 1 to 1-1/4 hour.

Obs.—The time will vary a little, of course, from the difference in the weather, and in the strength of the fire. Lamb should always be well roasted.

SADDLE OF LAMB.

This is an exceedingly nice joint for a small party. It should be roasted at a brisk fire, and kept constantly basted with its own dripping: it will require from an hour and three quarters to two hours roasting. Send it to table with mint sauce, brown cucumber sauce, and a salad.

1-3/4 to 2 hours.

Obs.—The following will be found an excellent receipt for mint sauce:—With three heaped tablespoonsful of finely-chopped young mint, mix two of pounded and sifted sugar, and six of the best vinegar: stir it until the sugar is dissolved.

ROAST LOIN OF LAMB.

Place it at a moderate distance from a clear fire, baste it frequently, froth it when nearly done, and serve it with the same sauces as the preceding joints. A loin of lamb may be boiled and sent to table with white cucumber, mushroom, common white sauce, or parsley and butter.

1 to 1-1/4 hour.

STEWED LEG OF LAMB WITH WHITE SAUCE. (ENTRÉE.)[81]

81.  This may be served as a remove in a small unceremonious dinner.

Choose a small plump leg of lamb, not much exceeding five pounds in weight; put it into a vessel nearly of its size, with a few trimmings or a bone or two of undressed veal if at hand; cover it with warm water, bring it slowly to a boil, clear off the scum with great care when it is first thrown to the surface, and when it has all been skimmed off, add a faggot of thyme and parsley, and two carrots of moderate size. Let the lamb simmer only, but without ceasing, for an hour and a quarter; serve it covered with béchamel, or rich English white sauce, and send a boiled tongue to table with it, and some of the sauce in a tureen.

1-1/4 hour.

LOIN OF LAMB STEWED IN BUTTER. (ENTRÉE.)

Wash the joint, and wipe it very dry; skewer down the flap, and lay it into a close-shutting and thick stewpan or saucepan, in which three ounces of good butter have been just dissolved, but not allowed to boil; let it simmer slowly over a very gentle fire for two hours and a quarter, and turn it when it is rather more than half done. Lift it out, skim and pour the gravy over it; send asparagus, cucumber, or soubise sauce to table with it; or brown gravy, mint sauce, and a salad.

2-1/4 hours.

LAMB OR MUTTON CUTLETS, WITH SOUBISE SAUCE. (ENTRÉE.)

The best end of two necks of either will be required for a handsome dish. Cut them thin with one bone to each; trim off the fat and all the skin, scrape the bones very clean that they may look white, and season the cutlets with salt and white pepper; brush them with egg, dip them into very fine bread-crumbs, then into clarified butter, and again into the bread-crumbs, which should be flattened evenly upon them, and broil them over a very clear and brisk fire, or fry them in a little good butter of a fine clear brown; press them in two sheets of white blotting paper to extract the grease, and dish them in a circle, and pour into the centre a soubise sauce, or a purée of cucumbers. Brown cucumber sauce or a rich gravy, may be substituted for either of these in serving a quite simple dinner. Cutlets of the loin may be dressed in the same way after being dipped into crumbs of bread mixed with a full seasoning of minced herbs, and with a small quantity of eschalot when its flavour is liked. The small flat bone at the end of the cutlets should be taken off, to give them a good appearance.

LAMB CUTLETS IN THEIR OWN GRAVY.

Follow exactly the receipt for mutton cutlets dressed in the same way, but allow for those of lamb fifteen or twenty minutes less of time, and an additional spoonful of liquid.

CUTLETS OF COLD LAMB.

See the receipt for Cutlets of Cold Mutton, page 243.

CHAPTER XIII.

Pork.

No.

1. The Spare Rib.

2. Hand.

3. Belly, or Spring.

4. Fore Loin.

5. Hind Loin.

6. Leg.

In season from Michaelmas to March: should be avoided in very warm weather.

TO CHOOSE PORK.

This meat is so proverbially, and we believe even dangerously unwholesome when ill fed, or in any degree diseased, that its quality should be closely examined before it is purchased. When not home-reared, it should be bought if possible of some respectable farmer or miller, unless the butcher who supplies it can be perfectly relied on. Both the fat and lean should be very white, and the latter finely grained; the rind should be thin, smooth, and cool to the touch; if it be clammy, the pork is stale, and should be at once rejected; it ought also to be scrupulously avoided when the fat, instead of being quite clear of all blemish, is full of small kernels which are indicative of disease. The manner of cutting up the pork varies in different counties, and also according to the purposes for which it is intended. The legs are either made into hams, or slightly salted for a few days and boiled; they are also sometimes roasted when the pork is not large nor coarse, with a savoury forcemeat inserted between the skin and flesh of the knuckle. The part of the shoulder provincially called the hand, is also occasionally pickled in the same way as hams and bacon, or it is salted and boiled, but it is too sinewy for roasting. After these and the head have been taken off, the remainder, without further division than being split down the back, may be converted into whole sides, or flitches as they are usually called, of bacon; but when the meat is large and required in part for various other purposes, a chine may be taken out, and the fat pared off the bones of the ribs and loins for bacon; the thin part of the body converted into pickled pork, and the ribs and other bones roasted, or made into pies or sausages. The feet, which are generally salted down for immediate use, are excellent if laid for two or three weeks into the same pickle as the hams, then well covered with cold water, and slowly boiled until tender.

The loins of young and delicate pork are roasted with the skin on; and this is scored in regular stripes of about a quarter of an inch wide with the point of a sharp knife, before the joints are laid to the fire. The skin of the leg also is just cut through in the same manner. This is done to prevent its blistering, and to render it more easy to carve, as the skin (or crackling) becomes so crisp and hard in the cooking that it is otherwise sometimes difficult to divide it.

To be at any time fit for table, pork must be perfectly sweet, and thoroughly cooked; great attention also should be given to it when it is in pickle, for if any part of it be long exposed to the air, without being turned into, or well and frequently basted with the brine, it will often become tainted during the process of curing it.

TO MELT LARD.

Strip the skin from the inside fat of a freshly killed and well-fed pig; slice it small and thin; put it into a new or well-scalded jar, set it into a pan of boiling water, and let it simmer over a clear fire. As it dissolves, strain it into small stone jars or deep earthen pans, and when perfectly cold, tie over it the skin that was cleared from the lard, or bladders which have been thoroughly washed and wiped very dry. Lard thus prepared is extremely pure in flavour, and keeps perfectly well if stored in a cool place; it may be used with advantage in making common pastry, as well as for frying fish, and for various other purposes. It is better to keep the last drainings of the fat apart from that which is first poured off, as it will not be quite so fine in quality.

TO PRESERVE UNMELTED LARD FOR MANY MONTHS.

For the particular uses to which the leaf-fat, or fleed, can be advantageously applied, see fleed-crust, Chapter XVIII. It may be kept well during the summer months by rubbing fine salt rather plentifully upon it when it is first taken from the pig, and letting it lie for a couple of days; it should then be well drained, and covered with a strong brine; this in warmer weather should be changed occasionally. When wanted for use, lay it into cold water for two or three hours, then wipe it dry, and it will have quite the effect of the fresh fleed when made into paste.

Inner fat of pig, 6 lbs.; fine salt, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.: 2 days. Brine: to each quart of water, 6 oz. salt.

TO ROAST A SUCKING PIG.

After the pig has been scalded and prepared for the spit, wipe it as dry as possible, and put into the body about half a pint of fine bread-crumbs, mixed with three heaped teaspoonsful of sage, minced very small, three ounces of good butter, a large saltspoonful of salt, and two-thirds as much of pepper or some cayenne. Sew it up with soft, but strong cotton; truss it as a hare, with the fore legs skewered back, and the hind ones forward; lay it to a strong clear fire, but keep it at a moderate distance, as it would quickly blister or scorch if placed too near. So soon as it has become warm, rub it with a bit of butter tied in a fold of muslin or of thin cloth, and repeat this process constantly while it is roasting. When the gravy begins to drop from it, put basins or small deep tureens under, to catch it in.[82] As soon as the pig is of a fine light amber brown and the steam draws strongly towards the fire, wipe it quite dry with a clean cloth, and rub a bit of cold butter over it. When it is half done, a pig iron, or in lieu of this, a large flat iron should be hung in the centre of the grate, or the middle of the pig will be done long before the ends. When it is ready for table lay it into a very hot dish, and before the spit is withdrawn, take off and open the head and split the body in two; chop together quickly the stuffing and the brains, put them into half a pint of good veal gravy ready thickened, add a glass of Madeira or of sherry, and the gravy which has dropped from the pig; pour a small portion of this under the roast and serve the remainder as hot as possible in a tureen: a little pounded mace and cayenne with a squeeze of lemon-juice, may be added, should the flavour require heightening. Fine bread sauce, and plain gravy should likewise be served with it. Some persons still prefer the old-fashioned currant sauce to any other: and many have the brains and stuffing stirred into rich melted butter, instead of gravy; but the receipt which we have given has usually been so much approved, that we can recommend it with some confidence, as it stands. Modern taste would perhaps be rather in favour of rich brown gravy and thick tomata sauce, or sauce poivrade.

82.  A deep oblong dish of suitable size seems better adapted to this purpose.

In dishing the pig lay the body flat in the middle, and the head and ears at the ends and sides. When very pure oil can be obtained, it is preferable to butter for the basting: it should be laid on with a bunch of feathers. A pig of three weeks old is considered as best suited to the table, and it should always be dressed if possible the day it is killed.

1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

BAKED PIG.

Prepare the pig exactly as for roasting; truss, and place it in the dish in which it is to be sent to the oven, and anoint it thickly in every part with white of egg which has been slightly beaten; it will require no basting, nor further attention of any kind, and will be well crisped by this process.

PIG À LA TARTARE

When the shoulders of a cold roast pig are left entire, take them off with care, remove the skin, trim them into good form, dip them into clarified butter or very pure salad oil, then into fine crumbs highly seasoned with cayenne and mixed with about a half-teaspoonful of salt. Broil them over a clear brisk fire, and send them quickly to table, as soon as they are heated through and equally browned, with tomata sauce, or sauce Robert. Curried crumbs and a currie-sauce will give an excellent variety of this dish; and savoury herbs with two or three eschalots chopped small together, and mixed with the bread-crumbs, and brown eschalot sauce to accompany the broil, will likewise be an acceptable one to many tastes.

SUCKING PIG EN BLANQUETTE. (ENTRÉE.)

Raise the flesh from the bones of a cold roast pig, free it from the crisp outer skin or crackling, and cut it down into small handsome slices. Dissolve a bit of butter the size of an egg, and throw in a handful of button-mushrooms, cleaned and sliced; shake these over the fire for three or four minutes, then stir to them a dessertspoonful of flour and continue to shake or toss them gently, but do not allow them to brown. Add a small bunch of parsley, a bay-leaf, a middling-sized blade of mace, some salt, a small quantity of cayenne or white pepper, half a pint of good veal or beef broth, and from two to three glasses of light white wine. Let these boil gently until reduced nearly one third; take out the parsley and mace, lay in the meat, and bring it slowly to the point of simmering; stir to it the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs, and the strained juice of half a lemon Serve the blanquette very hot.

TO ROAST PORK.

When the skin is left on the joint which is to be roasted, it must be scored in narrow strips of equal width, before it is put to the fire, and laid at a considerable distance from it at first, that the meat may be heated through before the skin hardens or begins to brown; it must never stand still for an instant, and the basting should be constant. Pork is not at the present day much served at very good tables, particularly in this form; and it is so still less with the old savoury stuffing of sage and onions, though some eaters like it always with the leg: when it is ordered for this joint, therefore prepare it as directed for a goose, at page 160, and after having loosened the skin from the knuckle, insert as much as can well be secured in it. A little clarified butter or salad oil may be brushed over the skin quite at first, particularly should the meat not be very fat, but unless remarkably lean, it will speedily yield sufficient dripping to baste it with. Joints from which the fat has been pared, will require of course far less roasting than those on which the crackling is retained. Brown gravy, and apple or tomata sauce, are the usual accompaniments to all roasts of pork except a sucking pig; they should always be thoroughly cooked.

Leg of pork of 8 lbs., 3 hours; loin of from 5 to 6 lbs., with the skin on, 2 to 2-1/2 hours; spare rib of 6 to 7 lbs., 1-1/2 hour.

TO ROAST A SADDLE OF PORK.

The skin of this joint may be removed entirely, but if left on it must be scored lengthwise, or in the direction in which it will be carved. The pork should be young, of fine quality, and of moderate size. Roast it very carefully, either by the directions given in the preceding receipt, or when the skin is taken off, by those for a saddle of mutton, allowing in the latter case from three quarters of an hour to a full hour more of the fire for it in proportion to its weight. Serve it with good brown gravy and tomata sauce, or sauce Robert; or with apple sauce should it be preferred. 20 minutes to the pound, quite [TN: text missing.]

TO BROIL OR FRY PORK CUTLETS.

Cut them about half an inch thick from a delicate loin of pork, trim them into neat form, and take off part of the fat, or the whole of it when it is not liked; dredge a little pepper or cayenne upon them, and broil them over a clear and moderate fire from fifteen to eighteen minutes: sprinkle a little fine salt upon them just before they are dished. They may be dipped into egg and then into bread-crumbs mixed with minced sage, and finished in the usual way.[83] When fried, flour them well, and season them with salt and pepper first. Serve them with gravy in the pan, or with sauce Robert.

83.  If broiled, with the addition of these a little clarified butter must be added to the egg, or sprinkled on the cutlets.

COBBETT’S RECEIPT FOR CURING BACON.

“All other parts being taken away, the two sides that remain, and which are called flitches, are to be cured for bacon. They are first rubbed with salt on their inside, or flesh sides, then placed one on the other, the flesh sides uppermost in a salting trough, which has a gutter round its edges to drain away the brine; for to have sweet and fine bacon, the flitches must not be sopping in brine, which gives it the sort of taste that barrel-pork and sea-junk have, and than which is nothing more villainous. Everyone knows how different is the taste of fresh dry salt from that of salt in a dissolved state. Therefore, change the salt often; once in four or five days. Let it melt and sink in, but let it not lie too long. Change the flitches, put that at the bottom which was first on the top. Do this a couple of times. This mode will cost you a great deal more in salt than the sopping mode; but without it your bacon will not be so sweet and fine, nor keep so well. As to the time required for making the flitches sufficiently salt, it depends on circumstances; the thickness of the flitch, the state of the weather, the place wherein the salting is going on. It takes a longer time for a thick than for a thin flitch; it takes longer in dry than in damp weather, it takes longer in a dry than in a damp place. But for the flitches of a hog of five score, in weather not very dry or very damp, about six weeks may do; and as yours is to be fat, which receives little injury from over-salting, give time enough; for you are to have bacon till Christmas comes again. The place for salting should, like a dairy, always be cool, but always admit of a free circulation of air; confined air, though cool, will taint meat sooner than the midday sun accompanied with a breeze. With regard to smoking the bacon, two precautions are necessary: first to hang the flitches where no rain comes down upon them, and next, that the smoke must proceed from wood, not peat, turf, nor coal. As to the time that it requires to smoke a flitch, it must depend a good deal upon whether there be a constant fire beneath, and whether the fire be large or small. A month will do if the fire be pretty constant, and such as a farm house fire usually is. But oversmoking, or rather, too long hanging in the air, makes the bacon rust. Great attention should, therefore, be paid to this matter. The flitch ought not to be dried up to the hardness of a board, and yet it ought to be perfectly dry. Before you hang it up, lay it on the floor, scatter the flesh-side pretty thickly over with bran or with some fine saw-dust, not of deal or fir. Rub it on the flesh, or pat it well down upon it. This keeps the smoke from getting into the little openings, and makes a sort of crust to be dried on.

“To keep the bacon sweet and good, and free from hoppers, sift fine some clean and dry wood-ashes. Put some at the bottom of a box or chest long enough to hold a flitch of bacon. Lay in one flitch; and then put in more ashes, then another flitch, and cover this with six or eight inches of the ashes. The place where the box or chest is kept ought to be dry, and should the ashes become damp they should be put in the fire-place to dry, and when cold, put back again. With these precautions the bacon will be as good at the end of the year as on the first day.”

Obs.—Although the preceding directions for curing the bacon are a little vague as regards the proportions of salt and pork, we think those for its after-management will be acceptable to many of our readers, as in our damp climate it is often a matter of great difficulty to preserve hams and bacon through the year from rust.

A GENUINE YORKSHIRE RECEIPT FOR CURING HAMS AND BACON.

“Let the swine be put up to fast for twenty-four hours before they are killed (and observe that neither a time of severe frost, nor very damp weather, is favourable for curing bacon). After a pig has been killed and scalded, let it hang twelve hours before it is cut up, then for every stone or fourteen pounds’ weight of the meat, take one pound of salt, an ounce and a quarter of saltpeter, and half an ounce of coarse sugar. Rub the sugar and saltpetre first into the fleshy parts of the pork, and remove carefully with a fork any extravasated blood that may appear on it, together with the broken vessels adjoining; apply the salt especially to those parts, as well as to the shank-ends of the hams, and any other portions of the flesh that are more particularly exposed. Before the salt is added to the meat, warm it a little before the fire, and use only a part of it in the first instance; then, as it dissolves, or is absorbed by the meat, add the remainder at several different times. Let the meat in the meanwhile lie either on clean straw, or on a cold brick or stone floor: it will require from a fortnight to three weeks’ curing, according to the state of the atmosphere. When done, hang it in a cool dry place, where there is a thorough current of air, and let it remain there until it is perfectly dry, when the salt will be found to have crystallized upon the surface. The meat may then be removed to your store, and kept in a close chest, surrounded with clean outer straw. If very large, the hams will not be in perfection in less than twelve months from the time of their being stored.”

Pork 20 stone; salt, 20 lbs.; saltpetre, 20 oz.; sugar, 10 oz.; 14 to 21 days.

KENTISH MODE OF CUTTING UP AND CURING A PIG.

To a porker of sixteen stone Kentish weight (that is to say, eight pounds to the stone, or nine stone two pounds of common weight), allow two gallons of salt, two pounds of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar, and two pounds of bay-salt well dried and reduced to powder. Put aside the hams and cheeks to be cured by themselves; let the feet, ears, tail, and eye-parts of the head be salted for immediate eating; the blade-bones, and ends of the loins and ribs reserved for sausage-meat should it be wanted, and the loin and spare-ribs for roasting. Divide and salt the remainder thus: Mix well together the saltpetre, sugar, and bay-salt, and rub the pork gently with them in every part; cover the bottom of the pickling tub with salt, and pack in the pork as closely as possible, with a portion of the remaining salt between each layer. A very little water is sometimes sprinkled in to facilitate the dissolving of the salt into a brine, but this is always better avoided, and in damp weather will not be needed. If in a fortnight it should not have risen, so as almost entirely to cover the meat, boil a strong brine of salt, saltpetre, sugar, and bay-salt; let it remain until perfectly cold, and then pour it over the pork. A board, with a heavy stone weight upon it, should be kept upon the meat to force it down under the brine. In from three to four months it will be fit for table, and will be delicate and excellent pickled pork.

The pickling parts of a porker of sixteen stone (Kentish weight, or nine stone two pounds of common weight, or fourteen pounds to the stone); common salt, 2 gallons; saltpetre, 2 lbs.; coarse sugar, 1 lb.: bay-salt, 2 lbs.

FRENCH BACON FOR LARDING.

Cut the bacon from the pig with as little lean to it as possible. Rub it well in every part with salt which has been dried, reduced to powder, and sifted; put the layers of bacon close against and upon each other, in a shallow wooden trough, and set in a cool, but not a damp cellar; add more salt all round the bacon, and lay a board, with a very heavy weight upon it. Let it remain for six weeks, then hang it up in a dry and airy place.

Pork, 14 lbs.; salt, 14 oz.: 6 weeks.

TO PICKLE CHEEKS OF BACON AND HAMS.

One pound of common salt, one pound of the coarsest sugar, and one ounce of saltpetre, in fine powder, to each stone (fourteen pounds) of the meat will answer this purpose extremely well. An ounce of black pepper can be added, if liked, and when less sugar is preferred, the proportion can be diminished one half, and the quantity of salt as much increased. Bacon also may be cured by this receipt, or by the Bordyke one for hams. A month is sufficient time for the salting, unless the pork be very large, when five weeks must be allowed for a ham. The ingredients should be well mixed, and all applied at the same time.

To each 14 lbs. of pork, salt, 1 lb.; coarse sugar, 1 lb.; saltpetre, 1 oz.; pepper (if used), 1 oz.: 4 to 5 weeks.

MONSIEUR UDE’s RECEIPT, HAMS SUPERIOR TO WESTPHALIA.

(Excellent.)

“Take the hams as soon as the pig is sufficiently cold to be cut up, rub them well with common salt, and leave them for three days to drain; throw away the brine, and for a couple of hams of from fifteen to eighteen pounds weight, mix together two ounces of saltpetre, a pound of coarse sugar, and a pound of common salt; rub the hams in every part with these, lay them into deep pickling-pans with the rind downwards, and keep them for three days well covered with the salt and sugar; then pour over them a bottle of good vinegar, and turn them in the brine, and baste them with it daily for a month; drain them well, rub them with bran, and let them be hung for a month high in a chimney over a wood-fire to be smoked.”

Hams, of from 15 to 18 lbs. each, 2; to drain 3 days. Common salt, and coarse sugar, each 1 lb.; saltpetre, 2 oz.: 3 days. Vinegar, 1 bottle: 1 month. To be smoked 1 month.

Obs.—Such of our readers as shall make trial of this admirable receipt, will acknowledge, we doubt not, that the hams thus cured are in reality superior to those of Westphalia. It was originally given to the public by the celebrated French cook, Monsieur Ude. He directs that the hams when smoked should be hung as high as possible from the fire, that the fat may not be melted; a very necessary precaution, as the mode of their being cured renders it peculiarly liable to do so. This, indeed, is somewhat perceptible in the cooking, which ought, therefore, to be conducted with especial care. The hams should be very softly simmered,[84] and not over-done. They should be large, and of finely-fed pork, or the receipt will not answer. We give the result of our first trial of it, which was perfectly successful, the ham cured by it being of the finest possible flavour.

84.  We have not had the trial made ourselves, but we think they would be even finer baked than boiled.

Leg of Suffolk farm-house pork, 14 to 15 lbs.; saltpetre, 1-1/4 oz.; strong coarse salt, 6 oz.; coarse sugar, 8 oz.: 3 days. Fine whitewine vinegar, 1 pint. In pickle, turned daily, 1 month. Smoked over wood, 1 month.

Obs.—“When two hams are pickled together, a smaller proportion of the ingredients is required for each, than for one which is cured by itself.”

SUPER-EXCELLENT BACON.

For several successive years, after first testing the above receipt, we had it adopted for curing bacon, with even more highly satisfactory results, as it was of incomparable flavour, and remained good for a great length of time, the vinegar preserving it entirely from becoming rusted. Well-fed pork of delicate size was always used for it, and excellent vinegar. The ingredients were added in the proportions given in the receipt for the Suffolk ham which preceeds this, and the same time was allowed for the salting and smoking.

HAMS.

(Bordyke Receipt.)

After the hams have been rubbed with salt, and well drained from the brine, according to our previous directions, take, for each fourteen pounds weight of the pork, one ounce of saltpetre in fine powder mixed with three ounces of very brown sugar; rub the meat in every part with these, and let it remain some hours, then cover it well with eight ounces of bay-salt, dried and pounded, and mixed with four ounces of common salt: in four days add one pound of treacle, and keep the hams turned daily, and well basted with the pickle for a month. Hang them up to drain for a night, fold them in brown paper, and send them to be smoked for a month. An ounce of ground black pepper is often mixed with the saltpetre in this receipt, and three ounces of bruised juniper-berries are rubbed on to the meat before the salt is added, when hams of a very high flavour are desired.

Ham, 14 lbs.; saltpetre, 1 oz.; coarse sugar, 3 oz.: 8 to 12 hours. Bay-salt, 1/2 lb.; common salt, 4 oz.: 4 days. Treacle, 1 lb.: 1 month. To heighten flavour, black pepper, 1 oz; juniper-berries, 3 oz.

TO BOIL A HAM.

The degree of soaking which must be given to a ham before it is boiled, must depend both on the manner in which it has been cured, and on its age. If highly salted, hard, and old, a day and night, or even longer, may be requisite to dilate the pores sufficiently, and to extract a portion of the salt. To do either effectually the water must be several times changed during the steeping. We generally find hams cured by any of the receipts which we have given in this chapter quite enough soaked in twelve hours; and they are more frequently laid into water only early in the morning of the day on which they are boiled. Those pickled by Monsieur Ude’s receipt need much less steeping than any others. After the ham has been scraped, or brushed, as clean as possible, pare away lightly any part which, from being blackened or rusty, would disfigure it; though it is better not to cut the flesh at all unless it be really requisite for the good appearance of the joint. Lay it into a ham-kettle, or into any other vessel of a similar form, and cover it plentifully with cold water; bring it very slowly to boil, and clear off carefully the scum which will be thrown up in great abundance. So soon as the water has been cleared from this, draw back the pan quite to the edge of the stove, that the ham may be simmered softly but steadily, until it is tender. On no account allow it to boil fast. A bunch of herbs and three or four carrots, thrown in directly after the water has been skimmed, will improve it. When it can be probed very easily with a sharp skewer, or larding-pin, lift it out, strip off the skin, and should there be an oven at hand, set it in for a few minutes after having laid it on a drainer; strew fine raspings over it, or grate a hard-toasted crust, or sift upon it the prepared bread of Chapter V., unless it is to be glazed, when neither of these must be used.

Small ham, 3-1/2 to 4 hours; moderate sized, 4 to 4-1/2 hours; very large, 5 to 5-1/2 hours.

Obs.—We have seen the following manner of boiling a ham recommended, but we have not tried it:—“Put into the water in which it is to be boiled, a quart of old cider and a pint of vinegar, a large bunch of sweet herbs, and a bay leaf. When it is two-thirds done, skin, cover it with raspings, and set it in an oven until it is done enough: it will prove incomparably superior to a ham boiled in the usual way.”

TO GARNISH AND ORNAMENT HAMS IN VARIOUS WAYS.

When a ham has been carefully and delicately boiled, the rind while it is still warm, may be carved in various fanciful shapes to decorate it; and a portion of it left round the knuckle in a semi-circular form of four or five inches deep, may at all times be easily scollopped at the edge or cut into points (vandykes). This, while preserving a character of complete simplicity for the dish, will give it an air of neatness and finish at a slight cost of time and trouble. A paper frill should be placed round the bone.

The Germans cut the ham-rind after it has been stripped from the joint, into small leaves and similar “prettinesses,”[85] and arrange them in a garland, or other approved device, upon its surface. In Ireland and elsewhere, bread evenly sliced, and stamped out with cutters much smaller than a fourpenny-piece, then carefully fried or coloured in the oven, is used to form designs upon hams after they are glazed. Large dice of clear firm savoury jelly form their most appropriate garnish, because they are intended to be eaten with them. For the manner of making this, and glaze also see Chapter IV.

85.  This should be done with a confectionary or paste cutter.

The ham shown in Plate V., which follows the directions for “Carving,” is of very good appearance; but in common English kitchens generally, even the degree of artistic skill required to form its decorations well, is not often to be met with.

FRENCH RECEIPT FOR BOILING A HAM.

After having soaked, thoroughly cleaned, and trimmed the ham, put over it a little very sweet clean hay, and tie it up in a thin cloth; place it in a ham kettle, a braising pan, or any other vessel as nearly of its size as can be, and cover it with two parts of cold water and one of light white wine (we think the reader will perhaps find cider a good substitute for this); add, when it boils and has been skimmed, four or five carrots, two or three onions, a large bunch of savoury herbs, and the smallest bit of garlic. Let the whole simmer gently from four to five hours, or longer should the ham be very large. When perfectly tender, lift it out, take off the rind, and sprinkle over it some fine crumbs, or some raspings of bread mixed with a little finely minced parsley.

Obs.—Foreign cooks generally leave hams, braised joints, and various other prepared meats intended to be served cold, to cool down partially in the liquor in which they are cooked; and this renders them more succulent; but for small frugal families the plan does not altogether answer, because the moisture of the surface (which would evaporate quickly if they were taken out quite hot) prevents their keeping well for any length of time. The same objection exists to serving hams laid upon, or closely garnished with savoury jelly (aspic), which becomes much more quickly unfit for table than the hams themselves.

These considerations, which may appear insignificant to some of our readers, will have weight with those who are compelled to regulate their expenses with economy.

TO BAKE A HAM.

Unless when too salt from not being sufficiently soaked, a ham (particularly a young and fresh one) eats much better baked than boiled, and remains longer good. The safer plan to ensure its being sufficiently steeped, is to lay it into plenty of cold water over night. The following day soak it for an hour or more in warm water, wash it delicately clean, trim smoothly off all rusty parts, and lay it with the rind downwards into a large common pie-dish; press an oiled paper closely over it, and then fasten securely to the edge of the dish a thick cover of coarse paste; and send the ham to a moderate oven, of which the heat will be well sustained until it is baked. Or, when more convenient, lay the ham at once—rind downwards—on the paste, of which sufficient should be made, and rolled off to an inch in thickness, to completely envelope it. Press a sheet of oiled foolscap paper upon it; gather up the paste firmly all round, draw and pinch the edges together, and fold them over on the upper side of the ham, taking care to close them so that no gravy can escape. Send it to a well-heated, but not a fierce oven. A very small ham will require quite three hours baking, and a large one five. The crust and the skin must be removed while it is hot. When part only of a ham is dressed, this mode is better far than boiling it.

TO BOIL BACON.

When very highly salted and dried, it should be soaked for an hour before it is dressed. Scrape and wash it well, cover it plentifully with cold water, let it both heat and boil slowly, remove all the scum with care, and when a fork or skewer will penetrate the bacon easily lift it out, strip off the skin, and strew raspings of bread over the top, or grate upon it a hard-crust which has been toasted until it is crisp quite through; or should it be at hand, use for the purpose the bread recommended at page 103, then dry it a little before the fire, or set it for a few minutes into a gentle oven. Bacon requires long boiling, but the precise time depends upon its quality, the flesh of young porkers becoming tender much sooner than that of older ones; sometimes too, the manner in which the animal has been fed renders the meat hard, and it will then, unless thoroughly cooked, prove very indigestible. From ten to fifteen minutes less for the pound, must be allowed for unsmoked bacon, or for pickled pork. Smoked bacon (striped), 2 lbs., from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour; unsmoked bacon or pork, 1 to 1-1/4 hour.

Obs.—The thickest part of a large side or flitch of bacon will require from twenty to thirty minutes longer boiling than the thinner side.

BACON BROILED OR FRIED.

Cut it evenly in thin slices or rashers, as they are generally called, pare from them all rind and rust, curl them round, fasten them with small slight skewers, then fry, broil, or toast them in a Dutch oven; draw out the skewers before they are sent to table. A few minutes will dress them either way. They may also be cooked without being curled. The rind should always be taken off, and the bacon gently toasted, grilled, or fried, that it may be well done without being too much dried or hardened: it should be cut thin.

DRESSED RASHERS OF BACON.

Slice rather thicker than for frying some cold boiled bacon, and strew it lightly on both sides with fine raspings of bread, or with a grated crust which has been very slowly and gradually toasted until brown quite through. Toast or warm the rashers in a Dutch oven, and serve them with veal cutlets, or any other delicate meat. The bacon thus dressed is much more delicate than when broiled or fried without the previous boiling.

4 to 5 minutes.

TONBRIDGE BRAWN.

Split open the head of a pig of middling size, remove the brain and all the bones, strew the inside rather thickly with fine salt, and let it drain until the following day. Cleanse the ears and feet in the same manner: wipe them all from the brine, lay them into a large pan, and rub them well with an ounce and a half of saltpetre mixed with six ounces of sugar; in twelve hours, add six ounces of salt; the next day pour a quarter of a pint of good vinegar over them, and keep them turned in the pickle every twenty-four hours for a week; then wash it off the ears and feet, and boil them for about an hour and a half; bone the feet while they are warm, and trim the gristle from the large ends of the ears. When these are ready, mix a large grated nutmeg with a teaspoonful and a half of mace, half a teaspoonful of cayenne, and as much of cloves. Wash, but do not soak the head; wipe and flatten it on a board; cut some of the flesh from the thickest parts, and (when the whole of the meat has been seasoned equally with the spices) lay it on the thinnest; intermix it with that of the ears and feet, roll it up very tight, and bind it firmly with broad tape; fold a thin pudding-cloth quite closely round it, and tie it securely at both ends. A braising-pan, from its form, is best adapted for boiling it, but if there be not one at hand, place the head in a vessel adapted to its size, with the bones and trimmings of the feet and ears, a large bunch of savoury herbs, two moderate-sized onions, a small head of celery, three or four carrots, a teaspoonful of peppercorns, and sufficient cold water to cover it well; boil it very gently for four hours, and leave it until two parts cold in the liquor in which it was boiled. Take off the cloth, and put the brawn between two dishes or trenchers, with a heavy weight on the upper one. The next day take off the fillets of tape, and serve the head whole or sliced with the brawn sauce of Chapter VI.

ITALIAN PORK CHEESE.

Chop, not very fine, one pound of lean pork with two pounds of the inside fat; strew over, and mix thoroughly with them three teaspoonsful of salt, nearly half as much pepper, a half-tablespoonful of mixed parsley, thyme, and sage (and sweet-basil, if it can be procured), all minced extremely small. Press the meat closely and evenly into a shallow tin,—such as are used for Yorkshire puddings will answer well,—and bake it in a very gentle oven from an hour to an hour and a half: it is served cold in slices. Should the proportion of fat be considered too much, it can be diminished on a second trial.

Minced mushrooms or truffles may be added with very good effect to all meat cakes, or compositions of this kind.

Lean of pork, 1 lb.; fat, 2 lbs.; salt, 3 teaspoonsful; pepper, 1-1/2 teaspoonful; mace, 1/2 teaspoonful; nutmeg, 1 small; mixed herbs, 1 large tablespoonful: 1 to 1-1/2 hour.

SAUSAGE-MEAT CAKE, OR, PAIN DE PORC FRAIS.

Season very highly from two to three pounds of good sausage-meat, both with spices and with sage, or with thyme and parsley, if these be preferred; press the mixture into a pan, and proceed exactly as for the veal-cake of Chapter XI. A few minced eschalots can be mixed with the meat for those who like their flavour.

SAUSAGES.

Common farm-house sausages are made with nearly equal parts of fat and lean pork, coarsely chopped, and seasoned with salt and pepper only. They are put into skins (which have previously been turned inside out, scraped very thin, washed with extreme nicety, and wiped very dry), then twisted into links, and should be hung in a cool airy larder, when they will remain good for some time. Odd scraps and trimmings of pork are usually taken for sausage-meat when the pig is killed and cut up at home; but the chine and blade-bone are preferred in general for the purpose. The pork rinds, as we have already stated,[86] will make a strong and almost flavourless jelly, which may be used with excellent effect for stock, and which, with the addition of some pork-bones, plenty of vegetables, and some dried peas, will make a very nutritious soup for those who do not object to the pork-flavour which the bones will give. Half an ounce of salt, and nearly or quite a quarter of an ounce of pepper will sufficiently season each pound of the sausage-meat.

86.  See Soupe des Galles, Chapter I.

KENTISH SAUSAGE-MEAT.

To three pounds of lean pork, add two of fat, and let both be taken clear of skin. As sausages are lighter, though not so delicate, when the meat is somewhat coarsely chopped, this difference should be attended to in making them. When the fat and lean are partially mixed, strew over them two ounces and a half of dry salt, beaten to powder, and mixed with one ounce of ground black pepper, and three large tablespoonsful of sage, very finely minced. Turn the meat with the chopping-knife, until the ingredients are well blended. Test it before it is taken off the block, by frying a small portion, that if more seasoning be desired, it may at once be added. A full-sized nutmeg and a small dessertspoonsful of pounded mace, would, to many tastes, improve it. This sausage-meat is usually formed into cakes, which, after being well floured, are roasted in a Dutch oven. They must be watched, and often turned, that no part may be scorched. The meat may also be put into skins, and dressed in any other way.

Lean of pork, 3 lbs.; fat, 2 lbs.; salt, 2-1/2 oz.; pepper, 1 oz,; minced sage, 3 large tablespoonsful.

EXCELLENT SAUSAGES.

Chop, first separately, and then together, one pound and a quarter of veal, perfectly free from fat, skin, and sinew, with an equal weight of lean pork, and of the inside fat of the pig. Mix well, and strew over the meat an ounce and a quarter of salt, half an ounce of pepper, one nutmeg grated, and a large teaspoonful of pounded mace. Turn, and chop the sausages until they are equally seasoned throughout, and tolerably fine; press them into a clean pan, and keep them in a very cool place. Form them, when wanted for table, into cakes something less than an inch thick; and flour and fry them then for about ten minutes in a little butter, or roast them in a Dutch or American oven.

Lean of veal and pork, of each 1 lb. 4 oz.; fat of pork, 1 lb. 4 oz., salt, 1-1/4 oz.; pepper, 1/2 oz.; nutmeg, 1; mace, 1 large teaspoonful, fried in cakes, 10 minutes.

POUNDED SAUSAGE-MEAT.

(Very good.)

Take from the best end of a neck of veal, or from the fillet or loin, a couple or more pounds of flesh without any intermixture of fat or skin; chop it small, and pound it thoroughly in a large mortar, with half its weight of the inside, or leaf-fat, of a pig; proportion salt and spice to it by the preceding receipt, form it into cakes, and fry it as above.

BOILED SAUSAGES. (ENTRÉE.)

In Lincolnshire, sausages are frequently boiled in the skins, and served upon a toast, as a corner dish. They should be put into boiling water, and simmered from seven to ten minutes, according to their size.

SAUSAGES AND CHESTNUTS. (ENTRÉE.)

An excellent dish. (French.)

Roast, and take the husk and skin from forty fine Spanish chestnuts; fry gently, in a morsel of butter, six small flat oval cakes of fine sausage-meat, and when they are well browned, lift them out and pour into a saucepan, which should be bright in the inside, the greater part of the fat in which they have been fried; mix with it a large teaspoonful of flour, and stir these over the fire till they are well and equally browned; then pour in by degrees nearly half a pint of strong beef or veal broth, or gravy, and two glasses of good white wine; add a small bunch of savoury herbs, and as much salt and pepper, or cayenne, as will season the whole properly; give it a boil, lay in the sausages round the pan, and the chestnuts in the centre; stew them very softly for nearly an hour; take out the herbs, dish the sausages neatly, and heap the chestnuts in the centre, strain the sauce over them and serve them very hot. There should be no sage mixed with the pork to dress thus.

Chestnuts roasted, 40; sausages, 6; gravy, nearly 1/2 pint; sherry or Madeira, 2 wineglassesful: stewed together from 50 to 60 minutes.

TRUFFLED SAUSAGES.

(Saucisses aux Truffes.)

With two pounds of the lean of young tender pork, mix one pound of fat, a quarter of a pound of truffles, minced very small, an ounce and a half of salt, a seasoning of cayenne, or quite half an ounce of white pepper, a nutmeg, a teaspoonful of freshly pounded mace, and a dessertspoonful or more of savoury herbs dried and reduced to powder. Test a morsel of the mixture; heighten any of the seasonings to the taste; and put the meat into delicately clean skins: if it be for immediate use, and the addition is liked, moisten it, before it is dressed, with one or two glassesful of Madeira. The substitution of a clove of garlic for the truffles, will convert these into Saucisses a l’ Ail, or garlic sausages.

CHAPTER XIV.

Poultry.

TO CHOOSE POULTRY.

Young, plump, well-fed, but not over-fatted poultry is the best. The skin of fowls and turkeys should be clear, white, and finely grained, the breasts broad and full-fleshed, the legs smooth, the toes pliable and easily broken when bent back; the birds should also be heavy in proportion to their size. This applies equally to geese and ducks, of which the breasts likewise should be very plump, and the feet yellow and flexible: when these are red and hard, the bills of the same colour, and the skin full of hairs, and extremely coarse, the birds are old.

White-legged fowls and chickens should be chosen for boiling, because their appearance is the most delicate when dressed; but the dark-legged ones often prove more juicy and of better flavour when roasted, and their colour then is immaterial.

Every precaution should be taken to prevent poultry from becoming ever so slightly tainted before it is cooked, but unless the weather be exceedingly sultry, it should not be quite freshly killed; pigeons only are the better for being so, and are thought to lose their flavour by hanging even a day or two. Turkeys, as we have stated in our receipts for them, are very tough and poor eating if not sufficiently long kept. A goose, also, in winter, should hang some days before it is dressed, and fowls, likewise, will be improved by it.

All kinds of poultry should be thoroughly cooked, though without being overdone, for nothing in general can more effectually destroy the appetite than the taste and appearance of their flesh when brought to table half roasted or boiled.

TO BONE A FOWL OR TURKEY WITHOUT OPENING IT.

After the fowl has been drawn and singed, wipe it inside and out with a clean cloth, but do not wash it. Take off the head, cut through the skin all round the first joint of the legs, and pull them from the fowl, to draw out the large tendons. Raise the flesh first from the lower part of the back-bone, and a little also from the end of the breast-bone, if necessary; work the knife gradually to the socket of the thigh; with the point of the knife detach the joint from it, take the end of the bone firmly in the fingers, and cut the flesh clean from it down to the next joint, round which pass the point of the knife carefully, and when the skin is loosened from it in every part, cut round the next bone, keeping the edge of the knife close to it, until the whole of the leg is done. Remove the bones of the other leg in the same manner; then detach the flesh from the back and breast-bone sufficiently to enable you to reach the upper joints of the wings; proceed with these as with the legs, but be especially careful not to pierce the skin of the second joint; it is usual to leave the pinions unboned, in order to give more easily its natural form to the fowl when it is dressed. The merrythought and neck-bones may now easily be cut away, the back and side-bones taken out without being divided, and the breast-bone separated carefully from the flesh (which, as the work progresses, must be turned back from the bones upon the fowl, until it is completely inside out). After the one remaining bone is removed, draw the wings and legs back to their proper form, and turn the fowl right side outwards.

A turkey is boned exactly in the same manner, but as it requires a very large proportion of forcemeat to fill it entirely, the legs and wings are sometimes drawn into the body, to diminish the expense of this. If very securely trussed, and sewn, the bird may be either boiled, or stewed in rich gravy, as well as roasted, after being boned and forced; but it must be most gently cooled, or it may burst.

ANOTHER MODE OF BONING A FOWL OR TURKEY.

Cut through the skin down the centre of the back, and raise the flesh carefully on either side with the point of a sharp knife, until the sockets of the wings and thighs are reached. Till a little practice has been gained, it will perhaps be better to bone these joints before proceeding further; but after they are once detached from it, the whole of the body may easily be separated from the flesh and taken out entire: only the neck-bones and merrythought will then remain to be removed. The bird thus prepared may either be restored to its original form, by filling the legs and wings with forcemeat, and the body with the livers of two or three fowls mixed with alternate layers of parboiled tongue freed from the rind, fine sausage meat, or veal forcemeat, or thin slices of the nicest bacon, or aught else of good flavour, which will give a marbled appearance to the fowl when it is carved; and then be sewn up and trussed as usual; or the legs and wings may be drawn inside the body, and the bird being first flattened on a table may be covered with sausage meat, and the various other ingredients we have named, so placed that it shall be of equal thickness in every part; then tightly rolled, bound firmly together with a fillet of broad tape, wrapped in a thin pudding-cloth, closely tied at both ends, and dressed as follows:—Put it into a braising-pan, stewpan, or thick iron saucepan, bright in the inside, and fitted as nearly as may be to its size; add all the chicken bones, a bunch of sweet herbs, two carrots, two bay-leaves, a large blade of mace, twenty-four white peppercorns, and any trimmings or bones of undressed veal which may be at hand; cover the whole with good veal-broth, add salt, if needed, and stew it very softly, from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half; let it cool in the liquor in which it was stewed; and after it is lifted out, boil down the gravy to a jelly and strain it; let it become cold, clear off the fat, and serve it cut into large dice or roughed, and laid round the fowl, which is to be served cold. If restored to its form, instead of being rolled, it must be stewed gently for an hour, and may then be sent to table hot, covered with mushroom, or any other good sauce that may be preferred; or it may be left until the following day, and served garnished with the jelly, which should be firm, and very clear and well-flavoured; the liquor in which a calf’s foot has been boiled down, added to the broth, will give it the necessary degree of consistence. French cooks add three or four onions to these preparations of poultry (the last of which is called a galantine); but these our own taste would lead us to reject.

Rolled, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour, galantine, 1 hour.

Obs.—A couple of fowls, boned and rolled, make an excellent pie.

TO BONE FOWLS FOR FRICASSEES, CURRIES, AND PIES.

First carve them entirely into joints, then remove the bones, beginning with the legs and wings, at the head of the largest bone; hold this with the fingers, and work the knife as directed in the receipt above. The remainder of the birds is too easily done to require any instructions.

TO ROAST A TURKEY.

Turkey for roasting.

In very cold weather a turkey in its feathers will hang (in an airy larder) quite a fortnight with advantage; and, however fine a quality of bird it may be, unless sufficiently long kept, it will prove not worth the dressing, though it should always be perfectly sweet when prepared for table. Pluck, draw, and singe it with exceeding care; wash, and then dry it thoroughly with clean cloths, or merely wipe the outside well, without wetting it, and pour water plentifully through the inside. Fill the breast with forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.), or with the finest sausage meat, highly seasoned with minced herbs, lemon-rind, mace, and cayenne. Truss the bird firmly, lay it to a clear sound fire, baste it constantly and bountifully with butter, and serve it when done with good brown gravy, and well-made bread sauce. An entire chain of delicate fried sausages is still often placed in the dish, round a turkey, as a garnish.

It is usual to fold and fasten a sheet of buttered writing paper over the breast to prevent its being too much coloured: this should be removed twenty minutes before the bird is done. The forcemeat of chestnuts (No. 15, Chapter VIII.) may be very advantageously substituted for the commoner kinds in stuffing it, and the body may then be filled with chestnuts, previously stewed until tender in rich gravy, or simmered over a slow fire in plenty of rasped bacon, with a high seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, until they are so; or, instead of this, well-made chestnut sauce, or a dish of stewed chestnuts, may be sent to table with the turkey.

Obs. 1.—Baron Liebig’s improved method of roasting will be found at p. 171, and can be followed always instead of the directions given here. 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours.

Obs. 2.—A turkey should be laid at first far from the fire, and drawn nearer when half done, though never sufficiently so to scorch it; it should be well roasted, for even the most inveterate advocates of underdressed meat will seldom tolerate the taste or sight of partially-raw poultry

TO BOIL A TURKEY.

Turkey for boiling.

A delicate but plump hen-turkey of moderate size should be selected for boiling. Free the skin most carefully from all the stumps, and draw the bird, using the greatest precaution not to break the gall bladder; singe it with writing paper, take off the head and neck, cut through the skin round the first joint of the legs, and draw them off: this is best accomplished by fastening the feet to a strong hook, and then pulling the bird away from it. Wash it exceedingly clean, and then wipe it dry, fill the breast with the forcemeat No. 1 or 2 of Chapter VIII., or with the oyster, chestnut, or French forcemeat, of which the receipts are given in the same chapter. In trussing it draw the legs into the body, break the breast-bone, and give the turkey as round and plump an appearance as can be. Put it into plenty of warm water, or into as much boiling water as will rise about an inch over it, and when it has quite boiled for ten minutes, cool it down by the addition of cold water, and then take out a portion of it, leaving only as much as will keep the bird thoroughly covered until it is ready for table.[87] Clear off the scum with the greatest care as it is thrown to the surface, and boil the bird very gently from an hour and a half to two hours and a quarter. A very large turkey would require a longer time, but it is unsuited to this mode of cooking. When the oyster-forcemeat is used, a large tureen of rich oyster sauce should accompany the dish; but celery sauce, or good white sauce, may otherwise be sent to table with it; and a boiled tongue or a small ham is usually served in addition. For a plain family dinner, a delicate cheek of bacon is sometimes substituted for either of these, and parsley and butter for a more expensive sauce. Fast boiling will cause the skin of the bird to break, and must therefore be especially avoided: it should hang for some days before it is dressed, for if quite freshly killed it will not be tender, but it must be perfectly sweet to be fit for table. Truss the turkey by the directions of introductory chapter on trussing.

87.  As we have elsewhere stated, all meat and fish are injured by being cooked in a much larger quantity of water than is absolutely required for them.

Moderate-sized turkey, 1-1/2 to 2 hours; large turkey, longer; very small one, less time.

TURKEY BONED AND FORCED.

(An excellent dish.)

Cradle Spit.

Take a small, well-kept, but quite sweet hen-turkey, of from seven to eight pounds weight, and remove, by the receipt for a fowl (page 265), all the bones except those of the pinions, without opening the bird; draw it into shape, and fill it entirely with exceedingly fine sausage meat, beginning with the legs and wings; plump the breast well in preparing it, and when its original form is quite restored, tie it securely at both ends, and at the extremities of the legs; pass a slight iron skewer through these and the body, and another through the wings and body; then lay a twine over the back of the turkey, and pass it under the ends of the first skewer, cross it in the centre of the back, and pass it under the ends of the second skewer; then carry it over the pinions to keep them firmly in their place, and fasten it at the neck. When a cradle spit, of which the engraving below shows the form, and which opens with a joint to receive the roast, is not at hand, a bottle jack will be found more convenient than any other for holding the turkey; and after the hook of this is passed through the neck, it must be further supported by a string running across the back and under the points of the skewer which confines the pinions to the hook; for, otherwise, its weight would most probably cause it to fall. Flour it well, place it far from the fire until it is heated through, and baste it plentifully and incessantly with butter. An hour and three quarters will roast it well. Break and boil down the bones for gravy in a pint and a half of water, or good veal broth, with a little salt, a few slices of celery, a dozen corns of pepper, and a branch or two of parsley. Brown gently in a morsel of fresh butter, a couple of ounces of lean ham, add to them a slight dredging of flour, and a little cayenne, and pour to them the broth from the bones, after it has boiled for an hour, and been strained and skimmed; shake the stewpan well round, and stew the gravy until it is wanted for table; clear it entirely from fat, strain, and serve it very hot. An eschalot or half an onion may be browned with the ham when either is liked, but their flavour is not, we think, appropriate to poultry.

The turkey may be partially filled with the forcemeat No. 1 or 3 of Chapter VIII., and the sausage-meat may then be placed on either side of it.

Hen turkey between 7 and 8 lbs. weight, boned, filled with sausage-meat, 3 to 4 lbs.; or with forcemeat No. 1, or with No. 3, Chapter VI., 1 lb. (that is to say, 1 lb. of bread-crumbs, and the other ingredients in proportion.) Sausage-meat, 2 to 3 lbs. roasted 1-3/4 hour.

Obs.—When a common spit is used for the turkey, it must be fastened to, and not put upon it.

Bread sauce can be served with the bird, or not, at pleasure.

It will be found an improvement to moisten the sausage-meat with two or three spoonsful of water: it should be finely minced, well spiced, and mixed with herbs, when the common forcemeat is not used in addition. In preparing it a pound and a quarter of fat should be mixed with each pound of the lean.

To give the turkey a very good appearance, the breast may be larded by the directions of page 181.

TURKEY À LA FLAMANDE, OR, DINDE POUDRÉE.

Prepare as for boiling a fine well-kept hen turkey; wipe the inside thoroughly with a dry cloth, but do not wash it; throw in a little salt to draw out the blood, let it remain a couple of hours or more, then drain and wipe it again; next, rub the outside in every part with about four ounces of fine dry salt, mixed with a large tablespoonful of pounded sugar; rub the turkey well with these, and turn it every day for four days; then fill it entirely with equal parts of choice sausage-meat, and of the crumb of bread soaked in boiling milk or cream, and wrung dry in a cloth; season these with the grated rind of a large lemon and nutmeg, mace, cayenne, and fine herbs, in the same proportion as for veal forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII). Sew the turkey up very securely, and when trussed, roll it in a cloth, tie it closely at both ends, put it into boiling water, and boil it very gently between three and four hours. When taken up, sprinkle it thickly with fine crumbs of bread, mixed with plenty of parsley, shred extremely small. Serve it cold, with a sauce made of the strained juice and grated rind of two lemons, a teaspoonful of made mustard, and one of pounded sugar, with as much oil as will prevent its being more than pleasantly acid, and a little salt, if needed; work these together until perfectly mixed, and send them to table in a tureen.

This receipt was given to us abroad, by a Flemish lady, who had had the dish often served with great success in Paris. We have inserted it on her authority, not on our own experience; but we think it may be quite depended on.

TO ROAST A TURKEY POULT.

[The turkey-poult is in season whenever it is of sufficient size to serve. In the earlier spring months it is very high in price, but in summer, and as the autumn advances, may be had at a more reasonable cost. The great demand for turkeys in England towards Christmas, and the care which they require in being reared, causes them to be brought much less abundantly into the markets when young, than they are in foreign countries; in many of which they are very plentiful and very cheap.]

A turkey-poult or half grown turkey, makes a delicate roast, which some persons much prefer to the full-grown bird. It is served with the head on, but is generally in other respects trussed like a capon or a large fowl, except for fashionable tables, for which it is sometimes arranged with the legs twisted back at the first joint, and the feet brought close to the thighs in the same manner as those of a woodcock. It should be well basted with good butter, and will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter’s roasting. If for the second course, it may be dished on water-cresses: pour a little gravy round it in the dish, and send more to table with it in a tureen.

TO ROAST A GOOSE.

[In best season from September to March.]

Goose for roasting.

After it has been plucked and singed with care, put into the body of the goose two parboiled onions of moderate size finely chopped, and mixed with half an ounce of minced sage-leaves, a saltspoonful of salt, and half as much black pepper, or a proportionate quantity of cayenne; to these add a small slice of fresh butter. Truss the goose, and after it is on the spit, tie it firmly at both ends that it may turn steadily, and that the seasoning may not escape; roast it at a brisk fire, and keep it constantly basted. Serve it with brown gravy, and apple or tomata sauce. When the taste is in favour of a stronger seasoning than the above, which occurs we apprehend but seldom, use raw onions for it and increase the quantity: but should one still milder be preferred, mix a handful of fine bread-crumbs with the other ingredients, or two or three minced apples. The body of a goose is sometimes filled entirely with mashed potatoes, which, for this purpose, ought to be boiled very dry, and well blended with two or three ounces of butter, or with some thick cream, some salt, and white pepper or cayenne: to these minced sage and parboiled onions can also be added at pleasure. A teaspoonful of made-mustard, half as much of salt, and a small portion of cayenne, smoothly mixed with a glass of port wine, are sometimes poured into the goose just before it is served, through a cut made in the apron.

1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hour.

Obs.—We extract, for the benefit of our readers, from a work in our possession, the following passage, of which we have had no opportunity of testing the correctness. “Geese, with sage and onions, may be deprived of power to breathe forth any incense, thus: Pare from a lemon all the yellow rind, taking care not to bruise the fruit nor to cut so deeply as to let out the juice. Place this lemon in the centre of the seasoning within the bird. When or before it is brought to table, let the flap be gently opened, remove the lemon with a tablespoon; avoid breaking, and let it instantly be thrown away, as its white pithy skin will have absorbed all the gross particles which else would have escaped.”

TO ROAST A GREEN GOOSE.

Season the inside with a little pepper and salt, and roast the goose at a brisk fire from forty to fifty minutes. Serve it with good brown gravy only. To this sorrel-sauce is sometimes added at not very modern English tables, Green geese are never stuffed.

TO ROAST A FOWL.

[Fowls are always in season when they can be procured sufficiently young to be tender. About February they become dear and scarce; and small spring chickens are generally very expensive. As summer advances they decline in price.]

Fowl for roasting.

Strip off the feathers, and carefully pick every stump from the skin, as nothing can be more uninviting than the appearance of any kind of poultry where this has been neglected, nor more indicative of slovenliness on the part of the cook. Take off the head and neck close to the body, but leave sufficient of the skin to tie over the part that is cut. In drawing the bird, do not open it more than is needful, and use great precaution to avoid breaking the gall-bladder. Hold the legs in boiling water for two or three minutes that the skin may be peeled from them easily; cut the claws, and then, with a bit of lighted writing-paper, singe off the hairs without blackening the fowl. Wash, and wipe it afterwards very dry, and let the liver and gizzard be made delicately clean, and fastened into the pinions. Truss and spit it firmly; flour it well when first laid to the fire, baste it frequently with butter, and when it is done draw out the skewers, dish it, pour a little good gravy over, and send it to table with bread, mushroom, egg, chestnut, or olive sauce. A common mode of serving roast fowls in France is aux cressons, that is, laid upon young water-cresses,[88] which have previously been freed from the outer leaves, thoroughly washed, shaken dry in a clean cloth, and sprinkled with a little fine salt, and sometimes with a small quantity of vinegar: these should cover the dish, and after the fowls are placed on them, gravy should be poured over as usual.

88.  This is done with many other roasts which are served in the second course but the vinegar is seldom added in this country.

The body of a fowl may be filled with very small mushrooms prepared as for partridges (see partridges with mushrooms), then sewn up, roasted, and served with mushroom-sauce: this is an excellent mode of dressing it. A little rasped bacon, or a bit or two of the lean of beef or veal minced, or cut into dice, may be put inside the bird when either is considered an improvement; but its own liver, or that of another fowl, will be found to impart a much finer flavour than any of these last; and so likewise will a teaspoonful of really good mushroom-powder smoothly mixed with a slice of good butter, and a seasoning of fine salt and cayenne.[89]

89.  We cannot much recommend these mere superfluities of the table.

Full-sized fowl, 1 hour: young chicken, 25 to 35 minutes.

Obs.—As we have already observed in our general remarks on roasting, the time must be regulated by various circumstances which we named, and which the cook should always take into consideration. A buttered paper should be fastened over the breast, and removed about fifteen minutes before the fowl is served: this will prevent its taking too much colour.

ROAST FOWL.

(A French Receipt.)

Fill the breast of a fine fowl with good forcemeat, roast it as usual, and when it is very nearly ready to serve take it from the fire, pour lukewarm butter over it in every part, and strew it thickly with very fine bread-crumbs; sprinkle these again with butter, and dip the fowl into more crumbs. Put it down to the fire, and when it is of a clear, light brown all over, take it carefully from the spit, dish, and serve it with lemon-sauce, and with gravy thickened and mixed with plenty of minced parsley, or with brown gravy and any other sauce usually served with fowls. Savoury herbs shred small, spice, and lemon-grate, may be mixed with the crumbs at pleasure. Do not pour gravy over the fowl when it is thus prepared.

TO ROAST A GUINEA FOWL.

Let the bird hang for as many days as the weather will allow; then stuff, truss, roast, and serve it like a turkey, or leave the head on and lard the breast. Send gravy and bread-sauce to table with it in either case: it will be found excellent eating.

3/4 to 1 hour.

FOWL À LA CARLSFORS. (ENTRÉE.)

Bone a fowl without opening the back, and restore it to its original form by filling the vacant spaces in the legs and wings with forcemeat; put a roll of it also into the body, and a large sausage freed from the skin on either side; tie it very securely at both ends, truss it with fine skewers, and roast it for a full hour, keeping it basted plentifully with butter. When appearance is not regarded, the pinions may be taken off, and the legs and wings drawn inside the fowl, which will then require a much smaller proportion of forcemeat:—that directed for veal will answer quite well in a general way, but for a dinner of ceremony, No. 17 or 18 of the same Chapter, should be used in preference. The fowl must be tied securely to the spit, not put upon it. Boned chickens are excellent when entirely filled with well-made mushroom forcemeat, or very delicate and nicely seasoned sausage-meat, and either roasted or stewed. Brown gravy, or mushroom sauce should then be sent to table with them.

BOILED FOWLS.

Fowl for boiling.

White-legged poultry should always be selected for boiling as it is of better colour when dressed than any other. Truss the fowls firmly and neatly, with the legs drawn into the bodies, and the wings twisted over the backs; let them be well covered with water, which should be hot, but not boiling when they are put in. A full-sized fowl will require about three quarters of an hour from the time of its beginning to simmer; but young chickens not more than from twenty to twenty-five minutes: they should be very gently boiled, and the scum should be removed with great care as it gathers on the surface of the water. Either of the following sauces may be sent to table with them: parsley and butter, béchamel, English white sauce, oyster, celery, or white-mushroom sauce. The fowls are often dished with small tufts of delicately boiled cauliflower placed round them; or with young vegetable marrow scarcely larger than an egg, merely pared and halved after it is dressed: white sauce must be served with both of these. The livers and gizzards are not, at the present day, ever served in the wings of boiled fowls. The livers may be simmered for four or five minutes, then pressed to a smooth paste with a wooden spoon, and mixed very gradually with the sauce, which should not boil after they are added.

Full-sized fowl, 3/4 hour: young chickens, 20 to 25 minutes.

Obs.—Rather less than half a gallon of cold added to an equal quantity of boiling water, will bring it to the proper degree of heat for putting in the fowls, or the same directions may be observed for them as those given for a boiled turkey. For richer modes of boiling poultry, see Blanc and Poêlée, Chapter IX.

TO BROIL A CHICKEN OR FOWL.

Either of these, when merely split and broiled, is very dry and unsavoury eating; but will be greatly improved if first boiled gently from five to ten minutes and left to become cold, then divided, dipped into egg and well seasoned bread-crumbs, plentifully sprinkled with clarified butter, dipped again into the crumbs, and broiled over a clear and gentle fire from half to three quarters of an hour. It should be served very hot, with mushroom-sauce or with a little good plain gravy, which may be thickened and flavoured with a teaspoonful of mushroom-powder mixed with half as much flour and a little butter; or with some Espagnole. It should be opened at the back, and evenly divided quite through; the legs should be trussed like those of a boiled fowl; the breast-bone, or hat of the back may be removed at pleasure, and both sides of the bird should be made as flat as they can be that the fire may penetrate every part equally: the inside should be first laid towards it. The neck, feet and gizzard may be boiled down with a small quantity of onion and carrot, previously browned in a morsel of butter to make the gravy; and the liver, after having been simmered with them for five or six minutes, may be used to thicken it after it is strained. A teaspoonful of lemon-juice, some cayenne, and minced parsley should be added to it, and a little arrow-root, or flour and butter.

1/2 to 3/4 hour.

FRICASSEED FOWLS OR CHICKENS. (ENTRÉE.)

To make a fricassee of good appearance without great expense, prepare, with exceeding nicety, a couple of plump chickens, strip off the skin, and carve them very neatly. Reserve the wings, breasts, merrythoughts, and thighs; and stew down the inferior joints with a couple of blades of mace, a small bunch of savoury herbs, a few white peppercorns, a pint and a half of water, and a small half-teaspoonful of salt. When something more than a third part reduced, strain the gravy, let it cool, and skim off every particle of fat. Arrange the joints which are to be fricasseed in one layer if it can be done conveniently, and pour to them as much of the gravy as will nearly cover them; add the very thin rind of half a fine fresh lemon, and simmer the fowls gently from half to three quarters of an hour; throw in sufficient salt, pounded mace, and cayenne, to give the sauce a good flavour, thicken it with a large teaspoonful of arrow-root, and stir to it the third of a pint of rich boiling cream; then lift the stewpan from the fire, and shake it briskly round while the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs, mixed with a spoonful or two of cream, are added; continue to shake the pan gently above the fire till the sauce is just set, but it must not be allowed to boil, or it will curdle in an instant.

1/2 to 3/4 hour.

ENGLISH CHICKEN CUTLETS. (ENTRÉE).

Skin and cut into joints one or two young chickens, and remove the bones with care from the breasts, merrythoughts, and thighs, which are to be separated from the legs. Mix well together a teaspoonful of salt, nearly a fourth as much of mace, a little grated nutmeg, and some cayenne; flatten and form into good shape, the boned joints of chicken, and the flesh of the wings; rub a little of the seasoning over them in every part, dip them into beaten egg, and then into very fine bread-crumbs, and fry them gently in fresh butter until they are of a delicate brown. Some of the bones and trimmings may be boiled down in half a pint of water, with a roll of lemon-peel, a little salt, and eight or ten white peppercorns, to make the gravy which, after being strained and cleared from fat, may be poured hot to some thickening made in the pan with a slice of fresh butter and a dessertspoonful of flour: a teaspoonful of mushroom-powder would improve it greatly, and a small quantity of lemon-juice should be added before it is poured out, with salt and cayenne if required. Pile the cutlets high in the centre of the dish, and serve the sauce under them, or in a tureen.

CUTLETS OF FOWLS, PARTRIDGES, OR PIGEONS. (ENTRÉE.)

(French Receipt.)

Take closely off the flesh of the breast and wing together, on either side of the bone, and when the large fillets, as they are called, are thus raised from three birds, which will give but six cutlets, take the strips of flesh that lie under the wings, and that of the merrythoughts, and flatten two or three of these together, that there may be nine cutlets at least, of equal size. When all are ready, fry to a pale brown as many diamond-shaped sippets of bread as there are fillets of fowl, and let them be quite as large; place these before the fire to dry, and wipe out the pan. Dip the cutlets into some yolks of eggs, mixed with a little clarified butter, and strew them in every part with the finest bread-crumbs, moderately seasoned with salt, cayenne, and pounded mace. Dissolve as much good butter as will be required to dress them, and fry them in it of a light amber-colour: arrange them upon the sippets of bread, pile them high in the dish, and pour a rich brown gravy or Espagnole round, but not over them.

FRIED CHICKEN À LA MALABAR. (ENTRÉE.)

This is an Indian dish. Cut up the chicken, wipe it dry, and rub it well with currie-powder mixed with a little salt; fry it in a bit of butter, taking care that it is of a nice light brown. In the mean time cut two or three onions into thin slices, draw them out into rings, and cut the rings into little bits about half an inch long; fry them for a long time gently in a little clarified butter, until they have gradually dried up and are of a delicate yellow-brown. Be careful that they are not burnt, as the burnt taste of a single bit would spoil the flavour of the whole. When they are as dry as chips, without the least grease or moisture upon them, mix a little salt with them, strew them over the fried chicken, and serve up with lemon on a plate.

We have extracted this receipt from a clever little work called the “Hand-Book of Cookery.”

HASHED FOWL. (ENTRÉE.)

After having taken off in joints, as much of a cold fowl or fowls as will suffice for a dish, bruise the bodies with a paste roller, pour to them a pint of water, and boil them for an hour and a half to two hours, with the addition of a little pepper and salt only, or with a small quantity of onion, carrot, and savoury herbs. Strain, and skim the fat from the gravy, put it into a clean saucepan, and, should it require thickening, stir to it, when it boils, half a teaspoonful of flour smoothly mixed with a small bit of butter; add a little mushroom catsup, or other store-sauce, with a slight seasoning of mace or nutmeg. Lay in the fowl, and keep it near the fire until it is heated quite through, and is at the point of boiling: serve it with fried sippets round the dish. For a hash of higher relish, add to the bones when they are first stewed down a large onion minced and browned in butter, and before the fowl is dished, add some cayenne and the juice of half a lemon.

FRENCH AND OTHER RECEIPTS FOR MINCED FOWL. (ENTRÉE.)

Raise from the bones all the more delicate parts of the flesh of either cold roast, or of cold boiled fowls, clear it from the skin, and keep it covered from the air until it is wanted for use. Boil the bones well bruised, and the skin, with three quarters of a pint of water until reduced quite half; then strain the gravy and let it cool; next, having first skimmed off the fat, put it into a clean saucepan, with a quarter of a pint of cream, an ounce and a half of butter well mixed with a dessertspoonful of flour, and a little pounded mace, and grated lemon-rind; keep these stirred until they boil, then put in the fowl, finely minced, with three or four hard-boiled eggs chopped small, and sufficient salt, and white pepper or cayenne, to season it properly. Shake the mince over the fire until it is just ready to boil, stir to it quickly a squeeze of lemon-juice, dish it with pale sippets of fried bread, and serve it immediately. When cream cannot easily be obtained, use milk, with a double quantity of butter and flour. To make an English mince, omit the hard eggs, heat the fowl in the preceding sauce or in a common béchamel, or white sauce, dish it with small delicately poached eggs (those of the guinea-fowl or bantam for example), laid over it in a circle and send it quickly to table. Another excellent variety of the dish is also made by covering the fowl thickly with very fine bread-crumbs, moistening them with clarified butter, and giving them colour with a salamander, or in a quick oven.[90]

90.  For minced fowl and oysters, follow the receipt for veal, page 231.

FRITOT OF COLD FOWLS.

Cut into joints and take the skin from some cold fowls lay them into a deep dish, strew over them a little fine salt and cayenne, add the juice of a lemon, and let them remain for an hour, moving them occasionally that they may all absorb a portion of the acid; then dip them one by one into some French batter (see Chapter V.), and fry them a pale brown over a gentle fire. Serve them garnished with very green crisped parsley. A few drops of eschalot vinegar may be mixed with the lemon-juice which is poured to the fowls, or slices of raw onion or eschalot, and small branches of sweet herbs may be laid amongst them, and cleared off before they are dipped into the batter. Gravy made of the trimmings, thickened, and well flavoured, may be sent to table with them in a tureen; and dressed bacon (see page 259), in a dish apart.

SCALLOPS OF FOWL AU BÉCHAMEL. (ENTRÉE.)

Raise the flesh from a couple of fowls as directed for cutlets in the foregoing receipt, and take it as entire as possible from either side of the breast; strip off the skin, lay the fillets flat, and slice them into small thin scallops; dip them one by one into clarified butter, and arrange them evenly in a delicately clean and not large frying-pan; sprinkle a seasoning of fine salt over, and just before the dish is wanted for table, fry them quickly without allowing them to brown; drain them well from the butter, pile them in the centre of a hot dish, and sauce them with some boiling béchamel. This dish may be quickly prepared by taking a ready-dressed fowl from the spit or stewpan, and by raising the fillets, and slicing the scallops into the boiling sauce before they have had time to cool.

Fried, 3 to 4 minutes.

GRILLADE OF COLD FOWLS.

Carve and soak the remains of roast fowls as for the fritot which precedes, wipe them dry, dip them into clarified butter, and then into fine bread-crumbs, and broil them gently over a very clear fire. A little finely-minced lean of ham or grated lemon-peel, with a seasoning of cayenne, salt, and mace, mixed with the crumbs will vary this dish agreeably. When fried instead of broiled, the fowls may be dipped into yolk of egg instead of butter; but this renders them too dry for broiling.

FOWLS À LA MAYONNAISE.

Carve with great nicety a couple of cold roast fowls; place the inferior joints, if they are served at all, close together in the middle of a dish, and arrange the others round and over them, piling them high in the centre. Garnish them with the hearts of young lettuces cut in two, and hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise. At the moment of serving, pour over the fowls a well-made mayonnaise sauce (see Chapter VI.), or, if preferred, an English salad-dressing, compounded with thick cream, instead of oil.

TO ROAST DUCKS.

[Ducks are in season all the year, but are thought to be in their perfection about June or early in July. Ducklings (or half-grown ducks) are in the greatest request in spring, when there is no game in the market, and other poultry is somewhat scarce.]

Ducks trussed.

In preparing these for the spit, be careful to clear the skin entirely from the stumps of the feathers; take off the heads and necks, but leave the feet on, and hold them for a few minutes in boiling water to loosen the skin, which must be peeled off. Wash the inside of the birds by pouring water through them, but merely wipe the outsides with a dry cloth. Put into the bodies a seasoning of parboiled onions mixed with minced sage, salt, pepper, and a slice of butter when this mode of dressing them is liked; but as the taste of a whole party is seldom in its favour, one, when a couple are roasted, is often served without the stuffing. Cut off the pinions at the first joint from the bodies, truss the feet behind the backs, spit the birds firmly, and roast them at a brisk fire, but do not place them sufficiently near to be scorched; baste them constantly, and when the breasts are well plumped, and the steam from them draws towards the fire, dish, and serve them quickly with a little good brown gravy poured round them, and some also in a tureen; or instead of this, with some which has been made with the necks, gizzards, and livers well stewed down, with a slight seasoning of browned onion, some herbs, and spice.

Young ducks, 1/2 hour: full sized, from 3/4 to 1 hour.

Obs.—Olive-sauce may be served with roast as well as with stewed ducks.

STEWED DUCK. (ENTRÉE.)

A couple of quite young ducks, or a fine, full-grown, but still tender one, will be required for this dish. Cut either down neatly into joints, and arrange them in a single layer if possible, in a wide stewpan; pour in about three quarters of a pint of strong cold beef stock or gravy; let it be well cleared from scum when it begins to boil, then throw in a little salt, a rather full seasoning of cayenne, and a few thin strips of lemon-rind. Simmer the ducks very softly for three quarters of an hour, or somewhat longer should the joints be large; then stir into the gravy a tablespoonful of the finest rice-flour, mixed with a wineglassful or rather more of port wine, and a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice: in ten minutes after, dish the stew and send it to table instantly.

The ducks may be served with a small portion only of their sauce, and dished in a circle, with green peas à la Française heaped high in the centre: the lemon-rind and port wine should then be altogether omitted, and a small bunch of green onions and parsley, with two or three young carrots, may be stewed down with the birds, or three or four minced eschalots, delicately fried in butter, may be used to flavour the gravy. The turnips au beurre, prepared by the receipt of Chapter XVII., may be substituted for the peas; and a well made Espagnole may take the place of beef stock, when a dish of high savour is wished for. A duck is often stewed without being divided into joints. It should then be firmly trussed, half roasted at a quick fire, and laid into the stewpan as it is taken from the spit; or well browned in some French thickening, then half covered with boiling gravy, and turned when partially done: from an hour to an hour and a quarter will stew it well.

TO ROAST PIGEONS.

[In season from March to Michaelmas, and whenever they can be had young.]

Pigeons for roasting.

These, as we have already said, should be dressed while they are very fresh. If extremely young they will be ready in twelve hours for the spit, otherwise in twenty-four. Take off the heads and necks, and cut off the toes at the first joint; draw them carefully, and pour plenty of water through them: wipe them dry, and put into each bird a small bit of butter lightly dipped into a little cayenne (formerly it was rolled in minced parsley, but this is no longer the fashionable mode of preparing them). Truss the wings over the backs, and roast them at a brisk fire, keeping them well and constantly basted with butter. Serve them with brown gravy, and a tureen of parsley and butter. For the second course, dish them upon young water-cresses, as directed for roast fowl aux cressons, page 272. About twenty minutes will roast them.

18 to 20 minutes; five minutes longer, if large; rather less, if very young.

BOILED PIGEONS.

Truss them like boiled fowls, drop them into plenty of boiling water, throw in a little salt, and in fifteen minutes lift them out, pour parsley and butter over, and send a tureen of it to table with them.

CHAPTER XV.

Game.

TO CHOOSE GAME.

Buck venison, which is in season only from June to Michaelmas, is considered finer than doe venison, which comes into the market in October, and remains in season through November and December: neither should be cooked at any other part of the year. The greater the depth of fat upon the haunch the better the quality of the meat will be, provided it be clear and white, and the lean of a dark hue. If the cleft of the hoof, which is always left on the joint, be small and smooth, the animal is young; but it is old when the marks are the reverse of these.[91] Although the haunch is the prime and favourite joint of venison, the neck and shoulder are also excellent, dressed in various ways, and make much approved pies or pasties as they are usually called. If kept to the proper point, and well dressed, this is the most tender of all meat; but care is necessary to bring it into a fitting state for table without its becoming offensive. A free current of air in a larder is always a great advantage, as it assists materially in preserving the sweetness of every thing which is kept in it, while a close damp atmosphere, on the contrary, is more destructive of animal food of all kinds even than positive heat. The fumes of creosote are said to be an admirable preservative against putrescence, but we have not ourselves yet had experience of the fact. All moisture should be wiped daily, or even more frequently, from the venison, with soft cloths, when any appears upon the surface; and every precaution must be taken to keep off the flies, when the joint is not hung in a wire-safe. Black pepper thickly powdered on it will generally answer the purpose: with common care, indeed, meat may always be protected from their attacks, and to leave it exposed to them in warm weather is altogether inexcusable in the cook.

91.  It must be observed that venison is not in perfection when young: like mutton, it requires to be of a certain age before it is brought to table. The word cleft applies also to the thickest part of the haunch, and it is the depth of the fat on this which decides the quality of the joint.

Hares and rabbits are stiff when freshly killed, and if young, the ears tear easily, and the claws are smooth and sharp. A hare in cold weather will remain good from ten to fourteen days; care only must be taken to prevent the inside from becoming musty, which it will do if it has been emptied in the field. Pheasants, partridges, and other game may be chosen by nearly the same tests as poultry: by opening the bill, the staleness will be detected easily if they have been too long kept. With few exceptions, game depends almost entirely for the fine flavour and the tenderness of its flesh, on the time which it is allowed to hang before it is cooked, and it is never good when very fresh; but it does not follow that it should be sent to table in a really offensive state, for this is agreeable to few eaters and disgusting to many, and nothing should at any time be served of which the appearance or the odour may destroy the appetite of any person present.

TO ROAST A HAUNCH OF VENISON.

To give venison the flavour and the tenderness so much prized by epicures, it must be well kept; and by taking the necessary precautions, it will hang a considerable time without detriment. Wipe it with soft dry cloths wherever the slightest moisture appears on the surface, and dust it plentifully with freshly-ground pepper or powdered ginger, to preserve it from the flies. The application of the pyroligneous or acetic acid would effectually protect it from these, as well as from the effects of the weather; but the joint must then be, not only well washed, but soaked for some considerable time, and this would be very detrimental. To prepare the venison for the spit, wash it slightly with tepid water or merely wipe it thoroughly with damp cloths, and dry it afterwards with clean ones; then lay over the fat side a large sheet of thickly-buttered paper, and next a paste of flour and water about three quarters of an inch thick; cover this again with two or three sheets of stout paper, secure the whole well with twine, and lay the haunch to a sound clear fire; baste the paper immediately with butter or clarified dripping, and roast the joint from three hours and a half to four and a half, according to its weight and quality. Doe venison will require half an hour less time than buck venison. Twenty minutes before the joint is done remove the paste and paper, baste the meat in every part with butter, and dredge it very lightly with flour; let it take a pale brown colour, and send it to table as hot as possible with gravy in a tureen, and good currant jelly. It is not now customary to serve any other sauces with it; but should the old-fashioned sharp or sweet sauce be ordered, the receipt for it will be found at page 100.

3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.

Obs.—The kind of gravy appropriate to venison is a matter on which individual taste must decide. When preparations of high savour are preferred to the pure flavour of the game, the Espagnole (or Spanish sauce) of Chapter IV. can be sent to table with it; or either of the rich English gravies which precede it. When a simple unflavoured one is better liked, some mutton cutlets freed entirely from fat, then very slightly broiled over a quick fire, and stewed gently down in a light extract of mutton prepared by Liebeg’s directions, Chapter I., for about an hour, will produce an excellent plain gravy: it should be seasoned with salt and pepper (or fine cayenne) only. When venison abounds, it should be used for the gravy instead of mutton.

TO STEW A SHOULDER OF VENISON.

Bone the joint, by the directions given for a shoulder of veal or mutton (see Chapter XI.); flatten it on a table, season it well with cayenne, salt, and pounded mace, mixed with a very small proportion of allspice; lay over it thin slices of the fat of a loin of well-fed mutton, roll and bind it tightly, lay it into a vessel nearly of its size, and pour to it as much good stock made with equal parts of beef and mutton as will nearly cover it; stew it as slowly as possible from three hours to three and a half or longer, should it be very large, and turn it when it is half done. Dish and serve it with a good Espagnole, made with part of the gravy in which it has been stewed; or thicken this slightly with rice-flour, mixed with a glass or more of claret or of port wine, and as much salt and cayenne as will season the gravy properly. Some cooks soak the slices of mutton-fat in wine before they are laid upon the joint; but no process of the sort will ever give to any kind of meat the true flavour of the venison, which to most eaters is far finer than that of the wine, and should always be allowed to prevail over all the condiments with which it is dressed. Those, however, who care for it less than for a dish of high artificial savour can have eschalots, ham, and carrot, lightly browned in good butter added to the stew when it first begins to boil.

3-1/2 to 4 hours.

TO HASH VENISON.[92]

92.  Minced collops of venison may be prepared exactly like those of beef; and venison-cutlets like those of mutton: the neck may be taken for both of these.

For a superior hash of venison, add to three quarters of a pint of strong thickened brown gravy, Christopher North’s sauce, in the proportion directed for it in the receipt of page 295.[93] Cut the venison in small thin slices of equal size, arrange them in a clean saucepan, pour the gravy on them, let them stand for ten minutes or more, then place them near the fire, and bring the whole very slowly to the point of boiling only: serve the hash immediately in a hot-water dish.

93.  Having been inadvertently omitted from its proper place, this receipt is transferred to the end of the present Chapter.

For a plain dinner, when no gravy is at hand, break down the bones of the venison small, after the flesh has been cleared from them, and boil them with those of three or four undressed mutton-cutlets, a slice or two of carrot, or a few savoury herbs, and about a pint and a half of water or broth, until the liquid is reduced quite one third. Strain it off, let it cool, skim off all the fat, heat the gravy, thicken it when it boils with a dessertspoonful or rather more of arrow-root, or with the brown roux of page 107, mix the same sauce with it, and finish it exactly as the richer hash above. It may be served on sippets of fried bread or not, at choice.

TO ROAST A HARE.

[In season from September to the 1st of March.]

Hare trussed.

After the hare has been skinned, or cased, as it is called, wash it very thoroughly in cold water, and afterwards in warm. If in any degree overkept, or musty in the inside, which it will sometimes be when emptied before it is hung up and neglected afterwards, use vinegar, or the pyroligneous acid, well diluted, to render it sweet; then again throw it into abundance of water, that it may retain no taste of the acid. Pierce with the point of a knife any parts in which the blood appears to have settled, and soak them in tepid water, that it may be well drawn out. Wipe the hare dry, fill it with the forcemeat No. 1, Chapter VIII., sew it up, truss and spit it firmly, baste it for ten minutes with lukewarm water mixed with a very little salt; throw this away, and put into the pan a quart or more of new milk; keep it constantly laded over the hare until it is nearly dried up, then add a large lump of butter, flour the hare, and continue the basting steadily until it is well browned; for unless this be done, and the roast be kept at a proper distance from the fire, the outside will become so dry and hard as to be quite uneatable. Serve the hare when done, with good brown gravy (of which a little should be poured round it in the dish), and with fine red currant jelly. This is an approved English method of dressing it, but we would recommend in preference, that it should be basted plentifully with butter from the beginning (the strict economist may substitute clarified beef-dripping, or marrow, and finish with a small quantity of butter only); and that the salt and water should be altogether omitted. First-rate cooks merely wipe the hare inside and out, and rub it with its own blood before it is laid to the fire; but there is generally a rankness about it, especially after it has been many days killed, which, we should say, renders the washing indispensable, unless a coarse game-flavour be liked.

1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour.

ROAST HARE.

(Superior Receipt.)

A hare may be rendered far more plump in appearance, and infinitely easier to carve, by taking out the bones of the back and thighs, or of the former only: in removing this a very sharp knife should be used, and much care will be required to avoid cutting through the skin just over the spine, as it adheres closely to the bone. Nearly double the usual quantity of forcemeat must be prepared: with this restore the legs to their original shape, and fill the body, which should previously be lined with delicate slices of the nicest bacon, of which the rind and edges have been trimmed away. Sew up the hare, truss it as usual; lard it or not, as is most convenient, keep it basted plentifully with butter while roasting, and serve it with the customary sauce. We have found two tablespoonsful of the finest currant jelly, melted in half a pint of rich brown gravy, an acceptable accompaniment to hare, when the taste has been in favour of a sweet sauce.

To remove the back-bone, clear from it first the flesh in the inside; lay this back to the right and left from the centre of the bone to the tips; then work the knife on the upper side quite to the spine, and when the whole is detached except the skin which adheres to this, separate the bone at the first joint from the neck-bone or ribs (we know not how more correctly to describe it), and pass the knife with caution under the skin down the middle of the back. The directions for boning the thighs of a fowl will answer equally for those of a hare, and we therefore refer the reader to them.

STEWED HARE.

Wash and soak the hare thoroughly, wipe it very dry, cut it down into joints dividing the largest, flour and brown it slightly in butter with some bits of lean ham, pour to them by degrees a pint and a half of gravy, and stew the hare very gently from an hour and a half to two hours: when it is about one third done add the very thin rind of half a large lemon, and ten minutes before it is served stir to it a large dessertspoonful of rice-flour, smoothly mixed with two tablespoonsful of good mushroom catsup, a quarter of a teaspoonful or more of mace, and something less of cayenne. This is an excellent plain receipt for stewing a hare; but the dish may be enriched with forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.) rolled into small balls, and simmered for ten minutes in the stew, or fried and added to it after it is dished; a higher seasoning of spice, a couple of glasses of port wine, with a little additional thickening and a tablespoonful of lemon-juice, will all serve to give it a heightened relish.

Hare, 1; lean of ham or bacon, 4 to 6 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; gravy, 1-1/2 pint; lemon-rind: 1 hour and 20 to 50 minutes. Rice-flour, 1 large dessertspoonful; mushroom catsup, 2 tablespoonsful; mace, 1/3 of teaspoonful; little cayenne (salt, if needed): 10 minutes.

TO ROAST A RABBIT.

Rabbit for roasting.

This, like a hare, is much improved by having the back-bone taken out, and the directions we have given will enable the cook, with very little practice, to remove it without difficulty. Line the inside, when this is done, with thin slices of bacon, fill it with forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII), sew it up, truss, and roast it at a clear, brisk fire, and baste it constantly with butter. Flour it well soon after it is laid down. Serve it with good brown gravy, and with currant jelly, when this last is liked. For change, the back of the rabbit may be larded, and the bone left in, or not, at pleasure; or it can be plain roasted when more convenient.

3/4 to 1 hour; less, if small.

TO BOIL RABBITS.

Rabbit for boiling.

Rabbits that are three parts grown, or, at all events, which are still quite young, should be chosen for this mode of cooking. Wash them well, truss them firmly, with the heads turned and skewered to the sides, drop them into sufficient boiling water to keep them quite covered until they are cooked, and simmer them gently from thirty to forty-five minutes: when very young they will require even less time than this. Cover them with rich white sauce, mixed with the livers parboiled, finely pounded, and well seasoned with cayenne and lemon-juice; or with white onion sauce, or with parsley and butter, made with milk or cream instead of water (the livers, minced, are often added to the last of these), or with good mushroom sauce.

30 to 45 minutes.

FRIED RABBIT.

After the rabbit has been emptied, thoroughly washed and soaked, should it require it to remove any mustiness of smell, blanch it, that is to say, put it into boiling water and let it boil from five to seven minutes; drain it, and when cold or nearly so, cut it into joints, dip them into beaten egg, and then into fine bread-crumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper, and when all are ready, fry them in butter over a moderate fire, from twelve to fifteen minutes. Simmer two or three strips of lemon-rind in a little gravy, until it is well flavoured with it; boil the liver of the rabbit for five minutes, let it cool, and then mince it; thicken the gravy with an ounce of butter and a small teaspoonful of flour, add the liver, give the sauce a minute’s boil, stir in two tablespoonsful of cream if at hand, and last of all, a small quantity of lemon-juice. Dish the rabbit, pour the sauce under it, and serve it quickly. If preferred, a gravy can be made in the pan as for veal cutlets, and the rabbit may be simply fried.

TO ROAST A PHEASANT.

[In season from the beginning of October to the end of January. The licensed term of pheasant shooting commences on the 1st of October, and terminates on the 2nd of February, but as the birds will remain perfectly good in cold weather for two or three weeks, if from that time hung in a well-ventilated larder, they continue, correctly speaking, in season so long as they can be preserved fit for table after the regular market for them is closed: the same rule applies equally to other varieties of game.]

Pheasant trussed
without the head.

Unless kept to the proper point, a pheasant is one of the most tough, dry, and flavourless birds that is sent to table; but when it has hung as many days as it can without becoming really tainted, and is well roasted and served, it is most excellent eating. Pluck off the feathers carefully, cut a slit in the back of the neck to remove the crop, then draw the bird in the usual way, and either wipe the inside very clean with a damp cloth, or pour water through it; wipe the outside also, but with a dry cloth; cut off the toes, turn the head of the bird under the wing, with the bill laid straight along the breast, skewer the legs, which must not be crossed, flour the pheasant well, lay it to a brisk fire, and baste it constantly and plentifully with well flavoured butter. Send bread-sauce and good brown gravy to table with it. The entire breast of the bird may be larded by the directions of Chapter IX When a brace is served, one is sometimes larded, and the other not; but a much handsomer appearance is given to the dish by larding both. About three quarters of an hour will roast them.

3/4 hour; a few minutes less, if liked very much underdone; five or ten more for thorough roasting, with a good fire in both cases.

BOUDIN OF PHEASANT À LA RICHELIEU. (ENTRÉE.)

Take, quite clear from the bones, and from all skin and sinew, the flesh of a half-roasted pheasant; mince, and then pound it to the smoothest paste; add an equal bulk of the floury part of some fine roasted potatoes, or of such as have been boiled by Captain Kater’s receipt (see Chapter XVII.), and beat them together until they are well blended; next throw into the mortar something less (in volume) of fresh butter than there was of the pheasant-flesh, with a high seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, and a half-teaspoonful or more of salt; pound the mixture afresh for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, keeping it turned from the sides of the mortar into the middle; then add one by one, after merely taking out the germs with the point of a fork, two whole eggs and a yolk or two without the whites, if these last will not render the mixture too moist. Mould it into the form of a roll, lay it into a stewpan rubbed with butter, pour boiling water on it and poach it gently from ten to fifteen minutes. Lift it out with care, drain it on a sieve, and when it is quite cold cover it equally with beaten egg, and then with the finest bread-crumbs, and broil it over a clear fire, or fry it in butter of a clear golden brown. A good gravy should be made of the remains of the bird and sent to table with it; the flavour may be heightened with ham and eschalots, as directed in Chapter IV., page 96, and small mushrooms, sliced sideways, and stewed quite tender in butter, may be mixed with the boudin after it is taken from the mortar; or their flavour may be given more delicately by adding to it only the butter in which they have been simmered, well pressed, from them through a strainer. The mixture, which should be set into a very cool place before it is moulded, may be made into several small rolls, which will require four or five minutes’ poaching only. The flesh of partridges will answer quite as well as that of pheasants for this dish.

SALMI OF PHEASANT.

(See page 292.)

PHEASANT CUTLETS.

(See page 275.)

TO ROAST PARTRIDGES.

[In season from the first of September to the second of February, and as long as they can be preserved fit for table from that time.]

Partridge trussed.

Let the birds hang as long as they can possibly be kept without becoming offensive; pick them carefully, draw, and singe them; wipe the insides thoroughly with a clean cloth; truss them with the head turned under the wing and the legs drawn close together, not crossed. Flour them when first laid to the fire, and baste them plentifully with butter. Serve them with bread sauce, and good brown gravy, a little of this last should be poured over them. In some counties they are dished upon fried bread-crumbs, but these are better handed round the table by themselves. Where game is plentiful we recommend that the remains of a cold roasted partridge should be well bruised and boiled down with just so much water, or unflavoured broth, as will make gravy for a brace of other birds: this, seasoned with salt, and cayenne only, or flavoured with a few mushrooms, will be found a very superior accompaniment for roast partridges, to the best meat-gravy that can be made. A little eschalot, and a few herbs, can be added to it at pleasure. It should be served also with boiled or with broiled partridges in preference to any other.

30 to 40 minutes.

Obs.—Rather less time must be allowed when the birds are liked underdressed. In preparing them for the spit, the crop must be removed through a slit cut in the back of the neck, the claws clipped close, and the legs held in boiling water for a minute, that they may be skinned the more easily.

BOILED PARTRIDGES.

This is a delicate mode of dressing young and tender birds. Strip off the feathers, clean, and wash them well; cut off the heads, truss the legs like those of boiled fowls, and when ready, drop them into a large pan of boiling water; throw a little salt on them, and in fifteen, or at the utmost in eighteen minutes they will be ready to serve. Lift them out, dish them quickly, and send them to table with white mushroom sauce, with bread sauce and game gravy (see preceding receipt), or with celery sauce. Our own mode of having them served is usually with a slice of fresh butter, about a tablespoonful of lemon-juice, and a good sprinkling of cayenne placed in a very hot dish, under them.

15 to 18 minutes.

PARTRIDGES WITH MUSHROOMS.

For a brace of young well-kept birds, prepare from half to three quarters of a pint of mushroom-buttons, or very small flaps, as for pickling. Dissolve over a gentle fire an ounce and a half of butter, throw in the mushrooms with a slight sprinkling of salt and cayenne, simmer them from eight to ten minutes, and turn them with the butter on to a plate; when they are quite cold, put the whole into the bodies of the partridges, sew them up, truss them securely, and roast them on a vertical jack with the heads downwards; or should an ordinary spit be used, tie them firmly to it, instead of passing it through them. Roast them the usual time, and serve them with brown mushroom sauce, or with gravy and bread sauce only. The birds may be trussed like boiled fowls, floured, and lightly browned in butter, half covered with rich brown gravy and stewed slowly for thirty minutes; then turned, and simmered for another half hour with the addition of some mushrooms to the gravy; or they may be covered with small mushrooms stewed apart, when they are sent to table. They can also be served with their sauce only, simply thickened with a small quantity of fresh butter, smoothly mixed with less than a teaspoonful of arrow-root and flavoured with cayenne and a little catsup, wine, or store sauce.

Partridges, 2; mushrooms, 1/2 to 3/4 pint; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; little mace and cayenne: roasted 30 to 40 minutes, or stewed 1 hour.

Obs.—Nothing can be finer than the game flavour imbibed by the mushrooms with which the birds are filled, in this receipt.

BROILED PARTRIDGE.

(Breakfast Dish.)

“Split a young and well-kept partridge, and wipe it with a soft clean cloth inside and out, but do not wash it; broil it delicately over a very clear fire, sprinkling it with a little salt and cayenne; rub a bit of fresh butter over it the moment it is taken from the fire, and send it quickly to table with a sauce made of a good slice of butter browned with flour, a little water, cayenne, salt, and mushroom-catsup, poured over it.” We give this receipt exactly as we received it from a house where we know it to have been greatly approved by various guests who have partaken of it there.

BROILED PARTRIDGE.

(French Receipt.)

After having prepared the bird with great nicety, divided, and flattened it, season it with salt, and pepper, or cayenne, dip it into clarified butter, and then into very fine bread-crumbs, and take care that every part shall be equally covered: if wanted of particularly good appearance dip it a second time into the butter and crumbs. Place it over a very clear fire, and broil it gently from twenty to thirty minutes. Send it to table with brown mushroom sauce, or some Espagnole.

THE FRENCH, OR RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE.

This is dressed precisely like our common partridge, and is excellent eating if it be well kept; otherwise it is tough and devoid of flavour. It does not, we believe, abound commonly in England, its hostility to the gray partridge, which it drives always from its neighbourhood, rendering it an undesirable occupant of a preserve. It was at one time, however, plentiful in Suffolk,[94] and in one or two of the adjoining counties, but great efforts, we have understood, have been made to exterminate it.

94.  Brought there by the late Marquis of Hertford, to his Sudbourne estate.

TO ROAST THE LANDRAIL OR CORN-CRAKE.

This delicate and excellent bird is in its full season at the end of August and early in September, when it abounds often in the poulterers’ shops. Its plumage resembles that of the partridge, but it is of smaller size and of much more slender shape. Strip off the feathers, draw and prepare the bird as usual for the spit, truss it like a snipe, and roast it quickly at a brisk but not a fierce fire from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Dish it on fried bread-crumbs, or omit these and serve it with gravy round it, and more in a tureen, and with well made bread sauce. Three or even four of the birds will be required for a dish. One makes a nice dinner for an invalid.

TO ROAST BLACK COCK AND GRAY HEN.

In season during the same time as the common grouse, and found like them on the moors, but less abundantly.

These birds, so delicious when well kept and well roasted, are tough and comparatively flavourless when too soon dressed. They should hang therefore till they give unequivocal indication of being ready for the spit. Pick and draw them with exceeding care, as the skin is easily broken; truss them like pheasants, lay them at a moderate distance from a clear brisk fire, baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and serve them on a thick toast which has been laid under them in the dripping-pan for the last ten minutes of their roasting, and which will have imbibed a high degree of savour: some cooks squeeze a little lemon-juice over it before it is put into the pan. Send rich brown gravy and bread sauce to table with the birds. From three quarters of an hour to a full hour will roast them. Though kept to the point which we have recommended, they will not offend even the most fastidious eater after they are dressed, as, unless they have been too long allowed to hang, the action of the fire will remove all perceptible traces of their previous state. In the earlier part of the season, when warm and close packing have rendered either black game or grouse, in their transit from the North, apparently altogether unfit for table, the chloride of soda, well-diluted, may be used with advantage to restore them to a fitting state for it; though the copious washings which must then be resorted to, may diminish something of their fine flavour.

3/4 to 1 hour.

TO ROAST GROUSE.

Handle the birds very lightly in plucking off the feathers; draw them, and wipe the insides with clean damp cloths; or first wash, and then dry them well; though this latter mode would not be approved generally by epicures. Truss the grouse in the same manner as the black game above, and roast them about half an hour at a clear and brisk fire, keeping them basted, almost without intermission. Serve them on a buttered toast which has been laid under them in the pan for ten minutes, or with gravy and bread sauce only.

1/2 hour to 35 minutes

Obs.—There are few occasions, we think, in which the contents of the dripping-pan can be introduced at table with advantage; but in dressing moor game, we would strongly recommend the toast to be laid in it under the birds, as it will afford a superior relish even to the birds themselves.

A SALMI OF MOOR FOWL, PHEASANTS, OR PARTRIDGES. (ENTRÉE.)

This is an excellent mode of serving the remains of roasted game, but when a superlative salmi is desired, the birds must be scarcely more then half roasted for it. In either case carve them very neatly, and strip every particle of skin and fat from the legs, wings, and breasts; bruise the bodies well, and put them with the skin and other trimmings into a very clean stewpan. If for a simple and inexpensive dinner, merely add to them two or three sliced eschalots, a bay leaf, a small blade of mace, and a few peppercorns; then pour in a pint or rather more of good veal gravy or strong broth, and boil it briskly until reduced nearly half; strain the gravy, pressing the bones well to obtain all the flavour, skim off the fat, add a little cayenne and lemon-juice, heat the game very gradually in it, but do not on any account allow it to boil; place sippets of fried bread round a dish, arrange the birds in good form in the centre, give the sauce a boil, and pour it on them. This is but a homely sort of salmi, though of excellent flavour if well made; it may require perhaps the addition of a little thickening, and two or three glasses of dry white wine poured to the bodies of the birds with the broth, would bring it nearer to the French salmi in flavour. As the spongy substance in the inside of moor fowl and black game is apt to be extremely bitter when they have been long kept, care should be taken to remove such parts as would endanger the preparation.

FRENCH SALMI, OR HASH OF GAME. (ENTRÉE.)

Prepare underdressed or half-roasted game by the directions we have already given, and after having stripped the skin from the thighs, wings, and breasts, arrange the joints evenly in a clean stewpan, and keep them covered from the air and dust till wanted. Cut down into dice four ounces of the lean of an unboiled ham, and put it, with two ounces of butter, into a thick well-tinned saucepan or stewpan; add three or four minced eschalots (more, should a high flavour of them be liked), two ounces of sliced carrot, four cloves, two bay leaves, a dozen peppercorns, one blade of mace, a small sprig or two of thyme, and part of a root of parsley, or two or three small branches of the leaves. Stew these over a gentle fire, stirring or shaking them often, until the sides of the saucepan appear of a reddish-brown, then mix well with them a dessertspoonful of flour, and let it take a little colour. Next, add by degrees, making the sauce boil as each portion is thrown in, three quarters of a pint of strong veal stock or gravy, and nearly half a pint of sherry or Madeira; put in the well-bruised bodies of the birds, and boil them from an hour to an hour and a half; strain, and clear the sauce quite from fat; pour it on the joints of game, heat them in it slowly; and when they are near the point of boiling, dish them immediately with delicately fried sippets round the dish. When mushrooms can be obtained, throw a dozen or two of small ones, with the other seasonings, into the butter. The wine is sometimes added to the vegetables, and one half reduced before the gravy is poured in; but though a sauce of fine colour is thus produced the flavour of the wine is entirely lost.

TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.

[In season during the winter months, but not abundant until frost sets in.].

Handle them as little and as lightly as possible, and pluck off the feathers gently; for if this be violently done the skin of the birds will be broken. Do not draw them, but after having wiped them with clean soft cloths, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid close along the breast; pass a slight skewer through the thighs, catch the ends with a bit of twine, and tie it across to keep the legs straight. Suspend the birds with the feet downwards to a bird-spit, flour them well, and baste them with butter, which should be ready dissolved in the pan or ladle. Before the trail begins to drop, which it will do as soon as they are well heated, lay a thick round of bread, freed from the crust, toasted a delicate brown, and buttered on both sides, into the pan under them to catch it, as this is considered finer eating even than the flesh of the birds; continue the basting, letting the butter fall from them into the basting-spoon or ladle, as it cannot be collected again from the dripping-pan should it drop there, in consequence of the toast or toasts being in it. There should be one of these for each woodcock, and the trail should be spread equally over it. When the birds are done, which they will be, at a brisk fire, in from twenty to twenty-five minutes, lay the toasts into a very hot dish, dress the birds upon them, pour a little gravy round the bread, and send more to table in a tureen. Woodcock, 20 to 25 minutes; snipe, 5 minutes less.

TO ROAST THE PINTAIL, OR SEA PHEASANT.

[All wild-fowl is in full season in mid-winter: the more severe the weather, the more abundant are the supplies of it in the markets. It may be had usually from November to March.].

This beautiful bird is by no means rare upon our eastern coast, but we know not whether it be much seen in the markets generally. It is most excellent eating, and should be roasted at a clear quick fire, well floured when first laid down, turned briskly, and basted with butter almost without cessation. If drawn from the spit in from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then dished and laid before the fire for two or three more, it will give forth a singularly rich gravy. Score the breast; when it is carved sprinkle on it a little cayenne and fine salt, and let a cut lemon be handed round the table when the bird is served; or omit the scoring, and send round with it brown gravy, and Christopher North’s sauce made hot. (For this, see the following page.)

20 to 30 minutes.

TO ROAST WILD DUCKS.

A bit of soft bread soaked in port wine, or in claret, is sometimes put into them, but nothing more. Flour them well, lay them rather near to a very clear and brisk fire, that they may be quickly browned, and yet retain their juices. Baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and, if it can be so regulated, let the spit turn with them rapidly. From fifteen to twenty minutes will roast them sufficiently for the generality of eaters; but for those who object to them much underdressed, a few additional minutes must be allowed. Something less of time will suffice when they are prepared for persons who like them scarcely more than heated through.

Teal, which is a more delicate kind of wild fowl, is roasted in the same way: in from ten to fifteen minutes it will be enough done for the fashionable mode of serving it, and twenty minutes will dress it well at a good fire.

A SALMI, OR HASH OF WILD FOWL.

Carve the birds very neatly, strip off the skin, and proceed as for the salmi of pheasants (page 292), but mix port or claret, instead of white wine, with the gravy, and give it a rather high seasoning of cayenne. Throw in the juice of half a small lemon before the salmi is served, place fried sippets round the dish, and send it to table as hot as possible.

For a common hash boil the skin and trimmings of the wild-fowl in some good broth, or gravy (with a couple of lightly fried eschalots or not, at choice), until their flavour is imparted to it; then strain, heat, and thicken it slightly, with a little brown roux, or browned flour; add a wineglassful of port wine, some lemon-juice, and cayenne; or sufficient of Christopher North’s sauce to flavour it well; warm the birds slowly in it, and serve them as soon as they are thoroughly hot, but without allowing them to boil.

[The following receipt having, from inadvertence, been omitted from the chapter to which it properly belongs—as the reader has already been informed—a place is given to it here.]

CHRISTOPHER NORTH’S OWN SAUCE FOR MANY MEATS.

Throw into a small basin a heaped saltspoonful of good cayenne pepper, in very fine powder and half the quantity of salt; add a small dessertspoonful of well-refined, pounded, and sifted sugar; mix these thoroughly; then pour in a tablespoonful of the strained juice of a fresh lemon, two of Harvey’s sauce, a teaspoonful of the very best mushroom catsup (or of cavice), and three tablespoonsful, or a small wineglassful, of port wine. Heat the sauce by placing the basin in a saucepan of boiling water, or turn it into a jar, and place this in the water. Serve it directly, it is ready with geese or ducks, tame or wild; roast pork, venison, fawn, a grilled blade-bone, or any other broil. A slight flavour of garlic or eschalot vinegar may be given to it at pleasure. Some persons use it with fish. It is good cold; and, if bottled directly it is made, may be stored for several days. It is the better for being mixed some hours before it is served. The proportion of cayenne may be doubled when a very pungent sauce is desired.

Good cayenne pepper in fine powder, 1 heaped saltspoonful: salt, half as much; pounded sugar, 1 small dessertspoonful; strained lemon juice, 1 tablespoonful; Harvey’s sauce, 2 tablespoonsful; best mushroom catsup (or cavice), 1 teaspoonful; port wine, 3 tablespoonsful, or small wineglassful. (Little eschalot, or garlic-vinegar at pleasure.)

Obs.—This sauce is exceedingly good when mixed with the brown gravy of a hash or stew, or with that which is served with game or other dishes.

CHAPTER XVI.

Curries, Potted Meats, &c.

The great superiority of the oriental curries over those generally prepared in England is not, we believe, altogether the result of a want of skill or of experience on the part of our cooks, but is attributable in some measure, to many of the ingredients, which in a fresh and green state add so much to their excellence, being here beyond our reach.

With us, turmeric and cayenne pepper prevail in them often far too powerfully: the prodigal use of the former should be especially avoided, as it injures both the quality and the colour of the currie, which ought to be of a dark green, rather than of a red or yellow hue. A couple of ounces of a sweet, sound cocoa-nut, lightly grated and stewed for nearly or quite an hour in the gravy of a currie, is a great improvement to its flavour: it will be found particularly agreeable with that of sweetbreads, and may be served in the currie, or strained from it at pleasure. Great care however, should be taken not to use, for the purpose, a nut that is rancid. Spinach, cucumbers, vegetable marrow, tomatas, acid apples, green gooseberries (seeded), and tamarinds imported in the shell—not preserved—may all, in their season, be added, with very good effect, to curries of different kinds. Potatoes and celery are also occasionally boiled down in them. The rice for a currie should always be sent to table in a separate dish from it, and in serving them, it should be first helped, and the currie laid upon it.

MR. ARNOTT’S CURRIE-POWDER.

Turmeric, eight ounces.[95]

Coriander seed, four ounces.

Cummin seed, two ounces.

Fœnugreek seed, two ounces.

Cayenne, half an ounce. (More or less of this last to the taste.)

95.  We think it would be an improvement to diminish by two ounces the proportion of turmeric, and to increase that of the coriander seed; but we have not tried it.

Let the seeds be of the finest quality. Dry them well, pound, and sift them separately through a lawn sieve, then weigh, and mix them in the above proportions. This is an exceedingly agreeable and aromatic powder, when all the ingredients are perfectly fresh and good, but the preparing is rather a troublesome process. Mr. Arnott recommends that when it is considered so, a “high-caste” chemist should be applied to for it.

MR. ARNOTT’S CURRIE.

“Take the heart of a cabbage, and nothing but the heart, that is to say, pull away all the outside leaves until it is about the size of an egg; chop it fine, add to it a couple of apples sliced thin, the juice of one lemon, half a teaspoonful of black pepper, with one large tablespoonful of my currie-powder, and mix the whole well together. Now take six onions that have been chopped fine and fried brown, a garlic head, the size of a nutmeg, also minced fine, two ounces of fresh butter, two tablespoonsful of flour, and one pint of strong mutton or beef gravy; and when these articles are boiling, add the former ingredients, and let the whole be well stewed up together: if not hot enough, add cayenne pepper. Next put in a fowl that has been roasted and nicely cut up; or a rabbit; or some lean chops of pork or mutton; or a lobster, or the remains of yesterday’s calf’s head; or anything else you may fancy; and you will have an excellent currie, fit for kings to partake of.

“Well! now for the rice! It should be put into water which should be frequently changed, and should remain in for half an hour at least; this both clears and soaks it. Have your saucepan full of water (the larger the better), and when it boils rapidly, throw the rice into it: it will be done in fifteen minutes. Strain it into a dish, wipe the saucepan dry, return the drained rice into it, and put it over a gentle fire for a few minutes, with a cloth over it: every grain will be separate. When served, do not cover the dish.” Obs.—We have already given testimony to the excellence of Mr. Arnott’s currie-powder, but we think the currie itself will be found somewhat too acid for English taste in general, and the proportion of onion and garlic by one half too much for any but well seasoned Anglo-Indian palates. After having tried his method of boiling the rice, we still give the preference to that of Chapter I., page 36.

A BENGAL CURRIE.

Slice and fry three large onions in two ounces of butter, and lift them out of the pan when done. Put into a stewpan three other large onions and a small clove of garlic which have been pounded together, and smoothly mixed with a dessertspoonful of the best pale turmeric, a teaspoonful of powdered ginger, one of salt, and one of cayenne pepper; add to these the butter in which the onions were fried, and half a cupful of good gravy; let them stew for about ten minutes, taking care that they shall not burn. Next, stir to them the fried onions and half a pint more of gravy; add a pound and a half of mutton, or of any other meat, free from bone and fat, and simmer it gently for an hour, or more should it not then be perfectly tender. Fried onions, 3 large; butter, 2 oz.; onions pounded, 3 large; garlic, 1 clove; turmeric, 1 dessertspoonful; powdered ginger, salt, cayenne, each 1 teaspoonful; gravy, 1/2 cupful: 10 minutes. Gravy 1/2 pint; meat, 1-1/2 lb.: 1 hour or more.

A DRY CURRIE.

Skin and cut down a fowl into small joints, or a couple of pounds of mutton, free from fat and bone, into very small thick cutlets; rub them with as much currie-powder, mixed with a teaspoonful of flour and one of salt, as can be made to adhere to them: this will be from two to three tablespoonsful. Dissolve a good slice of butter in a deep, well-tinned stewpan or saucepan, and shake it over a brisk fire for four or five minutes, or until it begins to take colour; then put in the meat, and brown it well and equally, without allowing a morsel to be scorched. The pan should be shaken vigorously every minute or two, and the meat turned in it frequently. When this is done, lift it out and throw into the stewpan two or three large onions finely minced, and four or five eschalots when these last are liked; add a morsel of butter if needful, and fry them until they begin to soften; then add a quarter of a pint of gravy, broth, or boiling water, and a large acid apple, or two moderate-sized ones, of a good boiling kind, with the hearts of two or three lettuces, or of one hard cabbage, shred quite small (tomatas or cucumbers freed from their seeds can be substituted for these when in season). Stew the whole slowly until it resembles a thick pulp, and add to it any additional liquid that may be required, should it become too dry; put in the meat, and simmer the whole very softly until this is done, which will be in from three quarters of an hour to an hour.

Prawns, shrimps, or the flesh of boiled lobsters may be slowly heated through, and served in this currie sauce with good effect.

A COMMON INDIAN CURRIE.

For each pound of meat, whether veal, mutton, or beef, take a heaped tablespoonful of good currie powder, a small teaspoonful of salt, and one of flour; mix these well together, and after having cut down the meat into thick small cutlets, or dice, rub half of the mixed powder equally over it. Next, fry gently from one to four or five large onions sliced, with or without the addition of a small clove of garlic or half a dozen eschalots, according to the taste; and when they are of a fine golden brown, lift them out with a slice and lay them upon a sieve to drain; throw a little more butter into the pan and fry the meat lightly in it; drain it well from the fat in taking it out, and lay it into a clean stewpan or saucepan; strew the onion over it, and pour in as much boiling water as will almost cover it. Mix the remainder of the currie-powder smoothly with a little broth or cold water, and after the currie has stewed for a few minutes pour it in, shaking the pan well round that it may be smoothly blended with the gravy. Simmer the whole very softly until the meat is perfectly tender: this will be in from an hour and a quarter to two hours and a half, according to the quantity and the nature of the meat. Mutton will be the soonest done; the brisket end (gristles) of a breast of veal will require twice as much stewing, and sometimes more. A fowl will be ready to serve in an hour. An acid apple or two, or any of the vegetables which we have enumerated at the commencement of this chapter, may be added to the currie, proper time being allowed for cooking each variety. Very young green peas are liked by some people in it; and cucumbers pared, seeded, and cut moderately small, are always a good addition. A richer currie will of course be produced if gravy or broth be substituted for the water: either should be boiling when poured to the meat. Lemon-juice should be stirred in before it is served, when there is no other acid in the currie. A dish of boiled rice must be sent to table with it. A couple of pounds of meat free from bone, is sufficient quite for a moderate-sized dish of this kind, but three of the breast of veal are sometimes used for it, when it is to be served to a large family-party of currie-eaters; from half to a whole pound of rice should then accompany it. For the proper mode of boiling it, see page 36. The small grained, or Patna, is the kind which ought to be used for the purpose. Six ounces is sufficient for a not large currie; and a pound, when boiled dry, and heated lightly in a dish, appears an enormous quantity for a modern table.

To each pound of meat, whether veal, mutton, or beef, 1 heaped tablespoonful of good currie-powder, 1 small teaspoonful of salt, and a large one of flour, to be well mixed, and half rubbed on to the meat before it is fried, the rest added afterwards; onions fried, from 1 to 4 or 5 (with or without the addition of a clove of garlic, or half a dozen eschalots); sufficient boiling water to nearly cover the meat: vegetables, as in receipt, at choice; stewed, 1-1/4 to 2-1/2 hours: a fowl, 1 hour, or rather less; beef, 2 lbs., 1-1/2 hour, or more; brisket of veal, 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

Obs.—Rabbits make a very good currie when quite young. Cayenne pepper can always be added to heighten the pungency of a currie, when the proportion in the powder is not considered sufficient.

SELIM’S CURRIES.

(Captain White’s.)

These curries are made with a sort of paste, which is labelled with the above names, and as it has attracted some attention of late, and the curries made with it are very good, and quickly and easily prepared, we give the directions for them. “Cut a pound and a half of chicken, fowl, veal, rabbit, or mutton, into pieces an inch and a half square. Put from two to three ounces of fresh butter in a stewpan, and when it is melted put in the meat, and give it a good stir with a wooden spoon; add from two to three dessertspoonsful of the currie-paste; mix the whole up well together, and continue the stirring over a brisk fire from five to ten minutes, and the currie will be done. This is a dry currie. For a gravy currie, add two or three tablespoonsful of boiling water after the paste is well mixed in, and continue the stewing and stirring from ten to twelve minutes longer, keeping the sauce of the consistency of cream. Prepare salmon and lobster in the same way, but very quickly, that they may come up firm. The paste may be rubbed over steaks, or cutlets, when they are nearly broiled; three or four minutes will finish them.”[96]

96.  Unless the meat be extremely tender, and cut small, it will require from ten to fifteen minutes stewing: when no liquid is added, it must be stirred without intermission, or the paste will burn to the pan. It answers well for cutlets, and for mullagatawny soup also; but makes a very mild currie.

CURRIED MACCARONI

Boil six ounces of ribband maccaroni for fifteen minutes, in water slightly salted, with a very small bit of butter dissolved in it; drain it perfectly, and then put it into a full pint and a quarter of good beef or veal stock or gravy, previously mixed and boiled for twenty minutes, with a small tablespoonful of fine currie-powder, a teaspoonful of arrow-root, and a little lemon-juice. Heat and toss the maccaroni gently in this until it is well and equally covered with it. A small quantity of rich cream, or a little béchamel, will very much improve the sauce, into which it should be stirred just before the maccaroni is added, and the lemon-juice should be thrown in afterwards. This dish is, to our taste, far better without the strong flavouring of onion or garlic, usually given to curries; which can, however, be imparted to the gravy in the usual way, when it is liked.

Ribband maccaroni, 6 oz.: 15 to 18 minutes. Gravy, or good beef or veal stock, full pint and 1/4; fine currie-powder, 1 small tablespoonful; arrow-root, 1 teaspoonful; little lemon-juice: 20 minutes. Maccaroni in sauce, 3 to 6 minutes.

Obs.—An ounce or two of grated cocoa-nut, simmered in the gravy for half an hour or more, then strained and well pressed from it, is always an excellent addition. The pipe maccaroni, well curried, is extremely good: the sauce for both kinds should be made with rich gravy, especially when the onion is omitted. A few drops of eschalot-vinegar can be added to it when the flavour is liked.

CURRIED EGGS.

Boil six or eight fresh eggs quite hard, as for salad, and put them aside until they are cold. Mix well together from two to three ounces of good butter, and from three to four dessertspoonsful of currie-powder; shake them in a stewpan or thick saucepan, over a clear but moderate fire for some minutes, then throw in a couple of mild onions finely minced, and fry them gently until they are tolerably soft: pour to them, by degrees, from half to three quarters of a pint of broth or gravy, and stew them slowly until they are reduced to pulp; mix smoothly a small cup of thick cream with two teaspoonsful of wheaten or of rice-flour, stir them to the currie, and simmer the whole until the raw taste of the thickening is gone. Cut the eggs into half inch slices, heat them quite through in the sauce without boiling them, and serve them as hot as possible.

CURRIED SWEETBREADS.

Wash and soak them as usual, then throw them into boiling water with a little salt in it, and a whole onion, and let them simmer for ten minutes; or, if at hand, substitute weak veal broth for the water. Lift them out, place them on a drainer, and leave them until they are perfectly cold; then cut them into half-inch slices, and either flour and fry them lightly in butter, or put them, without this, into as much curried gravy as will just cover them; stew them in it very gently, from twenty to thirty minutes; add as much lemon-juice or chili vinegar as will acidulate the sauce agreeably,[97] and serve the currie very hot. As we have already stated in two or three previous receipts, an ounce or more of sweet freshly-grated cocoa-nut, stewed tender in the gravy, and strained from it, before the sweetbreads are added, will give a peculiarly pleasant flavour to all curries.

97.  We find that a small portion of Indian pickled mango, or of its liquor, is an agreeable addition to a currie as well as to mullagatawny soup.

Blanched 10 minutes; sliced (fried or not); stewed 20 to 30 minutes.

CURRIED OYSTERS.

“Let a hundred of large sea-oysters be opened into a basin without losing one drop of their liquor. Put a lump of fresh butter into a good-sized saucepan, and when it boils, add a large onion, cut into thin slices, and let it fry in the uncovered stewpan until it is of a rich brown: now add a bit more butter, and two or three tablespoonsful of currie-powder. When these ingredients are well mixed over the fire with a wooden spoon, add gradually either hot water, or broth from the stock-pot; cover the stewpan, and let the whole boil up. Meanwhile, have ready the meat of a cocoa-nut, grated or rasped fine, put this into the stewpan with a few sour tamarinds (if they are to be obtained, if not, a sour apple, chopped). Let the whole simmer over the fire until the apple is dissolved, and the cocoa-nut very tender; then add a cupful of strong thickening made of flour and water, and sufficient salt, as a currie will not bear being salted at table. Let this boil up for five minutes. Have ready also, a vegetable marrow, or part of one, cut into bits, and sufficiently boiled to require little or no further cooking. Put this in with a tomata or two; either of these vegetables may be omitted. Now put into the stewpan the oysters with their liquor, and the milk of the cocoa-nut, if it be perfectly sweet; stir them well with the former ingredients; let the currie stew gently for a few minutes, then throw in the strained juice of half a lemon. Stir the currie from time to time with a wooden spoon, and as soon as the oysters are done enough serve it up with a corresponding dish of rice on the opposite side of the table. The dish is considered at Madras the ne plus ultra of Indian cookery.”[98]

98.  Native oysters, prepared as for sauce, may be curried by the receipt for eggs or sweetbreads, with the addition of their liquor.

We have extracted this receipt, as it stands, from the Magazine of Domestic Economy, the season in which we have met with it not permitting us to have it tested. Such of our readers as may have partaken of the true Oriental preparation, will be able to judge of its correctness; and others may consider it worthy of a trial. We should suppose it necessary to beard the oysters.

CURRIED GRAVY.

The quantity of onion, eschalot, or garlic used for a currie should be regulated by the taste of the persons for whom it is prepared; the very large proportions of them which are acceptable to some eaters, preventing others altogether from partaking of the dish. Slice, and fry gently in a little good butter, from two to six large onions (with a bit of garlic, and four or five eschalots, or none of either), when they are coloured equally of a fine yellow-brown, lift them on to a sieve reversed to drain; put them into a clean saucepan, add a pint and a half of good gravy, with a couple of ounces of rasped cocoa-nut, or of any of the other condiments we have already specified, which may require as much stewing as the onions (an apple or two, for instance), and simmer them softly from half to three quarters of an hour, or until the onion is sufficiently tender to be pressed through a strainer. We would recommend that for a delicate currie this should always be done; for a common one it is not necessary; and many persons prefer to have the whole of it left in this last. After the gravy has been worked through the strainer, and again boils, add to it from three to four dessertspoonsful of currie-powder, and one of flour, with as much salt as the gravy may require, the whole mixed to a smooth batter with a small cupful of good cream.[99] Simmer it from fifteen to twenty minutes, and it will be ready for use. Lobster, prawns, shrimps, maccaroni, hard-boiled eggs, cold calf’s head, and various other meats may be heated and served in it with advantage. For all of these, and indeed for every kind of currie, acid of some sort should be added. Chili vinegar answers well when no fresh lemon-juice is at hand.

99.  This must be added only just before the currie is dished, when any acid fruit has been boiled in the gravy: it may then be first blended with a small portion of arrow-root, or flour.

Onions, 2 to 6 (garlic, 1 clove, or eschalots, 4 to 5, or neither); fried a light brown. Gravy, 1-1/2 pint; cocoa-nut, 2 oz. (3, if very young): 1/2 to 3/4 hour. Currie-powder, 3 to 4 dessertspoonsful; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; salt, as needed; cream, 1 small cupful: 15 to 20 minutes.

Obs.-In India, curds are frequently added to curries, but that may possibly be from their abounding much more than sweet cream in so hot a climate.

POTTED MEATS.

Any tender and well-roasted meat, taken free of fat, skin, and gristle, as well as from the dry outsides, will answer for potting admirably, better indeed than that which is generally baked for the purpose, and which is usually quite deprived of its juices by the process. Spiced or corned beef also is excellent when thus prepared; and any of these will remain good a long time if mixed with cold fresh butter, instead of that which is clarified; but no addition that can be made to it will render the meat eatable, unless it be thoroughly pounded; reduced, in fact, to the smoothest possible paste, free from a single lump or a morsel of unbroken fibre. If rent into fragments, instead of being quite cut through the grain in being minced, before it is put into the mortar, no beating will bring it to the proper state. Unless it be very dry, it is better to pound it for some time before any butter is added, and it must be long and patiently beaten after all the ingredients are mixed, that the whole may be equally blended and well mellowed in flavour.

The quantity of butter required will depend upon the nature of the meat; ham and salted beef will need a larger proportion than roast meat, or than the breasts of poultry and game; white fish, from being less dry, will require comparatively little. Salmon, lobsters, prawns, and shrimps are all extremely good, prepared in this way. They should, however, be perfectly fresh when they are pounded, and be set immediately afterwards into a very cool place. For these, and for white meats in general, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne or white pepper, are the appropriate spices. A small quantity of cloves may be added to hare and other brown meat, but allspice we would not recommend unless the taste is known to be in favour of it. The following receipt for pounding ham will serve as a general one for the particular manner of proceeding.

POTTED HAM.[100]

100.  See Baked Ham, Chapter XIII., page 258.

(An excellent Receipt.)

To be eaten in perfection this should be made with a freshly cured ham, which, after having been soaked for twelve hours, should be wiped dry, nicely trimmed, closely wrapped in coarse paste, and baked very tender. When it comes from the oven, remove the crust and rind, and when the ham is perfectly cold, take for each pound of the lean, which should be weighed after every morsel of skin and fibre has been carefully removed, six ounces of cold roast veal, prepared with equal nicety. Mince these quite fine with an exceedingly sharp knife, taking care to cut through the meat, and not to tear the fibre, as on this much of the excellence of the preparation depends. Next put it into a large stone or marble mortar, and pound it to the smoothest paste with eight ounces of fresh butter, which must be added by degrees. When three parts beaten, strew over it a teaspoonful of freshly-pounded mace, half a large, or the whole of a small nutmeg grated, and the third of a teaspoonful of cayenne well mixed together. It is better to limit the spice to this quantity in the first instance, and to increase afterwards either of the three kinds to the taste of the parties to whom the meat is to be served.[101] We do not find half a teaspoonful of cayenne, and nearly two teaspoonsful of mace, more than is generally approved. After the spice is added, keep the meat often turned from the sides to the middle of the mortar, that it may be seasoned equally in every part. When perfectly pounded, press it into small potting-pans, and pour clarified butter[102] over the top. If kept in a cool and dry place, this meat will remain good for a fortnight, or more.

101.  Spice, it must be observed, varies so very greatly in its quality that discretion is always necessary in using it.

102.  This should never be poured hot on the meat: it should be less than milk-warm when added to it.

Lean of ham, 1 lb.; lean of roast veal, 6 oz.; fresh butter, 8 oz.; mace, from 1 to 2 teaspoonsful; 1/2 large nutmeg; cayenne, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoonful.

Obs.—The roast veal is ordered in this receipt because the ham alone is generally too salt; for the same reason butter, fresh taken from the churn, or that which is but slightly salted and quite new, should be used for it in preference to its own fat. When there is no ready-dressed veal in the house, the best part of the neck, roasted or stewed, will supply the requisite quantity. The remains of a cold boiled ham will answer quite well for potting, even when a little dry.

POTTED CHICKEN, PARTRIDGE, OR PHEASANT.

Roast the birds as for table, but let them be thoroughly done, for if the gravy be left in, the meat will not keep half so well. Raise the flesh of the breast, wings, and merrythought, quite clear from the bones, take off the skin, mince, and then pound it very smoothly with about one third of its weight of fresh butter, or something less, if the meat should appear of a proper consistence without the full quantity; season it with salt, mace, and cayenne only, and add these in small portions until the meat is rather highly flavoured with both the last; proceed with it as with other potted meats.

POTTED OX-TONGUE.

Boil tender an unsmoked tongue of good flavour, and the following day cut from it the quantity desired for potting, or take for this purpose the remains of one which has already been served at table. Trim off the skin and rind, weigh the meat, mince it very small, then pound it as fine as possible with four ounces of butter to each pound of tongue, a small teaspoonful of mace, half as much of nutmeg and cloves, and a tolerably high seasoning of cayenne. After the spices are well beaten with the meat, taste it, and add more if required. A few ounces of any well-roasted meat mixed with the tongue will give it firmness, in which it is apt to be deficient. The breasts of turkeys, fowls, partridges, or pheasants, may be used for the purpose with good effect.

Tongue, 1 lb.; butter, 4 oz.; mace, 1 teaspoonful; nutmeg and cloves each, 1/2 teaspoonful; cayenne, 5 to 10 grains.

POTTED ANCHOVIES.

Scrape the anchovies very clean, raise the flesh from the bones, and pound it to a perfect paste in a Wedgwood or marble mortar; then with the back of a wooden spoon press it through a hair-sieve reversed. Next, weigh the anchovies, and pound them again with double their weight of the freshest butter that can be procured, a high seasoning of mace and cayenne, and a small quantity of finely-grated nutmeg; set the mixture by in a cool place for three or four hours to harden it before it is put into the potting pans. If butter be poured over, it must be only lukewarm; but the anchovies will keep well for two or three weeks without. A very small portion of rose-pink may be added to improve the colour, but unless it be sparingly used, it will impart a bitter flavour to the preparation. The quantity of butter can be increased or diminished in proportion as it is wished that the flavour of the anchovies should prevail.

Anchovies pounded, 3 oz.; butter, 6 oz.; mace, third of teaspoonful; half as much cayenne; little nutmeg.

LOBSTER BUTTER.

(For this see page 138, Chapter VI.)

POTTED SHRIMPS, OR PRAWNS.

(Delicious.)

Let the fish be quite freshly boiled, shell them quickly, and just before they are put into the mortar, chop them a little with a very sharp knife; pound them perfectly with a small quantity of fresh butter, mace, and cayenne. (See also page 92.)

Shrimps (unshelled), 2 quarts; butter, 2 to 4 oz.; mace, 1 small saltspoonful; cayenne, 1/3 as much.

POTTED MUSHROOMS.

The receipt for these, which we can recommend to the reader, will be found in the next Chapter.

MOULDED POTTED MEAT OR FISH.

(For the second course.)

Press very closely and smoothly into a pan or mould the potted ham, or any other meat, of the present chapter, pour a thin layer of clarified butter on the top, and let it become quite cold. When wanted for table, wind round it for a moment a cloth which has been dipped into hot water, loosen the meat gently from it with a thin knife, turn it on to a dish, and glaze it lightly; lay a border of small salad round it, with or without a decoration of hard eggs, or surround it instead with clear savoury jelly cut in dice. The meat, for variety, may be equally sliced, and laid regularly round a pile of small salad. A very elegant second course dish may be made with potted lobsters in this way, the centre being ornamented with a small shape of lobster butter. (See page 138.)

POTTED HARE.

Wedgwood Pestle and Mortar.

The back of a well-roasted hare, and such other parts of the flesh as are not sinewy, if potted by the directions already given for ham and other meat, will be found superior to the game prepared as it usually is by baking it tender either with a large quantity of butter, or with barely sufficient water or gravy to cover it; but when the old-fashioned mode of potting is preferred, it must be cleansed as for roasting, wiped dry, cut into joints, which, after being seasoned with salt, cayenne (or pepper), and pounded cloves and mace or nutmeg well mingled, should be closely packed in a jar or deep pan, and slowly baked until very tender, with the addition of from half to a whole pound of fresh butter laid equally over it, in small bits, or with only so much water or other liquid as will prevent its becoming hard: the jar must be well covered with at least two separate folds of thick brown paper tied closely over it. It should then be left to become perfectly cold; and the butter (when it has been used) should be taken off and scraped free from moisture, that it may be added to the hare in pounding it. All skin and sinew must be carefully removed, and the flesh minced before it is put into the mortar. Additional seasoning must be added if necessary; but the cook must remember that all should be well blended, and no particular spice should be allowed to predominate in the flavour of the preparation When water or gravy has been added to the hare, firm fresh butter should be used in potting it: it will not require a very large proportion, as the flesh will be far less dry and firm than when it is roasted, though more of its juices will have been withdrawn from it; and it will not remain good so long. The bones, gravy, head, and ribs, will make a small tureen of excellent soup. Thick slices of lean ham are sometimes baked with the hare, and pounded with it.

CHAPTER XVII.

Vegetables.

The quality of vegetables depends much both on the soil in which they are grown, and on the degree of care bestowed upon their culture; but if produced in ever so great perfection, their excellence will be entirely destroyed if they be badly cooked.

With the exception of artichokes, which are said to be improved by two or three days’ keeping, all the summer varieties should be dressed before their first freshness has in any degree passed off (for their flavour is never so fine as within a few hours of their being cut or gathered); but when this cannot be done, precaution should be taken to prevent their withering. The stalk-ends of asparagus, cucumbers, and vegetable-marrow, should be placed in from one to two inches of cold water; and all other kinds should be spread on a cool brick floor. When this has been neglected, they must be thrown into cold water for some time before they are boiled to recover them, though they will prove even then but very inferior eating.

Vegetables when not sufficiently cooked are known to be so exceedingly unwholesome and indigestible, that the custom of serving them crisp, which means, in reality, only half-boiled, should be altogether disregarded when health is considered of more importance than fashion; but they should not be allowed to remain in the water after they are quite done, or both their nutritive properties and their flavour will be lost, and their good appearance destroyed. Care should be taken to drain them thoroughly in a warm strainer, and to serve them very hot, with well-made sauces, if with any.

Only dried peas or beans, Jerusalem artichokes, and potatoes, are put at first into cold water. All others require plenty of fast-boiling water, which should be ready salted and skimmed before they are thrown into it.

TO CLEAR VEGETABLES FROM INSECTS.

Lay them for half an hour or more into a pan of strong brine, with the stalk ends uppermost; this will destroy the small snails and other insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom. A pound and a half of salt to the gallon of water will answer for this purpose, and if strained daily it will last for some time.

TO BOIL VEGETABLES GREEN.

After they have been properly prepared and washed, throw them into plenty of boiling water which has been salted and well skimmed; and keep them uncovered and boiling fast until they are done, taking every precaution against their being smoked. Should the water be very hard, a small half-teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, may be added with the salt, for every two quarts, and will greatly improve the colour of the vegetables; but if used in undue proportion it will injure them; green peas especially will be quickly reduced to a mash if boiled with too large a quantity.

Water, 1 gallon; salt, 2 oz.; soda, 1/4 oz.; or carbonate of soda, 1 teaspoonful.

POTATOES.

(Remarks on their properties and importance.)

There is no vegetable commonly cultivated in this country, we venture to assert, which is comparable in value to the potato when it is of a good sort, has been grown in a suitable soil, and is properly cooked and served. It must be very nutritious, or it would not sustain the strength of thousands of people whose almost sole food it constitutes, and who, when they can procure a sufficient supply of it to satisfy fully the demands of hunger, are capable of accomplishing the heaviest daily labour. It may not be wise to depend for subsistence on a root of which the crop unhappily is so frequently in these days destroyed or greatly injured by disease, and for which it is so difficult to find a substitute that is equally cheap, wholesome and satisfying; but we can easily comprehend the predilection of an entire people for a tuber which combines, like the potato, the solidity almost of bread, with the healthful properties[103] of various other fresh vegetables, without their acidity; and which can also be cooked and served in so many different forms. The wretched manner in which it is dressed in many English houses renders it comparatively valueless, and accounts in a measure for the prodigality with which it is thrown away when cold, even in seasons when its price is highest.[104]

103.  The late Dr. Pereira has stated in his excellent work on diet, page 370, that Dr. Baly, who has published some interesting observations on the anti-scorbutic quality of the potato, says, “As ordinarily cooked, it is an admirable preservative against the scurvy,” for which it appears to be also a cure, see the same work.

104.  We cannot refrain from a few words of remark here on the daily waste of wholesome food in this country which constitutes one of the most serious domestic abuses that exist amongst us; and one which it is most painful to witness while we see at the same time the half-starvation of large masses of our people. It is an evil which the steady and resolute opposition of the educated classes would soon greatly check; and which ought not vainly to appeal to their good sense and good feeling, augmenting, as it must, the privations of the scantily-fed poor; for the “waste” of one part of the community cannot fail to increase the “want” of the remainder.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

(As in Ireland.)

Potatoes, to boil well together, should be all of the same sort, and as nearly equal in size as may be. Wash off the mould, and scrub them very clean with a hard brush, but neither scoop nor apply a knife to them in any way, even to clear the eyes.[105] Rinse them well, and arrange them compactly in a saucepan, so that they may not lie loose in the water, and that a small quantity may suffice to cover them. Pour this in cold, and when it boils, throw in about a large teaspoonful of salt to the quart, and simmer the potatoes until they are nearly done, but for the last two or three minutes let them boil rapidly. When they are tender quite through, which may be known by probing them with a fork, pour all the water from them immediately, lift the lid of the saucepan to allow the steam to escape, and place them on a trivet, high over the fire, or by the side of it, until the moisture has entirely evaporated; then peel, and send them to table as quickly as possible, either in a hot napkin, or in a dish, of which the cover is so placed that the steam can pass off. There should be no delay in serving them after they are once taken from the fire. Irish families always prefer them served in their skins. Some kinds will be sufficiently boiled in twenty minutes, others in not less than three quarters of an hour.

105.  “Because,” in the words of our clever Irish correspondent, “the water through these parts is then admitted into the very heart of the vegetable; and the latent heat, after cooking, is not sufficient to throw it off; this renders the potatoes very unwholesome.”

20 minutes to 1 hour, or more.

Obs. 1.—The water in which they are boiled should barely cover the potatoes. After it is poured off, they should be steamed for twenty minutes or half an hour, if large.

Obs. 2.—Habitual potato-eaters know well that this vegetable is never so good as when served in the skin the instant it is taken from the fire, dished in a hot napkin, or sent to table without a cover over it. It should also be clean and dry that it may at pleasure be taken in the fingers and broken like bread, or held in the dinner napkin while the inside is scooped out with the fork, thus forming it into a sort of cup. The large Yorkshire Regents dressed and eaten in this way afford in themselves an almost sufficient meal. We have found from long daily experience, that those which averaged three, or at the utmost four to the pound, were the best in quality, and remained so to quite the end of their season: they required as the spring advanced, an hour’s boiling or more.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

(The Lancashire way.)

Pare the potatoes, cover them with cold water, and boil them slowly until they are quite tender, but watch them carefully, that they may not be overdone; drain off the water entirely, strew some salt over them, leave the saucepan uncovered by the side of the fire, and shake it forcibly every minute or two, until the whole of the potatoes appear dry and floury. Lancashire cooks dress the vegetable in this way to perfection, but it is far from an economical mode, as a large portion of the potato adheres to the saucepan; it has, however, many admirers.

TO BOIL NEW POTATOES.

These are never good unless freshly dug. Take them of equal size, and rub off the skins with a brush or a very coarse cloth, wash them clean, and put them without salt into boiling, or at least, quite hot water; boil them softly, and when they are tender enough to serve, pour off the water entirely, strew some fine salt over them, give them a shake, and let them stand by the fire in the saucepan for a minute; then dish and serve them immediately. Some cooks throw in a small slice of fresh butter, with the salt, and toss them gently in it after it is dissolved. This is a good mode, but the more usual one is to send melted butter to table with them, or to pour white sauce over them when they are very young, and served early in the season.

Very small, 10 to 15 minutes: moderate sized, 15 to 20 minutes.

Obs.—We always, for our own eating, have new potatoes steamed for ten minutes or longer after the water is poured from them, and think they are much improved by the process. They should be thoroughly boiled before this is done.

NEW POTATOES IN BUTTER.

Rub off the skins, wash the potatoes well and wipe them dry; put them with three ounces of good butter, for a small dish, and with four ounces or more for a large one, into a well-tinned stewpan or Keep them well shaken or tossed, that they may be equally done, and throw in some salt when they begin to stew. This is a good mode of dressing them when they are very young and watery.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

(Captain Kater’s Receipt.)

Wash, wipe, and pare the potatoes, cover them with cold water, and boil them gently until they are done, pour off the water, and sprinkle a little fine salt over them; then take each potato separately with a spoon, and lay it into a clean warm cloth, twist this so as to press all the moisture from the vegetable, and render it quite round; turn it carefully into a dish placed before the fire, throw a cloth over, and when all are done, send them to table quickly. Potatoes dressed in this way are mashed without the slightest trouble; it is also by far the best method of preparing them for puddings or for cakes.

TO ROAST OR BAKE POTATOES.

Scrub and wash exceedingly clean some potatoes nearly assorted in size; wipe them very dry, and roast them in a Dutch oven before the fire, placing them at a distance from it, and keeping them often turned; or arrange them in a coarse dish, and bake them in a moderate oven. Dish them neatly in a napkin, and send them very hot to table; serve cold butter with them. 1-3/4 to upwards of 2 hours.

SCOOPED POTATOES. (ENTREMETS.[106])

106.  Or second course dish.

Wash and wipe some large potatoes of a firm kind, and with a small scoop adapted to the purpose,[107] form as many diminutive ones as will fill a dish; cover them with cold water, and when they have boiled very gently for five minutes pour it off, and put more cold water to them; after they have simmered a second time for five minutes, drain the water quite away, place the cover of the saucepan so as to leave an inch or more of open space for the moisture to evaporate, and let them steam by the side of the fire from four to five minutes longer. Dish them carefully, pour white sauce over them, and serve them in the second course. Old potatoes thus prepared, have often been made to pass for new ones, at the best tables, at the season in which the fresh vegetable was dearest.[108] The time required to boil them will of course vary with their quality; we give the method which we have found very successful.

107.  This may be procured of any ironmonger.

108.  Vegetables and fruit are now so generally forced and brought so early into our markets, that there is little need of these expedients at present.

CRISPED POTATOES, OR POTATO-RIBBONS. (ENTREMETS.)

(Or to serve with Cheese.)

Wash well, and wipe, some potatoes of good flavour; cut them up into slices of from half to a whole inch thick, free them from the skins, and then pare them round and round in very thin, and very long ribbons. Lay them into a pan of cold water, and half an hour before they are wanted for table lift them on to a sieve that they may be well drained. Fry them in good butter, which should be very hot when they are thrown in, until they are quite crisp, and lightly browned; drain and dry them on a soft cloth, pile them in a hot dish, strew over them a mixed seasoning of salt and cayenne in fine powder, and serve them without delay. For the second course, dress them in the same manner, but omit the cayenne. Five or six minutes will fry them.

FRIED POTATOES. (ENTREMETS.)

(A Plainer Receipt.)

After having washed them, wipe and pare some raw potatoes, cut them in slices of equal thickness, or into thin shavings, and throw them into plenty of boiling butter, or very pure clarified dripping. Fry them of a fine light brown, and very crisp; lift them out with a skimmer, drain them on a soft warm cloth, dish them very hot, and sprinkle fine salt over them. This is an admirable way of dressing potatoes, very common on the Continent, but less so in England than it deserves to be. Pared in ribbons or shavings of equal width, as in the receipt above, and served dry and well fried, lightly piled in a dish, they make a handsome appearance, and are excellent eating. If sliced they should be something less than a quarter of an inch thick.

MASHED POTATOES.

Boil them perfectly tender quite through, pour off the water, and steam them very dry by the directions already given in the receipt of page 310, peel them quickly, take out every speck, and while they are still hot, press the potatoes through an earthen cullender, or bruise them to a smooth mash with a strong wooden fork or spoon, but never pound them in a mortar, as that will reduce them to a close heavy paste. Let them be entirely free from lumps, for nothing can be more indicative of carelessness or want of skill on the part of the cook, than mashed potatoes sent to table full of these. Melt in a clean saucepan a slice of good butter with a few spoonsful of milk, or, better still, of cream; put in the potatoes after having sprinkled some fine salt upon them, and stir the whole over a gentle fire with a wooden spoon, until the ingredients are well-mixed, and the whole is very hot. It may then be served directly; or heaped high in a dish, left rough on the surface, and browned before the fire; or it may be pressed into a well buttered mould of handsome form, which has been strewed with the finest bread-crumbs, and shaken free from the loose ones, then turned out, and browned in a Dutch or common oven. More or less liquid will be required to moisten sufficiently potatoes of various kinds.

Potatoes mashed, 2 lbs.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 1 to 2 oz.; milk or cream, 1/4 pint.

Obs.—Mashed potatoes are often moulded with a cup, and then equally browned: any other shape will answer the purpose as well, and many are of better appearance.

ENGLISH POTATO BALLS, OR CROQUETTES.

Boil some floury potatoes very dry, mash them as smoothly as possible, season them well with salt and white pepper, warm them with about an ounce of butter to the pound, or rather more if it will not render them too moist, and a few spoonsful of good cream. Boil them very dry; let them cool a little, roll them into balls, sprinkle over them vermicelli crushed slightly with the hand, and fry them a fine light brown. They may be dished round a shape of plain mashed potatoes, or piled on a napkin by themselves. They may likewise be rolled in egg and fine bread-crumbs instead of in the vermicelli, or in ground rice, which answers very well for them.

POTATO BOULETTES. (ENTREMETS.)

(Good.)

Boil some good potatoes as dry as possible, or let them be prepared by Captain Kater’s receipt; mash a pound of them very smoothly, and mix with them while they are still warm, two ounces of fresh butter, a teaspoonful of salt, a little nutmeg, the beaten and strained yolks of four eggs, and last of all the whites thoroughly whisked. Mould the mixture with a teaspoon and drop it into a small pan of boiling butter, or of very pure lard, and fry the boulettes for five minutes over a moderate fire: they should be of a fine pale brown, and very light. Drain them well and dish them on a hot napkin.

Potatoes, 1 lb.; butter, 2 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; eggs, 4: 5 minutes.

Obs.—These boulettes are exceeding light and delicate, and make an excellent dish for the second course; but we think that a few spoonsful of sweet fresh cream boiled with them until the mixture becomes dry, would both enrich them and improve their flavour. They should be dropped into the pan with the teaspoon, as they ought to be small, and they will swell in the cooking.

POTATO RISSOLES.

(French.)

Mash and season the potatoes with salt, and white pepper or cayenne, and mix with them plenty of minced parsley, and a small quantity of green onions, or eschalots; add sufficient yolks of eggs to bind the mixture together, roll it into small balls, and fry them in plenty of lard or butter over a moderate fire, or they will be too much browned before they are done through. Ham, or any other kind of meat finely minced, may be substituted for the herbs, or added to them.

POTATOES À LA MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL.

Boil in the usual manner some potatoes of a firm kind, peel, and let them cool; then cut them equally into quarter-inch slices. Dissolve in a very clean stewpan or saucepan from two to four ounces of good butter, stir to it a small dessertspoonful of flour, and shake the pan over the fire for two or three minutes; add by slow degrees a small cupful of boiling water, some pepper, salt, and a tablespoonful of minced parsley; put in the potatoes, and toss them gently over a clear fire until they are quite hot, and the sauce adheres well to them: at the instant of serving add a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice. Pale veal gravy may be substituted for the water; and the potatoes after being thickly sliced, may be quickly cut of the same size with a small round cutter.

POTATOES À LA CRÈME.

Prepare the potatoes as above, and toss them gently in a quarter of a pint or more of thick white sauce or of common bechamel, with or without the addition of the minced parsley.

KOHL CANNON, OR KALE CANNON.

(An Irish Receipt.)

Mix in about equal proportions (these can be varied to suit the convenience of the moment) some smoothly mashed potatoes, and some young sprouts or greens of any kind, first boiled quite tender, pressed very dry, and chopped a little if needful. Mash up the whole well together, add a seasoning of pepper and salt, a small bit of butter, and a spoonful or two of cream or milk; put a raw onion into the middle of the mass, and stir it over a clear fire until it is very hot, and sufficiently dry to be moulded and turned out for table, or dished in the usual manner. Take out the onion before the kohl cannon is served. In Ireland mashed parsneps and potatoes are mingled in the same way, and called parsnep cannon. A good summer variety of the preparation is made there also with Windsor beans boiled tender, skinned, and bruised to a paste, then thoroughly blended with the potatoes. Turnips, too, are sometimes substituted for the parsneps; but these or any other watery vegetable should be well dried over a gentle fire as directed for mashed turnips in this chapter, before they are added to the potatoes.

TO BOIL SEA-KALE.

Wash, trim, and tie the kale in bunches, and throw it into plenty of boiling water with some salt in it. When it is perfectly tender, lift it out, drain it well from the water, and send it to table with good melted butter. When fashion is not particularly regarded we would recommend its being served upon a toast like asparagus. About twenty minutes will boil it, rather less for persons who like it crisp.

18 to 20 minutes.

SEA-KALE STEWED IN GRAVY. (ENTREMETS.)

Boil the kale for ten minutes in salt and water; drain it well, and put it into a saucepan with as much good brown gravy as will nearly cover it; stew it gently for ten minutes or until it is tender, and send it to table in the gravy very hot. Another excellent mode of serving this vegetable is, to boil it in salt and water, and to pour over it plenty of rich white sauce after it is dished.

SPINACH. (ENTREMETS.)

(French Receipt.)

Pick the spinach leaf by leaf from the stems, and wash it in abundance of spring water, changing it several times; then shake it in a dry cloth held by the four corners, or drain it on a large sieve. Throw it into sufficient well-salted boiling water to allow it to float freely, and keep it pressed down with a skimmer that it may be equally done. When quite young it will be tender in from eight to ten minutes, but to ascertain if it be so, take a leaf and squeeze it between the fingers. If to be dressed in the French mode, drain, and then throw it directly into plenty of fresh water, and when it is cool form it into balls and press the moisture thoroughly from it with the hands. Next, chop it extremely fine upon a clean trencher; put two ounces (for a large dish) of butter into a stewpan or bright thick saucepan, lay the spinach on it, and keep it stirred over a gentle fire for ten minutes, or until it appears dry; dredge in a spoonful of flour, and turn the spinach as it is added; pour to it gradually, a few spoonsful of very rich veal gravy, or, if preferred, of good boiling cream (with the last of these a dessertspoonful or more of pounded sugar may be added for a second-course dish, when the true French mode of dressing the vegetable is liked.) Stew the whole briskly until the liquid is entirely absorbed; dish, and serve the spinach very hot, with small, pale fried sippets round it, or with leaves of puff paste fresh from the oven, or well dried after having been fried. For ornament, the sippets may be fancifully shaped with a tin cutter. A proper seasoning of salt must not be omitted in this, or any other preparation of the spinach.

SPINACH A L’ANGLAISE. (ENTREMETS.)

(Or, English fashion.)

Boil the spinach as already directed, and after it has been well squeezed and chopped, stir it over a moderate fire until it is very dry; moisten it with as much thick rich gravy as will flavour it well, and turn and stew it quite fast until it is again very dry; then press it into a hot mould of handsome form, turn it into a dish and serve it quickly. Two or three ounces of fresh butter may be laid into the saucepan with the spinach at first, as a substitute for the gravy. When a perforated tin shape, ordinarily used for moulding spinach, is not at hand, one of earthenware, slightly buttered, will serve nearly as well.

SPINACH.

(Common English mode.)

Boil the spinach very green in plenty of water, drain, and then press the moisture from it between two trenchers; chop it small, put it into a clean saucepan, with a slice of fresh butter, and stir the whole until well mixed and very hot. Smooth it in a dish, mark it in dice, and send it quickly to table.

ANOTHER COMMON ENGLISH RECEIPT FOR SPINACH.

Take it leaf by leaf from the stalks, and be very careful to clear it from any weeds that may be amongst it, and to free it by copious and repeated washings from every particle of sand, or earth. Put it into a large well-tinned stewpan or saucepan, with the water only which hangs about it; throw in a small spoonful of salt, and keep it constantly pressed down with a wooden spoon, and turned often for about a quarter of an hour, or until it is perfectly tender. Drain off the superfluous moisture, chop the spinach quickly on a hot trencher; dish and serve it immediately. Fried sippets of bread should always be served round this vegetable, unless it be prepared for an invalid.

TO DRESS DANDELIONS LIKE SPINACH, OR AS A SALAD.

(Very wholesome.)

This common weed of the fields and highways is an excellent vegetable, the young leaves forming an admirable adjunct to a salad, and much resembling endive when boiled and prepared in the same way, or in any of the modes directed for spinach. The slight bitterness of its flavour is to many persons very agreeable; and it is often served at well-appointed tables. It has also, we believe, the advantage of possessing valuable medicinal qualities. Take the roots before the blossom is at all advanced, if they can readily be found in that state; if not, pluck off and use the young leaves only. Wash them as clean as possible, and boil them tender in a large quantity of water salted as for sprouts or spinach. Drain them well, press them dry with a wooden spoon, and serve them quite plain with melted butter in a tureen; or, squeeze, chop, and heat them afresh, with a seasoning of salt and pepper, a morsel of butter rolled in flour, and a spoonful or two of gravy or cream. A very large portion of the leaves will be required for a dish, as they shrink exceedingly in the cooking. For a salad, take them very young and serve them entire, or break them quite small with the fingers; then wash and drain them. Dress them with oil and vinegar, or with any other sauce which may be preferred with them.

BOILED TURNIP-RADISHES.

These should be freshly drawn, young and white. Wash and trim them neatly, leaving on two or three of the small inner leaves of the top. Boil them in plenty of salted water from twenty to thirty minutes, and as soon as they are tender send them to table well drained, with melted butter or white sauce. Common radishes when young, tied in bunches, and boiled from eighteen to twenty-five minutes, then served on a toast like asparagus, are very good.

BOILED LEEKS.

Trim off the coarser leaves from some young leeks, cut them into equal lengths, tie them into small bunches, and boil them in plenty of water which has been previously salted and skimmed; serve them on a toast, and send melted butter to table with them.

20 to 25 minutes.

STEWED LETTUCES.

Strip off the outer leaves, and cut away the stalks; wash the lettuces with exceeding nicety, and throw them into water salted as for all green vegetables. When they are quite tender, which will be in from twenty to thirty minutes, according to their age, lift them out and press the water thoroughly from them; chop them a little, and heat them in a clean saucepan with a seasoning of pepper and salt, and a small slice of butter; then dredge in a little flour and stir them well; add next a small cup of broth or gravy, boil them quickly until they are tolerably dry, then stir in a little pale vinegar or lemon-juice, and serve them as hot as possible, with fried sippets round them.

TO BOIL ASPARAGUS.

With a sharp knife scrape the stems of the asparagus lightly but very clean, from within one to two inches of the green tender points; throw them into cold water as they are done, and when all are ready, tie them in bunches of equal size, cut the large ends evenly, that the asparagus may be all of the same length, and put it into plenty of boiling water prepared by the directions of page 309. Cut a round of bread quite half an inch thick, and after having pared off the crust, toast it a delicate brown on both sides. When the stalks of the asparagus are tender, lift it out directly, or it will lose both its colour and its flavour, and will also be liable to break; dip the toast quickly into the water in which it was boiled, and dish the vegetable upon it, with the points meeting in the centre. Send rich melted butter to table with it. In France, a small quantity of vinegar is stirred into the sauce before it is served; and many persons like the addition. Asparagus may be preserved for a day or two sufficiently fresh for use, by keeping the stalks immersed in an inch-depth of cold water; but it is never so good as when dressed directly it is cut, or within a few hours after.

20 to 25 minutes.

Obs.—Abroad, boiled asparagus is very frequently served cold, and eaten with oil and vinegar, or a sauce Mayonnaise.

ASPARAGUS POINTS DRESSED LIKE PEAS. (ENTREMETS.)

This is a convenient mode of dressing asparagus, when it is too small and green to make a good appearance plainly boiled. Cut the points so far only as they are perfectly tender, in bits of equal size, not more than the third of an inch in length; wash them very clean, and throw them into plenty of boiling water, with the usual quantity of salt and a few grains of carbonate of soda. When they are tolerably tender, which will be in from ten to twelve minutes, drain them well, and spread them on a clean cloth; fold it over them, wipe them gently, and when they are quite dry put them into a clean stewpan with a good slice of butter, which should be just dissolved before the asparagus is added; stew them in this over a brisk fire, shaking them often, for eight or ten minutes; dredge in about a small teaspoonful of flour, and add half that quantity of white sugar; then pour in boiling water to nearly cover the asparagus, and boil it rapidly until but little liquid remains: stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs, heap the asparagus high in a dish, and serve it very hot. The sauce should adhere entirely to the vegetable as in green peas à la Française.

TO BOIL GREEN PEAS.

To be eaten in perfection these should be young, very freshly gathered, and shelled just before they are boiled; should there be great inequality in their size, the smaller ones may be separated from the others, and thrown into the saucepan four or five minutes later. Wash, and drain the peas in a cullender, put them into plenty of fast-boiling water, salted by the directions of page 309; keep the pan uncovered, and let them boil rapidly until they are tender; drain them well, dish them quickly, and serve them very hot, with good melted butter in a tureen; or put a slice of fresh butter into the midst of the peas, heap them well over it in the centre of the dish, and let it dissolve before they are disturbed. Never, on any account, boil or mix mint with them unless it be expressly ordered, as it is particularly distasteful to many persons. It should be served in small heaps round them, if at all.

15 to 25 minutes, or more if old.

GREEN PEAS À LA FRANÇAISE, OR FRENCH FASHION. (ENTREMETS).

Throw a quart of young and freshly-shelled peas into plenty of spring water with a couple of ounces of butter, and with the hand work them together until the butter adheres well to the peas; lift them out, and drain them in a cullender; put them into a stewpan or thick saucepan without any water, and let them remain over a gentle fire, and be stirred occasionally for twenty minutes from the time of their first beginning to simmer; then pour to them as much boiling water as will just cover them; throw in a small quantity of salt, and keep them boiling quickly for forty minutes: stir well amongst them a small lump of sugar which has been dipped quickly into water, and a thickening of about half an ounce of butter very smoothly mixed with a teaspoonful of flour; shake them over the fire for two minutes, and serve them directly heaped high in a very hot dish; there will be no sauce except that which adheres to the peas if they be properly managed. We have found marrowfats excellent, dressed by this receipt. Fresh and good butter should be used with them always.

Peas, 1 quart; butter, 2 oz.: 20 minutes. Water to cover the peas; little salt: 40 minutes. Sugar, small lump; butter, 1/2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful: 2 minutes.

GREEN PEAS WITH CREAM. (ENTREMETS.)

Boil a quart of young peas perfectly tender in salt and water, and drain them as dry as possible. Dissolve an ounce and a half of butter in a clean stewpan, stir smoothly to it when it boils a dessertspoonful of flour, and shake these over the fire for three or four minutes, but without allowing them to take the slightest colour; pour gradually to them a cup of rich cream, add a small lump of sugar pounded, let the sauce boil, then put in the peas and toss them gently in it until they are very hot: dish, and serve them quickly.

Peas, 1 quart: 18 to 25 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 dessertspoonful: 3 to 5 minutes. Sugar, 1 saltspoonful; cream, 1 cupful.

TO BOIL FRENCH BEANS.

When the beans are very small and young, merely take off the ends and stalks, and drop them into plenty of spring water as they are done; when all are ready wash and drain them well, throw them into a large saucepan of fast-boiling water, salted as usual (see page 309), and when they are quite tender, which will be in from twelve to eighteen minutes, pour them into a cullender, shake the water from them, dish, and send them quickly to table with good melted butter in a tureen. When from half to two parts grown, cut the beans obliquely into a lozenge form, or, when a less modern fashion is preferred, split them lengthwise into delicate strips, and then cut them once across: the strings should be drawn off with the tops and stalks. No mode of dressing it can render this vegetable good when it is old, but if the sides be pared off, the beans cut thin, and boiled tender with rather more than the ordinary proportion of soda, they will be of excellent colour, and tolerably eatable.

FRENCH BEANS À LA FRANÇAISE. (ENTREMETS.)

Boil, and drain them thoroughly; then put them into a clean stewpan, or well-tinned iron saucepan, and shake them over the fire until they are very dry and hot; add to them from two to four ounces of fresh butter cut into small bits, some white pepper, a little salt, and the juice of half a lemon; toss them gently for a few minutes over a clear fire, and serve them very hot. Should the butter turn to oil, a spoonful or two of veal gravy or boiling water must be added.

AN EXCELLENT RECEIPT FOR FRENCH BEANS À LA FRANÇAISE.

Prepare as many young and freshly-gathered beans as will serve for a large dish, boil them tender, and drain the water well from them. Melt a couple of ounces of fresh butter, in a clean saucepan, and stir smoothly to it a small dessertspoonful of flour; keep these well shaken, and gently simmered until they are lightly browned, add salt and pepper, and pour to them by degrees a small cupful of good veal gravy (or, in lieu of this, of sweet rich cream), toss the beans in the sauce until they are as hot as possible; stir quickly in, as they are taken from the fire, the beaten yolks of two fresh eggs, and a little lemon-juice, and serve them without delay. The eggs and lemon are sometimes omitted, and a tablespoonful of minced parsley is added to the butter and flour; but this, we think, is scarcely an improvement.

Beans, 1 to 2 quarts: boiled 15 to 20 minutes. Butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; salt and pepper; veal gravy, small cupful; yolks of eggs, 2; lemon-juice, a dessertspoonful.

TO BOIL WINDSOR BEANS.

When young, freshly gathered, and well dressed, these beans, even with many persons accustomed to a luxurious table, are a favourite accompaniment to a dish of streaked bacon, or delicate pickled pork. Shell them only just before they are wanted, then wash, drain, and throw them into boiling water, salted as for peas. When they are quite tender, pour them into a hot cullender, drain them thoroughly, and send them to table quickly, with a tureen of parsley and butter, or with plain melted butter, when it is preferred. A boiled cheek of bacon, trimmed free of any blackened parts, may be dished over the beans, upon occasion.

20 to 30 minutes; less, when very young.

Obs.—When the skin of the beans appears wrinkled, they will generally be found sufficiently tender to serve, but they should be tasted to ascertain that they are so. This vegetable is often skinned after it is boiled, and then gently tossed up with a little butter before it is dished.

DRESSED CUCUMBERS.

Pare and slice them very thin, strew a little fine salt over them, and when they have stood a few minutes, drain off the water, by raising one side of the dish, and letting it flow to the other; pour it away, strew more salt, and a moderate seasoning of pepper on them, add two or three tablespoonsful of the purest salad-oil, and turn the cucumbers well, that the whole may receive a portion of it; then pour over them from one to three dessertspoonsful of chili vinegar, and a little common, should it be needed; turn them into a clean dish and serve them.

Obs.—If very young, cucumbers are usually dressed without being pared, but the tough rind of full-grown ones being extremely indigestible, should be avoided. The vegetable, though apt to disagree with persons of delicate habit, when sauced in the common English mode, with salt, pepper, and vinegar only, may often be eaten by them with impunity when dressed with plenty of oil. It is difficult to obtain this perfectly fresh and pure here; and hence, perhaps, arises in part the prejudice which, amongst us, is so often found to exist against the use of this most wholesome condiment.

MANDRANG, OR MANDRAM.

(West Indian Receipt.)

Chop together very small, two moderate-sized cucumbers, with half the quantity of mild onion; add the juice of a lemon, a saltspoonful or more of salt, a third as much of cayenne, and one or two glasses of Madeira, or of any other dry white wine. This preparation is to be served with any kind of roast meat.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR MANDRAM.

Take three or four cucumbers, so young as not to require paring; score the ends well, that when they are sliced they may fall into small bits; add plenty of young onions, cut fine, the juice of half a lemon, a glass of sherry or Madeira, and a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar.

DRESSED CUCUMBERS.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Cut into lengths of an inch or rather more, one or two freshly gathered cucumbers, take off the rind, and then pare them round and round into thin ribbons, until the watery part is reached:—this is to be thrown aside. When all are done, sprinkle them with cayenne and fine salt, and leave them to drain a little; then arrange them lightly in a clean dish, and sauce them with very fine oil, well mixed with chili vinegar, or with equal parts of chili and of common vinegar.

Cucumbers, 2 or 3; salt, 1 to 2 saltspoonsful; little cayenne; oil, 6 to 8 tablespoonsful; chili vinegar, or equal parts of this and common vinegar, 2 to 4 tablespoonsful.

Obs.—When the flavour of eschalots is much liked, a teaspoonful or more of the vinegar in which they have been steeped or pickled may be added to this dish.

STEWED CUCUMBERS.

(English mode.)

Pare, and split into quarters, four or five full-grown but still young cucumbers; take out the seeds and cut each part in two; sprinkle them with white pepper or cayenne; flour and fry them lightly in a little butter, lift them from the pan, drain them on a sieve, then lay them into as much good brown gravy as will nearly cover them, and stew them gently from twenty-five to thirty minutes, or until they are quite tender. Should the gravy require to be thickened or flavoured, dish the cucumbers and keep them hot while a little flour and butter, or any other of the usual ingredients, is stirred into it. Some persons like a small portion of lemon-juice, or of chili vinegar added to the sauce; cucumber vinegar might be substituted for these with very good effect, as the vegetable loses much of its fine and peculiar flavour when cooked.

25 to 30 minutes.

Obs.—The cucumbers may be left in entire lengths, thrown into well-salted boiling water, and simmered for ten minutes, then thoroughly drained upon the back of a sieve, and afterwards stewed very quickly until tender in some highly-flavoured brown gravy, or in the Spanish sauce of page 101.

CUCUMBERS À LA POULETTE.

The cucumbers for this dish may be pared and sliced very thin; or quartered, freed from the seeds, and cut into half-inch lengths; in either case they should be steeped in a little vinegar and sprinkled with salt for half an hour before they are dressed. Drain, and then press them dry in a soft cloth; flour them well, put a slice of butter into a stewpan or saucepan bright in the inside, and when it begins to boil throw in the cucumbers, and shake them over a gentle fire for ten minutes, but be careful to prevent their taking the slightest colour; pour to them gradually as much strong, but very pale veal stock or gravy as will nearly cover them; when it boils skim off the fat entirely, add salt and white pepper if needed, and when the cucumbers are quite tender, strew in a large teaspoonful of finely-minced parsley, and thicken the sauce with the yolks of two or three eggs. French cooks add the flour when the vegetable has stewed in the butter, instead of dredging it upon them at first, and this is perhaps the better method.

CUCUMBERS À LA CRÊME.

Boil them tolerably tender in salt and water, drain them well, then stew them for a few minutes in a thick béchamel, and serve them in it.

FRIED CUCUMBERS TO SERVE IN COMMON HASHES AND MINCES.

If very young they need not be pared, but otherwise, take off the rind, slice, and dredge them lightly with pepper and flour, but put no salt at first; throw them into very hot butter or clarified dripping, or they will not brown; when they are nearly done sprinkle some salt amongst them, and as soon as they are quite tender, lift them out with a slice, drain them well, and place them lightly over the hash or mince. A small portion of onion may be fried with them when it is liked.

MELON.

This in France and in other parts of the Continent is served and eaten with the bouilli (or beef boiled tender in the soup-pot), with a seasoning of salt and pepper only; but the fruit is there far more abundant, and of infinitely finer growth than with us, and requires so little care, comparatively, that it is planted in many places in the open fields, where it flourishes admirably.

TO BOIL CAULIFLOWERS.

Trim off the outside leaves, and cut the stems quite close to the cauliflowers; let them lie for an hour in plenty of cold water with a handful of salt in it, to draw out any insects that may be amongst them; then wash them very thoroughly, and examine them well, to be assured that none remain in any part of them; throw them into a large pan of boiling water salted as for asparagus, and quite cleared from scum; for this, if not removed, will adhere to the cauliflowers and spoil their appearance. When the stalks are tender lift them out, dish them neatly, and send good melted butter to table with them.

20 to 30 minutes.

CAULIFLOWERS.

(French Receipt.)

Cut the cauliflowers into small handsome tufts, and boil them until three parts done, drain them well, toss them for a moment in some thick melted butter or white sauce, and set them by to cool. When they are quite cold, dip them separately into the batter of Chapter V., fry them a light brown, arrange them neatly in a dish, and serve them very hot.

CAULIFLOWERS WITH PARMESAN CHEESE.

Take all the green leaves from two or three fine white cauliflowers, and cut the stalks off very closely, so that they will stand upright in the dish in which they are served; boil them tolerably tender, but not sufficiently so as to hazard their breaking; drain them well, and dish them, so as to give the whole the appearance of one cauliflower; pour a little good white sauce equally over the tops, and on this strew grated Parmesan cheese, drop over it a little clarified butter, add another layer of cheese, and cover the whole with the finest bread-crumbs; moisten these with more clarified butter, and brown them with a salamander, or set the dish into the oven, to give them colour; pour white sauce round the cauliflowers, and send them very hot to table.

CAULIFLOWERS À LA FRANÇAISE.

Strip away all the green leaves, and divide each cauliflower into three or four parts, trimming the stalks quite close; put them, with the heads downwards, into a stewpan which will just hold them, half filled with boiling water, into which an ounce of good butter and some salt have previously been thrown; so soon as they are quite tender, drain the water from them, place a dish over the stewpan and turn it gently upside down; arrange the vegetables neatly in the form of one large cauliflower and cover it with good melted butter, into which a little lemon-juice has been stirred.

12 to 18 minutes.

BROCCOLI.

This is boiled, and served in the same manner as cauliflowers when the heads are large; the stems of the branching broccoli are peeled, and the vegetable, tied in bunches, is dressed and served, like asparagus, upon a toast.

10 to 20 minutes.

TO BOIL ARTICHOKES.

After they have been soaked and well washed, cut off the stems quite close, trim away a few of the lower leaves, and clip the points of all; throw the artichokes into plenty of fast-boiling water, ready salted and skimmed, with the addition of the proportion of soda directed in page 309, as this will greatly improve the colour of the vegetable. When extremely young, the artichokes will be tender in from half to three quarters of an hour, but they will require more than double that time when at their full growth: when the leaves can be drawn out easily they are done. Send good melted butter to table with them. They should be boiled always with the stalk-ends uppermost.

Very young, 1/2 to 3/4 hour; full-grown, 1-1/4 to 2 hours.

Obs.—French cooks lift the tops from the artichokes before they are served, and replace them after having taken out the chokes: this is an excellent plan, but it must be expeditiously done to prevent the vegetable from cooling.

FOR ARTICHOKES EN SALADE

(See Chapter VI.)

VEGETABLE MARROW.

It is customary to gather this when not larger than a turkey’s egg, but we should say that the vegetable is not then in its perfection. The flesh is whiter and of better flavour when the gourd is about six inches long; at least we have found it so with the kinds which have fallen under our observation. It may either be boiled in the skin, then pared, halved, and served upon a toast; or quartered, freed from the seed, and left until cold, then dipped into egg and fine crumbs of bread, and fried; or it may be cut into dice, and re-heated in a little good white sauce; or stewed tender in butter, and served in well-thickened veal gravy, flavoured with a little lemon-juice. It may likewise be mashed by the receipt which we have given for turnips, and in that form will be found excellent. The French make a fanciful dish of the marrows thus: they boil them tender in water, and halve them lengthwise as is usual, they then slice a small bit off each to make them stand evenly in the dish, and after having hollowed the insides, so as to leave a mere shell, about half an inch thick, they fill them with a thick rich mince of white meat, and pour white sauce round them; or they heap fried bread-crumbs over the tops, place the dish in the oven for a few minutes, and serve them without sauce.

Size of turkey’s egg, 10 to 15 minutes; moderate-sized, 20 to 30; large, 3/4 to 1 hour.

ROAST TOMATAS.

(To serve with roast leg, loin, or shoulder of mutton.)

Select them nearly of the same size, take off the stalks, and roast them gently in a Dutch oven, or if more convenient, place them at the edge of the dripping-pan, taking care that no fat from the joint shall fall upon them, and keeping them turned that they may be equally done. From ten to fourteen minutes will roast them.

STEWED TOMATAS.

Arrange them in a single layer, and pour to them as much gravy as will reach to half their height; stew them very softly until the under sides are done, then turn, and finish stewing them. Thicken the gravy with a little arrow-root and cream, or with flour and butter, and serve it round them.

FORCED TOMATAS.

(English Receipt.)

Cut the stems quite close, slice off the tops of eight fine tomatas, and scoop out the insides; press the pulp through a sieve, and mix with it one ounce of fine crumbs of bread, one of butter broken very small, some pepper or cayenne, and salt. Fill the tomatas with the mixture, and bake them for ten minutes in a moderate oven; serve them with brown gravy in the dish. A few small mushrooms stewed tender in a little butter, then minced and added to the tomata pulp, will very much improve this receipt.

Bake 10 minutes.

FORCED TOMATAS.

(French Receipt.)

Let the tomatas be well shaped and of equal size; divide them nearly in the middle leaving the blossom-side the largest, as this only is to be used; empty them carefully of their seeds and juice, and fill them with the following ingredients, which must previously be stewed tender in butter but without being allowed to brown: minced mushrooms and shalots, with a moderate proportion of parsley, some lean of ham chopped small, a seasoning of cayenne, and a little fine salt, if needed; let them cool, then mix with them about a third as much of fine crumbs of bread, and two yolks of eggs; fill the tomatas, cover them with fine crumbs, moisten them with clarified butter, and bake them in a brisk oven until they are well coloured. Serve them as a garnish to stewed rump or sirloin of beef, or to a boned and forced leg of mutton.

Minced lean of ham, 2 oz.; mushrooms, 2 oz.; bread-crumbs, 2 oz.; shalots, 4 to 8; parsley, full teaspoonful; cayenne, quarter saltspoonful; little salt, if needed; butter, 2 oz.; yolks of eggs, 2 to 3: baked 10 to 20 minutes.

Obs.—The French pound the whole of these ingredients with a bit of garlic, before they fill the tomatas with them, but this is not absolutely necessary, and the garlic, if added at all, should be parboiled first, as its strong flavour, combined with that of the eschalots, would scarcely suit the general taste. When the lean of a dressed ham is at hand, only the herbs and vegetables will need to be stewed in the butter; this should be mixed with them into the forcemeat, which an intelligent cook will vary in many ways.

PURÉE OF TOMATAS.

Divide a dozen fine ripe tomatas, squeeze out the seeds, and take off the stalks; put them with one small mild onion (or more, if liked), and about half a pint of very good gravy, into a well-tinned stewpan or saucepan, and simmer them for nearly or quite an hour; a couple of bay-leaves, some cayenne, and as much salt as the dish may require, should be added when they begin to boil. Press them through a sieve, heat them again, and stir to them a quarter of a pint of good cream, previously mixed and boiled for five minutes with a teaspoonful of flour. This purée is to be served with calf’s head, veal cutlets, boiled knuckle of veal, calf’s brains, or beef palates. For pork, beef, geese, and other brown meats, the tomatas should be reduced to a proper consistence in rich and highly-flavoured brown gravy, or Spanish sauce.

TO BOIL GREEN INDIAN CORN.

When still quite green and tender, the ears of maize or Indian corn are very good boiled and served as a vegetable; and as they will not ripen well in this country unless the summer be unusually warm and favourable, it is an advantageous mode of turning them to account. Strip away the sheath which encloses them, and take off the long silken fibres from the tops; put the corn into boiling water salted as for asparagus, and boil it for about half an hour. Drain it well, dish it on a toast, and send it to table with melted butter. The Americans, who have it served commonly at their tables, use it when more fully grown than we have recommended, and boil it without removing the inner leaves of the sheath; but it is sweeter and more delicate before it has reached so advanced a state. The grains may be freed from the corn-stalks with a knife, and tossed up with a slice of fresh butter and some pepper and salt, or served simply like green peas. Other modes of dressing the young maize will readily suggest themselves to an intelligent cook, and our space will not permit us to enumerate them.

25 to 30 minutes.

MUSHROOMS AU BEURRE.

(Delicious.)

Cut the stems from some fine meadow mushroom-buttons, and clean them with a bit of new flannel, and some fine salt; then either wipe them dry with a soft cloth, or rinse them in fresh water, drain them quickly, spread them in a clean cloth, fold it over them, and leave them for ten minutes, or more, to dry. For every pint of them thus prepared, put an ounce and a half of fresh butter into a thick iron saucepan, shake it over the fire until it just begins to brown, throw in the mushrooms, continue to shake the saucepan over a clear fire that they may not stick to it nor burn, and when they have simmered three or four minutes, strew over them a little salt, some cayenne, and pounded mace; stew them until they are perfectly tender, heap them in a dish, and serve them with their own sauce only, for breakfast, supper, or luncheon. Nothing can be finer than the flavour of the mushrooms thus prepared; and the addition of any liquid is far from an improvement to it. They are very good when drained from the butter, and served cold, and in a cool larder may be kept for several days. The butter in which they are stewed is admirable for flavouring gravies, sauces, or potted meats. Small flaps, freed from the fur and skin, may be stewed in the same way; and either these, or the buttons, served under roast poultry or partridges, will give a dish of very superior relish.

Meadow mushrooms, 3 pints; fresh butter 4-1/2 oz.: 3 to 5 minutes. Salt, 1 small teaspoonful; mace, half as much; cayenne, third of saltspoonful: 10 to 15 minutes. More spices to be added if required—much depending on their quality; but they should not overpower the flavour of the mushrooms.

Obs.—Persons inhabiting parts of the country where mushrooms are abundant, may send them easily, when thus prepared (or when potted by the following receipt), to their friends in cities, or in less productive counties. If poured into jars, with sufficient butter to cover them, they will travel any distance, and can be re-warmed for use.

POTTED MUSHROOMS.

Prepare either small flaps or buttons with great nicety, without wetting them, and wipe the former very dry, after the application of the salt and flannel. Stew them quite tender, with the same proportion of butter as the mushrooms au beurre, but increase a little the quantity of spice; when they are done turn them into a large dish, spread them over one end of it, and raise it two or three inches that they may be well drained from the butter. As soon as they are quite cold, press them very closely into small potting-pans; pour lukewarm clarified butter thickly over them, and store them in a cool dry place. If intended for present use, merely turn them down upon a clean shelf; but for longer keeping cover the tops first with very dry paper, and then with melted mutton-suet. We have ourselves had the mushrooms, after being simply spread upon a dish while hot, remain perfectly good in that state for seven or eight weeks: they were prepared late in the season, and the weather was consequently cool during the interval.

MUSHROOM-TOAST, OR CROÛTE AUX CHAMPIGNONS.

(Excellent.)

Cut the stems closely from a quart or more, of small just-opened mushrooms; peel them, and take out the gills. Dissolve from two to three ounces of fresh butter in a well-tinned saucepan or stewpan, put in the mushrooms, strew over them a quarter of a teaspoonful of pounded mace mixed with a little cayenne, and let them stew over a gentle fire from ten to fifteen minutes; toss or stir them often during the time; then add a small dessertspoonful of flour, and shake the pan round until it is lightly browned. Next pour in, by slow degrees, half a pint of gravy or of good beef-broth; and when the mushrooms have stewed softly in this for a couple of minutes, throw in a little salt, and a squeeze of lemon-juice, and pour them on to a crust, cut about an inch and a quarter thick, from the under part of a moderate-sized loaf, and fried in good butter a light brown, after having been first slightly hollowed in the inside. New milk, or thin cream, may be used with very good effect instead of the gravy; but a few strips of lemon-rind, and a small portion of nutmeg and mushroom-catsup should then be added to the sauce. The bread may be buttered and grilled over a gentle fire instead of being fried, and is better so.

Small mushrooms, 4 to 5 half pints; butter, 3 to 4 oz.; mace, mixed with a little cayenne, 1/4 teaspoonful: stewed softly 10 to 15 minutes. Flour, 1 small dessertspoonful: 3 to 5 minutes. Gravy or broth, 1/2 pint: 2 minutes. Little salt and lemon-juice.

TRUFFLES AND THEIR USES.

The truffle, or underground mushroom, as it has sometimes been called, is held in almost extravagant estimation by epicures,[109] and enters largely into what may be termed first-class cookery, both in England and abroad; though it is much less generally known and used here than in France, Germany, and other parts of the Continent, where it is far more abundant, and of very superior quality.

109.  It has been named by a celebrated gastronomer of past days, “Le diamant de la cuisine.”

As it is in constant demand for luxuriously-served tables, and has hitherto, we believe, baffled all attempts to increase it by cultivation, it bears usually a high price in the English market,[110] and is seldom to be had cheap in any; but although too costly for common consumption, where the expenditure is regulated by rational economy, it may at times be made to supply, at a reasonable expense, some excellent store-preparations for the breakfast and luncheon-table; as a small portion will impart its peculiar flavour to them.

110.  Varying from eight to sixteen shillings the pound at the best foreign warehouses. The truffles which are pared, bottled and steamed like fruit, are more expensive still; but they can be kept after the season of the fresh ones is entirely past. English truffles—which are found in Hampshire (in the New Forest)—and in some few other of our counties, are very good, though seldom or ever equal in quality to those of France, Germany, and of different parts of Italy. The most esteemed of the French ones are from Perigord.

The blackest truffles are considered the best. All are in their perfection during the latter part of November, December, and January; though they may be procured usually from October to March; yet as they are peculiarly subject to decay—or, properly speaking, become really putrid—from exposure to the air, it is an advantage to have them as early in their season as may be. In sumptuous households the very finest foreign truffles are often served as a vegetable in the second course.

TO PREPARE TRUFFLES FOR USE.

First soak them for an hour or two in fresh water, to loosen the earth which adheres to them; then rinse them well from it, and with a hard brush scrub them until not a particle of the mould in which they have been embedded can be seen upon them. This part of the operation should be especially attended to, because the parings are as useful as the truffles themselves. It is often needful to leave them longer in the water after it has been changed; and even to soak them sometimes in lukewarm water also: when they are perfectly cleaned, wipe them gently with a soft cloth, or fold them in to dry, should they be wanted for any preparation to which moisture would be injurious.

TRUFFLES À LA SERVIETTE.

Select the finest truffles for this dish, be particular in smelling them, and reject any that have a musty smell. Wash and brush them well with cold water only, change it several times, and when they are perfectly clean line a stewpan with slices of bacon; put in the truffles with a bunch of parsley, green onions, and thyme, two or three bay-leaves, half a dozen cloves, and a little sweet basil; pour in sufficient rich veal gravy to cover them, with the addition of from half a pint to half a bottle of champagne; boil them very softly for an hour, then draw them aside and let them cool in the gravy. Heat them afresh in it when they are wanted for table; lift them out and drain them in a very clean cloth, and dish them neatly in a fine and beautifully white napkin, which will contrast as strongly as possible with the dark hue of the truffles.

TRUFFLES À L’ITALIENNE.

Wash perfectly clean, wipe, and pare some truffles extremely thin; slice them about the size of a penny; put them into a sauté-pan (or small frying-pan), with a slice of fresh butter, some minced parsley and eschalot, salt and pepper; put them on the fire and stir them, that they may fry equally; when they are done, which will be in about ten minutes, drain off part of the butter, and throw in a bit of fresh butter, a small ladleful of Spanish sauce (see page 101), the juice of one lemon, and a little cayenne pepper. This is a dish of high relish.

TO BOIL SPROUTS, CABBAGES, SAVOYS, LETTUCES, OR ENDIVE.

All green vegetables should be thrown into abundance of fast boiling water ready salted and skimmed, with the addition of the small quantity of carbonate of soda which we have recommended, in a previous page of this chapter; the pan should be left uncovered, and every precaution taken to prevent the smoke from reaching its contents. Endive, sprouts, and spring greens, will only require copious washing before they are boiled; but savoys, large lettuces, and close-leaved cabbages should be thrown into salt and water for half an hour or more before they are dressed, with the tops downwards to draw out the insects. The stems of these last should be cut off, the decayed leaves stripped away, and the vegetable halved or quartered, or split deeply across the stalk-end, and divided entirely before it is dished.

Very young greens, 15 to 20 minutes; lettuces, 20 to 30 minutes, large savoys, or cabbages, 1 to 1-1/2 hour, or more.

Obs.—When the stalk of any kind of cabbage is tender it is ready to serve. Turnip-greens should be well washed in several waters, and boiled in a very large quantity to deprive them of their bitterness.

STEWED CABBAGE.

Cut out the stalk entirely, and slice a fine firm cabbage or two in very thin strips; throw them after they have been well washed and drained, into a large pan of boiling water ready salted and skimmed, and when they are tender, which will be in from ten to fifteen minutes, pour them into a sieve or strainer, press the water thoroughly from them, and chop them slightly. Put into a very clean saucepan about a couple of ounces of butter, and when it is dissolved add the cabbage with sufficient pepper and salt to season it, and stir it over a clear fire until it appears tolerably dry; then shake lightly in a tablespoonful of flour, turn the whole well, and add by slow degrees a cup of thick cream: veal gravy or good white sauce may be substituted for this, when preferred to it.

TO BOIL TURNIPS.

Pare entirely from them the fibrous rind, and either split the turnips once or leave them whole; throw them into boiling water slightly salted, and keep them closely covered from smoke and dust until they are tender. When small and young they will be done in from fifteen to twenty minutes; at their full growth they will require from three quarters to a full hour, or more, of gentle boiling. After they become old and woolly they are not worth dressing in any way. When boiled in their skins and pared afterwards, they are said to be of better flavour and much less watery than when cooked in the usual way.

Young turnips, 15 to 20 minutes: full grown, 3/4 to 1 hour, or more.

TO MASH TURNIPS.

Split them once or even twice should they be large after they are pared; boil them very tender, and press the water thoroughly from them with a couple of trenchers, or with the back of a large plate and one trencher. To ensure their being free from lumps, it is better to pass them through a cullender or coarse hair-sieve, with a wooden spoon; though, when quite young, they may be worked sufficiently smooth without this. Put them into a clean saucepan, and stir them constantly for some minutes over a gentle fire, that they may be very dry; then add some salt, a bit of fresh butter, and a little cream, or in lieu of this new milk (we would also recommend a seasoning of white pepper or cayenne, when appearance and fashion are not particularly regarded), and continue to simmer and to stir them for five or six minutes longer, or until they have quite absorbed all the liquid which has been poured to them. Serve them always as hot as possible. This is an excellent receipt; but the addition of a little good white sauce would render it still better.

Turnips, weighed after they are pared, 3 lbs.: dried 5 to 8 minutes. Salt, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 1 oz. to 1-1/2 oz.; cream or milk, nearly 1/2 pint: 5 or 6 minutes.

TURNIPS IN WHITE SAUCE. (ENTREMETS.)

When no scoop for the purpose is at hand, cut some small finely-grained turnips into quarters, and pare them into balls, or into the shape of plums or pears of equal size; arrange them evenly in a broad stewpan or saucepan, and cover them nearly with good veal broth, throw in a little salt, and a morsel of sugar, and boil them rather quickly until they are quite tender, but preserve them unbroken; lift them out, draining them well from the broth; dish, and pour over them some thick white sauce. As an economy, a cup of cream, and a teaspoonful of arrow-root, may be added to the broth in which the turnips have stewed, to make the sauce; and when it boils, a small slice of butter may be stirred and well worked into it, should it not be sufficiently rich without.

TURNIPS STEWED IN BUTTER. (GOOD.)

This is an excellent way of dressing the vegetable when it is mild and finely grained; but its flavour otherwise is too strong to be agreeable. After they have been washed, wiped quite dry, and pared, slice the turnips nearly half an inch thick, and divide them into dice,. Just dissolve an ounce of butter for each half-pound of the turnips, put them in as flat as they can be, and stew them very gently indeed, from three quarters of an hour to a full hour. Add a seasoning of salt and white pepper when they are half done. When thus prepared, they may be dished in the centre of fried or nicely broiled mutton cutlets, or served by themselves.

For a small dish: turnips, 1-1/2 lb.; butter, 3 oz.; seasoning of white pepper; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful, or more: 3/4 to 1 hour. Large dish: turnips, 2 lbs.; butter 4 oz.

TURNIPS IN GRAVY.

To a pound of turnips sliced and cut into dice, pour a quarter of a pint of boiling veal gravy, add a small lump of sugar, some salt and cayenne, or white pepper, and boil them quickly from fifty to sixty minutes. Serve them very hot.

TO BOIL CARROTS.

Wash the mould from them, and scrape the skin off lightly with the edge of a sharp knife, or, should this be objected to, pare them as thin and as equally as possible; in either case free them from all blemishes, and should they be very large, divide them, and cut the thick parts into quarters; rinse them well, and throw them into plenty of boiling water with some salt in it. The skin of very young carrots may be rubbed off like that of new potatoes, and from twenty to thirty minutes will then be sufficient to boil them; but at their full growth they will require from an hour and a half to two hours. It was formerly the custom to tie them in a cloth, and to wipe the skin from them with it after they were dressed; and old-fashioned cooks still use one to remove it; but all vegetables should, we think, be dished and served with the least possible delay after they are ready for table. Melted butter should accompany boiled carrots.

Very young carrots, 20 to 30 minutes. Full-grown ones, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

CARROTS. (ENTRÉE.)

(The Windsor Receipt.)

Select some good carrots of equal size, and cut the upper parts into even lengths of about two inches and a half, then trim one end of each into a point, so as to give the carrot the form of a sugar loaf.[111] When all are ready, throw them into plenty of ready-salted boiling water, and boil them three quarters of an hour. Lift them out, and drain them well, then arrange them upright, and all on a level in a broad stewpan or saucepan, and pour in good hot beef-broth or veal gravy to half their height; add as much salt as may be needed, and a small teaspoonful of sugar, and boil them briskly for half an hour, or longer, should they require it. Place them again upright in dishing them, and keep them hot while a little good brown gravy is thickened to pour over them, and mixed with a large teaspoonful of parsley and a little lemon-juice; or sauce them with common béchamel (see Chapter V.), or white sauce, with or without the addition of parsley.

111.  See plate, page 338.

Thick part of carrots cut in cones: boiled 3/4 hour. With gravy or broth, little salt and sugar: 1/2 hour, or more. Sauce: thickened gravy, béchamel made without meat, or common white sauce.

Obs.—The carrots dressed thus are exceedingly good without any sauce beyond the small quantity of liquid which will remain in the stewpan with them, or with a few spoonsful more of gravy added to this, and thickened with butter and a little flour.

SWEET CARROTS. (ENTREMETS.)

Boil quite tender some fine highly-flavoured carrots, press the water from them, and rub them through the back of a fine hair-sieve; put them into a clean saucepan or stewpan, and dry them thoroughly over a gentle fire; then add a slice of fresh butter, and when this is dissolved and well mixed with them, strew in a dessertspoonful or more of powdered sugar, and a little salt; next, stir in by degrees some good cream, and when this is quite absorbed, and the carrots again appear dry, dish and serve them quickly with small sippets à la Reine (see page 5), placed round them.

Carrots, 3 lbs., boiled quite tender: stirred over a gentle fire 5 to 10 minutes. Butter, 2 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; pounded sugar, 1 dessertspoonful; cream, 1/2 pint, stewed gently together until quite dry.

Obs.—For excellent mashed carrots omit the sugar, add a good seasoning of salt and white pepper, and half a pint of rich brown gravy; or for a plain dinner rather less than this of milk.

MASHED (OR BUTTERED) CARROTS.

(A Dutch Receipt.)

Prepare some finely flavoured carrots as above, and dry them over a gentle fire like mashed turnips; then for a dish of moderate size mix well with them from two to three ounces of good butter, cut into small bits, keeping them well stirred. Add a seasoning of salt and cayenne, and serve them very hot, garnished or not at pleasure with small sippets (croutons) of fried bread.

CARROTS AU BEURRE, OR BUTTERED CARROTS.

(French.)

Either boil sufficient carrots for a dish quite tender, and then cut them into slices a quarter of an inch thick, or first slice, and then boil them: the latter method is the most expeditious, but the other best preserves the flavour of the vegetable. Drain them well, and while this is being done just dissolve from two to three ounces of butter in a saucepan, and strew in some minced parsley, some salt, and white pepper or cayenne; then add the carrots, and toss them very gently until they are equally covered with the sauce, which should not be allowed to boil: the parsley may be omitted at pleasure. Cold carrots may be re-warmed in this way.

CARROTS IN THEIR OWN JUICE.

(A simple but excellent Receipt.)

By the following mode of dressing carrots, whether young or old, their full flavour and all the nutriment they contain are entirely preserved; and they are at the same time rendered so palatable by it that they furnish at once an admirable dish to eat without meat, as well as with it. Wash the roots very clean, and scrape or lightly pare them, cutting out any discoloured parts. Have ready boiling and salted, as much water as will cover them; slice them rather thick, throw them into it, and should there be more than sufficient to just float them (and barely that), pour it away. Boil them gently until they are tolerably tender, and then very quickly, to evaporate the water, of which only a spoonful or so should be left in the saucepan. Dust a seasoning of pepper on them, throw in a morsel of butter rolled in flour, and turn and toss them gently until their juice is thickened by them and adheres to the roots. Send them immediately to table. They are excellent without any addition but the pepper; though they may be in many ways improved. A dessertspoonful of minced parsley may be strewed over them when the butter is added, and a little thick cream mixed with a small proportion of flour to prevent its curdling, may be strewed amongst them, or a spoonful or two of good gravy.

TO BOIL PARSNEPS.

These are dressed in precisely the same manner as carrots, but require much less boiling. According to their quality and the time of year, they will take from twenty minutes to nearly an hour. Every speck or blemish should be cut from them after they are scraped, and the water in which they are boiled should be well skimmed. They are a favourite accompaniment to salt fish and boiled pork, and may be served either mashed or plain.

20 to 25 minutes.

FRIED PARSNEPS.

Boil them until they are about half done, lift them out, and let them cool; slice them rather thickly, sprinkle them with fine salt and white pepper, and fry them a pale brown in good butter. Serve them with roast meat, or dish them under it.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.

Wash the artichokes, pare them quickly, and throw them as they are done into a saucepan of cold water, or of equal parts of milk and water; and when they are about half boiled add a little salt to them. Take them up the instant they are perfectly tender: this will be in from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, so much do they vary in size and as to the time necessary to dress them. If allowed to remain in the water after they are done, they become black and flavourless. Melted butter should always be sent to table with them.

15 to 25 minutes.

TO FRY JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. (ENTREMETS.)

Boil them from eight to twelve minutes; lift them out, drain them on a sieve, and let them cool; dip them into beaten eggs, and cover them with fine bread-crumbs. Fry them a light brown, drain, pile them in a hot dish, and serve them quickly.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES, À LA REINE.

Artichokes à la Reine.

Wash and wipe the artichokes, cut off one end of each quite flat, and trim the other into a point; boil them in milk and water, lift them out the instant they are done, place them upright in the dish in which they are to be served, and sauce them with a good béchamel, or with nearly half a pint of cream thickened with a rice-crustspoonful of flour, mixed with an ounce and a half of butter, and seasoned with a little mace and some salt. When cream cannot be procured use new milk, and increase the proportion of flour and butter.

MASHED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.

Boil them tender, press the water well from them, and then proceed exactly as for mashed turnips, taking care to dry the artichokes well, both before and after the milk or cream is added to them; they will be excellent if good white sauce be substituted for either of these.

HARICOTS BLANCS.

The haricot blanc is the seed of a particular kind of French bean, of which we find some difficulty in ascertaining the English name, for though we have tried several which resembled it in appearance, we have found their flavour, after they were dressed, very different, and far from agreeable. The large white Dutch runner, is, we believe, the proper variety for cooking; at least we have obtained a small quantity under that name, which approached much more nearly than any others we had tried to those which we had eaten abroad. The haricots, when fresh may be thrown into plenty of boiling water, with some salt and a small bit of butter; if dry, they must be previously soaked for an hour or two, put into cold water, brought to boil gently, and simmered until they are tender, for if boiled fast the skins will burst before the beans are done. Drain them thoroughly from the water when they are ready, and lay them into a clean saucepan over two or three ounces of fresh butter, a small dessertspoonful of chopped parsley, and sufficient salt and pepper to season the whole; then gently shake or toss the beans until they are quite hot and equally covered with the sauce; add the strained juice of half a lemon, and serve them quickly. The vegetable thus dressed, is excellent; and it affords a convenient resource in the season when the supply of other kinds is scantiest. In some countries the dried beans are placed in water, over-night, upon a stove, and by a very gentle degree of warmth are sufficiently softened by the following day to be served as follows:—they are drained from the water, spread on a clean cloth and wiped quite dry, then lightly floured and fried in oil or butter, with a seasoning of pepper and salt, lifted into a hot dish, and served under roast beef, or mutton.

TO BOIL BEET ROOT.

Wash the roots delicately clean, but neither scrape nor cut them, for should even the small fibres be taken off before they are cooked, their beautiful colour would be much injured. Throw them into boiling water, and, according to their size, which varies greatly, as they are sometimes of enormous growth, boil them from one hour and a half to two and a half, or longer if requisite. Pare and serve them whole, or cut into thick slices and neatly dished in a close circle: send melted butter to table with them. Cold red beet root is often intermingled with other vegetables for winter salads; and it makes a pickle of remarkably brilliant hue. A common mode of serving it at the present day is in the last course of a dinner with the cheese: it is merely pared and sliced after having been baked or boiled tender.

1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours, or longer.

TO BAKE BEET ROOT.

Beet root if slowly and carefully baked until it is tender quite through, is very rich and sweet in flavour, although less bright in colour than when it is boiled: it is also, we believe, remarkably nutritious and wholesome. Wash and wipe it very dry, but neither cut nor break any part of it; then lay it into a coarse earthen dish, and bake it in a gentle oven for four or five hours: it will sometimes require even a longer time than this. Pare it quickly if it be served hot; but leave it to cool first, when it is to be sent to table cold.

In slow oven from 4 to 6 hours.

STEWED BEET ROOT.

Bake or boil it tolerably tender, and let it remain until it is cold, then pare and cut it into slices; heat and stew it for a short time in some good pale veal gravy (or in strong veal broth for ordinary occasions), thicken this with a teaspoonful of arrow-root, and half a cupful or more of good cream, and stir in, as it is taken from the fire, from a tea to a tablespoonful of chili vinegar. The beet root may be served likewise in thick white sauce, to which, just before it is dished, the mild eschalots of page 128 may be added.

TO STEW RED CABBAGE.

(Flemish Receipt.)

Strip the outer leaves from a fine and fresh red cabbage; wash it well, and cut it into the thinnest possible slices, beginning at the top; put it into a thick saucepan in which two or three ounces of good butter have been just dissolved; add some pepper and salt, and stew it very slowly indeed for three or four hours in its own juice, keeping it often stirred, and well pressed down. When it is perfectly tender add a tablespoonful of vinegar; mix the whole up thoroughly, heap the cabbage in a hot dish, and serve broiled sausages round it; or omit these last, and substitute lemon-juice, cayenne pepper, and a half-cupful of good gravy.

The stalk of the cabbage should be split in quarters and taken entirely out in the first instance.

3 to 4 hours.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

These delicate little sprouts, or miniature cabbages, which at their fullest growth scarcely exceed a large walnut in size, should be quite freshly gathered. Free them from all discoloured leaves, cut the stems even, and wash the sprouts thoroughly. Throw them into a pan of water properly salted, and boil them quickly from eight to ten minutes; drain them well, and serve them upon a rather thick round of toasted bread buttered on both sides. Send good melted butter to table with them. This is the Belgian mode of dressing this excellent vegetable, which is served in France with the sauce poured over it, or it is tossed in a stewpan with a slice of butter and some pepper and salt: a spoonful or two of veal gravy (and sometimes a little lemon-juice) is added when these are perfectly mixed.

8 to 10 minutes.

SALSIFY.

We are surprised that a vegetable so excellent as this should be so little cared for in England. Delicately fried in batter—which is a common mode of serving it abroad—it forms a delicious second course dish: it is also good when plain-boiled, drained, and served in gravy, or even with melted butter. Wash the roots, scrape gently off the dark outside skin, and throw them into cold water as they are done, to prevent their turning black; cut them into lengths of three or four inches, and when all are ready put them into plenty of boiling water with a little salt, a small bit of butter, and a couple of spoonsful of white vinegar or the juice of a lemon: they will be done in from three quarters of an hour to an hour. Try them with a fork, and when perfectly tender, drain, and serve them with white sauce, rich brown gravy, or melted butter.

3/4 to 1 hour.

FRIED SALSIFY. (ENTREMETS.)

Boil the salsify tender, as directed above, drain, and then press it lightly in a soft cloth. Make some French batter (see Chapter V.), throw the bits of salsify into it, take them out separately, and fry them a light brown, drain them well from the fat, sprinkle a little fine salt over them after they are dished, and serve them quickly. At English tables, salsify occasionally makes its appearance fried with egg and bread-crumbs instead of batter. Scorgonera is dressed in precisely the same manner as the salsify.

BOILED CELERY.

This vegetable is extremely good dressed like sea-kale, and served on a toast with rich melted butter. Let it be freshly dug, wash it with great nicety, trim the ends, take off the coarse outer-leaves, cut the roots of equal length, tie them in bunches, and boil them in plenty of water, with the usual proportion of salt, from twenty to thirty minutes.

20 to 30 minutes.

STEWED CELERY.

Cut five or six fine roots of celery to the length of the inside of the dish in which they are to be served; free them from all the coarser leaves, and from the green tops, trim the root ends neatly, and wash the vegetable in several waters until it is as clean as possible; then, either boil it tender with a little salt, and a bit of fresh butter the size of a walnut, in just sufficient water to cover it quite, drain it well, arrange it on a very hot dish, and pour a thick béchamel, or white sauce over it; or stew it in broth or common stock, and serve it with very rich, thickened, Espagnole or brown gravy. It has a higher flavour when partially stewed in the sauce, after being drained thoroughly from the broth. Unless very large and old, it will be done in from twenty-five to thirty minutes, but if not quite tender, longer time must be allowed for it. A cheap and expeditious method of preparing this dish is to slice the celery, to simmer it until soft in as much good broth as will only just cover it, and to add a thickening of flour and butter, or arrow-root, with some salt, pepper, and a small cupful of cream.

25 to 30 minutes, or more.

STEWED ONIONS.

Strip the outer skin from four or five fine Portugal onions, and trim the ends, but without cutting into the vegetable; arrange them in a saucepan of sufficient size to contain them all in one layer, just cover them with good beef or veal gravy, and stew them very gently indeed for a couple of hours: they should be tender quite through, but should not be allowed to fall to pieces. When large, but not mild onions are used, they should be first boiled for half an hour in plenty of water, then drained from it, and put into boiling gravy: strong, well-flavoured broth of veal or beef, is sometimes substituted for this, and with the addition of a little catsup, spice, and thickening, answers very well. The savour of this dish is heightened by flouring lightly and frying the onions of a pale brown before they are stewed.

Portugal onions, 4 or 5 (if fried, 15 to 20 minutes); broth or gravy, 1 to 1-1/2 pint: nearly or quite 2 hours.

Obs.—When the quantity of gravy is considered too much, the onions may be only half covered, and turned when the under side is tender, but longer time must then be allowed for stewing them.

STEWED CHESTNUTS.

Strip the outer rind from forty or fifty fine sound Spanish chestnuts, throw them into a large saucepan of hot water, and bring it to the point of boiling; when the second skin parts from them easily, lift them out, and throw them into plenty of cold water; peel, and wipe them dry; then put them into a stewpan or bright saucepan, with as much highly-flavoured cold beef or veal gravy as will nearly cover them, and stew them very gently from three-quarters of an hour to a full hour: they should be quite tender, but unbroken. Add salt, cayenne, and thickening if required, and serve the chestnuts in their gravy. We have found it an improvement to have them floured and lightly browned in a little good butter before they are stewed, and also to add some thin strips of fresh lemon-rind to the gravy.

Chestnuts, 40 or 50; gravy, 3/4 pint, or more: 3/4 to 1 hour.

Obs.—A couple of bay-leaves and a slice of lean ham will give an improved flavour to the sauce should it not be sufficiently rich: the ham should be laid under the chestnuts, but not served with them. When these are to be browned, or even otherwise, they may be freed readily from the second skin by shaking them with a small bit of butter in a frying-pan over a gentle fire.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Pastry.

Timbale or Paté Chaud.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Raised Pie Mould.

The greatest possible cleanliness and nicety should be observed in making pastry. The slab or board, paste-rollers, tins, cutters, moulds, everything, in fact, used for it, and especially the hands, should be equally free from the slightest soil or particle of dust. The more expeditiously the finer kinds of paste are made and despatched to the oven, and the less they are touched the better. Much of their excellence depends upon the baking also. They should have a sufficient degree of heat to raise them quickly, but not so fierce a one as to colour them too much before they are done, and still less to burn them. The oven door should remain closed after they are put in, and not removed until the paste is set. Large raised pies require a steadily sustained, or, what is technically called a soaking heat, and to ensure this the oven should be made very hot, then cleared, and closely shut from half to a whole hour before it is used, to concentrate the heat. It is an advantage in this case to have a large log or two of cord-wood burned in it, in addition to the usual fuel.

In mixing paste, the water should be added gradually, and the whole gently drawn together with the fingers, until sufficient has been added, when it should be lightly kneaded until it is as smooth as possible. When carelessly made, the surface is often left covered with small dry crumbs or lumps; or the water is poured in heedlessly in so large a proportion that it becomes necessary to add more flour to render it workable in any way; and this ought particularly to be avoided when a certain weight of all the ingredients has been taken.

TO GLAZE OR ICE PASTRY.[112]

112.  For other pastry icings see chapter of “cakes.”.

The fine yellow glaze appropriate to meat pies is given with beaten yolk of egg, which should be laid on with a paste brush, or a small bunch of feathers: if a lighter colour be wished for, whisk the whole of the egg together, or mix a little milk with the yolk.

The best mode of icing fruit-tarts before they are sent to the oven is, to moisten the paste with cold water, to sift sugar thickly upon it, and to press it lightly on with the hand; but when a whiter icing is preferred, the pastry must be drawn from the oven when nearly baked, and brushed with white of egg, wisked to a froth; then well covered with the sifted sugar, and sprinkled with a few drops of water before it is put in again: this glazing answers also very well, though it takes a slight colour, if used before the pastry is baked.

FEUILLETAGE, OR FINE FRENCH PUFF PASTE.

This, when made by a good French cook, is the perfection of rich light paste, and will rise in the oven from one to six inches in height: but some practice is, without doubt, necessary to accomplish this. In summer it is a great advantage to have ice at hand, and to harden the butter over it before it is used; the paste also between the intervals of rolling is improved by being laid on an oven-leaf over a vessel containing it. Take an equal weight of good butter free from the coarse salt which is found in some, and which is disadvantageous for this paste, and of fine dry, sifted flour; to each pound of these allow the yolks of a couple of eggs, and a small teaspoonful of salt. Break a few small bits of the butter very lightly into the flour, put the salt into the centre, and pour on it sufficient water to dissolve it (we do not understand why the doing this should be better than mixing it with the flour, as in other pastes, but such is the method always pursued for it); add a little more water to the eggs, moisten the flour gradually, and make it into a very smooth paste, rather lithe in summer, and never exceedingly stiff, though the opposite fault, in the extreme, would render the crust unmanageable. Press, in a soft thin cloth, all the moisture from the remainder of the butter and form it into a ball, but in doing this be careful not to soften it too much. Should it be in an unfit state for pastry from the heat of the weather, put it into a basin, and set the basin into a pan of water mixed with plenty of salt and saltpetre, and let it remain in a cool place for an hour if possible before it is used. When it is ready (and the paste should never be commenced until it is so), roll the crust out square,[113] and of sufficient size to enclose the butter, flatten this a little upon it in the centre, and then fold the crust well over it, and roll it out thin as lightly as possible, after having dredged the board and paste roller with a little flour: this is called giving it one turn. Then fold it in three, give it another turn, and set it aside where it will be very cool, for a few minutes; give it two more turns in the same way, rolling it each time very lightly but of equal thickness, and to the full length that it will reach, taking always especial care that the butter shall not break through the paste. Let it again be set aside to become cold; and after it has been twice more rolled and folded in three, give it a half turn, by folding it once only, and it will be ready for use.

113.  The learner will perhaps find it easier to fold the paste securely round it in the form of a dumpling, until a little experience has been acquired.

Equal weight of the finest flour and good butter; to each pound of these, the yolks of two eggs, and a small saltspoonful of salt: 6-1/2 turns to be given to the paste.

VERY GOOD LIGHT PASTE.

Mix with a pound of sifted flour six ounces of fresh, pure lard, and make them into a smooth paste with cold water; press the buttermilk from ten ounces of butter, and form it into a ball, by twisting it in a clean cloth. Roll out the paste, put the ball of butter in the middle, close it like an apple-dumpling, and roll it very lightly until it is less than an inch thick; fold the ends into the middle, dust a little flour over the board and paste-roller, and roll the paste thin a second time, then set it aside for three or four minutes in a very cool place; give it two more turns, after it has again been left for a few minutes, roll it out twice more, folding it each time in three. This ought to render it fit for use. The sooner this paste is sent to the oven after it is made, the lighter it will be: if allowed to remain long before it is baked, it will be tough and heavy.

Flour, 1 lb.; lard, 6 oz.; butter, 10 oz.; little salt.

ENGLISH PUFF-PASTE.

Break lightly into a couple of pounds of dried and sifted flour eight ounces of butter; add a pinch of salt, and sufficient cold water to make the paste; work it as quickly and as lightly as possible, until it is smooth and pliable, then level it with the paste-roller until it is three-quarters of an inch thick, and place regularly upon it six ounces of butter in small bits; fold the paste like a blanket pudding, roll it out again, lay on it six ounces more of butter, repeat the rolling, dusting each time a little flour over the board and paste, add again six ounces of butter, and roll the paste out thin three or four times, folding the ends into the middle.

Flour, 2 lbs.; little salt; butter, 1 lb. 10 oz.

If very rich paste be required, equal portions of flour and butter must be used; and the latter may be divided into two, instead of three parts, when it is to be rolled in.

CREAM CRUST.

(Authors Receipt. Very good.)

Stir a little fine salt into a pound of dry flour, and mix gradually with it sufficient very thick, sweet cream to form a smooth paste; it will be found sufficiently good for common family dinners, without the addition of butter; but to make an excellent crust, roll in four ounces in the usual way, after having given the paste a couple of turns. Handle it as lightly as possible in making it, and send it to the oven as soon as it is ready: it may be used for fruit tarts, cannelons, puffs, and other varieties of small pastry, or for good meat pies. Six ounces of butter to the pound of flour will give a very rich crust.

Flour, 1 lb.; salt, 1 small saltspoonful (more for meat pies); rich cream, 1/2 to 3/4 pint; butter, 4 oz.; for richest crust, 6 oz.

PATE BRISÉE, OR FRENCH CRUST FOR HOT OR COLD MEAT PIES.

Sift two pounds and a quarter of fine dry flour, and break into it one pound of butter, work them together with the fingers until they resemble fine crumbs of bread, then add a small teaspoonful of salt, and make them into a firm paste, with the yolks of four eggs, well beaten, mixed with half a pint of cold water, and strained; or for a somewhat richer crust of the same kind, take two pounds of flour, one of butter, the yolks of four eggs, half an ounce of salt, and less than the half pint of water, and work the whole well until the paste is perfectly smooth.

Flour, 2-1/4 lbs.; butter, 1 lb.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful; yolks of eggs, 4; water, 1/2 pint. Or: flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 1 lb.; yolks of eggs, 4; water, less than 1/2 pint.

FLEAD CRUST.

Flead is the provincial name for the leaf, or inside fat of a pig, which makes excellent crust when fresh, much finer, indeed, than after it is melted into lard. Clear it quite from skin, and slice it very thin into the flour, add sufficient salt to give flavour to the paste, and make the whole up smooth and firm with cold water; lay it on a clean dresser, and beat it forcibly with a rolling-pin until the flead is blended perfectly with the flour. It may then be made into cakes with a paste-cutter, or used for pies, round the edges of which a knife should be passed, as the crust rises better when cut than if merely rolled to the proper size. With the addition of a small quantity of butter, which may either be broken into the flour before the flead is mixed with it, or rolled into the paste after it is beaten, it will be found equal to fine puff crust, with the advantage of being more easy of digestion.

Quite common crust: flour, 1-1/4 lb.; flead, 8 oz.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful. Good common crust: flour, 1 lb.; flead, 6 oz.; butter, 2 oz. Rich crust: flead, 3/4 lb.; butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 lb. The crust is very good when made without any butter.

COMMON SUET-CRUST FOR PIES.

In many families this is preferred both for pies and tarts, to crust made with butter, as being much more wholesome; but it should never be served unless especially ordered, as it is to some persons peculiarly distasteful. Chop the suet extremely small, and add from six to eight ounces of it to a pound of flour, with a few grains of salt; mix these with cold water into a firm paste, and work it very smooth. Some cooks beat it with a paste-roller, until the suet is perfectly blended with flour; but the crust is lighter without this. In exceedingly sultry weather the suet, not being firm enough to chop, may be sliced as thin as possible, and well beaten into the paste after it is worked up.

Flour, 2 lbs.; beef or veal kidney-suet, 12 to 16 oz.; salt (for fruit-pies), 1/4 teaspoonful, for meat-pies, 1 teaspoonful.

VERY SUPERIOR SUET-CRUST.

Strip the skin entirely from some fresh veal or beef kidney-suet; chop, and then put it into the mortar, with a small quantity of pure-flavoured lard, oil, or butter, and pound it perfectly smooth: it may then be used for crust in the same way that butter is, in making puff-paste, and in this form will be found a most excellent substitute for it, for hot pies or tarts. It is not quite so good for those which are to be served cold. Eight ounces of suet pounded with two of butter, and worked with the fingers into a pound of flour, will make an exceedingly good short crust; but for a very rich one the proportion must be increased.

Good short crust: flour, 1 lb.; suet, 8 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful. Richer crust: suet, 16 oz.; butter, 4 oz.; flour, 1-1/2 lb.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful.

VERY RICH SHORT CRUST FOR TARTS.

Break lightly, with the least possible handling, six ounces of butter into eight of flour; add a dessertspoonful of pounded sugar, and two or three of water; roll the paste, for several minutes, to blend the ingredients well, folding it together like puff-crust, and touch it as little as possible.

Flour, 8 oz.; butter, 6 oz.; pounded sugar, 1 dessertspoonful; water, 1 to 2 spoonsful.

EXCELLENT SHORT CRUST FOR SWEET PASTRY.

Crumble down very lightly half a pound of butter into a pound of flour, breaking it quite small. Mix well with these a slight pinch of salt and two ounces of sifted sugar, and add sufficient milk to make them up into a very smooth and somewhat firm paste. Bake this slowly, and keep it pale. It will be found an admirable crust if well made and lightly handled, and will answer for many dishes much better than puff-paste. It will rise in the oven too, and be extremely light. Ten ounces of butter will render it very rich, but we find eight quite sufficient.

BRIOCHE PASTE.

The brioche is a rich, light kind of unsweetened bun or cake, very commonly sold, and served to all classes of people in France, where it is made in great perfection by good cooks and pastry cooks. It is fashionable now at English tables, though in a different form, serving principally as a crust to enclose rissoles, or to make cannelons and fritters. We have seen it recommended for a vol-au-vent, for which we should say it does not answer by any means so well as the fine puff-paste called feuilletage. The large proportion of butter and eggs which it contains render it to many persons highly indigestible; and we mention this to warn invalids against it, as we have known it to cause great suffering to persons out of health. To make it, take a couple of pounds[114] of fine dry flour, sifted as for cakes, and separate eight ounces of this from the remainder to make the leaven. Put it into a small pan, and mix it lightly into a lithe paste, with half an ounce of yeast, and a spoonful or two of warm water; make two or three slight incisions across the top, throw a cloth over the pan, and place it near the fire for about twenty minutes to rise. In the interval make a hollow space in the centre of the remainder of the flour, and put into it half an ounce of salt, as much fine sifted sugar, and half a gill of cream, or a dessertspoonful of water; add a pound of butter as free from moisture as it can be, and quite so from large grains of salt; cut it into small bits, put it into the flour, and pour on it one by one six fresh eggs freed from the specks; then with the fingers work the flour gently into this mass until the whole forms a perfectly smooth, and not stiff paste: a seventh egg, or the yolk of one, or even of two, may be added with advantage if the flour will absorb them; but the brioche must always be workable, and not so moist as to adhere to the board and roller disagreeably. When the leaven is well risen spread this paste out, and the leaven over it; mix them well together with the hands, then cut the whole into several portions, and change them about that the leaven may be incorporated perfectly and equally with the other ingredients: when this is done, and the brioche is perfectly smooth and pliable, dust some flour on a cloth, roll the brioche in it, and lay it into a pan. Place it in summer in a cool place, in winter in a warm one. It is usually made over-night, and baked in the early part of the following day. It should then be kneaded up afresh the first thing in the morning. To mould it in the usual form, make it into balls of uniform size, hollow these a little at the top by pressing the thumb round them, brush them over with yolk of egg, and put a second much smaller ball into the hollow part of each; glaze them entirely with yolk of egg, and send them to a quick oven for half an hour or more. The paste may also be made into the form of a large cake, then placed on a tin, or copper oven-leaf, and supported with a pasteboard in the baking; for the form of which see introductory page of Chapter XXVII.

114.  It should be remarked, that the directions for brioche-making are principally derived from the French, and that the pound in their country weighs two ounces more than with us: this difference will account for the difficulty of working in the number of eggs which they generally specify, and which render the paste too moist.

Flour, 2 lbs.; yeast, 1/2 oz.; salt and sugar, each 1/2 oz.; butter, 1 lb.; eggs, 6 to 8.

MODERN POTATO PASTY.

(An excellent family dish.)

A tin mould of the construction shown in the plate, with a perforated moveable top, and a small valve to allow the escape of the steam, must be had for this pasty, which is a good family dish, and which may be varied in numberless ways. Arrange at the bottom of the mould from two to three pounds of mutton cutlets, freed, according to the taste, from all, or from the greater portion of the fat, then washed, lightly dredged on both sides with flour, and seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne. Pour to them sufficient broth or water to make the gravy, and add to it at pleasure, a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup or of Harvey’s sauce. Have ready boiled, and very smoothly mashed, with about an ounce of butter, and a spoonful or two of milk or cream to each pound, as many good potatoes as will form a crust to the pasty of quite three inches thick; put the cover on the mould and arrange these equally upon it, leaving them a little rough on the surface. Bake the pasty in a moderate oven from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter, according to its size and its contents. Pin a folded napkin neatly round the mould, before it is served, and have ready a hot dish to receive the cover, which must not be lifted off until after the pasty is on the table.

Chicken, or veal and oysters; delicate pork chops with a seasoning of sage and a little parboiled onion, or an eschalot or two finely minced; partridges or rabbits neatly carved, mixed with small mushrooms, and moistened with a little good stock, will all give excellent varieties of this dish, which may be made likewise with highly seasoned slices of salmon freed from the skin, sprinkled with fine herbs or intermixed with shrimps; clarified butter, rich veal stock, or good white wine, may be poured to them to form the gravy. To thicken this, a little flour should be dredged upon the fish before it is laid into the mould. Other kinds, such as cod, mullet, mackerel in fillets, salt fish (previously kept at the point of boiling until three parts done, then pulled into flakes, and put into the mould with hard eggs sliced, a little cream, flour, butter, cayenne, and anchovy-essence, and baked with mashed parsneps on the top), will all answer well for this pasty. Veal, when used for it, should be well beaten first: sweetbreads, sliced, may be laid in with it. For a pasty of moderate size, two pounds, or two and a half of meat, and from three to four of potatoes, will be sufficient; a quarter of a pint of milk or cream, two small teaspoonsful of salt, and from one to two ounces of butter must be mixed up with these last.[115]

115.  A larger proportion of cream and butter well dried into the potatoes over a gentle fire after they are mashed, will render the crust of the pasty richer and finer.

CASSEROLE OF RICE.

Proceed exactly as for Gabrielle’s pudding (see Chapter XXI.), but substitute good veal broth or stock for the milk, and add a couple of ounces more of butter. Fill the casserole when it is emptied, with a rich mince or fricassee, or with stewed oysters in a béchamel sauce. French cooks make a very troublesome and elaborate affair of this dish, putting to the rice to make it “mellow,” a great deal of pot-top fat, slices of fat ham, &c., which must afterwards be well drained off, or picked out from it; but the dish, made as we have directed, will be found excellent eating, and of very elegant appearance, if it be moulded in a tasteful shape. It must have a quick oven to colour, without too much drying it. The rice for it must be boiled sufficiently tender to be crushed easily to a smooth paste, and it must be mashed with a strong wooden spoon against the sides of the stewpan until all the grains are broken. It may then, when cool, be made like a raised pie with the hands, and decorated with a design formed on it with a carrot cut into a point like a graver. For a large casserole, a pound of rice and a quart of gravy will be required: a bit of bread is sometimes used in filling the mould, cut to the shape, and occupying nearly half the inside, but always so as to leave a thick and compact crust in every part. Part of the rice which is scooped from the inside is sometimes mixed with the mince, or other preparation, with which the casserole is filled.

A GOOD COMMON ENGLISH GAME PIE.

Raise the flesh entire from the upper side of the best end of a well-kept neck of venison, trim it to the length of the dish in which the pie is to be served, and rub it with a mixture of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg. Cut down into joints a fine young hare which has hung from eight to fourteen days, bone the back and thighs, and fill them with forcemeat No. 1 (Chapter VIII., page 157), but put into it a double portion of butter, and a small quantity of minced eschalots, should their flavour be liked, and the raw liver of the hare, chopped small. Line the dish with a rich short crust (see page 337), lay the venison in the centre, and the hare closely round and on it; fill the vacant spaces with more forcemeat, add a few spoonsful of well-jellied gravy, fasten on the cover securely, ornament it or not, at pleasure, and bake the pie for two hours in a well heated oven. The remnants and bones of the hare and venison may be stewed down into a small quantity of excellent soup, or with a less proportion of water into an admirable gravy, part of which, after having been cleared from fat, may be poured into the pie. The jelly, added to its contents at first, can be made, when no such stock is at hand, of a couple of pounds of shin of beef, boiled down in a quart of water, which must be reduced quite half, and seasoned only with a good slice of lean ham, a few peppercorns, seven or eight cloves, a blade of mace, and a little salt. One pound and a half of flour will be sufficient for the crust; this, when it is so preferred, may be laid round the sides only of the dish, instead of entirely over it. The prime joints of a second hare may be substituted for the venison when it can be more easily procured; but the pie made entirely of venison, without the forcemeat, will be far better.

Baked 2 hours.

Obs.—These same ingredients will make an excellent raised pie, if the venison be divided and intermixed with the hare: the whole should be highly seasoned, and all the cavities filled with the forcemeat No. 18 (Chapter VIII.),[116] or with the truffled sausage-meat of page 263. The top, before the paste is laid over, should be covered with slices of fat bacon, or with plenty of butter, to prevent the surface of the meat from becoming hard. No liquid is to be put into the pie until after it is baked, if at all. It will require from half to a full hour more of the oven than if baked in a dish.

116.  The second or third forcemeat mentioned under this No. (18), would be the most appropriate for a game pie.

MODERN CHICKEN PIE.

Skin, and cut down into joints a couple of fowls, take out all the bones and season the flesh highly with salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg; line a dish with a thin paste, and spread over it a layer of the finest sausage-meat, which has previously been moistened with a spoonful or two of cold water; over this place closely together some of the boned chicken joints, then more sausage-meat, and continue thus with alternate layers of each, until the dish is full; roll out, and fasten securely at the edges, a cover half an inch thick, trim off the superfluous paste, make an incision in the top, lay some paste leaves round it, glaze the whole with yolk of egg, and bake the pie from an hour and a half to two hours in a well heated oven. Lay a sheet or two of writing-paper over the crust, should it brown too quickly. Minced herbs can be mixed with the sausage-meat at pleasure, and a small quantity of eschalot also, when its flavour is much liked: it should be well moistened with water, or the whole will be unpalatably dry. The pie may be served hot or cold, but we would rather recommend the latter.

A couple of very young tender rabbits will answer exceedingly well for it instead of fowls, and a border, or half paste in the dish will generally be preferred to an entire lining of the crust, which is now but rarely served, unless for pastry, which is to be taken out of the dish or mould in which it is baked before it is sent to table.

A COMMON CHICKEN PIE.

Prepare the fowls as for boiling, cut them down into joints, and season them with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg or pounded mace; arrange them neatly in a dish bordered with paste, lay amongst them three or four fresh eggs boiled hard, and cut in halves, pour in some cold water, put on a thick cover, pare the edge, and ornament it, make a hole in the centre, lay a roll of paste, or a few leaves round it, and bake the pie in a moderate oven from an hour to an hour and a half. The back and neck bones may be boiled down with a bit or two of lean ham, to make a little additional gravy, which can be poured into the pie after it is baked.

PIGEON PIE.

Lay a border of fine puff paste round a large dish, and cover the bottom with a veal cutlet or tender rump steak, free from fat and bone, and seasoned with salt, cayenne, and nutmeg or pounded mace; prepare with great nicety as many freshly-killed young pigeons as the dish will contain in one layer; put into each a slice or ball of butter, seasoned with a little cayenne and mace, lay them into the dish with the breasts downwards, and between and over them put the yolks of half a dozen or more of hard-boiled eggs; stick plenty of butter on them, season the whole well with salt and spice, pour in some cold water or veal broth for the gravy, roll out the cover three-quarters of an inch thick, secure it well round the edge, ornament it highly, and bake the pie for an hour or more in a well-heated oven. It is a great improvement to fill the birds with small mushroom-buttons, prepared as for partridges (see Chapter XV.): their livers also may be put into them.

BEEF-STEAK PIE.

From a couple to three pounds of rump-steak will be sufficient for a good family pie. It should be well kept though perfectly sweet, for in no form can tainted meat be more offensive than when it is enclosed in paste. Trim off the coarse skin, and part of the fat should there be much of it (many eaters dislike it altogether in pies, and when this is the case every morsel should be carefully cut away). If the beef should not appear very tender, it may be gently beaten with a paste-roller until the fibre is broken, then divided into slices half as large as the hand, and laid into a dish bordered with paste. It should be seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and sufficient water poured in to make the gravy, and keep the meat moist. Lay on the cover, and be careful always to brush the edge in every part with egg or cold water, then join it securely to the paste which is round the rim, trim both off close to the dish, pass the point of the knife through the middle of the cover, lay some slight roll or ornament of paste round it, and decorate the border of the pie in any of the usual modes, which are too common to require description. Send the pie to a well-heated, but not fierce oven for about an hour and twenty minutes. To make a richer beef-steak pie put bearded oysters in alternate layers with the meat, add their strained liquor to a little good gravy in which the beards may be simmered for a few minutes to give it further flavour, and make a light puff paste for the crust. Some caters like it seasoned with a small portion of minced onion or eschalot when the oysters are omitted. Mushrooms improve all meat-pies. Veal pies may be made by this receipt, or by the second of those which follow. Slices of lean ham, or parboiled ox-tongue, may be added to them.

1 to 1-1/2 hour.

COMMON MUTTON PIE.

A pound and a quarter of flour will make sufficient paste for a moderate-sized pie, and two pounds of mutton freed from the greater portion of the fat will fill it. Butter a dish and line it with about half the paste rolled thin; lay in the mutton evenly, and sprinkle over it three-quarters of an ounce of salt, and from half to a whole teaspoonful of pepper according to the taste; pour in cold water to within an inch of the brim. Roll the cover, which should be quite half an inch thick, to the size of the dish; wet the edges of the paste with cold water or white of egg, be careful to close them securely, cut them off close to the rim of the dish, stick the point of the knife through the centre, and bake the pie an hour and a quarter in a well-heated oven.

Flour, 1-1/4 lb.; minced suet rather less than 1/2 lb.; or, butter, 4 oz., and very pure lard, 2 or 3 oz.; mutton, 2 lbs.; salt, 3/4 oz.; pepper, half to a whole teaspoonful; water, 1/4 pint: 1-1/4 hour.

A GOOD MUTTON PIE.

Lay a half-paste of short or of puff crust round a buttered dish, take the whole or part of a loin of mutton, strip off the fat entirely, and raise the flesh clear from the bones without dividing it, then slice it into cutlets of equal thickness, season them well with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and strew between the layers some finely-minced herbs mixed with two or three eschalots, when the flavour of these last is liked; or omit them, and roll quite thin some good forcemeat (which can be flavoured with a little minced eschalot at pleasure), and lay it between the cutlets: two or three mutton kidneys intermingled with the meat will greatly enrich the gravy; pour in a little cold water, roll the cover half an inch thick, or more should the crust be short, as it will not rise like puff paste, close the pie very securely, trim the edges even with the dish, ornament the pie according to the taste, make a hole in the centre, and bake it from an hour and a half to a couple of hours. The proportions of paste and meat may be ascertained by consulting the last receipt. Gravy made with part of the bones, quite cleared from fat, and left to become cold, may be used to fill the pie instead of water.

RAISED PIES.

Raised Pie.

These may be made of any size, and with any kind of meat, poultry, or game, but the whole must be entirely free from bone. When the crust is not to be eaten, it is made simply with a few ounces of lard or butter dissolved in boiling water, with which the flour is to be mixed (with a spoon at first, as the heat would be too great for the hands, but afterwards with the fingers) to a smooth and firm paste. The French, who excel greatly in this form of pie,[117] use for it a good crust which they call a pâté brisée (see page 347), and this is eaten usually with the meat which it contains. In either case the paste must be sufficiently stiff to retain its form perfectly after it is raised, as it will have no support to prevent its falling. The celebrated Monsieur Ude gives the following directions for moulding it to a proper shape without difficulty; and as inexperienced cooks generally find a little at first in giving a good appearance to these pies, we copy his instructions for them: “Take a lump of paste proportionate to the size of the pie you are to make, mould it in the shape of a sugar loaf, put it upright on the table, then with the palms of your hands flatten the sides of it; when you have equalized it all round and it is quite smooth, squeeze the middle of the point down to half the height of the paste,” then hollow the inside by pressing it with the fingers, and in doing this be careful to keep it in every part of equal thickness. Fill it,[118] roll out the cover, egg the edges, press them securely together, make a hole in the centre, lay a roll of paste round it, and encircle this with a wreath of leaves, or ornament the pie in any other way, according to the taste; glaze it with beaten yolk of egg, and bake it from two to three hours in a well-heated oven if it be small, and from four to five hours if it be large; though the time must be regulated in some measure by the nature of the contents, as well as by the size of the dish.

117.  We remember having partaken of one which was brought from Bordeaux, and which contained a small boned ham of delicious flavour, surmounted by boned partridges, above which were placed fine larks likewise boned; all the interstices were filled with super-excellent forcemeat, and the whole, being a solid mass of nourishing viands, would have formed an admirable traveller’s larder in itself.

118.  For the mode of doing this, see observations, page 253, and Chapter XXXIV. A ham must be boiled or stewed tender, and freed from the skin and blackened parts before it is laid in; poultry and game boned; and all meat highly seasoned.

Obs.—We know not if we have succeeded in making the reader comprehend that this sort of pie (with the exception of the cover, for which a portion must at first be taken off) is made from one solid lump of paste, which, after having been shaped into a cone, as Monsieur Ude directs, or into a high round, or oval form, is hollowed by pressing down the centre with the knuckles, and continuing to knead the inside equally round with the one hand, while the other is pressed close to the outside. It is desirable that the mode of doing this should be once seen by the learner, if possible, as mere verbal instructions are scarcely sufficient to enable the quite-inexperienced cook to comprehend at once the exact form and appearance which should be given to the paste, and some degree of expertness? is always necessary to mould a pie of this kind well with the fingers only. The first attempts should be made with very small pies, which are less difficult to manage.

A VOL-AU-VENT. (ENTRÉE.)

This dish can be successfully made only with the finest and lightest puff-paste (see feuilletage, page 345), as its height, which ought to be from four to five inches, depends entirely on its rising in the oven. Roll it to something more than an inch in thickness, and cut it to the shape and size of the inside of the dish in which it is to be served, or stamp it out with a fluted tin of proper dimensions; then mark the cover evenly about an inch from the edge all round, and ornament it and the border also, with a knife, as fancy may direct; brush yolk of egg quickly over them, and put the vol-au-vent immediately into a brisk oven, that it may rise well, and be finely coloured, but do not allow it to be scorched. In from twenty to thirty minutes, should it appear baked through, as well as sufficiently browned, draw it out, and with the point of a knife detach the cover carefully where it has been marked, and scoop out all the soft unbaked crumb from the inside of the vol-au-vent; then turn it gently on to a sheet of clean paper, to drain the butter from it. At the instant of serving, fill it with a rich fricassee of lobster, or of sweetbreads, or with turbot à la crême, or with the white part of cold roast veal cut in thin collops not larger than a shilling, and heated in good white sauce with oysters (see minced veal and oysters, page 251), or with any other of the preparations which we shall indicate in their proper places, and send it immediately to table. The vol-au-vent, as the reader will perceive, is but the case, or crust, in which various kinds of delicate ragouts are served in an elegant form. As these are most frequently composed of fish, or of meats which have been already dressed, it is an economical as well as an excellent mode of employing such remains. The sauces in which they are heated must be quite thick, for they would otherwise soften, or even run through the crust. This, we ought to observe, should be examined before it is filled, and should any part appear too thin, a portion of the crumb which has been taken out, should be fastened to it with some beaten egg, and the whole of the inside brushed lightly with more egg, in order to make the loose parts of the vol-au-vent stick well together. This method is recommended by an admirable and highly experienced cook, but it need only be resorted to when the crust is not solid enough to hold the contents securely.

For moderate-sized vol-au-vent, flour, 1/2 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; salt, small saltspoonful; yolk, 1 egg; little water. Larger vol-au-vent, 3/4 lb. flour; other ingredients in proportion: baked 20 to 30 minutes.

Obs.—When the vol-au-vent is cut out with the fluted cutter, a second, some sizes smaller, after being just dipped into hot water, should be pressed nearly half through the paste, to mark the cover. The border ought to be from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half wide.

A VOL-AU-VENT OF FRUIT. (ENTREMETS.)

After the crust has been made and baked as above, fill it at the moment of serving with peaches, apricots, mogul, or any other richly flavoured plums, which have been stewed tender in syrup; lift them from this, and keep them hot while it is boiled rapidly almost to jelly; then arrange the fruit in the vol-au-vent, and pour the syrup over it. For the manner of preparing it, see compotes of fruit, Chapter XXIV.; but increase the proportion of sugar nearly half, that the juice may be reduced quickly to the proper consistency for the vol-au-vent. Skin and divide the apricots, and quarter the peaches, unless they should be very small.

VOL-AU-VENT À LA CRÊME. (ENTREMETS.)

After having raised the cover and emptied the vol-au-vent, lay it on a sheet of paper, and let it become cold. Fill it just before it is sent to table with fruit, either boiled down to a rich marmalade, or stewed as for the preceding vol-au-vent, and heap well flavoured, but not too highly sweetened, whipped cream over it. The edge of the crust may be glazed by sifting sugar over it, when it is drawn from the oven, and holding a salamander or red hot shovel above it; or it may be left unglazed, and ornamented with bright coloured fruit jelly.

OYSTER PATTIES.[119] (ENTRÉE).

119.  These patties should be made small, with a thin crust, and well filled with the oysters and their sauce. The substitution of fried crumbs for the covers will vary them very agreeably. For lobster patties, prepare the fish as for a vol-au-vent but cut it smaller.

Line some small pattypans with fine puff-paste, rolled thin and to preserve their form when baked, put a bit of bread into each; lay on the covers, pinch and trim the edges, and send the patties to a brisk oven. Plump and beard from two to three dozens of small oysters; mix very smoothly a teaspoonful of flour with an ounce of butter, put them into a clean saucepan, shake them round over a gentle fire, and let them simmer for two or three minutes; throw in a little salt, pounded mace, and cayenne, then add, by slow degrees, two or three spoonsful of rich cream, give these a boil, and pour in the strained liquor of the oysters; next, lay in the fish, and keep at the point of boiling for a couple of minutes. Raise the covers from the patties, take out the bread, fill them with the oysters and their sauce, and replace the covers. We have found it an improvement to stew the beards of the fish with a strip or two of lemon-peel, in a little good veal stock for a quarter of an hour, then to strain and add it to the sauce. The oysters, unless very small, should be once or twice divided.

COMMON LOBSTER PATTIES.

Prepare the fish for these as directed for fricasseed lobster, Chapter II., increasing a little the proportion of sauce. Fill the patty-cases with the mixture quite hot, and serve immediately.

SUPERLATIVE LOBSTER-PATTIES.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Form into balls about half the size of a filbert either the cutlet-mixture or the pounded lobster of Chapter III., roll them in the sifted coral, warm them through very gently, have ready some hot patty-cases (see page 361), pour into each a small spoonful of rich white sauce, or Sauce à l’Aurore (see page 118), lay the balls round the edge, pile a larger one in the centre, and serve the whole very quickly. The Dresden patties of page 387 may be thus filled.

GOOD CHICKEN PATTIES. (ENTRÉE.)

Raise the white flesh entirely from a young undressed fowl, divide it once or twice, and lay it into a small clean saucepan, in which about an ounce of butter has been dissolved, and just begins to simmer; strew in a slight seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne, and stew the chicken very softly indeed for about ten minutes, taking every precaution against its browning: turn it into a dish with the butter, and its own gravy, and let it become cold. Mince it with a sharp knife; heat it, without allowing it to boil, in a little good white sauce (which may be made of some of the bones of the fowl), and fill ready-baked patty-crusts, or small vol-au-vents with it, just before they are sent to table; or stew the flesh only just sufficiently to render it firm, mix it after it is minced and seasoned with a spoonful or two of strong gravy, fill the patties, and bake them from fifteen to eighteen minutes. It is a great improvement to stew and mince a few mushrooms with the chicken.

The breasts of cold turkeys, fowls, partridges, or pheasants, or the white part of cold veal, minced, heated in a béchamel sauce, will serve at once for patties: they may also be made of cold game, heated in an Espagnole, or in a good brown gravy.

PATTIES À LA PONTIFE. (ENTRÉE.)

(A fast day, or Maigre dish.)

Mince, but not very small, the yolks of six fresh hard-boiled eggs; mince also and mix with them a couple of fine truffles,[120] a large saltspoonful of salt, half the quantity of mace and nutmeg, and a fourth as much of cayenne. Moisten these ingredients with a spoonful of thick cream, or béchamel maigre (see page 109), or with a dessertspoonful of clarified butter; line the patty-moulds, fill them with the mixture, cover, and bake them from twelve to fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. They are excellent made with the cream-crust of page 347.

120.  The bottled ones will answer well for these.

Yolks hard-boiled eggs, 6; truffles, 2 large; seasoning of salt, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne; cream, or béchamel maigre, 1 tablespoonful, or clarified butter, 1 dessertspoonful: baked moderate oven, 12 to 15 minutes.

Obs.—A spoonful or two of jellied stock or gravy, or of good white sauce, converts these into admirable patties: the same ingredients make also very superior rolls or cannelons. For Patties à la Cardinale, small mushroom-buttons stewed as for partridges, Chapter XIII., before they are minced, must be substituted for truffles; and the butter in which they are simmered should be added with them to the eggs.

EXCELLENT MEAT ROLLS.

Pound, as for potting (see page 305), and with the same proportion of butter and of seasonings, some half-roasted veal, chicken, or turkey. Make some forcemeat by the receipt No. 1, Chapter VI., and form it into small rolls, not larger than a finger; wrap twice or thrice as much of the pounded meat equally round each of these, first moistening it with a teaspoonful of water; fold them in good puff-paste, and bake them from fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the crust is perfectly done. A small quantity of the lean of a boiled ham may be finely minced and pounded with the veal, and very small mushrooms, prepared as for a partridge (page 329), may be substituted for the forcemeat.

SMALL VOLS-AU-VENTS, OR PATTY-CASES.

These are quickly and easily made with two round paste-cutters, of which one should be little more than half the size of the other: to give the pastry a better appearance, they should be fluted. Roll out some of the lightest puff-paste to a half-inch of thickness, and with the larger of the tins cut the number of patties required; then dip the edge of the small shape into hot water, and press it about half through them. Bake them in a moderately quick oven from ten to twelve minutes, and when they are done, with the point of a sharp knife, take out the small rounds of crust from the tops, and scoop all the crumb from the inside of the patties, which may then be filled with shrimps, oysters, lobster, chicken, pheasant, or any other of the ordinary varieties of patty meat, prepared with white sauce. Fried crumbs may be laid over them instead of the covers, or these last can be replaced.

For sweet dishes, glaze the pastry, and fill it with rich whipped cream, preserve, or boiled custard; if with the last of these put it back into a very gentle oven until the custards are set.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR TARTLETS.

For a dozen tartlets, cut twenty-four rounds of paste of the usual size, and form twelve of them into rings by pressing the small cutter quite through them; moisten these with cold water, or white of egg, and lay them on the remainder of the rounds of paste, so as to form the rims of the tartlets. Bake them from ten to twelve minutes, fill them with preserve while they are still warm, and place over it a small ornament of paste cut from the remnants, and baked gently of a light colour. Serve the tartlets cold, or if wanted hot for table put them back into the oven for one minute after they are filled.

A SEFTON, OR VEAL CUSTARD.

Pour boiling, a pint of rich, clear, pale veal gravy on six fresh eggs, which have been well beaten and strained: sprinkle in directly the grated rind of a fine lemon, a little cayenne, some salt if needed, and a quarter-teaspoonful of mace. Put a paste border round a dish, pour in, first two ounces of clarified butter, and then the other ingredients; bake the Sefton in a very slow oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes, or until it is quite firm in the middle, and send it to table with a little good gravy. Very highly flavoured game stock, in which a few mushrooms have been stewed, may be used for this dish with great advantage in lieu of veal gravy; and a sauce made of the smallest mushroom buttons, may be served with it in either case. The mixture can be baked in a whole paste, if preferred so, or in well buttered cups; then turned out and covered with the sauce before it is sent to table.

Rich veal or game stock, 1 pint; fresh eggs, 6; rind, 1 lemon; little salt and cayenne; pounded mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; butter, 2 oz.: baked, 25 to 30 minutes, slow oven.

APPLE CAKE, OR GERMAN TART.

Work together with the fingers, ten ounces of butter and a pound of flour, until they resemble fine crumbs of bread; throw in a small pinch of salt, and make them into a firm smooth paste with the yolks of two eggs and a spoonful or two of water. Butter thickly, a plain tin cake, or pie mould (those which open at the sides, see plate, page 344, are best adapted for the purpose); roll out the paste thin, place the mould upon it, trim a bit to its exact size, cover the bottom of the mould with this, then cut a band the height of the sides, and press it smoothly round them, joining the edge, which must be moistened with egg or water, to the bottom crust; and fasten upon them, to prevent their separation, a narrow and thin band of paste, also moistened. Next, fill the mould nearly from the brim with the following marmalade, which must be quite cold when it is put in. Boil together, over a gentle fire at first, but more quickly afterwards, three pounds of good apples with fourteen ounces of pounded sugar, or of the finest Lisbon, the strained juice of a large lemon, three ounces of fresh butter, and a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, or the lightly grated rind of a couple of lemons: when the whole is perfectly smooth and dry, turn it into a pan to cool, and let it be quite cold before it is put into the paste. In early autumn, a larger proportion of sugar may be required, but this can be regulated by the taste. When the mould is filled, roll out the cover, lay it carefully over the marmalade that it may not touch it; and when the cake is securely closed, trim off the superfluous paste, add a little pounded sugar to the parings, spread them out very thin, and cut them into leaves to ornament the top of the cake, round which they may be placed as a sort of wreath.[121] Bake it for an hour in a moderately brisk oven; take it from the mould, and should the sides not be sufficiently coloured put it back for a few minutes into the oven upon a baking tin. Lay a paper over the top, when it is of a fine light brown, to prevent its being too deeply coloured. This cake should be served hot.

121.  Or, instead of these, fasten on it with a little white of egg, after it is taken from the oven, some ready-baked leaves of almond-paste (see page 355), either plain or coloured.

Paste: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 10 oz.; yolks of eggs, 2; little water. Marmalade: apples, 3 lbs.; sugar, 14 oz. (more if needed); juice of lemon, 1; rinds of lemons, 2; butter, 3 oz.: baked, 1 hour.

TOURTE MERINGUÉE, OR TART WITH ROYAL ICING.[122]

122.  The limits to which we are obliged to confine this volume, compel us to omit many receipts which we would gladly insert; we have, therefore, rejected those which may be found in almost every English cookery book, for such as are, we apprehend, less known to the reader: this will account for the small number of receipts for pies and fruit tarts to be found in the present chapter.

Lay a band of fine paste round the rim of a tart-dish, fill it with any kind of fruit mixed with a moderate proportion of sugar, roll out the cover very evenly, moisten the edges of the paste, press them together carefully, and trim them off close to the dish; spread equally over the top, to within rather more than an inch of the edge all round, the whites of three fresh eggs beaten to a quite solid froth and mixed quickly at the moment of using them with three tablespoonsful of dry sifted sugar. Put the tart into a moderately brisk oven, and when the crust has risen well and the icing is set, either lay a sheet of writing-paper lightly over it, or draw it to a part of the oven where it will not take too much colour. This is now a fashionable mode of icing tarts, and greatly improves their appearance.

Bake half an hour.

A GOOD APPLE TART.

A pound and a quarter of apples weighed after they are pared and cored, will be sufficient for a small tart, and four ounces more for one of moderate size. Lay a border of English puff-paste, or of cream-crust round the dish, just dip the apples into water, arrange them very compactly in it, higher in the centre than at the sides, and strew amongst them from three to four ounces of pounded sugar, or more should they be very acid: the grated rind and the strained juice of half a lemon will much improve their flavour. Lay on the cover rolled thin, and ice it or not at pleasure. Send the tart to a moderate oven for about half an hour. This may be converted into the old-fashioned creamed apple tart, by cutting out the cover while it is still quite hot, leaving only about an inch-wide border of paste round the edge, and pouring over the apples when they have become cold, from half to three-quarters of a pint of rich boiled custard. The cover divided into triangular sippets, was formerly stuck round the inside of the tart, but ornamental leaves of pale puff-paste have a better effect. Well-drained whipped cream may be substituted for the custard, and be piled high, and lightly over the fruit.

TART OF VERY YOUNG GREEN APPLES. (GOOD.)

Take very young apples from the tree before the cores are formed, clear off the buds and stalks, wash them well, and fill a tart-dish with them after having rolled them in plenty of sugar, or strew layers of sugar between them; add a very small quantity of water and bake the tart rather slowly, that the fruit may be tender quite through. It will resemble a green apricot-tart if carefully made. We give this receipt from recollection, having had the dish served often formerly, and having found it very good.

BARBERRY TART.

Barberries, with half their weight of fine brown sugar, when they are thoroughly ripe, and with two ounces more when they are not quite so, make an admirable tart. For one of moderate size, put into a dish bordered with paste three quarters of a pound of barberries stripped from their stalks, and six ounces of sugar in alternate layers; pour over them three tablespoonsful of water, put on the cover, and bake the tart for half an hour. Another way of making it is, to line a shallow tin pan with very thin crust, to mix the fruit and sugar well together with a spoon before they are laid in, and to put bars of paste across instead of a cover; or it may be baked without either.[123]

123.  The French make their fruit-tarts generally thus, in large shallow pans. Plums, split and stoned (or if of small kinds, left entire), cherries and currants freed from the stalks, and various other fruits, all rolled in plenty of sugar, are baked in the uncovered crust; or this is baked by itself, and then filled afterwards with fruit previously stewed tender.

THE LADY’S TOURTE, AND CHRISTMAS TOURTE À LA CHÂTELAINE.

Lady’s Tourte.

To make this Tourte, which, when filled, is of pretty appearance, two paste-cutters are requisite, one the size, or nearly so, of the inside of the dish in which the entremets is to be served, the other not more than an inch in diameter, and both of them fluted, as will be seen by the engraving. To make the paste for it, throw a small half saltspoonful of salt into half a pound of the finest flour, and break lightly into it four ounces of fresh butter, which should be firm. Make these up smoothly with cold milk or water, of which nearly a quarter of a pint will be sufficient, unless the butter should be very hard, when a spoonful or two more must be added. Roll the paste out as lightly as possible twice or thrice if needful, to blend the butter thoroughly with it, and each time either fold it in three by wrapping the ends over each other, or fold it over and over like a roll pudding. An additional ounce, or even two, of butter can be used for it when very rich pastry is liked, but the tourte will not then retain its form so well. Roll it out evenly to something more than three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and press the large cutter firmly through it; draw away the superfluous paste, and lay the tourte on a lightly floured baking-tin. Roll the remainder of the paste until it is less than a quarter of an inch thick, and stamp out with the smaller cutter—of which the edge should be dipped into hot water, or slightly encrusted with flour—as many rounds as will form the border of the tourte. In placing them upon it, lay the edge of one over the other just sufficiently to give a shell-like appearance to the whole; and with the finger press lightly on the opposite part of the round to make it adhere to the under paste. Next, with a sharp-pointed knife, make an incision very evenly round the inside of the tourte nearly close to the border, but be extremely careful not to cut too deeply into the paste. Bake it in a gentle oven, from twenty to thirty minutes. When it is done, detach the crust from the centre, where it has been marked with the knife, take out part of the crumb, fill the space high with apricot-jam, or with any other choice preserve, set it again for an instant into the oven, and serve it hot or cold. Spikes of blanched almonds, filberts, or pistachio-nuts, may be strewed over the preserve, when they are considered an improvement; and the border of the pastry may be glazed or ornamented to the fancy; but if well made, it will generally please in its quite simple form. It may be converted into a delicious entrée, by filling it either with oysters, or sliced sweetbreads, stewed, and served in thick, rich, white sauce, or béchamel. Lobster also prepared and moulded as for the new lobster patties of page 359, will form a superior dish even to these.

Obs.—Six ounces of flour, and three of butter, will make sufficient paste for this tourte, when it is required only of the usual moderate size. If richer paste be used for it, it must have two or three additional turns or rollings to prevent its losing its form in the oven.

Christmas Tourte à la Châtelaine.—Make the case for this tourte as for the preceding one, and put sufficient mincemeat to fill it handsomely into a jar, cover it very securely with paste, or with two or three folds of thick paper, and bake it gently for half an hour or longer, should the currants, raisins, &c., not be fully tender. Take out the inside of the tourte, heap the hot mincemeat in it, pour a little fresh brandy over; just touch it with a strip of lighted writing-paper at the door of the dining-room, and serve it in a blaze; or if better liked so, serve it very hot without the brandy, and with Devonshire cream as an accompaniment.[124]

124.  Sufficient of cream for this purpose can easily be prepared from good milk.

GENOISES À LA REINE, OR HER MAJESTY’S PASTRY.

Make some nouilles (see page 5), with the yolks of four fresh eggs, and when they are all cut as directed there, drop them lightly into a pint and a half of boiling cream (new milk will answer quite as well, or a portion of each may be used), in which six ounces of fresh butter have been dissolved. When these have boiled quickly for a minute or two, during which time they must be stirred to prevent their gathering into lumps, add a small pinch of salt, and six ounces of sugar on which the rinds of two lemons have been rasped; place the saucepan over a clear and very gentle fire, and when the mixture has simmered from thirty to forty minutes take it off, stir briskly in the yolks of six eggs, and pour it out upon a delicately clean baking-tin which has been slightly rubbed in every part with butter; level the nouilles with a knife to something less than a quarter of an inch of thickness, and let them be very evenly spread; put them into a moderate oven, and bake them of a fine equal brown: should any air-bladders appear, pierce them with the point of a knife. On taking the paste from the oven, divide it into two equal parts; turn one of these, the underside uppermost, on to a clean tin or a large dish, and spread quickly over it a jar of fine apricot-jam, place the other half upon it, the brown side outwards, and leave the paste to become cold; then stamp it out with a round or diamond-shaped cutter, and arrange the genoises tastefully in a dish. This pastry will be found delicious the day it is baked, but its excellence is destroyed by keeping. Peach, green-gage, or magnum bonum jam, will serve for it quite as well as apricot. We strongly recommend to our readers this preparation, baked in pattypans, and served hot; or the whole quantity made into a pudding. From the smaller ones a little may be taken out with a teaspoon, and replaced with some preserve just before they are sent to table; or they may thus be eaten cold.

Nouilles of 4 eggs; cream or milk, 1-1/2 pint; butter, 6 oz.; sugar 6 oz.; rasped rinds of lemons, 2; grain of salt: 30 to 40 minutes. Yolks of eggs, 6: baked from 15 to 25 minutes.

ALMOND PASTE.

For a single dish of pastry, blanch seven ounces of fine Jordan almonds and one of bitter;[125] throw them into cold water as they are done, and let them remain in it for an hour or two; then wipe, and pound them to the finest paste, moistening them occasionally with a few drops of cold water, to prevent their oiling; next, add to, and mix thoroughly with them, seven ounces of highly-refined, dried, and sifted sugar; put them into a small preserving-pan, or enamelled stewpan, and stir them over a clear and very gentle fire until they are so dry as not to adhere to the finger when touched; turn the paste immediately into an earthen pan or jar, and when cold it will be ready for use.

125.  When these are objected to, use half a pound of the sweet almonds.

Jordan almonds, 7 oz.; bitter almonds, 1 oz.; cold water, 1 tablespoonful; sugar, 7 oz.

Obs.—The pan in which the paste is dried, should by no means be placed upon the fire, but high above it on a bar or trevet: should it be allowed by accident to harden too much, it must be sprinkled plentifully with water, broken up quite small, and worked, as it warms, with a strong wooden spoon to a smooth paste again. We have found this method perfectly successful; but, if time will permit, it should be moistened some hours before it is again set over the fire.

TARTLETS OF ALMOND PASTE.

Butter slightly the smallest-sized pattypans, and line them with the almond-paste rolled as thin as possible; cut it with a sharp knife close to their edges, and bake or rather dry the tartlets slowly at the mouth of a very cool oven. If at all coloured, they should be only of the palest brown; but they will become perfectly crisp without losing their whiteness if left for some hours in a very gently-heated stove or oven. They should be taken from the pans when two-thirds done, and laid, reversed, upon a sheet of paper placed on a dish or board, before they are put back into the oven. At the instant of serving, fill them with bright-coloured whipped cream, or with peach or apricot jam; if the preserve be used, lay over it a small star or other ornament cut from the same paste, and dried with the tartlets. Sifted sugar, instead of flour, must be dredged upon the board and roller in using almond paste. Leaves and flowers formed of it, and dried gradually until perfectly crisp, will keep for a long time in a tin box or canister, and they form elegant decorations for pastry. When a fluted cutter the size of the pattypans is at hand, it will be an improvement to cut out the paste with it, and then to press it lightly into them, as it is rather apt to break when pared off with a knife. To colour it, prepared cochineal, or spinach-green, must be added to it in the mortar.

FAIRY FANCIES.

(Fantaisies de Fées.)

A small, but very inexpensive set of tin cutters must be had for this pretty form of pastry, which is, however, quite worthy of so slight a cost. The short crust, of page 349, answers for it better than puff paste. Roll it thin and very even, and with the larger tin, shaped thus, cut out a dozen or more of small sheets; then, with a couple of round cutters, of which one should be about an inch in diameter, and the other only half the size, form four times the number of rings, and lay them on the sheets in the manner shown in the engraving. The easier mode of placing them regularly, is to raise each ring without removing the small cutter from it, to moisten it with a camel’s hair brush dipped in white of egg, and to lay it on the paste as it is gently loosened from the tin When all the pastry is prepared, set it into a very gentle oven, that it may become crisp and yet remain quite pale. Before it is sent to table, fill the four divisions of each fantaisie with preserve of a different colour. For example: one ring with apple or strawberry jelly, another with apricot jam, a third with peach or green-gage, and a fourth with raspberry jelly. The cases may be iced, and ornamented in various ways before they are baked. They are prettiest when formed of white almond-paste, with pink or pale green rings: they may then be filled, at the instant of serving, with well-drained whipped cream.

MINCEMEAT.

(Author’s Receipt.)

To one pound of an unsalted ox-tongue, boiled tender and cut free from the rind, add two pounds of fine stoned raisins, two of beef kidney-suet, two pounds and a half of currants well cleaned and dried, two of good apples, two and a half of fine Lisbon sugar, from half to a whole pound of candied peel according to the taste, the grated rinds of two large lemons, and two more boiled quite tender, and chopped up entirely, with the exception of the pips, two small nutmegs, half an ounce of salt, a large teaspoonful of pounded mace, rather more of ginger in powder, half a pint of brandy, and as much good sherry or Madeira. Mince these ingredients separately, and mix the others all well before the brandy and the wine are added; press the whole into a jar or jars, and keep it closely covered. It should be stored for a few days before it is used, and will remain good for many weeks. Some persons like a slight flavouring of cloves in addition to the other spices; others add the juice of two or three lemons, and a larger quantity of brandy. The inside of a tender and well-roasted sirloin of beef will answer quite as well as the tongue.

Of a fresh-boiled ox-tongue, or inside of roasted sirloin, 1 lb.; stoned raisins and minced apples, each 2 lbs.; currants and fine Lisbon sugar, each 2-1/2 lbs.; candied orange, lemon or citron rind, 8 to 16 oz.; boiled lemons, 2 large; rinds of two others, grated; salt, 1/2 oz.; nutmegs, 2 small; pounded mace, 1 large teaspoonful, and rather more of ginger; good sherry or Madeira, 1/2 pint; brandy, 1/2 pint.

Obs.—The lemons will be sufficiently boiled in from one hour to one and a quarter.

SUPERLATIVE MINCEMEAT.

Take four large lemons, with their weight of golden pippins pared and cored, of jar-raisins, currants, candied citron and orange-rind, and the finest suet, and a fourth part more of pounded sugar. Boil the lemons tender, chop them small, but be careful first to extract all the pips; add them to the other ingredients, after all have been prepared with great nicety, and mix the whole well with from three to four glasses of good brandy. Apportion salt and spice by the preceding receipt. We think that the weight of one lemon, in meat, improves this mixture; or, in lieu of it, a small quantity of crushed macaroons added just before it is baked.

MINCE PIES. (ENTREMETS.)

Butter some tin pattypans well, and line them evenly with fine puff paste rolled thin; fill them with mincemeat, moisten the edges of the covers, which should be nearly a quarter of an inch thick, close the pies carefully, trim off the superfluous paste, make a small aperture in the centre of the crust with a fork or the point of a knife, ice the pies or not, at pleasure, and bake them half an hour in a well-heated but not fierce oven: lay a paper over them when they are partially done, should they appear likely to take too much colour.

1/2 hour.

MINCE PIES ROYAL. (ENTREMETS.)

Add to half a pound of good mincemeat an ounce and a half of pounded sugar, the grated rind and the strained juice of a large lemon, one ounce of clarified butter, and the yolks of four eggs; beat these well together, and half fill, or rather more, with the mixture, some pattypans lined with fine paste; put them into a moderate oven, and when the insides are just set, ice them thickly with the whites of the eggs beaten to snow, and mixed quickly at the moment with four heaped tablespoonsful of pounded sugar; set them immediately into the oven again, and bake them slowly of a fine light brown.

Mincemeat, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 1-1/2 oz.; rind and juice, 1 large lemon; butter, 1 oz.; yolks, 4 eggs. Icing: whites, 4 eggs; sugar, 4 tablespoonsful.

THE MONITOR’S TART, OR TOURTE À LA JUDD.

Put into an enamelled stewpan, or into a delicately clean saucepan, three quarters of a pound of well-flavoured apples, weighed after they are pared and cored; add to them from three to four ounces of pounded sugar, an ounce and a half of fresh butter cut small, and half a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, or the lightly grated rind of a small lemon. Let them stand over, or by the side of a gentle fire until they begin to soften, and toss them now and then to mingle the whole well, but do not stir them with a spoon; they should all remain unbroken and rather firm. Turn them into a dish, and let them become cold. Divide three-quarters of a pound of good light paste into two equal portions; roll out one quite thin and round, flour an oven-leaf and lay it on, as the tart cannot so well be moved after it is made; place the apples upon it in the form of a dome, but leave a clear space of an inch or more round the edge; moisten this with white of egg, and press the remaining half of the paste (which should be rolled out to the same size, and laid carefully over the apples) closely upon it: they should be well secured, that the syrup from the fruit may not burst through. Whisk the white of an egg to a froth, brush it over the tart with a paste brush or a small bunch of feathers, sift sugar thickly over, and then strew upon it some almonds blanched and roughly chopped; bake the tart in a moderate oven from thirty-five to forty-five minutes. It may be filled with peaches, or apricots, half stewed like the apples, or with cherries merely rolled in fine sugar; or with the pastry cream of page 173.

Light paste, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.; apples, 12 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; glazing of egg and sugar; some almonds: 35 to 45 minutes.

PUDDING PIES. (ENTREMETS.)

This form of pastry (or its name at least) is, we believe, peculiar to the county of Kent, where it is made in abundance, and eaten by all classes of people during Lent. Boil for fifteen minutes three ounces of ground rice[126] in a pint and a half of new milk, and when taken from the fire stir into it three ounces of butter and four of sugar; add to these six well-beaten eggs, a grain or two of salt, and a flavouring of nutmeg or lemon-rind at pleasure. When the mixture is nearly cold, line some large pattypans or some saucers with thin puff paste, fill them with it three parts full, strew the tops thickly with currants which have been cleaned and dried, and bake the pudding-pies from fifteen to twenty minutes in a gentle oven.

126.  Or rice-flour.

Milk, 1-1/2 pint; ground rice, 3 oz.: 15 minutes. Butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 1/4 lb.; nutmeg or lemon-rind; eggs, 6; currants, 4 to 6 oz.: 15 to 30 minutes.

PUDDING PIES.

(A commoner kind.)

One quart of new milk, five ounces of ground rice, butter, one ounce and a half (or more), four ounces of sugar, half a small nutmeg grated, a pinch of salt, four large eggs, and three ounces of currants.

COCOA-NUT CHEESE-CAKES. (ENTREMETS.)

(Jamaica Receipt.)

Break carefully the shell of the nut, that the liquid it contains may not escape.[127] Take out the kernel, pare thinly off the dark skin, and grate the nut on a delicately clean grater; put it, with its weight of pounded sugar, and its own milk, or a couple of spoonsful or rather more of water, into a silver or block-tin saucepan, or a very small copper stewpan perfectly tinned, and keep it gently stirred over a quite clear fire until it is tender: it will sometimes require an hour’s stewing to make it so. When a little cooled, add to the nut, and beat well with it, some eggs properly whisked and strained, and the grated rind of half a lemon. Line some pattypans with fine paste, put in the mixture, and bake the cheese-cakes from thirteen to fifteen minutes.

127.  This, as we have elsewhere stated, is best secured by boring the shell before it is broken. The milk of the nut should never be used unless it be very fresh.

Grated cocoa-nut, 6 oz.; sugar, 6 oz.; the milk of the nut, or of water, 2 large tablespoonsful: 1/2 to 1 hour. Eggs, 5; lemon-rind, 1/2 of 1: 13 to 15 minutes.

Obs.—We have found the cheese-cakes made with these proportions very excellent indeed, but should the mixture be considered too sweet, another egg or two can be added, and a little brandy also. With a spoonful or two more of liquid too, the nut would become tender in a shorter time.

COMMON LEMON TARTLETS.

Beat four eggs until they are exceedingly light, add to them gradually four ounces of pounded sugar, and whisk these together for five minutes; strew lightly in, if it be at hand, a dessertspoonful of potato flour, if not, of common flour well dried and sifted,[128] then throw into the mixture by slow degrees, three ounces of good butter, which should be dissolved, but only just lukewarm: beat the whole well, then stir briskly in, the strained juice and the grated rind of one lemon and a half. Line some pattypans with fine puff-paste rolled very thin, fill them two-thirds full, and bake the tartlets about twenty minutes, in a moderate oven.

128.  A few ratifias, or three or four macaroons rolled to powder, or a stale sponge or Naples biscuit or two, reduced to the finest crumbs, may be substituted for either of these: more lemon, too, can be added to the taste.

Eggs, 4; sugar, 4 oz.; potato-flour, or common flour, 1 dessertspoonful; butter, 3 oz.; juice and rind of 1-1/2 full-sized lemon: baked 15 to 20 minutes.

MADAME WERNER’S ROSENVIK CHEESE-CAKES.

Blanch and pound to the finest possible paste, four ounces of fine fresh Jordan almonds, with a few drops of lemon-juice or water, then mix with them, very gradually indeed, six fresh, and thoroughly well-whisked eggs; throw in by degrees twelve ounces of pounded sugar, and beat the mixture without intermission all the time: add then the finely grated rinds of four small, or of three large lemons, and afterwards, by very slow degrees, the strained juice of all. When these ingredients are perfectly blended, pour to them in small portions, four ounces of just liquefied butter (six of clarified if exceedingly rich cheese-cakes are wished for), and again whisk the mixture lightly for several minutes; thicken it over the fire like boiled custard, and either put it into small pans or jars for storing,[129] or fill with it, one-third full, some pattypans lined with the finest paste; place lightly on it a layer of apricot, orange, or lemon-marmalade, and on this pour as much more of the mixture. Bake the cheese-cakes from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderate oven. They are very good without the layer of preserve.

129.  This preparation will make excellent fanchonettes, or pastry-sandwiches. It will not curdle if gently boiled for two or three minutes (and stirred without ceasing), and it may be long kept afterwards.

Jordan almonds, 4 oz.; eggs, 6; sugar, 12 oz.; rinds and strained juice of 4 small, or of 3 quite large lemons; butter, 4 oz. (6 for rich cheese-cakes); layers of preserve. Baked 15 to 20 minutes, moderate oven.

APFEL KRAPFEN.

(German Receipt.)

Boil down three-quarters of a pound of good apples with four ounces of pounded sugar, and a small glass of white wine, or the strained juice of a lemon; when they are stewed quite to a pulp, keep them stirred until they are thick and dry; then mix them gradually with four ounces of almonds, beaten to a paste, or very finely chopped, two ounces of candied orange or lemon-rind shred extremely small, and six ounces of jar raisins stoned and quartered: to these the Germans add a rather high flavouring of cinnamon, which is a very favourite spice with them, but a grating of nutmeg, and some fresh lemon-peel, are, we think, preferable for this composition. Mix all the ingredients well together; roll out some butter-crust a full back-of-knife thickness, cut it into four-inch squares, brush the edges to the depth of an inch round with beaten egg, fill them with the mixture, lay another square of paste on each, press them very securely together, make, with the point of a knife, a small incision in the top of each, glaze them or not at pleasure, and bake them rather slowly, that the raisins may have time to become tender. They are very good. The proportion of sugar must be regulated by the nature of the fruit; and that of the almonds can be diminished when it is thought too much. A delicious tart of the kind is made by substituting for the raisins and candied orange-rind, two heaped tablespoonsful of very fine apricot jam.

CRÊME PATISSIÈRE, OR PASTRY CREAM.

To one ounce of fine flour add, very gradually, the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs; stir to them briskly, and in small portions at first, three-quarters of a pint of boiling cream, or of cream and new milk mixed; then turn the whole into a clean stewpan, and stir it over a very gentle fire until it is quite thick, take it off, and stir it well up and round; replace it over the fire, and let it just simmer from six to eight minutes; pour it into a basin, and add to it immediately a couple of ounces of pounded sugar, one and a half of fresh butter, cut small, or clarified, and a spoonful of the store mixture of page 153, or a little sugar which has been rubbed on the rind of a lemon. The cream is rich enough for common use without further addition; but an ounce and a half of ratifias, crushed almost to powder with a paste-roller improves it much, and they should be mixed with it for the receipt which follows.

Flour, 1 oz.; yolks of eggs, 3; boiling cream, or milk and cream mixed, 3/4 pint: just simmered, 6 to 8 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 2 oz.; little store-flavouring, or rasped lemon-rind; ratifias, 1-1/2 oz.

Obs.—This is an excellent preparation, which may be used for tartlets, cannelons, and other forms of pastry, with extremely good effect.

SMALL VOLS-AU-VENTS, À LA PARISIENNE. (ENTREMETS.)

Make some small vols-au-vents by the directions of page 361, either in the usual way, or with the rings of paste placed upon the rounds. Ice the edges as soon as they are taken from the oven, by sifting fine sugar thickly on them, and then holding a salamander or heated shovel over them, until it melts and forms a sort of pale barley-sugar glaze. Have ready, and quite hot, some crême patissière, made as above; fill the vols-au-vents with it, and send them to table instantly. These will be found very good without the icing.

PASTRY SANDWICHES.

Divide equally in two, and roll off square and as thin as possible, some rich puff paste;[130] lay one half on a buttered tin, or copper oven-leaf, and spread it lightly with fine currant, strawberry or raspberry jelly; lay the remaining half closely over, pressing it a little with the rolling pin after the edges are well cemented together; then mark it into divisions, and bake it from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderate oven.

130.  Almond-paste is sometimes substituted for this.

LEMON SANDWICHES.

Substitute for preserve, in the preceding receipt, the lemon cheesecake mixture of page 372, with or without the almonds in it.

FANCHONNETTES. (ENTREMETS).

Roll out very thin and square some fine puff paste, lay it on a tin or copper oven-leaf, and cover it equally to within something less than an inch of the edge with peach or apricot jam; roll a second bit of paste to the same size, and lay it carefully over the other, having first moistened the edges with beaten egg, or water; press them together securely, that the preserve may not escape; pass a paste-brush or small bunch of feathers dipped in water over the top, sift sugar thickly on it, then with the back of a knife, mark the paste into divisions of uniform size, bake it in a well-heated but not fierce oven for twenty minutes, or rather more, and cut it while it is still hot, where it is marked. The fanchonnettes should be about three inches in length and two in width. In order to lay the second crust over the preserve without disturbing it, wind it lightly round the paste-roller, and in untwisting it, let it fall gently over the other part.

This is not the form of pastry called by the French fanchonnettes. Fine puff paste, 1 lb.; apricot or peach jam, 4 to 6 oz.: baked 20 to 25 minutes.

JELLY TARTLETS, OR CUSTARDS.

Put four tablespoonsful of fine fruit-jelly into a basin, and stir to it gradually twelve spoonsful of beaten egg; if the preserve be rich and sweet, no sugar will be required. Line some pans with paste rolled very thin, fill them with the custard, and bake them about ten minutes.[131]

131.  Strawberry or raspberry jelly will answer admirably for these.

STRAWBERRY TARTLETS. (GOOD.)

Take a full half-pint of freshly-gathered strawberries, without the stalks; first crush, and then mix them with two ounces and a half of powdered sugar; stir to them by degrees four well-whisked eggs, beat the mixture a little, and put it into pattypans lined with fine paste: they should be only three parts filled. Bake the tartlets from ten to twelve minutes.

RASPBERRY PUFFS.

Roll out thin some fine puff-paste, cut it in rounds or squares of equal size, lay some raspberry jam into each, moisten the edges of the paste, fold and press them together, and bake the puffs from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Strawberry, or any other jam will serve for them equally well.

CREAMED TARTLETS.

Line some pattypans with very fine paste, and put into each a layer of apricot jam; on this pour some thick boiled custard, or the pastry cream of page 373. Whisk the whites of a couple of eggs to a solid froth, mix a couple of tablespoonsful of sifted sugar with them, lay this icing lightly over the tartlets, and bake them in a gentle oven from twenty to thirty minutes, unless they should be very small, when less time must be allowed for them.

RAMEKINS À L’UDE, OR SEFTON FANCIES.

Roll out, rather thin, from six to eight ounces of fine cream-crust, or feuilletage (see page 345); take nearly or quite half its weight of grated Parmesan, or something less of dry white English cheese; sprinkle it equally over the paste, fold it together, roll it out very lightly twice, and continue thus until the cheese and crust are well mixed. Cut the ramekins with a small paste-cutter; wash them with yolk of egg mixed with a little milk, and bake them about fifteen minutes. Serve them very hot.

Cream-crust, or feuilletage, 6 oz.; Parmesan, 3 oz.; or English cheese, 2-1/2 oz.: baked 12 to 15 minutes.

Mould for large Vols-au-vents or Tourtes.

Paste Pincers.

CHAPTER XIX.

Soufflés, Omlets, &c.

SOUFFLÉS.

The admirable lightness[132] and delicacy of a well-made soufflé render it generally a very favourite dish, and it is now a fashionable one also. It may be greatly varied in its composition, but in all cases must be served the very instant it is taken from the oven; and even in passing to the dining-room it should, if possible, be prevented from sinking by a heated iron or salamander held above it. A common soufflé-pan may be purchased for four or five shillings, but those of silver or plated metal, which are of the form shown at the commencement of this chapter, are of course expensive; the part in which the soufflé is baked is placed within the more ornamental dish when it is drawn from the oven. A plain, round, cake-mould, with a strip of writing paper six inches high, placed inside the rim, will answer on an emergency to bake a soufflé in. The following receipt will serve as a guide for the proper mode of making it: the process is always the same whether the principal ingredient be whole rice boiled very tender in milk and pressed through a sieve, bread-crumbs soaked as for a pudding and worked through a sieve also, arrow-root, potato-flour, or aught else of which light puddings in general are made.

132.  This is given to every description of soufflé in the same manner as to Savoy or sponge-cakes, by mingling gently with the other ingredients the whites of eggs whisked to a solid mass or snow froth,—that is to say, that no portion of them must remain in a liquid state. For the proper mode of preparing them, see commencement of the chapter of Cakes, page 540: soufflé-puddings are rendered light in the same manner, and steamed instead of being boiled.

Take from a pint and a half of new milk or of cream sufficient to mix four ounces of flour of rice to a perfectly smooth batter; put the remainder into a very clean, well-tinned saucepan or stewpan, and when it boils, stir the rice briskly to it; let it simmer, keeping it stirred all the time, for ten minutes, or more should it not be very thick; then mix well with it two ounces of fresh butter, one and a half of pounded sugar, and the grated rind of a fine lemon (or let the sugar which is used for it be well rubbed on the lemon before it is crushed to powder); in two or three minutes take it from the fire, and beat quickly and carefully to it by degrees the yolks of six eggs; whisk the whites to a very firm solid froth, and when the pan is buttered, and all else quite ready for the oven, stir them gently to the other ingredients; pour the soufflé immediately into the pan and place it in a moderate oven, of which keep the door closed for a quarter of an hour at least. When the soufflé has risen very high, is of a fine colour, and quite done in the centre, which it will be in from half to three-quarters of an hour, send it instantly to table. The exact time for baking it depends so much on the oven that it cannot be precisely specified. We have known quite a small one not too much baked in forty-five minutes in an iron oven; but generally less time will suffice for them: the heat, however, should always be moderate.

New milk or cream, 1-1/2 pint; flour of rice, 4 oz.; fresh butter, 2 oz.; pounded sugar, 1-1/2 oz.; eggs, 6; grain of salt; rind, 1 lemon: 30 to 45 minutes.

Obs. 1.—The soufflé may be flavoured with vanilla, orange-flowers, or aught else that is liked. Chocolate and coffee also may be used for it with soaked bread: a very strong infusion of the last, and an ounce or two of the other, melted with a little water, are to be added to the milk and bread.

Obs. 2.—A soufflé is commonly served in a dinner of ceremony as a remove of the second-course roast; but a good plan for this, as for a fondu, is to have it quickly handed round, instead of being placed upon the table.

LOUISE FRANKS’ CITRON SOUFFLÉ.

To obtain the flavour of the citron-rind for this celebrated Swedish soufflé, take a lump of sugar which weighs two ounces and a half, and rub it on the fruit to extract the essence, or should the citron not be sufficiently fresh to yield it by this means, pare it off in the thinnest possible strips and infuse it by the side of the fire in the cream of which the soufflé is to be made. Should the first method be pursued, crush the sugar to powder and dry it a little before it is added to the other ingredients. Blend very smoothly two ounces of potato-flour with a quarter of a pint of milk, and pour boiling to them a pint of good cream; stir the mixture in a large basin or bowl until it thickens, then throw in a grain of salt, two ounces of fresh butter just dissolved in a small saucepan, and the sugar which has been rubbed on the citron; or should the rind have been pared, the same weight some of which is merely pounded. Add next, by degrees, the thoroughly whisked yolks of six fresh eggs, or seven should they be very small. Beat the whites lightly and quickly until they are sufficiently firm to remain standing in points when dropped from the whisk; mix them with the other ingredients at the mouth of the oven, but without beating them; fill the soufflé-pan less than half full; set it instantly into the oven, which should be gentle, but not exceedingly slow, close the door immediately, and do not open it for fifteen or twenty minutes: in from thirty to forty the soufflé will be ready for table unless the oven should be very cool: a fierce degree of heat will have a most unfavourable effect upon it.

Rind of half citron (that of a Seville orange may be substituted on occasions); sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; cream, 1 pint; potato-flour, 2 oz.; milk, 1/4 pint; butter, 2 oz.; yolks and white of 6 large or of 7 small eggs: 30 to 40 minutes, or more in very slow oven.

Obs.—The fresh citron would appear to be brought as yet but very sparingly into the English market, though it may sometimes be procured of first-rate fruiterers. Nothing can well be finer than its highly aromatic flavour, which is infinitely superior to that of any other fruit of its species that we have ever tasted. We have had delicious preparations made too from the young green citron when extremely small, of which we may have occasion to speak elsewhere.

A FONDU, OR CHEESE SOUFFLÉ.

Mix to a smooth batter, with a quarter of a pint of new milk, two ounces of potato-flour, arrow-root, or tous les mois; pour boiling to them three-quarters of a pint more of milk, or of cream in preference: stir them well together, and then throw in two ounces of butter cut small. When this is melted, and well-beaten into the mixture, add the well-whisked yolks of four large or of five small eggs, half a teaspoonful of salt, something less of cayenne, and three ounces of lightly-grated cheese, Parmesan or English, or equal parts of both. Whisk the whites of the eggs to a quite firm and solid froth; then proceed, as for a soufflé, to mix and bake the fondu.

20 minutes.

OBSERVATIONS ON OMLETS, FRITTERS, &C.

The composition and nature of a soufflé, as we have shown, are altogether different, but there is no difficulty in making good omlets, pancakes, or fritters; and as they may be expeditiously prepared and served, they are often a very convenient resource when, on short notice, an addition is required to a dinner. The eggs for all of them should be well and lightly whisked; the lard for frying batter should be extremely pure in flavour, and quite hot when the fritters are dropped in; the batter itself should be smooth as cream, and it should be briskly beaten the instant before it is used. All fried pastes should be perfectly drained from the fat before they are served, and sent to table promptly when they are ready. Eggs may be dressed in a multiplicity of ways, but are seldom more relished in any form than in a well-made and expeditiously served omlet. This may be plain, or seasoned with minced herbs and a very little eschalot, when the last is liked, and is then called an “Omlette aux fines herbes;” or it may be mixed with minced ham, or grated cheese; in any case, it should be light, thick, full-tasted, and fried only on one side; if turned in the pan, as it frequently is in England, it will at once be flattened and rendered tough. Should the slight rawness which is sometimes found in the middle of the inside, when the omlet is made in the French way, be objected to, a heated shovel, or a salamander, may be held over it for an instant, before it is folded on the dish. The pan for frying it should be quite small; for if it be composed of four or five eggs only, and then put into a large one, it will necessarily spread over it and be thin, which would render it more like a pancake than an omlet; the only partial remedy for this, when a pan of proper size cannot be had, is to raise the handle of it high, and to keep the opposite side close down to the fire, which will confine the eggs into a smaller space. No gravy should be poured into the dish with it, and indeed, if properly made, it will require none. Lard is preferable to butter for frying batter, as it renders it lighter; but it must not be used for omlets.

A COMMON OMLET.

Six eggs are sufficient for an omlet of moderate size. Let them be very fresh; break them singly and carefully; clear them in the way we have already pointed out in the introduction to boiled puddings, or when they are sufficiently whisked pour them through a sieve, and resume the beating until they are very light. Add to them from half to a whole teaspoonful of salt, and a seasoning of pepper. Dissolve in a small frying-pan a couple of ounces of butter, pour in the eggs, and as soon as the omlet is well risen and firm throughout, slide it on to a hot dish, fold it together like a turnover, and serve it immediately; from five to seven minutes will fry it.

For other varieties of the omlet, see the observations which precede this.

Eggs, 5; butter, 2 oz.; seasoning of salt and pepper: 5 to 7 minutes.

AN OMLETTE SOUFFLÉ. SECOND COURSE REMOVE OF ROAST.[133]

133.  Served also as an entremets.

Separate, as they are broken, the whites from the yolks of six fine fresh eggs; beat these last thoroughly, first by themselves and then with four tablespoonsful of dry, white sifted sugar, and the rind of half a lemon grated on a fine grater. Whisk the whites to a solid froth, and just before the omlet is poured into the pan, mix them well, but lightly, with the yolks. Put four ounces of fresh butter into a very small delicately clean omlet or frying pan, and as soon as it is all dissolved, add the eggs and stir them round that they may absorb it entirely. When the under side is just set, turn the omlet into a well-buttered dish, and send it to a tolerably brisk oven. From five to ten minutes will bake it; and it must be served the instant it is taken out; carried, indeed, as quickly as possible to table from the oven. It will have risen to a great height, but will sink and become heavy in a very short space of time: if sugar be sifted over it, let it be done with the utmost expedition.

Eggs, 6; sugar, 4 tablespoonsful; rind, 1/2 lemon; butter, 4 oz.: omlet baked, 5 to 10 minutes.

Obs.—This omlette may be served on a layer of apricot-marmalade which must be spread over the dish in which it is to be baked, and sent to table before the omlette is turned into it.

PLAIN COMMON FRITTERS.

Mix with three well-whisked eggs a quarter of a pint of milk, and strain them through a fine sieve; add them gradually to three large tablespoonsful of flour, and thin the batter with as much more milk as will bring it to the consistence of cream; beat it up thoroughly at the moment of using it, that the fritters may be light. Drop it in small portions from a spouted jug or basin into boiling lard; when lightly coloured on one side, turn the fritters, drain them well from the lard as they are lifted out, and serve them very quickly. They are eaten generally with fine sugar, and orange or lemon juice: the first of these may be sifted quickly over them after they are dished, and the oranges or lemons halved or quartered, and sent to table with them. The lard used for frying them should be fresh and pure-flavoured: it renders them more crisp and light than butter, and is, therefore, better suited to the purpose. These fritters may be agreeably varied by mingling with the batter just before it is used two or three ounces of well cleaned and well dried currants, or three or four apples of a good boiling kind not very finely minced. Double the quantity of batter will be required for a large dish.

Eggs, 3; flour, 3 tablespoonsful; milk, 1/4 to 1/2 pint.

PANCAKES.

These may be made with the same batter as fritters, if it be sufficiently thinned with an additional egg or two, or a little milk or cream, to spread quickly over the pan: to fry them well, this ought to be small. When the batter is ready, heat the pan over a clear fire and rub it with butter in every part, then pour in sufficient batter to spread over it entirely, and let the pancake be very thin: in this case it will require no turning, but otherwise it must be tossed over with a sudden jerk of the pan, in which the cook who is not somewhat expert will not always succeed; therefore the safer plan is to make them so thin that they will not require this. Keep them hot before the fire or in the stove-oven until a sufficient number are ready to send to table, then proceed with a second supply, as they should always be quickly served. Either pile them one on the other with sugar strewed between, or spread quickly over them, as they are done, some apricot or other good preserve, and roll them up: in the latter case, they may be neatly divided and dished in a circle. Clotted cream is sometimes sent to table with them. A richer kind of pancake may be made with a pint of cream, or of cream and new milk mixed, five eggs or their yolks only, a couple of ounces of flour, a little pounded cinnamon or lemon-rind rasped on sugar and scraped into them, with two ounces more of pounded sugar, and two ounces of clarified butter: a few ratifias rolled to powder may be added at pleasure, or three or four macaroons.

From 4 to 5 minutes.

FRITTERS OF CAKE AND PUDDING.

Cut plain pound, or rice cake, or rich seed cake, into small square slices half an inch thick; trim away the crust, fry them slowly a light brown in a small quantity of fresh butter, and spread over them when done a layer of apricot-jam, or of any other preserve, and serve them immediately. These fritters are improved by being moistened with a little good cream before they are fried: they must then be slightly floured. Cold plum-pudding sliced down as thick as the cake, and divided into portions of equal size and good form, then dipped into French or English batter and gently fried, will also make an agreeable variety of fritter. Orange marmalade and Devonshire cream may be served in separate layers on the seed cake fritters. The whole of the above may be cut of uniform size and shaped with a round cake-cutter.

MINCEMEAT FRITTERS.

With half a pound of mincemeat mix two ounces of fine bread-crumbs (or a tablespoonful of flour), two eggs well beaten, and the strained juice of half a small lemon. Mix these well, and drop the fritters with a dessertspoon into plenty of very pure lard or fresh butter; fry them from seven to eight minutes, drain them on a napkin or on white blotting paper, and send them very hot to table: they should be quite small.

Mincemeat, 1/2 lb.; bread-crumbs, 2 oz. (or flour, 1 tablespoonful); eggs, 2; juice of 1/2 lemon: 7 to 8 minutes.

VENETIAN FRITTERS.

(Very good.)

Wash and drain three ounces of whole rice, put it into a full pint of cold milk, and bring it very slowly to boil; stir it often, and let it simmer gently until it is quite thick and dry. When about three parts done, add to it two ounces of pounded sugar, and one of fresh butter, a grain of salt, and the grated rind of half a small lemon. Let it cool in the saucepan, and when only just warm, mix with it thoroughly three ounces of currants, four of apples chopped fine, a teaspoonful of flour, and three large or four small well-beaten eggs. Drop the mixture in small fritters, fry them in butter from five to seven minutes, and let them become quite firm on one side before they are turned: do this with a slice. Drain them as they are taken up, and sift white sugar over them after they are dished.

Whole rice, 3 oz.; milk, 1 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; butter, 1 oz.; grated rind of 1/2 lemon; currants, 3 oz.; minced apples, 4 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful; a little salt; eggs, 3 large, or 4 small: 5 to 7 minutes.

RHUBARB FRITTERS.

The rhubarb for these should be of a good sort, quickly grown, and tender. Pare, cut it into equal lengths, and throw it into the French batter of page 130; with a fork lift the stalks separately, and put them into a pan of boiling lard or butter: in from five to six minutes they will be done. Drain them well and dish them on a napkin, or pile them high without one, and strew sifted sugar plentifully over them. They should be of a very light brown, and quite dry and crisp. The young stalks look well when left the length of the dish in which they are served, and only slightly encrusted with the batter, through which they should be merely drawn.

5 to 6 minutes.

APPLE, PEACH, APRICOT, OR ORANGE FRITTERS.

Pare and core without dividing the apples, slice them in rounds the full size of the fruit, dip them into the same batter as that directed for the preceding fritters, fry them a pale brown, and let them be very dry. Serve them heaped high upon a folded napkin, and strew sifted sugar over them. After having stripped the outer rind from the oranges, remove carefully the white inner skin, and in slicing them take out the pips; then dip them into the batter and proceed as for the apple fritters. The peaches and apricots should be merely skinned, halved, and stoned before they are drawn through the batter, unless they should not be fully ripe, when they must first be stewed tender in a thin syrup.

8 to 12 minutes

BRIOCHE FRITTERS.

The brioche-paste,[134] when good, makes very superior cannelons and fritters: it is, we should say, better in this form than in that of the bun or cake, in which it is seen so commonly abroad. Make it, for the fritters, into very small balls; roll them quite thin, put a teaspoonful or less of rich preserve into each, moisten the edges and fold the paste together securely, or with a small tin shape cut as many rounds of the brioche as are wanted, place some preserve in the centre of one half of these, moisten the edges, lay the remainder lightly over them, press them carefully together and restore them to a good form with the tin-cutter, by trimming them with it to their original size; glide them gently into a pan of boiling lard, and fry them from four and a half to five minutes. Serve them very hot, crisp, and dry, piled on a folded napkin. The cannelons are made like those of paste, and are very good. They are sometimes filled with lemon-cheesecake mixture, or with Madame Werner’s (see Chapter XVIII.)

134.  For this see page 347.

Fritters, 4-1/2 to 5 minutes; cannelons, 5 to 6 minutes.

POTATO FRITTERS. (ENTREMETS.)

The same mixture as for potato puddings, Chapter XXI., if dropped in small portions into boiling butter, and fried until brown on both sides, will make potato-fritters. Half the proportion of ingredients will be quite sufficient for a dish of these.

LEMON FRITTERS. (ENTREMETS.)

Mix with six ounces of very fine bread-crumbs four of beef suet minced as small as possible, four ounces of pounded sugar, a small tablespoonful of flour, four whole eggs well and lightly whisked, and the grated rind of one large or of two small lemons, with half or the whole of the juice, at choice; but before this last is stirred in, add a spoonful or two of milk or cream if needed. Fry the mixture in small fritters for five or six minutes.

CANNELONS. (ENTREMETS.)

Roll out very thin and evenly some fine puff-paste into a long strip of from three to four inches wide, moisten the surface with a feather dipped in white of egg, and cut it into bands of nearly two inches wide; lay some apricot or peach marmalade equally along these, and fold the paste twice over it, close the ends carefully, and when all are ready, slide them gently into a pan of boiling lard;[135] as soon as they begin to brown, raise the pan from the fire that they may not take too much colour before the paste is done quite through. Five minutes will fry them. Drain them well, and dry them on a soft cloth before the fire; dish them on a napkin, and place one layer crossing another, or merely pile them high in the centre. If well made, and served of a light brown and very dry, these cannelons are excellent: when lard is objected to butter may be used instead, but the paste will then be somewhat less light. Only lard of the purest quality will answer for the purpose.

135.  Cannelons may be either baked or fried: if sent to the oven, they may first be glazed with white of egg and sugar.

5 minutes.

CANNELONS OF BRIOCHE PASTE. (ENTREMETS.)

Proceed exactly as for the cannelons above, substituting the brioche for the puff-paste, and rolling it as thin as possible, as it swells very much in the pan. Fine sugar may be sifted over these after they are dried and dished.

4 or 5 minutes.

CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTREMETS.)

Croquettes.

Wipe very clean, in a dry cloth, seven ounces of rice, put it into a clean stewpan, and pour on it a quart of new milk; let it swell gently by the side of the fire, and stir it often that it may not stick to the pan, nor burn; when it is about half done, stir to it five ounces of pounded sugar, and six bitter almonds beaten extremely fine: the thin rind of half a fresh lemon may be added in the first instance. The rice must be simmered until it is soft, and very thick and dry; it should then be spread on a dish, and left until cold, when it is to be rolled into small balls, which must be dipped into beaten egg, and then covered in every part with the finest bread-crumbs. When all are ready, fry them a light brown in fresh butter, and dry them well before the fire, upon a sieve reversed and covered with a very soft cloth, or with a sheet of white blotting paper. Pile them in a hot dish, and send them to table quickly.

Rice, 7 oz.; milk, 1 quart; rind of lemon: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 5 oz. bitter almonds, 6: 40 to 60 minutes, or more. Fried, 5 to 7 minutes.

FINER CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTREMETS.)

Swell the rice in thin cream, or in new milk strongly flavoured with vanilla or cocoa-nut; add the same ingredients as in the foregoing receipt, and when the rice is cold, form it into balls, and with the thumb of the right hand hollow them sufficiently to admit in the centre a small portion of peach jam, or of apricot marmalade; close the rice well over it; egg, crumb, and fry the croquettes as usual. As, from the difference of quality, the same proportions of rice and milk will not always produce the same effect, the cook must use her discretion in adding, should it be needed, sufficient liquid to soften the rice perfectly: but she must bear in mind that if not boiled extremely thick and dry, it will be difficult to make it into croquettes.[136]

136.  We must repeat here what we have elsewhere stated as the result of many trials of it, that good rice will absorb and become tender with three times its own bulk or measure of liquid. Thus, an exact half pint (or half pound) will require a pint and a half, with an extremely gentle degree of heat, to convert it into a thoroughly soft but firm mass; which would, perhaps, be rather too dry for croquettes. A pint of milk to four ounces of rice, if well managed, would answer better.

SAVOURY CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTRÉE.)

These are made with the same preparation as the casserole of rice of Chapter XVIII., but it must be boiled very dry, and left to become quite cold before it is used. A few spoonsful of rich white sauce stirred into it when it is nearly tender, will improve it much. Form and hollow the croquettes as directed in the last receipt; fill them with a small portion of minced fowl, partridge, or pheasant in a thick sauce, or with a stewed oyster or two cut in quarters; close the rice perfectly over them; egg, and crumb the croquettes, fry and serve them garnished with crisped parsley. French cooks mix sometimes a little grated Parmesan cheese with the rice at the moment it is taken from the fire, and roll the croquettes in more after they are egged; they press this on and dip them again in egg, and then into the crumbs. Raise the pan high above the fire when the croquettes are lightly browned, that they may heat through; then heighten the colour, and lift them out immediately.

RISSOLES. (ENTRÉE.)

This is the French name for small fried pastry of various forms, filled with meat or fish previously cooked; they may be made with brioche, or with light puff-paste, either of which must be rolled extremely thin. Cut it with a small round cutter fluted or plain; put a little rich mince, or good pounded meat, in the centre, and moisten the edges, and press them securely together that they may not burst open in the frying. The rissoles may be formed like small patties, by laying a second round of paste over the meat, or like cannelons; they may, likewise, be brushed with egg, and sprinkled with vermicelli, broken small, or with fine crumbs. They are sometimes made in the form of croquettes, the paste being gathered round the meat, which must form a ball.[137]

137.  If our space will permit, more minute directions for these, and other small dishes of the kind, shall be given in the chapter of Foreign Cookery.

In frying them, adopt the same plan as for the croquettes, raising the pan as soon as the paste is lightly coloured. Serve all these fried dishes well drained, and on a napkin.

From 5 to 7 minutes, or less.

VERY SAVOURY ENGLISH RISSOLES. (ENTRÉE.)

Make the forcemeat No. 1, Chapter VIII., sufficiently firm with unbeaten yolk of egg, to roll rather thin on a well-floured board; cut it into very small rounds, put a little pounded chicken in the centre of one half, moistening the edges with water, or white of egg, lay the remaining rounds over these, close them securely, and fry them in butter a fine light brown; drain and dry them well, and heap them in the middle of a hot dish, upon a napkin folded flat: these rissoles may be egged and crumbed before they are fried.

SMALL FRIED BREAD PATTIES, OR CROUSTADES OF VARIOUS KINDS.

These may be either sweet or savoury, and many of them may be so promptly prepared, that they offer a ready resource when an extra dish is unexpectedly required. They should be carefully fried very crisp, and of a fine equal gold colour, either in clarified marrow, for which we give our own receipt, or in really good butter.

DRESDEN PATTIES, OR CROUSTADES.

(Very delicate.)

Pare the crust neatly from one or two French rolls, slice off the ends, and divide the remainder into as many patties as the size of the rolls will allow; hollow them in the centre, dip them into milk or thin cream, and lay them on a drainer over a dish; pour a spoonful or two more of milk over them at intervals, but not sufficient to cause them to break; brush them with egg, rasp the crust of the rolls over them, fry and drain them well, fill them with a good mince, or with stewed mushrooms or oysters, and serve them very hot upon a napkin; they may be filled for the second course with warm apricot marmalade, cherry-jam, or other good preserve. This receipt came to us direct from Dresden, and on testing it we found it answer excellently, and inserted it in an earlier edition of the present work. We name this simply because it has been appropriated, with many other of our receipts, by a contemporary writer without a word of acknowledgment.

TO PREPARE BEEF MARROW FOR FRYING CROUSTADES, SAVOURY TOASTS, &C.

At a season when butter of pure flavour is often procured with difficulty, beef-marrow, carefully clarified, is a valuable substitute for it; and, as it is abundantly contained in the joints which are in constant request for soup-making, it is of slight comparative cost in a well managed kitchen. It is often thrown into the stock-pot by careless or indolent cooks, instead of being rendered available for the many purposes to which it is admirably adapted. Take it from the bones as fresh as possible, put it into a white jar, and melt it with a very gentle degree of heat at the mouth of the oven, or by the side of the stove, taking all precaution to prevent its being smoked or discoloured; strain it off, through a very fine sieve or muslin, into a clean pan or pans, and set it aside for use. It will be entirely flavourless if prepared with due care and attention; but, if dissolved with too great a degree of heat, it will acquire the taste almost of dripping. A small quantity of fine salt may be sprinkled into the pan with it when it is used for frying.

SMALL CROUSTADES, OR BREAD PATTIES, DRESSED IN MARROW.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Cut very evenly, from a firm stale loaf, slices nearly an inch and a half thick, and with a plain or fluted paste-cutter of between two and three inches wide press out the number of patties required, loosening them gently from the tin, to prevent their breaking; then, with a plain cutter, scarcely more than half the size, mark out the space which is afterwards to be hollowed from it. Melt some clarified beef-marrow in a small saucepan or frying-pan, and, when it begins to boil, put in the patties, and fry them gently until they are equally coloured of a pale golden brown. In lifting them from the pan, let the marrow (or butter) drain well from them; take out the rounds which have been marked on the tops, and scoop out part of the inside crumb, but leave them thick enough to contain securely the gravy of the preparation put into them. Fill them with any good patty-meat, and serve them very hot on a napkin.

Obs.—These croustades are equally good if dipped into clarified butter or marrow, and baked in a tolerably quick oven. It is well, in either case, to place them on a warm sheet of double white blotting-paper while they are being filled, as it will absorb the superfluous fat. A rich mince, with a thick, well-adhering sauce, either of mutton and mushrooms, or oysters, or with fine herbs and an eschalot or two; or of venison, or hare, or partridges, may be appropriately used for them.

SMALL CROUSTADES À LA BONNE MAMAN.

(The Grandmama’s Patties.)

Prepare the croustades as above, or use for them French rolls of very even shape, cut in thick equal slices. If quite round, the crust may be left on; mark each slice with a small cutter in the centre, dip the croustades into butter or marrow, fry them lightly, or bake them without permitting them to become very hard; empty, and then fill them; dish them without a napkin, and pour some good brown gravy round, but not over them.

Obs.—From being cooked without butter, these and the preceding patties are adapted to a Jewish table.

CURRIED TOASTS WITH ANCHOVIES.

Fry lightly, in good butter, clarified marrow, or very pure olive oil, some slices of bread, free from crust, of about half an inch thick, and two inches and a half square; lift them on to a dish, and spread a not very thick layer of Captain White’s currie-paste on the top; place them in a gentle oven for three or four minutes, then lay two or three fillets of anchovies on each, replace them in the oven for a couple of minutes, and send them immediately to table. Their pungency may be heightened by the addition of cayenne pepper, when a very hot preparation is liked.

Obs.—We have spoken but slightly in our chapter of curries of Captain White’s currie-paste, though for many years we have had it used in preference to any other, and always found it excellent. Latterly, however, it has been obtained with rather less facility than when attention was first attracted to it. The last which we procured directed, on the label of the jar, that orders for it should be sent per post to 83, Copenhagen Street, Islington. It may, however, be procured without doubt from any good purveyor of sauces and other condiments. It is sold in jars of all sizes, the price of the smallest being one-and-sixpence. We certainly think it much superior to any of the others which we have tested, its flavour being peculiarly agreeable.

TO FILLET ANCHOVIES.

Drain them well from the pickle, take off the heads and fins, lay them separately on a plate, and scrape off the skin entirely; then place them on a clean dish and with a sharp-edged knife raise the flesh on either side of the back-bone, passing it from the tail to the shoulders, and keeping it nearly flat as it is worked along. Divide each side (or fillet) in two, and use them as directed for the preceding toasts or other purposes. They make excellent simple sandwiches with slices of bread and butter only; but very superior ones when they are potted or made into anchovy butter.

SAVOURY TOASTS.

Cut some slices of bread free from crust, about half an inch thick and two inches and a half square; butter the tops thickly, spread a little mustard on them, and then cover them with a deep layer of grated cheese and of ham seasoned rather highly with cayenne; fry them in good butter, but do not turn them in the pan; lift them out, and place them in a Dutch oven for three or [TN: missing word.] minutes to dissolve the cheese: serve them very hot.

To 4 tablespoonsful of grated English cheese, an equal portion of very finely minced, or grated ham; but of Parmesan, or Gruyère, 6 tablespoonsful. Seasoning of mustard and cayenne.

Obs.—These toasts, for which we give the original receipt unaltered, may be served in the cheese-course of a dinner. Such mere “relishes” as they are called, do not seem to us to demand much of our space, or many of them which are very easy of preparation might be inserted here: a good cook, however, will easily supply them at slight expense. Truffles minced, seasoned, and stewed tender in butter with an eschalot or two, may be served on fried toasts or croûtons and will generally be liked.

TO CHOOSE MACCARONI AND OTHER ITALIAN PASTES.

The Naples maccaroni, of which the pipes are large, and somewhat thin, should be selected for the table in preference to the Genoa, which is less in size, but more substantial, and better suited to the formation of the various fanciful timbales[138] for which it is usually chosen. We have inserted here no receipts for these, because unless very skilfully prepared they are sure to fail, and they are not in much request in this country, unless it be at the tables of the aristocracy, for which they are prepared by efficient cooks. Of the ribbon maccaroni (or lazanges) we have given particulars in the pages which follow. The macaroncini, though not much larger than a straw, requires much boiling for its size, to render it soft. The celery-maccaroni is made very large and of an ornamental form, but in short lengths. It is used by “professed” cooks as a sort of crust or case for quenelle-forcemeat, or other expensive preparations of the same nature. The ring or cut maccaroni is another form given to the Italian paste: it may be had at almost any good foreign warehouse.

138.  For an explanation of the term timbale, the reader is referred to the glossary at the commencement of this volume.

All these pastes should be of a yellowish tint (by no means white as one sees them when they are of inferior quality); they should also be quite fresh, as they contract a most unpleasant flavour from being too long stored. The Naples vermicelli, which is much larger than any other, may be dressed like maccaroni: by many persons it is also preferred to the smaller varieties for serving in soup.

TO BOIL MACCARONI.

We have always found the continental mode of dressing maccaroni the best. English cooks sometimes soak it in milk and water for an hour or more, before it is boiled, that the pipes may be swollen to the utmost, but this is apt to render it pulpy, though its appearance may be improved by it. Drop it lightly, and by degrees, into a large pan of fast-boiling water, into which a little salt, and a bit of butter the size of a walnut, have previously been thrown, and of which the boiling should not be stopped by the addition of the maccaroni. In about three-quarters of an hour the Naples maccaroni will be sufficiently tender: every kind should always be perfectly cooked, for otherwise it will prove very indigestible, but the pipes of that commonly served should remain entire. Pour it into a large cullender, and drain the water well from it. It should be very softly boiled after the first minute or two.

Time of boiling:—Naples maccaroni, about 3/4 hour; Genoa, nearly or quite 1 hour; macaroncini, 20 to 25 minutes; cut maccaroni, 10 minutes; Naples vermicelli (in water), about 20 minutes; longer in soup, or milk.

RIBBON MACCARONI.[139]

139.  The best ribbon-maccaroni which we have ever had, was from Mr. Cobbett’s, 18, Pall Mall. It is rather higher in price than the pipe maccaroni, but swells so much in the boiling that a large quantity of it is not required for a dish. We ought to add that Mr. Cobbett’s is not a professedly cheap house, but that all he supplies is of excellent quality.

This kind of maccaroni, though more delicate in flavour and much more quickly boiled than the pipe maccaroni, is far less frequently seen at English tables; yet it is extremely good in many simple forms and very wholesome, therefore well suited to invalids and children as well as to persons in health. Drop it gradually into plenty of boiling water, and turn it over occasionally that it may be equally done. Drain it thoroughly when it is perfectly tender, and serve it quickly either quite plain, to be eaten instead of vegetables or rice; or with a compote of fruit; or with sugar and cinnamon, or lemon juice; or prepared in any of the modes indicated for the Naples maccaroni.

To be boiled 15 to 18 minutes.

DRESSED MACCARONI.

After careful and repeated trial of different modes of dressing various kinds of maccaroni, we find that in preparing them with Parmesan cheese, unmixed with any of a more mellow nature, there is always a chance of failure, from its tendency to gather into lumps; we would therefore recommend the inexperienced reader to substitute for it in part, at least, any finely flavoured English cheese; and the better to ensure its blending smoothly with the other ingredients (when neither white, nor any other thickened sauce is used with it), to dissolve the butter, and to stir to it a small teaspoonful of flour, before any liquid is added, then carefully to mix with it the cream or gravy, as directed for Sauce Tournée, Chapter V., and to give this a boil before the maccaroni and cheese are added: if gently tossed as these become hot, the whole will be smooth, and the cheese will adhere properly to the paste. Four ounces of pipe maccaroni is sufficient for a small dish, but from six to eight should be prepared for a family party where it is liked. The common English mode of dressing it is with grated cheese, butter, and cream, or milk. French cooks substitute generally a spoonful or two of very strong rich jellied gravy for the cream; and the Italians, amongst their many other modes of serving it, toss it in rich brown gravy, with sufficient grated cheese to flavour the whole strongly; they send it to table also simply laid into a good Espagnole or brown gravy (that drawn from the stufato,[140] for example), accompanied by a plate of grated cheese. Another, and an easy mode of dressing it is to boil and drain it well, and to put it into a deep dish, strewing grated cheese on every layer, and adding bits of fresh butter to it. The top, in this case, should be covered with a layer of fine bread-crumbs, mixed with grated cheese; these should be moistened plentifully with clarified butter, and colour given to them in the oven, or before the fire; the crumbs may be omitted, and a layer of cheese substituted for them. An excellent preparation of maccaroni may be made with any well-flavoured, dry white cheese, which can be grated easily, at much less cost than with the Parmesan, which is expensive, and in the country not always procurable: and we think that the brown gravy and a seasoning of cayenne are great improvements to it.

140.  See Chapter of Foreign Cookery.

Maccaroni, 6 oz.; butter, 3 oz.; Parmesan (or other) cheese, 6 oz.; cream, 4 tablespoonsful.

Obs.—Less of butter and cheese can be used by the strict economist.

MACCARONI À LA REINE.

This is a very excellent and delicate mode of dressing maccaroni. Boil eight ounces in the usual way, and by the time it is sufficiently tender, dissolve gently ten ounces of any rich, well flavoured white cheese in full three-quarters of a pint of good cream; add a little salt, a rather full seasoning of cayenne, from half to a whole saltspoonful of pounded mace, and a couple of ounces of sweet fresh butter. The cheese should, in the first instance, be sliced very thin, and taken quite free of the hard part adjoining the rind; it should be stirred in the cream without intermission until it is entirely dissolved, and the whole is perfectly smooth: the maccaroni, previously well drained, may then be tossed gently in it, or after it is dished, the cheese may be poured equally over the maccaroni. The whole, in either case, may be thickly covered before it is sent to table, with fine crumbs of bread fried of a pale gold colour, and dried perfectly, either before the fire or in an oven, when such an addition is considered an improvement. As a matter of precaution, it is better to boil the cream before the cheese is melted in it; rich white sauce, or béchamel, made not very thick, with an additional ounce or two of butter, may be used to vary and enrich this preparation. If Parmesan cheese be used for it, it must of course be grated; but, as we have said before, it will not easily blend with the other ingredients so as to be smooth. A portion of Stilton, free from the blue mould, would have a good effect in the present receipt. Half the quantity may be served.

Maccaroni, 1/2 lb.; cheese, 10 oz.; good cream, 3/4 pint (or rich white sauce); butter, 2 oz. (or more); little salt, fine cayenne, and mace.

SEMOULINA AND POLENTA À L’ITALIENNE. (GOOD.)

(To serve instead of Maccaroni.)

Maize.

Throw into a quart of milk, when it is fast boiling, half a teaspoonful of salt, and then shake lightly into it five ounces of the best semoulina; stir the milk as this is added, and continue to do so from eight to ten minutes, letting the mixture boil gently during the time. It should be very thick, and great care must be taken to prevent its sticking to the saucepan, which should be placed over a clear fire on a bar or trivet, but not upon the coals. Pour the semoulina, when it is done, into a basin, or a plain mould which it will not fill by an inch or two, and let it remain some hours in a cool place, that it may become perfectly cold; it will then turn out quite solid, and like a pudding in appearance. Cut it with a large, sharp carving-knife, or a bit of thin wire, into half-inch slices; wash the basin into which it was poured at first, and butter it well; grate from six to eight ounces of good cheese (Parmesan, or any other), and mix with it a half-teaspoonful of cayenne, and twice as much pounded mace; clarify from two to three ounces of fresh butter, and put a small quantity into the basin, strew in a little of the cheese, and then lay in the first slice of the semoulina, on this put a thick layer of the cheese, moisten it with some drops of butter, and place the second slice upon it; then more cheese and butter, and continue thus until all the semoulina is replaced in the basin; put plenty of cheese upon the top, add the remainder of the clarified butter, and bake the mixture for about half an hour in a gentle oven. It should be of a fine golden colour when served. Turn it carefully into a dish, and send it instantly to table. A little rich brown gravy poured round might, to some tastes, improve it, but it is excellent without, and may be substituted for maccaroni, which it much resembles in flavour. It may be enriched by adding butter to the milk, or by mixing with it a portion of cream; and it may be browned in a Dutch oven, when no other is in use.

In Italy the flour of Indian corn, which is much grown there, and eaten by all ranks of people, is used for this dish; but the semoulina is perhaps rather better suited to English taste and habits of diet, from being somewhat lighter and more delicate. The maize-flour imported from Italy is sold at the foreign warehouses here under the name of polenta,[141] though that properly speaking is, we believe, a boiled or stewed preparation of it, which forms the most common food of the poorer classes of the inhabitants of many of the Italian states. It seems to us superior in quality to the Indian corn flour grown in America.

141.  This was vended at a sufficiently high price in this country before the maize meal was so largely imported here from America.

New milk (or milk mixed with cream), 1 quart; salt, large 1/2 teaspoonful; semoulina, 5 oz.: 10 minutes. Grated cheese, 6 to 8 oz.; cayenne, 1/2 teaspoonful; mace, 1 small teaspoonful; butter, 2 to 3 oz.: baked 1/2 hour, gentle oven.

Obs.—A plain mould can be used instead of the basin.

FOR VARIOUS MODES OF DRESSING EGGS, SEE CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XX.

Boiled Puddings.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

Pudding Mould.

All the ingredients for puddings should be fresh and of good quality. It is a false economy to use for them such as have been too long stored, as the slightest degree of mustiness or taint in any one of the articles of which they are composed will spoil all that are combined with it. Eggs should always be broken separately into a cup before they are thrown together in the same basin, as a single very bad one will occasion the loss of many when this precaution is neglected. They should also be cleared from the specks with scrupulous attention, either with the point of a small three-pronged fork while they are in the cup, or by straining the whole through a fine hair-sieve after they are beaten. The perfect sweetness of suet and milk should be especially attended to before they are mixed into a pudding, as nothing can be more offensive than the first when it is over-kept, nor worse in its effect than the curdling of the milk, which is the certain result of its being ever so slightly soured.

Currants should be cleaned, and raisins stoned with exceeding care; almonds and spices very finely pounded, and the rinds of oranges or lemons rasped or grated lightly off, that the bitter part of the skin may be avoided, when they are used for this, or for any other class of dishes; if pared, they should be cut as thin as possible.

Custard puddings to have a good appearance, must be simmered only but without ceasing; for if boiled in a quick and careless manner, the surface instead of being smooth and velvety, will be full of holes, or honey-combed, as it is called, and the whey will flow from it and mingle with the sauce. A thickly-buttered sheet of writing-paper should be laid between the custard mixture and the cloth before it is tied over, or the cover of the mould is closed upon it; and the mould itself or the basin in which it is boiled, and which should always be quite full, must likewise be well buttered; and after it is lifted from the water the pudding should be left in it for quite five minutes before it is dished, to prevent its breaking or spreading about.

Batter is much lighter when boiled in a cloth, and allowed full room to swell, than when confined in a mould: it should be well beaten the instant before it is poured into it, and put into the water immediately after it is securely tied. The cloth should be moist and thickly floured, and the pudding should be sent to table as expeditiously as possible after it is done, as it will quickly become heavy. This applies equally to all puddings made with paste, which are rendered uneatable by any delay in serving them after they are ready: they should be opened a little at the top as soon as they are taken from the boiler or stewpan to permit the escape of the steam from within.

Plum-puddings, which it is customary to boil in moulds, are both lighter and less dry, when closely tied in stout cloths well buttered and floured, especially when they are made in part with bread; but when this is done, care should be taken not to allow them to burn to the bottom of the pan in which they are cooked; and it is a good plan to lay a plate or dish under them, by way of precaution against this mischance; it will not then so much matter whether they be kept floating or not. It is thought better to mix these entirely (except the liquid portion of them) the day before they are boiled, and it is perhaps an advantage when they are of large size to do so, but it is not really necessary for small or common ones.

A very little salt improves all sweet puddings, by taking off the insipidity, and bringing out the full flavour of the other ingredients, but its presence should not be in the slightest degree perceptible. When brandy, wine, or lemon-juice is added to them it should be stirred in briskly, and by degrees, quite at last, as it would be likely otherwise to curdle the milk or eggs.

Many persons prefer their puddings steamed; but when this is not done, they should be dropped into plenty of boiling water, and be kept well covered with it until they are ready to serve; and the boiling should never be allowed to cease for an instant, for they soon become heavy if it be interrupted.

Pudding and dumpling cloths should not only be laid into plenty of water as soon as they are taken off, and well washed afterwards, but it is essential to their perfect sweetness that they should be well and quickly dried (in the open air if possible), then folded and kept in a clean drawer.

TO CLEAN CURRANTS FOR PUDDINGS OR CAKES.

Put them into a cullender, strew a handful of flour over them, and rub them gently with the hands to separate the lumps, and to detach the stalks; work them round in the cullender, and shake it well, when the small stalks and stones will fall through it. Next pour plenty of cold water over the currants, drain and spread them on a soft cloth, press it over them to absorb the moisture, and then lay them on a clean oven-tin, or a large dish, and dry them very gradually (or they will become hard), either in a cool oven or before the fire, taking care in the latter case that they are not placed sufficiently near it for the ashes to fall amongst them. When they are perfectly dry, clear them entirely from the remaining stalks, and from every stone that may be amongst them. The best mode of detecting these is to lay the fruit at the far end of a large white dish, or sheet of paper, and to pass it lightly, and in very small portions, with the fingers, towards oneself, examining it closely as this is done.

TO STEAM A PUDDING IN A COMMON STEWPAN OR SAUCEPAN.

Butter and fill the mould or basin as usual; tie over it, first, a well-buttered paper, and then a thin floured cloth or muslin, which should be quite small; gather up and tie the corners, and be careful that no part of it, or of the paper, reaches to the water; pour in from two to three inches depth of this, according to the height of the mould, and when it boils put in the pudding, and press the cover of the stewpan closely on; then boil it gently without ceasing until it is done. This is the safer method of boiling all puddings made with polenta, or with the American flour of maize; as well as many others of the custard kind, which are easily spoiled by the admission of water to them. As the evaporation diminishes that in the saucepan, more, ready-boiling, must be added if necessary; and be poured carefully down the side of the pan without touching the pudding.

TO MIX BATTER FOR PUDDINGS.

Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and stir them together; whisk the eggs thoroughly, strain them through a fine hair-sieve, and add them very gradually to the flour; for if too much liquid be poured to it at once it will be full of lumps, and it is easy with care to keep the batter perfectly smooth. Beat it well and lightly with the back of a strong wooden spoon, and after the eggs are added thin it with milk to a proper consistence. The whites of the eggs beaten separately to a solid froth, and stirred gently into the mixture the instant before it is tied up for boiling, or before it is put into the oven to be baked, will render it remarkably light. When fruit is added to the batter, it must be made thicker than when it is served plain, or it will sink to the bottom of the pudding. Batter should never stick to the knife when it is sent to table: it will do this both when a sufficient number of eggs are not mixed with it, and when it is not enough cooked. About four eggs to the half pound of flour will make it firm enough to cut smoothly.

SUET-CRUST, FOR MEAT OR FRUIT PUDDINGS.

Clear off the skin from some fresh beef kidney-suet, hold it firmly with a fork, and with a sharp knife slice it thin, free it entirely from fibre, and mince it very fine: six ounces thus prepared will be found quite sufficient for a pound of flour. Mix them well together, add half a teaspoonful of salt for meat puddings, and a third as much for fruit ones, and sufficient cold water to make the whole into a very firm paste; work it smooth, and roll it out of equal thickness when it is used. The weight of suet should be taken after it is minced. This crust is so much lighter, and more wholesome than that which is made with butter, that we cannot refrain from recommending it in preference to our readers. Some cooks merely slice the suet in thin shavings, mix it with the flour, and beat the crust with a paste-roller, until the flour and suet are perfectly incorporated; but it is better minced.

Flour, 2 lbs.; suet, 12 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; water, 1 pint.

BUTTER CRUST FOR PUDDINGS.

When suet is disliked for crust, butter must supply its place, but there must be no intermixture of lard in paste which is to be boiled. Eight ounces to the pound of flour will render it sufficiently rich for most eaters, and less will generally be preferred; rich crust of this kind being more indigestible by far than that which is baked. The butter may be lightly broken into the flour before the water is added, or it may be laid on, and rolled into the paste as for puff-crust. A small portion of salt must be added to it always, and for a meat pudding the same proportion as directed in the preceding receipt. For kitchen, or for quite common family puddings, butter and clarified dripping are used sometimes in equal proportions. From three to four ounces of each will be sufficient for the pound and quarter of flour.

Flour, 1 lb.; butter, 8 oz.; salt, for fruit puddings, 1/2 saltspoonful; for meat puddings, 1/2 teaspoonful.

SAVOURY PUDDINGS.

The perfect manner in which the nutriment and flavour of an infinite variety of viands may be preserved by enclosing and boiling them in paste, is a great recommendation of this purely English class of dishes, the advantages of which foreign cooks are beginning to acknowledge. If really well made, these savoury puddings are worthy of a place on any table; though the decrees of fashion—which in many instances have so much more influence with us than they deserve—have hitherto confined them almost entirely to the simple family dinners of the middle classes; but we are bound to acknowledge that even where they are most commonly served they are seldom prepared with a creditable degree of skill; and they are equally uninviting and unwholesome when heavily and coarsely concocted. From the general suggestions which we make here, and the few detailed receipts which follow, a clever cook will easily compound them to suit the taste and means of her employers; for they may be either very rich and expensive, or quite the reverse. Venison (the neck is best for the purpose), intermingled or not with truffles; sweetbreads sliced, and oysters or nicely prepared button-mushrooms in alternate layers, with good veal stock for gravy;[142] pheasants, partridges, moorfowl, woodcocks, snipes, plovers, wheatears, may all be converted into the first class of these; and veal kidneys, seasoned with fine herbs, will supply another variety of them. Many persons like eels dressed in this way, but they are unsuited to delicate eaters: and sausages are liable to the same objection; and so is a harslet pudding, which is held in much esteem in certain counties, and which is made of the heart, liver, kidneys, &c., of a pig. We can recommend as both wholesome and economical the receipts which follow, for the more simple kind of savoury puddings, and which may serve as guides for such others as the intelligence of the cook may suggest.

142.  The liquor of the oysters should be added when they are used.

BEEF-STEAK, OR JOHN BULL’S PUDDING.

All meat puddings are more conveniently made in deep pans, moulds, or basins having a thick rim, below which the cloths can be tied without the hazard of their slipping off; and as the puddings should by no means be turned out before they are sent to table, one to match the dinner-service, at least in colour, is desirable.[143] Roll out a suet crust to half an inch in thickness, line evenly with it a quart, or any other sized basin that may be preferred, and raise the crust from an inch and a half to two inches above the edge. Fill it with layers of well-kept rump-steak, neatly trimmed, and seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne; pour in some cold water to make the gravy; roll out the cover, moisten the edge, as well as that of the pudding; draw and press them together carefully, fold them over, shake out a cloth which has been dipped into hot water, wrung out, and well floured; tie it over the pudding, gather the corners together, tie them over the top of the pudding, put it into plenty of fast boiling water, and let it remain in from three to five hours, according to its size. The instant it is lifted out, stick a fork quite through the middle of the paste to prevent its bursting; remove the cloth quickly, and cut a small round or square in the top to allow the steam to escape, and serve the pudding immediately. Though not considered very admissible to an elegantly served table, this is a favourite dish with many persons, and is often in great esteem with sportsmen, for whom it is provided in preference to fare which requires greater exactness in the time of cooking; as an additional hour’s boiling, or even more, will have little effect on a large pudding of this kind, beyond reducing the quantity of gravy, and rendering it very thick.

143.  It is now customary in some families to have both meat and fruit puddings boiled and served in pie or tart-dishes. They are lined entirely with very thin crust, or merely edged with it, according to taste; then filled, closed, and cooked in the usual manner. The plan is a good and convenient one, where the light upper-crust is preferred to the heavy and sodden part which is under the meat. In Kent and Sussex, shallow pans, in form somewhat resembling a large deep saucer, are sold expressly for boiling meat puddings.

Some cooks flour the meat slightly before it is laid into the crust, but we do not think it an improvement: where fat is liked, a portion may be added with the lean, but all skin and sinew should be carefully rejected. Beat the steak with a paste roller, or cutlet-bat, should it not appear to be perfectly tender, and divide it into portions about the width of two fingers. Two or three dozens of oysters, bearded and washed free from grit in their own liquor (which should afterwards be strained and poured into the pudding), may be intermingled with the meat.

A true epicurean receipt for this dish directs the paste to be made with veal-kidney suet, and filled with alternate layers of the inside of the sirloin, sliced and seasoned, and of fine plump native oysters, intermixed with an occasional small slice of the veal fat.

SMALL BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.

Make into a very firm smooth paste, one pound of flour, six ounces of beef-suet finely minced, half a teaspoonful of salt, and half a pint of cold water. Line with this a basin which holds a pint and a half. Season a pound of tender steak, free from bone and skin, with half an ounce of salt and half a teaspoonful of pepper well mixed together; lay it in the crust, pour in a quarter of a pint of water, roll out the cover, close the pudding carefully, tie a floured cloth over, and boil it for three hours and a half. We give this receipt in addition to the preceding one, as an exact guide for the proportions of meat-puddings in general.

Flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; water, 1/2 pint; rump-steak, 1 lb.; salt, 1/2 oz.; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; water, 1/4 pint: 3-1/2 hours.

RUTH PINCH’S BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.

To make Ruth Pinch’s celebrated pudding (known also as beef-steak pudding à la Dickens), substitute six ounces of butter for the suet in this receipt, and moisten the paste with the well-beaten yolks of four eggs, or with three whole ones, mixed with a little water; butter the basin very thickly before the paste is laid in, as the pudding is to be turned out of it for table. In all else proceed exactly as above.

MUTTON PUDDING.

Mutton freed perfectly from fat, and mixed with two or three sliced kidneys, makes an excellent pudding. The meat may be sprinkled with fine herbs as it is laid into the crust. This will require rather less boiling than the preceding puddings, but it is made in precisely the same way.

PARTRIDGE PUDDING.

(Very Good.)

Skin a brace of well-kept partridges and cut them down into joints; line a deep basin with suet crust, observing the directions given in the preceding receipts; lay in the birds, which should be rather highly seasoned with pepper or cayenne, and moderately with salt; pour in water for the gravy, close the pudding with care, and boil it from three hours to three and a half. The true flavour of the game is admirably preserved by this mode of cooking. When mushrooms are plentiful, put a layer of buttons, or small flaps, cleaned as for pickling, alternately with a layer of partridge, in filling the pudding, which will then be most excellent eating: the crust may be left untouched, and merely emptied of its contents, where it is objected to, or its place may be supplied with a richer one made of butter. A seasoning of pounded mace or nutmeg can be used at discretion. Puddings of veal, chickens, and young rabbits, may all be made by this receipt, or with the addition of oysters, which we have already noticed.

A PEAS PUDDING.

(To serve with boiled pork.)

Separate carefully from a pint of good mellow split peas, all that are worm-eaten; wash the remainder well, and soak them for a night in plenty of soft water. The following day tie them up in a thick pudding cloth, giving them room to swell, cover them well with cold soft water and boil them gently from two hours to two and a half: if they are not then quite tender, they are of bad quality, and cannot be rendered so. Lift them into a cullender, untie the cloth, and crush them to a paste with a wooden spoon, stir in a good slice of butter, and a seasoning of pepper and salt, tie them up again very tight, and boil them for half an hour; turn the pudding gently into a dish that it may not break, and serve it as hot as possible. This is the common old-fashioned mode of preparing a peas pudding, and many persons prefer it to the more modern one which follows. Soak, and boil the peas as above, drain the water well from them before the cloth is untied, rub them through a cullender or sieve, mix the seasoning and the butter thoroughly with them, then add to them gradually three well whisked eggs, tie the mixture tightly and closely in a floured cloth, and boil it for one hour.

Good split peas, 1 pint; soaked in soft water 1 night. Boiled 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Butter, 1 oz.: salt, pepper: boil again 20 to 30 minutes. Or: butter, 1-1/2 oz.; eggs, 3: boiled 1 hour.

Obs.—When soft water cannot be had, half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda must be stirred into that in which the peas are boiled. They must have room to swell or they will be hard; but if too much be given them they will be watery, and it will be difficult to convert them into a pudding at all.

WINE SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.

Boil gently together for ten or fifteen minutes the very thin rind of half a small lemon, about an ounce and a half of sugar, and a wineglassful of water. Take out the lemon-peel and stir into the sauce until it has boiled for one minute, an ounce of butter smoothly mixed with a large half-teaspoonful of flour; add a wineglassful and a half of sherry or Madeira, or other good white wine, and when quite hot serve the sauce without delay. Port wine sauce is made in the same way with the addition of a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, some grated nutmeg and a little more sugar. Orange-rind and juice may be used for it instead of lemon.

COMMON WINE SAUCE.

Sweeten a quarter-pint of good melted butter with an ounce and a half of sugar, and add to it gradually a couple of glasses of wine; stir it until it is at the point of boiling, and serve it immediately. Lemon-grate, or nutmeg, can be added at pleasure.

PUNCH SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.

This may be served with custard, plain bread, and plum-puddings. With two ounces of sugar and a quarter of a pint of water, boil very gently the rind of half a small lemon, and somewhat less of orange-peel, from fifteen to twenty minutes; strain out the rinds, thicken the sauce with an ounce and a half of butter and nearly a teaspoonful of flour, add a half-glass of brandy, the same of white wine, two-thirds of a glass of rum, with the juice of half an orange, and rather less of lemon-juice: serve the sauce very hot, but do not allow it to boil after the spirit is stirred in.

Sugar, 2 oz.; water, 1/4 pint; lemon and orange rind: 14 to 20 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful; brandy and white wine, each 1/2 wineglassful; rum, two-thirds of glassful; orange and lemon juice.

FOR CLEAR ARROW-ROOT SAUCE.

(See the Welcome Guest’s Own Pudding.)

A GERMAN CUSTARD PUDDING-SAUCE.

Boil very gently together half a pint of new milk or of milk and cream mixed, a very thin strip or two of fresh lemon-rind, a bit of cinnamon, half an inch of a vanilla bean, and an ounce and a half or two ounces of sugar, until the milk is strongly flavoured; then strain, and pour it, by slow degrees, to the well-beaten yolks of three eggs, smoothly mixed with a knife-end-full (about half a teaspoonful) of flour, a grain or two of salt, and a tablespoonful of cold milk; and stir these very quickly round as the milk is added. Put the sauce again into the stewpan, and whisk or stir it rapidly until it thickens, and looks creamy. It must not be placed upon the fire, but should be held over it, when this is done. The Germans mill their sauces to a froth; but they may be whisked with almost equally good effect, though a small mill for the purpose—formed like a chocolate mill—may be had at a very trifling cost.

A DELICIOUS GERMAN PUDDING-SAUCE.

Dissolve in half a pint of sherry or of Madeira, from three to four ounces of fine sugar, but do not allow the wine to boil; stir it hot to the well-beaten yolks of six fresh eggs, and mill the sauce over a gentle fire until it is well thickened and highly frothed; pour it over a plum, or any other kind of sweet boiled pudding, of which it much improves the appearance. Half the quantity will be sufficient for one of moderate size. We recommend the addition of a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice to the wine.

For large pudding, sherry or Madeira, 1/2 pint; fine sugar, 3 to 4 oz.; yolks of eggs, 6; lemon-juice (if added), 1 dessertspoonful.

Obs.—As we have already said in the previous receipt, it is customary to froth sweet sauces in Germany with a small machine made like a chocolate-mill. Two silver forks fastened together at the handles may be used instead on an emergency, or the sauce may be whisked to the proper state, like the one which precedes it.

Great care must be taken not to allow these sauces to curdle. The safer plan is to put any preparation of the kind into a white jar, and to place it over the fire in a pan of boiling water, and then to stir or mill it until it is sufficiently thickened: the jar should not be half filled, and it should be large enough to allow the sauce to be worked easily. The water should not reach to within two or three inches of the brim. We give these minute details for inexperienced cooks.

RED CURRANT OR RASPBERRY SAUCE. (GOOD.)

Measure half a pint of sound red currants after they have been stripped from the stalks; wash them, should they be dusty, and drain all the water from them. Have ready a syrup, made with three ounces of sugar in lumps, and the third of a pint of water, boiled gently together for five minutes; put in the currants, and stew them for ten minutes; strain off the juice, of which there will be nearly or quite half a pint, through a lawn sieve or folded muslin; heat it afresh, and pour it boiling to a small spoonful of arrow-root which has been very smoothly mixed with a tablespoonful of cold water, being careful to stir it briskly while the juice is being added; give the sauce a minute’s boil to render it transparent, and mask the pudding with it (or, in other words, pour it equally over it, so as to cover the entire surface); or serve it in a tureen. A few raspberries may be added in their season, to flavour this preparation; but if quite ripe, they must be thrown into the syrup without having been washed, two or three minutes after the currants have been put into it. A delicious sauce may be made entirely from raspberries as above, allowing a larger proportion of the fruit, as it yields less juice than the currant.

The proportions directed in this receipt are quite sufficient for a pudding of moderate size, but they can easily be increased when required.

COMMON RASPBERRY-SAUCE.

Put three ounces of sugar broken into small lumps, and a wineglassful and a half of water into a small stewpan, and boil them for four or five minutes. Add half a pint of fresh ripe raspberries, well mashed with the back of a spoon. Mix them with the syrup, and boil them for six or seven minutes; the sauce should then be quite smooth and clear. The quantity of it with these proportions will not be large, but can be increased at pleasure.

Obs.—We have generally found that the most simple, and consequently the most refreshing fruit-sauces have been much liked by the persons who have partaken of them; and they are, we think, preferable to the foreign ones—German principally—to which wine and cinnamon are commonly added, and which are often composed of dried fruit. Their number can easily be augmented by an intelligent cook; and they can be varied through all the summer and autumnal months with the fruit in season at the time.

SUPERIOR FRUIT-SAUCES FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.

Clear rich fruit syrups, such as the Sirop de Groseilles of Chapter XXIX. or those from which cherries, apricots, damsons, and other plums, are taken when they have been prepared in them for drying, make the finest possible sauces for sweet puddings. A pound of ripe Morella cherries, for example, pricked separately with a large needle, then slowly heated and simmered from seven to ten minutes with three quarters of a pound of castor-sugar, and allowed to become cold in their juice, will be excellent if laid on dishes and slowly dried; and the syrup from them will be a delicious accompaniment to a pudding (or to plain boiled rice); and it will also afford a most agreeable summer beverage mixed with water, slightly iced, or not. Other varieties of these sauces are made by stewing the fruit tender without sugar, then rubbing it through a sieve, and diluting it with wine; or simply mixing and boiling it with sufficient sugar to render it sweet and clear.

PINE-APPLE PUDDING-SAUCE.

Rasp down on a fine bright grater sufficient of the flesh of a ripe Jamaica or English pine-apple from which the rind has been thickly pared, to make the quantity of sauce required. Simmer it quite tender, with a very small quantity of water; then mix with it by degrees from half to three-quarters of its weight of sugar, give it five minutes more of gentle boiling, and pour it over the pudding.

Rasped pine-apple, 6 oz.; water, 2 tablespoonsful: 10 to 15 minutes gentle stewing. Sugar, 4 oz: 5 minutes.

A finer sauce may be made with half a pound of the pine first simmered tender in its own juice, and one tablespoonful only of water, and then mixed with seven ounces of sifted sugar, and boiled gently until it looks clear. If too sweet, the strained juice of half a large sized lemon may be stirred to it before it is served, but a certain weight of sugar is required to make it appear bright. This preparation may be kept for some time, and warmed afresh for table when needed.

A VERY FINE PINE-APPLE SAUCE OR SYRUP, FOR PUDDINGS OR OTHER SWEET DISHES.

After having pared away every morsel of the rind from a ripe and highly flavoured pine-apple, cut three-quarters of a pound of it into very thin slices, and then into quite small dice. Pour to it nearly half a pint of spring water; heat, and boil it very gently until it is extremely tender, then strain and press the juice closely from it through a cloth or through a muslin strainer[144] folded in four; strain it clear, mix it with ten ounces of the finest sugar in small lumps, and when this is dissolved, boil the syrup gently for a quarter of an hour. It will be delicious in flavour and very bright in colour if well made. If put into a jar, and stored with a paper tied over it, it will remain excellent for weeks; and it will become almost a jelly with an additional ounce of sugar and rather quicker boiling. It may be poured round moulded creams, rice, or sago; or mingled with various sweet preparations for which the juice of fruit is admissible.

144.  It is almost superfluous to say that the large squares of muslin, of which on account of their peculiar nicety we have recommended the use for straining many sweet preparations, must never have a particle of starch in them; they should be carefully kept free from dust and soil of any kind, and always well rinsed and soaked in clear water before they are dried.

GERMAN CHERRY SAUCE.

Beat a quart of cherries in a mortar until the stones are broken, then boil them tender with half a pint of water and wine mixed. Rub them through a sieve, and boil them again, with from four to six ounces of fine sugar, some grated lemon-peel, powdered cinnamon, and a small portion of pounded cloves. In a few minutes stir to the sauce a dessertspoonful of potato-flour, smoothly mixed with a very little cold water; continue to stir until it is again ready to boil, and serve it, either poured entirely over the pudding, or in a tureen.

COMMON BATTER PUDDING.

Beat four eggs thoroughly, mix with them half a pint of milk, and pass them through a sieve, add them by degrees to half a pound of flour, and when the batter is perfectly smooth, thin it with another half pint of milk. Shake out a wet pudding cloth, flour it well, pour the batter in, leave it room to swell, tie it securely, and put it immediately into plenty of fast-boiling water. An hour and ten minutes will boil it. Send it to table the instant it is dished, with wine sauce, a hot compôte of fruit, or raspberry vinegar: this last makes a delicious pudding sauce. Unless the liquid be added very gradually to the flour, and the mixture be well stirred and beaten as each portion is poured to it, the batter will not be smooth: to render it very light, a portion of the whites of the eggs, or the whole of them, should be whisked to a froth and stirred into it just before it is put into the cloth.

Flour, 1/2 lb.; eggs, 4; salt, 3/4 teaspoonful; milk, 1 pint: 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Obs.—Modern taste is in favour of puddings boiled in moulds, but, as we have already stated, they are seldom or ever so light as those which are tied in cloths only.

ANOTHER BATTER PUDDING.

Mix the yolks of three eggs smoothly with three heaped tablespoonsful of flour, thin the batter with new milk until it is of the consistence of cream, whisk the whites of eggs apart, stir them into the batter and boil the pudding in a floured cloth or in a buttered mould or basin for an hour. Before it is served, cut the top quickly into large dice half through the pudding, pour over it a small jarful of fine currant, raspberry, or strawberry jelly, and send it to table without the slightest delay.

Flour, 3 tablespoonsful; eggs, 3; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; milk, from 1/2 to whole pint: 1 hour.

BLACK-CAP PUDDING.

Make a good light thin batter, and just before it is poured into the cloth stir to it half a pound of currants, well cleaned and dried: these will sink to the lower part of the pudding and blacken the surface. Boil it the usual time, and dish it with the dark side uppermost; send very sweet sauce to table with it. Some cooks butter a mould thickly, strew in the currants, and pour the batter on them, which produces the same appearance as when the ingredients are tied in a cloth.

All batter puddings should be despatched quickly to table when they are once ready to serve, as they speedily become heavy if allowed to wait.

BATTER FRUIT PUDDING.

Butter thickly a basin which holds a pint and a half, and fill it nearly to the brim with good boiling apples pared, cored, and quartered; pour over them a batter made with four tablespoonsful of flour, two large or three small eggs, and half a pint of milk. Tie a buttered and floured cloth over the basin, which ought to be quite full, and boil the pudding for an hour and a quarter. Turn it into a hot dish when done, and strew sugar thickly over it: this, if added to the batter at first, renders it heavy. Morella cherries make a very superior pudding of this kind; and green gooseberries, damsons, and various other fruits, answer for it extremely well: the time of boiling it must be varied according to their quality and its size.

For a pint and a half mould or basin filled to the brim with apples or other fruit; flour, 4 tablespoonsful; eggs, 2 large or 3 small; milk, 1/2 pint: 1-1/4 hour.

Obs.—Apples cored, halved, and mixed with a good batter, make an excellent baked pudding, as do red currants, cherries, and plums of different sorts likewise.

KENTISH SUET PUDDING.

To a pound and a quarter of flour add half a pound of finely minced beef-suet,[145] half a teaspoonful of salt, and a quarter one of pepper; mix these into a smooth paste with one well-beaten egg, and a little cold milk or water; make it into the shape of a paste-roller, fold a floured cloth round it, tie the ends tightly, and boil it for two hours. In Kentish farmhouses, and at very plain family dinners, this pudding is usually sent to table with boiled beef, and is sometimes cooked with it also. It is very good sliced and broiled, or browned in a Dutch oven, after having become quite cold.

145.  A very common fault with bad and careless cooks is, that of using for paste and puddings suet coarsely chopped, which is, to many eaters, distasteful to the last degree.

Flour, 1-1/2 lb.; suet, 1/2 lb.; salt 1/2 teaspoonful; half as much pepper; 1 egg; little milk or water: boiled 2 hours.

ANOTHER SUET PUDDING.

Make into a somewhat lithe but smooth paste, half a pound of fine stale bread-crumbs, three quarters of a pound of flour, from ten to twelve ounces of beef-suet chopped extremely small, a large half-teaspoonful of salt, and rather less of pepper, with two eggs and a little milk. Boil it for two hours and a quarter.

APPLE, CURRANT, CHERRY, OR OTHER FRESH FRUIT PUDDING.

Make a paste as for a beef-steak pudding, either with suet or butter; lay into a basin a well-floured cloth, which has been dipped into hot water, wrung dry, and shaken out; roll the paste thin, press it evenly into the basin upon the cloth, fill it with apples, pared, cored, and quartered, or with any other fruit; put on the cover, taking care to moisten the edges of the paste, to press them well together, and fold them over; gather up the ends of the cloth, and tie it firmly close to the pudding, which should then be dropped into plenty of fast boiling water. When it is done, lift it out by twisting a strong fork into the corner of the cloth, turn it gently into the dish in which it is to be served, and cut immediately a small round or square from the top, or the pudding will quickly become heavy; send it to table without the slightest delay, accompanied by pounded, and by good Lisbon sugar, as many persons prefer the latter, from its imparting a more mellowed flavour to the fruit. A small slice of fresh butter, and some finely grated nutmeg, are usually considered improvements to an apple pudding; the juice, and the grated rind of a lemon may be added with good effect, when the fruit is laid into the crust, especially in spring, when the apples generally will have become insipid in their flavour. For tables of any pretension, sugar must be added to them when they are made; but many varieties of apple do not so readily form a smooth light pulp when it is enclosed with them in the paste. A small jar of apricot jam is always an admirable addition to an apple tart or pudding; and a small glass of wine when the fruit is not juicy, will assist to bring it to the right consistence. When puddings are preferred boiled in moulds or basins, these must be thickly buttered before the paste is laid into them, and the puddings must be turned from them gently, that they may not burst.

Currant, gooseberry, or cherry pudding, 1 to 1-1/4 hour. Greengage, damson, mussel, or other plum, 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Apple pudding, from 1 to 2 hours, according to its size, and the time of year.

Obs.—If made of codlings, an apple pudding will require only so much boiling as may be needed for the crust. These are sometimes mixed with Morella cherries rolled in plenty of sugar, and the two fruits mixed are excellent, but the Morellas by themselves are better.

A COMMON APPLE PUDDING.

Make a light crust with one pound of flour, and six ounces of very finely minced beef-suet; roll it thin, and fill it with one pound and a quarter of good boiling apples; add the grated rind and strained juice of a small lemon, tie it in a cloth, and boil it one hour and twenty minutes before Christmas, and from twenty to thirty minutes longer after Christmas. A small slice of fresh butter, stirred into it when it is sweetened will, to many tastes, be an acceptable addition; grated nutmeg, or a little cinnamon in fine powder, may be substituted for the lemon-rind when either is preferred. To convert this into a richer pudding use half a pound of butter for the crust, and add to the apples a spoonful or two of orange or quince marmalade.

Crust: flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz. Fruit, pared and cored, 1-1/2 lb.; juice and rind of 1 small lemon (or some nutmeg or cinnamon in powder).

Richer pudding: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; in addition to fruit, 1 or 2 tablespoonsful of orange or quince marmalade.

HERODOTUS’ PUDDING.

(A Genuine Classical Receipt.)

“Prepare and mix in the usual manner one pound of fine raisins stoned, one pound of minced beef-suet, half a pound of bread-crumbs, four figs chopped small, two tablespoonsful of moist sugar (honey, in the original), two wineglassesful of sherry, and the rind of half a large lemon (grated). Boil the pudding for fourteen hours.”

Obs.—This receipt is really to be found in Herodotus. The only variations made in it are the substitution of sugar for honey, and sherry for the wine of ancient Greece. We are indebted for it to an accomplished scholar, who has had it served at his own table on more than one occasion; and we have given it on his authority, without testing it: but we venture to suggest that seven hours would boil it quite sufficiently.

THE PUBLISHER’S PUDDING.

This pudding can scarcely be made too rich. First blanch, and then beat to the smoothest possible paste, six ounces of fresh Jordan almonds, and a dozen bitter ones; pour very gradually to them, in the mortar, three quarters of a pint of boiling cream; then turn them into a cloth, and wring it from them again with strong expression. Heat a full half pint of it afresh, and pour it, as soon as it boils, upon four ounces of fine bread-crumbs, set a plate over, and leave them to become nearly cold; then mix thoroughly with them four ounces of maccaroons, crushed tolerably small; five of finely minced beef-suet, five of marrow, cleared very carefully from fibre, and from the splinters of bone which are sometimes found in it, and shred not very small, two ounces of flour, six of pounded sugar, four of dried cherries, four of the best Muscatel raisins, weighed after they are stoned, half a pound of candied citron, or of citron and orange rind mixed, a quarter saltspoonful of salt, half a nutmeg, the yolks only of seven full-sized eggs, the grated rind of a large lemon, and last of all, a glass of the best Cognac brandy, which must be stirred briskly in by slow degrees. Pour the mixture into a thickly buttered mould or basin, which contains a full quart, fill it to the brim, lay a sheet of buttered writing-paper over, then a well-floured cloth, tie them securely, and boil the pudding for four hours and a quarter; let it stand for two minutes before it is turned out; dish it carefully, and serve it with the German pudding-sauce of page 403.

Jordan almonds, 6 oz.; bitter almonds, 12; cream, 3/4 pint; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; cream wrung from almonds, 1/2 pint; crushed macaroons, 4 oz.; flour 2 oz.; beef-suet, 5 oz.; marrow, 5 oz.; dried cherries, 4 oz.; stoned Muscatel raisins, 4 oz.; pounded sugar, 6 oz.; candied citron (or citron and orange-rind mixed), 1/2 lb.; pinch of salt; 1/2 nutmeg; grated rind, 1 lemon; yolks of eggs, 7; best cognac, 1 wineglassful; boiled in mould or basin,: 4-1/4 hours.

Obs.—This pudding, which, if well made, is very light as well as rich, will be sufficiently good for most tastes without the almonds: when they are omitted, the boiling cream must be poured at once to the bread-crumbs.

HER MAJESTY’S PUDDING.

Infuse in a pint of new milk half a pod of vanilla, cut into short lengths, and bruised; simmer them gently together for twenty minutes, and strain the milk through muslin to half a pint of cream; put these again on the fire in a clean saucepan, with three ounces of fine sugar, and pour them when they boil, to the beaten yolks of eight very fresh eggs. Stir the mixture often until it is nearly or quite cold, and boil it as gently as possible for an hour in a well-buttered mould or basin that will just hold it. Let it stand for five minutes at least before it is turned out; dish it carefully, strew, and garnish it thickly with branches of preserved barberries, or send it to table with a rich syrup of fresh fruit, or with clear fruit-jelly, melted. We have had often a compôte (see Sweet Dishes, page 153) of currants, cherries, or plums served, and greatly relished with this pudding, which we can recommend to our readers as an extremely delicate one. The flavouring may be varied with bitter almonds, lemon-rind, noyau, or aught else which may be better liked than the vanilla.

New milk, 1 pint; vanilla, 1/2 pod: 20 minutes Cream, 1/2 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; yolks of eggs, 8: 1 hour.

Obs.—The cook must be reminded that unless the eggs be stirred briskly as the boiling milk is gradually poured to them, they will be likely to curdle. A buttered paper should always be put over the basin before the cloth is tied on, for all custard puddings.

COMMON CUSTARD PUDDING.

Whisk three eggs well, put them into a pint basin, and add to them sufficient milk to fill it: then strain, flavour, and sweeten it with fine sugar; boil the pudding very softly for an exact half hour, let it stand a few minutes, dish, and serve it with sugar sifted over, and sweet sauce in a tureen, or send stewed gooseberries, currants, or cherries to table with it. A small quantity of lemon-brandy, or of ratifia can be added, to give it flavour, when it is made, or the sugar with which it is sweetened may be rasped on a lemon or an orange, then crushed and dissolved in the milk; from an ounce and a half to two ounces will be sufficient for general taste.

PRINCE ALBERT’S PUDDING.

Beat to a cream half a pound of fresh butter and mix with it by degrees an equal weight of pounded loaf-sugar, dried and sifted; add to these, after they have been well beaten together, first the yolks, and then the whites of five fresh eggs, which have been thoroughly whisked apart; now strew lightly in, half a pound of the finest flour, dried and sifted, and last of all, half a pound of jar raisins, weighed after they are stoned. Put these ingredients, perfectly mixed, into a well-buttered mould, or floured cloth, and boil the pudding for three hours. Serve it with punch sauce. We recommend a little pounded mace, or the grated rind of a small lemon, to vary the flavour of this excellent pudding; and that when a mould is used, slices of candied peel should be laid rather thickly over it after it is buttered. Fresh butter, pounded sugar, flour, stoned raisins, each 1/2 lb.; eggs, 5: 3 hours.

GERMAN PUDDING, AND SAUCE. (VERY GOOD.)

Stew, until very tender and dry, three ounces of whole rice in a pint and a quarter of milk; when a little cooled, mix with it three ounces of beef-suet finely chopped, two ounces and a half of sugar, an ounce of candied orange or lemon-rind, six ounces of sultana raisins, and three large eggs well beaten, and strained. Boil the pudding in a buttered basin, or in a well-floured cloth, for two hours and a quarter, and serve it with the following sauce:—Dissolve an ounce and a half of sugar broken small in two glasses of sherry, or of any other white wine, and stir them when quite hot, to the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs; then stir the sauce in a small saucepan held high above the fire until it resembles custard, but by no means allow it to boil, or it will instantly curdle; pour it over the pudding, or, if preferred, send it to table in a tureen. We think a full teaspoonful of lemon-juice added to the wine an improvement to this sauce which is excellent; and we can recommend the pudding to our readers.

Milk, 1-1/4 pint; rice, 3 oz.; 1 hour, or more. Suet, 3 oz.; sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; candied peel, 1 oz.; sultana raisins, 6 oz.; eggs, 3 large: 2-1/4 hours, Sauce: sherry, 2 glasses; sugar, 1-1/2 oz.; yolks of eggs, 3; little lemon-juice.

We have already, in a previous part of the volume, directed that the German sauce should be milled to a fine froth, and poured upon the pudding with which it is served: when this is not done, the quantity should be increased.

THE WELCOME GUEST’S OWN PUDDING. (LIGHT AND WHOLESOME.)

(Author’s Receipt.)

Pour, quite boiling, on four ounces of fine bread-crumbs, an exact half-pint of new milk, or of thin cream; lay a plate over the basin and let them remain until cold; then stir to them four ounces of dry crumbs of bread, four of very finely minced beef-kidney suet, a small pinch of salt, three ounces of coarsely crushed ratifias, three ounces of candied citron and orange-rind sliced thin, and the grated rind of one large or of two small lemons. Clear, and whisk four large eggs well, throw to them by degrees four ounces of pounded sugar, and continue to whisk them until it is dissolved, and they are very light; stir them to, and beat them well up with the other ingredients; pour the mixture into a thickly buttered mould, or basin which will contain nearly a quart, and which it should fill to within half an inch of the brim; lay first a buttered paper, then a well floured pudding-cloth over the top, tie them tightly and very securely round, gather up and fasten the corners of the cloth, and boil the pudding for two hours at the utmost. Let it stand for a minute or two before it is dished, and serve it with simple wine sauce, or with that which follows; or with pine-apple or any other clear fruitsauce. (For these last, see page 405).

Boil very gently, for about ten minutes, a full quarter of a pint of water, with the very thin rind of half a fresh lemon, and an ounce and a half of lump sugar; then take out the lemon peel, and stir in a small teaspoonful of arrow-root, smoothly mixed with the strained juice of the lemon (with or without the addition of a little orange juice); take the sauce from the fire, throw in nearly half a glass of pale French brandy,[146] or substitute for this a large wineglassful of sherry, or of any other white wine which may be preferred, but increase a little, in that case, the proportion of arrow-root.

146.  Maraschino, or any delicately flavoured liqueur, may be substituted for this with much advantage.

To convert the preceding into Sir Edwin Landseer’s pudding, ornament the mould tastefully with small leaves of thin citron-rind and split muscatel raisins in a pattern, and strew the intermediate spaces with well cleaned and well dried currants mingled with plenty of candied orange or lemon-rind shred small. Pour gently in the above pudding mixture, when quite cold, after having added one egg-yolk to it, and steam or boil it the same length of time.

A CABINET PUDDING.

Split and stone three dozens of fine jar raisins, or take an equal number of dried cherries, and place either of them regularly in a sort of pattern, in a thickly-buttered plain quart mould or basin; next, slice and lay into it three penny sponge-cakes; add to these two ounces of ratifias, four macaroons, an ounce and a half of candied citron sliced thin, the yolks of four eggs with the whites of three only, thoroughly whisked, mixed with half a pint of new milk, then strained to half a pint of sweet cream, and sweetened with two ounces and a half of pounded sugar: these ought to fill the mould exactly. Steam the pudding, or boil it very gently for one hour; let it stand a few minutes before it is dished, that it may not break; and serve it with good wine or brandy sauce.

Jar raisins, or dried cherries, 3 dozens (quart mould or basin); sponge biscuits, 3; macaroons, 4; ratifias, 2 oz.; candied citron, 1-1/2 oz.; yolks of 4 eggs, whites of 3; new milk, 1/2 pint; cream, 1/2 pint; sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; steamed, or boiled, 1 hour.

Obs.—We have given this receipt, for which we are indebted to a friend, without any variation from the original, because on testing it we have found it very exact with regard to quantity and time; but though an extremely delicate and excellent pudding, a little flavouring would, we think, improve it: a small portion of the milk may be omitted, and its place supplied by ratifia, lemon-brandy, or aught else that is preferred.

A VERY FINE CABINET PUDDING.

Butter thickly a mould of the same size as for the preceding pudding, and ornament it tastefully with dried cherries, or with the finest muscatel raisins opened and stoned; lay lightly into it a quarter-pound of sponge biscuit cut in slices, and intermixed with an equal weight of ratifias; sweeten with three ounces of sugar in lumps, and flavour highly with vanilla, or with the thin rind of half a fine lemon, and six sound bitter almonds bruised (should these be preferred), three-quarters of a pint, or rather more, of thin cream, or of cream and new milk mixed; strain and pour this hot to the well-beaten yolks of six eggs and the whites of two, and when the mixture is nearly cold, throw in gradually a wineglassful of good brandy; pour it gently, and by degrees, into the mould, and steam or boil the pudding very softly for an hour. Serve it with well made wine sauce. Never omit a buttered paper over any sort of custard-mixture; and remember that quick boiling will destroy the good appearance of this kind of pudding. The liquid should be quite cold before it is added to the cakes, or the butter on the mould would melt off, and the decorations with it; preserved ginger, and candied citron in slices, may be used to vary these, and the syrup of the former may be added to give flavour to the other ingredients.

Dried cherries, 3 to 4 oz.; sponge-biscuits, 1/4 lb.; ratifias, 4 oz.; thin cream, or cream and milk, 3/4 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; vanilla, 1/2 pod (or thin rind of 1/2 lemon and 6 bitter almonds bruised); yolks of 6 eggs, whites of 2; brandy, 1 wineglassful (preserved ginger and candied citron at choice): steamed, or gently boiled, 1 hour.

SNOWDON PUDDING.

(Genuine Receipt.)

Ornament a well buttered mould or basin with some fine raisins split open and stoned, but not divided, pressing the cut side on the butter to make them adhere; next, mix half a pound of very finely minced beef-kidney suet, with half a pound of bread-crumbs, and an ounce and a half of rice-flour, a pinch of salt, and six ounces of lemon marmalade, or of orange when the lemon cannot be procured; add six ounces of pale brown sugar, six thoroughly whisked eggs, and the grated rinds of two lemons. Beat the whole until all the ingredients are perfectly mixed, pour it gently into the mould, cover it with a buttered paper and a floured cloth, and boil it for one hour and a half. It will turn out remarkably well if carefully prepared. Half the quantity given above will fill a mould or basin which will contain rather more than a pint, and will be sufficiently boiled in ten minutes less than an hour. To many tastes a slight diminution in the proportion of suet would be an improvement to the pudding; and the substitution of pounded sugar for the brown, might likewise be considered so. Both the suet and eggs used for it, should be as fresh as possible.

This pudding is constantly served to travellers at the hotel at the foot of the mountain from which it derives its name. It is probably well known to many of our readers in consequence. Wine sauce, arrow-root, German sauce, or any other of the sweet pudding sauces to be found in the preceding pages of this chapter, may be poured over, or sent to table with it.

VERY GOOD RAISIN PUDDINGS.

To three quarters of a pound of flour add four ounces of fine crumbs of bread, one pound of beef-suet, a pound and six ounces of raisins, weighed after they are stoned, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, rather more of ginger, half a nutmeg, an ounce and a half of candied peel, and four large or five small eggs beaten, strained, and mixed with a cupful of milk, or as much more as will make the whole of the consistence of a very thick batter. Pour the mixture into a well-floured cloth of close texture, which has previously been dipped into hot water, wrung, and shaken out. Boil the pudding in plenty of water for four hours and a half. It may be served with very sweet wine, or punch sauce; but if made as we have directed, will be much lighter than if sugar be mixed with the other ingredients before it is boiled; and we have found it generally preferred to a richer plum-pudding.

No. 1. Flour, 3/4 lb.; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; beef-suet, 1 lb.; stoned raisins, 1 lb. 6 oz.; candied peel, 1-1/2 oz.; 1/2 nutmeg; eggs, 4 large, or 5 small; little salt and ginger: 4-1/2 hours.

Superior Raisin Pudding.—No. 2. Bread-crumbs and flour each 4 oz.; suet, 12 oz.; stoned raisins, 1 lb.; salt, third of saltspoonful; 1/2 nutmeg; ginger, 1/2 teaspoonful; half as much mace; sugar, 4 oz.; candied citron or orange-rind, 2 oz.; eggs, 4; milk or brandy, 3 to 5 tablespoonsful: to be well mixed and beaten together and boiled 4 hours.

Obs.—The remains of this pudding will answer well for the receipt which follows. Sultana raisins can be used for it instead of Malaga, but they are not so sweet.

THE ELEGANT ECONOMIST’S PUDDING.

Butter thickly a plain mould or basin, and line it entirely with slices of cold plum or raisin pudding, cut so as to join closely and neatly together; fill it quite with a good custard; lay, first a buttered paper, and then a floured cloth over it, tie them securely, and boil the pudding gently for an hour; let it stand for ten minutes after it is taken up before it is turned out of the mould. This is a more tasteful mode of serving the remains of a plum-pudding than the usual one of broiling them in slices, or converting them into fritters. The German sauce, well milled or frothed, is generally much relished with sweet boiled puddings, and adds greatly to their good appearance; but common wine or punch sauce, may be sent to table with the above quite as appropriately.

Mould or basin holding 1-1/2 pint, lined with thin slices of plum-pudding; 3/4 pint new milk boiled gently 5 minutes with grain of salt, 5 bitter almonds, bruised; sugar in lumps, 2-1/2 oz.; thin rind of 1/2 lemon, strained and mixed directly with 4 large well-beaten eggs; poured into mould while just warm; boiled gently 1 hour.

PUDDING À LA SCOONES.

Take of apples finely minced, and of currants, six ounces each; of suet, chopped small, sultana raisins, picked from the stalks, and sugar, four ounces each, with three ounces of fine bread-crumbs, the grated rind, and the strained juice of a small lemon, three well-beaten eggs, and two spoonsful of brandy. Mix these ingredients perfectly, and boil the pudding for two hours in a buttered basin; sift sugar over it when it is sent to table, and serve wine or punch sauce apart.

INGOLDSBY CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS.

Mix very thoroughly one pound of finely-grated bread with the same quantity of flour, two pounds of raisins stoned, two of currants, two of suet minced small, one of sugar, half a pound of candied peel, one nutmeg, half an ounce of mixed spice, and the grated rinds of two lemons; mix the whole with sixteen eggs well beaten and strained, and add four glasses of brandy. These proportions will make three puddings of good size, each of which should be boiled six hours.

Bread-crumbs, 1 lb.; flour, 1 lb.; suet, 2 lbs.; currants, 2 lbs.; raisins, 2 lbs.; sugar, 1 lb.; candied peel, 1/2 lb.; rinds of lemons, 2; nutmegs, 1; mixed spice, 1/2 oz.; salt, 1/4 teaspoonsful; eggs, 16; brandy, 4 glassesful: 6 hours.

Obs.—A fourth part of the ingredients given above, will make a pudding of sufficient size for a small party: to render this very rich, half the flour and bread-crumbs may be omitted, and a few spoonsful of apricot marmalade well blended with the remainder of the mixture.[147]

147.  Rather less liquid will be required to moisten the pudding when this is done, and four hours and a quarter will boil it.

SMALL AND VERY LIGHT PLUM PUDDING.

With three ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf finely grated and soaked in a quarter of a pint of boiling milk, mix six ounces of suet minced very small, one ounce of dry bread-crumbs, ten ounces of stoned raisins, a little salt, the grated rind of a china-orange, and three eggs, leaving out one white. Boil the pudding for two hours and serve it with very sweet sauce; put no sugar in it.

VEGETABLE PLUM PUDDING.

(Cheap and good.)

Mix well together one pound of smoothly-mashed potatoes, half a pound of carrots boiled quite tender, and beaten to a paste, one pound of flour, one of currants, and one of raisins (full weight after they are stoned), three quarters of a pound of sugar, eight ounces of suet, one nutmeg, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt. Put the pudding into a well-floured cloth, tie it up very closely, and boil it for four hours. The correspondent to whom we are indebted for this receipt says, that the cost of the ingredients does not exceed half a crown, and that the pudding is of sufficient size for a party of sixteen persons. We can vouch for its excellence, but as it is rather apt to break when turned out of the cloth, a couple of eggs would perhaps improve it. It is excellent cold. Sweetmeats, brandy, and spices can be added at pleasure.

Mashed potatoes, 1 lb.; carrots, 8 oz.; flour, 1 lb.; suet, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 3/4 lb.; currants and raisins, 1 lb. each; nutmeg, 1; little salt. 4 hours.

THE AUTHOR’S CHRISTMAS PUDDING.

To three ounces of flour and the same weight of fine, lightly-grated bread-crumbs, add six of beef kidney-suet, chopped small, six of raisins weighed after they are stoned, six of well-cleaned currants, four ounces of minced apples, five of sugar, two of candied orange rind, half a teaspoonful of nutmeg mixed with pounded mace, a very little salt, a small glass of brandy, and three whole eggs. Mix and beat these ingredients well together, tie them tightly in a thickly-floured cloth, and boil them for three hours and a half. We can recommend this as a remarkably light small rich pudding: it may be served with German, wine, or punch sauce.

Flour, 3 oz.; bread-crumbs, 3 oz.; suet, stoned raisins, and currants, each, 6 oz.; minced apples, 4 oz.; sugar, 5 oz.; candied peel, 2 oz.; spice, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, few grains; brandy, small wineglassful; eggs, 3; 3-1/2 hours.

A KENTISH WELL PUDDING.

Make into a firm smooth paste, with cold water, one pound of flour, six ounces of finely-minced beef-suet, three quarters of a pound of currants, and a small pinch of salt, thoroughly mixed together. Form into a ball six ounces of good butter, and enclose it securely in about a third of the paste (rolled to a half inch of thickness), in the same way that an apple-dumpling is made; roll out the remainder of the paste, and place the portion containing the butter in the centre of it, with the part where the edge was drawn together turned downwards: gather the outer crust round it, and after having moistened the edge, close it with great care. Tie the pudding tightly in a well-floured cloth, and boil it for two hours and a half. It must be dished with caution that it may not break, and a small bit must be cut directly from the top, as in a meat pudding. (See page 400).

This is a very favourite pudding in some parts of England; the only difficulty in making or in serving it, is to prevent the escape of the butter, which, if properly secured, will be found in a liquid state in the inside, on opening it. Some timid cooks fold it in three coverings of paste, the better to guard against its bursting through; but there is no danger of this if the edges of the crust be well closed. When suet is objected to, seven ounces of butter may be substituted for it. The currants are occasionally omitted.

Flour, 1 lb.; suet, 6 oz.; currants, 3/4 lb.; salt, small pinch; ball of butter 6 oz.: 2-1/2 hours.

ROLLED PUDDING.

Roll out thin a bit of light puff paste, or a good suet crust, and spread equally over it to within an inch of the edge, any kind of fruit jam. Orange marmalade, and mincemeat make excellent varieties of this pudding, and a deep layer of fine brown sugar, flavoured with the grated rind and strained juice of one very large, or of two small, lemons, answers for it extremely well. Roll it up carefully, pinch the paste together at the ends, fold a cloth round, secure it well at the ends, and boil the pudding from one to two hours, according to its size and the nature of the ingredients. Half a pound of flour made into a paste with suet or butter, and covered with preserve, will be quite sufficiently boiled in an hour and a quarter.

A BREAD PUDDING.

Sweeten a pint of new milk with three ounces of fine sugar, throw in a few grains of salt, and pour it boiling on half a pound of fine and lightly-grated bread-crumbs; add an ounce of fresh butter, and cover them with a plate; let them remain for half an hour or more, and then stir to them four large well-whisked eggs, and a flavouring of nutmeg or of lemon-rind; pour the mixture into a thickly-buttered mould or basin, which holds a pint and a half, and which ought to be quite full; tie a paper and a cloth tightly over, and boil the pudding for exactly an hour and ten minutes. This is quite a plain receipt, but by omitting two ounces of the bread, and adding more butter, one egg, a small glass of brandy, the grated rind of a lemon, and as much sugar as will sweeten the whole richly, a very excellent pudding will be obtained; candied orange-peel also has a good effect when sliced thinly into it; and half a pound of currants is generally considered a further improvement.

New milk, 1 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; salt, few grains; bread-crumbs, 1/2 lb.; eggs, 4 (5, if very small); nutmeg or lemon-rind at pleasure: 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Or: milk, 1 pint; bread-crumbs, 6 oz.; butter, 2 to 3 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 5; brandy, small glassful; rind, 1 lemon. Further additions at choice: candied peel, 1-1/2 oz.; currants, 1/2 lb.

A BROWN BREAD PUDDING.

To half a pound of stale brown bread, finely and lightly grated, add an equal weight of suet chopped small, and of currants cleaned and dried, with half a saltspoonful of salt, three ounces of sugar, the third of a small nutmeg grated, two ounces of candied peel, five well-beaten eggs, and a glass of brandy. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and boil the pudding in a cloth for three hours and a half. Send port wine sauce to table with it. The grated rind of a large lemon may be added to this pudding with good effect.

Brown bread, suet, and currants, each 8 oz.; sugar, 3 oz.; candied peel, 2 oz.; salt, 1/2 saltspoonful; 1/3 of small nutmeg; eggs, 5; brandy, 1 wineglassful: 3-1/2 hours.

A GOOD BOILED RICE PUDDING.

Swell gradually,[148] and boil until quite soft and thick, four ounces and a half of whole rice in a pint and a half of new milk; sweeten them with from three to four ounces of sugar, broken small, and stir to them while they are still quite hot, the grated rind of half a large lemon, four or five bitter almonds, pounded to a paste, and four large well-whisked eggs; let the mixture cool, and then pour it into a thickly-buttered basin, or mould, which should be quite full; tie a buttered paper and a floured cloth over it, and boil the pudding exactly an hour; let it stand for two or three minutes before it is turned out, and serve it with sweet sauce, fruit syrup, or a compôte of fresh fruit. An ounce and a half of candied orange-rind will improve it much, and a couple of ounces of butter may be added to enrich it, when the receipt without is considered too simple. It is excellent when made with milk highly flavoured with cocoa-nut, or with vanilla.

148.  That is to say, put the rice into the milk while cold, heat it slowly, and let it only simmer until it is done.

Whole rice, 4-1/2 oz.; new milk (or cocoa-nut-flavoured milk), 1-1/2 pint; sugar, 3 to 4 oz.; salt, a few grains; bitter almonds, 4 to 6; rind of 1/2 lemon; eggs, 4: boiled 1 hour.

CHEAP RICE PUDDING.

Wash six ounces of rice, mix it with three quarters of a pound of raisins, tie them in a well-floured cloth, giving them plenty of room to swell; boil them exactly an hour and three quarters, and serve the pudding with very sweet sauce: this is a nice dish for the nursery. A pound of apples pared, cored, and quartered, will also make a very wholesome pudding, mixed with the rice, and boiled from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half; and sultana raisins and rice will give another good variety of this simple pudding.

Rice, 6 oz.; raisins, 1/2 lb.: 2 hours. Or, rice, 6 oz.; apples, 1 lb.: 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour.

RICE AND GOOSEBERRY PUDDING.

Spread six ounces of rice equally over a moist and well-floured pudding-cloth, and place on it a pint of green gooseberries, measured after the heads and stalks have been taken off. Gather the cloth up carefully round the fruit, give room for the rice to swell, and boil the pudding for an hour and a quarter. Very sweet sauce, or plenty of sugar, should be eaten with it.

Rice, 6 oz.; green gooseberries, 1 pint: 1-1/2 hour.

FASHIONABLE APPLE DUMPLINGS.

These are boiled in small knitted or closely-netted cloths (the former have, we think, the prettiest effect), which give quite an ornamental appearance to an otherwise homely dish. Take out the cores without dividing the apples, which should be large, and of a good boiling kind, and fill the cavities with orange or lemon marmalade; enclose them in a good crust rolled thin, draw the cloths round them, tie them closely, and boil them for three quarters of an hour. Lemon dumplings may be boiled in the same way.

3/4 to 1 hour, if the apples be not of the best boiling kind.

ORANGE SNOW-BALLS.

Take out the unhusked grains, and wash well half a pound of rice; put it into plenty of water, and boil it rather quickly for ten minutes; drain and let it cool. Pare four large, or five small oranges, and clear from them entirely the thick white inner skin; spread the rice, in as many equal portions as there are oranges, upon some pudding or dumpling cloths; tie the fruit separately in these, and boil the snow-balls for an hour and a half; turn them carefully on to a dish, and strew plenty of sifted sugar over them. The oranges carefully pared may be enclosed in a thin paste and boiled for the same time. Rice, 8 oz.; China oranges, 5: 1-1/2 hour.

APPLE SNOW-BALLS.

Pare and core some large pudding-apples, without dividing them, prepare the rice as in the foregoing receipt, enclose them in it, and boil them for one hour: ten minutes less will be sufficient should the fruit be but of moderate size. An agreeable addition to them is a slice of fresh butter, mixed with as much sugar as can be smoothly blended with it, and a flavouring of powdered cinnamon, or of nutmeg: this must be sent to table apart from them, not in the dish.

LIGHT CURRANT DUMPLINGS.

For each dumpling take three tablespoonsful of flour, two of finely-minced suet, and three of currants, a slight pinch of salt, and as much milk or water as will make a very thick batter of the ingredients. Tie the dumplings in well-floured cloths, and boil them for a full hour: they may be served with very sweet wine sauce.

LEMON DUMPLINGS. (LIGHT AND GOOD.)

Mix, with ten ounces of fine bread-crumbs, half a pound of beef suet, chopped extremely small, one large tablespoonful of flour, the grated rinds of two small lemons, or of a very large one, four ounces of pounded sugar, three large or four small eggs beaten and strained, and last of all, the juice of the lemons, or part of it, also strained. Divide these into four equal portions, tie them in well-floured cloths, and boil them an hour. The dumplings will be extremely light and delicate: if wished very sweet, more sugar must be added to them. The syrup of preserved ginger would be both a wholesome and appropriate sauce for them.

SUFFOLK, OR HARD DUMPLINGS.

Mix a little salt with some flour, and make it into a smooth and rather lithe paste, with cold water or skimmed milk; form it into dumplings, and throw them into boiling water: in half an hour they will be ready to serve. A better kind of dumpling is made by adding sufficient milk to the flour to form a thick batter, and then tying the dumplings in small well-floured cloths. In Suffolk farmhouses, they are served with the dripping-pan gravy of roast meat, and they are sometimes made very small indeed, and boiled with stewed shin of beef.

NORFOLK DUMPLINGS.

Take a pound of dough from a baking of very light white bread, and divide it into six equal parts; mould these into dumplings, drop them into a pan of fast boiling water, and boil them quickly from twelve to fifteen minutes. Send them to table the instant they are dished, with wine sauce or raspberry vinegar. In some counties they are eaten with melted butter, well sweetened, and mixed with a little vinegar. They must never be cut, but should be torn apart with a couple of forks.

SWEET BOILED PATTIES. (GOOD.)

Mix into a very smooth paste, three ounces of finely-minced suet with eight of flour, and a light pinch of salt; divide it into fourteen balls of equal size, roll them out quite thin and round, moisten the edges, put a little preserve into each, close the patties very securely to prevent its escape, throw them into a pan of boiling water, and in from ten to twelve minutes lift them out, and serve them instantly. Butter-crust may be used for them instead of suet but it will not be so light.

Flour, 8 oz.; suet, 3 oz.; little salt; divided into fourteen portions: boiled 10 to 12 minutes.

BOILED RICE TO BE SERVED WITH STEWED FRUITS, PRESERVES, OR RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

Take out the discoloured grains from half a pound of good rice; and wash it in several waters; tie it very loosely in a pudding cloth, put it into cold water; heat it slowly, and boil it for quite an hour, it will then be quite solid and resemble a pudding in appearance. Sufficient room must be given to allow the grain to swell to its full size, or it will be hard; but too much space will render the whole watery. With a little experience, the cook will easily ascertain the exact degree to be allowed for it. Four ounces of rice will require quite three quarters of an hour’s boiling; a little more or less of time will sometimes be needed, from the difference of quality in the grain. It should be put into an abundant quantity of water, which should be cold and then very slowly heated.

Carolina rice, 1/2 lb.: boiled 1 hour. 4 oz.: 3/4 hour.

CHAPTER XXI.

Baked Puddings.

Pudding garnished with Preserves.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Baked Pudding Mould.

We have little to add here to the remarks which will be found at the commencement of the preceding Chapter, as they will apply equally to the preparation of these and of boiled puddings.

All of the custard kind, whether made of eggs and milk only, or of sago, arrow-root, rice, ground or in grain, vermicelli, &c., require a very gentle oven, and are spoiled by fast-baking. Those made of batter on the contrary, should be put into one sufficiently brisk to raise them quickly but without scorching them. Such as contain suet and raisins must have a well-heated but not a fierce oven; for as they must remain long in it to be thoroughly done, unless carefully managed they will either be much too highly coloured or too dry.

By whisking to a solid froth the whites of the eggs used for any pudding, and stirring them softly into it at the instant of placing it in the oven it will be rendered exceedingly light, and will rise very high in the dish; but as it will partake then of the nature of a soufflé, it must be despatched with great expedition to table from the oven, or it will become flat before it is served.

When a pudding is sufficiently browned on the surface (that is to say, of a fine equal amber-colour) before it is baked through, a sheet of writing paper should be laid over it, but not before it is set: when quite firm in the centre it will be done.

Potato, batter, plum, and every other kind of pudding indeed which is sufficiently solid to allow of it, should be turned on to a clean hot dish from the one in which it is baked, and strewed with sifted sugar before it is sent to table.

Minute directions for the preparation and management of each particular variety of pudding will be found in the receipt for it.

A BAKED PLUM PUDDING EN MOULE, OR MOULDED.

Mingle thoroughly in a large pan or bowl half a pound of the nicest beef-kidney suet minced very small, half a pound of carefully stoned raisins, as many currants, four ounces of pounded sugar, half a pound of flour, two ounces of candied citron and lemon or orange rind, four large well whisked eggs, a small cup of milk, a glass of brandy, a tiny pinch of salt, and some nutmeg or powdered ginger. Beat the whole up lightly, pour it into a well-buttered mould or cake-tin and bake it in a moderate oven from an hour and a half to two hours. Turn it from the mould and send it quickly to table with Devonshire cream, or melted apricot marmalade for sauce.

THE PRINTER’S PUDDING.

Grate very lightly six ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf, and put it into a deep dish. Dissolve in a quart of cold new milk four ounces of good Lisbon sugar; add it to five large, well-whisked eggs, strain, and mix them with the bread-crumbs; stir in two ounces of a fresh finely-grated cocoa-nut; add a flavouring of nutmeg or of lemon-rind, and the slightest pinch of salt; let the pudding stand for a couple of hours to soak the bread; and bake it in a gentle oven for three-quarters of an hour: it will be excellent if carefully made, and not too quickly baked. When the cocoa-nut is not at hand, an ounce of butter just dissolved, should be poured over the dish before the crumbs are put into it; and the rind of an entire lemon may be used to give it flavour; but the cocoa-nut imparts a peculiar richness when it is good and fresh.

Bread-crumbs, 6 oz.; new milk, 1 quart; sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 5; cocoa-nut, 2 oz. (or rind, 1 large lemon, and 1 oz. butter); slightest pinch of salt: to stand 2 hours. Baked in gentle oven full 3/4 hour.

Obs.—When a very sweet pudding is liked, the proportion of sugar may be increased.

ALMOND PUDDING.

On two ounces of fine bread-crumbs pour a pint of boiling cream, and let them remain until nearly cold, then mix them very gradually with half a pound of sweet and six bitter almonds pounded to the smoothest paste, with a little orange-flower water, or with a few drops of spring water, just to prevent their oiling; stir to them by degrees the well-beaten yolks of seven and the whites of three eggs, six ounces of sifted sugar, and four of clarified butter; turn the mixture into a very clean stewpan, and stir it without ceasing over a slow fire until it becomes thick, but on no account allow it to boil. When it is tolerably cool add a glass of brandy, or half a one of noyau, pour the pudding into a dish lined with very thin puff paste, and bake it half an hour in a moderate oven.

Bread-crumbs, 2 oz.; cream, 1 pint; pounded almonds, 1/2 lb.; bitter almonds, 6; yolks of 7, whites of 3 eggs; sugar, 6 oz.; butter, 4 oz.; brandy, 1 wineglassful, or 1/2 glass of noyau: 1/2 hour, moderate oven.

THE YOUNG WIFE’S PUDDING.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Break separately into a cup four perfectly sweet eggs, and with the point of a small three-pronged fork clear them from the specks. Throw them, as they are done, into a large basin, or a bowl, and beat them up lightly for four or five minutes, then add by degrees two ounces and a half of pounded sugar, with a very small pinch of salt, and whisk the mixture well, holding the fork rather loosely between the thumb and fingers; next, grate in the rind of a quite fresh lemon, or substitute for it a tablespoonful of lemon-brandy, or of orange-flower water, which should be thrown in by degrees, and stirred briskly to the eggs. Add a pint of cold new milk, and pour the pudding into a well buttered dish. Slice some stale bread, something more than a quarter of an inch thick, and with a very small cake-cutter cut sufficient rounds from it to cover the top of the pudding; butter them thickly with good butter; lay them, with the dry side undermost, upon the pudding, sift sugar thickly on them, and set the dish gently into a Dutch or American oven, which should be placed at the distance of a foot or more from a moderate fire. An hour of very slow baking will be just sufficient to render the pudding firm throughout; but should the fire be fierce, or the oven placed too near it, the receipt will fail.

Obs.—We give minute directions for this dish, because though simple, it is very delicate and good, and the same instructions will serve for all the varieties of it which follow. The cook who desires to succeed with them, must take the trouble to regulate properly the heat of the oven in which they are baked. When it is necessary to place them in that of the kitchen-range the door should be left open for a time to cool it down (should it be very hot), before they are placed in it; and they may be set upon a plate or dish reversed, if the iron should still remain greatly heated.

THE GOOD DAUGHTER’S MINCEMEAT PUDDING.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Lay into a rather deep tart-dish some thin slices of French roll very slightly spread with butter and covered with a thick layer of mincemeat; place a second tier lightly on these, covered in the same way with the mincemeat; then pour gently in a custard made with three well-whisked eggs, three-quarters of a pint of new milk or thin cream, the slightest pinch of salt, and two ounces of sugar. Let the pudding stand to soak for an hour, then bake it gently until it is quite firm in the centre: this will be in from three-quarters of an hour to a full hour.

MRS. HOWITT’S PUDDING.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Butter lightly, on both sides, some evenly cut slices of roll, or of light bread freed from crust, and spread the tops thickly but uniformly with good orange-marmalade. Prepare as much only in this way as will cover the surface of the pudding without the edges of the bread overlaying each other, as this would make it sink to the bottom of the dish. Add the same custard as for the mincemeat-pudding, but flavour it with French brandy only. Let it stand for an hour, then place it gently in a slow oven and bake it until it is quite set, but no longer. It is an excellent and delicate pudding when properly baked; but like all which are composed in part of custard, it will be spoiled by a fierce degree of heat. The bread should be of a light clear brown, and the custard, under it, smooth and firm. This may be composed, at choice, of the yolks of four and whites of two eggs, thoroughly whisked, first without and then with two tablespoonsful of fine sugar; to these the milk or cream may then be added.

AN EXCELLENT LEMON PUDDING.

Beat well together four ounces of fresh butter creamed, and eight of sifted sugar; to these add gradually the yolks of six and the whites of two eggs, with the grated rind and the strained juice of one large lemon:—this last must be added by slow degrees, and stirred briskly to the other ingredients. Bake the pudding in a dish lined with very thin puff-paste for three-quarters of an hour, in a slow oven.

Butter, 4 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; yolks of 6, whites of 2 eggs; large lemon, 1: 3/4 hour, slow oven.

LEMON SUET PUDDING.

To half a pound of finely grated bread-crumbs, add six ounces of fresh beef-kidney suet, free from skin, and minced very small, a quarter of a pound of castor sugar, six ounces of currants, the grated rind and the strained juice of a large lemon, and four full-sized or five small well-beaten eggs; pour these ingredients into a thickly-buttered pan, and bake the pudding for an hour in a brisk oven, but draw it towards the mouth when it is of a fine brown colour. Turn it from the dish before it is served, and strew sifted sugar over it or not, at pleasure: two ounces more of suet can be added when a larger proportion is liked. The pudding is very good without the currants.

Bread-crumbs, 8 oz.; beef-suet, 6 oz.; pounded sugar, 3-1/2 oz.; lemon, 1 large; currants, 6 oz.; eggs, 4 large, or 5 small: 1 hour, brisk oven.

BAKEWELL PUDDING.

This pudding is famous not only in Derbyshire, but in several of our northern counties, where it is usually served on all holiday-occasions. Line a shallow tart-dish with quite an inch-deep layer of several kinds of good preserve mixed together, and intermingle with them from two to three ounces of candied citron or orange-rind. Beat well the yolks of ten eggs, and add to them gradually half a pound of sifted sugar; when they are well mixed, pour in by degrees half a pound of good clarified butter, and a little ratifia or any other flavour that may be preferred; fill the dish two-thirds full with this mixture, and bake the pudding for nearly an hour in a moderate oven. Half the quantity will be sufficient for a small dish.

Mixed preserves, 1-1/2 to 2 lbs.; yolks of eggs, 10; sugar, 1/2 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; ratifia, lemon-brandy, or other flavouring, to the taste: baked, moderate oven, 3/4 to 1 hour.

Obs.—This is a rich and expensive, but not very refined pudding. A variation of it, known in the south as an Alderman’s Pudding, is we think, superior to it. It is made without the candied peel, and with a layer of apricot-jam only, six ounces of butter, six of sugar, the yolks of six, and the whites of two eggs.

RATIFIA PUDDING.

Flavour a pint and a half of new milk rather highly with bitter almonds, blanched and bruised, or, should their use be objected to, with three or four bay leaves and a little cinnamon; add a few grains of salt, and from four to six ounces of sugar in lumps, according to the taste. When the whole has simmered gently for some minutes, strain off the milk through a fine sieve or muslin, put it into a clean saucepan, and when it again boils stir it gradually and quickly to six well-beaten eggs which have been likewise strained; let the mixture cool, and then add to it a glass of brandy. Lay a half-paste round a well-buttered dish, and sprinkle into it an ounce of ratifias finely crumbled, grate the rind of a lemon over, and place three ounces of whole ratifias upon them, pour in sufficient of the custard to soak them; an hour afterwards add the remainder, and send the pudding to a gentle oven: half an hour will bake it.

New milk, 1-1/2 pint; bitter almonds, 6 or 7 (or bay leaves, 3 to 5, and bit of cinnamon); sugar, 4 to 6 oz.; eggs, 6; brandy, 1 wineglassful; ratifias, 4 oz.; rind 1/2 lemon: baked 1/2 hour.

THE ELEGANT ECONOMIST’S PUDDING.

We have already given a receipt for an exceedingly good boiled pudding bearing this title, but we think the baked one answers even better, and it is made with rather more facility. Butter a deep tart-dish well, cut the slices of plum-pudding to join exactly in lining it, and press them against it lightly to make them adhere, as without this precaution they are apt to float off; pour in as much custard (previously thickened and left to become cold), or any other sweet pudding mixture, as will fill the dish almost to the brim; cover the top with thin slices of the plum pudding, and bake it in a slow oven from thirty minutes to a full hour, according to the quantity and quality of the contents. One pint of new milk poured boiling on an ounce and a half of tous-les-mois, smoothly mixed with a quarter of a pint of cold milk, makes with the addition of four ounces of sugar, four small eggs, a little lemon-grate, and two or three bitter almonds, or a few drops of ratifia, an excellent pudding of this kind; it should be baked nearly three-quarters of an hour in a quite slow oven. Two ounces and a half of arrow-root may be used in lieu of the tous-les-mois.

RICH BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.

Give a good flavour of lemon-rind and bitter almonds, or of cinnamon, if preferred, to a pint of new milk, and when it has simmered a sufficient time for this, strain and mix it with a quarter of a pint of rich cream; sweeten it with four ounces of sugar in lumps, and stir it while still hot to five well-beaten eggs; throw in a few grains of salt, and move the mixture briskly with a spoon as a glass of brandy is added to it. Have ready in a thickly-buttered dish three layers of thin bread and butter cut from a half-quartern loaf, with four ounces of currants, and one and a half of finely shred candied peel, strewed between and over them; pour the eggs and milk on them by degrees, letting the bread absorb one portion before another is added: it should soak for a couple of hours before the pudding is taken to the oven, which should be a moderate one. Half an hour will bake it. It is very good when made with new milk only; and some persons use no more than a pint of liquid in all, but part of the whites of the eggs may then be omitted. Cream may be substituted for the entire quantity of milk at pleasure.

New milk, 1 pint; rind of small lemon, and 6 bitter almonds bruised (or 1/2 drachm of cinnamon): simmered 10 to 20 minutes. Cream, 1/4 pint; sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 6; brandy, 1 wineglassful. Bread and butter, 3 layers; currants, 4 oz.; candied orange or lemon-rind, 1-1/2 oz.: to stand 2 hours, and to be baked 30 minutes in a moderate oven.

COMMON BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.

Sweeten a pint and a half of milk with four ounces of Lisbon sugar; stir it to four large well-beaten eggs, or to five small ones, grate half a nutmeg to them, and pour the mixture into a dish which holds nearly three pints, and which is filled almost to the brim with layers of bread and butter, between which three ounces of currants have been strewed. Lemon-grate, or orange-flower water can be added to this pudding instead of nutmeg, when preferred. From three quarters of an hour to an hour will bake it.

Milk, 1-1/2 pint; Lisbon sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 4 large, or 5 small; 1/2 small nutmeg; currants, 3 oz.: baked 3/4 to 1 hour.

A GOOD BAKED BREAD PUDDING.

Pour, quite boiling, on six ounces (or three quarters of a pint) of fine bread-crumbs and one ounce of butter, a pint of new milk, cover them closely, and let them stand until the bread is well soaked; then stir to them three ounces of sugar, five eggs, leaving out two of the whites, two ounces of candied orange-rind, sliced thin, and a flavouring of nutmeg; when the mixture is nearly or quite cold pour it into a dish, and place lightly over the top the whites of three eggs beaten to a firm froth, and mixed at the instant with three large tablespoonsful of sifted sugar. Bake the pudding for half an hour in a moderate oven. The icing may be omitted, and an ounce and a half of butter, just warmed, put into the dish before the pudding, and plenty of sugar sifted over it just as it is sent to the oven, or it may be made without either.

Bread, 6 oz.; butter, 1 oz.; milk, 1 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; eggs, 5 yolks, 3 whites; candied orange-rind, 2 oz.; little nutmeg. Icing, 3 whites of eggs; sugar, 3 tablespoonsful: baked, 1/2 hour.

ANOTHER BAKED BREAD PUDDING.

Add to a pint of new milk a quarter of a pint of good cream, and pour them boiling on eight ounces of bread-crumbs, and three of fresh butter; when these have stood half an hour covered with a plate, stir to them four ounces of sugar, six ounces of currants, one and a half of candied orange or citron, and five eggs.

A GOOD SEMOULINA, OR SOUJEE PUDDING.

Drop lightly into a pint and a half of boiling milk two large tablespoonsful of semoulina, and stir them together as this is done, that the mixture may not be lumpy; continue the stirring from eight to ten minutes, then throw in two ounces of good butter, and three and a half of pounded sugar, or of the finest Lisbon; next add the grated rind of a lemon, and, while the semoulina is still warm, beat gradually and briskly to it five well-whisked eggs; pour it into a buttered dish, and bake it about half an hour in a moderate oven. Boil the soujee exactly as the semoulina.

New milk, 1-1/2 pint; semoulina, 2-1/2 oz.: 7 to 8 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/2 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; rind of lemon; eggs, 5: baked in moderate oven, 1/2 hour. Or, soujee, 4 oz.; other ingredients as above.

FRENCH SEMOULINA PUDDING.

Or Gâteau de Semoule.

Infuse by the side of the fire in a quart of new milk, the very thin rind of a fine fresh lemon, and when it has stood for half an hour bring it slowly to a boil: simmer it for four or five minutes, then take out the lemon rind, and throw lightly into the milk, stirring it all the time, five ounces of the best quality of semoulina;[149] let it boil over a gentle fire for ten minutes, then add four ounces of sugar roughly powdered, three of fresh butter, and less than a small quarter-teaspoonful of salt; boil the mixture for two or three additional minutes, keeping it stirred without ceasing; take it from the fire, let it cool a little, and stir to it briskly, and by degrees, the yolks of six eggs and the whites of four well beaten together, and strained or prepared for use as directed at page 395, four or five bitter almonds, pounded with a little sugar, will heighten the flavour pleasantly to many tastes. When the pudding is nearly cold, pour it gently into a stewpan or mould, prepared as for the Gâteau de Riz of page 433, and bake it in a very gentle oven from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half.

149.  As we have had occasion to state in the previous pages of this volume, we have had semoulina, vermicelli, and various kinds of macaroni of first-rate quality, from Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall; but they may, without doubt, be procured equally good from many other foreign warehouses.

SAXE-GOTHA PUDDING, OR TOURTE.

Blanch and pound to the smoothest possible paste, a couple of ounces of Jordan almonds, and four or five bitter ones; add to them, spoonful by spoonful quite at first, four eggs which have been whisked very light; throw in gradually two ounces of pounded sugar, and then four ounces of the finest bread-crumbs. Just melt, but without heating, two ounces of fresh butter, and add it in very small portions to the other ingredients, beating each well to them until it ceases to appear on the surface. Pour the paste thus prepared upon a pint of red currants, ready mixed in a tart-dish with four ounces of pounded sugar, and bake them gently for about half an hour. Raspberries and currants mixed, and Kentish or morella cherries, will make most excellent varieties of this dish: the Kentish cherries should be stoned for it, the morellas left entire. Should the paste be considered too rich, a part or the whole of the butter can be omitted; or again, it may on occasion be made without the almonds; but the reader is recommended to try the receipt in the first instance without any variation from it. The crust will be found delicious if well made. Like all mixtures of the kind it must be kept light by constant beating, as the various ingredients are added to the eggs, which should themselves be whisked to a very light froth before they are used.

Jordan almonds, 2 oz.; bitter almonds, 4 or 5; eggs, 4; pounded sugar, 2 oz.; bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; fresh butter, 2 oz. Red currants, (or other fruit) 1 pint; sugar, 4 oz.: 1/2 hour.

BADEN-BADEN PUDDINGS.

Prepare the same paste as for the preceding receipt, and add to it by degrees a couple of tablespoonsfuls of fine raspberry, strawberry, or apricot jam, which has previously been worked smooth with the back of a spoon; half fill some buttered pattypans or small cups with the mixture and bake the puddings in a gentle oven from fifteen to twenty minutes, or rather longer should it be very slow. For variety, omit the preserve, and flavour the puddings with the lightly grated rind of a fresh lemon, and with an ounce or so of candied peel shred small; or with a little vanilla pounded with a lump or two of sugar, and sifted through a hair sieve; or with from three to four drachms of orange flowers pralineés reduced to powder; or serve them quite plain with a fruit sauce.

SUTHERLAND OR CASTLE PUDDINGS.

Take an equal weight of eggs in the shell, of good butter, of fine dry flour, and of sifted sugar. First, whisk the eggs for ten minutes or until they appear extremely light, then throw in the sugar by degrees, and continue the whisking for four or five minutes; next, strew in the flour, also gradually, and when it appears smoothly blended with the other ingredients, pour the butter to them in small portions, each of which should be beaten in until there is no appearance of it left. It should previously be just liquefied with the least possible degree of heat: this may be effected by putting it into a well-warmed saucepan, and shaking it round until it is dissolved. A grain or two of salt should be thrown in with the flour; and the rind of half a fine lemon rasped on sugar or grated, or some pounded mace, or any other flavour can be added at choice. Pour the mixture directly it is ready into well-buttered cups, and bake the puddings from twenty to twenty-five minutes. When cold they resemble good pound cakes, and may be served as such. Wine sauce should be sent to table with them.

Eggs, 4; their weight in flour, sugar, and butter; little salt; flavouring of pounded mace or lemon-rind.

Obs.—Three eggs are sufficient for a small dish of these puddings. They may be varied with an ounce or two of candied citron; or with a spoonful of brandy, or a little orange-flower water. The mode we have given of making them will be found perfectly successful if our directions be followed with exactness. In a slow oven they will not be too much baked in half an hour.

MADELEINE PUDDINGS.

To be served cold.

Take the same ingredients as for the Sutherland puddings, but clarify an additional ounce of butter; skim, and then fill some round tin pattypans with it almost to the brim; pour it from one to the other until all have received a sufficient coating to prevent the puddings from adhering to them, and leave half a teaspoonful in each; mix the remainder with the eggs, sugar, and flour, beat the whole up very lightly, fill the pans about two-thirds full, and put them directly into a rather brisk oven, but draw them towards the mouth of it when they are sufficiently coloured; from fifteen to eighteen minutes will bake them. Turn them out, and drain them on a sheet of paper. When they are quite cold, with the point of the knife take out a portion of the tops, hollow the puddings a little, and fill them with rich apricot-jam, well mixed with half its weight of pounded almonds, of which two in every ounce should be bitter ones.

A GOOD FRENCH RICE PUDDING, OR GÂTEAU DE RIZ.

Swell gently in a quart of new milk, or in equal parts of milk and cream, seven ounces of the best Carolina rice, which has been cleared of the discoloured grains, and washed and drained; when it is tolerably tender, add to it three ounces of fresh butter, and five of sugar roughly powdered, a few grains of salt, and the lightly grated rind of a fine lemon, and simmer the whole until the rice is swollen to the utmost; then take it from the fire, let it cool a little, and stir to it quickly, and by degrees, the well-beaten yolks of six full-sized eggs. Pour into a small copper stewpan[150] a couple of ounces of clarified butter, and incline it in such a manner that it may receive an equal coating in every part; then turn it upside down for an instant, to drain off the superfluous butter; next, throw in some exceedingly fine light crumbs of stale bread, and shake them entirely over it, turn out those which do not adhere, and with a small brush or feather sprinkle more clarified butter slightly on those which line the pan. Whisk quickly the whites of the eggs to snow, stir them gently to the rice, and pour the mixture softly into the stewpan, that the bread-crumbs may not be displaced; put it immediately into a moderate oven, and let it remain in a full hour. It will then, if properly baked, turn out from the mould or pan well browned, quite firm, and having the appearance of a cake; but a fierce heat will cause it to break, and present an altogether unsightly appearance. In a very slow oven a longer time must be allowed for it.

150.  One which holds about five pints is well adapted to the purpose. When this is not at hand, a copper cake-mould may be substituted for it. The stewpan must not be covered while the gâteau is baking.

New milk, or milk and cream, 1 quart; Carolina rice, 7 oz.: 3/4 hour. Fresh butter, 3 oz.; sugar, in lumps, 5 oz.; rind, 1 large lemon: 3/4 to 1-1/4. Eggs, 6: baked in a moderate oven, 1 hour.

Obs.—An excellent variety of this gâteau is made with cocoa-nut flavoured milk, or cream (see Chapter XXIII.), or with either of these poured boiling on six ounces of Jordan almonds, finely pounded, and mixed with a dozen bitter ones, then wrung from them with strong pressure; it may likewise be flavoured with vanilla, or with candied orange-blossoms, and covered at the instant it is dished, with strawberry, apple, or any other clear jelly.

A COMMON RICE PUDDING.

Throw six ounces of rice into plenty of cold water, and boil it gently from eight to ten minutes; drain it well in a sieve or strainer, and put it into a clean saucepan with a quart of milk; let it stew until tender, sweeten it with three ounces of sugar, stir to it, gradually, three large, or four small eggs, beaten and strained; add grated nutmeg, lemon rind, or cinnamon to give it flavour, and bake it one hour in a gentle oven.

Rice, 6 oz.: in water, 8 to 10 minutes. Milk, 1 quart: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sugar, 3 oz.; eggs, 3 large, or 4 small; flavouring of nutmeg lemon-rind, or cinnamon: bake 1 hour, gentle oven.

QUITE CHEAP RICE PUDDING.

Boil the rice in water, as for a currie, and while it is still warm, mix with it a pint and a half of milk, and three fresh or four or five French eggs (at many seasons of the year these last, which are always cheap, are very good, and answer excellently for puddings.) Sweeten it with pale brown sugar, grate nutmeg on the top, and bake it slowly until it is firm in every part.

RICHER RICE PUDDING.

Wash very clean four ounces of whole rice, pour on it a pint and a half of new milk, and stew it slowly till quite tender; before it is taken from the fire, stir in two ounces of good butter, and three of sugar; and when it has cooled a little, add four well-whisked eggs, and the grated rind of half a lemon. Bake the pudding in a gentle oven from thirty to forty minutes. As rice requires long boiling to render it soft in milk, it may be partially stewed in water, the quantity of milk diminished to a pint, and a little thick sweet cream mixed with it, before the other ingredients are added.

Rice, 4 oz.; new milk, 1-1/2 pint; butter, 2 oz.; sugar, 3 oz.; eggs, 4; rind of 1/2 lemon: 30 to 40 minutes, slow oven.

RICE PUDDING MERINGUÉ.

Swell gently four ounces of Carolina rice in a pint and a quarter of milk or of thin cream; let it cool a little, and stir to it an ounce and a half of butter, three of pounded sugar, a grain or two of salt, the grated rind of a small lemon, and the yolks of four large, or of five small eggs. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered dish, and lay lightly and equally over the top the whites of four eggs beaten as for sponge cakes, and mixed at the instant with from four to five heaped tablespoonsful of sifted sugar. Bake the pudding half an hour in a moderate oven, but do not allow the meringue to be too deeply coloured; it should be of a clear brown, and very crisp. Serve it directly it is taken from the oven.

Rice, 4 oz.; milk, or cream, 1-1/4 pint; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 3 oz.; rind, 1 lemon; yolks of eggs, 4 or 5; the whites beaten to snow, and mixed with as many tablespoonsful of sifted sugar: baked 1/2 hour, moderate oven.

Obs.—A couple of ounces of Jordan almonds, with two or three bitter ones, pounded quite to a paste, will improve this dish, whether mixed with the pudding itself, or with the meringué.

A GOOD GROUND RICE PUDDING.

Mix very smoothly five ounces of flour of rice (or of ground rice, if preferred), with half a pint of milk, and pour it into a pint and a half more which is boiling fast; keep it stirred constantly over a gentle fire from ten to twelve minutes, and be particularly careful not to let it burn to the pan; add to it before it is taken from the fire, a quarter of a pound of good butter, from five to six ounces of sugar, roughly powdered, and a few grains of salt; turn it into a pan, and stir it for a few minutes, to prevent its hardening at the top; then mix with it, by degrees but quickly, the yolks of eight eggs, and the whites of two, the grated or rasped rind of a fine lemon, and a glass of brandy. Lay a border of rich paste round a buttered dish, pour in the pudding, strain a little clarified butter over the top, moisten the paste with a brush, or small bunch of feathers dipped in cold water, and sift plenty of sugar on it, but less over the pudding itself. Send it to a very gentle oven to be baked for three-quarters of an hour.

Rice-flour (or ground rice), 5 oz.; new milk, 1 quart: 10 to 12 minutes. Butter, 4 oz.; sugar, 5 to 6 oz.; salt, 1/2 saltspoonful; yolks, 8 eggs; whites, 2; rind, 1 large lemon; brandy, large wineglassful: 3/4 hour, slow oven.

Obs.—These proportions are sufficient for a pudding of larger size than those served usually at elegant tables; they will make two small ones; or two-thirds of the quantity may be taken for one of moderate size. Lemon-brandy or ratifia, or a portion of each, may be used to give it flavour, with good effect; and it may be enriched, if this be desired, by adding to the other ingredients from three to four ounces of Jordan almonds, finely pounded, and by substituting cream for half of the milk.

COMMON GROUND RICE PUDDING.

One pint and a half of milk, three ounces and a half of rice, three of Lisbon sugar, one and a half of butter, some nutmeg, or lemon-grate, and four eggs, baked slowly for half an hour, or more, if not quite firm.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY PUDDING.

Boil together, from ten to twelve minutes, a pound of green gooseberries, five ounces of sugar, and rather more than a quarter of a pint of water: then beat the fruit to a mash, and stir to it an ounce and a half of fresh butter; when nearly, or quite cold, add two ounces and a half of very fine bread-crumbs, and four well whisked eggs. Bake the pudding gently from half to three-quarters of an hour. To make a finer one of the kind, work the fruit through a sieve, mix it with four or five crushed Naples biscuits, and use double the quantity of butter.

Green gooseberries, 1 lb.; sugar, 5 oz.; water, full 1/4 pint: 10 to 12 minutes. Bread-crumbs, 2-1/2 oz.; eggs, 4: 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

POTATO PUDDING.

With a pound and a quarter of fine mealy potatoes, boiled very dry, and mashed perfectly smooth while hot, mix three ounces of butter, five or six of sugar, five eggs, a few grains of salt, and the grated rind of a small lemon. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered dish, and bake it in a moderate oven for nearly three-quarters of an hour. It should be turned out and sent to table with fine sugar sifted over it; or for variety, red currant jelly, or any other preserve, may be spread on it as soon as it is dished.

Potatoes, 1-1/4 lb.; butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 5 or 6 oz.; eggs, 5 or 6; lemon-rind, 1; salt, few grains: 40 to 45 minutes.

Obs.—When cold, this pudding eats like cake, and may be served as such, omitting, of course, the sugar or preserve when it is dished.

A RICHER POTATO PUDDING.

Beat well together fourteen ounces of mashed potatoes, four ounces of butter, four of fine sugar, five eggs, the grated rind of a small lemon, and a slight pinch of salt; add half a glass of brandy, and pour the pudding into a thickly-buttered dish or mould, ornamented with slices of candied orange or; pour a little clarified butter on the top, and then sift plenty of white sugar over it.

Potatoes, 14 oz.; butter, 4 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; eggs, 5; lemon-rind, 1; little salt; brandy, 1/2 glassful; candied peel, 1-1/2 to 2 oz.: 40 minutes.

Obs.—The potatoes for these receipts should be lightly and carefully mashed, but never pounded in a mortar, as that will convert them into a heavy paste. The better plan is to prepare them by Captain Kater’s receipt (Chapter XVII.), when they will fall to powder almost of themselves; or they may be grated while hot through a wire sieve. From a quarter to a half pint of cream is, by many cooks, added always to potato puddings.

A GOOD SPONGE CAKE PUDDING.

Slice into a well-buttered tart-dish three penny sponge biscuits, and place on them a couple of ounces of candied orange or lemon rind cut in strips. Whisk thoroughly six eggs, and stir to them boiling a pint and a quarter of new milk, in which three ounces of sugar have been dissolved; grate in the rind of a small lemon, and when they are somewhat cooled, add half a wineglassful of brandy, while still just warm, pour the mixture to the cakes, and let it remain an hour; then strain an ounce and a half of clarified butter over the top, or strew pounded sugar rather thickly on it, and bake the pudding three quarters of an hour or longer in a gentle oven.

Sponge cakes, 3; candied peel, 2 oz.; eggs, 6; new milk, 1-1/4 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; lemon-rind, 1; brandy, 1/2 glass; butter, 1 oz.; sifted sugar, 1-1/2 oz.: 3/4 hour.

CAKE AND CUSTARD, AND VARIOUS OTHER INEXPENSIVE PUDDINGS.

Even when very dry, the remains of a sponge or a Savoy cake will serve excellently for a pudding, if lightly broken up, or crumbled, and intermixed or not, with a few ratifias or macaroons, which should also be broken up. A custard composed of four eggs to the pint of milk if small, and three if very large and fresh, and not very highly sweetened, should be poured over the cake half an hour at least before it is placed in the oven (which should be slow); and any flavour given to it which may be liked. An economical and clever cook will seldom be at a loss for compounding an inexpensive and good pudding in this way. More or less of the cake can be used as may be convenient. Part of a mould of sweet rice or the remains of a dish of Arocē Docē (see Chapter XXIII.), and various other preparations may be turned to account in a similar manner; but the custard should be perfectly and equally mingled with whatever other ingredients are used. Macaroni boiled tender in milk, or in milk and water, will make an excellent pudding; and sago stewed very thick, will supply another; the custard may be mixed with this last while it is still just warm. Two ounces well washed, and slowly heated in a pint of liquid, will be tender in from fifteen to twenty minutes. All these puddings will require a gentle oven, and will be ready to serve when they are firm in the centre, and do not stick to a knife when plunged into it.

BAKED APPLE PUDDING, OR CUSTARD.

Weigh a pound of good boiling apples after they are pared and cored, and stew them to a perfectly smooth marmalade, with six ounces of sugar, and a spoonful or two of wine; stir them often that they may not stick to the pan. Mix with them while they are still quite hot, three ounces of butter, the grated rind and the strained juice of a lemon, and lastly, stir in by degrees the well-beaten yolks of five eggs, and a dessertspoonful of flour, or in lieu of the last, three or four Naples’ biscuits, or macaroons crushed small. Bake the pudding for a full half hour in a moderate oven, or longer should it be not quite firm in the middle. A little clarified butter poured on the top, with sugar sifted over, improves all baked puddings.

Apples 1 lb.; sugar, 6 oz.; wine 1 glassful; butter, 3 oz.; juice and rind, 1 lemon; 5 eggs: 1/2 hour, or more.

Obs.—Many cooks press the apples through a sieve after they are boiled, but this is not needful when they are of a good kind, and stewed, and beaten smooth.

DUTCH CUSTARD, OR BAKED RASPBERRY PUDDING.

Lay into a tart-dish a border of puff-paste, and a pint and a half of freshly-gathered raspberries, well mixed with three ounces of sugar. Whisk thoroughly six large eggs with three ounces more of sugar, and pour it over the fruit: bake the pudding from twenty-five to thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

Break the eggs one at a time into a cup, and with the point of a small three-pronged fork take off the specks or germs, before they are beaten, as we have directed in page 424.

Raspberries, 1-1/2 pint; sugar, 6 oz.; eggs, 6: 25 to 30 minutes.

GABRIELLE’S PUDDING, OR SWEET CASSEROLE OF RICE.

Wash half a pound of the best Carolina rice, drain it on a hair-sieve, put it into a very clean stewpan or saucepan, and pour on it a quart of cold new milk. Stir them well together, and place them near the fire that the rice may swell very gradually; then let it simmer as gently as possible for about half an hour, or until it begins to be quite tender; mix with it then, two ounces of fresh butter and two and a half of pounded sugar, and let it continue to simmer softly until it is dry and sufficiently tender,[151] to be easily crushed to a smooth paste with a strong wooden spoon. Work it to this point, and then let it cool. Before it is taken from the fire, scrape into it the outside of some sugar which has been rubbed upon the rind of a fresh lemon. Have ready a tin mould of pretty form, well buttered in every part; press the rice into it while it is still warm, smooth the surface, and let it remain until cold. Should the mould be one which opens at the ends, like that shown in the plate at page 344, the pudding will come out easily; but if it should be in a plain common one, just dip it into hot water to loosen it; turn out the rice, and then again reverse it on to a tin or dish, and with the point of a knife mark round the top a rim of about an inch wide; then brush some clarified butter over the whole pudding, and set it into a brisk oven. When it is of an equal light golden brown draw it out, raise the cover carefully where it is marked, scoop out the rice from the inside, leaving only a crust of about an inch thick in every part, and pour into it some preserved fruit warmed in its own syrup, or fill it with a compôte of plums or peaches (see Chapter XXIII.); or with some good apples boiled with fine sugar to a smooth rich marmalade. This is a very good as well as an elegant dish: it may be enriched with more butter, and by substituting cream for the milk in part or entirely but it is excellent without either.

151.  Unless the rice be boiled slowly, and very dry, it will not answer for the casserole.

Rice, 1/2 lb.; new milk, 1 quart: 1/2 hour. Fresh butter, 2 oz.; pounded sugar, 2-1/2 oz.; rasped rind, 1 lemon: 1/2 hour or more.

Obs.—The precise time of baking the pudding cannot well be specified: it only requires colour.

VERMICELLI PUDDING WITH APPLES OR WITHOUT, AND PUDDINGS OF SOUJEE AND SEMOLA.

Drop gradually into an exact quart of boiling milk four ounces of very fresh vermicelli, crushing it slightly with one hand and letting it fall gently from the fingers, and stirring the milk with a spoon held in the other hand, to prevent the vermicelli from gathering into lumps. Boil it softly until it is quite tender and very thick, which it will be usually in about twenty minutes, during which time it must be very frequently stirred; then work in two ounces of fresh butter and four of pounded sugar; turn the mixture into a bowl or pan, and stir it occasionally until it has cooled down. Whisk five good eggs until they are very light, beat them gradually and quickly to the other ingredients, add the finely grated rind of a lemon or a little lemon-brandy or ratifia, and pour the pudding when nearly cold into a buttered dish, and just cover the surface with apples pared, cored, and quartered; press them into the pudding-mixture, to the top of which they will immediately rise again, and place the dish in a very gentle oven for three-quarters of an hour, or longer if needed to render the fruit quite tender. The apples should be of the best quality for cooking. This is an exceedingly nice pudding if well made and well baked. The butter can be omitted to simplify it.

Milk, 1 quart; vermicelli, 4 oz.: boiled about 20 minutes. Butter 2 oz.; (when used) pounded sugar, 1/4 lb.; eggs, 5: baked slowly 3/4 hour or more.

For a plain common vermicelli pudding omit the apples and one egg: for a very good one use six eggs, and the butter; and flavour it delicately with orange-flower water, vanilla, or aught else that may be preferred. We have often had an ounce or two of candied citron sliced very thin mingled with it.

Puddings of soujee and semola are made in precisely the same manner, with four ounces to the quart of milk, and ten minutes boiling.

RICE À LA VATHEK, OR RICE PUDDING À LA VATHEK.

(Extremely Good.)

Blanch, and then pound carefully to the smoothest possible paste four ounces of fine Jordan almonds and half a dozen bitter ones, moistening them with a few drops of water to prevent their oiling. Stir to them by slow degrees a quart of boiling milk, which should be new, wring it again closely from them through a thin cloth, which will absorb it less than a tammy, and set it aside to cool. Wash thoroughly, and afterwards soak for about ten minutes seven ounces of Carolina rice, drain it well from the water, pour the almond-milk upon it, bring it very slowly to boil, and simmer it softly until it is tolerably tender, taking the precaution to stir it often at first that it may not gather into lumps nor stick to the pan. Add to it two ounces of fresh butter and four of pounded sugar, and when it is perfectly tender and dry, proceed with it exactly as for Gabrielle’s pudding, but in moulding the rice press it closely and evenly in, and hollow it in the centre, leaving the edge an inch thick in every part, that it may not break in the oven. The top must be slightly brushed with butter before it is baked, to prevent its becoming too dry, but a morsel of white blotting paper will take up any portion that may remain in it. When it is ready to serve, pour into it a large jarful of apricot jam, and send it immediately to table. If well made it will be delicious. It may be served cold (though this is less usual), and decorated with small thin leaves of citron-rind, cut with a minute paste-cutter. The same preparation may be used also for Gabrielle’s pudding, and filled with hot preserved fruit, the rice scooped from the inside being mixed with the syrup.

GOOD YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

To make a very good and light Yorkshire pudding, take an equal number of eggs and of heaped tablespoonsful of flour, with a teaspoonful of salt to six of these. Whisk the eggs well, strain, and mix them gradually with the flour, then pour in by degrees as much new milk as will reduce the batter to the consistence of rather thin cream. The tin which is to receive the pudding must have been placed for some time previously under a joint that has been put down to roast one of beef is usually preferred. Beat the batter briskly and lightly the instant before it is poured into the pan, watch it carefully that it may not burn, and let the edges have an equal share of the fire. When the pudding is quite firm in every part, and well-coloured on the surface, turn it to brown the under side. This is best accomplished by first dividing it into quarters. In Yorkshire it is made much thinner than in the south, roasted generally at an enormous fire, and not turned at all: currants there are sometimes added to it.

Eggs, 6; flour, 6 heaped tablespoonsful, or from 7 to 8 oz.; milk, nearly or quite 1 pint; salt, 1 teaspoonful: 2 hours.

Obs.—This pudding should be quite an inch thick when it is browned on both sides, but only half the depth when roasted in the Yorkshire mode. The cook must exercise her discretion a little in mixing the batter, as from the variation of weight in flour, and in the size of eggs, a little more or less of milk may be required: the whole should be rather more liquid than for a boiled pudding.

COMMON YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

Half a pound of flour, three eggs (we would recommend a fourth), rather more than a pint of milk, and a teaspoonful of salt.

NORMANDY PUDDING. (GOOD.)

Boil, until very soft and dry, eight ounces of rice in a pint and a half, or rather more, of water,[152] stir to it two ounces of fresh butter and three of sugar, and simmer it for a few minutes after they are added; then pour it out, and let it cool for use. Strip from the stalks as many red currants, or Kentish cherries, as will fill a tart-dish of moderate size, and for each pint of the fruit allow from three to four ounces of sugar. Line the bottom and sides of a deep dish with part of the rice; next, put in a thick layer of fruit and sugar; then one of rice and one of fruit alternately until the dish is full. Sufficient of the rice should be reserved to form a rather thick layer at the top: smooth this equally with a knife, sift sugar thickly on it, or brush it with good cream, and send the pudding to a moderate oven for half an hour, or longer, should it be large. Morella cherries, with a little additional sugar, make an excellent pudding of this kind.

152.  A quart of milk can be substituted for this; but with the fruit, water perhaps answers better.

COMMON BAKED RAISIN PUDDING.

Beat well together three-quarters of a pound of flour, the same quantity of raisins, six ounces of beef-suet, finely chopped, a small pinch of salt, some grated nutmeg, and three eggs which have been thoroughly whisked, and mixed with about a quarter of a pint of milk, or less than this, should the eggs be large. Pour the whole into a buttered dish, and bake it an hour and a quarter. For a large pudding, increase the quantities one half. Flour and stoned raisins, each 3/4 lb.; suet, 6 oz.; salt, small pinch; nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful; eggs, 3; milk, 1/4 pint: 1-1/4 hour.

A RICHER BAKED RAISIN PUDDING.

Mix and whisk well, and lightly together, a pound of raisins weighed after they are stoned, ten ounces of finely minced beef-suet, three-quarters of a pound of flour, a little salt, half a small nutmeg, or the grated rind of a lemon, four large eggs, and as much milk as may be needed to make the whole into a very thick batter: bake the pudding a few minutes longer than the preceding one. The addition of sugar will be found no improvement as it will render it much less light.

Sultana raisins are well adapted to these puddings, as they contain no pips, and from their delicate size sooner become tender in the baking than the larger kinds.

THE POOR AUTHOR’S PUDDING.

Flavour a quart of new milk by boiling in it for a few minutes half a stick of well-bruised cinnamon, or the thin rind of a small lemon; add a few grains of salt, and three ounces of sugar, and turn the whole into a deep basin: when it is quite cold, stir to it three well-beaten eggs, and strain the mixture into a pie-dish. Cover the top entirely with slices of bread free from crust, and half an inch thick, cut so as to join neatly, and buttered on both sides: bake the pudding in a moderate oven for about half an hour, or in a Dutch oven before the fire.

New milk, 1 quart; cinnamon, or lemon-rind; sugar, 3 oz.; little salt; eggs, 3; buttered bread: baked 1/2 hour.

PUDDING À LA PAYSANNE.

(Cheap and Good.)

Fill a deep tart-dish with alternate layers of well-sugared fruit, and very thin slices of the crumb of a light stale loaf; let the upper layer be of fruit, and should it be of a dry kind, sprinkle over it about a dessertspoonful of water, or a little lemon-juice: raspberries, currants, and cherries, will not require this. Send the pudding to a somewhat brisk oven to be baked for about half an hour. The proportion of sugar used must be regulated, of course, by the acidity of the fruit. For a quart of ripe greengages, split and stoned, five ounces will be sufficient.

THE CURATE’S PUDDING.

This is but a variation of the pudding à la Paysanne which precedes it, but as it is both good and inexpensive it may be acceptable to some of our readers. Wash, wipe, and pare some quickly grown rhubarb-stalks, cut them into short lengths, and put a layer of them into a deep dish with a spoonful or two of Lisbon sugar; cover these evenly with part of a penny roll sliced thin; add another thick layer of fruit and sugar, then one of bread, then another of the rhubarb, cover this last with a deep layer of fine bread-crumbs well mingled with about a tablespoonful of sugar, pour a little clarified butter over them, and send the pudding to a brisk oven. From thirty to forty minutes will bake it. Good boiling apples sliced, sweetened, and flavoured with nutmeg or grated lemon-rind, and covered with well buttered slices of bread, make an excellent pudding of this kind, and so do black currants likewise, without the butter.

A LIGHT BAKED BATTER PUDDING.

With three heaped tablespoonsful or about six ounces of flour mix a small saltspoonful of salt, and add very gradually to it three fresh eggs which have been cleared in the usual way or strained, and whisked to a light froth. Beat up the batter well, then stir to it by degrees a pint of new milk, pour it into a buttered dish, set it immediately into a rather brisk oven, and bake it three-quarters of an hour. If properly managed, it will be extremely light and delicate, and the surface will be crisp. When good milk cannot be had for it, another egg, or the yolk of one at least, should be added. Send preserved or stewed fruit to table with it. The same mixture may be baked in buttered cups from twenty to thirty minutes, turned out, and served with sugar sifted thickly over.

In some counties an ounce or two of very finely minced suet is usually mixed with baked batter puddings, which are enriched, but not improved, we think, by the addition; but that is entirely a matter of taste.

CHAPTER XXII.

Eggs and Milk.

TO PRESERVE EGGS FRESH FOR MANY WEEKS.

As soon as possible after the eggs are taken from the nests, brush each one separately with a thin solution of gum Arabic, being careful to leave no portion of the shell uncovered by it. The half of each egg must first be done and left to become dry, before the remainder is touched, that the gum may not be rubbed off any part by its coming in contact, while wet, with the hand as it is held to be varnished, or with the table when it is laid down to harden.

Obs.—Eggs will remain fit for use a very long time if carefully kept; but attention should always be given to the cleanliness of the shells before they are stored, as when these are soiled, and then excluded from the air, they will sometimes become very offensive. Those which are collected immediately after the harvest are the best both for eating and for putting up in store: they should be collected in dry weather when they are required to be kept.[153]

153.  For a sea-store, an old and experienced cook from on board a man-of-war, directs eggs to be rubbed with salt butter, and packed in layers with plenty of bran between them. He says that the salt penetrates the shell, and tends to preserve the eggs, which will require no additional salt when eaten. We give the information to the reader as we received.

TO COOK EGGS IN THE SHELL WITHOUT BOILING THEM.

(An admirable receipt.)

This mode of dressing eggs is not new; it seems, indeed, to have been known in years long past, but not to have received the attention which its excellence deserved. We saw it mentioned with much commendation in a most useful little periodical, called the Cottage Gardener, and had it tested immediately with various modifications and with entire success. After many trials, we give the following as the best and most uniform in its results of our numerous experiments. First, put some boiling water into a large basin—a slop-basin for example—and let it remain for a few seconds, then turn it out, lay in the egg (or eggs), and roll it over, to take the chill off the shell, that it may not crack from the sudden application of heat; and pour in—and upon the egg—quite boiling water from a kettle, until it is completely immersed; put a plate over it instantly, and let it remain, upon the table, for twelve minutes, when it will be found perfectly and beautifully cooked, entirely free from all flavour and appearance of rawness, and yet so lightly and delicately dressed as to suit even persons who cannot take eggs at all when boiled in the usual way. It should be turned when something more than half done, but the plate should be replaced as quickly as possible. Two eggs will require scarcely more time than one; but some additional minutes must be allowed for any number beyond that. The process may always be quickened by changing the water when it has cooled a little, for more that is fast boiling: the eggs may, in fact, be rendered quite hard by the same means, but then no advantage is obtained over the old method of cooking them.

12 minutes.

Obs.—This is one of the receipts which we have re-produced here from our cookery for invalids, on account of its adaptation to the taste generally.

TO BOIL EGGS IN THE SHELL.

Even this very simple process demands a certain degree of care, for if the eggs be brought from a cold larder, and suddenly plunged into boiling water they will frequently break immediately, and a large portion will often escape from the shells. In winter they should be held for an instant over the steam from the saucepan before they are laid in, and they should be put gently into it. Three minutes will boil them sufficiently for persons who like the whites in a partially liquid state. Five minutes, exact time, if they be fresh and fine, will harden the whites only, and leave the yolks still liquid. Few eaters require them more dressed than this; but eight or ten minutes will render them hard. Eggs should always be cooked in sufficient water to cover them completely.

To boil very lightly, 3 minutes; to render the whites firm, 4-1/2 to 5 minutes; hard eggs, 8 to 10 minutes (15 minutes for salad dressing.)

TO DRESS THE EGGS OF THE GUINEA FOWL AND BANTAM.

The eggs of the Guinea-fowl—which are small, very prettily shaped, and of a pale or full fawn-colour (for in this they vary)—are much esteemed by epicures, being very rich and excellent eating. They are generally somewhat higher in price than the common hens’ eggs, even in Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties where they most abound; and in London they are usually expensive. They may be cooked in the shell without boiling by the method we have already given: eight or nine minutes will cook them so. About three and a half of gentle boiling will render the whites firm, and ten will harden them quite through. They are often served instead of plovers’ eggs, and are sent to table embedded in moss in the same manner. They may also be shelled, and used whole to decorate a salad.

The eggs of the bantam, which are scarcely more than half the size of these, and of which the shells are much thinner, will require less time to cook. They form an elegant decoration for a salad, if boiled hard, which they will become in five or six minutes; and for a mince of fowl, or veal and oysters, when poached.

Two minutes’ poaching in an enamelled saucepan[154] will be sufficient for these delicate little eggs, without positive boiling. They should be carefully broken and put gently into water at boiling point, but which has ceased to move, and left undisturbed by the side of the fire until the yolks are just set on the surface.

154.  In any other kind, an additional half minute may be required.

Guinea-fowls’ eggs, quite hard, 10 minutes. For eating (by new method, 8 to 9 minutes), 3 to 4 minutes.

Bantams’, hard, 6 minutes; soft, 2-1/2 to 3 minutes.

TO DRESS TURKEYS’ EGGS.

Turkeys’ eggs are not, we believe, brought very abundantly into the London market,[155] but their superiority to those of the common fowl is well known in the counties where the birds are principally reared. Though of large size they are delicate in flavour, and are equally valuable for the breakfast-table—cooked simply in the shell—or for compounding any of the dishes for which hens’ eggs are commonly in request. They make super-excellent sauce, omlets, custards, and puddings; and are especially to be recommended poached, or served by any other of the following receipts. Those of the smallest size and palest colour, which are the eggs of the young birds, are the best adapted for serving boiled in the shells: they are sometimes almost white. Those of the full grown turkeys are thickly speckled, of a deep tawny hue or fawn colour.

155.  Constant supplies of them are brought from France to the towns upon the coast; and from the thickness of their shells they remain eatable much longer than the common eggs; they are also reasonable in price.

6 minutes will render the whites firm; 4 minutes will poach them.

FORCED TURKEYS’ EGGS (OR SWANS’).

(An Excellent Entremets.)

Boil gently for twenty minutes in plenty of water, that they may be entirely covered with it, five or six fresh turkeys’ eggs, and when they are done lift them into a large pan of water to cool. By changing the water once or twice they will become cold more rapidly, and they must not be used until they are perfectly so.

Roll them in a cloth, pressing lightly on them to break the shells; clear them off, and halve the eggs evenly lengthwise. Take out the yolks with care, and pound them to a smooth paste in a mortar with an ounce and a half, or two ounces at the utmost, of pure-flavoured butter to the half dozen, a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a little finely grated nutmeg, and some cayenne, also in fine powder: a little mace,—one of the most delicate of all seasonings when judiciously used—may be added with good effect. Blend these ingredients thoroughly, and then add to them by degrees one raw hen’s egg slightly whisked, and the yolk of a second, or a dessertspoonful or two of sweet rich cream. One common egg is sufficient for four of the turkey egg-yolks. Beat up the mass, which will now be of the consistence of a thick batter, well and lightly, and proceed to fill the whites with it, having first cut a small slice from each half to make it stand evenly on the dish, and hollowed the inside with the point of a sharp knife, so as to render it of equal thickness throughout. Fill them full and high; smooth the yolks gently with the blade of a knife, arrange the eggs on a dish, and place them in a gentle oven for a quarter of an hour. Serve them directly they are taken from it.

The eggs thus dressed will afford an admirable dish for the second course, either quite simply served, or with good gravy highly flavoured with fresh mushrooms, poured under them.

The same ingredients may be pressed into very small buttered cups and baked for fifteen minutes, then turned on to a dish and sauced with a little Espagnole, or other rich brown gravy, or served without.

Obs.—We would recommend that the whites of swans’ eggs, which as we have said are extremely beautiful, should be filled with the above preparation in preference to their own yolks: they will of course, require longer baking.

TO BOIL A SWAN’S EGG HARD.

Swans’ eggs are much more delicate than from their size, and from the tendency of the birds to feed on fish might be supposed; and when boiled hard and shelled, their appearance is beautiful, the white being of remarkable purity and transparency. Take as much water as will cover the egg (or eggs) well in every part, let it boil quickly, then take it from the fire, and as soon as the water ceases to move put in the egg, and leave it by the side of the fire—without allowing it to boil—for twenty minutes, and turn it gently once or twice in the time; then put on the cover of the stewpan and boil it gently for a quarter of an hour; take it quite from the fire, and in five minutes put it into a basin and throw a cloth, once or twice folded, over it, and let it cool slowly. It will retain the heat for a very long time, and as it should be quite cold before it is cut, it should be boiled early if wanted to serve the same day. Halve it evenly with a sharp knife lengthwise, take out the yolk with care, and prepare it for table, either by the receipt which follows, or by that for forced eggs, Chapter VI.

SWAN’S EGG, EN SALADE.

We found that the yolk of the egg, when boiled as above, could be rendered perfectly smooth and cream-like, by mashing it on a dish[156] with a broad-bladed knife, and working it well with the other ingredients: the whole was easily blended into a mass of uniform colour, in which not the smallest lump of butter or egg was perceptible. Mix it intimately with an ounce or two of firm fresh butter, a rather high seasoning of cayenne, some salt, or a teaspoonful or two of essence of anchovies, and about as much of chili vinegar or lemon-juice. To these minced herbs or eschalots can be added at pleasure. Fill the whites with the mixture, and serve them in a bowl two-thirds filled with salad, sauced as usual; or use them merely as a decoration for a lobster or German salad.

156.  We chanced, when we received our first present of swan’s eggs, to be in a house where there was no mortar—a common deficiency in English culinary departments.

TO POACH EGGS.

Take for this purpose a wide and delicately clean pan about half-filled with the clearest spring-water; throw in a small saltspoonful of salt, and place it over a fire quite free from smoke. Break some new laid eggs into separate cups, and do this with care, that the yolks may not be injured. When the water boils, draw back the pan, glide the eggs gently into it, and let them stand until the whites appear almost set, which will be in about a minute: then, without shaking them, move the pan over the fire, and just simmer them from two minutes and a half to three minutes. Lift them out separately with a slice, trim quickly off the ragged edges, and serve them upon dressed spinach, or upon minced veal, turkey, or chicken; or dish them for an invalid, upon delicately toasted bread, sliced thick, and freed from crust: it is an improvement to have the bread buttered, but it is then less wholesome.

Comparative time of poaching eggs. Swans’ eggs, 5 to 6 minutes, (in basin, 10 minutes.) Turkeys’ eggs 4 minutes. Hens’ eggs, 3 to 3-1/2 minutes. Guinea-fowls’, 2 to 3 minutes. Bantams’, 2 minutes.

Obs.—All eggs may be poached without boiling if kept just at simmering point, but one boil quite at last will assist to detach them from the stewpan, from which they should always be very carefully lifted on what is called a fish or egg-slice. There are pans made on purpose for poaching and frying them in good form; but they do not, we believe, answer particularly well. If broken into cups slightly rubbed with butter, and simmered in them, their roundness of shape will be best preserved.

POACHED EGGS WITH GRAVY. (ENTREMETS.)

Œufs Pochés au Jus.

Dress the eggs as above, giving them as good an appearance as possible, lay them into a very hot dish, and sauce them with some rich, clear, boiling veal gravy, or with some Espagnole. Each egg, for variety, may be dished upon a crouton of bread cut with a fluted paste-cutter, and fried a pale brown: the sauce should then be poured round, not over them.

Poaching is the best mode of dressing a swan’s egg,[157] as it renders it more than any other delicate in flavour; it is usually served on a bed of spinach. Only the eggs of quite young swans are suited to the table: one is sufficient for a dish. It may be laid on a large crouton of fried bread, and sauced with highly flavoured gravy, or with tomata-sauce well seasoned with eschalots.

157.  We fear that want of space must compel us to omit some other receipts for swans’ eggs, which we had prepared for this chapter.

ŒUFS AU PLAT.

A pewter or any other metal plate or dish which will bear the fire, must be used for these. Just melt a slice of butter in it, then put in some very fresh eggs broken as for poaching; strew a little pepper and salt on the top of each, and place them over a gentle fire until the whites are quite set, but keep them free from colour.

This is a very common mode of preparing eggs on the continent; but there is generally a slight rawness of the surface of the yolks which is in a measure removed by ladling the boiling butter over them with a spoon as they are cooking, though a salamander held above them for a minute would have a better effect. Four or five minutes will dress them.

Obs.—We hope for an opportunity of inserting further receipts for dishes of eggs at the end of this volume.

MILK AND CREAM.

Without possessing a dairy, it is quite possible for families to have always a sufficient provision of milk and cream for their consumption, provided there be a clean cool larder or pantry where it can be kept. It should be taken from persons who can be depended on for supplying it pure, and if it can be obtained from a dairy near at hand it will be an advantage, as in the summer it is less easy to preserve it sweet when it has been conveyed from a distance. It should be poured at once into well-scalded pans or basins kept exclusively for it, and placed on a very clean and airy shelf, apart from all the other contents of the larder. The fresh milk as it comes in should be set at one end of the shelf, and that for use should be taken from the other, so that none may become stale from being misplaced or overlooked. The cream should be removed with a perforated skimmer (or skimming-dish as it is called in dairy-counties) which has been dipped into cold water to prevent the cream, when thick, from adhering to it. Twelve hours in summer, and twenty-four in winter, will be sufficient time for the milk to stand for “creaming,” though it may often be kept longer with advantage. Between two and three pints of really good milk will produce about a quarter of a pint of cream. In frosty weather the pans for it should be warmed before it is poured in. If boiled when first brought in, it will remain sweet much longer than it otherwise would; but it will then be unfit to serve with tea; though it may be heated afresh and sent to table with coffee; and used also for puddings, and all other varieties of milk-diet.

DEVONSHIRE, OR CLOTTED CREAM.

From the mode adopted in Devonshire, and in some other counties, of scalding the milk in the following manner, the cream becomes very rich and thick, and is easily converted into excellent butter. It is strained into large shallow metal pans as soon as it is brought into the dairy and left for twelve hours at least in summer, and thirty-six in cold weather. It is then gently carried to a hot plate—heated by a fire from below—and brought slowly to a quite scalding heat but without being allowed to boil or even to simmer. When it is ready to be removed, distinct rings appear on the surface, and small bubbles of air. It must then be carried carefully back to the dairy, and may be skimmed in twelve hours afterwards. The cream should be well drained from the milk—which will be very poor—as this is done. It may then be converted into excellent butter, merely by beating it with the hand in a shallow wooden tub, which is, we are informed, the usual manner of making it in small Devonshire dairies.

DU LAIT A MADAME.

Boil a quart of new milk, and let it cool sufficiently to allow the cream to be taken off; then rinse an earthen jar well in every part with buttermilk, and while the boiled milk is still rather warm, pour it in and add the cream gently on the top. Let it remain twenty-four hours, turn it into a deep dish, mix it with pounded sugar, and it will be ready to serve. This preparation is much eaten abroad during the summer, and is considered very wholesome. The milk, by the foregoing process, becomes a very soft curd, slightly, but not at all unpleasantly, acid in flavour. A cover, or thick folded cloth, should be placed on the jar after the milk is poured in, and it should be kept in a moderately warm place. In very sultry weather less time may be allowed for the milk to stand.

Obs.—We give this and the following receipt from an unpublished work which we have in progress, being always desirous to make such information as we possess generally useful as far as we can.

CURDS AND WHEY.

Rennet is generally prepared for dairy-use by butchers, and kept in farmhouses hung in the chimney corners, where it will remain good a long time. It is the inner stomach of the calf, from which the curd is removed, and which is salted and stretched out to dry on splinters of wood, or strong wooden skewers. It should be preserved from dust and smoke (by a paper-bag or other means), and portions of it cut off as wanted. Soak a small bit in half a teacupful of warm water, and let it remain in it for an hour or two; then pour into a quart of warm new milk a dessertspoonful of the rennet-liquor, and keep it in a warm place until the whey appears separated from the curd, and looks clear. The smaller the proportion of rennet used, the more soft and delicate will be the curd. We write these directions from recollection, having often had the dish thus prepared, but having no memorandum at this moment of the precise proportions used. Less than an inch square of the rennet would be sufficient, we think, for a gallon of milk, if some hours were allowed for it to turn. When rennet-whey, which is a most valuable beverage in many cases of illness, is required for an invalid to drink, a bit of the rennet, after being quickly and slightly rinsed, may be stirred at once into the warm milk, as the curd becoming hard is then of no consequence. It must be kept warm until the whey appears and is clear. It may then be strained, and given to the patient to drink, or allowed to become cold before it is taken. In feverish complaints it has often the most benign effect.

Devonshire junket is merely a dish or bowl of sweetened curds and whey, covered with the thick cream of scalded milk, for which see page 451.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Sweet Dishes, or Entremets.

Jelly of two colours, with macedoire of fruit.

TO PREPARE CALF’S FEET STOCK.

White and Rose-coloured Jelly.

The feet are usually sent in from the butcher’s ready to be dressed, but as they are sold at a very much cheaper rate when the hair has not been cleared from them, and as they may then be depended on for supplying the utmost amount of nutriment which they contain, it is often desirable to have them altogether prepared by the cook. In former editions of this work we directed that they should be “dipped into cold water, and sprinkled with resin in fine powder; then covered with boiling water and left for a minute or two untouched before they were scraped;” and this method we had followed with entire success for a long time, but we afterwards discovered that the resin was not necessary, and that the feet could be quite as well prepared by mere scalding, or being laid into water at the point of boiling, and kept in it for a few minutes by the side of the fire. The hair, as we have already stated in the first pages of Chapter IX. (Veal), must be very closely scraped from them with a blunt-edged knife; and the hoofs must be removed by being struck sharply down against the edge of a strong table or sink, the leg-bone being held tightly in the hand. The feet must be afterwards washed delicately clean before they are further used. When this has been done, divide them at the joint, split the claws, and take away the fat that is between them. Should the feet be large, put a gallon of cold water to the four, but from a pint to a quart less if they be of moderate size or small. Boil them gently down until the flesh has parted entirely from the bones, and the liquor is reduced nearly or quite half; strain, and let it stand until cold; remove every particle of fat from the top before it is used, and be careful not to take the sediment.

Calf’s feet (large), 4; water, 1 gallon: 6 to 7 hours.

TO CLARIFY CALF’S FEET STOCK.

Break up a quart of the stock, put it into a clean stewpan with the whites of five large or of six small eggs, two ounces of sugar, and the strained juice of a small lemon; place it over a gentle fire, and do not stir it after the scum begins to form; when it has boiled five or six minutes, if the liquid part be clear, turn it into a jelly-bag, and pass it through a second time should it not be perfectly transparent the first. To consumptive patients, and others requiring restoratives, but forbidden to take stimulants, the jelly thus prepared is often very acceptable, and may be taken with impunity, when it would be highly injurious made with wine. More white of egg is required to clarify it than when sugar and acid are used in larger quantities, as both of these assist the process. For blanc-mange omit the lemon-juice, and mix with the clarified stock an equal proportion of cream (for an invalid, new milk), with the usual flavouring, and weight of sugar; or pour the boiling stock very gradually to some finely pounded almonds, and express it from them as directed for Quince Blamange, allowing from six to eight ounces to the pint.

Stock, 1 quart; whites of eggs, 5; sugar, 2 oz.; juice, 1 small lemon: 5 to 8 minutes.

TO CLARIFY ISINGLASS.

The finely-cut purified isinglass, which is now in general use, requires no clarifying except for clear jellies: for all other dishes it is sufficient to dissolve, skim, and pass it through a muslin strainer. When two ounces are required for a dish, put two and a half into a delicately clean pan, and pour on it a pint of spring water which has been gradually mixed with a teaspoonful of beaten white of egg; stir these thoroughly together, and let them heat slowly by the side of a gentle fire, but do not allow the isinglass to stick to the pan. When the scum is well risen, which it will be after two or three minutes’ simmering, clear it off, and continue the skimming until no more appears; then, should the quantity of liquid be more than is needed, reduce it by quick boiling to the proper point, strain it through a thin muslin, and set it by for use: it will be perfectly transparent, and may be mixed lukewarm with the clear and ready sweetened juice of various fruits, or used with the necessary proportion of syrup, for jellies flavoured with choice liqueurs. As the clarifying reduces the strength of the isinglass—or rather as a portion of it is taken up by the white of egg—an additional quarter to each ounce must be allowed for this: if the scum be laid to drain on the back of a fine sieve which has been wetted with hot water, a little very strong jelly will drip from it.

Isinglass, 2-1/2 oz.; water, 1 pint; beaten white of egg, 1 teaspoonful.

Obs.—At many Italian warehouses a preparation is now sold under the name of isinglass, which appears to us to be highly purified gelatine of some other kind. It is converted without trouble into a very transparent jelly, is free from flavour, and is less expensive than the genuine Russian isinglass; but when taken for any length of time as a restorative, its different nature becomes perceptible. It answers well for the table occasionally; but it is not suited to invalids.

SPINACH GREEN, FOR COLOURING SWEET DISHES, CONFECTIONARY, OR SOUPS.

Pound quite to a pulp, in a marble or Wedgwood mortar, a handful or two of young freshly-gathered spinach, then throw it into a hair sieve, and press through all the juice which can be obtained from it; pour this into a clean white jar, and place it in a pan of water that is at the point of boiling, and which must be allowed only to just simmer afterwards; in three or four minutes the juice will be poached or set: take it then gently with a spoon, and lay it upon the back of a fine sieve to drain. If wanted for immediate use, merely mix it in the mortar with some finely-powdered sugar;[158] but if to be kept as a store, pound it with as much as will render the whole tolerably dry, boil it to candy-height over a very clear fire, pour it out in cakes, and keep them in a tin box or canister. For this last preparation consult the receipt for orange-flower candy.

158.  For soup, dilute it first with a little of the boiling stock, and stir it to the remainder.

PREPARED APPLE OR QUINCE JUICE.

Pour into a clean earthen pan two quarts of spring water, and throw into it as quickly as they can be pared, quartered, and weighed, four pounds of nonsuches, pearmains, Ripstone pippins, or any other good boiling apples of fine flavour. When all are done, stew them gently until they are well broken, but not reduced quite to pulp; turn them into a jelly-bag, or strain the juice from them without pressure through a closely-woven cloth, which should be gathered over the fruit, and tied, and suspended above a deep pan until the juice ceases to drop from it: this, if not very clear, must be rendered so before it is used for syrup or jelly, but for all other purposes once straining it will be sufficient. Quinces are prepared in the same way, and with the same proportions of fruit and water, but they must not be too long boiled, or the juice will become red. We have found it answer well to have them simmered until they are perfectly tender, and then to leave them with their liquor in a bowl until the following day, when the juice will be rich and clear. They should be thrown into the water very quickly after they are pared and weighed, as the air will soon discolour them. The juice will form a jelly much more easily if the cores and pips be left in the fruit.

Water, 2 quarts; apples or quinces, 4 lbs.

COCOA-NUT FLAVOURED MILK.

(For sweet dishes, &c.)

Pare the dark outer rind from a very fresh nut, and grate it on a fine and exceedingly clean grater, to every three ounces pour a quart of new milk, and simmer them very softly for three quarters of an hour, or more, that a full flavour of the nut may be imparted to the milk without its being much reduced: strain it through a fine sieve, or cloth, with sufficient pressure to leave the nut almost dry: it may then be used for blanc-mange, custards, rice, and other puddings, light cakes and bread.

To each quart new milk, 3 oz. grated cocoa-nut: 3/4 to 1 hour.

Obs.—The milk of the nut when perfectly sweet and good, may be added to the other with advantage. To obtain it, bore one end of the shell with a gimlet, and catch the liquid in a cup; and to extricate the kernel, break the shell with a hammer; this is better than sawing it asunder.

COMPÔTES OF FRUIT.

(Or Fruit stewed in Syrup.)

We would especially recommend these delicate and very agreeable preparations for trial to such of our readers as may be unacquainted with them, as well as to those who may have a distaste to the common “stewed fruit” of English cookery. If well made they are peculiarly delicious and refreshing, preserving the pure flavour of the fruit of which they are composed; while its acidity is much softened by the small quantity of water added to form the syrup in which it is boiled. They are also more economical than tarts or puddings, and infinitely more wholesome. In the second course pastry-crust can always be served with them, if desired, in the form of ready baked leaves, round cakes, or any more fanciful shapes; or a border of these may be fastened with a little white of egg and flour round the edge of the dish in which the compôte is served; but rice, or macaroni simply boiled, or a very plain pudding is a more usual accompaniment.

Compôtes will remain good for two or three days in a cool store-room, or somewhat longer, if gently boiled up for an instant a second time; but they contain generally too small a proportion of sugar to preserve them from mould or fermentation for many days. The syrup should be enriched with a larger quantity when they are intended for the desserts of formal dinners, as it will increase the transparency of the fruit: the juice is always beautifully clear when the compôtes are carefully prepared. They should be served in glass dishes, or in compôtiers, which are of a form adapted to them.

Compôte of spring fruit.—(Rhubarb). Take a pound of the stalks after they are pared, and cut them into short lengths; have ready a quarter of a pint of water boiled gently for ten minutes with five ounces of sugar, or with six should the fruit be very acid; put it in, and simmer it for about ten minutes. Some kinds will be tender in rather less time, some will require more.

Obs.—Good sugar in lumps should be used for these dishes. Lisbon sugar will answer for them very well on ordinary occasions, but that which is refined will render them much more delicate. Compôte of green currants.—Spring water, half-pint; sugar, five ounces; boiled together ten minutes. One pint of green currants stripped from the stalks; simmered five minutes.

Compôte of green gooseberries.—This is an excellent compôte if made with fine sugar, and very good with any kind. Break five ounces into small lumps and pour on them half a pint of water; boil these gently for ten minutes, and clear off all the scum; then add to them a pint of fresh gooseberries freed from the tops and stalks, washed, and well drained. Simmer them gently from eight to ten minutes, and serve them hot or cold. Increase the quantity for a large dish.

Compôte of green apricots.—Wipe the down from a pound of quite young apricots, and stew them very gently for nearly twenty minutes in syrup made with eight ounces of sugar and three-quarters of a pint of water, boiled together the usual time.

Compôte of red currants.—A quarter of a pint of water and five ounces of sugar: ten minutes. One pint of currants freed from the stalks to be just simmered in the syrup from five to seven minutes. This receipt will serve equally for raspberries, or for a compôte of the two fruits mixed together. Either of them will be found an admirable accompaniment to a pudding of batter, custard, bread, or ground rice, and also to various other kinds of puddings, as well as to whole rice plainly boiled.

Compôte of Kentish or Flemish cherries.—Simmer five ounces of sugar with half a pint of water for ten minutes; throw into the syrup a pound of cherries weighed after they are stalked, and let them stew gently for twenty minutes: it is a great improvement to stone the fruit, but a larger quantity will then be required for a dish.

Compôte of Morella cherries.—Boil together for fifteen minutes, six ounces of sugar with half a pint of water; add a pound and a quarter of ripe Morella cherries, and simmer them very softly from five to seven minutes: this is a delicious compôte. A larger proportion of sugar will often be required for it, as the fruit is very acid in some seasons, and when it is not fully ripe.

Compôte of damsons.—Four ounces of sugar and half a pint of water to be boiled for ten minutes; one pound of damsons to be added, and simmered gently from ten to twelve minutes.

Compôte of the green magnum-bonum or Mogul plum.—The green Mogul plums are often brought abundantly into the market when the fruit is thinned from the trees, and they make admirable tarts or compôtes, possessing the fine slight bitter flavour of the unripe apricot, to which they are quite equal. Measure a pint of the plums without their stalks, and wash them very clean; then throw them into a syrup made with seven ounces of sugar in lumps, and half a pint of water, boiled together for eight or ten minutes. Give the plums one quick boil, and then let them stew quite softly for about five minutes, or until they are tender, which occasionally will be in less time even. Take off the scum, and serve the compôte hot or cold.

Compôte of the magnum-bonum, or other large plums.—Boil six ounces of sugar with half a pint of water the usual time; take the stalks from a pound of plums, and simmer them very softly for twenty minutes. Increase the proportion of sugar if needed, and regulate the time as may be necessary for the different varieties of fruit.

Compôte of bullaces.—The large, or shepherds’ bullace, is very good stewed, but will require a considerable portion of sugar to render it palatable, unless it be quite ripe. Make a syrup with half a pound of sugar, and three-quarters of a pint of water, and boil in it gently from fifteen to twenty minutes, a pint and a half of the bullaces freed from their stalks.

Compôte of Siberian crabs.—To three-quarters of a pint of water add six ounces of fine sugar, boil them for ten or twelve minutes, and skim them well. Add a pound and a half of Siberian crabs without their stalks, and keep them just at the point of boiling for twenty minutes; they will then become tender without bursting. A few strips of lemon-rind and a little of the juice are sometimes added to this compôte.

Obs.—In a dry warm summer, when fruit ripens freely, and is rich in quality, the proportion of sugar directed for these compôtes would generally be found sufficient; but in a cold or wet season it would certainly, in many instances, require to be increased. The present slight difference in the cost of sugars, renders it a poor economy to use the raw for dishes of this class, instead of that which is well refined. To make a clear syrup it should be broken into lumps, not crushed to powder. Almost every kind of fruit may be converted into a good compôte.

COMPÔTE OF PEACHES.

Pare half a dozen ripe peaches, and stew them very softly from eighteen to twenty minutes, keeping them often turned in a light syrup, made with five ounces of sugar, and half a pint of water boiled together for ten minutes. Dish the fruit; reduce the syrup by quick boiling, pour it over the peaches, and serve them hot for a second-course dish, or cold for rice-crust. They should be quite ripe, and will be found delicious dressed thus. A little lemon-juice may be added to the syrup, and the blanched kernels of two or three peach or apricot stones.

Sugar, 5 oz.; water, 1/2 pint: 10 minutes. Peaches, 6: 18 to 20 minutes.

Obs.—Nectarines, without being pared, may be dressed in the same way, but will require to be stewed somewhat longer, unless they be quite ripe.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR STEWED PEACHES.

Should the fruit be not perfectly ripe, throw it into boiling water and keep it just simmering, until the skin can be easily stripped off. Have ready half a pound of fine sugar boiled to a light syrup with three-quarters of a pint of water; throw in the peaches, let them stew softly until quite tender, and turn them often that they may be equally done; after they are dished, add a little strained lemon-juice to the syrup, and reduce it by a few minutes’ very quick boiling. The fruit is sometimes pared, divided, and stoned, then gently stewed until it is tender.

Sugar, 8 oz.; water, 3/4 pint: 10 to 12 minutes. Peaches, 6 or 7; lemon-juice, 1 large teaspoonful.

COMPÔTE OF BARBERRIES FOR DESSERT.

When this fruit is first ripe it requires, from its excessive acidity, nearly its weight of sugar to render it palatable; but after hanging some time upon the trees it becomes much mellowed in flavour, and may be sufficiently sweetened with a smaller proportion. According to the state of the fruit then, take for each pound (leaving it in bunches) from twelve to sixteen ounces of sugar, and boil it with three-quarters of a pint of water until it forms a syrup. Throw in the bunches of fruit, and simmer them for five or six minutes. If their weight of sugar be used, they will become in that time perfectly transparent. As all vessels of tin affect the colour of the barberries, they should be boiled in a copper stewpan, or in a German enamelled one, which would be far better.

Barberries, 1 lb.; sugar, 12 to 16 oz.; water, 3/4 pint; fruit simmered in syrup, 5 to 6 minutes.

BLACK CAPS PAR EXCELLENCE.

(For the Second-course, or for Dessert.)

Cut a dozen fine Norfolk biffins in two without paring them, scoop out the cores, and fill the cavities with thin strips of fresh lemon-rind and with candied orange-peel. Cover the bottom of a flat shallow tin with a thick layer of fine pale brown sugar, press the two halves of each apple together, and place them closely in the tin; pour half a bottle of raisin or of any other sweet wine over them, and be careful to moisten the tops of all; sift white sugar thickly on them, and set the tin into a very hot oven at first, that the outsides of the apples may catch or become black; then draw them to the mouth of the oven, and bake them gently until they are soft quite through. The Norfolk biffin answers for this dish far better than any other kind of apple, but the winter queening, and some few firm sorts beside, can be used for it with fair success. These for variety may be cored without being divided, and filled with orange marmalade. The black caps served hot, as a second-course dish, are excellent.

Norfolk biffins, 12; rinds fresh lemons, 1 to 2; candied orange-rind, 2 to 3 oz.; pale brown sugar, 3/4 lb.; raisin or other wine, 1/2 bottle; little sifted sugar: 3/4 to 1 hour, or more.

Obs.—The apples dressed as above resemble a rich confection, and will remain good for ten days or a fortnight; sometimes much longer even. The receipt is an admirable one.

GATEAU DE POMMES.

Boil together for fifteen minutes a pound of well-refined sugar and half a pint of water; then add a couple of pounds of nonsuches, or of any other finely-flavoured apples which can be boiled easily to a smooth pulp, and the juice of a couple of small, or of one very large lemon. Stew these gently until the mixture is perfectly free from lumps, then boil it quickly, keeping it stirred, without quitting it, until it forms a very thick and dry marmalade. A few minutes before it is done add the finely grated rinds of a couple of lemons; when it leaves the bottom of the preserving-pan visible and dry, press it into moulds of tasteful form; and either store it for winter use, or if wanted for table, serve it plain for rice-crust, or ornament it with spikes of blanched almonds, and pour a custard round it for a second-course dish (entremets).

Sugar, 1 lb.; water, 1/2 pint: 15 minutes. Nonsuches or other apples, 2 lbs.; juice, 1 large or 2 small lemons: 2 hours or more.

GATEAU OF MIXED FRUITS. (GOOD.)

Extract the juice from some fresh red currants by simmering them very gently for a few minutes over a slow fire: strain it through a folded muslin, and to one pound of it add a pound and a half of nonsuches or of freshly gathered codlings, pared, and rather deeply cored, that the fibrous part of the apple may be avoided. Boil these quite slowly until the mixture is perfectly smooth, then, to evaporate part of the moisture, let the boiling be quickened. In from twenty-five to thirty minutes draw the pan from the fire, and throw in gradually a pound and a quarter of sugar in fine powder: mix it well with the fruit, and when it is dissolved continue the boiling rapidly for twenty minutes longer, keeping the mixture constantly stirred; put it into a mould, and store it, when cold, for winter use, or serve it for rice-crust, or for the second course: in the latter case decorate it with spikes of blanched almonds, or pistachio-nuts, and heap solid whipped cream round it, or pour a custard into the dish. For rice-crust it may be garnished with dice of the palest apple-jelly.

Juice of red currants, 1 lb.; nonsuches, or codlings (pared and cored), 1-1/2 lb.: 25 to 30 minutes. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.

Obs.—A portion of raspberries, if still in season, may be mixed with the currants for this gâteau, should the flavour be liked.

For other and excellent varieties of gâteaux of fruit, see Newton solid, and damson solid, Chapter XXIV. Ripe peaches and nonsuches will likewise do well for it. Codlings answer perfectly for the preceding receipt, and the preparation is of fine colour and very pleasant flavour: it ought to cut in clear firm slices. Other varieties of fruit can be mingled in the same manner.

JELLIES.

CALF’S FEET JELLY. (ENTREMETS.)

Modern Jelly Mould.

We hear inexperienced housekeepers frequently complain of the difficulty of rendering this jelly perfectly transparent; but by mixing with the other ingredients, while quite cold, the whites, and the crushed shells of a sufficient number of eggs, and allowing the head of scum which gathers on the jelly to remain undisturbed after it once forms, they will scarcely fail to obtain it clear. It should be strained through a thick flannel, or beaver-skin, bag of a conical form (placed before the fire, should the weather be at all cold, or the mixture will jelly before it has run through), and if not perfectly clear it must be strained, again and again, until it becomes so; though we generally find that once suffices. Mix thoroughly in a large stewpan five half-pints of strong calf’s feet stock (see page 453), a full pint of sherry, half a pound of sugar roughly powdered, the juice of two fine lemons, the rind of one and a half cut very thin, the whites and shells of four large eggs, and half an ounce of isinglass. Let these remain a few minutes off the fire, that the sugar may dissolve more easily; then let the jelly be brought to boil gradually, and do not stir it after it begins to heat. When it has boiled gently for sixteen minutes, draw it from the fire, and let it stand a short time before it is poured into a jelly-bag, under which a bowl should be placed to receive it. When clear and cool, put it into moulds which have been laid for some hours in water: these should always be of earthenware in preference to metal. If to be served in glasses, or roughed, the jelly will be sufficiently firm without the isinglass, of which, however, we recommend a small quantity to be thrown in always when the jelly begins to boil, as it facilitates the clearing.

Calf’s feet stock, 2-1/2 pints; sugar, 1/2 lb.; sherry, 1 pint; juice of lemons, 2 large; rind of 1-1/2; whites and shells of eggs, 4 large, or 5 small: 16 minutes.

Obs. 1.—After the jelly has dropped through the bag, an exceedingly agreeable beverage may be obtained by pouring in some boiling water; from one to three half pints, according to the quantity of jelly which has been made. The same plan should be pursued in making orange or lemon jelly for an invalid.

Obs. 2.—As it is essential to the transparency of calf’s feet jelly of all kinds that the whole of the ingredients should be quite cold when they are mixed, and as the stock can only be measured in a liquid state, to which it must be reduced by heating, the better plan is, to measure it when it is first strained from the feet, and to put apart the exact quantity required for a receipt; but when this has not been done, and it is necessary to liquefy it, it must be left until quite cold again before it is used. For the manner of preparing and clarifying it, see the beginning of this chapter.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR CALF’S FEET JELLY.

To four calf’s feet well cleaned and divided, pour a gallon of water and let them stew until it is reduced to rather less than two quarts; or if, after the flesh has quite fallen from the bones, the liquor on being strained off should exceed that quantity, reduce it by rapid boiling in a clean uncovered pan over a very clear fire. When it is perfectly firm and cold, take it clear of fat and sediment, and add to it a bottle of sherry, which should be of good quality (for poor, thin wines are not well adapted to the purpose), three-quarters of a pound of sugar broken small, the juice of five large or of six moderate-sized lemons, and the whites, with the shells finely crushed, of seven eggs, or of more should they be very small. The rinds of three lemons, pared exceedingly thin, may be thrown into the jelly a few minutes before it is taken from the fire; or they may be put into the jelly-bag previously to its being poured through, when they will impart to it a slight and delicate flavour, without deepening its colour much. If it is to be moulded, something more than half an ounce of isinglass should be dropped lightly in where the liquid becomes visible through the head of scum, when the mixture begins to boil; for if not sufficiently firm, it will break when it is dished. It may be roughed, or served in glasses without this addition; and in a liquid state will be found an admirable ingredient for Oxford, or other punch.

Calf’s feet, 4; water, 1 gallon: to be reduced more than half. Sherry, 1 bottle; sugar, 3/4 lb. (more to taste); juice of 5 large lemons, or of six moderate-sized; whites and shells of 7 eggs, or more if small; rinds of lemons, 3 (for moulding, nearly 3/4 oz. of isinglass): 15 to 20 minutes.

Obs.—An excellent and wholesome jelly for young people may be made with good orange or raisin wine, instead of sherry; to either of these the juice of three or four oranges, with a small portion of the rind, may be added instead of part of the lemons.

MODERN VARIETIES OF CALF’S FEET JELLY.

In modern cookery a number of excellent jellies are made with the stock of calves’ feet, variously flavoured. Many of them are compounded entirely without wine, a small quantity of some fine liqueur being used as a substitute; and sometimes cinnamon, or vanilla, or Seville orange-rind with a slight portion of acid, takes place of this. For aristocratic tables, indeed, it is the present fashion to serve them very lightly and delicately flavoured. Their cost is thus materially diminished. Fresh strawberries dropped into clear calf’s feet jelly just before it sets, impart a delicious fragrance to it, when they are of a choice kind; and other fruit is mingled with it often; but none has so good an effect, though many sorts when tastefully employed give an excellent appearance to it. The Belgrave mould, of which the description will be found at page 470, is well adapted for highly ornamental jellies; and we recommend its adoption for this class of dishes.

APPLE CALF’S FEET JELLY.

Pour a quart of prepared apple-juice (see page 456), on a pound of fresh apples pared and cored, and simmer them until they are well broken; strain the juice, and let it stand until cold; then measure, and put a pint and a half of it into a stewpan with a quart of calf’s feet stock (see page 453), nine ounces of sugar broken small, or roughly pounded, the juice of two fine lemons, and the thin rinds of one and a half, with the whites and shells of eight eggs. Let it boil gently for ten minutes, then strain it through a flannel-bag, and when cool put it into moulds. It will be very clear, and firm, and of pleasant flavour. Apples of good quality should be used for it, and the quantity of sugar must be regulated by the time of year, as the fruit will have lost much of its acidity during the latter part of the season. This receipt, which is the result of our own experiment, and which we have found very successful, was first tried just after Christmas, with pearmains and Ripstone pippins. A little syrup of preserved ginger, or a small glass of fine white brandy, would, perhaps, to some tastes, improve the jelly; but we give it simply as we have had it proved ourselves.

Prepared apple juice, 1 quart; fresh apples, 1 lb.: 1/2 to 3/4 hour. Strained juice, 1-1/2 pint; calf’s feet stock, 1 quart; sugar, 9 oz.; juice of lemons, 2; rind of 1-1/2; whites and shells of eggs, 8: 10 minutes.

Obs.—We would recommend the substitution of quinces for apples in this receipt as likely to afford a very agreeable variety of the jelly: or equal portions of the two fruits might answer well. Unless the stock be very stiff, add isinglass to this, as to the calf’s feet jelly, when it is to be moulded.

ORANGE CALF’S FEET JELLY.

(Author’s Receipt.)

To a pint and a half of firm calf’s feet stock, put a pint of strained China-orange juice mixed with that of one or two lemons; add to these six ounces of sugar, broken small, the very thin rinds of three oranges and one lemon, and the whites of six eggs with half the shells crushed small. Stir these gently over a clear fire until the head of scum begins to form, but not at all afterwards. Simmer the jelly for ten minutes from the first full boil; take it from the fire, let it stand a little, then pour it through a jelly-bag until perfectly clear. This is an original, and entirely new receipt, which we can recommend to the reader, the jelly being very pale, beautifully transparent, and delicate in flavour: it would, we think, be peculiarly acceptable to such invalids as are forbidden to take wine in any form.

The proportions both of sugar and of lemon-juice must be somewhat varied according to the season in which the oranges are used.

Strong calf’s feet stock, 1-1/2 pint; strained orange-juice, mixed with a small portion of lemon-juice, 1 pint; sugar, 6 oz.; rinds of oranges, 3; of lemon, 1: 10 minutes.

Obs.—A small pinch of isinglass thrown into the jelly when it begins to boil will much assist to clear it. When the flavour of Seville oranges is liked, two or three can be used with the sweet ones.

ORANGE ISINGLASS JELLY.

To render this perfectly transparent the juice of the fruit must be filtered, and the isinglass clarified; but it is not usual to take so much trouble for it. Strain as clear as possible, first through a sieve or muslin, then through a thick cloth or jelly bag, one quart of China orange-juice, mixed with as much lemon-juice as will give it an agreeable degree of acidity, or with a small proportion of Seville orange-juice. Dissolve two ounces and a half of isinglass in a pint of water, skim it well, throw in half a pound of sugar, and a few strips of the orange-rind, pour in the orange-juice, stir the whole well together, skim it clean without allowing it to boil, strain it through a cloth or through a muslin, many times folded, and when nearly cold put it into the moulds.[159] This jelly is sometimes made without any water, by dissolving the isinglass and sugar in the juice of the fruit.

159.  In France, orange-jelly is very commonly served in the halved rinds of the fruit, or in little baskets made as we shall hereafter direct, page 466.

Orange-juice, 1 quart; water, 1 pint; isinglass, 2-1/2 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.

VERY FINE ORANGE JELLY.

(Sussex Place Receipt.)

On two ounces and a half of the finest isinglass, pour a full but an exact pint of spring water; press down the isinglass and turn it over until the whole is well moistened; then place it over a gentle fire and let it dissolve gradually; remove the scum after it has simmered for two or three minutes, then pour it out, and set it aside to cool. In another pint of spring water boil a pound of highly refined sugar for five or six minutes; turn this syrup into a bowl, and when it is only just warm, throw into it the very thinly pared rinds of two fine lemons, of two Seville oranges, and of two China oranges, with the juice of five China, and of two Seville oranges, and of three lemons. When this mixture is cold, but not beginning to thicken, mix it well with the liquid isinglass, and strain it through a fine lawn sieve, or through a square of muslin folded in four; pour it into moulds which have been laid in cold water, and when wanted for the table, loosen it from them by wrapping about them, closely, a cloth which has been dipped into boiling water, and by passing a knife round the edges.

Nothing can be more refined and delicate in flavour than the above; but the appearance of the jelly may be improved by clarifying the isinglass, and its colour by boiling the fruit-rinds in the syrup for three or four minutes, and by leaving them in it until it is strained. The oranges and lemons, if good, will yield from two-thirds to three-quarters of a pint of juice, and the quantity of jelly will be sufficient to fill one large high mould, or two smaller ones which contain about a pint and a quarter each.

When the isinglass is clarified, allow half an ounce more of it; take about a teaspoonful of the white of a fresh egg, beat it a little, add the pint of cold water to it, whisk them together for a minute or two, and then pour them on the isinglass; stir it occasionally as it is heating, but not after the head of scum is formed: boil it gently for two or three minutes, skim, and strain it. The oranges and lemons should be dipped into fresh water and wiped dry before they are pared; and should a muslin strainer (that is to say, a large square of common clean muslin) be used for the jelly, it should be laid after being washed in the usual manner into plenty of hot water, and then into cold, and be well rinsed in, and wrung from each.

ORANGES FILLED WITH JELLY.

This is one of the fanciful dishes which make a pretty appearance on a supper table, and are acceptable when much variety is desired. Take some very fine China oranges, and with the point of a small knife cut out from the top of each a round about the size of a shilling; then with the small end of a tea or an egg spoon, empty them entirely, taking great care not to break the rinds. Throw these into cold water, and make jelly of the juice, which must be well pressed from the pulp, and strained as clear as possible. Colour one half a fine rose colour with prepared cochineal, and leave the other very pale; when it is nearly cold, drain and wipe the orange rinds, and fill them with alternate stripes of the two jellies; when they are perfectly cold cut them into quarters, and dispose them tastefully in a dish with a few light branches of myrtle between them. Calf’s feet or any other variety of jelly, or different blancmanges, may be used at choice to fill the rinds; the colours, however, should contrast as much as possible.

TO MAKE ORANGE BASKETS FOR JELLY.

The oranges for these should be large. First, mark the handle of the basket evenly across the stalk end of the fruit with the back of a small knife, or with a silver one, and let it be quite half an inch wide; then trace a line across from one end of the handle to the other exactly in the middle of the orange, and when the other side is marked in the same way, cut just through the rind with the point of a penknife, being careful not to pierce the fruit itself; next, with a tea or dessertspoon, take of the quartered rind on either side of the handle; pass a penknife under the handle itself; work the point of a spoon gently between the orange and the basket, until they are separated in every part; then take the fruit between the thumb and fingers, and press it carefully out through one of the spaces on either side of the handle.

Baskets thus made may be filled with any of the jellies of which the receipts are given here: but they should be nearly cold before they are poured in; and they ought also to be very clear. Some of the baskets may be filled with ratifias, and dished alternately with those which contain the jelly.

LEMON CALF’S FEET JELLY.

Break up a quart of strong calf’s feet stock, which should have been measured while in a liquid state; let it be quite clear of fat and sediment, for which a small additional quantity should be allowed; add to it a not very full half-pint of strained lemon-juice, and ten ounces of sugar, broken small (rather more or less according to the state of the fruit), the rind of one lemon pared as thin as possible, or of from two to three when a full flavour of it is liked, and the whites with part of the shells crushed small, of five large or of six small eggs. Proceed as for the preceding jellies, and when the mixture has boiled five minutes throw in a small pinch of isinglass; continue the boiling for five or six minutes longer, draw the pan from the fire, let it stand to settle; then turn it into the jelly-bag. We have found it always perfectly clear with once passing through; but should it not be so, pour it in a second time.

Strong calf’s feet stock, 1 quart; strained lemon-juice, short 1/2 pint; sugar, 10 oz. (more or less according to state of fruit); rind of from 1 to 3 large lemons; whites and part of shells of 5 large or 6 small eggs: 5 minutes. Pinch of isinglass: 5 minutes longer.

Obs.—About seven large lemons will produce the half pint of juice. This quantity is for one mould only. The jelly will be found almost colourless unless much of the rinds be used, and as perfectly transparent as clear spring water: it is also very agreeable in flavour. For variety, part of the juice of the fruit might be omitted, and its place supplied by maraschino, or any other rich white liqueur of appropriate flavour; and to render it safer eating, some syrup of preserved ginger would be an excellent addition.

CONSTANTIA JELLY.

Infuse in a pint of water for five minutes the rind of half a Seville orange, pared extremely thin; add an ounce of isinglass; and when this is dissolved throw in four ounces of good sugar in lumps; stir well, and simmer the whole for a few minutes, then mix with it four large wineglassesful of Constantia, and strain the jelly through a fine cloth of close texture; let it settle and cool, then pour it gently from any sediment there may be, into a mould which has been laid for an hour or two into water. We had this jelly made in the first instance for an invalid who was forbidden to take acids, and it proved so agreeable in flavour that we can recommend it for the table. The isinglass, with an additional quarter of an ounce, might be clarified, and the sugar and orange-rind boiled with it afterwards.

Water, 1 pint; rind, 1/2 Seville orange: 5 minutes. Isinglass, 1 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.: 5 to 7 minutes. Constantia, 4 large wineglassesful.

RHUBARB ISINGLASS JELLY.

(Author’s Original Receipt. Good.)

A jelly of beautiful tint, and excellent flavour, may be made with fresh young rhubarb-stems, either of the giant or dwarf kind, if they be of a bright pink colour. Wash, and drain or wipe them; slice without paring them, taking them quite free from any coarse or discoloured parts. Put two pounds and a half, and a quart of water into an enamelled stewpan, which is more suitable to the purpose than any other; throw in two ounces of sugar in lumps, and boil the rhubarb very gently for twenty minutes, or until it is thoroughly stewed, but not sufficiently so to thicken the juice. Strain it through a muslin folded in four; measure a pint and a half of it; heat it afresh in a clean pan; add an ounce and a half of the finest isinglass, and six ounces or more of the best sugar in large lumps; stir it often until the isinglass is entirely dissolved, then let it boil quickly for a few minutes to throw up the scum; clear this off carefully, and strain the jelly twice through a muslin strainer,[160] folded as the first; let it cool, and mould it as usual.

160.  These muslin strainers should be large, as it is necessary to fold them in general to a quarter of their original size, to render them sufficiently thick for clearing juice or jelly.

STRAWBERRY ISINGLASS JELLY.

A great variety of equally elegant and excellent jellies for the table may be made with clarified isinglass, clear syrup, and the juice of almost any kind of fresh fruit; but as the process of making them is nearly the same for all, we shall limit our receipts to one or two, which will serve to direct the makers for the rest. Boil together quickly for fifteen minutes one pint of water and three-quarters of a pound of very good sugar; measure a quart of ripe richly-flavoured strawberries without their stalks; the scarlet answer best, from the colour which they give: on these pour the boiling syrup, and let them stand all night. The next day clarify two ounces and a half of isinglass in a pint of water, as directed at the beginning of this chapter; drain the syrup from the strawberries very closely, add to it two or three tablespoonsful of red currant juice, and the clear juice of one large or two small lemons; and when the isinglass is nearly cold mix the whole, and put it into moulds. The French, who excel in these fruit-jellies, always mix the separate ingredients when they are almost cold; and they also place them over ice for an hour or so after they are moulded, which is a great advantage, as they then require less isinglass, and are in consequence much more delicate. When the fruit abounds, instead of throwing it into the syrup, bruise lightly from three to four pints, throw two tablespoonsful of sugar over it, and let the juice flow from it for an hour or two; then pour a little water over, and use the juice without boiling, which will give a jelly of finer flavour than the other.

Water, 1 pint; sugar, 3/4 lb.: 15 minutes. Strawberries, 1 quart; isinglass, 2-1/2 oz.; water, 1 pint (white of egg, 1 to 2 teaspoonsful); juice, 1 large or 2 small lemons.

FANCY JELLIES.

No. 1.

No. 2.

Description of Belgrave Mould.

Figure No. 1, represents the mould in its entireness. No. 2, shows the interior of it (inverted). A is a thin metal plate which when turned downwards forms the bottom of the mould, and which is perforated in six places to permit the fluted columns B to pass through it. There is also a larger aperture in the middle to admit the centre cylinder. The plate is fixed, and the whole is held in its place by the part which folds over the larger scallop D at either end. There is also a cover which fits to the mould, and which is pressed on it before it is dipped into water, to prevent its getting into the cylinders.

Transparent jelly is shown to much advantage, and is particularly brilliant in appearance, when moulded in shapes resembling that of the engraving here, which are now very commonly used for the purpose.

The centre spaces can be filled, after the jelly is dished, with very light whipped cream, coloured and flavoured so as to eat agreeably with it, and to please the eye as well: this may be tastefully garnished with preserved, or with fresh fruit; but one of more recent invention, called the Belgrave mould (which is to be had of the originators, Messrs. Temple and Reynolds, Princes Street, Cavendish Square, and also at 80, Motcomb Street, Belgrave Square), is of superior construction for the purpose, as it contains a large central cylinder and six smaller ones, which when withdrawn, after the jelly—which should be poured round, but not into them—is set, leave vacancies which can be filled either with jelly of another colour, or with fruit of different kinds (which must be secured in its place with just liquid jelly poured carefully in after it is arranged), or with blanc-mange, or any other isinglass-cream. The space occupied by the larger cylinder may be left empty, or filled, before the jelly is served, with white or with pale-tinted whipped cream. Water, only sufficiently warm to detach the jelly from them without heating or melting it, must be poured into the cylinders to unfix them; and to loosen the whole so as to unmould it easily, a cloth wrung out of very hot water must be wound round it, or the mould must be dipped quickly into some which is nearly or quite boiling. A dish should then be laid on it, it should be carefully reversed, and the mould lifted from it gently. It will sometimes require a slight sharp blow to detach it quite.

Italian jelly is made by half filling a mould of convenient form, and laying round upon it in a chain, as soon as it is set, some blanc-mange made rather firm, and cut of equal thickness and size, with a small round cutter; the mould is then filled with the remainder of the jelly, which must be nearly cold, but not beginning to set. Branched morella cherries, drained very dry, are sometimes dropped into moulds of pale jelly; and fruits, either fresh or preserved, are arranged in them with exceedingly good effect when skilfully managed; but this is best accomplished by having a mould for the purpose, with another of smaller size fixed in it by means of slight wires, which hook on to the edge of the outer one. By pouring water into this it may easily be detached from the jelly; the fruit is then to be placed in the space left by it, and the whole filled up with more jelly: to give the proper effect, it must be recollected that the dish will be reversed when sent to table.

QUEEN MAB’S PUDDING.

(An Elegant Summer Dish.)

Throw into a pint of new milk the thin rind of a small lemon, and six or eight bitter almonds, blanched and bruised; or substitute for these half a pod of vanilla cut small, heat it slowly by the side of the fire, and keep it at the point of boiling until it is strongly flavoured, then add a small pinch of salt, and three-quarters of an ounce of the finest isinglass, or a full ounce should the weather be extremely warm; when this is dissolved, strain the milk through a muslin, and put it into a clean saucepan, with from four to five ounces and a half of sugar in lumps, and half a pint of rich cream; give the whole one boil, and then stir it, briskly and by degrees, to the well-beaten yolks of six fresh eggs; next, thicken the mixture as a custard, over a gentle fire, but do not hazard its curdling; when it is of tolerable consistence, pour it out, and continue the stirring until it is half cold, then mix with it an ounce and a half of candied citron, cut in small spikes, and a couple of ounces of dried cherries, and pour it into a mould rubbed with a drop of oil: when turned out it will have the appearance of a pudding. From two to three ounces of preserved ginger, well drained and sliced, may be substituted for the cherries, and an ounce of pistachio-nuts, blanched and split, for the citron; these will make an elegant variety of the dish, and the syrup of the ginger, poured round as sauce, will be a further improvement. Currants steamed until tender, and candied orange or lemon-rind, are often used instead of the cherries, and the well-sweetened juice of strawberries, raspberries (white or red), apricots, peaches, or syrup of pine-apple, will make an agreeable sauce; a small quantity of this last will also give a delicious flavour to the pudding itself, when mixed with the other ingredients. Cream may be substituted entirely for the milk, when its richness is considered desirable.

New milk, 1 pint; rind 1 small lemon; bitter almonds, 6 to 8 (or, vanilla, 1/2 pod); salt, few grains; isinglass, 3/4 oz. (1 oz. in sultry weather); sugar, 4-1/2 oz.; cream, 1/2 pint; yolks, 6 eggs; dried cherries, 2 oz.; candied citron, 1-1/2 oz.; (or, preserved ginger, 2 to 3 oz., and the syrup as sauce, and 1 oz. of blanched pistachio-nuts; or 4 oz. currants, steamed 20 minutes, and 2 oz. candied orange-rind). For sauce, sweetened juice of strawberries, raspberries, or plums, or pine apple syrup.

Obs.—The currants should be steamed in an earthen cullender, placed over a saucepan of boiling water, and covered with the lid. It will be a great improvement to place the pudding over ice for an hour before it is served.

NESSELRÔDE CREAM.

Shell and blanch (see page 342) twenty-four fine Spanish chestnuts, and put them with three-quarters of a pint of water into a small and delicately clean saucepan. When they have simmered from six to eight minutes, add to them two ounces of fine sugar, and let them stew very gently until they are perfectly tender; then drain them from the water, pound them, while still warm, to a smooth paste, and press them through the back of a fine sieve. While this is being done, dissolve half an ounce of isinglass in two or three spoonsful of water, and put to it as much cream as will, with the small quantity of water used, make half a pint, two ounces of sugar, about the third of a pod of vanilla, cut small, and well bruised, and a strip or two of fresh lemon-rind, pared extremely thin. Give these a minute’s boil, and then keep them quite hot by the side of the fire, until a strong flavour of the vanilla is obtained. Now, mix gradually with the chestnuts half a pint of rich, unboiled cream, strain the other half pint through a fine muslin, and work the whole well together until it becomes very thick; then stir to it a couple of ounces of dried cherries, cut into quarters, and two of candied citron, divided into very small dice. Press the mixture into a mould which has been rubbed with a particle of the purest salad-oil, and in a few hours it will be ready for table. The cream should be sufficiently stiff, when the fruit is added, to prevent its sinking to the bottom, and both kinds should be dry when they are used.

Chestnuts, large, 24; water, 3/4 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; isinglass, 1/2 oz.; water, 3 to 4 tablespoonsful; cream, nearly 1/2 pint; vanilla, 1/3 of pod; lemon-rind, 1/4 of 1 large: infuse 20 minutes or more. Unboiled cream, 1/2 pint; dried cherries, 2 oz.; candied citron, 2 oz.

Obs.—When vanilla cannot easily be obtained, a little noyau may be substituted for it, but a full weight of isinglass must then be used.

CRÊME À LA COMTESSE, OR THE COUNTESS’S CREAM.

Prepare as above, boil and pound, eighteen fine sound chestnuts; mix with them gradually, after they have been pressed through a fine sieve, half a pint of rich sweet cream; dissolve in half a pint of new milk a half-ounce of isinglass, then add to them from six to eight bitter almonds, blanched and bruised, with two-thirds of the rind of a small lemon, cut extremely thin, and two ounces and a half of sugar; let these simmer gently for five minutes, and then remain by the side of the fire for awhile. When the milk is strongly flavoured, strain it through muslin, press the whole of it through, and stir it by degrees to the chestnuts and cream; beat the mixture smooth, and when it begins to thicken, put it into a mould rubbed with oil, or into one which has been dipped in water and shaken nearly free of the moisture. If set into a cool place, it will be ready for table in six or eight hours. It has a pretty appearance when partially stuck with pistachio-nuts, blanched, dried, and cut in spikes, their bright green colour rendering them very ornamental to dishes of this kind: as they are, however, much more expensive than almonds, they can be used more sparingly, or intermingled with spikes of the firm outer rind of candied citron.

Chestnuts, 18; water, full 1/2 pint; sugar, 1 oz.: 15 to 25 minutes, or more. Cream, 1/2 pint; new milk, 1/2 pint; isinglass, 1/2 oz.; bitter almonds, 6 to 8; lemon-rind, two-thirds of 1; sugar, 2-1/2 oz.[161]

161.  The proportions both of this and of the preceding cream must be increased for a large mould.

Obs.—This is a very delicate kind of sweet dish, which we can particularly recommend to our readers; it may be rendered more recherché by a flavouring of maraschino, but must then have a little addition of isinglass. The preparation, without this last ingredient, will be found excellent iced.

AN EXCELLENT TRIFLE.

Take equal parts of wine and brandy, about a wineglassful of each, or two-thirds of good sherry or Madeira, and one of spirit, and soak in the mixture four sponge-biscuits, and half a pound of macaroons and ratifias; cover the bottom of the trifle-dish with part of these, and pour upon them a full pint of rich boiled custard made with three-quarters of a pint, or rather more, of milk and cream taken in equal portions, and six eggs; and sweetened, flavoured and thickened by the receipt of page 481; lay the remainder of the soaked cakes upon it, and pile over the whole, to the depth of two or three inches, the whipped syllabub of page 476, previously well drained; then sweeten and flavour slightly with wine only, less than half a pint of thin cream (or of cream and milk mixed); wash and wipe the whisk, and whip it to the lightest possible froth: take it off with a skimmer and heap it gently over the trifle.

Macaroons and ratifias, 1/2 lb.; wine and brandy mixed, 1/4 pint; rich boiled custard, 1 pint; whipped syllabub (see page 476); light froth to cover the whole, short 1/2 pint of cream and milk mixed; sugar, dessertspoonful; wine, 1/2 glassful.

SWISS CREAM, OR TRIFLE.

(Very Good.)

Flavour pleasantly with and cinnamon, a pint of rich cream, after having taken from it as much as will mix smoothly to a thin batter four teaspoonsful of the finest flour; sweeten it with six ounces of well-refined sugar in lumps; place it over a clear fire in a delicately clean saucepan, and when it boils stir in the flour, and simmer it for four or five minutes, stirring it gently without ceasing; then pour it out, and when it is quite cold mix with it by degrees the strained juice of two moderate-sized and very fresh lemons. Take a quarter of a pound of macaroons, cover the bottom of a glass dish with a portion of them, pour in a part of the cream, lay the remainder of the macaroons upon it, add the rest of the cream, and ornament it with candied citron sliced thin. It should be made the day before it is wanted for table. The requisite flavour may be given to this dish by infusing in the cream the very thin rind of a lemon, and part of a stick of cinnamon slightly bruised, and then straining it before the flour is added; or, these and the sugar may be boiled together with two or three spoonsful of water, to a strongly flavoured syrup, which, after having been passed through a muslin strainer, may be stirred into the cream. Some cooks boil the cinnamon and the grated rind of a lemon with all the other ingredients, but the cream has then to be pressed through a sieve after it is made, a process which it is always desirable to avoid. It may be flavoured with vanilla and maraschino, or with orange-blossoms at pleasure; but is excellent made as above.

Rich cream, 1 pint; sugar, 6 oz.; rind, 1 lemon; cinnamon, 1 drachm; flour, 4 teaspoonsful; juice, 2 lemons; macaroons, 4 oz.; candied citron, 1 to 2 oz.

TIPSY CAKE, OR BRANDY TRIFLE.

The old-fashioned mode of preparing this dish was to soak a light sponge or Savoy cake in as much good French brandy as it could absorb; then, to stick it full of blanched almonds cut into whole-length spikes, and to pour a rich cold boiled custard round it. It is more usual now to pour white wine over the cake, or a mixture of wine and brandy; with this the juice of half a lemon is sometimes mixed.

Chantilly Basket.

FILLED WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND FRESH STRAWBERRIES.

Take a mould of any sort that will serve to form the basket on, just dip the edge of some macaroons into melted barley sugar, and fasten them together with it; take it out of the mould, keep it in a dry place until wanted, then fill it high with whipped strawberry cream which has been drained on a sieve from the preceding day, and stick very fine ripe strawberries over it. It should not filled until just before it is served.

VERY GOOD LEMON CREAMS MADE WITHOUT CREAM.

Pour over the very thin rinds of two moderate-sized but perfectly sound fresh lemons and six ounces of sugar, half a pint of spring water, and let them remain for six hours: then add the strained juice of the lemons, and five fresh eggs well beaten and also strained; take out the lemon-rind, and stir the mixture without ceasing over a gentle fire until it has boiled softly from six to eight minutes: it will not curdle as it would did milk supply the place of the water and lemon-juice. The creams are, we think, more delicate, though not quite so thick, when the yolks only of six eggs are used for them. They will keep well for nearly a week in really cold weather.

Rinds of lemons, 2; sugar, 6 oz. (or 8 when a very sweet dish is preferred); cold water, 1/2 pint: 6 hours. Juice of lemons, 2; eggs, 5: to be boiled softly 6 to 8 minutes.

Obs.—Lemon creams may, on occasion, be more expeditiously prepared, by rasping the rind of the fruit upon the sugar which is used for them; or, by paring it thin, and boiling it for a few minutes with the lemon-juice, sugar, and water, before they are stirred to the eggs.

FRUIT CREAMS, AND ITALIAN CREAMS.

These are very quickly and easily made, by mixing with good cream a sufficient proportion of the sweetened juice of fresh fruit, or of well-made fruit jelly or jam, to flavour it: a few drops of prepared cochineal may be added to deepen the colour when it is required for any particular purpose. A quarter of a pint of strawberry or of raspberry jelly will fully flavour a pint of cream: a very little lemon-juice improves almost all compositions of this kind. When jam is used it must first be gradually mixed with the cream, and then worked through a sieve, to take out the seed or skin of the fruit. All fresh juice, for this purpose, must of course, be cold; that of strawberries is best obtained by crushing the fruit and strewing sugar over it. Peaches, pine-apple, apricots, or nectarines, may be simmered for a few minutes in a little syrup, and this, drained well from them, will serve extremely well to mix with the cream when it has become thoroughly cold: the lemon-juice should be added to all of these. When the ingredients are well blended, lightly whisk or mill them to a froth; take this off with a skimmer as it rises, and lay it upon a fine sieve reversed, to drain, or if it is to be served in glasses, fill them with it at once.

Italian creams are either fruit-flavoured only, or mixed with wine like syllabubs, then whisked to a stiff froth and put into a perforated mould, into which a muslin is first laid; or into a small hair-sieve (which must also first be lined with the muslin), and left to drain until the following day, when the cream must be very gently turned out, and dished, and garnished, as fancy may direct.

VERY SUPERIOR WHIPPED SYLLABUBS.

Weigh seven ounces of fine sugar and rasp on it the rinds of two fresh sound lemons of good size, then pound or roll it to powder, and put it into a bowl with the strained juice of the lemons, two large glasses of sherry, and two of brandy; when the sugar is dissolved add a pint of very fresh cream, and whisk or mill the mixture well; take off the froth as it rises, and put it into glasses. These syllabubs will remain good for several days, and should always be made if possible, four-and-twenty hours before they are wanted for table. The full flavour of the lemon-rind is obtained with less trouble than in rasping, by paring it very thin indeed, and infusing it for some hours in the juice of the fruit.

Sugar, 7 oz.; rind and juice of lemons, 2; sherry, 2 large wineglassesful; brandy, 2 wineglassesful; cream, 1 pint.

Obs.—These proportions are sufficient for two dozens or more of syllabubs: they are often made with almost equal quantities of wine and cream, but are considered less wholesome without a portion of brandy.

BLANC-MANGES.

GOOD COMMON BLANC-MANGE, OR BLANC-MANGER.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Blanc-mange or Cake Mould.

Infuse for an hour in a pint and a half of new milk the very thin rind of one small, or of half a large lemon and four or five bitter almonds, blanched and bruised,[162] then add two ounces of sugar, or rather more for persons who like the blanc-mange very sweet, and an ounce and a half of isinglass. Boil them gently over a clear fire, stirring them often until this last is dissolved; take off the scum, stir in half a pint, or rather more, of rich cream, and strain the blanc-mange into a bowl; it should be moved gently with a spoon until nearly cold to prevent the cream from settling on the surface. Before it is moulded, mix with it by degrees a wineglassful of brandy.

162.  These should always be very sparingly used.

New milk, 1-1/2 pint; rind of lemon, 1/2 large or whole small; bitter almonds, 8: infuse 1 hour. Sugar, 2 to 3 oz.; isinglass, 1-1/2 oz.: 10 minutes. Cream, 1/2 pint; brandy, 1 wineglassful.

RICHER BLANC-MANGE.

A pint of good cream with a pint of new milk, sweetened and flavoured as above (or in any other manner which good taste may dictate), with a little additional sugar, and the same proportion of isinglass, will make very good blanc-mange. Two ounces of Jordan almonds may be pounded and mixed with it, but they are not needed with the cream.

JAUMANGE, OR JAUNE MANGER, SOMETIMES CALLED DUTCH FLUMMERY.

Pour on the very thin rind of a large lemon and half a pound of sugar broken small, a pint of water, and keep them stirred over a gentle fire until they have simmered for three or four minutes, then leave the saucepan by the side of the stove that the syrup may taste well of the lemon. In ten or fifteen minutes afterwards add two ounces of isinglass, and stir the mixture often until this is dissolved, then throw in the strained juice of four sound moderate-sized lemons, and a pint of sherry; mix the whole briskly with the beaten yolks of eight fresh eggs, and pass it through a delicately clean hair-sieve: next thicken it in a jar or jug placed in a pan of boiling water, turn it into a bowl, and when it has become cool and been allowed to settle for a minute or two, pour it into moulds which have been laid in water. Some persons add a small glass of brandy to it, and deduct so much from the quantity of water.

Rind of 1 lemon; sugar, 8 oz.; water, 1 pint: 3 or 4 minutes. Isinglass, 2 oz.; juice, 4 lemons; yolks of eggs, 8; wine, 1 pint; brandy (at pleasure), 1 wineglassful.

EXTREMELY GOOD STRAWBERRY BLANC-MANGE, OR BAVARIAN CREAM.

Crush slightly with a silver or wooden spoon, a quart, measured without their stalks, of fresh and richly-flavoured strawberries; strew over them eight ounces of pounded sugar, and let them stand for three or four hours; then turn them on to a fine hair-sieve reversed, and rub them through it. Melt over a gentle fire two ounces of the best isinglass in a pint of new milk, and sweeten it with four ounces of sugar; strain it through a muslin, and mix it with a pint and a quarter of sweet thick cream; keep these stirred until they are nearly or quite cold, then pour them gradually to the strawberries, whisking them briskly together; and last of all throw in, by small portions, the strained juice of a fine sound lemon. Mould the blanc-mange, and set it in a very cool place for twelve hours or more before it is served.

Strawberries stalked, 1 quart; sugar, 8 oz.; isinglass, 2 oz.; new milk, 1 pint; sugar, 4 oz.; cream, 1-1/4 pint; juice, 1 lemon.

Obs.—We have retained here the old-fashioned name of blanc-mange (or blanc-manger) because it is more familiar to many English readers than any of recent introduction; but moulded strawberry-cream would be more appropriate; as nothing can properly be called blanc manger which is not white. By mingling the cream, after it has been whisked, or whipped, to the other ingredients, the preparation becomes what is called un Fromage Bavarois, or Bavarian cream, sometimes simply, une Bavaroise.

QUINCE BLANC-MANGE.

(Delicious.)

This, if carefully made, and with ripe quinces, is one of the most richly-flavoured preparations of fruit that we have ever tasted; and the receipt, we may venture to say, will be altogether new to the reader. Dissolve in a pint of prepared juice of quinces (see page 456), an ounce of the best isinglass; next, add ten ounces of sugar, roughly pounded, and stir these together gently over a clear fire, from twenty to thirty minutes, or until the juice jellies in falling from the spoon. Remove the scum carefully, and pour the boiling jelly gradually to half a pint of thick cream, stirring them briskly together as they are mixed: they must be stirred until very nearly cold, and then poured into a mould which has been rubbed in every part with the smallest possible quantity of very pure salad oil, or if more convenient, into one that has been dipped into cold water.

Obs.—This blanc-manger which we had made originally on the thought of the moment for a friend, proved so very rich in flavour, that we inserted the exact receipt for it, as we had had it made on our first trial; but it might be simplified by merely boiling the juice, sugar, and isinglass, together for a few minutes, and then mixing them with the cream. An ounce and a half of isinglass and three-quarters of a pint of cream might then be used for it. The juice of other fruit may be substituted for that of the quinces.

Juice of quinces, 1 pint; isinglass, 1 oz.: 5 to 10 minutes. Sugar, 10 oz.: 20 to 30 minutes. Cream, 1/2 pint.

QUINCE BLANC-MANGE, WITH ALMOND CREAM.

When cream is not procurable, which will sometimes happen in the depth of winter, almonds, if plentifully used, will afford a very good substitute, though the finer blanc-mange is made from the foregoing receipt. On four ounces of almonds, blanched and beaten to the smoothest paste, and moistened in the pounding with a few drops of water, to prevent their oiling, pour a pint of boiling quince-juice; stir them together, and turn them into a strong cloth, of which let the ends be held and twisted different ways by two persons, to express the cream from the almonds; put the juice again on the fire, with half a pound of sugar, and when it boils, throw in nearly an ounce of fine isinglass; simmer the whole for five minutes, take off the scum, stir the blanc-mange until it is nearly cold, then mould it for table. Increase the quantity both of this and of the preceding blanc-mange, when a large dish of either is required.

Quince-juice, 1 pint; Jordan almond, 4 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb; isinglass, nearly 1 oz: 5 minutes.

APRICOT BLANC-MANGE, OR CRÊME PARISIENNE.

Dissolve gently an ounce of fine isinglass in a pint of new milk or of thin cream, and strain it through a folded muslin; put it into a clean saucepan, with three ounces of sugar, broken into small lumps, and when it boils, stir to it half a pint of rich cream; add it, at first by spoonsful only, to eight ounces of the finest apricot jam, mix them very smoothly, and stir the whole until it is nearly cold that the jam may not sink to the bottom of the mould: a tablespoonful of lemon-juice will improve the flavour.

When cream is scarce, use milk instead, with an additional quarter of an ounce of isinglass, and enrich it by pouring it boiling on the same proportion of almonds as for the second quince blanc-mange (see page 478). Cream can in all cases be substituted entirely for the milk, when a very rich preparation is desired. Peach jam will answer admirably for this receipt; but none of any kind should be used for it which has not been passed through a sieve when made.

Isinglass, 1 oz.; new milk, 1 pint; cream, 1/2 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; apricot jam, 1/2 lb.; lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful. Or, peach jam, 1/2 lb.; cream, 1-1/2 pint.

CURRANT BLANC-MANGE.

In three-quarters of a pint of clear currant-juice, drawn from the fruit as for jelly, and strained, dissolve an ounce and a half of isinglass; add nine ounces of sugar broken small, give the whole a boil, strain it, and stir it by slow degrees to three-quarters of a pint of thick cold cream; when it is less than milk-warm pour it into the moulds. The proportions of juice and cream can be varied to the taste, and a portion of raspberries or strawberries added to the currants. Black currants would, we think, make an agreeable variety of this blanc-mange for persons who like their peculiar flavour, but we have not tried them.

Clear juice of red currant, 3/4 pint; isinglass, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 9 oz.; cream, 3/4 pint.

LEMON SPONGE, OR MOULDED LEMON CREAM.

Infuse in half a pint of cream the very thin rind of one large lemon, or of one and a half of smaller size; or, instead of this, rasp the fruit with the sugar which is to be used for the preparation. Add three-quarters of an ounce of fine isinglass, and when this is dissolved throw in seven ounces of sugar in small lumps. Do not boil the mixture, to reduce it, but let it be kept near the point of simmering, until the sugar and isinglass are entirely dissolved, and a full flavour of the lemon-rind has been obtained; then stir in another half-pint of cream, and strain the mixture immediately into a deep bowl or pan. When it is quite cold, add to it very gradually the strained juice of one lemon and a half, whisking the preparation well all the time; and when it begins to set, which may be known by its becoming very thick, whisk it lightly to a sponge, pour it into an oiled mould, and, to prevent its breaking when it is dished, just dip the mould into hot, but not boiling water; loosen the edges carefully, and turn out the cream: to save time and trouble the whisking may be omitted, and a plain lemon-cream take place of the sponge.

Cream, 1 pint; rind of lemons 2 middling-sized, or 1-1/2 large; isinglass, 3/4 oz.; sugar, 7 oz.; juice of 1-1/2 lemon.

Obs.—For this, as for all other dishes of the kind, a little more or less of isinglass may be required according to the state of the weather, a larger proportion being needed in summer than in winter.

AN APPLE HEDGE-HOG, OR SUÉDOISE.

This dish is formed of apples, pared, cored without being divided and stewed tolerably tender in a light syrup. These are placed in a dish, after being well drained, and filled with apricot, or any other rich marmalade, and arranged in two or more layers, so as to give, when the whole is complete, the form shown in the engraving. The number required must depend on the size of the dish. From three to five pounds more must be stewed down into a smooth and dry marmalade, and with this all the spaces between them are to be filled up, and the whole are to be covered with it; an icing of two eggs, beaten to a very solid froth, and mixed with two heaped teaspoonsful of sugar, must then be spread evenly over the suédoise, fine sugar sifted on this, and spikes of blanched almonds, cut lengthwise, stuck over the entire surface: the dish is then to be placed in a moderate oven until the almonds are browned, but not too deeply, and the apples are hot through. It is not easy to give the required form with less than fifteen apples; eight of these may first be simmered in a syrup made with half a pint of water and six ounces of sugar, and the remainder may be thrown in after these are lifted out. Care must be taken to keep them firm. The marmalade should be sweet, and pleasantly flavoured with lemon.

VERY GOOD OLD-FASHIONED BOILED CUSTARD.

Throw into a pint and a half of new milk, the very thin rind of a fresh lemon, and let it infuse for half an hour, then simmer them together for a few minutes, and add four ounces and a half of white sugar. Beat thoroughly the yolks of fourteen fresh eggs, mix with them another half-pint of new milk, stir the boiling milk quickly to them, take out the lemon-peel, and turn the custard into a deep jug; set this over the fire in a pan of boiling water, and keep the custard stirred gently, but without ceasing, until it begins to thicken; then move the spoon rather more quickly, making it always touch the bottom of the jug, until the mixture is brought to the point of boiling, when it must be instantly taken from the fire, or it will curdle in a moment. Pour it into a bowl, and keep it stirred until nearly cold, then add to it by degrees a wineglassful of good brandy, and two ounces of blanched almonds, cut into spikes; or omit these, at pleasure. A few bitter ones, bruised, can be boiled in the milk in lieu of lemon-peel, when their flavour is preferred.

New milk, 1 quart; rind of 1 lemon; sugar, 4-1/2 oz.; yolks of eggs, 14; salt, less than 1/4 saltspoonful.

RICH BOILED CUSTARD.

Take a small cupful from a quart of fresh cream, and simmer the remainder for a few minutes with four ounces of sugar and the rind of a lemon, or give it any other flavour that may be preferred. Beat and strain the yolks of eight eggs, mix them with the cupful of cream, and stir the rest boiling to them: thicken the custard like the preceding one.

Cream, 1 quart; sugar, 4 oz.; yolks of eggs, 8.

THE QUEEN’S CUSTARD.

On the beaten and strained yolks of twelve new-laid eggs pour a pint and a half of boiling cream which has been sweetened, with three ounces of sugar; add the smallest pinch of salt, and thicken the custard as usual. When nearly cold, flavour it with a glass and a half of noyau, maraschino, or cuirasseau, and add the sliced almonds or not, at pleasure.

Yolks of eggs, 12; cream, 1-1/2 pint; sugar, 3 oz.; little salt; noyau, maraschino, or cuirasseau, 1-1/2 wineglassful.

CURRANT CUSTARD.

Boil in a pint of clear currant-juice ten ounces of sugar for three minutes, take off the scum, and pour the boiling juice on eight well-beaten eggs; thicken the custard in a jug set into a pan of water, pour it out, stir it till nearly cold, then add to it carefully, and by degrees, half a pint of rich cream, and last of all two tablespoonsful of strained lemon-juice. When the currants are very ripe omit one ounce of the sugar.

White currants and strawberries, cherries, red or white raspberries, or a mixture of any of these fruits, may be used for these custards with good effect: they are excellent.

Currant-juice, 1 pint; sugar, 10 oz.: 3 minutes. Eggs, 8; cream, 1/2 pint; lemon-juice, 2 tablespoonsful.

QUINCE OR APPLE CUSTARDS.

Add to a pint of apple-juice prepared as for jelly, a tablespoonful of strained lemon-juice, and from four to six ounces of sugar according to the acidity of the fruit; stir these boiling, quickly, and in small portions, to eight well-beaten eggs, and thicken the custard in a jug placed in a pan of boiling water, in the usual manner. A larger proportion of lemon-juice and a high flavouring of a rind can be given when approved. For quince custards, which if well made are excellent, observe the same directions as for the apple, but omit the lemon-juice. As we have before observed, all custards are much finer when made with the yolks only of the eggs, of which the number must be increased nearly half, when this is done.

Prepared apple-juice (see page 456), 1 pint; lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful; sugar, 4 to 6 oz.; eggs, 8. Quince custards, same proportions, but no lemon-juice.

Obs.—In making lemon-creams the apple-juice may be substituted very advantageously for water, without varying the receipt in other respects.

THE DUKE’S CUSTARD.

Drain well from their juice, and then roll in dry sifted sugar, as many fine brandied Morella cherries as will cover thickly the bottom of the dish in which this is to be sent to table; arrange them in it, and pour over them from a pint to a pint and a half of rich cold boiled custard; garnish the edge with macaroons or Naples biscuits, or pile upon the custard some solid rose-coloured whipped cream, highly flavoured with brandy.

Brandied Morella cherries, 1/2 to whole pint; boiled custard, from 1 to 1-1/2 pint; thick cream, 1/2 pint or more; brandy, 1 to 2 glassesful; sugar, 2 to 3 oz.; juice of 1/2 large lemon; prepared cochineal, or carmine, 20 to 40 drops.

CHOCOLATE CUSTARDS.

Dissolve gently by the side of the fire an ounce and a half of the best chocolate in rather more than a wineglassful of water, and then boil it until it is perfectly smooth; mix with it a pint of milk well flavoured with lemon peel or vanilla, add two ounces of fine sugar, and when the whole boils, stir it to five well-beaten eggs which have been strained. Put the custard into a jar or jug, set it into a pan of boiling water, and stir it without ceasing until it is thick. Do not put it into glasses or a dish until it is nearly or quite cold. These, as well as all other custards, are infinitely finer when made with the yolks only of the eggs, of which the number must then be increased. Two ounces of chocolate, a pint of milk, half a pint of cream, two or three ounces of sugar, and eight yolks of eggs, will make very superior custards of this kind.

Rasped chocolate, 1-1/2 oz.; water, 1 large wineglassful: 5 to 8 minutes. New milk, 1 pint; eggs, 5; sugar, 2 oz. Or: chocolate, 2 oz.; water, 1/4 pint; new milk, 1 pint; sugar, 2-1/2 to 3 oz.; cream, 1/2 pint; yolks of eggs, 8.

Obs.—Either of these may be moulded by dissolving from half to three quarters of an ounce of isinglass in the milk. The proportion of chocolate can be increased to the taste.

COMMON BAKED CUSTARD.

Mix a quart of new milk with eight well beaten eggs, strain the mixture through a fine sieve, and sweeten it with from five to eight ounces of sugar, according to the taste; add a small pinch of salt, and pour the custard into a deep dish with or without a lining or rim of paste, grate nutmeg or over the top, and bake it in a very slow oven from twenty to thirty minutes, or longer, should it not be firm in the centre. A custard, if well made, and properly baked, will be quite smooth when cut, without the honey-combed appearance which a hot oven gives; and there will be no whey in the dish.

New milk, 1 quart; eggs, 8; sugar, 5 to 8 oz.; salt, 1/4 saltspoonful; nutmeg or lemon-grate: baked, slow oven, 30 to 40 minutes, or more.

A FINER BAKED CUSTARD.

Boil together gently, for five minutes, a pint and a half of new milk, a few grains of salt, the very thin rind of a lemon, and six ounces of loaf sugar; stir these boiling, but very gradually, to the well-beaten yolks of ten fresh eggs, and the whites of four; strain the mixture, and add to it half a pint of good cream; let it cool, and then flavour it with a few spoonsful of brandy, or a little ratifia; finish and bake it by the directions given for the common custard above; or pour it into small well-buttered cups, and bake it very slowly from ten to twelve minutes.

FRENCH CUSTARDS OR CREAMS.

To a quart of new milk allow the yolks of twelve fresh eggs, but to equal parts of milk and cream of ten only. From six to eight ounces of sugar will sweeten the custard sufficiently for general taste, but more can be added at will; boil this for a few minutes gently in the milk with a grain or two of salt, and stir the mixture briskly to the eggs, as soon as it is taken from the fire. Butter a round deep dish, pour in the custard, and place it in a pan of water at the point of boiling, taking care that it shall not reach to within an inch of the edge; let it just simmer, and no more, from an hour to an hour and a half: when quite firm in the middle, it will be done. A very few live embers should be kept on the lid of the stewpan to prevent the steam falling from it into the custard. When none is at hand of a form to allow of this, it is better to use a charcoal fire, and to lay an oven-leaf, or tin, over the pan, and the embers in the centre. The small French furnace, shown in Chapter XXIII., is exceedingly convenient for preparations of this kind; and there is always more or less of difficulty in keeping a coal fire entirely free from smoke for any length of time. Serve the custard cold, with chopped macaroons, or ratafias, laid thickly round the edge so as to form a border an inch deep. A few petals of fresh orange-blossoms infused in the milk will give it a most agreeable flavour, very superior to that derived from the distilled water. Half a pod of vanilla, cut in short lengths, and well bruised, may be used instead of either; but the milk should then stand some time by the fire before or after it boils, and it must be strained through a muslin before it is added to the eggs, as the small seed of the vanilla would probably pass through a sieve.

The French make their custards, which they call crêmes, also in small china cups, for each of which they allow one egg-yolk, and then add sufficient milk or cream to nearly fill them; they sweeten and give them a delicate flavour; and simmer them in a pan of water until they are set.

New milk, 1 quart; yolks of eggs, 12; sugar, 6 to 8 oz. Or: new milk, 1 pint; cream, 1 pint; yolks of eggs, 10; flavouring of orange-flowers or vanilla: simmered in water-bath, 1 to 1-1/2 hour.

GERMAN PUFFS.

Pound to a perfectly smooth paste two ounces of Jordan almonds and six bitter ones; mix with them, by slow degrees, the yolks of six, and the whites of three eggs. Dissolve in half a pint of rich cream, four ounces of fresh butter, and two of fine sugar; pour these hot to the eggs, stirring them briskly together, and when the mixture has become cool, flavour it with half a glass of brandy, of cuirasseau, or of orange-flower water; or, in lieu of either, with a little lemon-brandy. Butter some cups thickly, and strew into them a few slices of candied citron, or orange-rind; pour in the mixture, and bake the puffs twenty minutes, in a slow oven.

Jordan almonds, 2 oz.; bitter almonds, 6; eggs, whites, 3—yolks, 6; cream, 1/2 pint; butter, 4 oz.; sugar, 2 oz.; brandy, cuirasseau, or orange-flower water, 1/2 wineglassful (or little lemon-brandy): 20 minutes, slow oven.

A MERINGUE OF RHUBARB, OR GREEN GOOSEBERRIES.

Weigh a pound of delicate young rhubarb-stems after they have been carefully pared and cut into short lengths; mix eight ounces of pounded sugar with them, and stew them gently until they form a smooth pulp; then quicken the boiling, and stir them often until they are reduced to a tolerably dry marmalade. When the fruit has reached this point turn it from the pan and let it stand until it is quite cold. Separate the whites of four fresh eggs carefully from the yolks, and whisk them to a froth sufficiently solid to remain standing in points when it is dropped from the whisk or fork. Common cooks sometimes fail entirely in very light preparations from not properly understanding this extremely easy process, which requires nothing beyond plenty of space in the bowl or basin used, and regular but not violent whisking until the eggs whiten, and gradually assume the appearance of snow. No drop of liquid must remain at the bottom of the basin, and the mass must be firm enough to stand up, as has been said, in points. When in this state, mingle with it four heaped tablespoonsful of dry sifted sugar, stir these gently together, and when they are quite mixed, lay them lightly over the rhubarb in a rather deep tart-dish. Place the meringue in a moderate oven and bake it for about half an hour, but ascertain, before it is served, that the centre is quite firm. The crust formed by the white of egg and sugar, which is in fact the meringue, should be of a light equal brown, and crisp quite through. If placed in an exceedingly slow oven, the underpart of it will remain half liquid, and give an uninviting appearance to the fruit when it is served. Unless the rhubarb should be very acid, six ounces of sugar will be sufficient to sweeten it for many tastes. It is a great improvement to this dish to diminish the proportion of fruit, and to pour some thick boiled custard upon it before the meringue is laid on.

Obs.—When gooseberries are substituted for spring-fruit, a pint and a half will be sufficient for this preparation, or even a smaller proportion when only one of quite moderate size is required. In the early part of their season they will be more acid even than the rhubarb, and rather more sugar must be allowed for them.

CREAMED SPRING FRUIT, OR RHUBARB TRIFLE.

Boil down the rhubarb with seven ounces of sugar, after having prepared it as above, and when it is perfectly cold, but not long before it is sent to table, pour over it about half a pint of rich boiled custard also quite cold, then heap on this some well drained, but slightly-sweetened whipped cream, which should be good and very fresh when it is whisked, but not heavily thick, or it will be less easily converted into a snow-froth. The rhubarb will be very nice if served with the whipped cream only on it.

MERINGUE OF PEARS, OR OTHER FRUIT.

Fill a deep tart-dish nearly to the brim with stewed pears, and let them be something more than half covered with their juice. Whisk to a solid froth the whites of five eggs; stir to them five tablespoonsful of dry sifted sugar, and lay them lightly and equally over the fruit; put the meringue immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it half an hour. Cherries, bullaces, and damsons, with various other kinds of plums, first either stewed as for compôtes (see page 457), or baked with sugar, as for winter use, answer as well as pears for this dish; which may, likewise, be made of apples, peaches, apricots, or common plums boiled down quite to a marmalade, with sufficient sugar to sweeten them moderately: the skins and stones of these last should be removed, but a few of the blanched kernels may be added to the fruit.

Dish filled with stewed pears or other fruit; whites of eggs, 5; pounded sugar, 5 tablespoonsful: baked, 1/2 hour.

AN APPLE CHARLOTTE, OR CHARLOTTE DE POMMES.

Butter a plain mould (a round or square cake-tin will answer the purpose quite well), and line it entirely with thin slices of the crumb of a stale loaf, cut so as to fit into it with great exactness, and dipped into clarified butter. When this is done, fill the mould to the brim with apple marmalade; cover the top with slices of bread dipped in butter, and on these place a dish, a large plate, or the cover of a French stewpan with a weight upon it. Send the Charlotte to a brisk oven for three quarters of an hour should it be small, and for an hour if large. Turn it out with great care, and serve it hot. If baked in a slack oven it will not take a proper degree of colour, and it will be liable to break in the dishing. The strips of bread must of course join very perfectly, for if any spaces were left between them the syrup of the fruit would escape and destroy the good appearance of the dish: should there not have been sufficient marmalade prepared to fill the mould entirely, a jar of quince or apricot jam, or of preserved cherries even, may be added to it with advantage. The butter should be well drained from the Charlotte before it is taken from the mould; and sugar may be sifted thickly over it before it is served, or it may be covered with any kind of clear red jelly.

A more elegant, and we think an easier mode of forming the crust, is to line the mould with small rounds of bread stamped out with a plain cake or paste cutter, then dipped in butter, and placed with the edges sufficiently one over the other to hold the fruit securely: the strips of bread are sometimes arranged in the same way.

3/4 to 1 hour, quick oven.

MARMALADE FOR THE CHARLOTTE.

Weigh three pounds of good boiling apples, after they have been pared, cored, and quartered; put them into a stewpan with six ounces of fresh butter, three quarters of a pound of sugar beaten to powder, three quarters of a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, and the strained juice of a lemon; let these stew over a gentle fire, until they form a perfectly smooth and dry marmalade; keep them often stirred that they may not burn, and let them cool before they are put into the crust. This quantity is for a moderate-sized Charlotte.

A CHARLOTTE À LA PARISIENNE.

This dish is sometimes called in England a Vienna cake; and it is known here also, we believe, as a Gâteaux de Bordeaux. Cut horizontally into half-inch slices a Savoy or sponge cake, and cover each slice with a different kind of preserve; replace them in their original form, and spread equally over the cake an icing made with the whites of three eggs, and four ounces of the finest pounded sugar; sift more sugar over it in every part, and put it into a very gentle oven to dry. The eggs should be whisked to snow before they are used. One kind of preserve, instead of several, can be used for this dish; and a rice or a pound cake may supply the place of the Savoy or sponge biscuit.

A GERTRUDE À LA CREME.

Slice a plain pound or rice cake as for the Charlotte à la Parisienne, and take a round out of the centre of each slice with a tin-cutter before the preserve is laid on; replace the whole in its original form, ice the outside with a green or rose coloured icing at pleasure, and dry it in a gentle oven; or decorate it instead with leaves of almond paste, fastening them to it with white of egg. Just before it is sent to table, fill it with well-drained whipped cream, flavoured as for a trifle or in any other way to the taste.

POMMES AU BEURRE.

(Buttered apples. Excellent.)

Pare six or eight fine apples of a firm but good boiling kind, and core without piercing them through, or dividing them; fill the cavities with fresh butter, put a quarter of a pound more, cut small, into a stewpan just large enough to contain the apples in a single layer, place them closely together on it, and stew them as softly as possible, turning them occasionally until they are almost sufficiently tender to serve; then strew upon them as much sifted sugar as will sweeten the dish highly, and a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon; shake these well in and upon the fruit, and stew it for a few minutes longer. Lift it out, arrange it in a hot dish, put into each apple as much warm apricot jam as it will contain, and lay a small quantity on the top; pour the syrup from the pan round, but not on the fruit, and serve it immediately.

Apples, 6 to 8; fresh butter, 4 oz., just simmered till tender. Sugar, 6 to 8 oz.; cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful: 5 minutes. Apricot jam as needed.

Obs.—Particular care must be taken to keep the apples entire: they should rather steam in a gentle heat than boil. It is impossible to specify the precise time which will render them sufficiently tender, as this must depend greatly on the time of year and the sort of fruit. If the stewpan were placed in a very slow oven, the more regular heat of it would perhaps be better in its effect than the stewing.

SUÉDOISE OF PEACHES.

Suédoise of Peaches.

Pare and divide four fine, ripe peaches, and let them just simmer from five to eight minutes in a syrup made with the third of a pint of water and three ounces of very white sugar, boiled together for fifteen minutes; lift them out carefully into a deep dish, and pour about half the syrup over them, and into the remaining half throw a couple of pounds more of quite ripe peaches, and boil them to a perfectly smooth dry pulp or marmalade, with as much additional sugar in fine powder, as the nature of the fruit may require. Lift the other peaches from the syrup, and reduce it by very quick boiling, more than half. Spread a deep layer of the marmalade in a dish, arrange the peaches symmetrically round it, and fill all the spaces between them with the marmalade; place the half of a blanched peach-kernel in each, pour the reduced syrup equally over the surface, and form a border round the dish with Italian macaroons, or, in lieu of these, with candied citron, sliced very thin, and cut into leaves with a small paste-cutter. A little lemon-juice brings out the flavour of all preparations of peaches, and may be added with good effect to this. When the fruit is scarce, the marmalade (which ought to be very white) may be made in part, or entirely, with nonsuches. The better to preserve their form, the peaches are sometimes merely wiped, and then boiled tolerably tender in the syrup before they are pared or split. Half a pint of water, and from five to six ounces of sugar must then be allowed for them. If any of those used for the marmalade should not be quite ripe, it will be better to pass it through a sieve, when partially done, to prevent its being lumpy.

Large ripe peaches, pared and halved, 4: simmered in syrup, 5 to 8 minutes. Marmalade: peaches (or nonsuches) 2 lbs.; sugar, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.: 3/4 to 1 hour, or more. Strained lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful. Citron, or macaroons, as needed.

Peaches, if boiled whole in syrup, 15 to 18 minutes.

Obs.—The number of peaches can, at pleasure, be increased to six, and three or four of the halves can be piled above the others in the centre of the dish.

AROCĒ DOCĒ (OR SWEET RICE, À LA PORTUGAISE.)

Wash thoroughly, then drain, and wipe dry in a soft cloth, half a pound of the best Carolina rice. Pour to it three pints of new milk, and when it has gently stewed for half an hour, add eight ounces of sugar broken into small lumps, let it boil until it is dry and tender, and when it is nearly so, stir to it two ounces of blanched almonds, chopped[163] or pounded. Turn the rice when done into shallow dishes or soup plates, and shake it until the surface is smooth; then sift over it rather thickly through a muslin, some freshly-powdered cinnamon, which will give it the appearance of a baked pudding. Serve it cold. It will remain good for several days. This is quite the best sweet preparation of rice that we have ever eaten, and it is a very favourite dish in Portugal, whence the receipt was derived. One or two bitter almonds, pounded with the sweet ones, might a little improve its flavour, and a few spoonsful of rich cream could occasionally be substituted for a small portion of the milk, but it should not be added until the preparation is three parts done.

163.  The Portuguese use them not very finely chopped.

Rice, 8 oz.; milk, 3 pints: 30 minutes. Sugar, 8 oz.: 1 hour or more. Pounded almonds, 2 oz.; cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful. Obs.—The rice must be frequently stirred while boiling, particularly after it begins to thicken; and it will be better not to add the entire quantity of milk at first, as from a quarter to half a pint less will sometimes prove sufficient. The grain should be thoroughly tender, but dry and unbroken.

COCOA-NUT DOCE.

This is merely fine fresh lightly grated cocoa-nut stewed until tender in syrup, made with one pound of sugar to half a pint of water (or more to the taste) and flavoured with orange-flower water.

BUTTERED CHERRIES. (CERISES AU BEURRE.)

Cut four ounces of the crumb of a stale loaf into dice, and fry them a light brown in an ounce and a half of fresh butter; take them up, pour the butter from the pan, and put in another ounce and a half; to this add a pound of Kentish cherries without their stalks, and when they are quite warmed through, strew in amongst them four ounces of sugar, and keep the whole well turned over a moderate fire; pour in gradually half a pint of hot water, and in fifteen minutes the cherries will be tender. Lay the fried bread into a hot dish, pour the cherries on it, and serve them directly.

Bread, 4 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz. Cherries, 1 lb.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 4 oz.; water, 1/2 pint: 15 minutes.

Obs.—Black-heart cherries may be used for this dish instead of Kentish ones: it is an improvement to stone the fruit. We think our readers generally would prefer to the above Morella cherries stewed from five to seven minutes, in syrup (made by boiling five ounces of sugar in half pint of water, for a quarter of an hour), and poured hot on the fried bread. Two pounds of the fruit, when it is stoned, will be required for a full-sized dish.

SWEET MACARONI.

Drop gently into a pint and a half of new milk, when it is boiling fast, four ounces of fine pipe macaroni, add a grain or two of salt, and some thin strips of lemon or orange rind: cinnamon can be substituted for these when preferred. Simmer the macaroni by a gentle fire until it is tolerably tender, then add from two to three ounces of sugar broken small, and boil it till the pipes are soft, and swollen to their full size; drain, and arrange it in a hot dish; stir the milk quickly to the well-beaten yolks of three large, or of four small eggs, shake them round briskly over the fire until they thicken, pour them over the macaroni and serve it immediately; or instead of the eggs, heat and sweeten some very rich cream, pour it on the drained macaroni, and dust finely-powdered cinnamon over through a muslin, or strew it thickly with crushed macaroons. For variety, cover it with the German sauce of page 403, milled to a light froth.

New milk, 1-1/2 pint; pipe macaroni, 4 oz.; strips of lemon-rind or cinnamon; sugar, 2 to 3 oz.: 3/4 to 1 hour, or more.

BERMUDA WITCHES.

Slice equally some rice, pound, or Savoy cake, not more than the sixth of an inch thick; take off the brown edges, and spread one half of it with Guava jelly, or, if more convenient, with fine strawberry, raspberry, or currant jelly of the best quality (see Norman receipt, 478); on this strew thickly some fresh cocoa-nut grated small and lightly; press over it the remainder of the cake, and trim the whole into good form; divide the slices if large, pile them slopingly in the centre of a dish upon a very white napkin folded flat, and garnish or intersperse them with small sprigs of myrtle. For very young people a French roll or two, and good currant jelly, red or white, will supply a wholesome and inexpensive dish.

NESSELRÔDE PUDDING.

We give Monsieur Carême’s own receipt for this favourite and fashionable dish, not having ourselves had a good opportunity of proving it; but as it originated with him he is the best authority for it. It may be varied in many ways, which the taste or ingenuity of the reader will easily suggest. Boil forty fine sound Spanish chestnuts quite tender in plenty of water, take off the husks, and pound the chestnuts perfectly with a few spoonsful of syrup; rub them through a fine sieve, and mix them in a basin with a pint of syrup made with a pound of sugar clarified, and highly-flavoured with a pod of vanilla, a pint of rich cream, and the yolks of twelve eggs; thicken the mixture like a boiled custard; when it is cold put it into a freezing pot, adding a glass of maraschino, and make it set as an iced cream; then add an ounce of preserved citron cut in dice, two ounces of currants, and as many fine raisins stoned and divided (all of which should be soaked from the day before in some maraschino with a little sugar); the whole thus mingled, add a plateful of whipped cream, and the whites of three eggs prepared as for Italian meringue. When the pudding is perfectly frozen, mould it in a pewter mould of the form of a pine-apple, and place it again in the ice till wanted to serve. Preserved cherries may be substituted for the raisins and currants.

Chestnuts, 40; syrup, 1 pint some spoonsful; vanilla, 1 pod; cream, 1 pint; yolk of eggs, 12; maraschino, 1 glassful; citron, 1 oz.; currants, 2 oz.; raisins, 2 oz.; whipped cream, 1 plateful; whites of eggs beaten to snow, 3.

Obs.—As Monsieur Carême directs the eggs for his Italian meringues to be prepared as follows, he probably intends that they should be mixed with the syrup before they are added to the pudding. Boil together half a pound of the finest sugar, and half a pint of water, until they begin to be very thick; then, with a wooden spoon, work the sugar against the side of the pan till it whitens; leave it to cool a little, work it again, and then with a whisk mingle with it the eggs whipped to a very firm froth, which ought to produce a preparation very white, smooth, and brilliant.

STEWED FIGS. (A VERY NICE COMPOTE.)

Put into an enamelled or a copper stewpan, four ounces of refined sugar, the very thin rind of a large and fresh lemon, and a pint of cold water. When the sugar is dissolved, add a pound of fine Turkey figs, and place the stewpan on a trivet above a moderate fire, or upon a stove, where they can heat and swell slowly, and be very gently stewed. When they are quite tender, add to them two glassesful of port wine, and the strained juice of the lemon; arrange them in a glass dish, and serve them cold. From two hours to two and a half of the gentlest stewing will generally be sufficient to render the figs fit for table. Orange-juice and rind can be used for them at pleasure, instead of the lemon; two or three bitter almonds maybe boiled in the syrup to give it flavour, and any wine can be used for it which may be preferred, but port is best.

This compôte may be served in the second course hot, in a rice-border; or cold for rice-crust.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Preserves.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE USE AND VALUE OF PRESERVED FRUIT.

Simple well-made preserves—especially those of our early summer fruits—are most valuable domestic stores, as they will retain through the entire year or longer,[164] their peculiarly grateful and agreeable flavour, and supply many wholesome and refreshing varieties of diet through the winter months and spring. They are, indeed, as conducive to health—when not cloyingly sweet or taken in excess—as good vegetables are; and they are inexpensive luxuries (if as luxuries they must be regarded), now sugar is so very reasonable in price. By many families they are considered too much as mere superfluities of the table, and when served only—as they so often are—combined with rich pastry-crust or cream, or converted into ices and other costly preparations, may justly be viewed solely in that light. To be eaten in perfection they should be sufficiently boiled down to remain free from mould or fermentation, and yet not so much reduced as to be dry or hard; they should not afterwards be subjected to the heat of the oven,[165] but served with some plain pudding, or light dish of bread, rice, ribbon-macaroni, soujee, semoulina, &c. When intended for tartlets or creams, or fruit-sauces, for which see Chapter XX., they should be somewhat less boiled, and be made with a larger proportion of sugar.

164.  We have had them excellent at the end of three or four years, but they were made from the produce of a home garden, as freshly gathered, and carefully selected as it could be. Some clear apricot-marmalade, some strawberry-jelly, and some raspberry-jelly, were amongst those which retained their full flavour and transparency to the last. They were merely covered with two layers of thin writing paper pressed closely on them, after being saturated with spirits of wine.

165.  For the manner of serving them in pastry without this, see “small vol-au-vents and tartlets,” Chap. XVIII.

Fruit steamed in bottles is now vended and consumed in very large quantities in this country, but it is not wholesome, as it produces often—probably from the amount of fixed air which it contains—violent derangement of the system. When the bottles are filled with water it is less apt to disagree with the eaters, but it is never so really wholesome as preserves which are made with sugar. That which is baked keeps remarkably well, and appears to be somewhat less objectionable than that which is steamed.

The rich confectionary preparations called wet preserves (fruits preserved in syrup), which are principally adapted to formal desserts, scarcely repay the cost and trouble of making them in private families, unless they be often required for table. They are in general lusciously sweet, as they will only remain good with a large proportion of sugar; and if there be no favourable place of storage for them they soon spoil. When drained and well dried, they may much more easily be kept uninjured. The general directions for them, which we append, and the receipts for dried gooseberries, cherries, and apricots which we have inserted here will be sufficient for the guidance of the reader who may wish to attempt them.

Fourneau Economique, or Portable French Furnace, with Stewpan and Trivet.
No. 1. Portable French Furnace.—2. Depth at which the grating is placed.—3. Stewpan.—4.
Trivet.

Closed Furnace and Cover.

Grating.

Trevet.

The small portable French stove, or furnace, shown in the preceding page, with the trivet and stewpan adapted to it, is exceedingly convenient for all preparations which require either more than usual attention, or a fire entirely free from smoke; as it can be placed on a table in a clear light, and the heat can be regulated at pleasure. It has been used for many of the preserves of which the receipts are given in this chapter, as well as for various dishes contained in the body of the work. There should always be a free current of air in the room in which it stands when lighted, as charcoal or braise (that is to say, the live embers of large well-burned wood, drawn from an oven and shut immediately into a closely-stopped iron or copper vessel to extinguish them) is the only fuel suited to it. To kindle either of these, two or three bits must be lighted in a common fire, and laid on the top of that in the furnace, which should be evenly placed between the grating and the brim, and then blown gently with the bellows until the whole is alight: the door of the furnace must in the mean while be open, and remain so, unless the heat should at any time be too fierce for the preserves, when it must be closed for a few minutes, to moderate it. To extinguish the fire altogether, the cover must be pressed closely on, and the door be quite shut: the embers which remain will serve to rekindle it easily, but before it is again lighted the grating must be lifted out and all the ashes cleared away. It should be set by in a place which is not damp. In a common grate a clear fire for preserving may be made with coke, which is a degree less unwholesome than charcoal.

The enamelled stewpans which have now come into general use, are, from the peculiar nicety of the composition with which they are lined, better adapted than any others to pickling and preserving, as they may be used without danger for acids; and red fruits when boiled in them retain the brightness of their colour as well as if copper or bell-metal were used for them. The form of the old-fashioned preserving-pan, made usually of one or the other of these, is shown here; but it has not, we should say, even the advantage of being of convenient shape; for the handles quickly become heated, and the pan, in consequence, cannot always be instantaneously raised from the fire when the contents threaten to over-boil or to burn.

Copper preserving-pan.

It is desirable to have three or four wooden spoons or spatulas, one fine hair-sieve, at the least, one or two large squares of common muslin, and one strainer or more of closer texture, kept exclusively for preparations of fruit; for if used for other purposes, there is the hazard, without great care, of their retaining some strong or coarse flavour, which they would impart to the preserves. A sieve, for example, used habitually for soup or gravy, should never, on any account, be brought into use for any kind of confectionary, nor in making sweet dishes, nor for straining eggs or milk for puddings, cakes, or bread. Damp is the great enemy, not only of preserves and pickles, but of numberless other household stores; yet, in many situations, it is extremely difficult to exclude it. To keep them in a “dry cool place” (words which occur so frequently both in this book, and in most others on the same subject), is more easily directed than done. They remain, we find, more entirely free from any danger of moulding, when covered with a brandied paper only, and placed on the shelves of a tolerably dry store-room, or in a chiffoneer (in which we have had them keep unchanged for years). When the slightest fermentation is perceptible in syrup, it should immediately be boiled for some minutes, and well skimmed; the fruit taken from it should then be thrown in, and well scalded also, and the whole, when done, should be turned into a very clean dry jar; this kind of preserve should always be covered with one or two skins or with parchment and thick paper when it is not secured from the air with corks.

A FEW GENERAL RULES AND DIRECTIONS FOR PRESERVING.

1. Let everything used for the purpose be delicately clean and dry; bottles especially so.

2. Never place a preserving-pan flat upon the fire, as this will render the preserve liable to burn to, as it is called; that is to say, to adhere closely to the metal, and then to burn; it should rest always on a trivet (that shown with the French furnace is very convenient even for a common grate), or on the lowered bar of a kitchen range when there is no regular preserving stove in a house.

3. After the sugar is added to them, stir the preserves gently at first, and more quickly towards the end, without quitting them until they are done: this precaution will always prevent the chance of their being spoiled.

4. All preserves should be perfectly cleared from the scum as it rises.

5. Fruit which is to be preserved in syrup must first be blanched or boiled gently, until it is sufficiently softened to absorb the sugar; and a thin syrup must be poured on it at first, or it will shrivel instead of remaining plump, and becoming clear. Thus, if its weight of sugar is to be allowed, and boiled to a syrup with a pint of water to the pound, only half the weight must be taken at first, and this must not be boiled with the water more than fifteen or twenty minutes at the commencement of the process; a part of the remaining sugar must be added every time the syrup is reboiled, unless it should be otherwise directed in the receipt.

6. To preserve both the true flavour and the colour of fruit in jams and jellies, boil them rapidly until they are well reduced, before the sugar is added, and quickly afterwards, but do not allow them to become so much thickened that the sugar will not dissolve in them easily, and throw up its scum. In some seasons, the juice is so much richer than in others, that this effect takes place almost before one is aware of it; but the drop which adheres to the skimmer when it is held up, will show the state it has reached.

7. Never use tin, iron, or pewter spoons, or skimmers, for preserves, as they will convert the colour of red fruit into a dingy purple, and impart, besides, a very unpleasant flavour.

8. When cheap jams or jellies are required, make them at once with Lisbon sugar, but use that which is well refined always, for preserves in general; it is a false economy, as we have elsewhere observed, to purchase an inferior kind, as there is great waste from it in the quantity of scum which it throws up. The best has been used for all the receipts given here.

9. Let fruit for preserving be gathered always in perfectly dry weather, and be free both from the morning and evening dew, and as much so as possible from dust. When bottled, it must be steamed or baked during the day on which it is gathered, or there will be a great loss from the bursting of the bottles; and for jams and jellies it cannot be too soon boiled down after it is taken from the trees.

TO EXTRACT THE JUICE OF PLUMS FOR JELLY.

Take the stalks from the fruit, and throw aside all that is not perfectly sound: put it into very clean, large stone jars, and give part of the harder kinds, such as bullaces and damson, a gash with a knife as they are thrown in; do this especially in filling the upper part of the jars. Tie one or two folds of thick paper over them, and set them for the night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn four or five hours; or cover them with bladder, instead of paper, place them in pans, or in a copper[166] with water which will reach to quite two-thirds of their height, and boil them gently from two to three hours, or until the fruit is quite soft, and has yielded all the juice it will afford: this last is the safer and better mode for jellies of delicate colour.

166.  The fruit steams perfectly in this, if the cover be placed over.

TO WEIGH THE JUICE OF FRUIT.

Put a basin into one scale, and its weight into the other; add to this last the weight which is required of the juice, and pour into the basin as much as will balance the scales. It is always better to weigh than to measure the juice for preserving, as it can generally be done with more exactness.

RHUBARB JAM.

The stalks of the rhubarb (or spring-fruit, as it is called) should be taken for this preserve, which is a very good and useful one, while they are fresh and young. Wipe them very clean, pare them quickly, weigh, and cut them into half-inch lengths; to every pound add an equal weight of good sugar in fine powder; mix them well together, let them remain for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to draw out the juice a little, then turn them into a preserving-pan, let them heat rather slowly, but as soon as the stalks are tender boil the preserve rapidly, stirring it well for about half an hour. It will be of excellent flavour, and will serve admirably for tarts.

A somewhat cheaper mode of making the jam is to stew it until tender in its own juices, and then to boil it rapidly until it is tolerably dry, to add to it only half its weight of sugar, and to give it from twenty to thirty minutes boiling.

Spring fruit (rhubarb), 4 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: heated slowly, and when tender, boiled quickly, 30 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

Wash some freshly gathered gooseberries very clean; after having taken off the tops and stalks, then to each pound pour three-quarters of a pint of spring water, and simmer them until they are well broken; turn the whole into a jelly-bag or cloth, and let all the juice drain through; weigh and boil it rapidly for fifteen minutes. Draw it from the fire, and stir in it until entirely dissolved, an equal weight of good sugar reduced to powder; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly on the spoon or skimmer; clear it perfectly from scum, and pour it into small jars, moulds, or glasses. It ought to be very pale and transparent. The sugar may be added to the juice at first, and the preserve boiled from twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, but the colour will not then be so good. When the fruit abounds, the juice may be drawn from it with very little water, as directed for apples, page 523, when it will require much less boiling.

Gooseberries, 6 lbs.; water, 4 pints: 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly, 15 minutes; to each pound, 1 pound sugar: 15 to 20 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JAM.

(Firm and of good colour.)

Cut the stalks and tops from the fruit, weigh and bruise it slightly, boil it for six or seven minutes, keeping it well turned during the time, then to every three pounds of gooseberries add two and a half of sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for three-quarters of an hour. It must be constantly stirred, and carefully cleared from scum. This makes a fine, firm, and refreshing preserve if the fruit be rubbed through a sieve before the sugar is added. If well reduced afterwards, it may be converted into a gâteau, or gooseberry-solid, with three pounds of sugar, or even a smaller proportion. The preceding jam will often turn in perfect form from the moulds or jars which contain it; and if freed from the seeds, would be very excellent: it is extremely good even made as above. For all preserves, the reduction, or boiling down to a certain consistence, should take place principally before the sugar is mingled with them; and this has the best effect when added to the fruit and dissolved in it by degrees.

Green gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 6 to 7 minutes. Sugar, 5 lbs.; 3/4 hour.

TO DRY GREEN GOOSEBERRIES.

Take the finest green gooseberries, fully grown, and freshly gathered; cut off the buds, split them across the tops half way down, and with the small end of a tea or of an egg spoon, scoop out the seeds. Boil together for fifteen minutes a pound and a half of the finest sugar, and a pint of water; skim this syrup thoroughly and throw into it a pound of the seeded gooseberries; simmer them from five to seven minutes, when they ought to be clear and tender; when they are so, lift them out, and throw as many more into the syrup; drain them a little when done, spread them singly on dishes, and dry them very gradually in a quite cool stove or oven, or in a sunny window. They will keep well in the syrup, and may be potted in it, and dried when wanted for use.

Green gooseberries without seeds, 2 lbs.; water, 1 pint; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: boiled, 15 minutes. Gooseberries simmered, 5 to 7 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRIES FOR TARTS.

Fill very clean, dry, wide-necked bottles with gooseberries gathered the same day, and before they have attained their full growth. Cork them lightly, wrap a little hay round each of them, and set them up to their necks in a copper of cold water which should be brought very gradually to boil. Let the fruit be gently simmered until it appears shrunken and perfectly scalded; then take out the bottles, and with the contents of one or two fill up the remainder, and use great care not to break the fruit in doing this. When all are ready pour scalding water into the bottles and cover the gooseberries entirely with it, or they will become mouldy at the top. Cork the bottles well immediately, and cover the necks with melted resin; keep them in a cool place; and when the gooseberries are used pour off the greater part of the water, and add sugar as for the fresh fruit, of which they will have the flavour and appearance; and they will be found more wholesome prepared in this manner than if simply baked or steamed in the bottles.

RED GOOSEBERRY JAM.

The small rough red gooseberry, when fully ripe, is the best for this preserve, which may, however, be made of the larger kinds. When the tops and stalks have been taken carefully from the fruit, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, keeping it well stirred; then for six pounds of the gooseberries, add two and a half of good roughly-powdered sugar; boil these together briskly, from twenty to twenty-five minutes and stir the jam well from the bottom of the pan, as it is liable to burn if this be neglected.

Small red gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 3/4 hour. Pounded sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 20 to 25 minutes.

VERY FINE GOOSEBERRY JAM.

Seed the fruit, which for this jam may be of the larger kind of rough red gooseberry: those which are smooth skinned are generally of far inferior flavour. Add the pulp which has been scooped from the prepared fruit to some whole gooseberries, and stir them over a moderate fire for some minutes to extract the juice; strain and weigh this; pour two pounds of it to four of the seeded gooseberries, boil them rather gently for twenty-five minutes, add fourteen ounces of good pounded sugar to each pound of fruit and juice, and when it is dissolved boil the preserve from twelve to fifteen minutes longer, and skim it well during the time.

Seeded gooseberries, 4 lbs.; juice of gooseberries, 2 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 5-1/4 lbs. (or 14 oz. to each pound of fruit and juice): 12 to 15 minutes.

JELLY OF RIPE GOOSEBERRIES.

(Excellent.)

Take the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of any kind of well-flavoured ripe red gooseberries, and keep them stirred gently over a clear fire until they have yielded all their juice, which should then be poured off without pressing the fruit, and passed first through a fine sieve, and afterwards through a double muslin-strainer, or a jelly-bag. Next weigh it, and to every three pounds add one of white currant juice, which has previously been prepared in the same way; boil these quickly for a quarter of an hour, then draw them from the fire and stir to them half their weight of good sugar; when this is dissolved, boil the jelly for six minutes longer, skim it thoroughly, and pour it into jars or moulds. If a very large quantity be made, a few minutes of additional boiling must be given to it before the sugar is added.

Juice of red gooseberries, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 6 minutes.

Obs.—The same proportion of red currant juice, mixed with that of the gooseberries, makes an exceedingly nice jelly.

UNMIXED GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

Boil rapidly for ten minutes four pounds of the juice of red gooseberries, prepared as in the preceding receipt; take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three pounds of sugar beaten to powder; boil it again for five minutes, keeping it constantly stirred and thoroughly skimmed.

Juice of red gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 minutes.

GOOSEBERRY PASTE.

Press through a sieve the gooseberries from which the juice has been taken for jelly, without having been drained very closely from them; weigh and then boil the pulp for upwards of an hour and a quarter, or until it forms a dry paste in the pan; stir to it, off the fire, six ounces of good pounded sugar for each pound of the fruit, and when this is nearly dissolved boil the preserve from twenty to twenty-five minutes, keeping it stirred without cessation, as it will be liable to burn should this be neglected. Put it into moulds, or shallow pans, and turn it out when wanted for table.

Pulp of gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 to 25 minutes.

TO DRY RIPE GOOSEBERRIES WITH SUGAR.

Cut the tops, but not the stalks, from some ripe gooseberries of the largest size, either red or green ones, and after having taken out the seeds as directed for unripe gooseberries, boil the fruit until clear and tender, in syrup made with a pound of sugar to the pint of water, boiled until rather thick.

Seeded gooseberries, 2 lbs.; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.; water, 1 pint: boiled to syrup. Gooseberries, simmered 8 to 12 minutes, or more.

Obs.—Large ripe gooseberries freed from the blossoms, and put into cold syrup in which cherries or any other fruit has been boiled for drying, then heated very gradually, and kept at the point of boiling for a few minutes before they are set by for a couple of days, answer extremely well as a dry preserve. On the third day the syrup should be drained from them, simmered, skimmed, and poured on them the instant it is taken from the fire; in forty-eight hours after, they may be drained from it and laid singly upon plates or dishes, and placed in a gentle stove.

JAM OF KENTISH OR FLEMISH CHERRIES.

This is a very agreeable preserve when it is made as we shall direct; but if long boiled with a large proportion of sugar, as it frequently is, both the bright colour and the pleasant flavour of the cherries will be destroyed.

Stone, and then weigh the fruit; heat it rather slowly that the juice may be well drawn out before it begins to boil, and stew the cherries until they are tolerably tender, then boil them quickly, keeping them well turned and stirred from the bottom of the pan, for three-quarters of an hour or somewhat longer should there still remain a large quantity of juice. Draw the pan from the fire, and stir in gradually half a pound of sugar for each pound of cherries. An ounce or two more may occasionally be required when the fruit is more than usually acid, and also when a quite sweet preserve is liked. When the sugar is dissolved continue the boiling rapidly for about twenty minutes longer; clear off all the scum as it appears, and keep the jam stirred well and constantly, but not quickly, to prevent its adhering to the bottom of the preserving-pan.

Stoned Kentish or Flemish cherries, 6 lbs.: without sugar, 1 hour or rather more. Sugar roughly powdered, 3 lbs.: (or 3-1/2 lbs.) About 20 minutes quick boiling.

Obs.—Heat the fruit and boil it gently until it is quite tender, turning it often, and pressing it down into the juice; then quicken the boiling to evaporate the juice before the sugar is added. Cherries which are bruised will not make good preserve: they always remain tough.

TO DRY CHERRIES WITH SUGAR.

(A quick and easy method.)

Stone some fine, sound, Kentish or Flemish cherries; put them into a preserving-pan, with six ounces of sugar reduced to powder, to each pound of the fruit; set them over a moderate fire, and simmer them gently for nearly or quite twenty minutes; let them remain in the syrup until they are a little cooled, then turn them into a sieve, and before they are cold lay them singly on dishes, and dry them very gradually, as directed for other fruits. When the cherries are quite ripe the stones may generally be drawn out with the stalks, by pressing the fruit gently at the same time; but when this method fails, they must be extracted with a new quill, cut round at the end: those of the very short-stalked, turnip-shaped cherry, which abounds, and is remarkably fine in many parts of Normandy, and which we have occasionally met with here, though it is not, we believe, very abundant in our markets, are easily removed with a large pin, on the point of which the stone may be caught at the stalk end, just opposite the seam of the fruit, and drawn out at the top, leaving the cherry apparently entire.

DRIED CHERRIES.

(Superior Receipt.)

To each pound of cherries weighed after they are stoned, add eight ounces of good sugar, and boil them very softly for ten minutes: pour them into a large bowl or pan, and leave them for two days in the syrup; then simmer them again for ten minutes, and set them by in it for two or three days; drain them slightly, and dry them very slowly, as directed in the previous receipts. Keep them in jars or tin canisters, when done. These cherries are generally preferred to such as are dried with a larger proportion of sugar; but when the taste is in favour of the latter, from twelve to sixteen ounces can be allowed to the pound of fruit, which may then be potted in the syrup and dried at any time; though we think the flavour of the cherries is better preserved when this is done within a fortnight of their being boiled.

Cherries, stoned, 8 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Left two or three days. Boiled again, 10 minutes; left two days; drained and dried.

CHERRIES DRIED WITHOUT SUGAR.

These are often more pleasant and refreshing to invalids and travellers than a sweetened confection of the fruit, their flavour and agreeable acidity being well preserved when they are simply spread on dishes or hamper-lids, and slowly dried.[167] Throw aside the bruised and decayed fruit, and arrange the remainder singly, and with the stalks uppermost on the dishes. The Kentish cherries are best for the purpose, but morellas also answer for it excellently. The former are sometimes stoned, and simmered until quite tender in their own juice, before they are dried; but this is scarcely an improvement on the more usual method of leaving them entire.

167.  The dishes on which they are laid should be changed daily.

TO DRY MORELLA CHERRIES.

Take off the stalks but do not stone the fruit; weigh and add to it an equal quantity of the best sugar reduced quite to powder, strew it over the cherries and let them stand for half an hour; then turn them gently into a preserving-pan, and simmer them softly from five to seven minutes. Drain them from the syrup, and dry them like the Kentish cherries. They make a very fine confection.

COMMON CHERRY CHEESE.

Stone the fruit, or if this trouble be objected to, bruise and boil it without, until it is sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, which it will be in from twenty to thirty minutes. Weigh the pulp in this case, and boil it quickly to a dry paste, then stir to it six ounces of sugar for the pound of fruit, and when this is dissolved, place the pan again over, but not upon, a brisk fire, and stir the preserve without ceasing, until it is so dry as not to adhere to the finger when touched; then press it immediately into small moulds or pans, and turn it from them when wanted for table. When the cherries have been stoned, a good common preserve may be made of them without passing them through a sieve, with the addition of five ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit, which must be boiled very dry both before and after it is added.

Kentish or Flemish cherries without stoning: 20 to 30 minutes. Passed through a sieve. To each pound of pulp (first boiled dry), 6 oz. sugar. To each pound of cherries stoned and boiled to a dry paste, 5 oz. sugar.

CHERRY PASTE. (FRENCH.)

Stone the cherries; boil them gently in their own juice for thirty minutes; press the whole through a sieve; reduce it to a very dry paste; then take it from the fire, and weigh it; boil an equal proportion of sugar to the candying point; mix the fruit with it; and stir the paste, without intermission, over a moderate fire, until it is again so dry as to form a ball round the spoon, and to quit the preserving-pan entirely; press it quickly into small moulds, and when it is cold, paper, and store it like other preserves.

STRAWBERRY JAM.

Strip the stalks from some fine scarlet strawberries, weigh, and boil them for thirty-five minutes, keeping them very constantly stirred; throw in eight ounces of good sugar, beaten small, to the pound of fruit; mix them well off the fire, then boil the preserve again quickly for twenty-five minutes.

Strawberries, 6 lbs.: 35 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 25 minutes.

Obs.—We do not think it needful to give directions with each separate receipt for skimming the preserve with care, and keeping it constantly stirred, but neither should in any case be neglected.

STRAWBERRY-JELLY.

A very Superior Preserve. (New Receipt.)

The original directions for this delicious jelly, published in the earlier editions of this work, were the result of perfectly successful trials made in the summer of their insertion; but, after much additional experience, we find that the receipt may be better adapted to our varying seasons, which so much affect the quality of our fruit, and rendered more certain in its results by some alterations; we therefore give it anew, recommending it strongly for trial, especially to such of our readers as can command from their own gardens ample supplies of strawberries in their best and freshest state. Like all fruit intended for preserving, they should be gathered in dry weather, after the morning dew has quite passed off them, and be used the same day. Strip away the stalks, and put the strawberries into an enamelled stewpan if at hand, and place it very high over a clear fire, that the juice may be drawn from them gently; turn them over with a silver or wooden spoon from time to time, and when the juice has flowed from them abundantly, let them simmer until they shrink, but be sure to take them from the fire before the juice becomes thick or pulpy from over-boiling. Thirty minutes, or sometimes even longer, over a very slow fire, will not be too much to extract it from them. Turn them into a new, well-scalded, but dry sieve over a clean pan, and let them remain until the juice ceases to drop from them; strain it then through a muslin strainer, weigh it in a basin, of which the weight must first be taken, and boil it quickly in a clean preserving-pan from fifteen to twenty minutes, and stir it often during the time: then take it from the fire, and throw in by degrees, for every pound of juice, fourteen ounces of the best sugar coarsely pounded, stirring each portion until it is dissolved. Place the pan again over the fire, and boil the jelly—still quickly—for about a quarter of an hour. Occasionally it may need a rather longer time than this, and sometimes less: the exact degree can only be ascertained by a little experience, in consequence of the juice of some varieties of the fruit being so much thinner than that of others. The preserve should jelly strongly on the skimmer, and fall in a mass from it before it is poured out; but if boiled beyond this point it will be spoiled. If made with richly-flavoured strawberries, and carefully managed, it will be very brilliant in colour, and in flavour really equal if not superior to guava jelly; while it will retain all the delicious odour of the fruit. No skimmer or other utensil of tin should be used in making it; and an enamelled preserving-pan is preferable to any other for all red fruit. It becomes very firm often after it is stored, when it appears scarcely set in the first instance; it is, however, desirable that it should jelly at once.

Fruit kept hot to draw out the juice, 1/2 hour or longer. Boiled quickly without sugar, 15 to 20 minutes. To each pound 14 oz. of sugar: 12 to 15 minutes.

TO PRESERVE STRAWBERRIES OR RASPBERRIES, FOR CREAMS OR ICES, WITHOUT BOILING.

Let the fruit be gathered in the middle of a warm day, in very dry weather; strip it from the stalks directly, weigh it, bruise it slightly, turn it into a bowl or deep pan, and mix with it an equal weight of fine dry sifted sugar, and put immediately into small, wide-necked bottles; cork these firmly without delay, and tie bladder over the tops. Keep them in a cool place, or the fruit will ferment. The mixture should be stirred softly, and only just sufficiently to blend the sugar and the fruit. The bottles must be perfectly dry, and the bladders, after having been cleaned in the usual way, and allowed to become nearly so, should be moistened with a little spirit on the side which is to be next to the cork. Unless these precautions be observed, there will be some danger of the whole being spoiled.

Equal weight of fruit and sugar.

RASPBERRY JAM.

This is a very favourite English preserve, and one of the most easily made that can be. The fruit for it should be ripe and perfectly sound; and as it soon decays or becomes mouldy after it is gathered, it should be fresh from the bushes when it is used. That which grows in the shade has less flavour than the fruit which receives the full warmth of the sun.

Excellent jam for common family use may be made as follows:— Bruise gently with the back of a wooden spoon, six pounds of ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, and boil them over a brisk fire for twenty-five minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar, roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, keeping it well stirred and skimmed.

Raspberries, 6 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

VERY RICH RASPBERRY JAM OR MARMALADE.

No. 1.—Weigh the finest fruit that can be procured, and bruise it with the back of a wooden spoon after it is put into the preserving-pan. Boil it gently, keeping it well turned, for about five minutes, then stir to it gradually nearly or quite its weight of dry pounded sugar, and continue the boiling rather rapidly for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, and be careful to remove all the scum as it rises. The preserve will be clear, smooth, and very thick when it is sufficiently boiled, and should then be taken from the pan without delay, as it will very quickly set.

No. 2.—Draw gently from the smallest of the raspberries from half to a whole pound of juice, and boil down in this three pounds of the fruit, after it has been crushed with a spoon as usual. In ten minutes, if the fruit be quite ripe, the sugar may be added. Three pounds to four of the raspberries and their juice, will make a quite sweet preserve. It should be gradually stirred in until dissolved, and not be allowed to boil during the time. Ten or fifteen minutes will then suffice generally to bring it to the proper degree for jellying firmly.

No. 1.—Fine raspberries: 5 minutes. Sugar, nearly or quite equal weight: 15 to 20 minutes.

No. 2.—Raspberry-juice, 1 lb.; ripe raspberries, 3 lbs. (or 4): 10 minutes. To each pound of fruit and juice, sugar 3/4 lb.: 10 to 15 minutes.

Obs.—All fruit jams are much improved by the addition of a certain portion of juice to the fruit which is boiled down; they then partake more of the nature of jelly.

GOOD RED OR WHITE RASPBERRY JAM.

Boil quickly, for twenty minutes, four pounds of either red or white sound ripe raspberries in a pound and a half of currant-juice of the same colour; take the pan from the fire, stir in three pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved, place the pan again over the fire, and continue the boiling for ten minutes longer: keep the preserve well skimmed and stirred from the beginning.

Raspberries, 4 lbs.; currant-juice, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

RASPBERRY JELLY FOR FLAVOURING CREAMS.

Take the stalks from some quite ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, stir them over the fire until they render their juice freely, then strain and weigh it; or press it from them through a cloth, and then strain it clear; in either case boil it for five minutes after it is weighed, and for each pound stir in a pound and a quarter of good sugar reduced quite to powder, sifted, and made very hot; boil the preserve quickly for five minutes longer, and skim it clean. The jelly thus made will sufficiently sweeten the creams without any additional sugar.

Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 5 minutes. Sugar, made hot, 5 lbs.: 5 minutes.

ANOTHER RASPBERRY JELLY.

(Very Good.)

Bruise the fruit a little, and place it high above a clear fire, that the juice may be gently drawn from it: it may remain thus for twenty minutes or longer without boiling, and be simmered for four or five; strain and weigh it; boil it quickly for twenty minutes, draw it from the fire, add three-quarters of a pound of good sugar for each pound of juice, and when this is dissolved place the pan again on the fire, and boil the preserve fast from twelve to fifteen minutes longer; skim it thoroughly, and keep it well stirred: the preserve will then require rather less boiling. When it jellies in falling from the spoon or skimmer, it is done. Nothing of tin or iron should be used in making it, as these metals will convert its fine red colour into a dull purple.

Fruit, simmered 5 to 6 minutes. Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 12 to 15 minutes. Or: juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.; juice of white currants, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes, or less.

RED CURRANT JELLY.

With three parts of fine ripe red currants freshly gathered, and stripped from the stalks, mix one of white currants; put them into a clean preserving-pan, and stir them gently over a clear fire until the juice flows from them freely; then turn them into a fine hair-sieve, and let them drain well, but without pressure. Pass the juice through a folded muslin or a jelly-bag; weigh it, and then boil it fast for a quarter of an hour; add for each pound, eight ounces of sugar coarsely powdered, stir this to it off the fire until it is dissolved, give the jelly eight minutes more of quick boiling, and pour it out. It will be firm, and of excellent colour and flavour. Be sure to clear off the scum as it rises, both before and after the sugar is put in, or the preserve will not be clear.

Juice of red currants, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 8 minutes.

Obs.—An excellent jelly may be made with equal parts of the juice of red and of white currants, and of raspberries, with the same proportion of sugar and degree of boiling as in the foregoing receipt.

SUPERLATIVE RED CURRANT JELLY.

(Norman Receipt.)

Strip carefully from the stems some quite ripe currants of the finest quality, and mix with them an equal weight of good sugar reduced to powder; boil these together quickly for exactly eight minutes, keep them stirred all the time, and clear off the scum—which will be very abundant—as it rises; then turn the preserve into a very clean sieve, and put into small jars the jelly which runs through it, and which will be delicious in flavour, and of the brightest colour. It should be carried immediately, when this is practicable, to an extremely cool but not a damp place, and left there until perfectly cold. The currants which remain in the sieve make an excellent jam, particularly if only part of the jelly be taken from them. In Normandy where the fruit is of richer quality than in England, this preserve is boiled only two minutes, and is both firm and beautifully transparent.

Currants, 3 lbs.; sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 minutes.

Obs.—This receipt we are told by some of our correspondents is not generally quite successful in this country, as the jelly, though it keeps well and is of the finest possible flavour, is scarcely firm enough for table. We have ourselves found this to be the case in cold damp seasons; but the preserve even then was valuable for many purposes, and always agreeable eating.

FRENCH CURRANT JELLY.

Mix one-third of white currants with two of red, and stir them over a gentle fire until they render their juice freely; pour it from them, strain and weigh it; for every four pounds break three of fine sugar into large lumps, just dip them into cold water, and when they are nearly dissolved boil them to a thick syrup; stir this without ceasing until it falls in large thick white masses from the skimmer; then pour in the currant juice immediately, and when the sugar is again dissolved, boil the whole quickly for five minutes, clear off the scum perfectly, pour the jelly into jars or warm glasses, and set it in a cool place.

Red currants, two-thirds; white currants, one-third; juice, 4 lbs.; sugar boiled to candy height, 3 lbs.: jelly boiled, 5 minutes.

Obs.—A flavouring of raspberries is usually given to currant jelly in France, the preserve being there never served with any kind of joint, as it is with us.

DELICIOUS RED CURRANT JAM.

This, which is but an indifferent preserve when made in the usual way, will be found a very fine one if the following directions for it be observed; it will be extremely transparent and bright in colour, and will retain perfectly the flavour of the fruit. Take the currants at the height of their season, the finest that can be had, free from dust, but gathered on a dry day; strip them with great care from the stalks, weigh and put them into a preserving-pan with three pounds of the best sugar reduced to powder, to four pounds of the fruit: stir them gently over a brisk clear fire, and boil them quickly for exactly eight minutes from the first full boil. As the jam is apt to rise over the top of the pan, it is better not to fill it more than two-thirds, and if this precaution should not be sufficient to prevent it, it must be lifted from the fire and held away for an instant. To many tastes, a still finer jam than this (which we find sufficiently sweet) may be made with an equal weight of fruit and sugar boiled together for seven minutes. There should be great exactness with respect to the time, as both the flavour and the brilliant colour of the preserve will be injured by longer boiling.

Red currants (without stalks), 4 lbs.; fine sugar, 3 lbs.: boiled quickly, 8 minutes. Or, equal weight fruit and sugar: 7 minutes.

VERY FINE WHITE CURRANT JELLY.

The fruit for this jelly should be very white, perfectly free from dust, and picked carefully from the stalks. To every pound add eighteen ounces of double refined sifted sugar, and boil them together quickly for eight minutes; pour it into a delicately clean sieve, and finish it by the directions given for the Norman red currant jelly (page 559).

White currants, 6 lbs.; highly refined sugar, 6-3/4 lbs.: 6 minutes.

WHITE CURRANT JAM, A BEAUTIFUL PRESERVE.

Boil together quickly for seven minutes an equal weight of fine white currants, stalked with the greatest nicety, and of the best sugar pounded and passed through a sieve. Stir the preserve gently the whole time, and be careful to skim it thoroughly.

White currants, 4 lbs.; best sugar, 4 lbs.: 7 minutes.

CURRANT PASTE.

Stalk and heat some red currants as for jelly, pour off three parts of the juice, which can be used for that preserve, and press the remainder, with the pulp of the fruit, closely through a hair sieve reversed; boil it briskly, keeping it stirred the whole time, until it forms a dry paste; then for each pound (when first weighed) add seven ounces of pounded sugar, and boil the whole from twenty-five to thirty minutes longer, taking care that it shall not burn. This paste is remarkably pleasant and refreshing in cases of fever, and acceptable often for winter-desserts.

Red currants boiled from 5 to 7 minutes, pressed with one-fourth of their juice through a sieve, boiled from 1-1/2 to 2 hour. To each pound 7 oz. pounded sugar: 25 to 30 minutes.

Obs.—Confectioners add the pulp, after it is boiled dry, to an equal weight of sugar at the candy height: by making trial of the two methods, the reader can decide on the better one.

FINE BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

Stir some black currants over the fire until they have yielded their juice; strain, weigh, and boil it for twenty minutes; add to it three pounds and a half of sifted sugar of good quality, made quite hot, and when it is dissolved boil the jelly for five minutes only, clearing off the scum with care. This, though an excellent preserve, is too sweet for our own taste, and we think one made with less sugar likely to be more acceptable in cases of indisposition generally.

Juice of black currants, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/2 lbs.: 5 minutes.

COMMON BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

Boil from three to six pounds of the juice rapidly for twenty minutes, stirring it well; then mix with it off the fire, half a pound of sugar for each pound of juice, and continue the boiling for ten minutes.

Juice of black currants, 3 to 6 lbs.: 20 minutes. To each pound juice 1/2 lb. good sugar: 10 minutes.

Obs.—This jelly may be made with Lisbon sugar, but will then require rather more boiling.

BLACK CURRANT JAM AND MARMALADE.

No fruit jellies so easily as black currants when they are ripe; and their juice is so rich and thick that it will bear the addition of a very small quantity of water sometimes, without causing the preserve to mould. When the currants have been very dusty, we have occasionally had them washed and drained before they were used, without any injurious effects. Jam boiled down in the usual manner with this fruit is often very dry. It may be greatly improved by taking out nearly half the currants when it is ready to be potted, pressing them well against the side of the preserving-pan to extract the juice: this leaves the remainder far more liquid and refreshing than when the skins are all retained. Another mode of making fine black currant jam—as well as that of any other fruit—is to add one pound at least of juice, extracted as for jelly, to two pounds of the berries, and to allow sugar for it in the same proportion as directed for each pound of them.

For marmalade or paste, which is most useful in affections of the throat and chest, the currants must be stewed tender in their own juice, and then rubbed through a sieve. After ten minutes’ boiling, sugar in fine powder must be stirred gradually to the pulp, off the fire, until it is dissolved: a few minutes more of boiling will then suffice to render the preserve thick, and it will become quite firm when cold. More or less sugar can be added to the taste, but it is not generally liked very sweet.

Best black currant jam.—Currants, 4 lbs.; juice of currants, 2 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes’ gentle boiling. Sugar, 3 to 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Marmalade, or paste of black currants.—Fruit, 4 lbs.: stewed in its own juice 15 minutes, or until quite soft. Pulp boiled 10 minutes. Sugar, from 7 to 9 oz. to the lb.: 10 to 14 minutes.

Obs.—The following are the receipts originally inserted in this work, and which we leave unaltered.

To six pounds of the fruit, stripped carefully from the stalks, add four pounds and a half of sugar. Let them heat gently, but as soon as the sugar is dissolved boil the preserve rapidly for fifteen minutes. A more common kind of jam may be made by boiling the fruit by itself from ten to fifteen minutes, and for ten minutes after half its weight of sugar has been added to it.

Black currants, 6 lbs.; sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 15 minutes. Or: fruit, 6 lbs.: 10 to 15 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

Obs.—There are few preparations of fruit so refreshing and so useful in illness as those of black currants, and it is therefore advisable always to have a store of them, and to have them well and carefully made.

NURSERY PRESERVE.

Take the stones from a couple of pounds of Kentish cherries, and boil them twenty minutes; then add to them a pound and a half of raspberries, and an equal quantity of red and of white currants, all weighed after they have been cleared from their stems. Boil these together quickly for twenty minutes; mix with them three pounds and a quarter of common sugar, and give the preserve fifteen minutes more of quick boiling. A pound and a half of gooseberries may be substituted for the cherries; but they will not require any stewing before they are added to the other fruits. The jam must be well stirred from the beginning, or it will burn to the pan.

Kentish cherries, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Raspberries, red currants, and white currants, of each 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/4 lbs.: 15 minutes.

ANOTHER GOOD COMMON PRESERVE.

Boil together, in equal or unequal portions (for this is immaterial), any kinds of early fruit, until they can be pressed through a sieve; weigh, and then boil the pulp over a brisk fire for half an hour; add half a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, and again boil the preserve quickly, keeping it well stirred and skimmed, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Cherries, unless they be morellas, must first be stewed tender apart, as they will require a much longer time to make them so than any other of the first summer fruits.

A GOOD MÉLANGE, OR MIXED PRESERVE.

Boil for three-quarters of an hour in two pounds of clear red gooseberry juice, one pound of very ripe greengages, weighed after they have been pared and stoned; then stir to them one pound and a half of good sugar, and boil them quickly again for twenty minutes. If the quantity of preserve be much increased, the time of boiling it must be so likewise: this is always better done before the sugar is added.

Juice of ripe gooseberries, 2 lbs.; greengages, pared and stoned, 1 lb.: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.

GROSEILLÉE.

(Another good preserve.)

Cut the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of well-flavoured ripe gooseberries, throw them into a large preserving-pan, boil them for ten minutes, and stir them often with a wooden spoon; then pass both the juice and pulp through a fine sieve, and to every three pounds’ weight of these add half a pint of raspberry-juice, and boil the whole briskly for three-quarters of an hour; draw the pan aside, stir in for the above portion of fruit, two pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved renew the boiling for fifteen minutes longer. Ripe gooseberries, boiled 10 minutes. Pulp and juice of gooseberries, 6 lbs.; raspberry-juice, 1 pint: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 15 minutes.

Obs.—When more convenient, a portion of raspberries can be boiled with the gooseberries at first.

SUPERIOR PINE-APPLE MARMALADE.

(A New Receipt.)

The market-price of our English pines is generally too high to permit their being very commonly used for preserve; and though some of those imported from the West Indies are sufficiently well-flavoured to make excellent jam, they must be selected with judgment for the purpose, or they will possibly not answer for it. They should be fully ripe, but perfectly sound: should the stalk end appear mouldy or discoloured, the fruit should be rejected. The degree of flavour which it possesses may be ascertained with tolerable accuracy by its odour; for if of good quality, and fit for use, it will be very fragrant. After the rinds have been pared off, and every dark speck taken from the flesh, the pines may be rasped on a fine and delicately clean grater, or sliced thin, cut up quickly into dice, and pounded in a stone or marble mortar; or a portion may be grated, and the remainder reduced to pulp in the mortar. Weigh, and then heat and boil it gently for ten minutes; draw it from the fire, and stir to it by degrees fourteen ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit; boil it until it thickens and becomes very transparent, which it will be in about fifteen minutes, should the quantity be small: it will require a rather longer time if it be large. The sugar ought to be of the best quality and beaten quite to powder; and for this, as well as for every other kind of preserve, it should be dry. A remarkably fine marmalade may be compounded of English pines only, or even with one English pine of superior growth, and two or three of the West Indian mixed with it; but all when used should be fully ripe, without at all verging on decay; for in no other state will their delicious flavour be in its perfection.

In making the jam always avoid placing the preserving-pan flat upon the fire, as this of itself will often convert what would otherwise be excellent preserve, into a strange sort of compound, for which it is difficult to find a name, and which results from the sugar being subjected—when in combination with the acid of the fruit—to a degree of heat which converts it into caramel or highly-boiled barley-sugar. When there is no regular preserving-stove, a flat trivet should be securely placed across the fire of the kitchen-range to raise the pan from immediate contact with the burning coals, or charcoal. It is better to grate down, than to pound the fruit for the present receipt should any parts of it be ever so slightly tough; and it should then be slowly stewed until quite tender before any sugar is added to it; or with only a very small quantity stirred in should it become too dry. A superior marmalade even to this, might probably be made by adding to the rasped pines a little juice drawn by a gentle heat, or expressed cold, from inferior portions of the fruit; but this is only supposition.

A FINE PRESERVE OF THE GREEN ORANGE PLUM.

(Sometimes called the Stonewood plum.)

This fruit, which is very insipid when ripe, makes an excellent preserve if used when at its full growth, but while it is still quite hard and green. Take off the stalks, weigh the plums, then gash them well (with a silver knife, if convenient) as they are thrown into the preserving-pan, and keep them gently stirred without ceasing over a moderate fire, until they have yielded sufficient juice to prevent their burning; after this, boil them quickly until the stones are entirely detached from the flesh of the fruit. Take them out as they appear on the surface, and when the preserve looks quite smooth and is well reduced, stir in three-quarters of a pound of sugar beaten to a powder, for each pound of the plums, and boil the whole very quickly for half an hour or more. Put it, when done, into small moulds or pans, and it will be sufficiently firm when cold to turn out well: it will also be transparent, of a fine green colour, and very agreeable in flavour.

Orange plums, when green, 6 lbs.: 40 to 60 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 30 to 50 minutes.

Obs.—The blanched kernels of part of the fruit should be added to this preserve a few minutes before it is poured out: if too long boiled in it they will become tough. They should always be wiped very dry after they are blanched.

GREENGAGE JAM, OR MARMALADE.

When the plums are thoroughly ripe, take off the skins, stone, weigh, and boil them quickly without sugar for fifty minutes, keeping them well stirred; then to every four pounds add three of good sugar reduced quite to powder, boil the preserve from five to eight minutes longer, and clear off the scum perfectly before it is poured into the jars. When the flesh of the fruit will not separate easily from the stones, weigh and throw the plums whole into the preserving-pan, boil them to a pulp, pass them through a sieve, and deduct the weight of the stones from them when apportioning the sugar to the jam. The Orleans plum may be substituted for greengages in this receipt.

Greengages, stoned and skinned, 6 lbs.: 50 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes.

PRESERVE OF THE MAGNUM BONUM, OR MOGUL PLUM.

Prepare, weigh, and boil the plums for forty minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar beaten fine, and when it is dissolved continue the boiling for ten additional minutes, and skim the preserve carefully during the time. This is an excellent marmalade, but it may be rendered richer by increasing the proportion of sugar. The blanched kernels of a portion of the fruit stones will much improve its flavour, but they should be mixed with it only two or three minutes before it is taken from the fire. When the plums are not entirely ripe, it is difficult to free them from the stones and skins: they should then be boiled down and pressed through a sieve, as directed for greengages, in the receipt above.

Mogul plums, skinned and stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes.

TO DRY OR PRESERVE MOGUL PLUMS IN SYRUP.

Pare the plums, but do not remove the stalks or stones; take their weight of dry sifted sugar, lay them into a deep dish or bowl, and strew it over them; let them remain thus for a night, then pour them gently into a preserving-pan with all the sugar, heat them slowly, and let them just simmer for five minutes; in two days repeat the process, and do so again and again at an interval of two or three days, until the fruit is tender and very clear; put it then into jars, and keep it in the syrup, or drain and dry the plums very gradually, as directed for other fruit. When they are not sufficiently ripe for the skin to part from them readily, they must be covered with spring water, placed over a slow fire, and just scalded until it can be stripped from them easily. They may also be entirely prepared by the receipt for dried apricots which follows, a page or two from this.

MUSSEL PLUM CHEESE AND JELLY.

Fill large stone jars with the fruit, which should be ripe, dry, and sound; set them into an oven from which the bread has been drawn several hours, and let them remain all night; or, if this cannot conveniently be done, place them in pans of water, and boil them gently until the plums are tender, and have yielded their juice to the utmost. Pour this from them, strain it through a jelly bag, weigh, and then boil it rapidly for twenty-five minutes. Have ready, broken small, three pounds of sugar for four of the juice, stir them together until it is dissolved, and then continue the boiling quickly for ten minutes longer, and be careful to remove all the scum. Pour the preserve into small moulds or pans, and turn it out when it is wanted for table: it will be very fine, both in colour and in flavour.

Juice of plums, 4 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

The cheese.—Skin and stone the plums from which the juice has been poured, and after having weighed, boil them an hour and a quarter over a brisk fire, and stir them constantly; then to three pounds of fruit add one of sugar, beaten to powder; boil the preserve for another half hour, and press it into shallow pans or moulds.

Plums, 3 lbs.: 1-1/4 hour. Sugar, 1 lb.: 30 minutes.

APRICOT MARMALADE.

This may be made either by the receipt for greengage, or Mogul plum marmalade; or the fruit may first be boiled quite tender, then rubbed through a sieve, and mixed with three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of apricots: from twenty to thirty minutes will boil it in this case. A richer preserve still is produced by taking off the skins, and dividing the plums in halves or quarters, and leaving them for some hours with their weight of fine sugar strewed over them before they are placed on the fire; they are then heated slowly and gently simmered for about half an hour.

TO DRY APRICOTS.

(A quick and easy method.)

Wipe gently, split, and stone some fine apricots which are not over-ripe; weigh, and arrange them evenly in a deep dish or bowl, and strew in fourteen ounces of sugar in fine powder, to each pound of fruit; on the following day turn the whole carefully into a preserving-pan, let the apricots heat slowly, and simmer them very softly for six minutes, or for an instant longer, should they not in that time be quite tender. Let them remain in the syrup for a day or two, then drain and spread them singly on dishes to dry.

To each pound of apricots, 14 oz. of sugar; to stand 1 night, to be simmered from 6 to 8 minutes, and left in syrup 2 or 3 days.

DRIED APRICOTS.

(French Receipt.)

Take apricots which have attained their full growth and colour, but before they begin to soften; weigh, and wipe them lightly; make a small incision across the top of each plum, pass the point of a knife through the stalk end, and gently push out the stones without breaking the fruit; next, put the apricots into a preserving-pan, with sufficient cold water to float them easily; place it over a moderate fire, and when it begins to boil, should the apricots be quite tender, lift them out and throw them into more cold water, but simmer them, otherwise, until they are so. Take the same weight of sugar that there was of the fruit before it was stoned, and boil it for ten minutes with a quart of water to the four pounds; skim the syrup carefully, throw in the apricots (which should previously be well drained on a soft cloth, or on a sieve), simmer them for one minute, and set them by in it until the following day, then drain it from them, boil it for ten minutes, and pour it on them the instant it is taken from the fire; in forty-eight hours repeat the process, and when the syrup has boiled ten minutes, put in the apricots, and simmer them from two to four minutes, or until they look quite clear. They may be stored in the syrup until wanted for drying, or drained from it, laid separately on slates or dishes, and dried very gradually: the blanched kernels may be put inside the fruit, or added to the syrup.

Apricots, 4 lbs., scalded until tender; sugar 4 lbs.; water, 1 quart: 10 minutes. Apricots, in syrup, 1 minute; left 24 hours. Syrup, boiled again, 10 minutes, and poured on fruit: stand 2 days. Syrup, boiled again, 10 minutes, and apricots 2 to 4 minutes, or until clear.

Obs.—The syrup should be quite thick when the apricots are put in for the last time; but both fruit and sugar vary so much in quality and in the degree of boiling which they require, that no invariable rule can be given for the latter. The apricot syrup strained very clear, and mixed with twice its measure of pale French brandy, makes an agreeable liqueur, which is much improved by infusing in it for a few days half an ounce of the fruit-kernels, blanched and bruised, to the quart of liquor.

We have found that cherries prepared by either of the receipts which we have given for preserving them with sugar, if thrown into the apricot syrup when partially dried, just scalded in it, and left for a fortnight, then drained and dried as usual, become a delicious sweetmeat. Mussel, imperatrice, or any other plums, when quite ripe, if simmered in it very gently until they are tender, and left for a few days to imbibe its flavour, then drained and finished as usual, are likewise excellent.

PEACH JAM, OR MARMALADE.

The fruit for this preserve, which is a very delicious one, should be finely flavoured, and quite ripe, though perfectly sound. Pare, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, and do not fail to stir it often during the time; draw it from the fire, and mix with it ten ounces of well-refined sugar, rolled or beaten to powder, for each pound of the peaches; clear it carefully from scum, and boil it briskly for five minutes; throw in the strained juice of one or two good lemons; continue the boiling for three minutes only, and pour out the marmalade. Two minutes after the sugar is stirred to the fruit, add the blanched kernels of part of the peaches.

Peaches, stoned and pared, 4 lbs.; 3/4 hour. Sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 2 minutes. Blanched peach-kernels: 3 minutes. Juice of 2 small lemons: 3 minutes.

Obs.—This jam, like most others, is improved by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it has been partially boiled. Nothing can be finer than its flavour, which would be injured by adding the sugar at first; and a larger proportion renders it cloyingly sweet. Nectarines and peaches mixed, make an admirable preserve.

TO PRESERVE, OR TO DRY PEACHES OR NECTARINES.

(An easy and excellent Receipt.)

The fruit should be fine, freshly gathered, and fully ripe, but still in its perfection. Pare, halve, and weigh it after the stones are removed; lay it into a deep dish, and strew over it an equal weight of highly refined pounded sugar; let it remain until this is nearly dissolved, then lift the fruit gently into a preserving-pan, pour the juice and sugar to it, and heat the whole over a very slow fire; let it just simmer for ten minutes, then turn it softly into a bowl, and let it remain for two days; repeat the slow heating and simmering at intervals of two or three days, until the fruit is quite clear, when it may be potted in the syrup, or drained from it, and dried upon large clean slates or dishes, or upon wire-sieves. The flavour will be excellent. The strained juice of a lemon may be added to the syrup, with good effect, towards the end of the process, and an additional ounce or two of sugar allowed for it.

DAMSON JAM. (VERY GOOD.)

The fruit for this jam should be freshly gathered and quite ripe. Split, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for forty minutes; then stir in half its weight of good sugar roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, give the preserve fifteen minutes additional boiling, keeping it stirred, and thoroughly skimmed.

Damsons, stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 15 minutes.

Obs.—A more refined preserve is made by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it is boiled tender; but the jam is excellent without.

DAMSON JELLY.

Bake separately in a very slow oven, or boil in a pan or copper of water as described at page 497, any number of fine ripe damsons, and one-third the quantity of bullaces, or of any other pale plums, as a portion of their juice will, to most tastes, improve, by softening the flavour of the preserve, and will render the colour brighter. Pour off the juice clear from the fruit, strain and weigh it; boil it quickly without sugar for twenty-five minutes, draw it from the fire, stir into it ten ounces of good sugar for each pound of juice, and boil it quickly from six to ten minutes longer, carefully clearing off all the scum. The jelly must be often stirred before the sugar is added, and constantly afterwards.

DAMSON, OR RED PLUM SOLID. (GOOD.)

Pour the juice from some damsons which have stood for a night in a very cool oven, or been stewed in a jar placed in a pan of water; weigh and put it into a preserving-pan with a pound and four ounces of pearmains (or of any other fine boiling apples), pared, cored, and quartered, to each pound of the juice; boil these together, keeping them well stirred, from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then add the sugar, and when it is nearly dissolved, continue the boiling for ten minutes. This, if done with exactness, will give a perfectly smooth and firm preserve, which may be moulded in small shapes, and turned out for table. The juice of any good red plum may be used for it instead of that of damsons.

To each pound clear damson-juice, 1-1/4 lb. pearmains (or other good apples), pared and cored: 25 to 30 minutes. Sugar, 14 oz.: 10 minutes.

EXCELLENT DAMSON CHEESE.

When the fruit has been baked or stewed tender, as directed above, drain off the juice, skin and stone the damsons, pour back to them from a third to half of their juice, weigh and then boil them over a clear brisk fire, until they form quite a dry paste; add six ounces of pounded sugar for each pound of the plums; stir them off the fire until this is dissolved, and boil the preserve again without quitting or ceasing to stir it, until it leaves the pan quite dry, and adheres in a mass to the spoon. If it should not stick to the fingers when lightly touched, it will be sufficiently done to keep very long; press it quickly into pans or moulds; lay on it a paper dipped in spirit when it is perfectly cold; tie another fold over it, and store it in a dry place.

Bullace cheese is made in the same manner, and almost any kind of plum will make an agreeable preserve of the sort.

To each pound of fruit, pared, stoned, and mixed with the juice and boiled quite dry, 6 oz. of pounded sugar, boiled again to a dry paste.

RED GRAPE JELLY.

Strip from their stalks some fine ripe black-cluster grapes, and stir them with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until all have burst, and the juice flows freely from them; strain it off without pressure, and pass it through a jelly-bag, or through a twice-folded muslin; weigh and then boil it rapidly for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, stir in it until dissolved, fourteen ounces of good sugar, roughly powdered, to each pound of juice, and boil the jelly quickly for fifteen minutes longer, keeping it constantly stirred, and perfectly well skimmed. It will be very clear, and of a beautiful pale rose-colour.

Juice of black-cluster grapes: 20 minutes. To each pound of juice, 14 oz. good sugar: 15 minutes.

Obs.—We have proved this jelly only with the kind of grape which we have named, but there is little doubt that fine purple grapes of any sort would answer for it well.

ENGLISH GUAVA.

(A firm, clear, bright Jelly.)

Strip the stalks from a gallon or two of the large kind of bullaces called the shepherd’s bullace; give part of them a cut, put them into stone jars, and throw into one of them a pound or two of imperatrice plums, if they can be obtained; put the jars into pans of water, and boil them as directed at page 497; then drain off the juice, pass it through a thick strainer or jelly-bag, and weigh it; boil it quickly from fifteen to twenty minutes; take it from the fire, and stir in it till dissolved three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of juice; remove the scum with care, and boil the preserve again quickly from eight to twelve minutes, or longer should it not then jelly firmly on the skimmer. When the fruit is very acid, an equal weight of juice and sugar may be mixed together in the first instance, and boiled briskly for about twenty minutes. It is impossible to indicate the precise time which the jelly will require, so much depends on the quality of the plums, and on the degree of boiling previously given to them in the water-bath. When properly made it is remarkably transparent and very firm. It should be poured into shallow pans or small moulds, and turned from them before it is served. When the imperatrice plum cannot be procured, any other that will give a pale red colour to the juice will answer. The bullaces alone make an admirable preserve; and even the commoner kinds afford an excellent one.

Juice of the shepherd’s bullace and imperatrice, or other red plum, 4 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 to 12 minutes. Or juice of bullaces and sugar, equal weight: 20 minutes.

Obs.—After the juice has been poured from the plums they may be stoned, pared, weighed, and boiled to a paste; then six ounces of sugar added to the pound, and the boiling continued until the preserve is again very dry; a small portion of the juice should be left with the fruit for this.

VERY FINE IMPERATRICE PLUM MARMALADE.

Weigh six pounds of the fruit when it is quite ripe, but before the frost has touched it; give each plum a cut as it is thrown into the preserving-pan, and when all are done boil them from thirty-five to forty minutes, taking out the stones as they rise to the surface, when they are quite detached from the flesh of the fruit. Draw back the pan from the fire, stir in two pounds of good sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for fifteen minutes. The imperatrice plum is of itself so sweet that this proportion of sugar makes with it a very rich preserve.

Imperatrice plums (without the stalks) 6 lbs.: boiled 35 to 40 minutes. Sugar 2 lbs. (added after the stones are out): 15 minutes.

Obs.—Some slight trouble would be avoided by pressing the fruit through a sieve after the first boiling; but we do not think the marmalade would be improved by being freed from the skins of the plums.

TO DRY IMPERATRICE PLUMS.

(An easy method.)

Put them into jars, or wide-necked bottles, with half a pound of good sugar, rolled or pounded, to twice the weight of fruit; set them into a very cool oven for four or five hours; or, if more convenient, place them, with a little hay between them, in a pan of cold water and boil them gently for rather more than three hours. Leave them in the syrup for a few days, and finish them as directed for the drying of other fruits. Tie a bladder over the necks of the jars or bottles before they are placed in the pan of water, and fasten two or three folds of paper over the former, or cork the bottles when the fruit is to be baked. The sugar should be put in after the fruit, without being shaken down; it will then dissolve gradually, and be absorbed by it equally.

To each pound of plums, 8 ounces pounded sugar: baked in cool oven 4 or 5 hours, or steamed 3 hours.

TO BOTTLE FRUIT FOR WINTER USE.

Gather the fruit in the middle of the day in very dry weather; strip off the stalks, and have in readiness some perfectly clean and dry wide-necked bottles; turn each of these the instant before it is filled, with the neck downwards, and hold in it two or three lighted matches: drop in the fruit before the vapour escapes, shake it gently down, press in some new corks, dip the necks of the bottles into melted resin, set them at night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn six or seven hours at least, and let them remain until the morning: if the heat be too great the bottles will burst. Currants, cherries, damsons, greengages, and various other kinds of plums will remain good for quite twelve months when bottled thus, if stored in a dry place.

To steam the fruit, put the bottles into a copper or other vessel up to their necks in cold water, with a little hay between and under them; light the fire, let the water heat slowly, and keep it at the point of gentle simmering until the fruit is sufficiently scalded. Some kinds will of course require a much longer time than others. From half to three quarters of an hour will be sufficient for gooseberries, currants, and raspberries; but the appearance of all will best denote their being done. When they have sunk almost half the depth of the bottles, and the skins are shrivelled, extinguish the fire, but leave them in the water until it is quite cold; then wipe and store the bottles in a dry place. A bit of moistened bladder tied over corks is better than the resin when the fruit is steamed.

APPLE JELLY.

Various kind of apples may be used successfully to make this jelly, but the nonsuch is by many persons preferred to all others for the purpose. The Ripstone pippin, however, may be used for it with very good effect, either solely, or with a mixture of pearmains. It is necessary only that the fruit should be finely flavoured, and that it should boil easily to a marmalade. Pare, core, quarter, and weigh it quickly that it may not lose its colour, and to each pound pour a pint of cold water and boil it until it is well broken, without being reduced to a quite thick pulp, as it would then be difficult to render the juice perfectly clear, which it ought to be. Drain this well from the apples, either through a fine sieve or a folded muslin strainer, pass it afterwards through a jelly-bag, or turn the fruit at once into the last of these, and pour the liquid through a second time if needful. When it appears quite transparent, weigh, and reduce it by quick boiling for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, add two pounds of sugar broken very small, for three of the decoction; stir it till it is entirely dissolved, then place the preserving-pan again over a clear fire and boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, or until it jellies firmly upon the skimmer when poured from it; throw in the strained juice of a small lemon for every two pounds of jelly, two minutes before it is taken from the fire.

Apples, 7 lbs.; water, 7 pints: 1/2 to full hour. Juice, 6 lbs.: 20 minutes quick boiling. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 to 25 minutes. Juice three lemons.

EXCEEDINGLY FINE APPLE JELLY.

Pare quickly some highly flavoured juicy apples of any kind, or of various kinds together, for this is immaterial; slice, without dividing them; but first free them from the stalks and eyes; shake out some of the pips, and put the apples evenly into very clean large stone jars, just dipping an occasional layer into cold water as this is done, the better to preserve the colour of the whole. Set the jars into pans of water, and boil the fruit slowly until it is quite soft, then turn it into a jelly-bag or cloth and let the juice all drop from it. The quantity which it will have yielded will be small, but it will be clear and rich. Weigh, and boil it for ten minutes, then draw it from the fire, and stir into it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of good sugar to the pound and quarter (or pint) of juice. Place the preserve again over the fire and stir it without intermission, except to clear off the scum, until it has boiled from eight to ten minutes longer, for otherwise it will jelly on the surface with the scum upon it, which it will then be difficult to remove, as when touched it will break and fall into the preserve. The strained juice of one small fresh lemon to the pint of jelly should be thrown into it two or three minutes before it is poured out, and the rind of one or two cut very thin may be simmered in the juice before the sugar is added; but the pale, delicate colour of the jelly will be injured by too much of it, and many persons would altogether prefer the pure flavour of the fruit.

Juice of apples, 1 quart, or 2-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 8 to 10 minutes. Juice, 2 small lemons; rind of 1 or more at pleasure.

Obs.—The quantity of apples required for it renders this a rather expensive preserve, where they are not abundant; but it is a remarkably fine jelly, and turns out from the moulds in perfect shape and very firm.[168] It may be served in the second course, or for rice-crust. It is sometimes made without paring the apples, or dipping them into the water, and the colour is then a deep red: we have occasionally had a pint of water added to about a gallon and a half of apples, but the jelly was not then quite so fine in flavour. The best time for making it is from the end of November to Christmas. Quince jelly would, without doubt, be very fine made by this receipt; but as the juice of that fruit is richer than that of the apple, a little water might be added. Alternate layers of apples and quinces would also answer well, we think.

168.  It is, we should say, quite equal to gelée de pommes, for which Rouen is somewhat celebrated.

QUINCE JELLY.

Pare, quarter, core, and weigh some ripe but quite sound quinces, as quickly as possible, and throw them as they are done into part of the water in which they are to be boiled, as directed at page 456; allow one pint of this to each pound of the fruit, and simmer it gently until it is a little broken, but not so long as to redden the juice, which ought to be very pale. Turn the whole into a jelly-bag, or strain the liquid through a fine cloth, and let it drain very closely from it but without the slightest pressure. Weigh the juice, put it into a delicately clean preserving-pan, and boil it quickly for twenty minutes; take it from the fire and stir in it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of sugar for each pound of juice, or fourteen ounces if the fruit should be very acid, which it will be in the earlier part of the season; keep it constantly stirred and thoroughly cleared from scum, from ten to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly in falling from the skimmer; then pour it directly into glasses or moulds. If properly made, it will be sufficiently firm to turn out of the latter, and it will be beautifully transparent, and rich in flavour. It may be made with an equal weight of juice and sugar mixed together in the first instance, and boiled from twenty to thirty minutes. It is difficult to state the time precisely, because from different causes it will vary much. It should be reduced rapidly to the proper point, as long boiling injures the colour: this is always more perfectly preserved by boiling the juice without the sugar first.

To each pound pared and cored quinces, 1 pint water: 3/4 to 1-1/2 hour. Juice, boiled 20 minutes. To each pound, 12 oz. sugar: 10 to 20 minutes. Or, juice and sugar equal weight: 20 to 30 minutes.

QUINCE MARMALADE.

When to economise the fruit is not an object, pare, core, and quarter some of the inferior quinces, and boil them in as much water as will nearly cover them, until they begin to break; strain the juice from them, and for the marmalade put half a pint of it to each pound of fresh quinces: in preparing these, be careful to cut out the hard stony parts round the cores. Simmer them gently until they are perfectly tender, then press them, with the juice, through a coarse sieve; put them into a perfectly clean pan, and boil them until they form almost a dry paste; add for each round of quinces and the half pint of juice, three-quarters of a pound of sugar in fine powder, and boil the marmalade for half an hour, stirring it gently without ceasing: it will be very firm and bright in colour. If made shortly after the fruit is gathered, a little additional sugar will be required; and when a richer and less dry marmalade is better liked, it must be boiled for a shorter time, and an equal weight of fruit and sugar may be used.

Quinces, pared and cored, 4 lbs.; prepared juice, 1 quart: 2 to 3 hours. Boiled fast to dry, 20 to 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 30 minutes.

Richer marmalade: quinces, 4 lbs.; juice, 1 quart; sugar, 4 lbs.

QUINCE AND APPLE MARMALADE.

Boil together, from three-quarters of an hour to an hour, two pounds of pearmains, or of any other well-flavoured apples, in an equal weight of prepared quince-juice (see page 456), then take them from the fire, and mix with them a pound and a half of sugar, in fine powder; when this is a little dissolved, set the pan again over a brisk fire, and boil the preserve for twenty minutes longer, keeping it stirred all the time.

Prepared quince-juice, 2 lbs.; apples, 2 lbs.: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.

QUINCE PASTE.

If the full flavour of the quinces be desired, stew them sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, in the prepared juice of page 456, otherwise, in just water enough to about three parts cover them; when they are soft quite through lift them out, let them cool, and then pass them through a sieve; reduce them to a dry paste over a very clear fire, and stir them constantly; then weigh the fruit, and mix it with an equal proportion of pounded sugar, or sugar boiled to candy height (we find the effect nearly the same, whichever method be pursued), and stir the paste without intermission until it is again so dry as to quit the pan and adhere to the spoon in one large ball; press it into shallow pans or dishes; cut it, as soon as cold, into small squares, and should they seem to require it, dry them with a very gentle degree of heat, and when they are again cold store them in tin cases with well-dried foolscap paper between them: the paste may be moulded, when more convenient, and kept until it is wanted for table, in a very dry place. In France, where the fruit is admirably confected, the pâte de coigns, or quince paste, is somewhat less boiled than we have directed, and dried afterwards in the sun, or in an extremely gentle oven, in square tin frames, about an inch and a half deep, placed upon clean slates.

JELLY OF SIBERIAN CRABS.

This fruit makes a jelly of beautiful colour, and of pleasant flavour also: it may be stored in small moulds of ornamental shape, and turned out for rice-crust. Take off the stalks, weigh, and wash the crabs; then, to each pound and a half, add a pint of water and boil them gently until they are broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp. Pour the whole into a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into a clean preserving-pan, boil it quickly for fifteen minutes, take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three-quarters of a pound of fine sugar roughly powdered to each pound of the juice; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes, skim it very clean, and pour it into the moulds. Should the quantity be large, a few additional minutes’ boiling must be given to the juice before the sugar is added.

To each 1-1/2 lb. of crabs; water, 1 pint: 12 to 18 minutes. Juice to be fast boiled, 15 minutes; sugar, to each pound, 3/4 lb.; 15 to 20 minutes.

TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.

Take the finest barberries without stones that can be procured, tie them together in bunches of four or five sprigs, and for each half pound of the fruit (which is extremely light), boil one pound of very good sugar in a pint of water for twenty minutes, and clear it well from scum; throw in the fruit, let it heat gently, and then boil from five to seven minutes, when it will be perfectly transparent. So long as any snapping noise is heard the fruit is not all done; it should be pressed equally down into the syrup until the whole of the berries have burst; and should then be turned into jars, which must be covered with skin or two or three folds of thick paper, as soon as the preserve is perfectly cold. The barberries thus prepared make a beautiful garnish for sweet dishes, or for puddings.

Barberries, tied in bunches, 1-1/2 lb.; sugar 3 lbs.; water 1-1/2 pint: 20 minutes. Barberries boiled in syrup: 5 to 7 minutes.

BARBERRY JAM.

(First and best Receipt.)

The barberries for this preserve should be quite ripe, though they should not be allowed to hang until they begin to decay. Strip them from the stalks, throw aside such as are spotted, and for each pound of the fruit allow eighteen ounces of well-refined sugar; boil this, with one pint of water to every four pounds, until it becomes white, and falls in thick masses from the spoon; then throw in the fruit, and keep it stirred over a brisk fire for six minutes only; take off the scum, and pour it into jars or glasses.

Sugar, 4-1/4 lbs.; water, 1-1/4 pint: boiled to candy height. Barberries, 4 lbs.: 6 minutes.

Barberry Jam. Second Receipt.—The preceding is an excellent receipt, but the preserve will be very good if eighteen ounces of pounded sugar be mixed and boiled with the fruit for ten minutes and this is done at a small expense of time and trouble.

Sugar pounded, 2-1/4 lbs.; fruit, 2 lbs.: boiled 10 minutes.

SUPERIOR BARBERRY JELLY, AND MARMALADE.

Strip the fruit from the stems, wash it in spring-water, drain, bruise it slightly, and put it into a clean stone jar, with no more liquid than the drops which hang about it. Place the jar in a pan of water, and steam the fruit until it is quite tender: this will be in from thirty minutes to an hour. Pour off the clear juice, strain, weigh, and boil it quickly from five to seven minutes, with eighteen ounces of sugar to every pound. For the marmalade, rub the barberries through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and boil them quickly for the same time, and with the same proportion of sugar as the jelly.

Barberries boiled in water-bath until tender; to each pound of juice, 1 lb. 2 oz. sugar: 5 minutes. Pulp of fruit to each pound, 18 oz. sugar: 5 minutes.

Obs.—We have always had these preserves made with very ripe fruit, and have found them extremely good; but more sugar may be needed to sweeten them sufficiently when the barberries have hung less time upon the trees.

ORANGE MARMALADE.

(A Portuguese Receipt.)

Rasp very slightly on a fine and delicately clean grater the rinds of some sound Seville oranges; cut them into quarters, and separate the flesh from the rinds; then with the small end of a tea, or egg-spoon, clear it entirely from the pips, and from the loose inner skin and film. Put the rinds into a large quantity of cold water, and change it when they have boiled about twenty minutes. As soon as they are perfectly tender lift them out, and drain them on a sieve; slice them thin, and add eight ounces of them to each pound of the pulp and juice, with a pound and a half of highly-refined sugar in fine powder; boil the marmalade quickly for half an hour, skim it well, and turn it into the jars. The preserve thus made will not have a very powerful flavour of the orange rind. When more of this is liked, either leave a portion of the fruit unrasped, or mix with the preserve some of the zest which has been grated off, allowing for it its weight of sugar. Or proceed thus: allow to a dozen Seville oranges two fine juicy lemons, and the weight of the whole in sifted sugar, of excellent quality. With a sharp knife cut through the rinds just deep enough to allow them to be stripped off in quarters with the end of a spoon, and throw them for a night into plenty of cold spring-water; on the following morning boil them sufficiently tender to allow the head of a pin to pierce them easily; then drain them well, let them cool, and scrape out the white part of the rind, and cut the remainder into thin chips. In the mean time have the pulp of the fruit quite cleared from the pips and film; put it with the chips into a preserving-pan, heat them slowly, boil them for ten minutes, draw the pan from the fire, and stir gradually in, and dissolve the remainder of the sugar, and boil the preserve more quickly for twenty minutes, or until it thickens and appears ready to jelly. This mode, though it gives a little additional trouble, will prevent the orange-chips from becoming hard, which they will sometimes be if much sugar be added to them at first. The sugar first broken into large lumps, is sometimes made into a very thick syrup, with so much water only as will just dissolve it; the pulp and juice are in that case boiled in it quickly for ten minutes before the chips are added; and a part of these are pounded and stirred into the preserve with the others. March is the proper month for making this preserve, the Seville oranges being then in perfection. For lemon marmalade proceed exactly in the same manner as for this.

Rinds of Seville oranges, lightly rasped and boiled tender, 2 lbs.; pulp and juice, 4 lbs.; sugar, 6 lbs.: 1/2 hour. Or, weight of oranges, first taken in sugar, and added, with all the rinds, to the pulp after the whole has been properly prepared.

GENUINE SCOTCH MARMALADE.

“Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a quart to a pound of fruit. Put the chips and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and then turn the whole into the preserving-pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender. When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously pounded), and boil it until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire.”

Oranges, 3 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs.

Obs.—This receipt, which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from whom it was procured.

CLEAR ORANGE MARMALADE.

(Author’s Receipt.)

This, especially for persons in delicate health, is far more wholesome than the marmalade which contains chips of the orange-rinds. The fruit must be prepared in the same manner, and the pulp very carefully cleared from the pips and skin. The rinds taken off in quarters (after having been washed and wiped quite clean from the black soil which is sometimes found on them), must be boiled extremely tender in a large quantity of water, into which they may be thrown when it boils. They should be well drained upon a large hair sieve reversed, so soon as the head of a pin will pierce them easily; and the white skin and fibres should be scraped entirely from them while they are still warm. They should then be pounded to a paste, and well blended with the pulp and juice, these being added to them by degrees, that they may not remain in lumps. A quarter of a pint of water, in which the seeds have been immersed for an hour or two, well worked up with them, and then passed through a net strainer[169] or coarse sieve, will soften the flavour of the marmalade, and assist its jellying at the same time. Boil it rather quickly without sugar for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, then finish it by the directions for “Orange Marmalade, Portuguese Receipt,” of the preceding page, but regulate the proportion of sugar and the time of boiling as follows:—

169.  Strainers of coarse bobbin-net, which is very cheap, are preferable to muslin for preparations which are jellied, as the water becomes thick when the orange-seeds are steeped in it.

Pulp and juice of Seville oranges, 1-1/2 lb.; water strained from pips, 1/2 pint; pounded orange-rinds 3/4 lb.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 2-3/4 lb. (3 lb. if the fruit should be very acid), half added first, 10 to 15 minutes; with remaining half, 15 to 20 minutes, or until the marmalade becomes quite thick and clear.

Obs.—We have occasionally had more water than the proportion given above used in making this preserve, which is very nice in flavour, but which may be made to suit various tastes by adding a larger or smaller quantity of the rinds; and a larger weight of sugar when it is liked very sweet. When the bitterness of the fruit is objected to, the rinds may be steeped for a night in a plentiful quantity of spring water.

FINE JELLY OF SEVILLE ORANGES.

(Author’s Original Receipt.)

Although we have appropriated this receipt to another work, we cannot refrain from inserting it here as well, so delicious to our taste is the jelly which we have had made by it. For eighteen full-sized oranges allow a pint and a half of water. Take off the rinds in quarters from ten of them, and then free them entirely from their tough white skin, and with a sharp knife cut them into rather thick slices, and put them with all the pips into the water. Halve the remainder of the fruit without paring it, and squeeze the juice and pips, but not the pulp, to the sliced oranges; and place them by the fire in an enamelled stewpan which they will not more than two-thirds fill. Heat and boil them gently between twenty and thirty minutes, then strain the juice closely from them without pressure, through a large square of muslin folded in four, or, if more convenient, pass it first through a very thin and delicately clean cloth, and afterwards through the folded muslin. Weigh and boil it quickly for five minutes; then for each pound stir gradually to it fourteen ounces of highly refined sugar, broken small or roughly powdered; and when it is quite dissolved, continue the boiling for a few minutes longer, when the preserve will jelly easily and firmly, and be pale and beautifully transparent, and most agreeable in flavour.

Seville oranges, 18; of which 10 pared and sliced. Water, 1-1/2 pint, and juice of 8 oranges: gently heated and boiled 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly 5 minutes. To each lb. 14 oz. sugar: 5 to 8 minutes.

Obs.—On our second trial we had the very thin rind of three of the oranges stewed with the fruit, which we thought an improvement. The jelly in both instances was made, we believe, in April, when the fruit was fully ripe: earlier in the season it would probably require longer boiling. On one occasion it became quite firm very quickly after the sugar was added to the juice; that is to say, in three or four minutes.

CHAPTER XXV.

Pickles.

Mango.

OBSERVATIONS ON PICKLES.

With the exception of walnuts,[170] which, when softened by keeping, or by the mode of preparing them, are the least objectionable of any pickle, with Indian mangoes, and one or two other varieties, these are not very wholesome articles of diet,[171] consisting, as so many of them do, of crude hard vegetables, or of unripe fruit. In numerous instances, too, those which are commonly sold to the public have been found of so deadly a nature as to be eminently dangerous to persons who partake of them often and largely. It is most desirable, therefore, to have them prepared at home, and with good genuine vinegar, whether French or English. That which is home-made can at least be relied on; and it may be made of excellent quality and of sufficient strength for all ordinary purposes. The superiority of French vinegar results from its being made of wine; no substitute producing any equal to that derived from the unmixed juice of the grape. In our next page will be found the address of the importers, from whom, or whose agents, we have for several years been supplied with it.

170.  The bitter of the green walnut renders it a fine stomachic. In France a liqueur called “Ratifia de Brou de Noix,” is made by infusing the bruised fruit in brandy.

171.  Flavoured vinegars or mustard are more so, and are equally appetising and pungent.

Pickles should always be kept quite covered with their liquor, and well secured from the air and from the influence of damp; the last of which is especially detrimental to them. We can quite recommend to the reader the rather limited number of receipts which follow, and which might easily be multiplied did the size of our volume permit. Pickling is so easy a process, however, that when in any degree properly acquired, it may be extended to almost every kind of fruit and vegetable successfully. A few of the choicer kinds will nevertheless be found generally more acceptable than a greater variety of inferior preparations. Mushrooms, gherkins, walnuts, lemons, eschalots, and peaches, for all of which we have given minute directions, will furnish as much choice as is commonly required. Very excellent Indian mangoes too may be purchased at the Italian warehouses, and to many tastes will be more acceptable than any English pickle. We have had them very good from Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, whose house we have already had occasion to name more than once.

TO PICKLE CHERRIES.

Leave about an inch of their stalks on some fine, sound Kentish or Flemish cherries, which are not over ripe; put them into a jar, cover them with cold vinegar, and let them stand for three weeks; pour off two-thirds of the liquor and replace it with fresh vinegar; then, after having drained it from the fruit, boil the whole with an ounce of coriander seed, a small blade of mace, a few grains of cayenne, or a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and four bruised cochineals to every quart, all tied loosely in a fold of muslin. Let the pickle become quite cold before it is added to the cherries: in a month they will be fit for use. The vinegar which is poured from the fruit makes a good syrup of itself, when boiled with a pound of sugar to the pint, but it is improved by having some fresh raspberries, cherries, or currants previously infused in it for three or four days.

TO PICKLE GHERKINS.

Let the gherkins be gathered on a dry day, before the frost has touched them; take off the blossoms, put them into a stone jar, and pour over them sufficient boiling brine to cover them well. The following day take them out, wipe them singly, lay them into a clean stone jar, with a dozen bay leaves over them, and pour upon them the following pickle, when it is boiling fast: as much vinegar as will more than cover the gherkins by an inch or two, with an ounce and a quarter of salt, a quarter-ounce of black peppercorns, an ounce and a half of ginger sliced, or slightly bruised, and two small blades of mace to every quart; put a plate over the jar, and leave it for two days, then drain off the vinegar, and heat it afresh; when it boils, throw in the gherkins, and keep them just on the point of simmering for two or three minutes; pour the whole back into the jar, put the plate again upon it, and let it remain until the pickle is quite cold, when a skin, or two separate folds of thick brown paper, must be tied closely over it. The gherkins thus pickled are very crisp, and excellent in flavour, and the colour is sufficiently good to satisfy the prudent housekeeper, to whom the brilliant and poisonous green produced by boiling the vinegar in a brass skillet (a process constantly recommended in books of cookery) is anything but attractive. To satisfy ourselves of the effect produced by the action of the acid on the metal, we had a few gherkins thrown into some vinegar which was boiling in a brass pan, and nothing could be more beautiful than the colour which they almost immediately exhibited. We fear this dangerous method is too often resorted to in preparing pickles for sale.

Brine to pour on gherkins:—6 oz. salt to each quart water: 24 hours. Pickle:—to each quart vinegar, salt, 1-1/4 oz.; black peppercorns, 1/4 oz.; ginger, sliced or bruised, 1-1/2 oz.; mace, 2 small blades; bay leaves; 24 to 100 gherkins, more when the flavour is liked: 2 days. Gherkins simmered in vinegar, 2 to 3 minutes.

Obs.—The quantity of vinegar required to cover the gherkins will be shown by that of the brine: so much depends upon their size, that it is impossible to direct the measure exactly. A larger proportion of spice can be added at pleasure.

TO PICKLE GHERKINS.

(A French Receipt.)

Brush or wipe the gherkins very clean, throw them into plenty of fast-boiling water, and give them a single boil, take them out quickly, and throw them immediately into a large quantity of very cold water; change it once, and when the gherkins themselves are quite cold, drain them well, spread them on sieves or dishes, and dry them in the air. When this is done, put them into stone jars, and pour on them as much boiling vinegar as will cover them well; heat it anew, and pour it on them again the following day; and on the next throw them into it for a minute so soon as it boils, with plenty of tarragon in branches, a few very small silver onions, and salt and whole pepper in the same proportions as in the receipt above. It should be observed that the French vinegar, from its superior excellence, will have a very different effect, in many preparations, to that which is made up for sale generally in England.[172]

172.  We have already spoken in Chapter VI. of the very superior Vinaigre de Bordeaux so largely imported by the Messrs. Kent and Sons, of Upton-on-Severn, and sold by their agents in almost every town in England. It may be procured in small quantities (bottled) of Mr. Metcalfe, Foreign Warehouse, Southampton Row, London, and of other agents, whose names may easily be known by applying to the Messrs. Kent themselves.

TO PICKLE PEACHES, AND PEACH MANGOES.

Take, at their full growth, just before they begin to ripen, six large or eight moderate-sized peaches; wipe the down from them, and put them into brine that will float an egg. In three days let them be taken out, and drained on a sieve reversed for several hours. Boil in a quart of vinegar for ten minutes two ounces of whole white pepper, two of ginger slightly bruised, a teaspoonful of salt, two blades of mace, half a pound of mustard-seed, and a half-teaspoonful of cayenne tied in a bit of muslin. Lay the peaches into a jar, and pour the boiling pickle on them: in two months they will be fit for use.

Peaches, 6 or 8: in brine three days. Vinegar, 1 quart; whole white pepper, 2 oz.; bruised ginger, 2 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades; mustard-seed, 1/2 lb.: 10 minutes.

Obs.—The peaches may be converted into excellent mangoes by cutting out from the stalk-end of each, a round of sufficient size to allow the stone to be extracted: this should be done after they are taken from the brine. They may be filled with very fresh mustard-seed, previously washed in a little vinegar; to this a small portion of garlic, or bruised eschalots, cayenne, horseradish, chilies (the most appropriate of any), or spice of any kind may be added, to the taste. The part cut out must be replaced, and secured with a packthread crossed over the fruit.

SWEET PICKLE OF MELON. (FOREIGN RECEIPT.)

(To serve with Roast Meat.)

Take, within three or four days of their being fully ripe, one or two well-flavoured melons; just pare off the outer rind, clear them from the seeds, and cut them into slices of about half an inch thick; lay them into good vinegar, and let them remain in it for ten days; then cover them with cold fresh vinegar, and simmer them very gently until they are tender. Lift them on to a sieve reversed, to drain, and when they are quite cold stick a couple of cloves into each slice, lay them into a jar (a glass one, if at hand) and cover them well with cold syrup, made with ten ounces of sugar to the pint of water, boiled quickly together for twenty minutes. In about a week take them from the syrup, let it drain from them a little, then put them into jars in which they are to be stored, and cover them again thoroughly with good vinegar, which has been boiled for an instant, and left to become quite cold before it is added to them.

This pickle is intended to be served more particularly with roast mutton, hare, and venison, instead of currant jelly, but it is very good with stewed meat also. Small blades of cinnamon, and a larger proportion of cloves are sometimes stuck into the melon, but their flavour should not prevail too strongly. We have found the receipt answer extremely well as we have given it, when tried with small green melons, cut within four days of being fit for table.

Melons not quite ripe, pared from hard rind and sliced, 1 or 2: in vinegar 10 days. Simmered in it until tender. In syrup 6 to 7 days. In fresh vinegar to remain. Ready to serve in a month.

A Common Sweet Pickle of Melon.—Prepare the fruit as above. In a fortnight simmer it until tender; drain, and lay it into jars, and pour on it while just warm, a pickle made with a pound and two ounces of coarse brown sugar, twenty cloves, and half a drachm of cinnamon to the pint of vinegar, boiled together for ten minutes.

TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS.

Select for this purpose the smallest buttons of the wild meadow mushrooms, in preference to those which are artificially raised, and let them be as freshly gathered as possible. Cut the stems off quite close, and clean them with a bit of new flannel slightly moistened, and dipped into fine salt; throw them as they are done into plenty of spring-water, mixed with a large spoonful of salt, but drain them from it quickly afterwards, and lay them into a soft cloth to dry, or the moisture which hangs about them will too much weaken the pickle. For each quart of the mushrooms thus prepared, take nearly a quart of the palest white wine vinegar (this is far superior to the distilled vinegar generally used for the purpose, and the variation in the colour of the mushrooms will be very slight), and add to it a heaped teaspoonful of salt, half an ounce of whole white pepper, an ounce of ginger, sliced or slightly bruised, about the fourth of a saltspoonful of cayenne tied in a small bit of muslin, and two large blades of mace: to these may be added half a small nutmeg, sliced, but too much spice will entirely overpower the fine natural flavour of the mushrooms. When the pickle boils throw them in, and boil them in it over a clear fire moderately fast from six to nine minutes, or somewhat longer, should they not be very small. When they are much disproportioned in size, the larger ones should have two minutes boil before the others are thrown into the vinegar. As soon as they are tolerably tender, put them at once into small stone jars, or into warm wide-necked bottles, and divide the spice equally amongst them. The following day, or as soon as they are perfectly cold, secure them from the air with large corks, or tie skins and paper over them. They should be stored in a dry place, and guarded from severe frost. When the colour of the mushrooms is more considered than the excellence of the pickle, the distilled vinegar can be used for it. The reader may rely upon this receipt as a really good one; we have had it many times proved, and it is altogether our own.

Mushroom buttons (without the stems), 2 quarts; palest white wine vinegar, short 1/2 gallon; salt, large dessertspoonful, or 1-1/2 oz.; white peppercorns, 1 oz.; whole ginger, 2 oz.; cayenne, small 1/2 saltspoonful; 1 small nutmeg.

MUSHROOMS IN BRINE.

For Winter Use. (Very Good.)

We have had small mushroom-buttons excellently preserved through the winter prepared as follows, and we therefore give the exact proportions which we had used for them, though the same quantity of brine would possibly allow of rather more mushrooms in it. Prepare them exactly as for the preceding pickle, and measure them after the stems are taken off. For each quart, boil together for five minutes two quarts of water, with half a pound of common white salt, a small dessertspoonful of white peppercorns, a couple of blades of mace, and a race of ginger; take off the scum thoroughly, and throw in the mushrooms; boil them gently for about five minutes, then put them into well-warmed, wide-necked bottles, and let them become perfectly cold; pour a little good salad-oil on the top, cork them with new corks, and tie bladder over, or cover them with two separate bladders. When wanted for use, soak the mushrooms in warm water until the brine is sufficiently extracted.

Mushrooms, 1 quart; water, 1/2 gallon; salt, 1/2 lb.; peppercorns, 1 small dessertspoonful; mace, 2 blades; ginger, 1 race: 5 minutes. Mushrooms, in brine: 5 minutes.

TO PICKLE WALNUTS.

The walnuts for this pickle must be gathered while a pin can pierce them easily, for when once the shell can be felt, they have ceased to be in a proper state for it. Make sufficient brine to cover them well, with six ounces of salt to the quart of water; take off the scum, which will rise to the surface as the salt dissolves, throw in the walnuts, and stir them night and morning; change the brine every three days, and if they are wanted for immediate eating, leave them in it for twelve days; otherwise, drain them from it in nine, spread them on dishes, and let them remain exposed to the air until they become black: this will be in twelve hours, or less. Make a pickle for them with something more than half a gallon of vinegar to the hundred, a teaspoonful of salt, two ounces of black pepper, three of bruised ginger, a drachm of mace, and from a quarter to half an ounce of cloves (of which some may be stuck into three or four small onions), and four ounces of mustard-seed. Boil the whole of these together for about five minutes; have the walnuts ready in a stone jar or jars, and pour it on them as it is taken from the fire. When the pickle is quite cold, cover the jar securely, and store it in a dry place. Keep the walnuts always well covered with vinegar, and boil that which is added to them.

Walnuts, 100; in brine made with 12 oz. salt to 2 quarts water, and changed twice or more, 9 or 12 days. Vinegar, full 1/2 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; whole black pepper, 2 oz.; ginger, 3 oz.; mace, 1 drachm; cloves, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; small onions, 4 to 6; mustard-seed, 4 oz.: 5 minutes.

TO PICKLE BEET-ROOT.

Boil the beet-root tender by the directions of page 329, and when it is quite cold, pare and slice it; put it into a jar, and cover it with vinegar previously boiled and allowed to become again perfectly cold: it will soon be ready for use. It is excellent when merely covered with chili vinegar. A few small shalots may be boiled in the pickle for it when their flavour is liked. Carrots boiled tolerably tender in salt and water may be prepared by this receipt with or without the addition of the shalots, or with a few very small silver onions, which should be boiled for a minute or two in the pickle: this should be poured hot on the carrots.

To each quart of vinegar, salt, 1 teaspoonful; cayenne tied in muslin, 1/2 saltspoonful, or white peppercorns, 1/2 to whole oz.

PICKLED ESCHALOTS.

(Author’s Receipt.)

For a quart of ready-peeled eschalots, add to the same quantity of the best pale white wine vinegar, a dessertspoonful of salt, and an ounce of whole white pepper; bring these quickly to a boil, take off the scum, throw in the eschalots, simmer them for two minutes only, turn them into a clean stone jar, and when they are quite cold, tie a skin, or two folds of thick paper over it.

Eschalots, 1 quart; vinegar, 1 quart; salt, 1 dessertspoonful; whole white pepper, 1 oz.

Obs.—The sooner the eschalots are pickled after they are ripe and dry, the better they will be.

PICKLED ONIONS.

Take the smallest onions that can be procured,[173] just after they are harvested, for they are never in so good a state for the purpose as then; proceed, after having peeled them, exactly as for the eschalots, and when they begin to look clear, which will be in three or four minutes, put them into jars, and pour the pickle on them. The vinegar should be very pale, and their colour will then be exceedingly well preserved. Any favourite spices can be added to it.

173.  The Reading onion is the proper kind for pickling.

TO PICKLE LEMONS, AND LIMES.

(Excellent.)

Wipe eight fine sound lemons very clean, and make, at equal distances, four deep incisions in each, from the stalk to the blossom end, but without dividing the fruit; stuff them with as much salt as they will contain, lay them into a deep dish, and place them in a sunny window, or in some warm place for a week or ten days, keeping them often turned and basted with their own liquor; then rub them with some good pale turmeric, and put them with their juice, into a stone jar with a small head of garlic, divided into cloves and peeled, and a dozen small onions stuck with twice as many cloves. Boil in two quarts of white wine vinegar, half a pound of ginger slightly bruised, two ounces of whole black pepper, and half a pound of mustard-seed; take them from the fire and pour them directly on the lemons; cover the jar with a plate, and let them remain until the following day, then add to the pickle half a dozen capsicums (or a few chilies, if more convenient), and tie a skin and a fold of thick paper over the jar.

Large lemons stuffed with salt, 8: 8 to 10 days. Turmeric, 1 to 2 oz.; ginger, 1/2 lb.; mustard-seed, 1/2 lb.; capsicums, 6 oz.

Obs.—The turmeric and garlic may, we think, be omitted from this pickle with advantage. It will remain good for seven years if the lemons be kept well covered with vinegar: that which is added to them should be boiled and then left till cold before it is poured into the jar. They will not be fit for table in less than twelve months; but if wanted for more immediate use, set them for one night into a very cool oven: they may then be eaten almost directly.

Limes must have but slight incisions made in the rinds; and they will be sufficiently softened in four or five days. Two ounces of salt only will be required for half a dozen; and all which remains unmelted must, with their juice, be put into the jar with them before the vinegar is poured on: this should be mixed with spice and mustard-seed, and be boiling when it is added to the limes.

LEMON MANGOES.

(Author’s Original Receipt.)

All pickles of vegetables or fruit which have been emptied and filled with various ingredients, are called in England mangoes, having probably first been prepared in imitation of that fruit, but none that we have ever tasted, bearing the slightest resemblance to it. Young melons, large cucumbers, vegetable-marrow, and peaches are all thus designated when prepared as we have described. Lemons may be converted into an excellent pickle of the same description in the following manner.

After having removed from the blossom end of each a circular bit of the rind about the size of a shilling, proceed to scoop out all the pulp and skin with the handle of a teaspoon; rinse the insides of the rinds until the water from them is clear; throw them into plenty of brine made with half a pound of salt to two quarts of water, and stir them down in it often during the time. In three days change the brine, and leave them for three days longer; then drain them from it on a sieve, fill them with bruised or whole mustard-seed, very small chilies, young scraped horseradish, very small eschalots, a little ginger sliced thin, or aught else that may be liked. Sew in the parts that have been cut out, lay the lemons into a stone jar, and pour boiling on them a pickle made of their own juice, which when they are first emptied should be squeezed from the pulp through a cloth, and boiled with sufficient vinegar to keep it,—a large saltspoonful of salt, half an ounce each of ginger and of white peppercorns, and a blade or two of mace to every quart; or prepare them like the whole lemons, omitting the turmeric; and soften them if wanted for immediate eating as directed for them. They may be filled simply with mustard-seed, horseradish, and spice, if preferred so.

This receipt has been in print before, but without the author’s name.

TO PICKLE NASTURTIUMS.

These should be gathered quite young, and a portion of the buds, when very small, should be mixed with them. Prepare a pickle by dissolving an ounce and a half of salt in a quart of pale vinegar, and throw in the berries as they become fit, from day to day. They are used instead of capers for sauce, and by some persons are preferred to them. When purchased for pickling, put them at once into a jar, and cover them well with the vinegar.

TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE.

Strip off the outer leaves, wipe, and slice a fine sound cabbage or two extremely thin, sprinkle plenty of salt over them, and let them drain in a sieve, or on a strainer for twelve hours or more; shake or press the moisture from them; put them into clean stone jars, and cover them well with cold vinegar, in which an ounce of black pepper to the quart has been boiled. Some persons merely cover the vegetable with strong, unboiled vinegar, but this is not so well.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Cakes.

Modern Cake Mould.

GENERAL REMARKS ON CAKES.

Mould for Buns.

We have inserted here but a comparatively limited number of receipts for these “sweet poisons,” as they have been emphatically called, and we would willingly have diminished still further even the space which has been allotted to them, that we might have had room in their stead for others of a more really useful character; but we have felt reluctant to withdraw such a portion of any of the chapters as might materially alter the original character of the work, or cause dissatisfaction to any of our kind readers; we will therefore content ourselves with remarking, that more illness is caused by habitual indulgence in the richer and heavier kinds of cakes than would easily be credited by persons who have given no attention to the subject.

Amongst those which have the worst effects are almond, and plum pound cakes, as they are called; all varieties of the brioche; and such others as contain a large quantity of butter and eggs.

The least objectionable are simple buns, biscuits, yeast and sponge cakes, and meringues; these last being extremely light and delicate, and made of white of egg and sugar only, are really not unwholesome.

The ingredients for cakes, as well as for puddings, should all be fresh and good, as well as free from damp; the lightness of many kinds depends entirely on that given to the eggs by whisking, and by the manner in which the whole is mixed. A small portion of carbonate of soda, which will not be in the slightest degree perceptible to the taste after the cake is baked, if thrown in just before the mixture is put into the oven, will ensure its rising well.

To guard against the bitterness so often imparted by yeast when it is used for cakes or biscuits, it should be sparingly added, and the sponge should be left twice the usual time to rise. This method will be found to answer equally with bread. For example: should a couple of spoonsful of yeast be ordered in a receipt, when it is bitter, use but one, and let it stand two hours instead of half the time: the fermentation, though slow, will be quite as perfect as if it were more quickly effected, and the cake or loaf thus made will not become dry by any means as soon as if a larger portion of yeast were mixed with it.

The German yeast when fresh is preferable to any other for all light cakes, being made without hops and therefore never bitter.

All light cakes require a rather brisk oven to raise and set them; very large rich ones a well-sustained degree of heat sufficient to bake them through; and small sugar-cakes a slow oven, to prevent their taking a deep colour before they are half done: gingerbread, too, should be gently baked, unless it be of the light thick kind. Meringues, macaroons, and ratafias, will bear a slight degree more of heat than these.

For sponge and savoy cakes the moulds should be thickly and evenly buttered, and fine sugar shaken in them until they are equally covered with it: the loose sugar must be turned out before they are used.

To ascertain whether a cake be done, thrust a larding needle or bright skewer into the centre, and should this come out clean, draw it from the oven directly; but should the paste adhere to it, continue the baking. Several sheets of paper are placed usually under large plum-cakes.

Cakes are rendered heavy by moving or shaking them after they have risen in the oven, and before they have become firm. They should be gently loosened and turned from the moulds when sufficiently baked and set for a short time just at the mouth of the oven to dry the surface, then laid upon their sides on a sieve until cold.

TO BLANCH AND TO POUND ALMONDS.

Put them into a saucepan with plenty of cold water, and heat it slowly; when it is just scalding turn the almonds into a basin, peel, and throw them into cold water as they are done: dry them well in a soft cloth before they are used. If the water be too hot it will turn them yellow.

Almonds are more easily pounded, and less liable to become oily, if dried a little in a very gentle degree of heat after they are blanched; left, for example, in a warm room for two or three days, lightly spread on a large dish or tin. They should be sprinkled during the beating with a few drops of cold water, or white of egg, or lemon-juice, and pounded to a smooth paste: this is more easily done, we believe, when they are first roughly chopped, but we prefer to have them thrown at once into the mortar.

TO REDUCE ALMONDS TO A PASTE.

(The quickest and easiest way.)

Chop them a little on a large and very clean trencher, then with a paste roller (rolling-pin), which ought to be thicker in the middle than at the ends, roll them well until no small bits are perceptible amongst them. We have found this method answer admirably; but as some of the oil is expressed from the almonds by it, and absorbed by the board, we would recommend a marble slab for them in preference, when it is at hand; and should they be intended for a sweet dish, that some pounded sugar should be strewed under them. When a board or strong trencher is used, it should be rather higher in the middle than at the sides.

TO COLOUR ALMONDS OR SUGAR-GRAINS, OR SUGAR-CANDY, FOR CAKES, OR PASTRY.

Blanch, dry, and chop them rather coarsely; pour a little prepared cochineal into the hands, and roll the almonds between them until they are equally coloured; then spread them on a sheet of paper, and place them in a very gentle degree of heat to dry. Use spinach-juice (see page 455), to colour them green, and a strong infusion of saffron to give them a yellow tint. They have a pretty effect when strewed over the icing of tarts or cakes, especially the rose-coloured ones, which should be rather pale. The sugar is prepared in the same way, after being first broken into lumps, and then, with the end of a paste-roller, into grains about the size of a pea; but unless it be dry and hard, and carefully done, it will absorb too much of the cochineal: when but slightly coloured it is very ornamental dropped on the borders of creamed tourtes, or on other varieties of fine pastry. White sugar-candy broken into large grains or crystals and coloured in the same manner has a yet better effect.

TO PREPARE BUTTER FOR RICH CAKES.

For all large and very rich cakes the usual directions are, to beat the butter to a cream; but we find that they are quite as light when it is cut small and gently melted with just so much heat as will dissolve it, and no more. If it be shaken round in a saucepan previously warmed, and held near the fire for a short time, it will soon be liquefied, which is all that is required: it must on no account be hot when it is added to the other ingredients, to which it must be poured in small portions after they are all mixed, in the way which we have minutely described in the receipt for a Madeira cake, and that of the Sutherland puddings (Chapter XXI.) To cream it, drain the water well from it after it is cut, soften it a little before the fire should it be very hard, and then with the back of a large strong wooden spoon beat it until it resembles thick cream. When prepared thus, the sugar is added to it first, and then the other ingredients in succession. For plum-cakes it is better creamed than liquefied, as the fruit requires a paste of some consistence to prevent its sinking to the bottom of the mould in which it is baked. For plain seed-cakes the more simple plan answers perfectly.

TO WHISK EGGS FOR LIGHT RICH CAKES.

Break them one by one, and separate the yolks from the whites: this is done easily by pouring the yolk from one half of the shell to the other, and letting the white drop from it into a basin beneath. With a small three-pronged fork take out the specks from each egg as it is broken, that none may accidentally escape notice. Whisk the yolks until they appear light, and the whites until they are a quite solid froth; while any liquid remains at the bottom of the bowl they are not sufficiently beaten: when a portion of them, taken up with the whisk, and dropped from it, remains standing in points, they are in the proper state for use, and should be mixed with the cake directly.

SUGAR GLAZINGS AND ICINGS.

(For Fine Pastry and Cakes.)

The clear glaze which resembles barley sugar, and which requires to be as carefully guarded from damp, is given by just dipping the surface of the pastry into liquid caramel (see Chapter XXVII.); or by sifting sugar thickly over it directly it is drawn from the oven, and melting it down with a salamander, or red-hot shovel held closely over it; or by setting it again into an oven sufficiently heated to dissolve the sugar: though this latter method is not so well, as there is danger from it of the paste being scorched. To make a fine white or coloured icing, whisk, as directed above, the whites of four fresh eggs to a perfectly solid froth, then, with a wooden spoon or spatula, mix gradually with them one pound of the best sugar, which has been dried, and sifted through a fine sieve: work them together for a minute or two, and add less than a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice; spread it even over the cake or pastry, and dry it very gently indeed, either in a quite cool oven, or in a meat screen placed before the fire. From the difference in the size of eggs, a little more or less of sugar may be required for this icing. It may be coloured with a very few drops of prepared cochineal to give it a rose tint.

Whites of eggs beaten to snow, 4; sugar, 1 lb.; lemon-juice, small dessertspoonful.

ORANGE-FLOWER MACAROONS. (DELICIOUS.)

Have ready two pounds of very dry white sifted sugar. Weigh two ounces of the petals of freshly gathered orange-blossoms after they have been picked from the stems; and cut them very small with a pair of scissors into the sugar, as they will become discoloured if not mixed with it quickly after they are cut. When all are done, add the whites of seven eggs, and whisk the whole well together until it looks like snow; then drop the mixture on paper without delay, and send the cakes to a very cool oven.

Pounded sugar, 2 lbs.; orange-blossoms, 2 oz.; whites of eggs, 7:20 minutes or more.

Obs.—It is almost impossible to state with accuracy the precise time required for these cakes, so much depends on the oven: they should be very delicately coloured, and yet dried through.

ALMOND MACAROONS.

Blanch a pound of fresh Jordan almonds, wipe them dry, and set them into a very cool oven to render them perfectly so; pound them to an exceedingly smooth paste, with a little white of egg, then whisk to a firm solid froth the white of seven eggs, or of eight, should they be small; mix with them a pound and a half of the finest sugar; add these by degrees to the almonds, whisk the whole up well together, and drop the mixture upon wafer-paper, which may be procured at the confectioner’s: bake the cakes in a moderate oven a very pale brown. It is an improvement to their flavour to substitute an ounce of bitter almonds for one of the sweet. They are sometimes made with an equal weight of each; and another variety of them is obtained by gently browning the almonds in a slow oven before they are pounded.

Jordan almonds blanched, 1 lb.; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.; whites of 7 or 8 eggs: 15 to 20 minutes.

VERY FINE COCOA-NUT MACAROONS.

Rasp a fresh cocoa-nut, spread it on a dish or tin, and let it dry gradually for a couple of days, if it can be done conveniently; add to it double its weight of fine sifted sugar, and the whites of eight eggs beaten to a solid froth (see page 543), to the pound. Roll the mixture into small balls, place them on a buttered tin, and bake them in a very gentle oven about twenty minutes. Move them from the tin while they are warm, and store them in a very dry canister as soon as they are cold.

Cocoa-nut, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 1 lb.; whites of eggs, 8: very gentle oven, 20 minutes.

IMPERIALS. (NOT VERY RICH.)

Work into a pound of flour six ounces of butter, and mix well with them half a pound of sifted sugar, six ounces of currants, two ounces of candied orange-peel, the grated rind of a lemon, and four well-beaten eggs. Flour a tin lightly, and with a couple of forks place the paste upon it in small rough heaps quite two inches apart. Bake them in a very gentle oven, from a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, or until they are equally coloured to a pale brown.

Flour 1 lb.; butter, 6 oz.; sugar, 8 oz.; currants, 6 oz.; candied peel, 2 oz.; rind of 1 lemon; eggs, 4: 15 to 20 minutes.

FINE ALMOND CAKE.

Blanch, dry, and pound to the finest possible paste, eight ounces of fresh Jordan almonds, and one ounce of bitter; moisten them with a few drops of cold water or white of egg, to prevent their oiling; then mix with them very gradually twelve fresh eggs which have been whisked until they are exceedingly light; throw in by degrees one pound of fine, dry, sifted sugar, and keep the mixture light by constant beating, with a large wooden spoon, as the separate ingredients are added. Mix in by degrees three-quarters of a pound of dried and sifted flour of the best quality; then pour gently from the sediment a pound of butter which has been just melted, but not allowed to become hot, and beat it very gradually, but very thoroughly, into the cake, letting one portion entirely disappear before another is thrown in; add the rasped or finely-grated rinds of two sound fresh lemons, fill a thickly-buttered mould rather more than half full with the mixture, and bake the cake from an hour and a half to two hours in a well-heated oven. Lay paper over the top when it is sufficiently coloured, and guard carefully against its being burned.

Jordan almonds, 1/2 lb.; bitter almonds, 1 oz.; eggs, 12; sugar, 1 lb.; flour, 3/4 lb.; butter, 1 lb.; rinds lemons, 2: 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Obs.—Three-quarters of a pound of almonds may be mixed with this cake when so large a portion of them is liked, but an additional ounce or two of sugar, and one egg or more, will then be required.

PLAIN POUND OR CURRANT CAKE.

(Or rich Brawn Brack, or Borrow Brack.)

Mix, as directed in the foregoing receipt, ten eggs (some cooks take a pound in weight of these), one pound of sugar, one of flour, and as much of butter. For a plum-cake, let the butter be worked to a cream; add the sugar to it first, then the yolks of the eggs, next stir lightly in the whites, after which, add one pound of currants and the candied peel, and, last of all, the flour by degrees, and a glass of brandy when it is liked. Nearly or quite two hours’ baking will be required for this, and one hour for half the quantity.

To convert the above into the popular Irish “speckled bread,” or Brawn Brack of the richer kind, add to it three ounces of carraway-seeds: these are sometimes used in combination with the currants, but more commonly without. To ice a cake see the receipt for Sugar Glazings at the commencement of this Chapter, page 543. A rose-tint may be given to the icing with a little prepared cochineal, as we have said there.

RICE CAKE.

Take six eggs, with their weight in fine sugar, and in butter also, and half their weight of flour of rice, and half of wheaten flour; make the cake as directed for the Madeira or almond cake, but throw in the rice after the flour; then add the butter in the usual way, and bake the cake about an hour and ten minutes. Give any flavour that is liked. The butter may be altogether omitted. This is a moderate-sized cake.

Eggs, in the shell, 6; their weight in butter and in sugar; half as much flour of rice, and the same of wheaten flour: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

WHITE CAKE.

Beat half a pound of fresh butter to a cream, add to it an equal weight of dried and sifted sugar, the yolks and whites of eight eggs, separately whisked, two ounces of candied orange-peel, half a teaspoonful of mace, a glass of brandy, one pound of flour strewed in by degrees, and last of all a pound and a quarter of currants. Directly it is mixed send the cake to a well-heated oven, and bake it for two hours. Four ounces of pounded almonds are sometimes added to it.

Butter, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; eggs, 8; mace, 1/2 teaspoonful; brandy, 1 wineglassful; flour, 1 lb.; candied-peel, 2 oz.; currants, 1-1/2 lb.: 2 hours.

A GOOD SPONGE CAKE.

Rasp on some lumps of well-refined sugar the rind of a fine sound lemon, and scrape off the part which has imbibed the essence, or crush the lumps to powder, and add them to as much more as will make up the weight of eight or ten fresh eggs in the shell; break these one by one, and separate the whites from the yolks; beat the latter in a large bowl for ten minutes, then strew in the sugar gradually, and beat them well together. In the mean time let the whites be whisked to a quite solid froth, add them to the yolks, and when they are well blended sift and stir the flour gently to them, but do not beat it into the mixture; pour the cake into a well-buttered mould, and bake it an hour and a quarter in a moderate oven.

Rasped rind, 1 large lemon; fresh eggs, 8 or 10; their weight of dry, sifted sugar; and half their weight of flour: baked, 1-1/4 hour, moderate oven.

A SMALLER SPONGE CAKE.

(Very good.)

Five full-sized eggs, the weight of four in sugar, and of nearly three in flour, will make an exceedingly good cake: it may be flavoured, like the preceding one, with lemon-rind, or with bitter almonds, vanilla, or confected orange-blossoms reduced to powder. An hour will bake it thoroughly. All the ingredients for sponge cakes should be of good quality, and the sugar and flour should be dry; they should also be passed through a fine sieve kept expressly for such purposes. The excellence of the whole depends much on the manner in which the eggs are whisked: this should be done as lightly as possible, but it is a mistake to suppose that they cannot be too long beaten, as after they are brought to a state of perfect firmness they are injured by a continuation of the whisking, and will at times curdle, and render a cake heavy from this cause.

FINE VENETIAN CAKE OR CAKES.

Take of sound Jordan almonds, blanched and well dried at the mouth of a cool oven or in a sunny window, seven ounces, full weight, and one of bitter almonds with them; pound the whole to a perfect paste with a few drops of white of egg or orange-flower water; then mix them thoroughly with one pound of flour and eight ounces of butter (which should be cool and firm, or it will render the paste too soft), and break this down quite small; then add eight ounces of pounded sugar, on part of which the rind of a fine lemon has been rasped previously to its being crushed to powder. Make these into a paste with the yolks of four eggs, or with rather less should they be large, for if too moist, it will adhere to the board and roller. To make a Venetian cake of moderate size, roll the paste less than a quarter of an inch thick, and cut with the larger fluted cutter, shown at page 376, six or seven portions of equal size; lay them on lightly floured or buttered tins, and bake them in a slow oven until they are firm and crisp, and equally coloured of a pale brown. Should they seem to require it, lay them one on the other, while they are still warm, and place a baking-tin, with a slight weight upon them to render them quite level. When they are cold, spread upon each a different kind of choice preserve, and pile the whole evenly into the form of an entire cake. The top may be iced, and decorated with pistachio-nuts, or grains of coloured sugar, or with a wreath of almond-paste leaves. There are many varieties of this dish, which is known by different names in different countries. It is sometimes called a Neapolitan Cake, sometimes a Thousand Leaf Cake à la Française. It is occasionally made entirely of almond-paste, and highly decorated; it may be formed also of many layers of puff or fine short crust cut of uniform size, or gradually less, so as to leave round each a clear border of an inch wide, which may be covered with coloured icing, or ornamented with preserved fruit, tinted almonds, grains of white or pink sugar candy, or aught else that the fancy may direct.

To make the small Venetian cakes, roll the paste directed for the large one at the commencement of this receipt, into balls, flatten them with the hand to about the third of an inch thick, brush them with beaten egg, and cover them plentifully with white sugar-candy crushed about half the size of a pea: bake them in a slow oven.

Almonds, 8 oz.; flour, 1 lb.; butter, 8 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; rind of 1 lemon; yolks of eggs, 3 to 4; preserve as needed.

A GOOD MADEIRA CAKE.

Whisk four fresh eggs until they are as light as possible, then, continuing still to whisk them, throw in by slow degrees the following ingredients in the order in which they are written: six ounces of dry, pounded, and sifted sugar; six of flour, also dried and sifted; four ounces of butter just dissolved, but not heated; the rind of a fresh lemon; and the instant before the cake is moulded, beat well in the third of a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda: bake it an hour in a moderate oven. In this, as in all compositions of the same nature, observe particularly that each portion of butter must be beaten into the mixture until no appearance of it remains before the next is added; and if this be done, and the preparation be kept light by constant and light whisking, the cake will be as good, if not better, than if the butter were creamed. Candied citron can be added to the paste, but it is not needed.

Eggs, 4; sugar, 6 oz.; flour, 6 oz.; butter, 4 oz.; rind of 1 lemon; carbonate of soda, 1/3 of teaspoonful: 1 hour, moderate oven.

A SOLIMEMNE.

A rich French breakfast cake, or Sally Lunn.

From three-quarters of a pound of flour take three ounces for the leaven, and make it into a lithe paste with half an ounce of solid, well-washed yeast (see Chapter XXXI.), mixed with two or three tablespoonsful of just warm cream, or new milk; throw a cloth over and leave it near the fire to rise for about half an hour, or until it is twice its original size. In the interim make a hollow in the centre of the remainder of the flour, and put into it a quarter of an ounce of fine salt, one ounce of pounded sugar, the yolks of four fresh eggs, four ounces of lukewarm butter, and a couple of tablespoonsful of cream, also warm. Mix the whole gently and carefully into a perfectly smooth paste, flatten it with the hand upon the dresser, spread the leaven over it, and blend them thoroughly with light kneading, as directed for brioche paste, page 349. The whole should be of the same colour throughout.

Next, put it into a small, well-buttered copper stewpan, or plain cake-mould, and let it remain in a moderately warm place until it has risen, like the leaven, to double its original size; then with a paste-brush or feather wash the top with beaten egg, and without disturbing it, set it into a tolerably quick oven, and bake it nearly or quite an hour; but do not allow it to be too deeply coloured. Turn it from the mould, cut it once or twice asunder, and pour over the slices plenty of good butter, just dissolved in a small saucepan; put the cake together again, and serve it immediately. It may be converted into an excellent entremets by spreading currant, or other fine jelly, or preserve, quickly upon it when it is cut, and sifting sugar thickly on the top after it is restored to its proper form: it is then called a Dresden cake. We think that when left until cold and toasted, the solimemne is even better than when served hot. It will be many hours rising; sometimes as many as six or eight. If wanted for breakfast it should be made over night.

Flour 3/4 lb.; yeast, 1/2 oz.; little cream; salt, 1/4 oz.; sugar, 1 oz.; yolks of eggs, 4; butter, 4 oz.: to rise from 6 to 8 hours. Baked 1 hour.

BANBURY CAKES.

First, mix well together a pound of currants, cleaned with great nicety and dried, a quarter-pound of beef suet, finely minced, three ounces each of candied orange and lemon-rind, shred small, a few grains of salt, a full quarter-ounce of pounded cinnamon and nutmeg mixed, and four ounces of macaroons or ratafias rolled to powder. Next, make a light paste with fourteen ounces of butter to the pound of flour; give it an extra turn or two to prevent its rising too much in the oven; roll out one half in a very thin square, and spread the mixed fruit and spice equally upon it; moisten the edges, lay on the remaining half of the paste, rolled equally thin, press the edges securely together, mark the whole with the back of a knife in regular divisions of two inches wide and three in length, bake the pastry in a well-heated oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes, and divide it into cakes while it is still warm. They may be served as a second course dish either hot or cold, and may be glazed at pleasure.

Currants, 1 lb.; beef-suet, 4 oz.; candied orange and lemon-rind each, 3 oz.; salt, small pinch; mixed spices, 1/4 oz.; macaroons or ratafias, 4 oz.: baked 25 to 30 minutes.

MERINGUES.

Whisk, to the firmest possible froth, the whites of six very fresh eggs, taking every precaution against a particle of the yolk falling in amongst them. Lay some squares or long strips of writing-paper closely upon a board or upon very clean trenchers, which ought to be nearly or quite an inch thick, to prevent the meringues from receiving any colour from the bottom of the oven. When all is ready, mix with the eggs three-quarters of a pound of the finest sugar, well dried, and sifted; stir them together for half a minute, then with a table or dessertspoon lay the mixture quickly on the papers in the form of a half-egg, sift sugar over them without delay, blow off with the bellows all that does not adhere, and set the meringues into a gentle oven. The process must be expeditious, or the sugar melting will cause the cakes to spread, instead of retaining the shape of the spoon, as they ought. The whole art of making them, indeed, appears to us to consist in preserving their proper form, and the larger the proportion of sugar worked into the eggs, the more easily this will be done. When they are coloured to a light brown, and are firm to the touch, draw them out, turn the papers gently over, separating the meringues from them, and with a teaspoon scoop out sufficient of the insides to form a space for some whipped cream or preserve, and put them again into the oven upon clean sheets of paper, with the moist sides uppermost, to dry: when they are crisp through they are done. Let them become cold; fill, and then join them together with a little white of egg so as to give them the appearance shown in the plate. Spikes of pistachio nuts, or almonds, can be stuck over them, as represented there, at pleasure. They afford always, if well made, a second course dish of elegant appearance, and they are equally ornamental to breakfasts or suppers of ceremony. They are made in perfection by the pastry-cooks in France, being equally light, delicate, and delicious. Much of their excellence, it must be observed, depends at all times on the attention they receive in the baking, as well as in the previous preparation. They must, of course, be quite cold before the preserve or cream is laid into them. From four to six ounces of almonds, finely powdered, may be smoothly mixed with the other ingredients for them; and they may be flavoured with citron, lemon, or orange-rind by rasping the skins of the fruit with part of the sugar with which they are to be made; then drying, and reducing it to powder.

Whites of very fresh eggs, 6; sugar, 3/4 lb.: gentle oven, 20 to 30 minutes.

ITALIAN MERINGUES.

Take for these the proportion of whites of eggs and sugar already indicated in the receipt for Nesselrôde pudding, page 491, that is to say, six to the pound, or half that quantity for a small number of meringues. Boil the sugar with a pint of water until it whitens, and begins to fall in flakes from the skimmer; have the eggs whisked to a perfectly solid froth quite ready at the proper moment, and when the sugar has stood for two or three minutes, and been worked well from the sides of the pan, mingle them gradually, but very quickly, with it, that the mass may be quite smooth; continue to stir them until they become firm enough to retain their shape perfectly when moulded with a teaspoon; lay out the cakes on paper, and place them in an oven so slow as to harden without giving them colour. As they are not to be filled, but merely fastened together, they may be baked on tins. Part of them may be varied by the addition of three or four ounces of pounded almonds mixed thoroughly with the remainder of the eggs and sugar, when a portion of the meringues have been moulded: these, however, will require to be much longer baked than the others; but they will be excellent. They should be lightly browned, and crisp quite through.

Sugar, 1 lb.; water, 1 pint; whites of eggs, 6: very slow oven, 20 to 30 minutes, or longer.

THICK, LIGHT GINGERBREAD.

Crumble down very small, eight ounces of butter into a couple of pounds of flour, then add to, and mix thoroughly with them, half a pound of good brown sugar, two ounces of powdered ginger, and half an ounce of ground carraway-seeds; beat gradually to these, first two pounds of treacle, next three well-whisked eggs, and last of all half an ounce of carbonate of soda,[174] dissolved in a very small cupful of warm water; stir the whole briskly together, pour the mixture into very shallow tins, put it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it for an hour and a half. The gingerbread made thus will be remarkably light and good. For children part of the spice and butter may be omitted.

174.  This should always be of the very best quality when used for cakes. Carbonate of ammonia is recommended in preference to it by some writers.

Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 8 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; powdered ginger, 2 oz.; eggs, 3; carbonate of soda, 1/2 oz.; water, very small cupful: baked 1-1/2 hour.

Obs.—We think that something less than the half ounce of soda would be sufficient for this gingerbread, for with the whole quantity it rises in the oven to three times its height, and is apt to run over the tops of the tins, even when they are but half filled with it at first; or if it were well beaten into the mass without any water, after being carefully freed from lumps and mixed with a little sugar, the cake would still be quite light.

ACTON GINGERBREAD.

Whisk four strained or well-cleared eggs to the lightest possible froth (French eggs, if really sweet, will answer for the purpose), and pour to them, by degrees, a pound and a quarter of treacle, still beating them lightly. Add, in the same manner, six ounces of pale brown sugar free from lumps, one pound of sifted flour, and six ounces of good butter, just sufficiently warmed to be liquid, and no more, for if hot, it would render the cake heavy; it should be poured in small portions to the mixture, which should be well beaten up with the back of a wooden spoon as each portion is thrown in: the success of the cake depends almost entirely on this part of the process. When properly mingled with the mass, the butter will not be perceptible on the surface; and if the cake be kept light by constant whisking, large bubbles will appear in it to the last. When it is so far ready, add to it one ounce of Jamaica ginger and a large teaspoonful of cloves in fine powder, with the lightly grated rinds of two fresh full-sized lemons. Butter thickly, in every part, a shallow square tin pan, and bake the gingerbread slowly for nearly or quite an hour in a gentle oven. Let it cool a little before it is turned out, and set it on its edge until cold, supporting it, if needful, against a large jar or bowl. We have usually had it baked in an American oven, in a tin less than two inches deep; and it has been excellent. We retain the name given to it originally in our own circle.

CHEAP AND VERY GOOD GINGER OVEN-CAKE OR CAKES.

Four French eggs (which must be perfectly sweet, or small English ones), six ounces of brown sugar of good quality rolled smooth and fine, six ounces of flour, three of butter, a grain or two of salt, some grated lemon-rind or candied peel sliced very thin, and half an ounce or more of ginger in fine powder. Prepare and mix these ingredients in the order in which they are written, by the directions for “Acton Gingerbread.” Bake the cake nearly the same time. An American oven will answer for it perfectly, and it will resemble a really rich cake, though so cheap. A small quantity of carbonate of soda may be added quite at last by inexpert cake-makers, to insure its being light. The same mixture may be baked in small cups or tins in an iron oven. For a cake of tolerable size half as much again of the ingredients must be taken, and the whole poured into a round or square cake-mould.

GOOD COMMON GINGERBREAD.

Work very smoothly six ounces of fresh butter (or some that has been well washed from the salt, and wrung dry in a cloth) into one pound of flour, and mix with them thoroughly an ounce of ginger in fine powder, four ounces of brown sugar, and half a teaspoonful of beaten cloves and mace. Wet these with three-quarters of a pound of cold treacle, or rather more, if needful; roll out the paste, cut the cakes with a round tin cutter, lay them on a floured or buttered baking tin, and put them into a very slow oven. Lemon-grate or candied peel can be added, when it is liked.

Flour, 1 lb.; butter, 6 oz.; sugar, 1/4 lb.; ginger, 1 oz.; cloves and mace, 1/2 teaspoonful; treacle, 3/4 lb.: 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

RICHER GINGERBREAD.

Melt together three-quarters of a pound of treacle and half a pound of fresh butter, and pour them hot on a pound of flour mixed with half a pound of sugar and three-quarters of an ounce of ginger. When the paste is quite cold, roll it out with as much more flour as will prevent its adhering to the board: bake the cakes in a very gentle oven.

COCOA-NUT GINGERBREAD.

(Original Receipts.)

Mix well together ten ounces of fine wheaten flour, and six of flour of rice (or rice ground to powder), the grated rind of a lemon, and three-quarters of an ounce of ginger: pour nearly boiling upon these a pound of treacle, five ounces of fresh butter, and five of sugar, melted together in a saucepan; beat the mixture, which will be almost a batter, with a wooden spoon, and when quite smooth leave it until it is perfectly cold, then add to it five ounces of grated cocoa-nut, and when it is thoroughly blended with the other ingredients, lay the paste in small heaps upon a buttered tin, and bake them in very slow oven from half to three-quarters of an hour.

Flour, 10 oz.; ground rice, 6 oz.; rind of 1 lemon; ginger, 3/4 oz.; treacle, 1 lb.; sugar, 5 oz.; butter, 5 oz.; cocoa-nut, 5 oz.: 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

Or: Flour, 1/2 lb.; ground rice, 1/2 lb.; ginger, 3/4 oz.; rind of 1 lemon; butter, 5 oz.; sugar, 5 oz.; treacle, 1 lb.; cocoa-nut, 6-1/2 oz.

Obs.—The cakes made by them are excellent.

A DELICIOUS CREAM-CAKE AND SWEET RUSKS.

When in very sultry weather cream becomes acid from being sent to a distance, or from other causes, it may still be made available for delicate pastry-crust, and superlative cakes, biscuits, and bread; but if ever so slightly putrid it will be fit only to be thrown away. The following receipt is given exactly as it was used with perfect success on the thought of the moment, when we first had it tried. Crumble down five ounces of good butter into a pound of fine flour, then mix thoroughly with them half a pound of sifted sugar, a few grains of salt, and two ounces of candied citron or orange-rind sliced thin; add something more than half a pint of thick and rather sour cream mixed with two well whisked eggs, and just before the paste is put into the moulds, which should be buttered in every part and only two-thirds filled, beat thoroughly into it half a teaspoonful of the very best carbonate of soda, which has been perfectly blended with twice the quantity of sugar and of flour, and rubbed through a fine sieve, or worked to the smoothest powder in a mortar, or in any other way.

For the convenience of having it baked in a small iron oven, this quantity was divided into two cakes, one of which was gently pulled apart with a couple of forks while still hot, and then set again into the oven and crisped with a gentle heat quite through: it was thus converted into the very nicest sweet rusks. Sufficient cream should be used for the cakes to convert the ingredients into a very lithe paste or thick batter, which can be properly worked or mixed with a wooden spoon, with the back of which it should be very lightly beaten up before it is moulded. About three-quarters of an hour will bake it in a moderate oven. It should be firm on the surface—as all light cakes should be—that it may not sink and become heavy after it is drawn out. Turn it from the mould, and lay it on its side upon a sieve reversed, to cool.

A GOOD LIGHT LUNCHEON-CAKE AND BROWN BRACK.

Break down four ounces of butter into a couple of pounds of flour, and work it quite into crumbs, but handle it very lightly; mix in a pinch of salt and four ounces of pounded sugar; hollow the centre, and stir into it a large tablespoonful of solid well-washed yeast (or an ounce of German yeast which will ferment more quickly), diluted with three-quarters of a pint of warm new milk; when sufficient of the surrounding flour is mixed with it to form a thick batter strew more flour on the top, lay a cloth once or twice folded together over the pan, and let it remain until the leaven has become very light: this it will generally be in an hour and a quarter, or, at the utmost, in an hour and a half. The fermentation may be quickened by increasing the proportion of yeast, but this is better avoided, as it may chance to render the cake bitter; additional time, however, must always be allowed for it to rise when but a small quantity is used. When the leaven is at the proper height, add to a couple of well whisked eggs, sufficient nearly-boiling milk to warm them, and mix them with the other ingredients; then beat well into the cake by degrees, eight ounces more of pounded sugar, and half a grated nutmeg; cut from two to three ounces of candied citron thin, and strew over it; leave it again to rise, as before, for about three-quarters of an hour; mix the citron equally with it, put it into a thickly buttered tin or earthen pan, and bake it in a quick oven for an hour and ten minutes at the least, and after it is placed in it let it not be moved until it is quite set, or it will possibly be heavy at the top. The grated rinds of a couple of lemons will improve its flavour. Fine Lisbon sugar can be used to sweeten it instead of pounded, but the difference of expense would be very slight, and the cake would not be so good; the quantity can, of course, be diminished when it is considered too much. Three-quarters of a pound of currants can, at choice, be substituted for the citron. Three ounces of carraway seeds will convert it into common brown brack, or Irish seed-cake. For the manner of purifying yeast, see Chapter XXXI.

A VERY CHEAP LUNCHEON BISCUIT, OR NURSERY CAKE.

Two or three pounds of white bread dough taken when ready for the oven, will make a good light biscuit if well managed, with the addition of from half to three-quarters of a pound of sugar, a very small quantity of butter, and a few currants, or carraway-seeds, or a teaspoonful of mixed spices. The dough should be rather firm; the butter should first be well kneaded into it in small portions, then the sugar added in the same way, and next the currants or spice. The whole should be perfectly and equally mingled, flour being slightly dredged upon it as it is worked, if needful. It must then be allowed to rise until it is very light, when it should again be kneaded down, but not heavily; and when it has once more risen, it should be sent without delay to the oven. An ounce of butter to the pound of dough will be sufficient for it. Much richer cakes can be made thus, and they will be extremely good if care be taken to let them rise sufficiently before they are baked. We regret that we cannot multiply our receipts for them. Sultana raisins are an excellent substitute for currants in these and other common cakes.

ISLE OF WIGHT DOUGH-NUTS.

Work smoothly together with the fingers four ounces of good lard, and four pounds of flour; add half a pound of fine brown sugar, two tablespoonsful of allspice, one drachm of pounded cinnamon, half as much of cloves, two large blades of mace, beaten to powder, two tablespoonsful of fresh yeast which has been watered for one night, and which should be solid, and as much new milk as will make the whole into a rather firm dough; let this stand from an hour to an hour and a half near the fire, then knead it well, and make it into balls about the size of a small apple; hollow them with the thumb, and enclose a few currants in the middle; gather the paste well over them, and throw the dough-nuts into a saucepan half filled with boiling lard; when they are equally coloured to a fine brown, lift them out and dry them before the fire on the back of a sieve. When they are made in large quantities, as they are at certain seasons in the island, they are drained upon very clean straw. The lard should boil only just before they are dropped into it, or the outsides will be scorched before the insides are sufficiently done.

Flour, 4 lbs.; lard, 4 oz.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; allspice, 2 tablespoonsful; pounded cinnamon, 1 drachm; cloves and mace, each 1/2 drachm; yeast (solid), two large tablespoonsful: to rise, 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Currants, at choice: dough-nuts boiled in lard, 5 to 7 minutes.

QUEEN CAKES.

To make these, proceed exactly as for the pound currant-cake of page 546, but bake the mixture in small well-buttered tin pans (heart-shaped ones are usual), in a somewhat brisk oven, for about twenty minutes.

JUMBLES.

Rasp on some good sugar the rinds of two lemons; dry, reduce it to powder, and sift it with as much more as will make up a pound in weight; mix with it one pound of flour, four well-beaten eggs, and six ounces of warm butter: drop the mixture on buttered tins, and bake the jumbles in a very slow oven from twenty to thirty minutes. They should be pale, but perfectly crisp.

A GOOD SODA CAKE.

Break down half a pound[175] of fresh butter into a pound of fine dry flour, and work it into very small crumbs; mix well with these half a pound of sifted sugar, and pour to them first, a quarter of a pint of boiling milk, and next, three well-whisked eggs; add some grated nutmeg, or fresh lemon-rind, and eight ounces of currants, cleaned and dried; beat the whole well and lightly together, then strew in a very small teaspoonful of good carbonate of soda in the finest powder, which has been rubbed through a sieve and well mixed with a little sugar, and again beat the cake well and lightly for three or four minutes; put it into a buttered mould, and bake it from an hour to an hour and a quarter; or divide it in two, when three-quarters of an hour will be sufficient for each part.

175.  Six ounces would to many tastes be quite sufficient, and the less butter the cake contains the better.

Flour, 1 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 1/2 lb.; boiling milk, full 1/4 pint; eggs, 3; currants, 1/2 lb.; good carbonate of soda, 1 very small teaspoonful: 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Or: divided in two, 1/2 to 3/4 hour.

Obs.—This, if carefully made, resembles a pound cake, but is much less expensive, and far more wholesome, while it has the advantage of being very expeditiously prepared. Great care, however, must be taken to avoid mixing with it too large a proportion, or a coarse quality of soda; as either will impart to it a far from agreeable flavour.

GOOD SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD.

With one pound of flour mix well two ounces of sifted sugar, and one of candied orange-rind or citron, sliced small; make these into a paste with from eight to nine ounces of good butter, made sufficiently warm to be liquid; press the paste together with the hands, and mould it upon tins into large cakes nearly an inch thick, pinch the edges, and bake the shortbread in a moderate oven for twenty minutes, or longer, should it not be quite crisp, but do not allow it to become deeply coloured.

Flour, 1 lb.; sugar, 2 oz.; candied orange or citron, 1 oz.; butter, 8 to 9 oz.: 20 minutes or more.

Obs.—This, to many persons, is a very indigestible compound, though agreeable to the taste.

A GALETTE.

The galette is a favourite cake in France, and may be made rich and comparatively delicate, or quite common, by using more or less butter for it, and by augmenting or diminishing the size. Work lightly three-quarters of a pound of good butter into a pound of flour, add a large saltspoonful of salt, and make these into a paste with the yolks of a couple of eggs mixed with a small cupful of good cream, or simply with water; roll this into a complete round, three-quarters of an inch thick; score it in small diamonds, brush yolk of egg over the top, and bake the galette for about half an hour in a tolerably quick oven: it is usually eaten hot, but is served cold also. An ounce of sifted sugar is sometimes added to it.

A good galette: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 3/4 lb.; salt, 1 saltspoonful; yolks of eggs, 2; cream, small cupful: baked 1/2 hour. Common galette: flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 3/4 to 1 lb.; no eggs.

SMALL SUGAR CAKES OF VARIOUS KINDS.

To make very sweet rich sugar cakes mingle, first working it very small with the fingers, half a pound of butter with each pound of flour: if more than this proportion be used the paste will be too soft to permit the addition of the proper number of eggs. Next, blend thoroughly with these three-quarters of a pound of dry sifted sugar, and the grated rinds of two small fresh lemons (for lemon-cakes the strained juice of one is generally added), or a dessertspoonful of cinnamon freshly pounded; or from one ounce to two ounces of carraway-seeds; or a similar proportion of the finest powdered ginger; or three-quarters of a pound of very dry well cleaned currants. A slight pinch of salt should be thrown in with the sugar. If to be made into flat cakes proceed to moisten these ingredients gradually with from two eggs to four slightly whisked, and when they form a firm paste, proceed quickly to roll and to stamp them out with a cake tin; for as the sugar dissolves with the moisture of the eggs, the paste will otherwise become so lithe as to adhere to the board and roller. When it is to be merely dropped on the baking-sheets, it will require an additional egg or more. The cakes should then be placed quite two inches apart, as they will spread in the baking.

Five ounces of butter with six of sugar to the pound of flour, two large eggs, and a small quantity of milk, will be sufficient for quite cheap sugar cakes: any flavour can be given to them as to those which precede, and they can be rendered more or less sweet to the taste by altering the proportion of sugar: this should always be sifted, or at least reduced quite to powder, before it is used for them. One ounce more of butter will render them very good. They should be rolled a quarter of an inch thick.

Rich: to each lb. of flour, butter, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 3/4 lb.; eggs, 2 to 4. (Lemon-rinds, cinnamon, carraway-seeds, or ginger, or currants at choice), small pinch of salt. Slow oven about 20 minutes.

Obs.—The cakes should be but lightly coloured, and yet baked quite through.

FLEED OR FLEAD CAKES.

These are very much served as a tea-cake at the tables of the superior order of Kentish farmers. For the mode of making them, proceed as for flead-crust (see Chapter XVI.); cut the cakes small with a round cutter, and leave them more than half an inch thick: if well made they will rise much in the oven. Bake them rather quickly, but keep them pale.

Flour, 2 lbs.; flead, 1-1/4 lb.; butter, 6 oz.: baked 10 to 15 minutes.

LIGHT BUNS OF DIFFERENT KINDS.

Quite plain buns without butter.—Very good light buns may be made entirely without butter, but they must be tolerably fresh when served. To make them, dilute very smoothly an ounce of sweet German yeast or a large tablespoonful of quite solid and well washed English yeast with a pint of warm new milk; mix this immediately with as much flour as it will convert into a rather thick batter, throw a double cloth over the pan, and place it where the warmth of the fire will search, without heating it. When it is well risen and bubbles appear on the top, add a little salt, some pounded sugar, and as much flour as will form it into a light dough. Leave it to rise again, when it will probably be too little firm for moulding with the fingers, and must be beaten up with a strong wooden spoon and put into cups or tin pans slightly buttered, to be baked. The buns should be sent to a quick oven, and baked until the entire surface is well browned. These directions may appear to the reader somewhat vague; but we must frankly state that we have no precise memorandum by us of this receipt, though we have had buns made by it very successfully in former years: we cannot, however, exactly recall the proportion of flour which was used for them, but believe it was about two pounds. For this quantity half a pound of sugar would be sufficient. The batter will be a long time rising to the proper height; an hour and a half or two hours. Currants, carraways, nutmeg, or mixed spices, can always be added at discretion.

It is usual to strew a few currants on the tops of the buns before they are baked.

To render them richer and firmer, it is merely necessary to diminish the proportion of milk, and to crumble up very small two or more ounces of butter in the flour which is added to the batter after it has risen. When again quite light, the dough may then be rolled into balls, and placed on flat tins some inches apart until they have spread to the proper shape. Confectioners generally wash the tops with milk, and sift a little sugar over them.

Exeter Buns.—These are somewhat celebrated in the city whose name they bear, especially those of one maker whose secret for them we have recently obtained. Instead of being made into a dough with milk, Devonshire cream is used for them, either entirely or in part. If very thick, a portion of water should be added to it, or the yeast would not ferment freely. The better plan is to dilute it with a quarter of a pint or rather more of warm water, and when it is sufficiently risen to make up the buns lightly, like bread, with the cream, which must also be warm; then to proceed by the receipt given above.

PLAIN DESSERT OR WINE BISCUITS, AND GINGER BISCUITS.

Rub very small indeed, two ounces of fresh butter into a pound of flour, and make it into a stiff paste with new milk. Roll it out half an inch thick, and cut the biscuits with a round cutter the size of half-a-crown. Pile them one on the other until all are done; then roll them out very thin, prick them, and lay them on lightly-floured tins, the pricked side downwards: a few minutes will bake them, in a moderate oven. They should be very crisp, and but slightly browned.

For the Ginger Biscuits.—Three ounces of good butter, with two pounds of flour, then add three ounces of pounded sugar and two of ginger in fine powder, and knead them into a stiff paste, with new milk. Roll it thin, stamp out the biscuits with a cutter, and bake them in a slow oven until they are crisp quite through, but keep them of a pale colour. A couple of eggs are sometimes mixed with the milk for them, but are no material improvement: an additional ounce of sugar may be used when a sweeter biscuit is liked.

Plain biscuits: flour 1 lb.; butter, 2 oz.; new milk about 1/2 pint. Ginger biscuits: flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 3 oz.; ginger, 2 oz.

THREADNEEDLE STREET BISCUITS.

Mix with two pounds of sifted flour of the very best quality three ounces of good butter, and work it into the smallest possible crumbs; add four ounces of fine, dry, sifted sugar, and make them into a firm paste with new milk; beat this forcibly for some time with a rolling-pin, and when it is extremely smooth roll it the third of an inch thick, cut it with a small square cutter, and bake the biscuits in a very slow oven until they are crisp to the centre: no part of them should remain soft. Half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda is said to improve them, but we have not put it to the test. Carraway-seeds can be added when they are liked.

Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; new milk, 1 pint or more: biscuits slowly baked until crisp.

GOOD CAPTAIN’S BISCUITS.

Make some fine white flour into a very smooth paste with new milk; divide it into small balls; roll them out, and afterwards pull them with the fingers as thin as possible; prick them all over, and bake them in a somewhat brisk oven from ten to twelve minutes. These are excellent and very wholesome biscuits.

THE COLONEL’S BISCUITS.

Mix a slight pinch of salt with some fine sifted flour; make it into a smooth paste with thin cream, and bake the biscuits gently, after having prepared them for the oven like those which precede. Store them as soon as they are cold in a dry canister, to preserve them crisp: they are excellent.

AUNT CHARLOTTE’S BISCUITS.

These biscuits, which are very simple and very good, may be made with the same dough as fine white bread, with the addition of from half to a whole ounce of butter to the pound kneaded into it after it has risen. Break the butter small, spread out the dough a little, knead it in well and equally, and leave it for about half an hour to rise; then roll it a quarter of an inch thick, prick it well all over, cut out the biscuits, and bake them in a moderate oven from ten to fifteen minutes: they should be crisp quite through, but not deeply coloured.

White-bread dough, 2 lbs.; butter, 1 to 2 oz.: to rise 1/2 hour. Baked in moderate oven 10 to 15 minutes.

Obs.—To make the biscuits by themselves, proceed as for Bordyke bread; but use new milk for them, and work three ounces of butter into two pounds of flour before the yeast is added.

EXCELLENT SODA BUNS.

Work into half a pound of flour three ounces of butter, until it is quite in crumbs; mix thoroughly with them four ounces of sugar, the slightest pinch of salt, an ounce, or rather more, of candied orange or, shred extremely small, and a little grated nutmeg; to these pour boiling a small teacupful of cream, or of milk when this cannot be had; mix them a little, and add immediately two eggs, leaving out the white of one, and when the whole is well mingled, dust over, and beat well into it, less than half a teaspoonful of good carbonate of soda, perfectly free from lumps; rub an oven-tin with butter, drop the buns upon it with a spoon, and send them to a moderate oven. When they are firm to the touch in every part, and well coloured underneath, they are done. They resemble good cakes, if properly made, although in reality they are not rich: to render them so the proportion of sugar and of butter can be increased, and currants added also. It is immaterial, we find, whether they be put into the oven as soon as they are mixed, or an hour afterwards. They are equally light. These proportions make just a dozen of small buns.

Flour, 1/2 lb.; butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; candied orange-rind, 1 oz. or more; grated nutmeg; cream (or milk) 1 small teacupful; egg-yolks 2, white 1; good carbonate of soda about the third of a teaspoonful: 15 to 25 minutes, moderate oven.

For Geneva Buns See Chapter 30.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Confectionary.

Citron.

TO CLARIFY SUGAR.

It is an economy to use at once the very best sugar for confectionary in general, for when highly refined it needs little or no clarifying, even for the most delicate purposes; and the coarser kinds lose considerable weight in the process. Break it into large lumps, and put it into a very clean preserving-pan; measure for each pound a pint of spring water if it be intended for syrup, but less than half that quantity for candying or making barley-sugar. Beat first apart (but not to a strong froth), and afterwards with the water, about half the white of an egg for six pounds of sugar, unless it should be very common, when twice as much may be used. When they are well mixed pour them over the sugar, and let it stand until it is nearly dissolved; then stir the whole thoroughly, and place it over a gentle fire, but do not disturb it after the scum begins to gather on the top; let it boil for five minutes, then take the pan from the fire, and when it has stood a couple of minutes clear off the scum entirely, with a skimmer; set the pan again over the fire, and when the sugar begins to boil throw in a little cold water, which has been reserved for the purpose from the quantity first measured, and repeat the skimming until the syrup is very clear; it may then be strained through a muslin, or a thin cloth, and put into a clean pan for further boiling.

For syrup: sugar, 6 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; 1/2 white of 1 egg. For candying, &c.: sugar, 6 lbs.; water, 2-1/2 pints: 5 to 10 minutes.

TO BOIL SUGAR FROM SYRUP TO CANDY, OR TO CARAMEL.

The technicalities by which confectioners distinguish the different degrees of sugar-boiling, seem to us calculated rather to puzzle than to assist the reader; and we shall, therefore, confine ourselves to such plain English terms as may suffice, we hope, to explain them. After having boiled a certain time, the length of which will in a measure depend upon the quality of the sugar as well as on the quantity of water added, it becomes a thin syrup, and will scarcely form a short thread if a drop be pressed between the thumb and finger and they are then drawn apart; from five to ten minutes more of rapid boiling will bring it to a thick syrup, and when this degree is reached the thread may be drawn from one hand to the other at some length without breaking; but its appearance in dropping from the skimmer will perhaps best denote its being at this point, as it hangs in a sort of string as it falls. After this the sugar will soon begin to whiten, and to form large bubbles in the pan, when, if it be intended for barley-sugar, or caramel, some lemon-juice or other acid must be added to it, to prevent its graining or becoming sugar again; but if wanted to candy, it must be stirred without ceasing until it rises almost to the top of the pan, in one large white mass, when it must be used immediately or laded out into paper cases or on to dishes, with the utmost expedition, as it passes in an instant almost, from this state to one in which it forms a sort of powder, which will render it necessary to add water, to stir it until dissolved, and to reboil it to the proper point. For barley-sugar likewise it must be constantly stirred, and carefully watched after the lemon-juice is added. A small quantity should be dropped from time to time into a large basin of cold water by those who are inexperienced in the process; when in falling into this it makes a bubbling noise, and if taken out immediately after, it snaps clean between the teeth without sticking to them, it must be poured out instantly: if wanted for sugar-spinning, the pan must be plunged as quickly as possible into a vessel of cold water.

CARAMEL.

(The quickest way.)

Put into a brass skillet, or preserving-pan, some sifted sugar of the finest quality, and stir it softly with a wooden spoon or spatula, over a very gentle fire until it has become liquid; a pale or a deep tint may then be given to it, according to the purpose for which it is required: so soon as it is entirely melted, and looks clear, it is ready for use. Pastry-cooks glaze small pastry by just dipping the surface into it; and they use it also for nougat, and other confectionary, though it is not in general quite so brilliant as that which is made by the preceding receipt. When the sugar first begins to melt, it should be stirred only just in that part, or it will not be equally coloured.

BARLEY-SUGAR.

Add to three pounds of highly-refined sugar one pint and a quarter of spring water, with sufficient white of egg to clarify it in the manner directed in the last page but one; pour to it, when it begins to whiten, and to be very thick, a dessertspoonful of the strained juice of a fresh lemon; and boil it quickly until it is at the point which we have indicated above. A few drops of essence of lemon may be added to it, just as it is taken from the fire. Pour it on to a marble slab, or on to a shallow dish which has been slightly oiled, or rubbed with a particle of fresh butter; and when it begins to harden at the edges form it into sticks, lozenges, balls, or any other shapes at pleasure. While it is still liquid it may be used for various purposes, such as Chantilly baskets, palace bonbons, croquantes,[176] cerises au caramel, &c.: for these the vessel containing it must be set into a pan of water, and it must again be liquefied with a very gentle degree of heat should it cool too quickly. As it soon dissolves if exposed to damp, it should be put into very dry canisters as soon as it is cold, and these should be kept in a dry place.

176.  These are formed of small cakes, roasted chestnuts, and various other things, just dipped singly into the barley-sugar, and then arranged in good form and joined in a mould, from which they are turned out for table.

Best sugar, 3 lbs.; water, 1-1/4 pint; white of egg, 1/4 of 1; lemon-juice, 1 dessertspoonful.

NOUGAT.

This is a preparation of barley-sugar, and almonds, filberts, or pistachio-nuts, of which good confectioners, both foreign and English, make a great variety of highly ornamental dishes. We must, however, confine our directions to the most common and simple mode of serving it. Blanch twelve ounces of fine Jordan almonds in the usual way, wipe them very dry, split them in halves, and spread them upon tins or dishes; dry them in a very gentle oven, without allowing them to brown; or if the flavour be liked better so, let them be equally coloured to a pale gold tint: they should then be often turned while in the oven. Boil to barley sugar in a small preserving-pan six ounces of highly-refined sugar, throw in the almonds, mix them with it well without breaking them, turn the nougat on to a dish slightly rubbed with oil, spread it out quickly, mark it into squares, and cut it before it is cold; or pour it into a mould, and with an oiled lemon spread it quickly, and very thin over it, and turn it out when cool. It must at all times be carefully preserved from damp; and should be put into a dry tin box as soon as it is cold.

Sugar, 6 oz.; almonds, 12 oz.

Another and more expeditious way of making it, is to boil the sugar to caramel without any water, as directed at page 563: the proportion of almonds can be diminished at pleasure, but the nougat should always be well filled with them.

GINGER CANDY.

Break a pound of highly-refined sugar into lumps, put it into a preserving-pan, and pour over it about the third of a pint of spring water; let it stand until the sugar is nearly dissolved, then set it over a perfectly clear fire, and boil it until it becomes a thin syrup. Have ready in a large cup a teaspoonful of the very best ginger in powder; mix it smoothly and gradually with two or three spoonsful of the syrup, and then stir it well into the whole. Watch the mixture carefully, keep it stirred, and drop it often from a spoon to ascertain the exact point of boiling it has reached. When it begins to fall in flakes, throw in the freshly-grated rind of a very large lemon, or of two small ones, and work the sugar round quickly as it is added. The candy must now be stirred constantly until it is done: this will be when it falls in a mass from the spoon, and does not sink when placed in a small heap on a dish. It must be poured, or laded out, as expeditiously as possible when ready, or it will fall quite into powder. If this should happen, a little water must be added to it, and it must be reboiled to the proper point. The candy, if dropped in cakes upon sheets of very dry foolscap or other thick writing-paper laid upon cold dishes, may be moved off without difficulty while it is still just warm, but it must not be touched while quite hot, or it will break.

Sugar, highly refined, 1 lb.; water, 1/3 of a pint; ginger, 1 teaspoonful; rind of 1 large lemon.

ORANGE-FLOWER CANDY.

Beat in three-quarters of a pint, or rather more, of water, about the fourth part of the white of an egg, and pour it on two pounds of the best sugar broken into lumps. When it has stood a little time, place it over a very clear fire, and let it boil for a few minutes, then set it on one side, until the scum has subsided; clear it off, and boil the sugar until it is very thick, then strew in by degrees three ounces of the petals of the orange-blossom, weighed after they are picked from their stems. Continue to stir the candy until it rises in one white mass in the pan, then lay it, as quickly as it can be done, in cakes with a large spoon, upon thick and very dry sheets of writing paper placed quite flat upon the backs of dishes, or upon trays.[177] Take it off before it is entirely cold, and lay the candy reversed upon dishes, or place the cakes on their edges round the rim of one until they are perfectly cold; then secure them from the air without delay in close shutting tin boxes or canisters. They will remain excellent for more than a year. The orange-flowers will turn brown if thrown too soon into the syrup: it should be more than three parts boiled when they are added. They must be gathered on the day they are wanted for use, as they will soon become discoloured from keeping.

177.  As the heat of the boiling sugar would injure these, no good ones should be used for the purpose.

Sugar, 2 lbs.; water, 3/4 pint; 1/4 white of egg; orange-blossoms, 3 oz.

Obs.—When sugar of the finest quality is used for this confection, as it ought to be, it will not require the white of egg to clarify it.

ORANGE-FLOWER CANDY.

(Another Receipt.)

The French, who are very fond of the delicious flavour of the orange-blossom, leave the petals in the candy; but a more delicate confection, to English taste, is made as follows:—Throw the orange-flowers into the syrup when it has boiled about ten minutes, and after they have simmered in it for five more, pour the whole out, and leave them to infuse until the following day, or even longer, if more convenient; then bring the syrup to the point of boiling, strain it from the blossoms through a muslin, and finish it by the foregoing receipt.

COCOA-NUT CANDY.

Rasp very fine a sound fresh cocoa-nut, spread it on a dish, and let it dry naturally for two or three days, as it will not bear the heat of an oven, and is too oily for use when freshly broken. Four ounces of it will be sufficient for a pound of sugar for most tastes, but more can be used at pleasure. Boil the sugar as for the orange-flower candy, and when it begins to be very thick and white, strew in the nut, stir and mix it well, and do not quit it for an instant until it is finished. The pan should not be placed upon the fire but over it, as the nut is liable to burn with too fierce a heat.

For almond-candy proceed in exactly the same way, but let the almonds, either whole or split, be perfectly well dried in a gentle oven, and do not throw them into the sugar until it approaches the candying point.

PALACE-BONBONS.

Take some fine fresh candied orange-rind, or citron, clear off the sugar which adheres to it, cut it into inch-squares, stick these singly on the prong of a silver fork or on osier-twigs, dip them into liquid barley-sugar, and place them on a dish rubbed with the smallest possible quantity of very pure salad oil. When cold, put them into tin boxes or canisters well dried, with paper, which should also be very dry, between each layer.

EVERTON TOFFIE.

No. 1.—Put into a brass skillet or small preserving-pan three ounces of very fresh butter, and as soon as it is just melted add a pound of brown sugar of moderate quality; keep these stirred gently over a very clear fire for about fifteen minutes, or until a little of the mixture, dropped into a basin of cold water, breaks clean between the teeth without sticking to them: when it is boiled to this point, it must be poured out immediately, or it will burn. The grated rind of a lemon, added when the toffie is half done, improves it much; or a small teaspoonful of powdered ginger moistened with a little of the other ingredients as soon as the sugar is dissolved and then stirred to the whole, will vary it pleasantly to many tastes. The real Everton toffie is made with a much larger proportion of butter, but it is the less wholesome on that very account. If dropped upon dishes first rubbed with a buttered paper, the toffie when cold can be raised from them easily.

Butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 1 lb.: 15 to 18 minutes. Or, sugar, 1 lb.; butter, 5 oz.; almonds, 2 oz.: 20 to 30 minutes.

No. 2.—Boil together a pound of sugar and five ounces of butter for twenty minutes; then stir in two ounces of almonds blanched, divided, and thoroughly dried in a slow oven, or before the fire. Let the toffie boil after they are added, till it crackles when dropped into cold water, and snaps between the teeth without sticking.

Sugar, 1 lb.; butter, 5 oz.; almonds, 2 oz.: 20 to 30 minutes.

CHOCOLATE DROPS.

Throw into a well heated metal mortar from two to four ounces of the best quality of cake-chocolate broken small, and pound it with a warm pestle until it resembles a smooth paste or very thick batter; then add an equal weight of sugar in the finest powder, and beat them until they are thoroughly blended. Roll the mixture into small balls, lay them upon sheets of writing paper or upon clean dishes, and take them off when they are nearly cold. The tops may be covered with white nonpareil comfits, or the drops may be shaken in a paper containing some of these, and entirely encrusted with them; but it must be recollected that they will not adhere to them after they become hard. More or less sugar can be worked into the chocolate according to the taste; and a Wedgwood mortar may be used for it when no other is at hand, but one of bell-metal will answer the purpose better.

CHOCOLATE ALMONDS.

When the chocolate has been softened, and mixed with an equal proportion of sugar, as directed in the foregoing receipt, enclose singly in small portions of it some almonds previously well dried, or even slightly coloured in the oven, after having been blanched. Roll them very smooth in the hand, and cover them with the comfits, or form them like the almond shamrocks of page 574. Filberts and pistachio-nuts may be substituted for the almonds with good effect; but they also must be perfectly dry.

SEVILLE ORANGE PASTE.

Wipe, and pare in the thinnest possible strips, some Seville orange-rinds, and throw them into plenty of boiling water. When they are extremely tender, lift them on to a large sieve reversed to drain; press the water from them a little, and before they are quite cold, pound them to the smoothest paste, and blend thoroughly with them as much fine sifted sugar as can possibly be mixed with them. Roll the mass out extremely thin, and with a very small tin-cutter form it into cakes or leaves, or any other shapes, and then dry it in a VERY gentle oven. Store it in close-shutting boxes as soon as it is cold. A little choice prepared ginger may be added to it in the pounding when it is liked.

Paste of lemon or citron-rind may be made in the same way.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Dessert Dishes.

DESSERT DISHES.

A well-selected and well-arranged rice-crust, however simple in its character, may always be rendered agreeable to the eye and to the taste: but in no department of the table can so much that is attractive to both be more readily combined; and at the present day an unusual degree of luxury is often displayed in it, the details of which, however, would be out of place here. Forced strawberries of magnificent size, and of the best varieties, brought by culture and management all to perfection on the same day, and served on their plants, in the pots in which they are grown, concealed in others of porcelain or of chased silver, are amongst the expensive novelties now commonly introduced at costly dinners of display, and may serve as an illustration of it.[178]

178.  To these may be added miniature fruit trees in full bearing placed down the centre of the table, and intermingled with the choicest exotics.

For common occasions, a few dishes of really fresh fruit tastefully disposed and embedded in large green leaves, will be all that is required for a plain summer or autumn rice-crust; and at other parts of the year such as are appropriate to the season; but from the immense variety of cakes, biscuits, confections, ices, bonbons, and other sucreries (some of them extremely brilliant in appearance), and of fruit native and foreign, fresh, dried, and preserved in every possible manner which are adapted to them, desserts may be served in any kind of style.

PEARLED FRUIT, OR FRUIT EN CHEMISE.

Select for this dish very fine bunches of red and white currants, large ripe cherries, and gooseberries of different colours, and strawberries or raspberries very freshly gathered. Beat up the white of an egg with about half as much cold water, dip the fruit into this mixture, drain it on a sieve for an instant, and then roll it in fine sifted sugar until it is covered in every part; give it a gentle shake, and lay it on sheets of white paper to dry. In England, thin gum-water is sometimes used, we believe, for this dish, instead of the white of egg; we give, however, the French method of preparing it. It will dry gradually in a warm room, or a sunny window, in the course of three or four hours.

Obs.—This is an inexpensive dish, which if well prepared has the appearance of fine confectionary. The incrustation of sugar much increases too the apparent size of the fruit. That which is used for it should be of the best quality, and fine and dry. When it becomes moist from the fruit being rolled in it, it will no longer adhere to it as it ought.

SALAD OF MIXED SUMMER FRUITS.

Heap a rice-crust-dish quite high with alternate layers of fine fresh strawberries stripped from the stalks, white and red currants, and white or red raspberries; strew each layer plentifully with sifted sugar, and just before the dish is sent to table, pour equally over the top two wineglassesful of sherry, Madeira, or any other good white wine. Very thick Devonshire cream may be laid entirely over the fruit, instead of the wine being mingled with it. Currants by themselves are excellent prepared in this way, and strawberries also. The fruit should be gently stirred with a spoon when it is served. Each variety must be picked with great nicety from the stalks.

PEACH SALAD.

Pare and slice half a dozen fine ripe peaches, arrange them in a dish, strew them with pounded sugar, and pour over them two or three glasses of champagne: other wine may be used, but this is best. Persons who prefer brandy can substitute it for wine. The quantity of sugar must be proportioned to the sweetness of the fruit.

ORANGE SALAD.

Take off the outer rinds, and then strip away entirely the white inside skin from some fine China oranges; slice them thin, and remove the seeds, and thick skin of the cores, as this is done; strew over them plenty of white sifted sugar, and pour on them a glass or more of brandy: when the sugar is dissolved serve the oranges. In France ripe pears of superior quality are sometimes sliced up with the oranges. Powdered sugar-candy used instead of sugar, is an improvement to this salad; and the substitution of port, sherry, or Madeira, for the brandy is often considered so. The fruit may be used without being pared, and a little curaçao or any other liqueur may be added to the brandy; or this last, when unmixed, may be burned after it is poured on the oranges.

TANGERINE ORANGES.

These beautiful little oranges, of which the rinds have a most peculiar, and to many tastes not a very agreeable flavour, are remarkably sweet and delicate when in their perfection; but they come later into the market than the more common varieties of the orange, and disappear from them sooner. They make a very refined salad, and also an ornamental rice-crust dish: their cost is somewhat higher than that of the Malta and St. Michael oranges. There is another species of this fruit known commonly as the blood-orange which has many admirers, but it is not we should say greatly superior to the more abundant kinds usually served at our tables.

PEACHES IN BRANDY.

(Rotterdam Receipt.)

Prepare and stew some fine full-flavoured peaches by the receipt of page 459, but with two ounces more of sugar to the half pint of water; when they are tender put them, with their syrup, into glass or new stone jars, which they should only half fill; and when they are quite cold pour in white, or very pale, French brandy to within an inch and a half of the brims: a few peach or apricot kernels can be added to them. The jars must be corked down.

BRANDIED MORELLA CHERRIES.

Let the cherries be ripe, freshly gathered, and the finest that can be had; cut off half the length of the stalks, and drop them gently into clean dry quart bottles with wide necks; leave in each sufficient space for four ounces of pounded white sugar-candy (or of brown, if better liked); fill them up entirely with the best French brandy, and cork them closely: the fruit will not shrivel if thus prepared. A few cherry, or apricot kernels, or a small portion of cinnamon, can be added when they are considered an improvement.

BAKED COMPÔTE OF APPLES.

(Our little lady’s receipt.)

Put into a wide Nottingham jar, with a cover, two quarts of golden pippins, or of the small apple which resembles them in appearance, called the orange pippin (this is very plentiful in the county of Kent), pared and cored, but without being divided; strew amongst them some small strips of very thin fresh lemon-rind, throw on them, nearly at the top, half a pound of good Lisbon sugar, and set the jar, with the cover tied on, for some hours, or for a night, into a very slow oven. The apples will be extremely good, if not too quickly baked: they should remain entire, but be perfectly tender, and clear in appearance. Add a little lemon-juice when the season is far advanced.

Apples, 2 quarts; rind, quite small lemon; sugar, 1/2 lb.: 1 night in slow oven; or some hours baking in a very gentle one.

Obs.—These apples may be served hot as a second course dish; or cold, with a boiled custard poured round or over them. They will likewise answer admirably to fill Gabrielle’s pudding, or a vol-au-vent à la crême.

DRIED NORFOLK BIFFINS.

The Norfolk biffin is a hard and very red apple, the flesh of the true kind being partially red as well as the skin. It is most excellent when carefully dried; and much finer we should say when left more juicy and but partly flattened, than it is when prepared for sale. Wipe the apples, arrange them an inch or two apart, and place them in a very gentle oven until they become so much softened as to yield easily to sufficient pressure to give them the form of small cakes of less than an inch thick. They must be set several times into the oven to produce this effect, as they must be gradually flattened, and must not be allowed to burst: a cool brick oven is best suited to them.

NORMANDY PIPPINS.

To one pound of the apples, put one quart of water and six ounces of sugar; let them simmer gently for three hours, or more should they not be perfectly tender. A few strips of fresh lemon-peel and a very few cloves are by some persons considered agreeable additions to the syrup.

Dried Normandy pippins, 1 lb.; water, 1 quart; sugar, 6 oz.; 3 to 4 hours.

Obs.—These pippins, if stewed with care, will be converted into a rich confection: but they will be very good and more refreshing with less sugar. They are now exceedingly cheap, and may be converted into excellent second course dishes at small expense. Half a pound, as they are light and swell much in the stewing, will be sufficient to serve at once. Rinse them quickly with cold water, and then soak them for an hour in the pan in which they are to be stewed, in a quart of fresh water; place them by the side of the stove to heat gradually, and when they begin to soften add as much sugar as will sweeten them to the taste: they require but a small portion. Lemon-rind can be added to them at pleasure. We have many receipts for other ways of preparing them, to which we cannot now give place here. It answers well to bake them slowly in a covered jar. They may be served hot in a border of rice.

STEWED PRUNEAUX DE TOURS, OR TOURS DRIED PLUMS.

These plums, which resemble in form small dried Norfolk biffins, make a delicious compôte: they are also excellent served dry. In France they are stewed until tender in equal parts of water, and of the light red wine of the country, with about four ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit: when port wine is used for them a smaller proportion of it will suffice. The sugar should not be added in stewing any dried fruits until they are at least half-done, as they will not soften by any means so easily in syrup as in unsweetened liquid.

Dried plums, 1 lb.; water, 1/2 pint, and light claret, 1/2 pint, or water, 1/4 pint, and port wine, 1/4 pint: 1-1/2 hour. Sugar, 4 oz.: 2 hours, or more.

Obs.—Common French plums are stewed in the same way with or without wine. A little experience will teach the cook the exact quantity of liquid and of sugar which they require.

TO BAKE PEARS.

Wipe some large sound iron pears, arrange them on a dish with the stalk end upwards, put them into the oven after the bread is withdrawn, and let them remain all night. If well baked, they will be excellent, very sweet, and juicy, and much finer in flavour than those which are stewed or baked with sugar: the bon chrétien pear also is delicious baked thus.

STEWED PEARS.

Pare, cut in halves, and core a dozen fine pears, put them into a close shutting stewpan with some thin strips of lemon-rind, half a pound of sugar in lumps, as much water as will nearly cover them, and should a very bright colour be desired, a dozen grains of cochineal, bruised, and tied in a muslin; stew the fruit as gently as possible, four or five hours, or longer should it not be perfectly tender. Wine is sometimes added both to stewed pears and to baked ones. If put into a covered jar, well tied down and baked for some hours, with a proper quantity of liquid and sugar, they will be very good.

BOILED CHESTNUTS.

Make a slight incision in the outer skin only, of each chestnut, to prevent its bursting, and when all are done, throw them into plenty of boiling water, with about a dessertspoonful of salt to the half gallon. Some chestnuts will require to be boiled nearly or quite an hour, others little more than half the time: the cook should try them occasionally, and as soon as they are soft through, drain them, wipe them in a coarse cloth, and send them to table quickly in a hot napkin.

Obs.—The best chestnuts are those which have no internal divisions: the finest kinds are quite entire when shelled.

ROASTED CHESTNUTS.

The best mode of preparing these is to roast them, as in Spain, in a coffee-roaster, after having first boiled them from seven to ten minutes, and wiped them dry. They should not be allowed to cool, and will require but from ten to fifteen minutes’ roasting. They may, when more convenient, be finished over the fire as usual, or in a Dutch or common oven, but in all cases the previous boiling will be found an improvement. Never omit to cut the rind of each nut slightly before it is cooked. Serve the chestnuts very hot in a napkin, and send salt to table with them.

ALMOND SHAMROCKS.

(Very good, and very pretty.)

Whisk the white of a very fresh egg to a froth sufficiently solid to remain standing in high points when dropped from the whisk; work into it from half to three-quarters of a pound of very fine dry sifted sugar, or more should it be needed, to bring the mixture to a consistency in which it can be worked with the fingers. Have ready some fine Jordan almonds which have been blanched, and thoroughly dried at the mouth of the oven; roll each of these in a small portion of the icing until it is equally covered, and of good form; then lay them on sheets of thick writing paper, placing three together in the form of the shamrock, or trefoil, with a small bit of sugar twisted from the centre almond to form the stalk. When all are ready, set them into a very slow oven for twenty minutes or longer: they should become quite firm without taking any colour. They make an excellent and very ornamental dish. To give them flavour and variety, use for them sugar which has been rasped on the rinds of some sound lemons, or Seville oranges, or upon citron, and dried before it is reduced to powder; or add to the mixture a drop of essence of roses, and a slight colouring of prepared cochineal. A little spinach-juice will give a beautiful green tint, but its flavour is not very agreeable. Filbert or pistachio nuts will answer as well as almonds, iced in this way.

SMALL SUGAR SOUFFLÉS.

These are made with the same preparation of egg and sugar as the almond-shamrocks, and may be flavoured and coloured in the same way. The icing must be sufficiently firm to roll into balls scarcely larger than a nut: a little sifted sugar should be dusted on the fingers in making them, but it must not remain on the surface of the soufflés. They are baked usually in very small round paper cases, plaited with the edge of a knife, and to give them brilliancy, the tops are slightly moistened before they are set into the oven, by passing the finger, or a paste-brush, just dipped in cold water, lightly over them. Look at them in about a quarter of an hour, and should they be quite firm to the touch in every part, draw them out; but if not let them remain longer. They may be baked on sheets of paper, but will not preserve their form so well.

For 1 white of egg, whisked to a very firm froth, 8 to 10 oz. of sifted sugar, or more: soufflés, baked in extremely gentle oven, 16 to 30 minutes, or longer if needful.

Obs.—We have confined our receipts here to the most simple preparations suited to desserts. All the confectionary of the preceding chapter being appropriate to them (with the exception of the toffie), as well as various compôtes, clear jellies, and gateaux of fruit turned from the moulds; and we have already enumerated the many other dishes of which they may be composed.

ICES.

Ice Pail and Freezer.

There is no real difficulty in making ices for the table; but for want of the proper means of freezing them, and of preventing their being acted on by a too warm atmosphere afterwards, in many houses it cannot very easily be accomplished unless the weather be extremely cold.

A vessel called a freezing-pot, an ice-pail, a strong wooden mallet, and a copper spatula, or an ice-spoon, are all that is positively required for this branch of confectionary. Suitable moulds for iced puddings, and imitations of fruit, must be had in addition when needed.

When the composition which is to be frozen is ready, the rough ice must be beaten quite small with the mallet, and either mingled quickly with two or three handsful of powdered saltpetre, or used with a much larger quantity of salt. The freezing-pot must then be firmly placed in the centre of the ice, which must be pressed closely into the vacant space around it until it reaches the top. The cover of the ice-pot, or freezer, may then be removed, and the preparation to be iced poured into it. It should then be turned by means of the handle at the top, quickly backwards and forwards for eight or ten minutes; then the portion which will have frozen to the inside must be scraped well from it with the ice-spoon and mingled with the remainder: without this the mass would be full of lumps instead of being perfectly smooth as it ought to be. The same process must be continued until the whole of its contents are uniformly frozen.

The water-ices which are made in such perfection on the continent, are incomparably superior to the ice-creams, and other sweet compositions which are usually served in preference to them here. One or two receipts which we append will serve as guides for many others, which may easily be compounded with any variety of fresh summer fruit.[179]

179.  The ices for desserts should be moulded in the form of fruit or other shapes adapted to the purpose; the natural flavour and colouring are then given to the former, but it is only experienced cooks or confectioners generally who understand this branch of ice-making, and it is better left to them. All the necessary moulds may be procured at any good ironmongers, where the manner of using them would be explained: we can give no more space to the subject.

Red Currant Ice.—Strip from the stalks and take two pounds weight of fine ripe currants and half a pound of raspberries; rub them through a fine sieve, and mingle thoroughly with them sufficient cold syrup to render the mixture agreeably sweet, and,—unless the pure flavour of the fruit be altogether preferred,—add the strained juice of one large or of two small lemons, and proceed at once to freeze the mixture as above. Currants, 2 lbs.; raspberries, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 3/4 to 1 lb.; boiled for 6 or 8 minutes in 1/2 pint of water and left till quite cold. (Juice of lemon or lemons at pleasure.)

Strawberry and raspberry water-ices are made in precisely the same manner.

To convert any of these into English ice-creams, merely mingle the juice and pulp of the fruit with sufficient pounded sugar to sweeten them, or with the syrup as above, and then blend with them gradually from a pint and a half to a quart of fresh sweet cream, and the lemon-juice or not at choice. The Queen’s Custard, the Currant, and the Quince or Apple Custard of pages 481 and 482 may all be converted into good ices with a little addition of cream and sugar; and so likewise may the Countess Cream of page 472, and the Bavarian Cream of page 477, by omitting the isinglass from either of them.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Syrups, Liqueurs, &c.

Antique Wine Vase.

STRAWBERRY VINEGAR, OF DELICIOUS FLAVOUR.

Take the stalks from the fruit which should be of a highly flavoured sort, quite ripe, fresh from the beds, and gathered in dry weather; weigh and put it into large glass jars, or wide-necked bottles, and to each pound pour about a pint and a half of fine pale white wine vinegar, which will answer the purpose better than the entirely colourless kind sold under the name of distilled vinegar, but which is often, we believe, merely pyroligneous acid greatly diluted.[180] Tie a thick paper over them, and let the strawberries remain from three to four days; then pour off the vinegar and empty them into a jelly-bag, or suspend them in a cloth, that all the liquid may drop from them without pressure; replace them with an equal weight of fresh fruit, pour the vinegar upon it, and three days afterwards repeat the same process, diminishing a little the proportion of strawberries, of which the flavour ought ultimately to overpower that of the vinegar. In from two to four days drain off the liquid very closely, and after having strained it through a linen or a flannel bag, weigh it, and mix with it an equal quantity of highly-refined sugar roughly powdered; when this is nearly dissolved, stir the syrup over a very clear fire until it has boiled for five minutes, and skim it thoroughly; pour it into a delicately clean stone pitcher, or into large china jugs, throw a thick folded cloth over and let it remain until the morrow. Put it into pint or half-pint bottles, and cork them lightly with new velvet corks; for if these be pressed in tightly at first, the bottles will sometimes burst:[181] in four or five days they may be closely corked, and stored in a dry and cool place. Damp destroys the colour and injures the flavour of these fine fruit-vinegars, of which a spoonful or two in a glass of water affords so agreeable a summer beverage, and one which, in many cases of illness, is so acceptable to invalids. They make also most admirable sauces for her Majesty’s pudding, common custard, batter, and various other simple and sweet light puddings.

180.  For these fine acidulated fruit-syrups vinegar of the purest quality, but only of medium strength, is required.

181.  We have known this to occur, but it has been when bought fruit has been used for the preparation.

Strawberries (stalked), 4 lbs.; vinegar, 3 quarts: 3 to 4 days. Vinegar drained and poured on fresh strawberries, 4 lbs.: 3 days. Drained again on to fresh fruit, 3 to 4 lbs.: 2 to 4 days. To each pound of the vinegar, 1 lb. of highly-refined sugar: boiled 5 minutes. Lightly corked, 4 to 5 days.

Obs.—Where there is a garden the fruit may be thrown into the vinegar as it ripens, within an interval of forty-eight hours, instead of being all put to infuse at once, and it must then remain in it a proportionate time: one or two days in addition to that specified will make no difference to the preparation. The enamelled stewpans are the best possible vessels to boil it in: but it may be simmered in a stone jar set into a pan of boiling water, when there is nothing more appropriate at hand; though the syrup does not usually keep so well when this last method is adopted.

Raspberries and strawberries mixed will make a vinegar of very pleasant flavour; black currants also will afford an exceedingly useful syrup of the same kind.

VERY FINE RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

Fill glass jars or large wide-necked bottles, with very ripe but perfectly sound freshly gathered raspberries, freed from their stalks, and cover them with pale white wine vinegar: they may be left to infuse from a week to ten days without injury, or the vinegar may be poured from them in four or five, when more convenient. After it is drained off, turn the fruit into a sieve placed over a deep dish or bowl, as the juice will flow slowly from it for many hours; put fresh raspberries into the bottles, and pour the vinegar back upon them; two or three days later change the fruit again, and when it has stood the same space of time, drain the whole of the vinegar closely from it, pass it through a jelly-bag or thick linen cloth, and boil it gently for four or five minutes with its weight of good sugar roughly powdered, or a pound and a quarter to the exact pint, and be very careful to remove the scum entirely as it rises. On the following day bottle the syrup, observing the directions which we have given for the strawberry vinegar. When the fruit is scarce it may be changed twice only, and left a few days longer in the vinegar.

Raspberries, 6 lbs.; vinegar, 9 pints: 7 to 10 days. Vinegar drained on to fresh raspberries (6 lbs. of): 3 to 5 days. Poured again on fresh raspberries, 6 lbs.: 3 to 5 days. Boiled 5 minutes with its weight of sugar.

Obs.—When the process of sugar-boiling is well understood, it will be found an improvement to boil that which is used for raspberry or strawberry vinegar to candy height before the liquid is mixed with it; all the scum may then be removed with a couple of minutes’ simmering, and the flavour of the fruit will be more perfectly preserved. For more particular directions as to the mode of proceeding, the chapter of confectionary may be consulted.

FINE CURRANT SYRUP, OR SIROP DE GROSEILLES.

Express the juice from some fine ripe red currants, which have been gathered in dry weather, and stripped from the stalks; strain, and put it into a new, or a perfectly clean and dry earthen pitcher, and let it stand in a cellar or in some cool place for twenty-four hours, or longer, should it not then appear perfectly curdled. Pour it gently into a fine hair-sieve, and let the clear juice drain through without pressure; pass it through a jelly-bag, or a closely-woven cloth, weigh it, and add as much good sugar broken small as there is of the juice, and when this is dissolved turn the syrup into a preserving-pan or stewpan, and boil it gently for four or five minutes being careful to clear off all the scum. In twelve hours afterwards the syrup may be put into small dry bottles, and corked and stored in a cool, but dry place. It is a most agreeable preparation, retaining perfectly the flavour of the fresh fruit; and mixed with water, it affords, like strawberry or raspberry vinegar, a delicious summer beverage, and one which is peculiarly adapted to invalids. It makes also a fine isinglass jelly, and an incomparable sweet-pudding sauce. A portion of raspberry or cherry-juice may be mixed with that of the currants at pleasure.

CHERRY-BRANDY.

(Tappington Everard Receipt.)

Fill to about two-thirds of their depth, some wide-necked bottles with the small cherries called in the markets brandy-blacks; pour in sufficient sifted sugar to fill up more than half of the remaining space, and then as much good French brandy as will cover the fruit, and reach to the necks of the bottles. Cork them securely, and let them stand for two months before they are opened: the liqueur poured from the cherries will be excellent, and the fruit itself very good. The morella cherry-brandy of the preceding chapter would often be preferred to this.

OXFORD PUNCH.

Extract the essence from the rinds of three lemons by rubbing them with sugar in lumps; put these into a large jug with the peel of two Seville oranges, of two lemons cut extremely thin, the juice of four Seville oranges and of ten lemons, and six glasses of calf’s feet jelly in a liquid state. Stir these well together, pour to them two quarts of boiling water, cover the jug closely, and set it near the fire for a quarter of an hour, then strain the mixture through a sieve into a punch bowl or jug, sweeten it with a bottle of capillaire, add half a pint of white wine, a pint of French brandy, a pint of Jamaica rum, and a bottle of orange shrub; stir the punch as the spirit is poured in. If not sufficiently sweet, add sugar in small quantities, or a spoonful or two of capillaire.

Rinds of lemons rubbed with sugar, 3; thin peel of lemons, 2; of Seville oranges, 2; juice of 4 Seville oranges, and 10 lemons; calf’s feet jelly, 6 glasses; water, 2 quarts: 1/4 hour. Capillaire, 1 bottle; white wine, 1/2 pint; French brandy and Jamaica rum, each 1 pint; orange shrub, 1 bottle.

OXFORD RECEIPT FOR BISHOP.

“Make several incisions in the rind of a lemon, stick cloves in these, and roast the lemon by a slow fire. Put small but equal quantities of cinnamon, cloves, mace, and allspice, with a race of ginger, into a saucepan with half a pint of water: let it boil until it is reduced one-half. Boil one bottle of port wine, burn a portion of the spirit out of it by applying a lighted paper to the saucepan; put the roasted lemon and spice into the wine; stir it up well, and let it stand near the fire ten minutes. Rub a few knobs of sugar on the rind of a lemon, put the sugar into a bowl or jug, with the juice of half a lemon (not roasted), pour the wine into it, grate in some nutmeg, sweeten it to the taste, and serve it up with the lemon and spice floating in it.”

Obs.—Bishop is frequently made with a Seville orange stuck with cloves and slowly roasted, and its flavour to many tastes is infinitely finer than that of the lemon.

CAMBRIDGE MILK PUNCH.

Throw into two quarts of new milk the very thinly-pared rind of a fine lemon, and half a pound of good sugar in lumps; bring it slowly to boil, take out the lemon-rind, draw it from the fire, and stir quickly in a couple of well-whisked eggs which have been mixed with less than half a pint of cold milk, and strained though a sieve; the milk must not of course be allowed to boil after these are mixed with it. Add gradually a pint of rum, and half a pint of brandy; mill the punch to a froth, and serve it immediately with quite warm glasses. At the University the lemon-rind is usually omitted, but it is a great improvement to the flavour of the beverage. The sugar and spirit can be otherwise apportioned to the taste; and we would recommend the yolks of three eggs, or of four, in preference to the two whole ones.

New milk, 2 quarts; rind, 1 large lemon; fresh eggs, 2; cold milk, 1/2 pint; rum, 1 pint; brandy, 1/2 pint.

TO MULL WINE.

(An excellent French Receipt.)

Boil in a wineglassful and a half of water, a quarter of an ounce of spice (cinnamon, ginger slightly bruised, and cloves), with three ounces of fine sugar, until they form a thick syrup, which must not on any account be allowed to burn. Pour in a pint of port wine, and stir it gently until it is on the point of boiling only: it should then be served immediately. The addition of a strip or two of orange-rind cut extremely thin, gives to this beverage the flavour of bishop. In France light claret takes the place of port wine in making it, and the better kinds of vin ordinaire are very palatable thus prepared.

Water, 1-1/2 wineglassful; spice, 1/4 oz., of which fine cloves, 24, and of remainder, rather more ginger than cinnamon; sugar 3 oz.: 15 to 20 minutes. Port wine or claret, 1 pint; orange-rind, if used, to be boiled with the spice.

Obs.—Sherry, or very fine raisin or ginger wine, prepared as above, and stirred hot to the yolks of four fresh eggs, will make good egg-wine.

A BIRTHDAY SYLLABUB.

Put into a large bowl half a pound of sugar broken small, and pour on it the strained juice of a couple of fresh lemons; stir these well together, and add to them a pint of port wine, a pint of sherry, and half a pint of brandy; grate in a fine nutmeg, place the bowl under the cow, and milk it full. In serving it put a portion of the curd into each glass, fill it up with whey, and pour a little rich cream on the top. The rind of a lemon may be rasped on part of the sugar when the flavour is liked, but it is not usually added.

Juice of lemons, 2; sugar, 1/2 lb. or more; port wine, 1 pint; sherry 1 pint; brandy, 1/2 pint; nutmeg, 1; milk from the cow, 2 quarts.

Obs.—We can testify to the excellence of this receipt.

AN ADMIRABLE COOL CUP.

Weigh six ounces of sugar in lumps, and extract the essence from the rind of a large fresh lemon by rubbing them upon it; then put them into a deep jug, and add the strained juice of one lemon and a half. When the sugar is dissolved, pour in a bottle of good cider, and three large wineglassesful of sherry; add nearly half a small nutmeg lightly grated, and serve the cup with or without some sprigs of fresh balm or borage in it. Brandy is sometimes added to it, but is, we think, no improvement. If closely covered down, and placed on ice for a short time, it will be more agreeable as a summer beverage.

THE REGENT’S, OR GEORGE THE FOURTH’S, PUNCH.

Pare as thin as possible the rinds of two China oranges, of two lemons, and of one Seville orange, and infuse them for an hour in half a pint of thin cold syrup; then add to them the juice of the fruit. Make a pint of strong green tea, sweeten it well with fine sugar, and when it is quite cold, add it to the fruit and syrup, with a glass of the best old Jamaica rum, a glass of brandy, one of arrack, one of pine-apple syrup, and two bottles of champagne; pass the whole through a fine lawn sieve until it is perfectly clear, then bottle, and put it into ice until dinner is served. We are indebted for this receipt to a person who made the punch daily for the prince’s table, at Carlton palace, for six months; it has been in our possession some years, and may be relied on.

Rinds and juice of 2 China oranges, 2 lemons, and of 1 Seville orange; syrup, 1/2 pint; strong green tea, sweetened, 1 pint; best old Jamaica rum, arrack, French brandy (vieux cognac), and pine-apple syrup, each 1 glassful; champagne, 2 bottles. In ice for a couple of hours.

MINT JULEP, AN AMERICAN RECEIPT.

“Strip the tender leaves of mint into a tumbler, and add to them as much wine, brandy, or any other spirit, as you wish to take. Put some pounded ice into a second tumbler; pour this on the mint and brandy, and continue to pour the mixture from one tumbler to the other until the whole is sufficiently impregnated with the flavour of the mint, which is extracted by the particles of the ice coming into brisk contact when changed from one vessel to the other. Now place the glass in a larger one, containing pounded ice: on taking it out of which it will be covered with frost-work.”

Obs.—We apprehend that this preparation is, like most other iced American beverages, to be imbibed through a reed: the receipt, which was contributed by an American gentleman, is somewhat vague.

DELICIOUS MILK LEMONADE.

Dissolve six ounces of loaf sugar in a pint of boiling water, and mix with them a quarter of a pint of lemon-juice, and the same quantity of sherry; then add three-quarters of a pint of cold milk, stir the whole well together, and pass it through a jelly-bag till clear.

EXCELLENT PORTABLE LEMONADE.

Rasp, with a quarter-pound of sugar, the rind of a very fine juicy lemon, reduce it to powder, and pour on it the strained juice of the fruit. Press the mixture into a jar, and when wanted for use dissolve a tablespoonful of it in a glass of water. It will keep a considerable time. If too sweet for the taste of the drinker, a very small portion of citric acid may be added when it is taken.

EXCELLENT BARLEY WATER.

(Poor Xury’s receipt.)

Wipe very clean, by rolling it in a soft cloth, two tablespoonsful of pearl barley; put it into a quart jug, with a lump or two of sugar, a grain or two of salt, and a strip of lemon-peel, cut thin; fill up the jug with boiling water and keep the mixture gently stirred for some minutes; then cover it down, and let it stand until perfectly cold. In twelve hours, or less, it will be fit for use; but it is better when made over night. If these directions be followed, the barley-water will be comparatively clear, and very soft and pleasant to drink. A glass of calf’s feet jelly added to the barley is an infinite improvement; but as lemon-rind is often extremely unpalatable to invalids, their taste should be consulted before that ingredient is added, as it should be also for the degree of sweetness that is desired. After the barley-water has been poured off once, the jug may be filled with boiling water a second time, and even a third time with advantage.

RAISIN WINE, WHICH, IF LONG KEPT, REALLY RESEMBLES FOREIGN.

First boil the water which is to be used for the wine, and let it again become perfectly cold; then put into a sound sweet cask eight pounds of fine Malaga raisins for each gallon that is to be used, taking out only the quite large stalks; the fruit and water may be put in alternately until the cask is full, the raisins being well pressed down in it; lay the bung lightly over, stir the wine every day or two, and keep it full by the addition of water that has, like the first, been boiled, but which must always be quite cold when it is used. So soon as the fermentation has entirely ceased, which may be in from six to seven weeks, press in the bung, and leave the wine untouched for twelve months; draw it off then into a clean cask, and fine it, if necessary, with isinglass, tied in a muslin and suspended in it. We have not ourselves had this receipt tried; but we have tasted wine made by it which had been five years kept, and which so much resembled a rich foreign wine that we could with difficulty believe it was English-made.

To each gallon of water (boiled and left till cold) 8 lbs. of fine Malaga raisins; to stand 12 months; then to be drawn off and fined.

Obs.—The refuse raisins make admirable vinegar if fresh water be poured to them, and the cask placed in the sun. March is the best time for making the wine.

VERY GOOD ELDERBERRY WINE.

Strip the berries, which should be ripe and fresh, and gathered on a dry day, clean from the stalks, and measure them into a tub or large earthen pan. Pour boiling water on them, in the proportion of two gallons to three of berries, press them down into the liquor, cover them closely, and let them remain until the following day; then strain the juice from the fruit through a sieve or cloth, and, when this is done, squeeze from the berries the greater part of the remaining juice; mix it with that which was first poured off, measure the whole, add to it three pounds of sugar, three-quarters of an ounce of cloves, and one ounce of ginger, for every gallon, and boil it twenty minutes, keeping it thoroughly skimmed. Put it, when something more than milk-warm, into a perfectly dry and sweet cask (or if but a very small quantity of wine be made, into large stone bottles, which answer for the purpose quite well), fill this entirely, and pour very gently into the bung hole a large spoonful of new yeast mixed with a very small quantity of the wine.

VERY GOOD GINGER WINE.

Boil together, for half an hour, fourteen quarts of water, twelve pounds of sugar, a quarter of a pound of the best ginger bruised, and the thin rinds of six large lemons. Put the whole, when milk-warm, into a clean dry cask, with the juice of the lemons, and half a pound of sun raisins; add one large spoonful of thick yeast, and stir the wine every day for ten days. When it has ceased to ferment, add an ounce of isinglass, and a pint of brandy; bung the wine close, and in two months it will be fit to bottle, but must remain longer in the cask should it be too sweet. When it can be obtained, substitute for the water in this receipt cider fresh from the press, which will give a very superior wine.

Water, 14 quarts; sugar, 12 pounds; lemon-rinds, 6: ginger, 1/4 lb.: 1/2 hour. Juice of lemons, 6; raisins, 1/2 lb.; yeast, 1 spoonful; isinglass, 1 oz.; brandy, 1 pint.

EXCELLENT ORANGE WINE.

Take half a chest of Seville oranges, pare off the rinds as thin as possible, put two-thirds of them into six gallons of water, and let them remain for twenty-four hours. Squeeze the oranges (which ought to yield seven or eight quarts of juice) through a sieve into a pan, and as they are done throw them into six gallons more of water; let them be washed well in it with the hands, and then put into another six gallons of water and left until the following day. For each gallon of wine, put into the cask three pounds and a quarter of loaf sugar, and the liquor strained clear from the rinds and pulp. Wash these again and again, should more liquor be required to fill the cask; but do not at any time add raw water. Stir the wine daily until the sugar is perfectly dissolved, and let it ferment from four to five weeks; add to it two bottles of brandy, stop it down, and in twelve months it will be fit to bottle.

Obs.—The excellence of all wine depends so much upon the fermentation being properly conducted, that unless the mode of regulating this be understood by the maker, there will always be great danger of failure in the operation. There is, we believe, an excellent work upon the subject by Mr. McCulloch, which the reader who needs information upon it will do well to consult: our own experience is too slight to enable us to multiply our receipts.

THE COUNSELLOR’S CUP.

Rub a quarter of a pound of sugar upon the rinds of two fine China oranges, put it into an enamelled stewpan, and pour on it a pint of water; let these boil gently for two or three minutes, then pour in half a pint of China orange-juice mixed with that of one lemon, and previously strained through muslin; the moment this begins to boil, pour it into a hot jug, and stir to it half a pint of the best Cognac brandy. Serve it immediately. When preferred cold, prepare the syrup with the juice of the fruit, cover it down in the jug, set it into ice, or into a very cool place, and add the spirit only just before the cup is wanted for table. Should the fruit be very acid, increase the proportion of sugar. A few slight strips of the rind of a Seville orange cut very thin, would to many tastes be an agreeable addition to the beverage; which should be made always with fresh sound fruit.

Sugar, 4 oz. (6 if needed); rasped rinds of China oranges, 2; water, 1 pint: 3 minutes. Strained juice of China oranges mixed with that of 1 large lemon, 1/2 pint; best Cognac brandy, 1/2 pint.

Obs.—For a large cup these proportions must be doubled. Sherry or Madeira substituted for the brandy, will make a pleasant cool cup of this kind; and equal parts of well made lemonade, and of any good light white wine, thoroughly cooled down, will give another agreeable beverage for warm weather; but a much smaller proportion of wine would better adapt it to many tastes.

CHAPTER XXX.

Coffee, Chocolate, &c.

COFFEE.

There is no beverage which is held in more universal esteem than good coffee, and none in this country at least, which is obtained with greater difficulty (unless indeed it be pure wine). We hear constant and well-founded complaints both from foreigners and English people, of the wretched compounds so commonly served up here under its name, especially in many lodging houses, hotels, and railway refreshment rooms;[182] yet nothing can well be easier than to prepare it properly. Some elaborate and various fanciful modes of making it have been suggested at different times by writers fond of novelty, but they have in general nothing to recommend them beyond the more simple processes which follow, and of which we believe the result will seldom prove unsatisfactory to our readers, unless it be to such of them as may have been accustomed to the spiced or other peculiar Oriental preparations of the fragrant berry, or simply to the exquisite quality of it, which would appear to be obtainable only in the East; or which, at all events, is beyond the reach of the mass of English consumers, and of their near Continental neighbours.

182.  At some of the principal stations on lines connected with the coast, by which an immense number of strangers pass and repass, the coffee is so bad, that great as the refreshment of it would be to them, particularly in night travelling, in very cold weather, they reject it as too nauseous to be swallowed. A little national pride ought surely to prevent this, if no higher principle interfered to do so; for to exact the full price of a good commodity, and habitually to supply only trash for it, is a commercial disgrace.

TO ROAST COFFEE.

Persons who drink coffee habitually, and who are very particular about its flavour and quality, should purchase the best kind in a raw state, keep it for two or three years if they are not certain that it has been so long harvested—as when new it is greatly inferior to that which has been kept—and have it roasted at home. This can be cheaply done in small quantities by means of the inexpensive apparatus shown above; the cost of it not exceeding seven or eight shillings, and the supply of charcoal needed for it being very trifling indeed; or, with that inserted below, which is larger and about double the price. The cylinder which contains the coffee should be only half filled, and it should be turned rather slowly over the fire, which should never be fierce, until a strong aromatic smell is emitted; the movement should then be quickened, as the grain is in that case quite heated, and it will become too highly coloured before it is roasted through, if slowly finished. When it is of a fine, light, equal brown, which must be ascertained, until some little experience has been acquired, by sliding back the door of the cylinder, and looking at it occasionally towards the end of the process, spread it quickly upon a large dish, and throw a thickly folded cloth over it. Let it remain thus until it is quite cold; then put it immediately into canisters or bottles, and exclude the air carefully from it.

Patent Percolator, with Spirit Lamp.

A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING COFFEE.

When good coffee is desired, let it be procured if possible of a first-rate London house[183] which can be depended on; and we would recommend that it should be of the finest quality that can be obtained; for there is no real economy in using that which is nominally cheaper, as a larger quantity will be required to give the same amount of strength, and the flavour will be very inferior. It should always be freshly roasted; but when a constant and large demand for it exists, it will be easy to have it so. When it has been stored for any length of time it will be much freshened and improved by being gently heated through, either in the oven or in a stewpan held high above the fire. It should be often turned while it is warming, and ground as soon as it is cold again. Never purchase it ready ground unless compelled to do so. When no proper mill for it is fitted up in the house, a small portable one, which may be had at a trifling expense, will answer tolerably well for grinding it, though it cannot be used with quite the same facility as those which are fastened firmly to a wall; but whatever form of mill may be used it should be arranged so as to reduce the berries to a moderately fine powder; for if it be too coarse the essence will be only partially extracted from it by filtering; and if it be extremely fine the water will not percolate through it, and it will not be clear.

183.  We could indicate several houses where unadulterated coffee may be procured, but it is not always to be had from them so choice in quality as it might be; and it is in general too highly roasted. By far the finest we have ever tasted we had on two occasions, some years since, from Mr. Cobbett, of Pall Mall. The fragrance of it was too remarkable to be easily forgotten, and the flavour was exquisite; but it was apparently an accidental sample which he had met with in the market, for though very good, that with which we were supplied afterwards never equalled it.

Messrs. Staniforth and Co., 138, Oxford-street, are deservedly noted for the excellence of their coffee. It is always ground at the instant of serving it to a customer; and they have the complaisance of roasting even so small a quantity as two pounds, to suit the taste of the purchaser: it may therefore be procured of them as pale-dried as it can be wished.

The house of Messrs. Decastro and Peach, next door to Hatchett’s Hotel, Piccadilly, may likewise, we think, be quite depended on for supplying genuine coffee to the public; and they have an immense demand for it.

We say nothing about mingling chicory with it. Our directions are for making pure coffee; which, when not taken in excess, is, we believe, a wholesome as well as a most agreeable beverage. The effect of chicory is, we believe, to impart a slight bitter flavour to the infusion, and to deepen its colour so much as to make it appear much stronger than it really is. True connoisseurs, however, do not attach any importance to the dark hue of coffee, the very choicest that can be tasted being sometimes of quite a pale tint.

Always serve hot milk or cream, or hot milk and cold cream, if preferred, with breakfast coffee. In the evening, when milk is served at all with it, it should likewise be boiling.

Do not, in any way, make use of the residue of one day’s coffee in preparing that of the next; you would but injure the purity of its flavour by doing so, and effect next to nothing in the matter of economy.[184]

184.  When the coffee has been filtered in a proper manner, water poured afterwards on the “grounds” as they are termed, will have scarcely any taste or colour; this is not the case when it has been boiled.

EXCELLENT BREAKFAST COFFEE.

A simple, well-made English filter, or percolator, as it is called, will answer perfectly for making coffee; but from amongst the many of more recent invention which are on sale, the reader who prefers one of ornamental appearance, and of novel construction, will easily be suited. The size of the filter must be adapted to the number of persons for whom the coffee is to be prepared; for if a large quantity of the powder be heaped into an insufficient space for it, there will not be room for it to swell, and the water will not pass through. Put three ounces of coffee into one which will contain in the lower compartment two pints and a half; shake the powder quite level and press it closely down; remove the presser, put on the top strainer, and pour round and round, so as to wet the coffee equally, about the third part of a measured pint of fast boiling water. Let this drain quite through before more is added; then pour in—still quite boiling—in the same manner as much more water, and when it has passed through, add the remainder; let it drain entirely through, then remove the top of the filter, put the cover on the part which contains the coffee, and serve it immediately. It will be very strong, and perfectly clear. Fill the breakfast cups two parts full of new boiling milk, and add as much of the infusion as will give it the degree of strength which is agreeable to those for whom it is prepared. When it is liked extremely strong, the proportion of milk must be diminished, or less water be poured to the coffee.

If nearly an additional half pint of water be added before the top of the percolator is taken off, it will still be very good, provided that the coffee used be really of first-rate quality.

To make cheaper breakfast coffee to be served in the usual English mode, the same process should be followed, but the proportion of water must be considerably increased: it should always, however, be added by slow degrees.

Good breakfast coffee (for three persons). Best Mocha, in moderately fine powder, ground at the instant of using it, 3 oz.; boiling water added by degrees, 1 pint; (more at pleasure). Boiling milk served with it, 1-1/2 pint to 1 quart. Common English coffee: coffee-powder, 3 oz.; water, 1 quart, to be slowly filtered; hot milk, half to whole pint. Cream in addition to either of the above, at choice.

TO BOIL COFFEE.

To boil coffee and refine it, put the necessary quantity of water into a pot which it will not fill by some inches; when it boils stir in the coffee; for unless this be at once moistened, it will remain on the top and be liable to fly over. Give it one or two strong boils, then raise it from the fire, and simmer it for ten minutes only; pour out a large cupful twice, hold it high over the coffee pot and pour it in again, then set it on the stove where it will keep hot without simmering or moving in the least, for ten minutes longer. It will be perfectly clear, unless mismanaged, without any other fining. Should more, however, be deemed necessary, a very small pinch of isinglass, or a clean egg-shell, with a little of the white adhering to it, is the best that can be used. Never use mustard to fine coffee with. It is a barbarous custom of which we have heard foreigners who have been in England vehemently complain.

Coffee, 2 oz.; water, 1 pint to 1 quart, according to the strength required. Boiled 10 minutes; left to clear 10 minutes.

Remark.—Filtering is, we should say, a far more economical, and in every way a superior mode of making coffee to boiling it; but as some persons still prefer the old method, we insert the receipt for it.

CAFÉ NOIR.

This is the very essence of coffee, and is served in nearly all French families, as well in those of many other countries, immediately after the rice-crust. About two-thirds of a small cupful—not more—sweetened almost to syrup with highly refined sugar in lumps, is usually taken by each person; in families of moderate rank, generally before they leave the table; in more refined life, it is served in the drawing-room the instant dinner is ended; commonly with liqueurs after it, but not invariably. To make it, proceed exactly as for the breakfast-coffee, but add only so much water as is required to make the strongest possible infusion. White sugar-candy in powder may be served with it in addition to the sugar in lumps.

BURNT COFFEE, OR COFFEE À LA MILITAIRE.

(In France vulgarly called Gloria.)

Make some coffee as strong and as clear as possible, sweeten it in the cup with white sugar almost to syrup, then pour the brandy on the top gently over a spoon, set fire to it with a lighted paper, and when the spirit is in part consumed, blow out the flame, and drink the gloria quite hot.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE.

An ounce of chocolate, if good, will be sufficient for one person. Rasp, and then boil it from five to ten minutes with about four tablespoonsful of water; when it is extremely smooth add nearly a pint of new milk, give it another boil, stir it well, or mill it, and serve it directly. For water-chocolate use three-quarters of a pint of water instead of the milk, and send rich hot cream to table with it. The taste must decide whether it shall be made thicker or thinner.

Chocolate, 2 oz.; water, quarter-pint, or rather more; milk, 1-3/4: 1/2 minute.

Obs.—The general reader will understand the use of the chocolate-mill shown in the engraving with the pot; but to the uninitiated it may be as well to observe, that it is worked quickly round between both hands to give a fine froth to the chocolate. It also serves in lieu of a whisk for working creams, or jellies, to a froth or whip.

A SPANISH RECIPE FOR MAKING AND SERVING CHOCOLATE.

Take of the best chocolate an ounce for each person, and half a pint of cold water; rasp or break it small in a mortar, set it over a slow fire, and stir or mill it gently until it has become quite smooth like custard; pour it immediately into deep cups, and serve it with a glass of sugar and water, or with iced water only[185] to each cup; and with plates of very delicate dried toast cut in narrow strips, or with the cakes called “ladies’ fingers.” Should the chocolate appear too thick, a little water must be added. Milk is sometimes substituted for it altogether.

185.  Sometimes with a water ice, which should be of an appropriate character.

TO MAKE COCOA.

Directions for making it are usually sold with the prepared, or best quality of cocoa, which is merely mixed with boiling water in the proportions indicated on the packets. That which is prepared from the nibs requires several hours’ boiling, and should be left until it is quite cold, that the oil which will be found on the surface may be cleared from it before it is again heated for table: this is particularly needful when it is to be served to persons in delicate health.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Bread.

REMARKS ON HOME-MADE BREAD.

It is surely a singular fact that the one article of our daily food on which health depends more than on any other, is precisely that which is obtained in England with the greatest difficulty—good, light, and pure bread—yet nothing can be more simple and easy than the process of making it, either in large quantities or in small. From constant failure, it is nevertheless considered so difficult in many families, that recourse is had to the nearest baker, both in town and country, as a means of escape from the heavy, or bitter, or ill-baked masses of dough which appear at table under the name of household or home-made bread; and which are well calculated to create the distaste which they often excite for everything which bears its name. Without wishing in the slightest degree to disparage the skill and labour of bread-makers by trade, truth compels us to assert our conviction of the superior wholesomeness of bread made in our own homes. When a miller can be depended on to supply flour of good quality, and the other ingredients used in preparing it are also fresh and good, and mingled with it in due proportions, and the kneading, fermentation, and baking, are conducted with care and intelligence, the result will uniformly be excellent bread. Every cook, therefore,—and we might almost say every female servant—ought to be perfectly acquainted with the proper mode of making it; and skill in preparing a variety of dishes, is poor compensation for ignorance on this one essential point.[186] Moreover, it presents no more real difficulty than boiling a dish of potatoes, or making a rice pudding; and the neglect with which it is treated is therefore the less to be comprehended or excused.

186.  Only those persons who live habitually on good home-made bread, can form an idea of the extent to which health is affected by their being deprived of it. We have been appealed to on several occasions for household loaves—which we have sent to a considerable distance—by friends who complained of being rendered really ill by the bread which they were compelled to eat in the sea-side towns and in other places of fashionable resort; and in London we have heard incessant complaints both from foreigners and habitual residents, of the impossibility of obtaining really wholesome bread.

TO PURIFY YEAST FOR BREAD OR CAKES.

The yeast procured from a public brewery is often so extremely bitter that it can only be rendered fit for use by frequent washings, and after these even it should be cautiously employed. Mix it, when first brought in, with a large quantity of cold water, and set it by until the following morning in a cool place; then drain off the water, and stir the yeast up well with as much more of fresh: it must again stand several hours before the water can be poured clear from it. By changing this daily in winter, and both night and morning in very hot weather, the yeast may be preserved fit for use much longer than it would otherwise be; and should it ferment rather less freely after a time, a small portion of brown sugar and a little warm milk or other liquid, stirred to it a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes before it is required for bread-making, will restore its strength.

The German yeast, of which we have spoken in detail in another part of this chapter, makes exceedingly light bread and buns, and is never bitter; it is therefore a valuable substitute for our own beer-yeast, but cannot be procured in all parts of the country, for the reasons which we have stated.

THE OVEN.

A brick oven, heated with wood, is far superior to any other for baking bread, as well as for most other purposes. The iron ovens, now commonly attached to kitchen-ranges—the construction of which has within these few years been wonderfully improved—though exceedingly convenient, from the facility which they afford for baking at all hours of the day, do not in general answer well for bread, unless it be made into very small loaves or rolls, as the surface becomes hardened and browned long before the heat has sufficiently penetrated to the centre of the dough. The same objection often exists to iron-ovens of larger size, which require care and management, to ensure the successful use of them. A brick oven should be well heated with faggot wood, or with a faggot, and two or three solid logs; and after it is cleared, the door should be closely shut for quite half an hour before the baking commences: the heat will then be well sustained for a succession of bread, pies, cakes, and small pastry. The servant who habitually attends at an oven will soon become acquainted with the precise quantity of fuel which it requires, and all other peculiarities which may be connected with it.

A FEW RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING BREAD.

Never use too large a proportion of yeast, as the bread will not only become dry very speedily when this is done, but it will be far less sweet and pleasant in flavour than that which is more slowly fermented, and the colour will not be so good: there will also be a great chance of its being bitter when brewer’s yeast is used for it. Remember that milk or water of scalding heat poured to any kind of yeast will render the bread heavy. One pint of either added quite boiling to a pint and a half of cold, will bring it to about the degree of warmth required. In frosty weather the proportion of the heated liquid may be increased a little.

When only porter-yeast—which is dark-coloured and bitter—can be procured, use a much smaller proportion than usual, and allow much longer time for it to rise. Never let it be sent to the oven until it is evidently light. Bitter bread is unpalatable, but not really unwholesome; but heavy bread is particularly so.

Let the leaven be kneaded up quickly with the remainder of the flour when once it is well risen, as it should on no account be allowed to sink again before this is done, when it has reached the proper point; and in making the dough, be particularly careful not to render it too lithe by adding more liquid than is requisite. It should be quite firm, and entirely free from lumps and crumbs throughout the mass, and on the surface also, which ought to be perfectly smooth.

In winter, place the bread while it is rising sufficiently close to the fire to prevent its becoming cold, but never so near as to render it hot. A warm thick cloth should be thrown over the pan in which it is made immediately after the leaven is mixed, and kept on it until the bread is ready for the oven.

HOUSEHOLD BREAD.

Put half a bushel (more or less, according to the consumption of the family) of flour into the kneading tub or trough, and hollow it well in the middle; dilute a pint of yeast as it is brought from the brewery or half the quantity if it has been washed and rendered solid, with four quarts or more of lukewarm milk or water, or a mixture of the two; stir into it, from the surrounding part, with a wooden spoon, as much flour as will make a thick batter; throw a handful or two over it, and leave this, which is called the leaven, to rise before proceeding further. In about an hour it will have swollen considerably, and have burst through the coating of flour on the top; then pour in as much more warm liquid as will convert the whole, with good kneading, and this should not be spared, into a firm dough, of which the surface should be entirely free from lumps or crumbs. Throw a cloth over, and let it remain until it has risen very much a second time, which will be in an hour, or something more, if the batch be large. Then work it lightly up, and mould it into loaves of from two to three pounds weight; send them directly to a well heated oven, and bake them from an hour and a half to an hour and three-quarters.

Flour, 1/2 bushel; salt (when it is liked), 4 to 6 oz.; yeast, 1 pint unwashed, or 1/2 pint if purified; milk, or water, 2 quarts: 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Additional liquid as needed.

Obs.—Brown bread can be made exactly as above, either with half meal and half flour mixed, or with meal only. This will absorb more moisture than fine flour, and will retain it rather longer. Brown bread should always be thoroughly baked.

Remark.—We have seen it very erroneously asserted in one or two works, that bread made with milk speedily becomes sour. This is never the case when it is properly baked and kept, and when the milk used for it is perfectly sweet. The experience of many years, enables us to speak positively on this point.

BORDYKE BREAD.

(Author’s Receipt.)

Mix with a gallon of flour a large teaspoonful of fine salt, make a hollow in the centre, and pour in two tablespoonsful of solid, well purified yeast, gradually diluted with about two pints and a half of milk, and work it into a thick batter with the surrounding flour, strew a thick layer over and leave it to rise from an hour to an hour and a half; then knead it up with as much more warm skimmed milk, or half new milk and half water, as will render it quite firm and smooth without being very stiff; let it rise another hour, and divide it into three loaves; put them into square tins slightly buttered, or into round baking pans, and bake them about an hour and a quarter in a well-heated oven. The dough can be formed into household loaves if preferred, and sent to the oven in the usual way. When a finer and more spongy kind of bread is required for immediate eating, substitute new milk for skimmed, dissolve in it about an ounce of butter, leave it more liquid when the sponge is set, and let the whole be lightly kneaded into a lithe dough: the bread thus made will be excellent when new, and for a day or so after it is baked, but it will become dry sooner than the other.

Flour, 1 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; skimmed milk, 2-1/2 pints, to rise from 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Additional milk, 1 to 2 pints: to rise 1 hour. 3 loaves, baked 1-1/4 hour.

Obs. 1.—A few spoonsful of cream will wonderfully improve either of the above receipts, and sweet buttermilk, substituted for the other, will give to the bread the shortness of a cake: we would particularly recommend it for trial when it can be procured.

Obs. 2.—Shallow round earthen pans answer much better, we think, than tins for baking bread; they should be slightly rubbed with butter before the dough is put into them.

GERMAN YEAST.

(And Bread made with German Yeast.)

This has very generally superseded the use of English beer-yeast in London, and other places conveniently situated for receiving quickly and regularly the supplies of it which are imported from abroad; but as it speedily becomes putrid in sultry weather, and does not in any season remain good long after its arrival here, it is unsuited for transmission to remote parts of the country. Bread made with it while it is perfectly sweet, is extremely light and good, and it answers remarkably well for light cakes and biscuits. An ounce is the proportion which we have always had used for a quartern (half a gallon or three pounds and a half) of flour, and this, with the addition of some salt and nearly a quart of milk, or milk and water, has produced excellent bread when it has been made with care. The yeast should be very gradually and perfectly moistened and blended with the warm liquid; for unless this be done, and the whole rendered smooth as cream, the dough will not be of the uniform texture which it ought, but will be full of large hollow spaces, which are never seen in well-made bread. The mass should be mixed up firmly and well kneaded at once, then left to rise for about an hour; again kneaded thoroughly, and again left to rise from three-quarters of an hour to an hour; then divided, and lightly worked up into loaves, put into round slightly buttered earthen pans, and sent immediately to the oven.[187]

187.  We give the proportions used and the exact manner of making this bread, which we have had followed for more than twelve months, with entire success.

A leaven may be first laid with the yeast, and part of the liquid when it is preferred, as directed for bread made with beer-yeast, but the result will be equally good if the whole be kneaded up at once, if it be made quite firm.

PROFESSOR LIEBIG’S BAVARIAN BROWN BREAD.

(Very nutritious and wholesome.)

Baron Liebig pronounces this bread to be very superior to that which is made with fine flour solely, both in consequence of the greater amount of nutriment which it contains, and from its slight medicinal effect, which renders it valuable to many persons accustomed to have frequent recourse to drugs, of which it supersedes the necessity. It is made with the wheat exactly as it is ground, no part being subtracted, nor any additional flour mingled with it. He directs that the wheat should not be damped before it is prepared: but few millers can be found who will depart from their ordinary practice to oblige private customers; and this determined adherence to established usage intervenes constantly between us, and all improvement in our modes of preparing food. The bread is made in the usual way, with water only, or with a portion of milk added to the yeast, as taste or convenience may dictate. The loaves should be well baked at all times; and the dough should of course be perfectly light when it is placed in the oven. Salt should be mixed with the meal before the yeast is added.

ENGLISH BROWN BREAD.

This is often made with a portion only of the unbolted meal recommended in the preceding receipt, mixed with more or less of fine flour, according to the quality of bread required; and in many families the coarse bran is always sifted from the meal, as an impression exists that it is irritating to the stomach. If one gallon of meal as it comes from the mill, be well mixed with an equal measure of flour, and made into a dough in the manner directed for white household bread, the loaves will still be sufficiently brown for the general taste in this country, and they will be good and wholesome, though not, perhaps, so entirely easy of digestion as Baron Liebig’s Bavarian bread.

UNFERMENTED BREAD.

This bread, in which carbonate of soda and muriatic acid are substituted for yeast or other leaven, has within these few years been highly recommended, and much eaten. It may possibly suit many persons better than that which is fermented in the usual way, but it is not in general by any means so pleasant in flavour; and there is much more chance of failure in preparing it in private families, as it requires some skill to mix the ingredients with exactness and despatch; and it is absolutely necessary that the dough should be set into the oven the instant it is ready. In some hydropathic and other large establishments, where it is always supplied to the table in lieu of the more common kinds, it is, we have been informed by patients who had partaken of it there for many months together, exceedingly and uniformly good. More detailed information with regard to it, will be found in our “Cookery for Invalids,” a work for which our want of space in the present volume compels us to reserve it.

“For each pound of flour (or meal) take forty grains of sesquicarbonate of soda, mix it intimately with the sugar and flour, then add fifty drops of muriatic acid of the shops, diluted with half a pint of water, or with as much as may be requisite to form the dough, stirring it constantly into a smooth mass. Divide it into a couple of loaves, and put them immediately into a quick oven.” Bake them thoroughly.

Author’s note.—Dr. Pereira, from whose book on diet the substance of the above receipt is taken, says that delicious bread was made by it in his presence by the cook of Mr. John Savory, of Bond Street, equal to any bread fermented by the usual process. We would suggest that the soda, mixed with the sugar, and a small portion of the flour, should be rubbed through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon into the remainder of the flour, and stirred up with it until the whole is perfectly mingled, before the liquid is added. Should lighter bread be desired, the soda may be increased to fifty or even sixty grains, if the quantity of acid be proportionately augmented. As common salt is formed by the combination of these two agents, none beside is needed in the bread.

Flour, 1 lb.; sesquicarbonate of soda, 40 grains; sugar, 1 teaspoonful; muriatic acid of the shops, 50 drops; water, 1/2 pint (or as needed).

POTATO BREAD.

One pound of good mealy potatoes, steamed or boiled very dry, in the ordinary way, or prepared by Captain Kater’s receipt (see Chapter XVII.), and rubbed quite hot, through a coarse sieve, into a couple of pounds of flour, with which they should be well mixed, will produce excellent bread, which will remain moist much longer than wheaten bread made as usual. The yeast should be added immediately after the potatoes. An ounce or two of butter, an egg and some new milk, will convert this bread into superior rolls.

DINNER OR BREAKFAST ROLLS.

Crumble down very small indeed, an ounce of butter into a couple of pounds of the best flour, and mix with them a large saltspoonful of salt. Put into a basin a dessertspoonful of solid, well-purified yeast, and half a teaspoonful of pounded sugar; mix these with half a pint of warm new milk; hollow the centre of the flour, pour in the yeast gradually, stirring to it sufficient of the surrounding flour to make a thick batter; strew more flour on the top, cover a thick double cloth over the pan, and let it stand in a warm kitchen to rise. In winter it must be placed within a few feet of the fire. In about an hour, should the leaven have broken through the flour on the top, and have risen considerably in height, mix one lightly-whisked egg, or the yolks of two, with nearly half a pint more of quite warm new milk, and wet up the mass into a very smooth dough. Cover it as before, and in from half to three-quarters of an hour turn it on to a paste-board, and divide it into twenty-four portions of equal size. Knead these up as lightly as possible into small round, or olive-shaped rolls; make a slight incision round them, and cut them once or twice across the top, placing them as they are done on slightly floured baking sheets an inch or two apart. Let them remain for fifteen or twenty minutes to prove; then wash the tops with yolk of egg, mixed with a little milk, and bake them in a rather brisk oven from ten to fifteen minutes. Turn them upside down upon a dish to cool after they are taken from the tins. An additional ounce of butter and another egg can be used for these rolls when richer bread is liked; but it is so much less wholesome than a more simple kind, that it is not to be recommended. A cup of good cream would be an admirable substitute for butter altogether, rendering the rolls exceedingly delicate both in appearance and in flavour. The yeast used for them should be stirred up with plenty of cold water the day before it is wanted; and it will be found very thick indeed when it is poured off, which should be gently done. Rather less than an ounce of good fresh German yeast may be used for them instead of brewer’s yeast, with advantage.

GENEVA ROLLS, OR BUNS.

Break down into very small crumbs three ounces of butter with two pounds of flour; add a little salt, and set the sponge with a large tablespoonful of solid yeast, mixed with a pint of new milk, and a tablespoonful or more of strong saffron water; let it rise for a full hour, then stir to a couple of well-beaten eggs as much hot milk as will render them lukewarm, and wet the rolls with them to a light, lithe dough; leave it from half to three-quarters of an hour longer, mould it into small rolls, brush them with beaten yolk of egg, and bake them from twenty minutes to half an hour. The addition of six ounces of good sugar, three of butter, half a pound or more of currants, the grated rind of a large lemon, and a couple of ounces of candied orange-rind, will convert these into excellent buns. When the flavour of the saffron is not liked, omit it altogether. Only so much should be used at any time as will give a rich colour to the bread.

Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 3 oz.; solid yeast, 1 large tablespoonful (saffron, 1 teaspoonful; water, less than a quarter pint); new milk, 1 pint: 1 hour, or more. 2 eggs, more milk: 3/4 hour: baked 20 to 30 minutes.

RUSKS.

Work quite into crumbs six ounces of butter with a couple of pounds of fine dry flour, and mix them into a lithe paste, with two tablespoonsful of mild beer yeast, three well-beaten eggs, and nearly half a pint of warm new milk. When it has risen to its full height knead it smooth, and make it into very small loaves or thick cakes cut with a round cake-cutter; place them on a floured tin, and let them stand in a warm place to prove from ten to twenty minutes before they are set into the oven. Bake them about a quarter of an hour; divide them while they are still warm, and put them into a very slow oven to dry. When they are crisp quite through they are done. Four teaspoonsful of sifted sugar must be added when sweet-rusks are preferred.

Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 6 oz.; yeast, 2 tablespoonsful; eggs, 3; new milk nearly half a pint: baked 1/4 hour.

For either of the preceding receipts substitute rather more than an ounce of German yeast, when it can be procured quite fresh; or should an ounce of it only be used (which we should consider an ample proportion), let the dough—especially that of the rusks—become extremely light before it is kneaded down, and also previously to its being sent to the oven. A somewhat smaller quantity of yeast is required in warm weather than in cold.

[Remark.—The remainder of this chapter is extracted from a little treatise on domestic bread-making, which we hope shortly to lay before the public, as it appears to us to be greatly needed; but, as we have already more than once repeated, we are unwilling to withhold from the present volume any information which may be generally useful.]

EXCELLENT DAIRY-BREAD MADE WITHOUT YEAST.

(Author’s Receipt.)

When we first heard unfermented bread vaguely spoken of, we had it tried very successfully in the following manner; and we have since been told that an almost similar method of preparing it is common in many remote parts both of England and Ireland, where it is almost impossible to procure a constant supply of yeast. Blend well together a teaspoonful of pounded sugar and fifty grains of the purest carbonate of soda; mix a saltspoonful of salt with a pound of flour, and rub the soda and sugar through a hair-sieve into it. Stir and mingle them well, and make them quickly into a firm but not hard dough with sour buttermilk. Bake the loaf well in a thoroughly heated, but not fierce oven. In a brick, or good iron oven a few minutes less than an hour would be sufficient to bake a loaf of similar weight. The buttermilk should be kept until it is quite acid, but it must never be in the slightest degree rancid, or otherwise bad. All unfermented bread should be placed in the oven directly it is made, or it will be heavy. For a larger baking allow rather less than an ounce of soda to the gallon (seven pounds) of flour.

Obs.—There are cases in which a knowledge of this, or of any other equally easy mode of bread-making would be invaluable. For example:—We learn from the wife of an officer who has for a long time been stationed off the Isle of Skye, in which his family have their abode, that the inhabitants depend entirely for bread on supplies brought to them from Glasgow; and that they are often entirely without, when the steamer which ought to arrive at intervals of eight days, is delayed by stress of weather. The residents are then compelled to have recourse to scones—as a mixture of flour and water and a little soda (cooked on a flat iron plate), are called—or to ship’s biscuit; and these are often found unsuitable for young children and invalids. There are no ovens in the houses, though there are grates for coal fires, in front of which small loaves of unfermented bread could be baked extremely well in good American ovens. Buttermilk can always be procured; and if not, a provision of carbonate of soda and muriatic acid might be kept at hand to ensure the means of making wholesome bread. In many other localities the same plan might prove of equal benefit.

TO KEEP BREAD.

Bread requires almost as much care as milk to preserve it wholesome and fresh. It should be laid, as soon as it is perfectly cold, into a large earthen pan with a cover, which should be kept free from crumbs, and be frequently scalded, and then wiped very dry for use. Loaves which have been cut should have a smaller pan appropriated to them, and this also should have the loose crumbs wiped from it daily. It is a good plan to raise the bread-pans from the floor of the larder, when there is no proper stand or frame for the purpose, by means of two flat wedges of wood, so as to allow a current of air to pass under them.

TO FRESHEN STALE BREAD (AND PASTRY, ETC.), AND PRESERVE IT FROM MOULD.

If entire loaves be placed in a gentle oven and heated quite through, without being previously dipped into cold water, according to the old-fashioned plan, they will eat almost like bread newly baked: they should not remain in it long enough to become hard and dry, but they should be made hot throughout. In very damp localities, when large household bakings take place but once in eight or ten days, it is sometimes necessary to use precautions against the attack of mould, though the bread may have been exceedingly well made; and the method recommended above will be the best for warding it off, and for preserving the bread eatable for several days longer than it would otherwise be. If large loaves be just dipped into cold water and then placed in a quick oven until they are again thoroughly dried, they will resemble new bread altogether.

Pastry, cakes, and biscuits, may all be greatly improved when stale, by heating them in a gentle oven.

TO KNOW WHEN BREAD IS SUFFICIENTLY BAKED.

When the surface is uniformly browned, and it is everywhere firm to the touch, and the bottom crust of a loaf is hard, it is generally certain that it is thoroughly baked. To test bread that has been cut (or yeast-cakes), press down the crumb lightly in the centre with the thumb; when it is elastic and rises again to its place, it is proof that it is perfectly done; but if the indentation remains, the heat has not sufficiently penetrated the dough to convert it into wholesome eating.

ON THE PROPER FERMENTATION OF DOUGH.

As we have previously said, too large a proportion of yeast, which is very commonly used by persons not well skilled in bread-making, although it produces quickly a light spongy dough, has a very bad effect on bread, which it renders much less easy of digestion than that which is more slowly fermented, and far less sweet and pleasant in flavour: it also prevents its remaining eatable the same length of time, as it speedily becomes dry. It is likewise very disadvantageous to make the dough so lithe that it spreads about in the oven; and if it be excessively stiff, and its management not thoroughly understood, it will sometimes be heavy,. To prevent this, it should be kept quite warm (never heated), and left a much longer time to rise. It will frequently then prove excellent. It will ferment rather more quickly if, when it gives symptoms of becoming light it is made up into loaves with the least possible kneading, and a slight incision is made round them and across the tops, and they are then placed in a warm air, and kept secure from cold currents passing over them.

CHAPTER XXXII.

FOREIGN AND JEWISH COOKERY.

We had hoped to have been able without exceeding the prescribed limits of the present volume to have added here a somewhat extensive chapter on the cookery of other countries, and to have comprised in it a section adapted to the service of the Jewish table; but we have so much enlarged in the pages on the more important subject of “Bread,” and on other matters which relate to simple English domestic economy, that we find it necessary to depart from our original intention, and to confine our receipts here to a comparatively small number. This, however, is of the less consequence as so many good and well tested foreign receipts, of which, from our own experience, we can guarantee the success, are to be found in the body of the work.

REMARKS ON JEWISH COOKERY.

From being forbidden by their usages to mingle butter, or other preparation of milk or cream with meat at any meal, the Jews have oil much used in their cookery of fish, meat, and vegetables. Pounded almonds and rich syrups of sugar and water agreeably flavoured, assist in compounding their sweet dishes, many of which are excellent, and preserve much of their oriental character; but we are credibly informed that the restrictions of which we have spoken are not at the present day very rigidly observed by the main body of Jews in this country, though they are so by those who are denominated strict.

JEWISH SMOKED BEEF.[188]

188.  We were made acquainted with it first through the courtesy of a Jewish lady, who afterwards supplied us with the address of the butcher from whom it was procured: Mr. Pass, 34, Duke Street, Aldgate, from whom the chorissa also may be purchased, and probably many other varieties of smoked meat which are used in Jewish cookery. For such of our readers as may not be acquainted with the fact, it may be well to state here that all meat supplied by Jew butchers is sure to be of first-rate quality, as they are forbidden by the Mosaic Law to convert into food any animal which is not perfectly free from all “spot or blemish.”

This is excellent, possessing the fine flavour of a really well cured ham, and retaining it unimpaired for a very long time after it is cut or cooked, if kept in a cool larder; it is therefore a valuable and inexpensive store for imparting savour to soups, gravies, and other preparations; and it affords also a dish of high relish for the table. An inch or two of the lean part, quite cleared from the smoked edges and divided into dice, will flavour well a tureen of gravy, or a pint of soup: even that which has been boiled will greatly improve the flavour of Liebig’s extract of beef, and of any simple broth or consommé. From the depth of fat upon it, which appears particularly rich and mellow, we think it is the thick flank of the beef of which we have made trial in various ways, and which is now in much request in several families of our acquaintance, who find it greatly superior to the common hung or Dutch beef, to which they were previously accustomed.

It must be cooked in the same manner as other smoked meats, more time being allowed for it than for fresh. Drop it into boiling water, and when it has boiled quickly for ten minutes, take off the scum should any appear, add cold water sufficient to reduce it to mere scalding heat, bring it again gently to a boil, and simmer it until the lean appears quite tender when probed with a sharp skewer; then lift it on to a drainer and serve it hot or cold, and garnished in either case with vegetables or otherwise at pleasure. Beef, 6 lbs.: 3 hours or more.

CHORISSA (OR JEWISH SAUSAGE) WITH RICE.

The chorissa is a peculiar kind of smoked sausage much served at Jewish tables[189] as an accompaniment to boiled poultry, &c. It seems to be in great part composed of delicate pounded meat, intermingled with suet and with a small portion of some highly-cured preparation, and with herbs or spices which impart to it an agreeable aromatic flavour.

189.  It may be had at the same shops as the smoked beef, and is the same price—a shilling the pound.

Drop the chorissa into warm water, heat it gently, boil it for about twenty minutes, and serve it surrounded with rice prepared as for currie. It will be found very good broiled in slices after the previous boiling: it should be cold before it is again laid to the fire. In all cases it will, we think, be found both more easy of digestion and more agreeable if half-boiled at least before it is broiled, toasted, or warmed in the oven for table. It is a good addition to forcemeat, and pounded savoury preparations, if used in moderation.

TO FRY SALMON AND OTHER FISH IN OIL.

(To Serve Cold.)

Turn into a small deep frying-pan, which should be kept for the purpose, a flask of fresh olive oil, place it over a clear fire, and as soon as it ceases to bubble lay in a pound and a half of delicate salmon properly cleansed and well dried in a cloth, and fry it gently until it is cooked quite through. The surface should be only lightly browned, and when the proper colour is attained the pan must be lifted so high from the fire as to prevent it being deepened, as we have directed in Chapter IX. in the general instructions for frying. Drain the fish well when it is done, and when it is perfectly cold, dish, and garnish it with light foliage. The Jews have cold fried fish much served at their repasts. Fillets of soles, plaice, brill, small turbots, or other flat fish, may be fried as above, and arranged in a symmetrical form round a portion of a larger fish, or by themselves. We would recommend as an accompaniment one of the Mauritian chutnies which are to be found in this chapter.

Olive oil, 1 small flask; salmon, about 1-1/2 lb.: 1/2 hour or rather more. Fillets of fish 5 to 10 minutes.

Obs.—The oil should be strained through a sieve, and set aside as the fish is done; it will serve many times for frying if this be observed.

JEWISH ALMOND PUDDING.

We have not thought it necessary to test this receipt ourselves, as we have tasted the puddings made by it more than once, and have received the exact directions for them from the Jewish lady at whose house they were made. They are extremely delicate and excellent. The almonds for them were procured ready ground from a Jew confectioner, but when they cannot be thus obtained they must be pounded in the usual manner. With half a pound of sweet, mingle six or seven bitter almonds, half a pound of sifted sugar, a little fine orange-flower water, with the yolks of ten and the whites of seven well whisked eggs, and when the whole of the ingredients are intimately blended, bake the pudding in a rather quick oven for half an hour, or longer should it not be then sufficiently firm to turn out of the dish. Sift sugar thickly over, or pour round it a rich syrup flavoured with orange-flower water, noyau or maraschino.

Obs.—We think a fruit syrup—pine-apple or other—or a compôte of fruit would be an excellent accompaniment to this pudding, which may be served hot or cold. We conclude that the dish in which it is baked, if not well buttered, must be rubbed with oil. The above proportions will make two puddings of sufficient size for a small party.

THE LADY’S OR INVALID’S NEW BAKED APPLE PUDDING.

(Author’s Original Receipt. Appropriate to the Jewish table.)

This pudding, which contains no butter, is most excellent when made with exactness by the directions which follow, but any variation from them will probably be attended with entire failure, especially in the crust, which if properly made will be solid, but very light and crisp; whereas, if the proportion of sugar for it be diminished, the bread will not form a compact mass, but will fall into crumbs when it is served. First weigh six ounces of the crumb of a light stale loaf, and grate it down small; then add to, and mix thoroughly with it three ounces and a half of pounded sugar, and a slight pinch of salt. Next, take from a pound to a pound and a quarter of russets, or of any other good baking apples; pare, and then take them off the cores in quarters without cutting the fruit asunder, as they will then, from the form given to them, lie more compactly in the dish. Arrange them in close layers in a deep tart-dish which holds about a pint and a half, and strew amongst them four ounces of sugar and the grated rind of a fine fresh lemon; add the strained juice of the lemon, and pour the bread-crumbs softly in a heap upon the apples in the centre of the dish, and with the back of a spoon level them gently into a very smooth layer of equal thickness, pressing them lightly down upon the fruit, which must all be perfectly covered with them. Sift powdered sugar over, wipe the edge of the dish, and bake the pudding in a somewhat quick oven for rather more than three-quarters of an hour. We have had it several times baked quite successfully in a baker’s oven, of which the heat is in general too great for puddings of a delicate kind. Very pale brown sugar will answer for it almost as well as pounded. For the nursery, some crumbs of bread may be strewed between the layers of fruit, and nutmeg or cinnamon may be used instead of lemon.

Obs.—We insert this receipt here because the pudding has been so much liked, and found so wholesome by many persons who have partaken of it at different times, that we think it will be acceptable to some of our readers, but it belongs properly to another work which we have in progress, and from which we extract it now for the present volume. An ounce or more of ratifias crushed to powder, may be added to the crust, or strewed over the pudding before it is served, when they are considered an improvement.

A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE JEWISH TABLE.

As a substitute for milk, in the composition of soufflés, puddings, and sweet dishes, almond-cream as it is called, will be found to answer excellently. To prepare it, blanch and pound the almonds by the directions of page 542, and then pour very gradually to them boiling water in the proportion directed below; turn them into a strong cloth or tammy, and wring it from them with powerful pressure, to extract as much as possible of it from them again.

The fruit custards of page 482, and the méringues of fruit of page 485, are perfectly suited to the tables of Jewish families; and sweet or savoury croustades or fried patties may be supplied to them from the receipts in the present work, by substituting clarified marrow (see page 388) for the butter used for them in general cookery. The reader will easily discover in addition, numerous dishes distributed through this volume which may be served to them without departing from their peculiar usages.

Almond-cream: (for puddings, &c.) almonds, 4 oz.; water, 1 pint. For blancmanges, and rich soufflés, creams and custards: almonds, 1/2 to whole pound; water, 1 to 1-1/2 pints.

Obs.—As every cook may not be quite aware of the articles of food strictly prohibited by the Mosaic law, it may be well to specify them here. Pork in every form; all varieties of shell-fish, without exception; hares, rabbits, and swans.

TOMATA AND OTHER CHUTNIES.

(Mauritian Receipts.)

The composition of these favourite oriental sauces varies but little except in the ingredient which forms the basis of each. The same piquant or stimulating auxiliaries are intermingled with all of them in greater or less proportion. These are, young onions, chilies (sometimes green ginger), oil, vinegar, and salt; and occasionally a little garlic or full grown onion, which in England might be superseded by a small portion of minced eschalot. Green peaches, mangoes, and other unripe fruits, crushed to pulp on the stone roller, shown at the head of this chapter; ripe bananas, tomatas roasted or raw, and also reduced to a smooth pulp; potatoes cooked and mashed; the fruit of the egg-plant boiled and reduced to a paste; fish, fresh, salted, or smoked, and boiled or grilled, taken in small fragments from the bones and skin, and torn into minute shreds, or pounded, are all in their turn used in their preparation.[190] Mingle with any one of these as much of the green onions and chilies chopped up small, as will give it a strong flavour; add salt if needed, and as much olive oil, of pure quality, with a third as much of vinegar, as will bring it to the consistence of a thick sauce. Serve it with currie, cutlets, steaks, pork, cold meat, or fish, or aught else to which it would be an acceptable accompaniment.

190.  We are indebted for these receipts to a highly intelligent medical man who has been for twenty years a resident in the Mauritius.

INDIAN LOBSTER-CUTLETS.

A really excellent and elegant receipt for lobster-cutlets has already been given in previous editions of the present work, and is now to be found at page 91 of Chapter III.; but the subjoined is one which may be more readily and expeditiously prepared, and may consequently, be preferred by some of our readers for that reason: it has also the recommendation of being new. In India, these cutlets are made from the flesh of prawns, which are there of enormous size, but lobsters, unless quite overgrown, answer for them as well, or better. Select fish of good size and take out the tails entire; slice them about the third of an inch thick, dip them into beaten egg, and then into very fine crumbs of bread seasoned rather highly with cayenne, and moderately with salt, grated nutmeg, and pounded mace. Egg and crumb them twice, press the bread upon them with the blade of a knife, and when all are ready, fry them quickly in good butter to a light brown. Serve them as dry as possible, arranged in a chain round a hot dish, and pour into the centre, or send to table with them in a tureen, some sauce made with the flesh of the claws heated in some rich melted butter, flavoured with a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, one of strong chili vinegar, a little salt and mace, and coloured with the coral of the fish, should they contain any. A few shrimps may be added with good effect; or the sauce may be made of these entirely, either whole or pounded, when they are preferred. In either case, they should only be heated in it, and not allowed to boil. East or West Indian mangoes, or other hot pickle, should accompany the dish. The cutlets may likewise be dipped into light French batter, and fried; but the egg and bread-crumbs are somewhat preferable. It is an advantage to have lobsters little more than parboiled for them. Herbs can be added to the crumbs at pleasure; the writer does not, however, recommend them.

AN INDIAN BURDWAN.

(Entrée.)

This is an Oriental dish of high savour, which may be made either with a young fowl or chicken parboiled for the purpose, or with the remains of such as have already been sent to table. First, put into a stewpan about a tablespoonful of very mild onion finely minced, or a larger proportion with a mixture of eschalots, for persons whose taste is in favour of so strong a flavour; add rather more than a quarter of a pint of cold water, about an ounce of butter smoothly blended with a very small teaspoonful of flour, a moderate seasoning of cayenne, and a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies. Shake or stir this sauce over a clear fire until it boils, then let it stand aside and merely simmer for ten or fifteen minutes, or until the onion is quite tender, then pour to it a couple of wineglassesful of Madeira (Sherry or Tenerifte will do), and a tablespoonful of chili-vinegar. Lay in the fowl after having carved it neatly, divided all the joints, and stripped off the skin; and let it remain close to the fire, but without boiling, until it is perfectly heated through; bring it to the point of boiling and send it immediately to table. A dish of rice, boiled as for currie, is often, but not invariably, served with it. Should the fowl have been parboiled only—that is to say, boiled for a quarter of an hour—it must be gently stewed in the sauce for fifteen or twenty minutes; longer, even, should it not then be quite tender. Cold lamb, or veal, or calf’s-head, or a delicate young rabbit, may be very advantageously served as a rechauffé, in a sauce compounded as above. The various condiments contained in this can be differently apportioned at pleasure; and pickled capsicum, or chilies minced, can be added to it at choice either in lieu of, or in addition to the chili-vinegar. The juice of a fresh lime should, if possible, be thrown into it before it is served. Except for a quite plain family dinner, only the superior joints of poultry should be used for this dish. Care should be taken not to allow the essence of anchovies to predominate too powerfully in it.

THE KING OF OUDE’S OMLET.

Whisk up very lightly, after having cleared them in the usual way, five fine fresh eggs; add to them two dessertspoonsful of milk or cream, a small teaspoonful of salt, one—or half that quantity for English eaters—of cayenne pepper, three of minced mint, and two dessertspoonsful of young leeks, or of mild onions chopped small. Dissolve an ounce and a half of good butter in a frying-pan about the size of a plate, or should a larger one of necessity be used, raise the handle so as to throw the omlet entirely to the opposite side; pour in the eggs, and when the omlet, which should be kept as thick as possible, is well risen and quite firm, and of a fine light brown underneath, slide it on to a very hot dish, and fold it together “like a turnover,” the brown side uppermost: six or seven minutes will fry it. This receipt is given to the reader in a very modified form, the fiery original which we transcribe being likely to find but few admirers here we apprehend: the proportion of leeks or onions might still be much diminished with advantage:—“Five eggs, two tolahs of milk, one masha of salt, two mashas of cayenne pepper, three of mint, and two tolahs of leeks.”

KEDGEREE OR KIDGEREE, AN INDIAN BREAKFAST DISH.

Boil four ounces of rice tender and dry as for currie, and when it is cooled down put it into a saucepan with nearly an equal quantity of cold fish taken clear of skin and bone, and divided into very small flakes or scallops. Cut up an ounce or two of fresh butter and add it, with a full seasoning of cayenne, and as much salt as may be required. Stir the kedgeree constantly over a clear fire until it is very hot; then mingle quickly with it two slightly beaten eggs. Do not let it boil after these are stirred in; but serve the dish when they are just set. A Mauritian chatney may be sent to table with it. The butter may be omitted, and its place supplied by an additional egg or more. Cold turbot, brill, salmon, soles, John Dory, and shrimps, may all be served in this form.

A SIMPLE SYRIAN PILAW.

Drop gradually into three pints of boiling water one pint of rice which has been shaken in a cullender to free it from the dust and then well wiped in a soft clean cloth. The boiling should not be checked by the addition of the rice, which if well managed will require no stirring, and which will entirely absorb the water. It should be placed above the fire where the heat will reach it equally from below; and it should boil gently that the grain may become quite tender and dry. When it is so, and the surface is full of holes, pour in two or three ounces of clarified butter, or merely add some, cut up small; throw in a seasoning of salt and white pepper, or cayenne; stir the whole up well, and serve it immediately. An onion, when the flavour is liked, may be boiled in the water, which should afterwards be strained, before the rice is added; there should be three pints of it when the grain is dropped in.

Small fried sausages or sausage-cakes may be served with it at pleasure for English eaters. The rice may be well washed and thoroughly dried in a cloth when time will permit.

SIMPLE TURKISH OR ARABIAN PILAW.

(From Mr. Lane, the Oriental Traveller.)

“Piláw or piláu is made by boiling rice in plenty of water for about twenty minutes, so that the water drains off easily, leaving the grains whole, and with some degree of hardness; then stirring it up with a little butter, just enough to make the grains separate easily, and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Often a fowl, boiled almost to rags, is laid upon the top. Sometimes small morsels of fried or roasted mutton or lamb are mixed up with it; and there are many other additions; but generally the Turks and Arabs add nothing to the rice but the butter, and salt, and pepper.”

Obs.—We are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Lane for this receipt, which was procured from him for us by one of his friends.

A REAL INDIAN PILAW.

Boil three pounds of bacon in the usual manner; take it out and drop into the same pan a pair of fowls compactly trussed as for boiling. In three quarters of an hour, unless very large, they will be sufficiently cooked; but they should be thoroughly boiled. When they are so, lift them out, and place a hot cover and thick cloth over them. Take three pints and a half of the liquor in which they were boiled, and add to it when it again boils, nearly two pounds of well washed Patna rice, three onions, a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and peppercorns, with half as much of allspice, tied loosely in a bit of muslin. Stew these together very gently for three quarters of an hour. Do not stir them as it breaks the rice. Take out the spice and onions; lay in the fowls if necessary, to heat them quite through, and dish them neatly with the rice heaped smoothly over them. Garnish the pilaw with hot hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, or with fried forcemeat-balls, or with half rings of onion fried extremely dry. The bacon, heated apart, should be served in a separate dish.

Obs.—This is a highly approved receipt supplied to us by a friend who had long experience of it in India; but we would suggest that to be really cooked so as to render it wholesome in this country, a larger quantity of liquid should be added to it, as one pint (or pound) will absorb three pints of water or broth: and the time allowed for stewing it appears to us insufficient for it to become really tender. A Persian Pilaw is made much in the same manner, sometimes with morsels of fried kid mixed with the rice.

Bacon, 3 lbs., 1-1/2 to 2 hours; fowls, 2.; Rice, nearly 2 lbs. Broth from bacon and fowls, 3-1/2 pints; onions, 3; cloves and peppercorns, 1/4 oz. each; allspice, 1 drachm: 3/4 hour.

INDIAN RECEIPT FOR CURRIED FISH.

Take the fish from the bones, and cut it into inch and half squares; lay it into a stewpan with sufficient hot water to barely cover it; sprinkle some salt over, and boil it gently until it is about half cooked. Lift it out with a fish-slice, pour the liquor into a basin, and clear off any scum which may be on it. Should there be three or four pounds of the fish, dissolve a quarter of a pound of butter in a stewpan, and when it has become a little brown, add two cloves of garlic and a large onion finely minced or sliced very thin; fry them until they are well coloured, then add the fish; strew equally over it, and stir it well up with from two to three tablespoonsful of Bengal currie powder; cover the pan, and shake it often until the fish is nicely browned; next add by degrees the liquor in which it was stewed, and simmer it until it is perfectly done, but not so as to fall into fragments. Add a moderate quantity of lemon-juice or chili vinegar, and serve it very hot.

BENGAL CURRIE POWDER.

No. 1.

Mix thoroughly the following ingredients after they have been separately reduced to the finest powder and passed through a fine hair or lawn sieve:—

6 oz. coriander seed.

3 oz. black pepper.

1 oz. cummin-seed.

1-1/2 oz. fenugreek-seed.

3/4 oz. cayenne pepper.

3 oz. best pale turmeric.

Set the powder before the fire to dry, and turn it often; then withdraw it, let it become cold, and bottle it immediately. Keep it closely corked.

Obs.—We cannot think a large proportion of black pepper a desirable addition to currie powder, as it gives a strong coarse flavour: but as it may be liked by persons who are accustomed to it, we give the preceding and the following receipt without varying either: the second appears to us the best.

Coriander-seed | 8 oz.
Chinese turmeric | 4 oz.
Black pepper | 2 oz.
Cassia | 1/2 oz.
White ginger | 1 oz.
Cayenne pepper | 1/2 oz.

RISOTTO À LA MILANAISE.

Slice a large onion very thin, and divide it into shreds; then fry it slowly until it is equally but not too deeply browned; take it out and strain the butter, and fry in it about three ounces of rice for every person who is to partake of it. As the grain easily burns, it should be put into the butter when it begins to simmer, and be very gently coloured to a bright yellow tint over a slow fire. Add it to some good boiling broth lightly tinged with saffron, and stew it softly in a copper pan for fifteen or twenty minutes. Stir to it two or three ounces of butter mixed with a small portion of flour, a moderate seasoning of pepper or cayenne, and as much grated Parmesan cheese as will flavour it thoroughly. Boil the whole gently for ten minutes, and serve it very hot, at the commencement of dinner as a potage.

Obs.—The reader should bear in mind what we have so often repeated in this volume, that rice should always be perfectly cooked, and that it will not become tender with less than three times its bulk of liquid.

STUFATO.

(A Neapolitan Receipt.)

“Take about six pounds of the silver side of the round, and make several deep incisions in the inside, nearly through to the skin; stuff these with all kinds of savoury herbs, a good slice of lean ham, and half a small clove of garlic, all finely minced, and well mingled together; then bind and tie the meat closely round, so that the stuffing may not escape. Put four pounds of butter into a stewpan sufficiently large to contain something more than that quantity, and the beef in addition; so soon as it boils lay in the meat, let it just simmer for five or six hours, and turn it every half hour at least, that it may be equally done. Boil for twenty-five minutes three pounds of pipe maccaroni, drain it perfectly dry, and mix it with the gravy of the beef, without the butter, half a pint of very pure salad oil, and a pot of paste tomatas; mix these to amalgamation, without breaking the maccaroni; before serving up, sprinkle Parmesan cheese thickly on the maccaroni.”

We insert this receipt exactly as it was given to us by a friend, at whose table the dish was served with great success to some Italian diplomatists. From our own slight experience of it, we should suppose that the excellence of the beef is quite a secondary consideration, as all its juices are drawn out by the mode of cooking, and appropriated to the maccaroni, of which we must observe that three pounds would make too gigantic a dish to enter well, on ordinary occasions, into an English service.

We have somewhere seen directions for making the stufato with the upper part of the sirloin, thickly larded with large, well-seasoned lardoons of bacon, and then stewed in equal parts of rich gravy, and of red or of white wine.

BROILED EELS WITH SAGE. (ENTRÉE.)

(German Receipt.) Good.

Skin, open, and cleanse one fine eel (or more), cut it into finger-lengths, rub it with a mixed seasoning of salt and white pepper, and leave it for half an hour. Wipe it dry, wrap each length in sage leaves, fasten them round it with coarse thread, roll the eel in good salad oil or clarified butter, lay it on the gridiron, squeeze lemon-juice over, and broil it gently until it is browned in every part. Send it to table with a sauce made of two or three ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chili, tarragon, or common vinegar, and one of water, with a little salt; to keep this smooth, proceed as for the Norfolk sauce of Chapter V. Broiled fish is frequently served without any sauce. A quite simple one may supply the place of that which we have indicated above: eels being of so rich a nature, require no other.

A SWISS MAYONNAISE.

Beat half a pound of butter to a cream, and then add it very gradually to the hard-boiled yolks of six fresh eggs which have been cut into quarters, separated carefully from the whites, and pounded to a perfect paste; when these are blended into a smooth sauce add, a few drops at a time, some of the finest salad oil that can be procured, and work the mixture in the same manner as the mayonnaise of Chapter VI. until no particle of it remains visible: a small quantity of salt also must be thrown in, and sufficient good vinegar in very small portions, to give an agreeable acidity to the preparation. (Fresh lemon-juice might be substituted in part for this, and a little fine cayenne used with it; but though we suggest this, we adhere to our original Swiss receipt for this excellent dish, even when we think it might be slightly improved in flavour.)

Carve very neatly two delicate boiled fowls, and trim the joints into handsome form. Lay the inferior parts upon a large plate, and spread a portion of the sauce, which should be very thick, upon them; arrange them in a flat layer in the dish in which they are to be served; then sauce in the same way more of the joints, and arrange them symmetrically over the others. Proceed thus to build a sort of pyramid with the whole; and decorate it with the whites of the eggs, and the hearts of small lettuces cut in halves. Place these last round the base alternately with whole bantams’ or plovers’ eggs, boiled hard, a small slice must be cut from the large end of each of these to admit of their being placed upright. A slight branch of parsley, or other foliage, may be stuck in the tops. Roast chickens divested entirely of the skin, can always be substituted for boiled ones in a mayonnaise: they should all be separated into single joints with the exception of the wings. The quite inferior parts need not be used at all.

The same sauce rather highly flavoured with cayenne, and other condiments, and more or less, to the taste, with essence of anchovies or anchovy butter, and coloured with lobster-coral, will make an excellent fish-salad, with alternate slices of lobster,—cut obliquely to increase their size,—and of cold turbot or large soles. These can be raised into a high border or chain round a dish when more convenient, and the centre filled with young fresh salad, sauced at the instant it is sent to table.

A French mayonnaise does not vary much from the preceding, except in the composition of the sauce, for which see Chapter VI. It should always be kept very thick. A little rich cold white sauce is sometimes mixed with it.

TENDRONS DE VEAU.

The tendrons (or gristles) which lie under the flesh of the brisket of a breast of veal are much used in foreign countries, and frequently now in this, to supply a variety of the dishes called entrées. When long stewed they become perfectly tender, and yield a large amount of gelatine; but they are quite devoid of flavour, and require therefore to be cooked and served with such additions as shall render them palatable.

With a very sharp knife detach the flesh from them without separating it from the joint, and turn it back, so as to allow the gristles to be divided easily from the long bones. Cut away the chine-bone from their outer edge, and then proceed first to soak them, that they may be very white, and to boil them gently for several hours,[191] either quite simply, in good broth, or with additions of bacon, spice, and vegetables. Foreign cooks braise them somewhat expensively, and then serve them in many different forms; but as they make, after all, but a rather unpretending entrée, some economy in their preparation would generally be desirable. They may be divided at the joints, and cut obliquely into thin slices before they are stewed, when they will require but four hours simmering; or they may be left entire and braised, when they will require, while still warm, to be pressed between two dishes with a heavy weight on the top, to bring them into good shape before they are divided for table. They are then sometimes dipped into egg and bread-crumbs, and fried in thin slices of uniform size; or stewed tender, then well drained, and glazed, dished in a circle, and served with peas à la Française in the centre, or with a thick purée of tomatas, or of other vegetables. They are also often used to fill vol-au-vents, for which purpose they must be kept very white, and mixed with a good béchamel-sauce. We recommend their being highly curried, either in conjunction with plenty of vegetables, or with a portion of other meat, after they have been baked or stewed as tender as possible.

191.  We think that in the pasted jar which we have described in Chapter IX., in the section of Baking, they might be well and easily cooked, but we have not tried it.

POITRINE DE VEAU GLACÉE.

(Breast of Veal Stewed and Glazed.)

When the gristles have been removed from a breast of veal, the joint will still make an excellent roast, or serve to stew or braise. Take out the long-bones,[192] beat the veal with the flat side of a cleaver, or with a cutlet-bat, and when it is quite even, cut it square, and sprinkle over it a moderate seasoning of fine salt, cayenne, and mace. Make some forcemeat by either of the receipts Nos. 1, 2, 3, or 7, of Chapter VIII., but increase the ingredients to three or four times the quantity, according to the size of the joint. Lay over the veal, or not, as is most convenient, thin slices of half-boiled bacon, or of ham; press the forcemeat into the form of a short compact rouleau and lay it in the centre of one side of the breast; then roll it up and skewer the ends closely with small skewers, and bind the joint firmly into good form with tape or twine. When thus prepared, it may be slowly stewed in very good veal stock until it is tender quite through, and which should be hot when it is laid in; or embedded in the usual ingredients for braising (see Chapter IX., page 180), and sent to table glazed, sauced with an Espagnole, or other rich gravy, and garnished with carrots à la Windsor (see page 335), or with sweetbread cutlets, also glazed.

192.  This is very easily done by cutting through the skin down the centre of each.

BREAST OF VEAL. SIMPLY STEWED.[193]

193.  We give here the English receipt of an excellent practical cook for “Stewed Breast of veal,” as it may be acceptable to some of our readers, After it has been boned, flattened, and trimmed, season it well, and let it lie for an hour or two (this, we do not consider essential); then prepare some good veal forcemeat, to which let a little minced shalot be added, and spread it over the veal If you have any cold tongue or lean of ham, cut it in square strips, and lay them the short way of the meat that they may be shewn when it is carved. Roll it up very tight, and keep it in good shape; enclose it in a cloth as you would a jam-pudding, and lace it up well, then lay it into a braising-pan with three onions, as many large carrots thickly sliced, some spice, sweet herbs, and sufficient fresh second-stock or strong veal broth to more than half cover it, and stew it very gently over a slow fire for three hours: turn it occasionally without disturbing the braise which surrounds it. Glaze it before it is sent to table, and serve it with Spanish sauce, or with rich English brown gravy, flavoured with a glass of sherry; and garnish it with stewed mushrooms in small heaps, and fried forcemeat balls.

Omit the forcemeat from the preceding receipt, and stew the joint tender in good veal broth, or shin of beef stock. Drain, and dish it. Pour a little rich gravy round it, and garnish it with nicely fried balls of the forcemeat No. 1, Chapter VIII., or with mushroom-forcemeat (No. 7). Mushroom-sauce is always an excellent accompaniment to a joint of veal. The liquor in which the breast is stewed or braised is too fat to serve as sauce until it has been cooled and cleared. The veal can be cooked without boning, but will have but an indifferent appearance. It should in that case be slowly brought to boil, and very gently simmered: about two hours and a half will stew it tender. The sweetbread, after being scalded, may be stewed with it for half the time, and served upon it.

Obs.—The breast without the gristles, boned and filled with forcemeat, makes a superior roast. It may also be boiled on occasion, and served with balls of oyster-forcemeat in the dish; or with white mushroom-sauce instead.

COMPOTE DE PIGEONS (STEWED PIGEONS.)

The French in much of their cookery use more bacon than would generally be suited to a very delicate taste, we think. This bacon, from being cured without saltpetre, and from not being smoked, rather resembles salt pork in flavour: we explain this that the reader may, when so disposed, adapt the receipts we give here to an English table by omitting it. Cut into dice from half to three quarters of a pound of streaked bacon, and fry it gently in a large stewpan with a morsel of butter until it is very lightly browned; lift it out, and put in three or four young pigeons trussed as for boiling. When they have become firm, and lightly coloured, lift them out, and stir a large tablespoonful of flour to the fat. When this thickening (roux) is also slightly browned, add gradually to it a pint, or something more, of boiling veal-stock or strong broth; put back the birds and the bacon, with a few small button-onions when their flavour is liked, and stew the whole very gently for three quarters of an hour. Dish the pigeons neatly with the bacon and onions laid between them; skim all the fat from the sauce, reduce it quickly, and strain it over them. The birds should be laid into the stewpan with the breasts downwards.

The third, or half of a pottle of small mushrooms is sometimes added to this dish. It may be converted into a compote aux petits pois by adding to the pigeons when the broth, in which they are laid, first begins to boil, a pint and a half of young peas. For these, a pint and a quarter, at the least, of liquid will be required, and a full hour’s stewing. The economist can substitute water for the broth. When the birds can be had at little cost, one, two, or more, according to circumstances, should be stewed down to make broth or sauce for the others.

Obs.—Pigeons are excellent filled with the mushrooms au beurre, of page 329, and either roasted or stewed. To broil them proceed as directed for a partridge (French receipt), page 290.

MAI TRANK (MAY-DRINK).

(German.)

Put into a large deep jug one pint of light white wine to two of red, and dissolve in it sufficient sugar to sweeten it agreeably. Wipe a sound China orange, cut it in rather thick slices, without paring it, and add it to the wine; then throw in some small bunches or faggots of the fragrant little plant called woodruff; cover the jug closely to exclude the air and leave it until the following day. Serve it to all May-day visitors. One orange will be sufficient for three pints of wine. The woodruff should be washed and well drained before it is thrown into the jug; and the quantity of it used should not be very large, or the flavour of the beverage will be rather injured than improved by it. We have tried this receipt on a small scale with lemon-rind instead of oranges, and the mixture was very agreeable. Rhenish wine should properly be used for it; but this is expensive in England. The woodruff is more odorous when dried gradually in the shade than when it is fresh gathered, and imparts a pleasant fragrance to linen, as lavender does. It grows wild in Kent, Surrey, and other parts of England, and flourishes in many suburban gardens in the neighbourhood of London.

A VIENNESE SOUFFLÉ-PUDDING, CALLED SALZBURGER NOCKERL.

At the moment of going to press, we have received direct from Vienna the following receipt, which we cannot resist offering to the reader for trial, as we are assured that the dish is one of the most delicate and delicious soufflé-puddings that can be made.

(A) Take butter, four ounces; sugar in powder, three ounces; fine flour, one ounce and a half or two ounces; and the yellow of eight eggs; beat these together in a convenient sized basin till the mixture gets frothy. (The butter should probably first be beaten to cream.)

(B) Beat to snow the whites of the eight eggs.

(C) Take three pounds (or pints) of new milk, put it in an open stewpan over a gentle fire, and let it boil.

(D) Next, prepare a china casserole (enamelled stewpan—a copper one will do) by greasing its internal surface.

As soon as the milk boils, mix gently A and B together, and with a small spoon take portions of this shape and size and lay them over the surface of the boiling milk till it is entirely covered with them. Let them boil for four or five minutes to cook them; then put them in convenient order on the ground of the greased casserole (stewpan). Go on putting in the same manner small portions of the mixture on the surface of the boiling milk, and when cooked, place a new layer of them in the stewpan over the first; and continue the same operation until the mixture is all consumed. Take now the remainder of the milk, and add it to the beaten yellow (yolks) of two eggs, some sugar, and some powdered vanilla. Pour this over the cooked pastry in the stewpan, and set it into a gently heated oven. Leave it there until it gets brown; then powder it with vanilla-sugar, and send it to the table.

Author’s Note.—The preceding directions were written by a physician of Vienna, at whose table the dish was served. It was turned out of the casserole, and served with the greatest expedition; but we think it would perhaps answer more generally here, to bake it in a soufflé dish, and to leave it undisturbed. We would also suggest, that the yolk of a third egg might sometimes be needed to bind the mixture well together. A good and experienced cook would easily ascertain the best mode of ensuring the success of the preparation.

We must observe, that the form of the enamelled stewpans made commonly in this country prevents their being well adapted for use in the present receipt: those of copper are better suited to it.

Half the proportion of the ingredients might, by way of experiment, be prepared and baked in a tart-dish, as our puddings frequently are; or in a small round cake mould, with a band of writing paper fastened round the top.

The vanilla sugar is prepared by cutting the bean up small, and pounding it with some sugar in a mortar, and then passing it through a very fine sieve.

The “cooked portions” of which the soufflé is principally composed are the shape, and about half the size of the inside of an egg-spoon. If somewhat larger, they would possibly answer as well.

INDEX.

Acton gingerbread, 552

Albert’s, Prince, pudding, 411

Almond, cake, 545

- candy, 566
- cream, for blamange, 478
- macaroons, 544
- paste, 367
- paste, fairy fancies of, 368
- paste, tartlets of, 367
- pudding, 425
- pudding, Jewish, 608
- shamrocks (very good and very pretty), 574

Almonds to blanch, 542

- chocolate, 568
- to colour for cakes or pastry, 542
- in cheese-cakes, 361
- to pound, 542
- in soups, 21

- to reduce to paste, the quickest and easiest way, 542

Alose, or Shad, to cook, 79

American oven, 178

Anchovies, to fillet, 389

- fried in batter, 84
- potted, 306
- curried toasts with, 389

Anchovy, butter, 138

- sauce, 115

Appel krapfen (German receipt), 373

Apple cake, 362

- calf’s-feet jelly, 464
- Charlotte, or Charlotte de Pommes, 486
- marmalade for Charlotte de Pommes, 487
- custards, 482
- dumplings, fashionable, 420
- fritters, 384
- hedgehog, or Suédoise, 480
- jelly, 522
- jelly, exceedingly fine, 523
- juice, prepared, 456
- pudding, 408
- pudding, common, 409
- sauce, 124
- sauce, baked, 124
- sauce, brown, 125
- soup, 21
- snow-balls, 421
- tart, 363
- young green, tart, 364
- creamed tart, 364

Apples, baked compote of (our little lady’s receipt), 572

- buttered, or Pommes au beurre, 488

Apricots, compote of green, 457

Apricots dried, French receipt for, 517

- to dry, a quick and easy method, 517

Apricot blamange, 479

- fritters, 384

- marmalade, 516

Arabian, or Turkish Piláw, Mr. Lane’s receipt for, 614

Artichokes, Jerusalem, à la Reine, 338

- to boil, 326
- en salade, 326
- to remove the chokes from, 326
- Jerusalem, to boil, 337
- Jerusalem, to fry, 338
- Jerusalem, mashed, 338
- soup of, 19

Asparagus, to boil, 319

- to serve cold (observation), 319

- points, dressed like peas (entremets), 319

Aspic, or clear savoury jelly, 104

Arocē Docēe, or sweet rice à la Portugaise, 489

Arrow-root, to thicken sauces with, 106

- to thicken soup with, 2, 4
- Potato, 154
- sauce (clear), 403

Bacon, to boil, 259

- broiled or fried, 259
- Cobbett’s receipt for, 252
- dressed rashers of, 259
- French, for larding, 254
- lardoons of, 181
- to pickle cheeks of, 254
- genuine Yorkshire receipt for curing, 253
- super-excellent, 256

Bain-marie, use of, 105

Baked apple-pudding, or custard, 437

- apple-pudding, the lady’s or invalid’s, new, 608

- apple-pudding, a common, 409
- compote of apples, 572
- minced beef, 207
- round of spiced beef, 199
- beet-root, 339
- bread-puddings, 429, 430
- calf’s feet and head, 178
- custard, 483
- haddocks, 73
- ham, 258
- joints, with potatoes, 179
- mackerel, 70
- marrow bones, 208
- mullet, 76
- ox-cheek, 208
- pike, 81
- potatoes, 312
- raisin puddings, 441, 442
- salmon, 60, 179
- smelts, 78
- soles (or soles au plat), 66
- soup, 178
- sucking-pig, 250
- whitings, à la Française, 68

Baking, directions for, or oven cookery, 178
Banbury cakes, 549
Bantam’s eggs, to boil or poach, 446, 449

Barberries, to pickle,

- in bunches, to preserve, 526

- stewed, for rice-crust, 459

Barberry jam, a good receipt for, 526

- jam, another receipt for, 527
- superior jelly and marmalade, 527
- and rice pudding,
- tart, 364

Barley-sugar, 564

Barley-water, excellent (poor Xury’s receipt), 583

Basket, wire, for frying, 177

Batter, French, for frying meat and vegetables, &c., 130

- cod’s sounds fried in, 63
- salsify, fried in, 341
- spring fruit, fried in, 383
- to mix for puddings, 397

Béchamel, 108

Beans, French, to boil, 321

- à la Française, 321
- another excellent receipt for, 322
- Windsor, to boil, 322

Beef, à la mode, 192
breslaw of, 206
cake (very good), 190
to choose, 184
minced collops of, au naturel, 201
savoury minced collops of, 201
Scotch minced collops of, 202
richer minced collops of, 202
divisions of, 184
Dutch or hung, 197
extract of, Baron Liebig’s, 6
fillet of, braised, 180
fillet of, roast, 187
hashed, French receipt for, 206
cold, common hash of, 205
cold, excellent hash of, 205
collared, 198
collared, another receipt for, 198
gravy, Baron Liebig’s, 96
Norman hash of, 206
heart, to roast, 204
Jewish (smoked), 606
kidney, to dress, 204
kidney (a plainer way), 205
marrow, clarified for keeping, 208
marrow, to prepare for frying croustades, &c., 388
marrow-bones, to boil, 207
marrow-bones, baked, 208
minced, baked, 207
palates (Entrée), 194
palates (Neapolitan mode), 195
Hamburg pickle for, 197
another pickle for, 197
ribs of, to roast, 185
roll, or canellon de bœuf, 201
miniature round of, 200
round of, to salt and boil, 196
round of, spiced, 199
round of, roast, 186
rump of, to roast, 186
rump of, to stew, 194
to salt and pickle, various ways, 196
common receipt for salting, 198
saunders of, 207
shin of, to stew, 192
shin of, for stock, 97
sirloin of, to roast, 185
sirloin of, stewed, 193
spiced (good and wholesome), 199
smoked, 606
steak, roast, 187
steak, stewed, 189
steak, stewed in its own gravy, 189
steaks, best and most tender, 185
steaks, broiled, 187
steaks, broiled, sauces appropriate to, 188
steaks, fried, 189
steaks, à la Française, 188
steaks, à la Française, another receipt for, 189
steak pie, 354
steak puddings, 399, 401
good English stew of, 191
German stew, 190
Stufato, 615
Welsh stew of, 191
tongue (Bordyke’s receipt for stewing), 203
tongue potted, 305
tongues (various modes of curing), 202
tongues, to dress, 203
tongues, Suffolk receipt for, 203

Beet-root, to bake, 339

- to boil, 339

- to stew, 340

Belgrave mould, 469
Bengal currie powders, 615
Bermuda witches, 491
Birthday syllabub, 581

Biscuits, Aunt Charlotte’s, 561

- Captain’s, good, 560
- Colonel’s, 561
- cheap ginger, 560
- Threadneedle-street, 560
- wine, 560

Bishop, Oxford receipt for, 580
Black-cap pudding, 407
Black-caps par excellence, 460
Black cock, and gray hen, to roast, 291

Blamange, or blanc manger, apricot, 479

- good common (author’s receipt), 476
- calf’s feet, to make, 454
- currant, 479
- quince (delicious), 478
- quince, with almond cream, 478
- rich, 477
- strawberry (extremely good), 477
- strengthening, 476

Blanc, a, 169

Blanch, to, meat, vegetables, &c., 182

Blanquette, of sucking pig, 250

- of veal or lamb with mushrooms, 229

Boil, to, meat, 167

- a round of beef, 196

Boiled, calf’s head, 210

- chestnuts, 274
- custards, 481
- eels (German receipt), 83
- fowls, 273
- leeks, 318
- rice, to serve with stewed fruit, &c., 422
- rice-pudding, 419, 420
- turnip radishes, 318
- breast of veal, 218
- fillet of veal, 217
- knuckle of veal, 221
- loin of veal, 218

Boiling, general directions for, 167

- scientific, Baron Liebig’s directions for, 168

Bonbons, palace, 567

Bone, to, calf’s head for brawn, 24, 215

- calf’s head, the cook’s receipt, 211
- calf’s head for mock turtle soup, 24
- a fowl or turkey without opening it, 265
- a fowl or turkey, another mode, 265

- fowls, for fricassees, curries, and pies, 266

- a hare, 285
- a leg of mutton, 236
- a loin of mutton for pies, 355
- a breast of veal, 618
- a shoulder of veal or mutton, 219
- neck of venison for pies, 352

Boning, general directions for, 182

Bottle Jack, 170

Bottled fruits, for winter use,

- gooseberries,

- tomatas, or tomata-catsup, 151

Boudin, à la Richelieu, 288
Boudinettes of lobsters, &c., 92
Boulettes, potato, 314
Bouilli, French receipt for hashed, 206
Bouillon, observations on, 9

Brain cakes, 162

- another receipt for, 162

Braise, to burn, 180

Braised fillet of beef, 180

- leg of mutton, 236

Braising, directions for, 180

Brandy, cherry (Tappington Everard receipt), 579

- lemon, for flavouring sweet dishes, 153
- peaches preserved in, 571
- trifle, or tipsy cake, 274

Brandied morella cherries, 571

Brawn Brack, cake (Irish), 546

- good, light, 554

Brawn, calf’s head (author’s receipt), 215

- Tenbridge, 260

Bread, Bordyke receipt for, 597

- to know when baked, 604
- Bavarian brown, Liebig’s, 599
- brown, English, 599
- crumbs, fried, 131
- crumbs, to prepare for frying fish, 131
- dairy, without yeast, 602
- to freshen stale, 603
- to fry for garnishing, 131
- to fry for soups, 5
- with German yeast, 598
- home-made, remarks on, 594
- household, 596
- to keep, 603
- partridges served with, 279
- patties, 387
- potato, 600
- puddings, 418, 430
- and butter puddings, 428, 429
- rules to be observed in making, 596
- sauce, 112
- sauce with onion, 113
- unfermented, 599
- to purify yeast for, 595

Bream, sea, to dress, 75
Brioche paste, 349
Brill, to boil, 58
Broccoli, 326

Broiled beef steak, 187

- bacon, 259
- cutlets, mutton, 241
- cutlets, pork, 251
- eels with sage (German), 617
- fowl, 274
- mackerel, 71
- red mullet, 76
- partridge, 290
- partridge (French receipt), 290

Broiling, general directions for, 175

Broil, the Cavalier’s, 240

Broth, or bouillon, 6

- veal, or mutton, 44

Browned flour for thickening soups and sauces, 131

Browning, with salamander, 183

Brown, rich, English gravy, 99

- apple sauce, 125
- caper sauce, 121
- chestnut sauce, 129
- mushroom sauce, 123
- onion sauce, 125
- rabbit soup, 31

Brown to, with salamander, 183

Brussels sprouts, 340

Buns, light, of different kinds, 559

- Exeter, 559
- excellent soda, 561
- Geneva, 601

Burdwan, an Indian, 612
Burlington Whimsey, 212
Burnt coffee, or gloria, 592

Buttered apples, 488

- cherries, 490

Butter, anchovy, 138

- burnt, or browned, 109

- clarified, for storing and for immediate use, 110

- to cool for crust, 345

- creamed, and otherwise prepared for cakes, 543

- lobster, 138
- melted, good common, 108
- melted, French, 109
- melted, rich, 108
- melted, rich, without flour, 109
- melted, white, 109
- loin of lamb stewed in, 246
- truffled, 139

Buttermilk, for bread, 602

Cabbage, to boil, 332

- stewed, 333
- red, to stew (Flemish receipt), 340
- red, to pickle, 539

Café noir, 592

Cake, fine almond, 545

- apple, 362
- beef or mutton, 190
- breakfast, French, 549
- a cheap common, 555
- cream cake, 554
- thick, light gingerbread, 551
- a good light luncheon cake, 554
- cheap nursery, 555
- a good Madeira, 548
- pound, 546
- rice, 546
- sausage-meat, or pain de porc frais, 261
- a good soda, 556
- a good sponge, 547
- a smaller sponge, 547
- tipsy, 474
- veal, 222
- veal, good (Bordyke receipt for), 222

- Venetian or Neapolitan (super-excellent), 547

- white, 546

Cakes, Banbury, 549

- to colour sugar candy for, 542
- flead, or fleed, 558
- cocoa-nut gingerbread, 552
- common gingerbread, 553
- richer gingerbread, 553
- queen, 556
- general remarks on, 540
- very good small rich, 558
- to prepare butter for rich, 543
- to whisk eggs for light rich, 543
- small, sugar, various, 558
- small Venetian, 548

Calf’s head, à la Maître d’Hôtel, 214

- boiled, 210
- brawn (author’s receipt), 215
- to clear the hair from, 210
- cutlets of, 213
- hashed, 213
- a cheap hash of, 213
- prepared, the cook’s receipt, 211
- soup, 27
- The Warder’s way, 211

Calf’s feet jelly (entremets), 461

- another receipt for, 462
- jelly, apple, 464
- jelly, orange, 464
- modern varieties of, 463
- to prepare for stock, 453
- stewed, 228
- stock, 453
- stock, to clarify, 454

Calf’s liver, stoved or stewed, 228

- roast, 229

- sweetbreads, 227

Cambridge milk punch, 581

Candy, cocoa-nut, 566

- ginger, 565
- orange-flower, 565
- orange-flower (another receipt for), 566

Canellon de bœuf, 201

Canellons, filled with apricot or peach marmalade, 385

- of brioche paste, 385

Caper sauce, 121

- sauce for fish, 121

Capillaire in punch, 580

Caramel, to boil sugar to, 563

- the quickest way, 563

Carp, to stew, 82

Carrots, au beurre, 336

- to boil, 335
- in their own juice 337
- mashed, or buttered (Dutch), 336
- in plum pudding, 417
- sweet, for second course, 336
- the Windsor receipt (Entrée), 335

Carrot, soup, common, 20

- soup, a finer, 20

Casserole of rice, savoury, 351

- of rice, sweet, 438

Catsup, the cook’s, or compound, 149

- lemon, 150
- mushroom, 146,148
- mushroom, double, 148
- pontac, for fish, 150
- tomato, 151
- walnut, 149, 150

Cauliflowers, to boil, 325

- French receipt for, 325
- à la Française, 326
- with Parmesan cheese, 325

Cavalier’s, the, broil, 240

Cayenne, vinegar, 153

Celery, boiled, 341

- salad, to serve with pheasants, 341
- sauce, 128
- stewed, 341

Chantilly baskets, 474

Charlotte de pommes, or apple Charlotte, 486

- à la Parisienne, 487

Chatnies (Mauritian), 144, 610

Cheese, damson, 520

- in fondu, 379
- Italian pork, 260
- with maccaroni, 392
- with maccaroni, à la Reine, 393
- in ramakins, 375
- to serve with white and maccaroni soup, 13

cheese-cakes, cocoa-nut (Jamaica receipt), 371

- Madame Werner’s Rosenvik, 372

Cherries, brandied, morella, 571

Cherries, compote of Kentish, 458

- compote of morella, 458
- morella, to dry, 504
- dried with sugar, 502
- dried without, 503
- dried, superior receipt, 503
- to pickle, 532
- brandy, 579
- cherry, cheese, 504
- cherry, paste, 504

Chestnuts, boiled, 574

- roasted, 574

- stewed, 342

Chestnut forcemeat, No. 15, 162

- sauce, brown, 129
- sauce, white, 129
- soups, 19

Chetney, various ways of making, 144

Chicken, broiled, 274

- cutlets, 275, 276
- fried, à la Malabar, 276
- patties (good), 359
- potato pasty, 350

Chicken pie (common), 353

- modern pie, 353

Chickens, boiled, 273

- fricasseed, 275

- in soup, 29

China chilo of mutton, 241

Chocolate, almonds, 568

- drops, 567
- to make, 592
- Spanish receipt for making, 592

Chops, lamb or mutton, broiled, 241

- mutton, stewed in their own gravy (good), 240

- pork, 251

Chorissa, or Jewish sausage, with rice, 607

Christopher North’s own sauce for many meats, 119

Cocoa, to make, 593

Cocoa-nut candy, 566

- cheese-cakes, 371
- in curries, 296
- Doce, 490
- gingerbread, 553
- macaroons, 545
- puddings, 424
- soup, 19

Cod fish, to boil, 61

- slices of, fried, 61
- stewed, 62
- stewed in brown sauce, 62

Cod’s sounds, to boil, 63

- to fry in batter, 63

Coffee, to boil, 591

- breakfast, French, 590

- burnt, or coffee à la Militaire, vulgarly called Glosia, 592

- to filter, 590

- directions for making, 589

- strong, clear, to serve after dinner, called café noir, 592

- remarks on, 587
- to roast, 588
- roaster, 588

Cold, calf’s head, to re-dress, 214

Cold, fowls, ditto, 276, 277

- leg of mutton, ditto, 207

- Maître d’Hôtel, sauce, 133

- meat, excellent sauces to serve with, 133, 134, 136

- salmon, to dress, 59

- turbot, ditto, 59

Collops minced, au naturel, 201

- savoury minced, 201
- sauté-pan for frying, 176
- Scotch, 226
- Scotch minced, 202

Compote of apples, baked (our little Lady’s receipt), 572

- of green apricots, 457
- of bullaces, 458
- of cherries, 458
- of Kentish cherries, 458
- of Morella cherries, 458
- of green currants, 457
- of red currants, 457
- of damsons, 458
- of figs, 492
- of green gooseberries, 457
- of magnum bonum, or other large plums, 458
- of peaches, 459
- of peaches, another receipt, 459

Compote de pigeons, 619

Compote de pigeons aux petits pois, 619

- of Siberian crabs, 458

- of spring fruit (rhubarb), 457

Confectionary, 562
Conjurer, a, its uses, 175
Consommé, 10
Constantia jelly, 467

Cookery (English), common causes of its failure, 167

Cool cup, a, 582
Corn, Indian green, to boil, 329
Counsellor’s cup, 585

Crab, cold, dressed, 88

- hot, 89

Creamed tartlets, 375

- spring fruit, or rhubarb trifle, 486

Cream, Chantilly basket filled with, 474

Cream cake, delicious, 554

- crust, 347
- Devonshire, or clotted, 451
- jelly, filled with, 469
- lemon, made without cream, 475
- Nesselróde, 471
- remarks on, 450
- Swiss, 473
- in soups, 19, 22, 29, 30

Creams, lemon (very good), 475

- fruit, 475

- Italian, 475

Crême à la Comtesse, or the Countess’s cream, 272

Crême, Parisienne, 479

- patissiere, 373

Crisped potatoes, or potato-ribbons, to serve with cheese, 313

Croquettes of rice (entremets), 385

- of rice, filled with preserve,

- of rice, savoury, 386

Croustades, or Dresden patties, 387

- of various kinds, 387
- small, dressed in marrow, 388
- small, à la bonne maman, 389
- to prepare marrow for frying, 388

Croûte aux-champignons, or mushroom-toast, 330

Crust butter, for puddings, 398

- cream, 347
- flead, 347
- French, for hot or cold meat pies, 347
- excellent short, 349
- rich short, for tarts, 349

Crust, common suet for pies, 348

- very superior suet, for pies, 348

- suet, for puddings, 398

Crusts, to serve with cheese, 398

Cucumber (author’s receipt), to dress, 323

- soup, 38

- vinegar, 152

Cucumbers à la Crème, 324

- à la Poulette, 324
- dressed, 323
- fried, 324
- stewed, 323

Curds and whey, 451

Currants, to clean for puddings and cakes, 397

- green, stewed, 457

- red, stewed, 457

Currant, blamange, 479

- custard, 482
- dumplings, 421
- jam, red (delicious), 509
- jam, white, 510
- jelly, fine black, 511
- jelly, French, 509
- jelly, superlative red, 509
- jelly, white, very fine, 510
- jelly, tartlets, 375
- paste, 510
- pudding, 408
- syrup, or sirop de groseilles, 579

Curried eggs 301

- gravy, 302
- maccaroni, 300
- oysters, 302
- toasts, with anchovies, 389
- sweetbreads, 301

Currie, Mr. Arnott’s, 297

- a Bengal, 298
- a dry, 298
- common Indian, 299

Currie powder, Mr. Arnott’s, 297

Curries, remarks on, 296

- Selim’s (Capt. White’s), 300

Custard, baked, common, 483

- a finer 483
- currant, 482
- the Duke’s, 482
- the Queen’s, 481
- veal, or a Sefton, 362

Custards, boiled, good, old-fashioned, 481

- boiled, rich, 481
- chocolate, 483
- French, 484
- quince, or apple, 482

Cutlets of calf’s head, 213

Chicken, English, 275

- of fowls, partridges, or pigeons (Entrée), 276

- lamb, in their own gravy, stewed, 246
- lamb, or mutton, with Soubise sauce, 246
- mutton, broiled, 241
- of cold mutton, 243
- mutton, in their own gravy, stewed, 240
- pork, 251
- veal à la Française, 226
- veal à l’Indienne, or Indian fashion, 225

- veal à la mode de Londres, or London fashion, 226

- veal, plain, 225

- of sweetbreads, 227

Damson, cheese, 520

- jam, 519
- jelly, 519
- solid, 519
- pudding, 408

Des Cerneaux, or walnut salad, 141
Devonshire junket, 452
Dough nuts, Isle of Wight, receipt for, 556
Dresden patties, or croustades, 387

Dried apples, to stew, 572

- apricots, French receipt, 517
- cherries, with sugar, 502, 503
- cherries, without sugar, 503
- gooseberries, with and without sugar, 501
- mushrooms, 153
- plums (Pruneaux de Tours), to stew, 573

Dry, to apricots, a quick and easy method, 517

- Imperatrice plums, 521
- Mogul plums, 515
- peaches or nectarines, 518

Duck, stewed, 279

Ducks, to roast, 279

- stuffing for, No. 9, 160

- wild, to roast, 294

Dumplings, apple (fashionable) 420

- currant, light, 421
- lemon, 421
- Norfolk, 421
- Suffolk, or hard, 421

Dutch, or hung beef, 197

- custard, 438

- flummery, 477

Eels, boiled, German receipt, 83

- Cornish receipt, 84

- to fry, 83

Egg balls, 162

- sauce, for calf’s head, 111
- sauce, common, 110
- sauce, good, 110
- a swan’s, to boil hard, 448
- swan’s, en salade, 448

Eggs, to boil in the shell, 445

- to cook in the shell, without boiling, 445

- continental mode of dressing, or œufs au plat, 450

Eggs, to dress Guinea fowls or Bantams, 416

- to dress turkeys, 417
- curried, 301
- forced turkey’s or swan’s, 447
- forced, for salad, 137
- to preserve for many weeks, 444
- poached, with gravy, 449
- to poach, 449
- to whisk, for cakes, 543

Elderberry wine, 584

Elegant, the Economist’s, pudding, 415, 428

- lobster salad, 142

English, brioche, 349

- brown gravy, 99
- game pie, 352
- puff paste, 346
- stew, 191

Entrées, beef cake, 190
beef collops, 201
beef palates, 194, 195
beef roll, or canellon de bœuf, 201
beef steaks à la Française, 188, 189
beef tongues, 202
Bengal currie, 298
blanquette of sucking pig, 250
blanquette of veal or lamb, with mushrooms, 229
broiled mutton cutlets, 241
broiled ox-tail, 195
boudinettes of lobsters, shrimps, &c., 92
calf’s head à la Maître d’Hôtel, 214
calf’s head, the Warder’s way, 211
calf’s liver, stewed, 228
casserole of rice, 351
chicken cutlets, 275
chicken patties, 359
compote de pigeons, 299
curries, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 615
croquettes of savoury, of rice, 386
croustades filled with mince, 387
cutlets of calf’s head, 213
cutlets of fowls, partridges, or pigeons, 275
Dresden patties, 387
fillets of mackerel, 71
fillets of mackerel in wine, 72
fillets of soles, 65
fillets of whitings, 68[194]
fowls, à la Carlsfors, 273
fricandeau of veal, 223
fricasseed fowls or chickens, 274
fried chicken à la Malabar, 275
hashed fowl, 276
lamb cutlets in their own gravy, 246
lamb or mutton cutlets, with soubise sauce, 246
lobster cutlets, 91
lobsters fricasseed, 89
loin of lamb stewed in butter, 216
minced fowl, 276
minced veal with oysters, 231
mutton cutlets in their own gravy, 210
mutton kidneys à la Française, 213
Oxford receipt for mutton kidneys, 214
oyster patties, 359
oyster sausages, 87
patties à la pontife and à la cardinale, 360
pork cutlets, 251
rissoles, 387
salmis of game, 292, 294
savoury croquettes of rice, 386
savoury rissoles, 387
sausages and chestnuts, 262
scallops of fowl au béchamel, 277
Sefton, a, or veal custard, 362
small pain de veau, or veal cake, 222
spring stew of veal, 224
stewed beef-steak, 189
stewed calf’s feet, 228
stewed duck, 278
stewed leg of lamb, with white sauce, 245
stewed ox-tails, 195
stewed tongue, 203
sweetbread cutlets, 227
sweetbreads, stewed, fricasseed, or roasted, 227
truffled sausages, or saucisses aux truffles, 263
veal cutlets, 225
veal cutlets or collops, à la Française, 226
veal cutlets à l’Indienne, or Indian fashion, 225
veal cutlets à la mode de Londres, or London fashion, 226
veal fricasseed, 231
minced, 230
vol-au-vent, 357
small vols-au-vents, 374

Entremets, apfel krapfen (German receipt), 373

- apple cake, or German tart, 362
- apple calf’s feet jelly, 464
- Charlotte, 486
- apple custards, 482
- apple, peach, or orange fritters, 384
- apple hedgehog, or Suédoise, 480
- apple tarts, 363
- apricot blamange, 479

- arocē docē, or sweet rice à la Portugaise, 489

- asparagus points, dressed like peas, 319
- barberry tart, 364
- Bermuda witches, 491
- blamanges (various), 476-479

Entremets, Black caps, par excellence, 460
boiled custards, 481
brioche fritters, 384
buttered cherries, or cerises au beurre, 490
calf’s feet jelly, 461, 463
canellons, 385
canellons of brioche paste, 385
cauliflowers à la Française, 326
cauliflowers with Parmesan cheese, 325
Chantilly basket, 474
Charlotte à la Parisienne, 487
chocolate custard, 483
cocoa-nut cheese cakes, 371
compote of peaches, 459
compotes (various) of fruit, 457, 458
constantia jelly, 467
creamed tartlets, 375
crême à la Comtesse, or the Countess’s cream, 472
croquettes of rice, 385
croquettes of rice, finer, 386
croustades, or sweet patties à la minute, 387
cucumbers à la crême, 324
cucumbers, à la poulette, 324
currant jelly tartlets or custards, 375
custards (baked), 483
custards (various), 481, 484
dressed maccaroni, 392
fairy fancies, 368
fanchonettes, 374
forced eggs, or eggs en surprise, 447
French beans à la Française, 321
gâteau of mixed fruits, 461
gâteau de pommes, 460
gâteau de riz, 433
gâteau de semoule, 430
genoises à la Reine, 366
German puffs, 484
Gertrude à la crême, 487
green peas à la Française, 320
green peas with cream, 321
imperial gooseberry fool, 480
Italian creams, 475
jaumange, or jaune manger, 477
Jerusalem artichokes à la Reine, 338
lemon calf’s feet jelly, 467
lemon creams, 475
lemon fritters, 384
lemon sandwiches, 374
lemon sponge, 480
lemon tartlets, 372
lobster au béchamel, 89
lobster salad, 142
Louise Franks’ citron soufflé, 378
Madame Werner’s Rosenvik cheese cakes, 372
Madeleine puddings, 432
Meringue of pears, 486
Meringues, 550, 551
mincemeat fritters, 383
mince pies, 369
mince pies royal, 370
monitor’s tart, 370
moulded rice, or sago, and apple-juice, 422
mushroom-toast, 330
mushrooms au beurre, 329
Nesselróde pudding, 491
omlette aux fines herbes, 380
omlette soufflée, 381
orange calf’s feet jelly, 434
orange fritters, 384
orange isinglass jelly, 465
oranges filled with jelly, 466
pancakes, 382
pastry sandwiches, 374
plain common fritters, 381
pommes au beurre, or buttered apples, 488
potatoes à la Maître d’Hôtel, 315
potato boulettes, 314
potato fritters, 384
potato-ribbons, 313
potted meats, 303
prawns, 93
pudding-pies, 371
Queen Mab’s summer pudding,[195] 470
quince blamange, 478
ramakins à l’Ude, 375
raspberry puffs, 375
rice à la Vathek, 440
salad of lobster, 142
sea-kale, 316
sea-kale stewed in gravy, 316
scooped potatoes, 312
spinach à l’Anglaise, 317
spinach (French receipt), 316
stewed celery, 341
strawberry blamange, 477
strawberry isinglass jelly, 468
strawberry tartlets, 375
suédoise of peaches, 488
sweet carrots, 336
sweet casserole of rice, 438
sweet maccaroni, 490
Swiss cream, or trifle, 473
tartlets of almond paste, 367
tipsy cake, or brandy trifle, 474
tourte meringuée, 363
trifle (excellent), 473
truffles à l’Italienne, 331
truffles à la serviette, 331
turnips in white sauce, 334
Venetian fritters, 383
Vol-au-vent à la crême, 358
Vol-au-vent of fruit, 358
Vols-au-vent, small, à la Parisienne, 374
Epicurean sauce, 151

Eschalots, to pickle, 537

- to serve with venison, 284

Eschalot sauce, mild, 127

- vinegar, 152

- wine, 153

Espagnole, or Spanish sauce, 100

- with wine, 100

Fairy Fancies (fantaisies de fées), 368
Fanchonnettes (entremets), 374
Fancy jellies, 469
Fermentation of bread, 604
Feuilletage, or fine puff paste, 345
Figs, stewed, 492

Fillets of mackerel boiled, 71

- of mackerel, fried or broiled, 71
- of mackerel stewed in wine, 72
- of soles, 65
- of whitings, 68

Fillet of mutton, 238

- of veal au béchamel, with oysters, 215
- of veal, boiled, 217
- of veal, roast, 216

Finnan haddocks (to dress), 74

Fish, to bake, 55

- boiled, to render firm, 54
- brine, for boiling, 54
- best mode of boiling, 53
- to choose, 48
- to clean, 50

- cooking, mode of, best adapted to different kinds of, 51

- fat for frying, 55
- to keep, 51
- to keep hot for table, 56
- to know when cooked, 55
- to sweeten when tainted, 51
- salt, to boil, 62
- salt, à la Maître d’Hôtel, 63
- salt, in potato-pasty, 350
- shell, dishes of, 85

Flead, or fleed crust, 347
Flavouring, for sweet dishes, 456
Flounders, to boil, and fry, 75

Flour, browned, for thickening soups, &c., 131

Flour of potatoes (fecule de pommes de terre), 154

- of rice, 154

Fondu, a, 379

Forced turkeys’ or swans’ eggs, 447

- turkey, 268

Forcemeats, general remarks on, 156

Forcemeat balls for mock turtle, No. 11, 161

- chestnut, No. 15, 162

- Mr. Cooke’s for geese or ducks, No. 10, 161

- good common, for veal, turkeys, &c., No. 1, 157

- another good common, No. 2, 157
- French, an excellent, No. 16, 163
- French, called quenelles, No. 17, 163
- for hare, No. 8, 160
- mushroom, No. 7, 159
- oyster, No. 5, 159
- oyster, finer, No. 6, 159

- for raised, and other cold pies, No. 18, 164

- common suet, No. 4, 158

- superior suet, No. 3, 158

Fourneau économique, or portable French furnace, 494, 495

Fowl, a, to bone, without opening it, 265

- to bone, another way, 265

Fowl, to bone, for fricassees, &c., 266

- to broil, 274
- à la Carlsfors, 273
- fried, à la Malabar (entrée), 276
- hashed, 276
- minced (French and other receipts), 277
- minced, French receipt (entrée), 276
- roast (French receipt), 273
- to roast a, 272
- scollops of, au béchamel, 278

Fowl-Guinea, to roast a, 273

Fowl, wild, 294

- salmi of, 294

Fowls à la mayonnaise, 278

- to bone, for fricassees, curries, and pies, 266

- boiled, 274
- cutlets of, English (entrée), 275
- fricasseed, 275
- cold, fritot of, 277
- cold, grillade of, 278

French batter, for frying fruit, vegetables, &c., 130

- melted butter, 109
- breakfast cake, or Sally Lunn, 549
- crust, for hot or cold pies, 347
- receipt for boiling a ham, 258
- Maître d’Hôtel sauce, 116, 117
- rice pudding, 433
- partridges, 290
- semoulina pudding, 430
- salad, 140
- salad dressing, 140
- salmi, or hash of game, 292
- thickening, or roux, 106
- beans, à la Française, 321
- beans, an excellent receipt for, 322
- beans, to boil, 321

Fresh herrings (Farleigh receipt for), 74

Fricandeau of veal, 223

Fried anchovies in batter, 84

- bread-crumbs, 131
- bread for garnishing, 131
- canellons, 385
- cod-fish, slices of, 61
- Jerusalem artichokes, 338
- mackerel, 70
- parsnips, 337
- potatoes, 313
- salsify, 341
- soles, 64

Fritters, apple, apricot, orange, or peach, 384

- brioche, 384
- cake, 382
- lemon, 384
- mincemeat (very good), 383
- orange, 384
- plain, common, 381
- of plum pudding, 382
- potato, 384
- of spring fruit (rhubarb), 383
- Venetian, 383

Fruit, to bottle for winter use, 522

- creams, 475
- en chemise, 570
- isinglass jellies, 464-469
- to weigh the juice of, 498
- directions for preserving, 496
- remarks on preserved, 493
- stewed, 456-459
- tart, with royal icing, 363

Frying, general directions for, 176
Galantine of chicken, 266
Galette, 557

Game, to choose, 281

- directions for keeping, 281
- gravy of, 289
- hashes of, 292, 294

Gar-fish, to broil or bake, 77

Garlic, mild ragout of, 126

- vinegar, 152

Gâteau of mixed fruits, 461

- de pommes, 460

- de semoule, or French semoulina pudding, 430

- de riz, or French rice pudding, 433

Geneva buns, or rolls, 601

Genevese sauce, 117

Genoises à la Reine, or her Majesty’s pastry, 366

German puffs, 484

- pudding, 412
- pudding sauce (delicious), 413
- yeast, observations on, 598

Gertrude à la Crême, 487

Gherkins, to pickle, 532

- to pickle, French receipt, 533

Ginger biscuits, cheap, 560

- bread, 553
- bread, Acton, 552
- bread, cocoa-nut, 553
- bread, thick, light, 551
- candy, 565
- oven cakes, 552
- wine (excellent), 584

Glaze, to make, 104

Glaze, to, pastry, 345

Glazing, directions for, 182

- for fine pastry and cakes, 345

Goose, to deprive of its strong odour, Obs: 271

- to roast, 271

- to roast a green, 271

Gooseberries, to bottle for tarts, 499

- dried, with sugar, 499

- dried, without sugar, 501

Gooseberry jam, red, 500

- jam, very fine, 500
- jelly, 500, 501
- paste, 501
- pudding, 435, 408, 420
- sauce for mackerel, 120

Grape jelly, 520

Gravies, to heighten the colour and flavour of, 96

- introductory remarks on, 84

- shin of beef stock for, 97

Gravy, good beef or veal (English receipt), 99

- Baron Liebig’s beef (most excellent), 96
- rich brown, 99
- Gravy cheap, for a fowl, 101
- another cheap, 102
- curried, 302
- Espagnole, highly-flavoured, 100
- Espagnole with wine, 100
- for a goose, 102
- in haste, 101
- jus des rognons, or kidney gravy, 101
- orange, for wild fowl, 102
- veal, rich, deep-coloured, 98
- veal, rich, pale, or consommé, 97
- for venison, plain, 99
- for haunch of venison, 283
- rich, for venison, 100
- sweet sauce, or gravy, for venison, 100
- soup, or stock, clear, pale, 10
- soup, cheap, clear, 11
- soup, another receipt for, 10

Gray hen, to roast, 291

Green goose, to roast, 271

- mint sauce, 132
- mint vinegar, 152
- orange plum, preserve of, 514
- peas, à la Française, 320
- peas, with cream, 321
- pea-soup, cheap, 40
- peas-soup, excellent, 39
- peas-soup, without meat, 39

Greengage jam, or marmalade, 515

Groseillée, 513

Ground rice puddings, 435

- in pudding-pies, 371

Grouse, to roast, 292

- salmi of, 292

Guava, English, 520

- strawberry jelly, which resembles, 505

Guinea-fowl, to roast, 273

Gurnards, to dress in various ways, 74

Haddocks, baked, 73

- to boil, 73
- Finnan, to dress, 74
- to fry, 73

Ham, to bake a, 258

- to boil a, 256
- to boil a (French receipt), 253
- potted, excellent, 304

Hams, Bordyke receipt for, 256

- to garnish and ornament in various ways, 257

- to pickle, 254

- superior to Westphalia (Monsieur Ude’s receipt), 255

- genuine Yorkshire receipt for, 253

Hamburgh pickle, for hams, beef, and tongues, 197

- another pickle, for hams, beef, and tongues, 197

Hare, to choose, 282

- forcemeat for, No. 8, 160
- sweet gravy for, 284
- in pie, 352
- potted, 307
- to roast, 284
- to roast, superior receipt, 285
- soup, superlative, 32
- soup, a less expensive, 32
- stewed, 286

Haricots blancs, 338

Harrico, Norman 224

Hashed bouilli, 206

- calf’s head, 213
- fowl, 276
- venison, 284

Hash, a, of cold beef or mutton (excellent), 205

- common, of cold beef or mutton, 205
- cheap, of calf’s head, 213
- Norman, 206

Haunch of mutton, to roast, 234

- of venison, to roast, 282

Herrings, fresh (Farleigh receipt), 74

- red, à la Dauphin, 84

- red, common English mode, 84

Iced pudding, Nesselrôde, 491

Ice, advantage of, for jellies, fine paste, &c., 575

Ices, observations on, 575

- currant, 576
- raspberry, 576
- strawberry, 576

Icing, for tarts, &c., 345

- white or coloured, for fine pastry, or cakes, 543

Imperatrice plums, to dry, 521

- very fine marmalade of, 521

Imperial gooseberry fool, 480

Imperials, 545

Indian Burdwan, 612

- common currie, 299
- curried fish, 615
- lobster cutlets, 611
- pilaw, 614
- corn, to boil, 329

Ingoldsby Christmas pudding, 416

Ingredients, which may all be used in making soups, 1

Invalid’s, the, new baked apple pudding, 608

Irish stew, 242

Isinglass to clarify, 454

- jelly, Constantia, 467
- jelly, orange, 465
- jelly, strawberry, and other fruit, 505-508

Italian creams, 475

- jelly, 470
- meringues, 551
- modes of dressing maccaroni, 391-393
- pork cheese, 260

Jack-bottle, 170

- spring, 170

Jam, apricot, or marmalade, 516

- barberry, 526
- cherry, 502
- currant, best black, 512
- currant, black, 511
- currant, red, superlative, 509
- currant, white, a beautiful preserve, 510
- damson, 519
- gooseberry, red, 500
- gooseberry, very fine, 500
- green gooseberry, 499
- greengage, 515
- of mixed fruits, 483
- of Mogul plums, 515
- peach (or nectarine), 518
- raspberry, 506
- raspberry, very good, red or white, 507
- raspberry, very rich, 506
- rhubarb, 498
- strawberry, 504

Jaumange, or jaune manger, called also Dutch flummery, 477

Jellies, calf’s feet stock for, 453

- to clarify calf’s feet stock for, 454
- to clarify isinglass for, 454
- fancy, 469
- meat, for pies and sauces, 103
- cheaper meat, 103

Jelly apple, 522

- apple, exceedingly fine, 523
- apple, calf’s feet, 464
- barberry, 527
- calf’s feet, 461, 462
- calf’s feet, modern varieties of, 463
- calf’s feet, strawberry, 468
- lemon, calf’s feet, 467
- orange, calf’s feet, 464
- orange isinglass, 465
- orange, very fine, 465
- orange, Seville, very fine, 530
- Constantia, 467
- black currant, common, 511
- black currant, fine, 511
- currant, red, 508
- currant, red, French, 509

- red currant, superlative (Norman receipt), 509

- currant, white, very fine, 510
- damson, 519
- green gooseberry, 498
- ripe gooseberry, 500, 501
- red grape, 520
- guava, English, 520
- to extract the juice of plums for, 497
- mussel plum, 516
- quince, 525
- raspberry, 507, 508
- rhubarb isinglass, 468
- Siberian crab, 526
- tartlets, or custards, 375
- strawberry, very fine, 505

John Dories, small, baked (author’s receipt), 58

John Dory, to boil a, 58

Jewish almond pudding, 608

- table, general directions for the, 609
- cookery, remarks on, 606
- sausage, or Chorissa, 607
- smoked beef, 606

Julep, mint (American), 582

Jumbles, 556

Kale, sea, to boil, 316

- stewed in gravy (entremets), 316

Kater’s, Captain, receipt for boiling potatoes, 312

Kedgerse (an Indian breakfast dish), 612

Kentish, receipt for cutting up and curing a

- pig, 254

- suet pudding, 407

Kidneys, mutton, à la Française, 243

- mutton, to broil, 244

- mutton, Oxford receipt for, 244

Kidney, beef, to dress, 204, 205

Kohl-cannon, or Kale-cannon (Irish receipt), 315

Lait, du, à Madame, 451

Lady’s, the, sauce for fish, 117

Lamb, cutlets, in their own gravy, 246

- cutlets, with Soubise sauce, 216
- cutlets of cold, 246
- leg of, with white sauce, 245
- roast loin of, 245
- loin of, stewed in butter, 246
- to roast a quarter of, 244
- roast saddle of, 245
- sauce for, 132

Landrail, to roast, 291

Lard, to melt, 248

- to preserve unmelted, for many months, 248

- to, a pheasant, 287

Larding, general directions for, 181
Larding-needles, 181
Lardoons, 181
Leeks, to boil, 318

Lemonade, delicious, milk, 583

- excellent, portable, 583

Lemon, calf’s feet jelly, 467

- creams, 475
- dumplings, 421
- fritters, 384
- jelly, calf’s feet, 467
- pickle, or catsup, 150
- pudding, an excellent, 426
- sandwiches, 374
- sponge, or moulded cream, 480
- suet pudding, 427
- tartlets, 372

Lemons in mincemeat, 368, 369

- to pickle, 534, 538

Lettuces, in mayonnaise of fowls, 278

- stewed, 319

- in salads, 140, 141

Liebig’s, Baron, directions for boiling, 53

- for roasting, 171
- beef gravy, 96
- extract of beef, 6

Limes, to pickle, 538

Liver, calf’s, to roast, 229

- stoved, or stewed, 228

Lobsters, to boil, 88

- boudinettes of (author’s receipt), 92

Lobster, or crab, buttered, 89

- butter, 138
- cutlets (a superior entrée), 91
- cutlets, Indian, 611
- cold dressed, 88
- fricasseed, or au béchamel, 89
- hot, 89
- patties, common, 359
- patties, superlative, 359
- potted, 90
- salad, 142
- sausages, 91

Luncheon cake, 555

Macaroons, almond, 544

- cocoa-nut (very fine), 545

- orange-flower, 544

Macaroncini, to boil and to choose, 390

Maccaroni, Genoa, to boil, 391

- Neapolitan, to boil, 391
- ribbon (or lazanges), to boil, 391
- to choose, and other Italian pastes, 390
- to dress à la Reine, 393
- to dress in various ways, 392
- with gravy, 392
- ribbon, 391
- soup, 13
- sweet, 490

Mackerel, to bake, 69

- baked (Cinderella’s receipt, good), 70
- to boil, 69
- broiled whole, 71
- fillets of, boiled, 71
- fillets of, broiled or fried, 71
- fillets of, stewed in wine (excellent), 72
- fried (French receipt), 70
- stewed with wine, 72

Madeira cake, 548
Madeleine puddings, to serve cold, 432
Magnum bonum plums, to dry or preserve, 515
Mai-Trank (German), 620

Maître d’Hôtel sauce, cold, 133

- sauce, French, 116
- sauce, maigre, 117
- sauce, sharp (English receipt for), 116

Majesty’s, her, pastry, 366

- pudding, 410

Mandrang, or mandram, West Indian receipt, 323

- another receipt for, 323

Mangoes, lemon, 538

- peach, 534

Marmalade, apple, for Charlotte, 487

- apricot, 516
- barberry, 527
- Imperatrice plum, 521
- orange (Portuguese receipt), 527
- clear (author’s receipt), 529
- orange, genuine Scotch receipt for, 528
- peach, 518
- pine-apple, superior (a new receipt), 513
- quince, 524
- quince and apple, 525

Marrow bones, baked, 208

- to boil, 207

Marrow, clarified, to keep, 208

- vegetable, to dress in various ways, 327

Mashed, artichokes, Jerusalem, 338

- carrots, 336
- parsnips (see turnips), 333
- potatoes, 313
- potatoes, crust of, for pasty, 350
- turnips (an excellent receipt for), 333

Mayonnaise, a delicious sauce to serve with cold meat, &c., 135, 136

- French, 617

- Swiss, 617

Mayor’s, the Lord, soup, 17

- soup (author’s receipt for), 18

Meat, jellies for, pies, 104

- pies, crust for, 347, 348
- puddings, 399-401
- rolls, excellent, 360

Mélange of fruit for rice-crust, 570

- or mixed preserve, 513

Melon, to serve with meat, 325

- sweet pickle of, to serve with roast meat (good), 534

Melted butter, 108, 109

Meringue of pears, or other fruit, 486

- of rhubarb, or gooseberries, 485

Meringues, 550

- Italian, 551

Milk, cocoa-nut flavoured, for sweet dishes, 456

- lemonade, delicious, 583

- remarks on, 450

Mild eschalot sauce, 127

- mustard, 130

- ragout of garlic, or l’ail à la Bordelaise, 126

Minced collops, 201

- fowl, 276
- veal, 230
- veal, with oysters, 231

Mincemeat (author’s receipt), 368

- superlative, 369

- fritters, 383

Mince pies (entremets), 369

- royal, 370

Miniature round of beef, 199

Mint julep, 582

- sauce, 132

Mock, brawn, 260

- turtle soup, 23

- turtle soup, good old-fashioned, 26

Modern blanc-mange-mould, 476

- cake-mould, 540
- chicken pie, 353
- jelly-mould, 470
- potato pasty, 350
- varieties of calf’s feet jelly, 463

Monitor’s tart, or tourte à la Judd, 370

Moor game, to roast and hash, 291, 292

Mould for French pies, or casseroles of rice, 344

Mull, to, wine, an excellent receipt (French), 581

Mullagatawny soup, 35

- vegetable, 37

Mullet, grey, to boil, 76

- red, to bake, broil, or roast, 76

Mushroom catsup, 146

- catsup, another receipt for, 148
- catsup, double, 148
- forcemeat, 159
- powder, 154
- sauce, brown, 123
- sauce, another, 123
- sauce, white, 122

Mushrooms, au beurre, 329

- dried, 153
- partridges with, 289
- in pigeon pie, 354
- pickled, in brine for winter use, 536
- to pickle, 535
- potted (delicious), 330
- toast, or croûte aux champignons, 330

Mussel-plums, preserves of, 516

Mustard, to make, 130

- mild, 130
- Tartar, 155
- another Tartar, 155
- horseradish vinegar for ditto, 153

Mutton, broth, 44

- to choose, 233
- cutlets broiled, and Soubise sauce, 243
- cutlets, to broil, 241
- cutlets of, cold, 243
- cutlets, stewed in their own gravy, 240
- fillet of, roast or stewed, 238
- haunch of, to roast, 234
- kidneys à la Française (entrée), 243
- kidneys, broiled, 244
- kidneys, Oxford receipt for, 244
- leg of, to boil (an excellent receipt), 237
- leg of, boned and forced, 236
- leg of, braised, 236
- leg of, roast, 235
- loin of, roast, 238
- loin of, stewed like venison, 239
- neck of, roast, 239
- pie, common, 355
- pie, good, 355
- pudding, 401
- saddle of, to roast, 235
- shoulder of, broiled, 240
- shoulder of, to roast, 239
- shoulder of, forced, 240
- a good family stew of, 242
- stock for soup, 16

Nasturtiums, to pickle, 539

Nesselrôde cream, 471

- pudding, 491

Norfolk biffins, dried, 572

- sauce, 99

Norman harricot, 224
Normandy pippins, 572
Nougat, 564
Nouilles, to make, 5
Œufs au plat, 450
pochés au jus, 449
Old-fashioned boiled custard, 481

Oil, to fry salmon and other fish in (Jewish), 607

Olive sauce, 128

Omlette aux fines herbes, 380

- soufflée, 381

Omlets, observations on, 380

Omlet, common, 380

- King of Oude’s, 612

Onion sauce, brown, 125

- sauce, brown, another receipt for, 125

- sauce, white, 125

Onion and sage stuffing for ducks and geese, No. 9, 160

- rich white sauce of, or Soubise, 126

Onions, to pickle, 537

- stewed, 342

Orange, baskets for jelly, 466

- calf’s feet jelly, 464
- conserve for cheese-cakes, or pudding, 501
- fritters, 384
- gravy, 102
- isinglass jelly, 465
- marmalade, 527, 529
- plums, preserve of, 514
- salad, 571
- snow-balls, 420
- wine, 585

Orange-flower, candy, 565, 566

- Seville, paste, 568
- filled with jelly in stripes, 466
- Tangerine, 571

Oven, American, 178

- management of, 595

- objection to iron ones, 595

Oxford receipt for Bishop, 580

- for mutton kidneys, 244

- punch, 580

Ox-cheek, stuffed and baked, 208

Ox-tail, broiled (entrée), 195

- stewed, 195

- soup, 42

Ox tongue, to pickle, 202

- potted, 305

Oyster forcemeat, No. 5, 159;

- No. 6, 159
- patties, 359
- sauce, common, 114
- sauce, good, 114
- sausages, 87
- soup, white, or à la Reine, 30

Oysters, curried, 302

- to feed, 85
- to fry, 80
- scalloped, à la Reine, 86
- to scallop, 86
- to stew, 86
- to stew, another receipt, 87

Pain de pore frais, or sausage-meat cake, 261
Pain de veau, or veal cake, 222
Pain de veau (Bordyke receipt), 222
Palace-bonbons, 567
Palates, beef, to dress, 194, 195
Panada, 165

Pancakes, 382

- to crisp, 130

- fried, 130

Parsley green for colouring sauces, 129

Parsneps, to boil, 337

- fried, 337

Partridge, broiled (breakfast dish), 290

- broiled (French receipt), 290
- French, or red-legged, to dress, 290
- potted, 305
- pudding, 401
- soup, 35

Partridges, boiled, 289

- with mushrooms, 289
- to roast, 288
- salmi, or rich hash of, 292
- salmi of (French), 292

Paste, almond, 367

- brioche, 349
- cherry (French), 504
- currant, 510
- gooseberry, 501
- very good light, 346
- English puff, 316
- fine puff, or feuilletage, 345
- quince, 525

Pastry, to colour almonds or sugar-grains for, 542

- to glaize or ice, 345
- icing for, 345
- sugar-icing for, 543
- her Majesty’s, 366
- general remarks on, 344
- sandwiches, 374

Pasty, potato, 350

- varieties of, 351

- mould for, 351

Pâte Brisée, or French crust for hot or cold pies, 347

Patties à la Pontife (entrées), 360

- good chicken, 359
- common lobster, 559
- superlative lobster, author’s receipt, 359
- oyster (entrée), 359
- sweet boiled, 422

- tartlets, or small vols-au-vents, to make, 361

Peach, fritters, 384

- jam, or marmalade, 518

- mangoes, 534

Peaches, compote of, 459

- to dry, an easy and excellent receipt, 518

- to pickle, 534

- preserved in brandy (Rotterdam receipt), 571

- stewed, 459
- Suédoise of, 488
- vol-au-vent of, 358

Pears, baked, 573

- stewed, 573

- meringue of, 486

Pearled fruit, 570

Peas, green, to boil, 320

- green, with cream, 321
- green, soup of, 39, 40
- green, stewed, à la Française, 320
- pudding, 401
- soup, common, 41
- soup without meat, 42
- soup, rich, 41

Perch, to boil, 82

- to fry, 83

Pheasant, boudin of, 288

- cutlets, 275
- to roast, 287
- salmi of, 292
- soup, 33, 34

Pickle, for beef, tongue, and hams, 197

- Hamburgh, for pork, &c., 197
- to, beet-root, 537
- cherries, 532
- eschalots, 532
- gherkins, 537
- gherkins (French receipt), 533
- limes, 538
- lemons, 538
- lemon mangoes, 538
- melon, sweet (foreign receipt), 534
- mushrooms in brine, 536
- mushrooms (an excellent receipt), 535
- nasturtiums, 539
- onions, 537
- peaches, and peach mangoes, 534
- red cabbage, 539
- walnuts, 536

Pickles, where to be procured good, 532

- general remarks on, 531

Pie, beef-steak, 354

- a common chicken, 353
- a modern chicken, 353
- a good common English game, 352
- mutton, common, 355
- a good mutton, 355
- pigeon, 354

Pies, excellent, cream crust for, 347

- French crust for, 347
- suet-crust for, 348
- meat jelly for, 92
- mince, 369
- mince royal, 370
- pudding (entremets), 371
- raised, 356

Pigeons, to boil, 280

- to roast, 280

- served with cresses, for second course, 280

Pig, divisions of, 247

- Kentish mode of cutting up and curing, 254
- to bake a sucking, 250
- sucking, en blanquette (entrée), 250
- to roast a sucking, 249
- à la Tartare (entrée), 250

Pig’s cheeks, to pickle, 254

- feet and ears, in brawn, 260

Pike to bake, 81

- to bake (superior receipt), 81

- to boil, 80

Pilaw, a simple Syrian, 613

Pine-apple marmalade, superior, 513

- pudding-sauce, 405

- pudding-sauce, very fine, 405

Pintail, or Sea Pheasant, to roast, 294
Pippins, Normandy, to stew, 572
Piquante sauce, 118

Plaice, to boil, 75

- to fry, 75

Plate, hot, for cooking, 174

Plum-puddings, 416, 417, 441, &c.

Plums, compote of, 458

- Imperatrice, to dry, 521

- Imperatrice, marmalade of, 521

Poêlée, 169
Poet’s, the, receipt for salad, 135
Polenta à l’Italienne, 393
Pontac catsup, 150
Poor author’s pudding, 442

Pork, to choose, 247

- cutlets of, to boil or fry, 251
- Italian cheese of, 260
- different joints of, 247
- observations on, 247
- to pickle, 254
- to roast, 251
- to roast a saddle of, 251
- sausages of, 261, 263

Portable lemonade, 583

Potage à la Reine, 29

Pot-au-Feu, or stock pot, 8

- fowls, &c., boiled in, 9

Potato-balls (English), or croquettes, 314

- boulettes (good), 314
- bread, 600
- fritters, 384
- flour, or fecule de pommes de terre, 154
- pasty (modern), 350
- puddings, 436
- ribbons, to serve with cheese, 313
- rissoles, French, 315
- soup, 21

Potatoes, à la crême, 315

- à la Maître d’Hôtel, 315
- to boil, as in Ireland, 310
- to boil (Lancashire receipt), 311
- boulettes (entremets), 314
- to boil (Captain Kater’s receipt), 312
- crisped, or potato-ribbons (entremets), 313
- fried (entremets), 313
- mashed and moulded in various ways 313
- new, in butter, 312
- new, to boil, 311

- remarks on their properties and importance, 309

- to roast or bake, 312

- scooped (entremets), 312

Potted anchovies, 306

- chicken, partridge, or pheasant, 305
- ham, 304
- hare, 307
- meats (various), 303
- meat for the second course, moulded, 306
- mushrooms, 330
- ox-tongue, 305
- shrimps, or prawns, 306

Poultry, to bone, 265

- to bone, another mode, 265
- to bone, for fricassees, &c., 266
- to choose, 264
- to lard, 181

Powder, mushroom, 154

- of savoury herbs, 155

Prawns, to boil, 93

- to dish cold, 93
- to pot (see shrimps:306)
- to shell easily, 93

Prepared apple or quince juice, 456

- calf’s head (the cook’s receipt), 211

Preserved fruit, general remarks on the use and value of, 493

Preserve, a fine, of red currants, 509

- delicious, of white currants, 510

- good common, 512

- an excellent, of the green orange, or Stonewood plum, 514

- groseillée, a mixed, 513
- another good mélange, or mixed, 513
- nursery, 512

Preserve, to, the colour and flavour of fruit-jams and jellies, 497

Preserving-pan, 495

Preserves, French furnace and stewpan convenient for making, 494, 495

- general rules and directions for, 496

Pruneaux de Tours, or compote of dried plums, 573

Prince Albert’s pudding, 411

Pudding (baked), à la Paysanne (cheap and good), 442

- almond, 425
- almond, Jewish, 608
- apple or custard, 437
- apple (the lady’s or invalid’s new), 608
- Bakewell, 427
- barberry and rice, 406
- light batter, 443
- good bread, 429, 430
- common bread and butter, 429
- rich bread and butter, 428

- cake and custard, and various inexpensive, 437

- curate’s, 442
- the good daughter’s mincemeat, 426
- Dutch custard, or raspberry, 438
- the elegant economist’s, 428

- Gabrielle’s, or sweet casserole of rice, 438

- green gooseberry, 435
- good ground rice, 437
- a common ground rice, 435
- Mrs. Howitt’s (author’s receipt), 426
- an excellent lemon, 426
- lemon-suet, 427
- Normandy, 441
- plum, en moule, or moulded, 424
- poor author’s, 442
- (baked) potato, 436
- a richer potato, 436
- the printers’, 424
- the publishers’, 410
- Queen Mab’s, 470
- a common raisin, 441
- a richer raisin, 442
- raspberry, or Dutch custard, 438
- ratafia, 427
- cheap rice, 434
- a common rice, 433
- a French rice, or Gâteaux de riz, 433
- rice, meringué, 434
- richer rice, 434
- rice, à la Vathek, 440
- Saxe-Gotha, or tourte, 431
- a good semoulina, or soujee, 430

- a French semoulina (or Gâteau de semoule), 430

- soujee and semola, 439
- sponge cake, 436
- vermicelli, 439
- welcome guest’s own, 412
- common Yorkshire, 440
- good Yorkshire, 440
- young wife’s (author’s receipt), 425

Pudding (boiled) à la Scoones, 416

- apple, cherry, currant, or any other fresh fruit, 408

- a common apple, 409
- the author’s Christmas, 417
- common batter, 406
- another batter, 406
- batter and fruit, 407
- beef-steak, or John Bull’s, 399
- beef-steak, epicurean receipt for, 400
- small beef-steak, 400
- a black-cap, 407

- Ruth Pinch’s, or beef-steak à la Dickens, 401

- bread, 418
- brown bread, 419
- cabinet, 413
- a very fine cabinet, 414
- common custard, 411
- the elegant economist’s, 415
- German pudding and sauce, 412

- Herodotus’ (a genuine classical receipt), 409

- Ingoldsby Christmas, 416
- Her Majesty’s, 410
- mutton, 401
- partridge, 401
- peas, 401
- small light plum, 416
- Prince Albert’s, 411
- the publishers’, 410
- vegetable plum, 417
- a very good raisin, 415
- a superior raisin 415
- a cheap rice, 420
- a good rice, 419
- rice and gooseberry, 420
- rolled, 418
- savoury, 399
- Snowdon, 414
- Kentish suet, 407
- another suet, 408

- the welcome guest’s own (author’s receipt), 412

- a Kentish well, 417

- Baden-Baden, 431

Puddings, general directions for baked, 423

- to mix batter for, 397
- general directions for boiled, 395
- butter crust for, 398
- cloths for, to wash, 366
- suet-crust for, 398
- to clean currants for, 397
- Madeleine, to serve cold, 432
- sauces for sweet, 402, 406
- to steam in common stewpan, 397
- Sutherland, or castle, 432

Pudding-pies, 371

- a common receipt for, 371

Pudding sauces, sweet, 402-406

Puff-paste, canellons of, 417

- English, 346
- finest, or feuilletage, 345
- very good light, 346

Puffs, German, 484

- raspberry, or other fruit, 375

Punch, Cambridge milk, 581

- Oxford, 580

Punch, Regent’s, or George IV.’s (a genuine receipt), 582

- sauce for sweet puddings, 402

Purée, fine, of onions, or Soubise sauce, 126

- of tomatas, 328
- of turnips, 127
- of vegetable marrow, 127

Quenelles, or French forcemeat, 163
Queen cakes, 556
Queen’s custard, 481
Queen Mab’s pudding, 470

Quince blamange, 478

- blamange, with almond cream, 478
- custards, 482
- jelly, 524
- juice, prepared, 456
- marmalade, 524
- and apple marmalade, 525
- paste, 525

Rabbits, to boil, 286

Rabbit, to fry, 287

- to roast, 286
- soup, à la Reine, 31
- soup, brown, 31

Radishes, turnip, to boil, 318

Ragout, mild, of garlic, 126

Raisin puddings, 441, 442

- wine, which resembles foreign, 583

Ramakins à l’Ude, 375

Raspberries, to preserve for creams or ices, without boiling, 506

Raspberry jam, 506

- jam, red or white, 506
- jelly, for flavouring creams, 507
- jelly, another good, 508
- vinegar, very fine, 578

Red cabbage, to stew, 340

Regent’s, or George IV.’s punch (genuine), 582

Remoulade, 137

Rhubarb, or spring fruit, compote of, 457

Rice, to boil for curries, or mullagatawny soup, 36

- boiled, to serve with stewed fruit, &c., 422

- cake, 546
- casserole of, savoury, 351
- casserole of, sweet, 438
- croquettes of, 385, 386
- savoury croquettes of, 386
- puddings, 419, 420, 433-435
- soup, 14
- soup, white, 15
- sweet, à la Portugaise, or arocē docē, 489

Rice flour, to make, 154

- soup, 15

- to thicken soups with, 4

Risotto à la Milanaise, 615

Rissoles, 387

- very savoury, English (entrée), 387

Roasting, general directions for, 169

- slow method of, 171

Roast beef (see Chapter X.)

- chestnuts, 574

- game (see Chapter XV.)

- lamb (see Chapter XII.)

- mutton (see Chapter XII.)

- potatoes, 312

- pork (see Chapter XIII.)

- poultry (see Chapter XIV.)

- veal (see Chapter XI.)

Rolled shoulder of mutton, 240

- ribs of beef, 198

- sirloin of beef, 198

Roll, beef, or canellon de bœuf, 201

Rolls, breakfast or dinner, 600

- Geneva, 601

- excellent meat, 360

Roux, or French thickening brown (for sauces), 106

- white, 106

Rusks, sweet, 554
Rusks, 602
Sago soup, 14

Salad, to dress (English), 140

- forced eggs for garnishing, 137
- French, 140
- of mixed summer fruits, 570
- excellent herring (Swedish receipt), 143
- lobster, 142
- very elegant lobster, 584
- orange, 571
- peach, 570
- the Poet’s receipt for, 135
- Suffolk, 141
- walnut, or des cerneaux, 141
- Yorkshire ploughman’s, 141
- dressings and sauces, 140
- sorrel, 142
- of young vegetables, 141

Salamander to brown with, 183

Salmi of moor fowl, pheasants or partridges, 292

- French, or hash of game, 292

- of wild fowl, 294

Salmon à la Genevese, 59

- à la St. Marcel, 60
- baked over mashed potatoes, 60
- to boil, 59
- crimped, 60
- to fry in oil, 607
- pudding (Scotch receipt), 60

Salsify, to boil, 341

- to fry in batter, 341

Salt fish, to boil, 62

- à la Maître d’Hôtel, 63

Salt, to, beef, in various ways, 196

Sandwiches, lemon, 374

- pastry, 374

Sand-launce, or Sand-eel, mode of dressing, 77

Salzburger Nockerl, 620

Sauce (American), cold, for salads, salt fish, &c., 133
anchovy, 115
baked apple, 124
boiled apple, 124
brown apple, 125
arrow-root, clear, 403
asparagus, for lamb cutlets, 120
béchamel, 107
béchamel maigre, 108
another common béchamel, 108
bread, 112
bread, with onion, 113
caper, 121
brown caper, 121
caper for fish, 121
celery, 128
brown chestnut, 129
white chestnut, 129
Chatney, capsicum, 144
Chatney, sausage, 609
Chatney, shrimp (Mauritian receipt), 144
Chatney, tomato, 609
Chatney (Bengal receipt), 146
Christopher North’s own (for many meats), 119
crab, 114
cream, for fish, 115
common cucumber, 121
another common cucumber, 122
white cucumber, 122
currants, 404
Dutch, 111
cold, Dutch, 133
common egg, 110
egg, for calf’s head, 111
very good egg, 110
English, for salad, cold meat, &c., 134
epicurean, 151
mild eschalot, 127
Espagnole, 100
Espagnole, with wine, 100
fricassee, 112
fruit, superior, 404
mild garlic, 126
Genevese, or sauce Genevoise, 117
German, for fricassees, 107
German cherry, 406
German custard pudding, 403
gooseberry, for mackerel, 120
horseradish, excellent, to serve hot or cold, with roast beef, 118-133
hot horseradish, 119
the lady’s, for fish, 117
common lobster, 113
Maître d’Hôtel, or steward’s sauce, 116
cold Maître d’Hôtel, 133
Maître d’Hôtel sauce maigre, 117
sharp Maître d’Hôtel, 116
Imperial mayonnaise, 136
mayonnaise, red or green, 136
mayonnaise (very fine), to serve with cold meat, fish, or vegetables, 135
mint, common, 132
mint (superior), for roast lamb, 133
strained, 132
brown mushroom, 123
another mushroom, 123
white mushroom, 122
Norfolk, 109
olive, 128
brown onion, 125
another brown onion, 125
white onion, 125
Oxford brawn, 137
common oyster, 114
good oyster, 114
piquante, 118
common pudding, 402
delicious German pudding, 403
pine-apple pudding, 405
pine-apple syrup, 405
punch, for sweet puddings, 402
sweet pudding, 404
raspberry, 404
remoulade, 137
Robert, 118
shrimp, 115
common sorrel, 120
Soubise, 126
Soubise (French receipt), 126
Spanish, 100
sweet, for venison, 100
Tartar, 143
common tomata, 123
a finer tomata, 124
tournée, or thickened pale gravy, 105
excellent turnip, 127
very common white, 111
English white, 111
wine sauces, 402
French white, or béchamel, 107
vegetable marrow, fine, 127
velouté (obs.), 107

Sauces, to thicken, 105

- green, for colouring, 129

Saucisses aux truffes, or truffled sausages 263

Saunders, 270

Sausage-meat, cake of, 261

- in chicken-pie, 353
- Kentish, 261
- to make, 261, 262
- pounded, very good, 262
- boned turkey, filled with, 268

Sausages, boiled, 262

- and chestnuts (an excellent dish), 262
- common, 261
- excellent, 262
- truffled, 263

Sauté pan, for frying, 176
Savoury toasts, 390
Scientific roasting, 171
Scotch marmalade, 528
Scottish shortbread, excellent, 557

Sea-kale to boil, 316

- stewed in gravy (entremets), 316

Sea-pheasant, or pintail, to roast, 294
Sefton, a, or veal custard, 362
Shad, Touraine fashion, 79
Shrimp sauce, 115

Shrimps, to boil, 93

- boudinettes of, 92
- potted, 306
- to shell quickly and easily, 93

Sippets à la Reine, 5

- fried, 4

Sirloin of beef, to roast, 184

Smelts to bake, 78

- to fry, 77

Snipes to roast, 293

Snow-balls, orange, 420

- apple, 421

Soles, baked, or au plat, 66

- baked, a simple receipt, 66
- to boil, 64
- to choose, 48
- fillets of, 65
- to fry, 64
- stewed in cream, 67

Solimemne, a, or rich French breakfast cake, 549

Soufflé, Louise Franks’ citron, 378

- cheese, 379

Soufflé-pan, 377

Soufflés, remarks on, 377

Sounds, cods’, to boil, 63

- to fry in batter, 63

Soup, apple, 21
artichoke, or Palestine, 19
good calf’s head, not expensive, 27
Buchanan carrot, 46
common carrot, 20
a finer carrot, 20
carrot, maigre, 45
chestnut, 19
cocoa-nut, 19
cucumber, 38
fish, cheap, 46
des Galles, 28
clear pale gravy, or consommé, 10
another gravy, 10
cheap clear gravy, 11
superlative hare, 32
a less expensive hare, 32
in haste, 43
à la Julienne, 38

Mademoiselle Jenny Lind’s (authentic receipt), 16
the Lord Mayor’s, 17
the Lord Mayor’s (author’s receipt for), 18
maccaroni, 13
milk, with vermicelli, 44
mock turtle, 25
old-fashioned mock turtle, 26
mullagatawny, 35
vegetable mullagatawny, 37
mutton stock for soups, 16
ox-tail, 42
white oyster, or oyster-soup à la Reine, 30
parsnep, 22
another parsnep, 22
partridge, 35
common peas, 41
peas, without meat, 42
rich peas, 41
cheap green peas, 40
an excellent green peas, 39
green peas, without meat, 39
pheasant, 33
another pheasant, 34
potage aux nouilles, or taillerine soup, 14
potage à la Reine, 29
potato, 21
rabbit, à la Reine, 31
brown rabbit, 31
rice, 14
cheap rice, 44
rice flour, 15
white rice, 15
sago, 14
sausage (Swedish receipt), 577
semola and soujee, 13
semoulina, 12
semoulina (or soup à la Semoule), 12
a cheap and good stew, 43
spring, 38
taillerine, 14
tapioca, 14
economical turkey, 33
common turnip, 21
a quickly made turnip, 21
turtle, mock, 23
mock turtle, old-fashioned, 26
vermicelli (or potage au vermicelle), 12
stock for white, 15
Westerfield white, 22
a richer white, 23

Soups, directions to the cook for, 2

- to fry bread to serve with, 5
- ingredients used for making, 1
- nouilles to serve in, 5
- mutton stock for, 16
- to thicken, 4
- time required for boiling down, 4
- vegetable vermicelli for, 5

Spanish sauce, or Espagnole, 100

- sauce, with wine, 100

Spiced beef, 199

Spinach, à l’Anglaise, or English fashion, 317

- common English modes of dressing, 317
- French receipt for, 316
- green, for colouring sweet dishes, &c., 455
- dandelions dressed like, 318

Sprouts, &c., to boil, 332

Steaming, general directions for, 172

Stewed beef-steak, 189

- beef-steak, in its own gravy, 189
- beet-root, 340
- cabbage, 333
- calf’s feet, 228
- calf’s liver, 228
- carp, 82
- celery, 341
- cod-fish, 62
- cucumber, 323
- eels, 84
- figs, 492
- fillet of mutton, 238
- fruits (various), 456-459
- hare, 286
- lamb cutlets, 246
- leg of lamb with white sauce, 243
- loin of lamb in butter, 246
- lettuces, 319
- mackerel, in wine, 72
- fillets of mackerel in wine (excellent), 72
- mutton cutlets in their own gravy, 240
- onions, 342
- ox-tails, 195
- ox, or beef tongue (Bordyke receipt), 203
- oysters, 86
- sea-kale in gravy, 316
- soles in cream, 67
- tomatas, 327
- trout, 80
- turnips in butter, 334
- turnips in gravy, 335

- knuckle of veal, with rice or green peas, 221

- shoulder of veal, 219

- shoulder of venison, 283

Stew, a good English, 191

- a good family, 242
- a German, 190
- an Irish, 242
- baked Irish, 243
- Spring stew of veal, 224
- a Welsh, 191

Stew, to, shin of beef, 192

- a rump of beef, 194

Stewing, general directions for, 173

Stewpan, copper, 181

Stock, clear pale, 11

- for white soup, 13
- mutton, for soups, 14
- shin of beef for gravies, 97
- pot, 169

Store sauces, 145-155

Strawberries, to preserve, for flavouring creams, &c., 506

Strawberry vinegar, 577

- jam, 504
- jelly, 505
- isinglass jelly, 468
- tartlets, 375
- vinegar, of delicious flavour, 577

Stufato (a Neapolitan receipt), 615

Stuffing for geese and ducks, No. 9, 160

- Cook’s stuffing for geese and ducks, 161

Suédoise, or apple hedgehog, 480

Suédoise of peaches, 488

Suet crust, for pies, superior, 348

- common, 348

Sugar glazings, and icings, for fine pastry and cakes, 543

- barley, 564
- grains, to colour, for cakes, &c., 542
- to boil, from candy to caramel, 563
- to clarify, 562

Swan’s egg, to boil, 448

- forced, 447

- en salade, 448

Sweetbreads, to dress, 227

- à la Maître d’Hôtel, 227
- cutlets, 227
- small entrées of, 232
- roasted, 215

Sweet, patties à la minute, 387
Syllabub, a birthday, 581
Syllabubs, superior whipped, 476

Syrup, fine currant, or sirop de groseilles, 579

Tamarinds, acid, in curries, 296
Tapioca soup, 14
Tarragon vinegar, 151

Tart, a good apple, 363

- young green apple, 364
- barberry, 364
- German, 362
- the monitor’s, 370

Tartlets, of almond paste, 367

- creamed, 375
- jelly, or custards, 375
- to make, 361
- lemon, 372
- strawberry, 375

Tarts, to ice, 345
Tench, to fry, 83
Thickening for sauces, French, 106
Tipsy cake, 474
Toasting, directions for, 183

Toffee, Everton, 567

- another way, 567

Tomata catsup, 151

- sauces, 123, 124

Tomatas, forced, 327

- forced (French receipt), 328
- purée of, 328
- roast, 327
- en salade, 327
- stewed, 327

Tongue, to boil, 203

- to stew, 203

Tongues, to pickle, 197

- Tourte, à la châtelaine, 364
- the lady’s, 364
- meringuée, or with royal icing, 363

Trifle, brandy, or tipsy cake, 474

- an excellent, 473

- Swiss, very good, 473

Trout, to stew (a good common receipt), 80

- in wine, 80

Truffled butter, 139

- sausages, 263

Truffles and their uses, 331

- à l’Italienne, 332
- à la serviette, 232
- to prepare for use, 332

Turbot, to boil, 56

- au béchamel, 57
- cold, with shrimp chatney, 144
- à la crême, 57

Turkey, to boil, 267

- boned and forced, 268
- to bone, 265
- à la Flamande, 270
- to roast, 267
- poult, to roast, 270

Turkeys’ eggs, to dress, 447

- forced (excellent entremets) 447
- poached, 449
- sauce of, 110

Turnip-radishes, to boil, 318

- soup, economical, 33

Turnips, to boil, 333

- to mash, 333
- stewed in butter, 334
- in gravy, 335
- in white sauce 334

Vanilla in cream, pudding, &c., 410

Veal, blanquette of, with mushrooms, 229

- boiled breast of, 218
- roast breast of, 219
- breast of, simply stewed, 618 (see note)
- breast of, stewed and glazed, 618
- cake, Bordyke, 222
- cake, small pain de veau, or veal, 222
- to choose, 209
- Scotch collops of, 226
- custard, or Sefton, 362
- cutlets, 225
- cutlets, or collops, à la Française, 226

- cutlets, à l’Indienne, or Indian fashion, 225

- cutlets, à la mode de Londres, or London fashion, 226

- divisions of, 209
- boiled fillet of, 217
- roast fillet of, 216
- fillet of, au bechamel, with oysters, 216
- fricandeau of, 223
- fricasseed, 231
- goose (City of London receipt), 220
- Norman harrico of, 224
- boiled knuckle of, 221
- knuckle of, en ragout, 221
- knuckle of, with rice or green peas, 221
- boiled loin of, 218
- roast loin of, 217
- stewed loin of, 218
- minced, 230
- minced, with oysters (or mushrooms), 231
- neck of, à la crême, 220
- neck of, roast, 220
- to bone a shoulder of, 219
- stewed shoulder of, 219
- spring stew of, 224
- Sydney, 231

Vegetable marrow, to boil, fry, mash, 327

- vermicelli, 6

Vegetables, to boil green, 309

- to clear insects from, 309

- remarks on, 308

Venetian cake (super excellent), 547

- fritters (very good), 383

Venison, to choose, 281

- collops and cutlets, 284
- to hash, 284
- to roast a haunch of, 282
- in pie, 352
- sauces for, 295
- to stew a loin of mutton like, 239
- to stew a shoulder of, 283

Vermicelli pudding, 439

- soup, 12

Viennese pudding, or Salzburger Nockerl, 620

Vinegar, cayenne, 153

- celery, 152
- cucumber, 152
- eschalot, or garlic, 152
- horseradish, 153
- green mint, 152
- raspberry (very fine), 578
- strawberry (delicious), 577
- tarragon, 151

Vol-au-vent, a, 357

- à la crème, 358

- of fruit, 358

Vols-au-vents, à la Parisienne, 374

- small, to make, 361

Walnut catsup, 149-150

Walnuts, to pickle, 536

- salad of, 141

Water Souchy (Greenwich receipt), 78

White bait (Greenwich receipt), 78

Whitings baked, À la Française, 68

- baked (Cinderella’s receipt), 70
- to boil, 68
- to fry, 67
- fillets of, 68

Wild ducks, to roast, and their season, 294

- salmi, or hash of, 294

Wild fowl, its season, 294

Wine, elderberry (good), 584

- eschalot, 153
- ginger, 584
- to mull (an excellent French receipt), 581
- orange, 585
- raisin, which resembles foreign, 583

Wine-vase, antique, 577
Wire lining for frying-pan, 177
Woodcocks, or snipes, to roast, 293
Woodruff, in Mai Trank, 620

Yorkshire ploughman’s salad, 315

- pudding, common, 441
- pudding, good, 440
- Regent potatoes, their excellence, 311

[TN: Footnote text is not allowed within the range of the Index.

Footnote 194 is referenced from the entry for “fillets of whitings”.

Footnote 195 is referenced from the entry for “Queen Mab’s summer pudding”.

Clicking on the footnote numbers below will take you to the index entries that reference these footnotes.]

194.  Though not included in this list, all sweet puddings are served as entremets, except they replace the roasts of the second course.

195.  Fish is not usually served as an entrée in a common English dinner; it is, however, very admissible, either in fillets, or scallops, in a currie, or in a vol-au-vent. Various circumstances must determine much of the general arrangement of a dinner, the same dishes answering at times for different parts of the service. For example, a fowl may be served as the roast for a small company, and for a large one as an entrée. For a plain family dinner, too, many dishes may be served in a different order to that which is set down.

Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Milford Lane, Strand, London, W.C.

APRIL 1885.

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Willich’s Popular Tables, by Marriott. Crown 8vo. 10s.

London, LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.

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- Transcriber’s Notes (for this Gutenberg ebook):

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- Missing or incorrect accents on French words were silently corrected.

- Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.

- Typographical errors were silently corrected.

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Table of Contents

MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES
PREFACE.
VOCABULARY OF TERMS,

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

- CHAPTER I.

- CHAPTER II.

- CHAPTER III.

- CHAPTER IV.

- CHAPTER V.

- CHAPTER VI.

- CHAPTER VII.

- CHAPTER VIII.

- CHAPTER IX.

- CHAPTER X.

- CHAPTER XI.

- CHAPTER XII.

- CHAPTER XIII.

- CHAPTER XIV.

- CHAPTER XV.

- CHAPTER XVI.

- CHAPTER XVII.

- CHAPTER XVIII.

- CHAPTER XIX.

- CHAPTER XX.

- CHAPTER XXI.

- CHAPTER XXII.

- CHAPTER XXIII.

- CHAPTER XXIV.

- CHAPTER XXV.

- CHAPTER XXVI.

- CHAPTER XXVII.

- CHAPTER XXVIII.

- CHAPTER XXIX.

- CHAPTER XXX.

- CHAPTER XXXI.

- CHAPTER XXXII.

- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.

- TRUSSING.

- GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR TRUSSING.

- TO TRUSS A TURKEY, FOWL, PHEASANT OR PARTRIDGE, FOR ROASTING.

- TO TRUSS FISH.

- CARVING.

- No. 1. COD’S HEAD AND SHOULDERS (AND COD FISH GENERALLY.)

- No. 2. A TURBOT.

- SOLES.

- No. 3. SALMON.

- No. 4. SADDLE OF MUTTON.

- No. 5. A HAUNCH OF VENISON (OR MUTTON.)

- No. 6. SIRLOIN OR RUMP OF BEEF.

- RIBS OF BEEF.

- A ROUND OF BEEF.

- A BRISKET OF BEEF

- No. 7. LEG OF MUTTON.

- No. 8. QUARTER OF LAMB.

- No. 9. SHOULDER OF MUTTON OR LAMB.

- No. 10. A SUCKING PIG.

- A FILLET OF VEAL.

- A LOIN OF VEAL.

- No. 11. A BREAST OF VEAL.

- No. 12. A TONGUE.

- No. 13. A CALF’S HEAD.

- No. 14. A HAM.

- No. 15. A PHEASANT.

- No. 16. A BOILED FOWL.

- No. 17. A ROAST FOWL.

- No. 18. A PARTRIDGE.

- No. 19. A WOODCOCK.

- No. 20. A PIGEON.

- No. 21. A SNIPE.

- No. 22. A GOOSE.

- DUCKS.

- No. 23. A WILD DUCK.

- No. 24. A TURKEY.

- No. 25. A HARE.

- No. 26. A FRICANDEAU OF VEAL.

CHAPTER I.

Soups.

A FEW DIRECTIONS TO THE COOK.

THE TIME REQUIRED FOR BOILING DOWN SOUP OR STOCK.

TO THICKEN SOUPS.

TO FRY BREAD TO SERVE WITH SOUP.

SIPPETS À LA REINE.

TO MAKE NOUILLES.

VEGETABLE VERMICELLI.

EXTRACT OF BEEF; OR, VERY STRONG PLAIN BEEF GRAVY SOUP.

BOUILLON.

CLEAR, PALE GRAVY SOUP OR CONSOMMÉ.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR GRAVY SOUP.

CHEAP, CLEAR GRAVY SOUP.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

SEMOULINA SOUP.

MACARONI SOUP.

SOUP OF SOUJEE.

POTAGE AUX NOUILLES, OR TAILLERINE SOUP

SAGO SOUP.

TAPIOCA SOUP.

RICE SOUP.

WHITE RICE SOUP.

RICE-FLOUR SOUP.

STOCK FOR WHITE SOUP.

MUTTON-STOCK FOR SOUPS.

MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND’S SOUP.

THE LORD MAYOR’S SOUP.

THE LORD MAYOR’S SOUP.

COCOA-NUT SOUP.

CHESTNUT SOUP.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, OR PALESTINE SOUP.

COMMON CARROT SOUP.

A FINER CARROT SOUP.

COMMON TURNIP SOUP.

A QUICKLY MADE TURNIP SOUP.

POTATO SOUP.

APPLE SOUP.

PARSNEP SOUP.

ANOTHER PARSNEP SOUP.

WESTERFIELD WHITE SOUP.

A RICHER WHITE SOUP.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.

OLD-FASHIONED MOCK TURTLE.

GOOD CALF’S HEAD SOUP. (Not expensive.)

SOUP DES GALLES.

POTAGE À LA REINE. (A Delicate White Soup.)

WHITE OYSTER SOUP.

RABBIT SOUP À LA REINE.

BROWN RABBIT SOUP.

SUPERLATIVE HARE SOUP.

A LESS EXPENSIVE HARE SOUP.[33]

ECONOMICAL TURKEY SOUP.

PHEASANT SOUP.

ANOTHER PHEASANT SOUP.

PARTRIDGE SOUP.

MULLAGATAWNY SOUP.

TO BOIL RICE FOR MULLAGATAWNY SOUPS, OR FOR CURRIES.

GOOD VEGETABLE MULLAGATAWNY.

CUCUMBER SOUP.

SPRING SOUP AND SOUP À LA JULIENNE.

AN EXCELLENT GREEN PEAS SOUP.

GREEN PEAS SOUP, WITHOUT MEAT.

A CHEAP GREEN PEAS SOUP.

RICH PEAS SOUP.

COMMON PEAS SOUP.

PEAS SOUP WITHOUT MEAT.

OX-TAIL SOUP.

A CHEAP AND GOOD STEW SOUP.

SOUP IN HASTE.

VEAL OR MUTTON BROTH.

MILK SOUP WITH VERMICELLI.

CHEAP RICE SOUP.

CARROT SOUP MAIGRE.

CHEAP FISH SOUPS.

BUCHANAN CARROT SOUP.

OBSERVATION.

CHAPTER II.

TO CLEAN FISH.

TO KEEP FISH.

TO SWEETEN TAINTED FISH.

THE MODE OF COOKING BEST ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH.

THE BEST MODE OF BOILING FISH.

BRINE FOR BOILING FISH.

TO RENDER BOILED FISH FIRM.

TO KNOW WHEN FISH IS SUFFICIENTLY BOILED, OR OTHERWISE COOKED.

TO BAKE FISH.

FAT FOR FRYING FISH.

TO KEEP FISH HOT FOR TABLE.

TO BOIL A TURBOT.

TURBOT À LA CRÊME.

TURBOT AU BÉCHAMEL, OR, IN BÉCHAMEL SAUCE.

TO BOIL A JOHN DORY.

SMALL JOHN DORIES BAKED.

TO BOIL A BRILL.

TO BOIL SALMON.

SALMON À LA GENEVESE.

CRIMPED SALMON.

SALMON À LA ST. MARCEL.

SALMON BAKED OVER MASHED POTATOES.

SALMON PUDDING, TO BE SERVED HOT OR COLD.

TO BOIL COD FISH.

SLICES OF COD FISH FRIED.

STEWED COD.

STEWED COD FISH, IN BROWN SAUCE.

TO BOIL SALT FISH.

SALT FISH, À LA MÂITRE D’HÔTEL.

TO BOIL CODS’ SOUNDS.

TO FRY CODS’ SOUNDS IN BATTER.

TO FRY SOLES.

TO BOIL SOLES.

FILLETS OF SOLES.

SOLES AU PLAT.

BAKED SOLES.

SOLES STEWED IN CREAM.

TO FRY WHITINGS.

FILLETS OF WHITINGS.

TO BOIL WHITINGS.

BAKED WHITINGS À LA FRANÇAISE.

TO BOIL MACKEREL.

TO BAKE MACKEREL.

BAKED MACKEREL, OR WHITINGS.

FRIED MACKEREL.

FILLETS OF MACKEREL.

BOILED FILLETS OF MACKEREL.

MACKEREL BROILED WHOLE.

MACKEREL STEWED WITH WINE.

FILLETS OF MACKEREL STEWED IN WINE.

TO BOIL HADDOCKS.

BAKED HADDOCKS

TO FRY HADDOCKS

TO DRESS FINNAN HADDOCKS.

TO BOIL GURNARDS.

FRESH HERRINGS.

TO DRESS THE SEA BREAM.

TO BOIL PLAICE OR FLOUNDERS.

TO FRY PLAICE OR FLOUNDERS.

TO ROAST, BAKE, OR BROIL RED MULLET.

TO BOIL GREY MULLET.

THE GAR-FISH.

SAND-LAUNCE, OR, SAND-EEL.

TO FRY SMELTS.

BAKED SMELTS.

TO DRESS WHITE BAIT.

WATER SOUCHY.

SHAD, TOURAINE FASHION.

STEWED TROUT.

TO BOIL PIKE.

TO BAKE PIKE.

TO BAKE PIKE.

TO STEW CARP.

TO BOIL PERCH.[50]

TO FRY PERCH OR TENCH.

TO FRY EELS.

BOILED EELS.

EELS.

RED HERRINGS, À LA DAUPHIN.

RED HERRINGS, COMMON ENGLISH MODE.

ANCHOVIES FRIED IN BATTER.

CHAPTER III.

- OYSTERS.

- TO SCALLOP OYSTERS.

- SCALLOPED OYSTERS À LA REINE.

- TO STEW OYSTERS.

- OYSTER SAUSAGES.

- TO BOIL LOBSTERS.

- COLD DRESSED LOBSTER AND CRAB.

- LOBSTERS, FRICASSEED, OR AU BÉCHAMEL. (ENTRÉE.)

- HOT CRAB, OR LOBSTER.

- POTTED LOBSTERS.

- LOBSTER CUTLETS.

- LOBSTER SAUSAGES.

- BOUDINETTES OF LOBSTERS, PRAWNS, OR SHRIMPS. (ENTRÉE).

- TO BOIL SHRIMPS OR PRAWNS.

- TO DISH COLD PRAWNS.

- TO SHELL SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS QUICKLY AND EASILY.

CHAPTER IV.

- INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

- JEWISH SMOKED BEEF.

- TO HEIGHTEN THE COLOUR AND THE FLAVOUR OF GRAVIES.

- BARON LIEBEG’s BEEF GRAVY.

- SHIN OF BEEF STOCK FOR GRAVIES.

- RICH PALE VEAL GRAVY, OR CONSOMMÉ.

- RICH DEEP-COLOURED VEAL GRAVY.

- GOOD BEEF OR VEAL GRAVY. (ENGLISH RECEIPT.)

- A RICH ENGLISH BROWN GRAVY.

- PLAIN GRAVY FOR VENISON.

- A RICH GRAVY FOR VENISON.

- SWEET SAUCE, OR GRAVY FOR VENISON.

- ESPAGNOLE (SPANISH SAUCE).

- ESPAGNOLE, WITH WINE.

- JUS DES ROGNONS, OR, KIDNEY GRAVY.

- GRAVY IN HASTE.

- CHEAP GRAVY FOR A ROAST FOWL.

- ANOTHER CHEAP GRAVY FOR A FOWL.

- GRAVY OR SAUCE FOR A GOOSE.

- ORANGE GRAVY FOR WILD FOWL.

- MEAT JELLIES FOR PIES AND SAUCES.

- A CHEAPER MEAT JELLY.

- GLAZE.

- ASPIC, OR CLEAR SAVOURY-JELLY.

CHAPTER V.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

TO THICKEN SAUCES.

FRENCH THICKENING, OR BROWN ROUX.

WHITE ROUX, OR FRENCH THICKENING.

SAUCE TOURNÉE, OR PALE THICKENED GRAVY.

BÉCHAMEL.

BÉCHAMEL MAIGRE.

ANOTHER COMMON BÉCHAMEL.

RICH MELTED BUTTER.

MELTED BUTTER.

FRENCH MELTED BUTTER.

NORFOLK SAUCE, OR RICH MELTED BUTTER WITHOUT FLOUR.

WHITE MELTED BUTTER.

BURNT OR BROWNED BUTTER.

CLARIFIED BUTTER.

VERY GOOD EGG SAUCE.

SAUCE OF TURKEYS’ EGGS.

COMMON EGG SAUCE.

EGG SAUCE FOR CALF’S HEAD.

ENGLISH WHITE SAUCE.

VERY COMMON WHITE SAUCE.

DUTCH SAUCE.

FRICASSEE SAUCE.

BREAD SAUCE.

BREAD SAUCE WITH ONION.

COMMON LOBSTER SAUCE.

GOOD LOBSTER SAUCE.

CRAB SAUCE.

GOOD OYSTER SAUCE.

COMMON OYSTER SAUCE.

SHRIMP SAUCE.

ANCHOVY SAUCE.

CREAM SAUCE FOR FISH.

SHARP MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE.

FRENCH MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL,[55] OR STEWARD’S SAUCE.

MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE MAIGRE,[56] OR WITHOUT GRAVY.

THE LADY’S SAUCE.

GENEVESE SAUCE, OR SAUCE GÉNÉVOISE.

SAUCE ROBERT.

SAUCE PIQUANTE.

EXCELLENT HORSERADISH SAUCE.

HOT HORSERADISH SAUCE.

CHRISTOPHER NORTH’S OWN SAUCE FOR MANY MEATS.

GOOSEBERRY SAUCE FOR MACKEREL.

COMMON SORREL SAUCE.

ASPARAGUS SAUCE, FOR LAMB CUTLETS.

CAPER SAUCE.

BROWN CAPER SAUCE.

CAPER SAUCE FOR FISH.

COMMON CUCUMBER SAUCE.

ANOTHER COMMON SAUCE OF CUCUMBERS.

WHITE CUCUMBER SAUCE.

WHITE MUSHROOM SAUCE.

ANOTHER MUSHROOM SAUCE.

BROWN MUSHROOM SAUCE.

COMMON TOMATA SAUCE.

A FINER TOMATA SAUCE.

BOILED APPLE SAUCE.

BAKED APPLE SAUCE.

BROWN APPLE SAUCE.

WHITE ONION SAUCE.

BROWN ONION SAUCE.

ANOTHER BROWN ONION SAUCE.

SOUBISE. (English Receipt.)

SOUBISE. (French Receipt.)

MILD RAGOUT OF GARLIC, OR, L’AIL À LA BORDELAISE.

MILD ESCHALOT SAUCE.

A FINE SAUCE, OR PURÉE OF VEGETABLE MARROW.

EXCELLENT TURNIP, OR ARTICHOKE SAUCE FOR BOILED MEAT.

OLIVE SAUCE.

CELERY SAUCE.

WHITE CHESTNUT SAUCE.

BROWN CHESTNUT SAUCE.

PARSLEY-GREEN, FOR COLOURING SAUCES.

TO CRISP PARSLEY.

FRIED PARSLEY.

MILD MUSTARD.

MUSTARD THE COMMON WAY.

FRENCH BATTER.

TO PREPARE BREAD FOR FRYING FISH.

BROWNED FLOUR FOR THICKENING SOUPS AND GRAVIES.

FRIED BREAD-CRUMBS.

FRIED BREAD FOR GARNISHING.

CHAPTER VI.

- SUPERIOR MINT-SAUCE.

- COMMON MINT-SAUCE.

- STRAINED MINT SAUCE.

- FINE HORSERADISH SAUCE.

- COLD MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL, OR STEWARD’S SAUCE.

- COLD DUTCH OR AMERICAN SAUCE, FOR SALADS OF DRESSED VEGETABLES, SALT FISH, OR HARD EGGS.

- ENGLISH SAUCE FOR SALAD, COLD MEAT, OR COLD FISH.

- THE POET’S RECEIPT FOR SALAD.[60]

- SAUCE MAYONNAISE.

- RED OR GREEN MAYONNAISE SAUCE.

- IMPERIAL MAYONNAISE.

- REMOULADE.

- OXFORD BRAWN SAUCE.

- FORCED EGGS FOR GARNISHING SALAD.

- ANCHOVY BUTTER.

- LOBSTER BUTTER.

- TRUFFLED BUTTER (AND TRUFFLES POTTED IN BUTTER.)

- ENGLISH SALADS.

- FRENCH SALAD.

- FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.

- DES CERNEAUX, OR WALNUT SALAD.

- SUFFOLK SALAD.

- YORKSHIRE PLOUGHMAN’S SALAD.

- AN EXCELLENT SALAD OF YOUNG VEGETABLES.

- SORREL SALAD.

- LOBSTER SALAD.

- AN EXCELLENT HERRING SALAD.

- TARTAR SAUCE.

- SHRIMP CHATNEY.

- CAPSICUMB CHATNEY.

CHAPTER VII.

- OBSERVATIONS.

- CHETNEY SAUCE.

- FINE MUSHROOM CATSUP.

- MUSHROOM CATSUP.

- MUSHROOM CATSUP.

- DOUBLE MUSHROOM CATSUP.

- COMPOUND, OR COOK’S CATSUP.

- WALNUT CATSUP.

- ANOTHER GOOD RECEIPT FOR WALNUT CATSUP.

- LEMON PICKLE OR CATSUP.

- PONTAC CATSUP FOR FISH.

- BOTTLED TOMATAS, OR TOMATA CATSUP.

- EPICUREAN SAUCE.

- TARRAGON VINEGAR.

- GREEN MINT VINEGAR.

- CUCUMBER VINEGAR.

- CELERY VINEGAR.

- ESCHALOT, OR GARLIC VINEGAR.

- ESCHALOT WINE.

- HORSERADISH VINEGAR.

- CAYENNE VINEGAR.

- LEMON BRANDY.

- DRIED MUSHROOMS.

- MUSHROOM POWDER.

- EXCELLENT POTATO FLOUR, OR ARROW-ROOT.

- TO MAKE FLOUR OF RICE.

- POWDER OF SAVOURY HERBS.

- TARTAR MUSTARD.

- ANOTHER TARTAR MUSTARD.

CHAPTER VIII.

- GENERAL REMARKS.

- NO. 1. GOOD COMMON FORCEMEAT, FOR ROAST VEAL, TURKEYS, &C.

- NO. 2. ANOTHER GOOD COMMON FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 3. SUPERIOR SUET FORCEMEAT, FOR VEAL, TURKEYS, &C.

- NO. 4. COMMON SUET FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 5. OYSTER FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 6. A FINER OYSTER FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 7. MUSHROOM FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 8. FORCEMEAT FOR HARE.

- NO. 9. ONION AND SAGE STUFFING, FOR PORK, GEESE, OR DUCKS.

- NO. 10. MR. COOKE’S FORCEMEAT FOR DUCKS OR GEESE.

- NO. 11. FORCEMEAT BALLS FOR MOCK TURTLE SOUPS.

- NO. 12. EGG BALLS.

- NO. 13. BRAIN CAKES.

- NO. 14. ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR BRAIN CAKES.

- NO. 15. CHESTNUT FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 16. AN EXCELLENT FRENCH FORCEMEAT.

- NO. 17. FRENCH FORCEMEAT CALLED QUENELLES.

- NO. 18. FORCEMEAT FOR RAISED AND OTHER COLD PIES.

- PANADA.

CHAPTER IX.

- Boiling, Roasting, etc.

- TO BOIL MEAT.

- POÊLÉE.

- A BLANC.

- ROASTING.

- STEAMING.

- STEWING.

- BROILING.

- FRYING.

- BAKING, OR OVEN COOKERY.

- BRAISING.

- LARDING.

- BONING.

- TO BLANCH MEAT OR VEGETABLES.

- GLAZING

- TOASTING.

- TO BROWN THE SURFACE OF A DISH WITHOUT BAKING OR PLACING IT AT THE FIRE.

CHAPTER X.

- TO CHOOSE BEEF.

- TO ROAST SIRLOIN, OR RIBS OF BEEF.

- ROAST RUMP OF BEEF.

- TO ROAST PART OF A ROUND OF BEEF.

- TO ROAST A FILLET OF BEEF.

- ROAST BEEF STEAK.

- TO BROIL BEEF STEAKS.

- BEEF STEAKS À LA FRANÇAISE.

- BEEF STEAKS À LA FRANÇAISE (ENTRÉE).

- STEWED BEEF STEAK (ENTRÉE).

- FRIED BEEF STEAK.

- BEEF STEAK STEWED IN ITS OWN GRAVY.

- BEEF OR MUTTON CAKE.

- GERMAN STEW.

- WELSH STEW.

- A GOOD ENGLISH STEW.

- TO STEW SHIN OF BEEF.

- FRENCH BEEF À LA MODE.

- STEWED SIRLOIN OF BEEF.

- TO STEW A RUMP OF BEEF.

- BEEF PALATES. (ENTRÉE.)

- BEEF PALATES.

- STEWED OX-TAILS.

- BROILED OX-TAIL. (ENTRÉE.)

- TO SALT AND PICKLE BEEF, IN VARIOUS WAYS.

- TO SALT AND BOIL A ROUND OF BEEF.

- HAMBURGH PICKLE FOR BEEF, HAMS, AND TONGUE.

- ANOTHER PICKLE FOR TONGUES, BEEF, AND HAMS.

- DUTCH, OR HUNG BEEF.

- COLLARED BEEF.

- COLLARED BEEF. (Another way.)

- A COMMON RECEIPT FOR SALTING BEEF.

- SPICED ROUND OF BEEF.

- SPICED BEEF.

- A MINIATURE ROUND OF BEEF.

- BEEF ROLL, OR CANELLON DE BŒUF. (ENTRÉE.)

- MINCED COLLOPS AU NATUREL.

- SAVOURY MINCED COLLOPS.

- A RICHER VARIETY OF MINCED COLLOPS.

- SCOTCH MINCED COLLOPS.

- BEEF TONGUES.

- BEEF TONGUES.

- TO DRESS BEEF TONGUES.

- BORDYKE RECEIPT FOR STEWING A TONGUE.

- TO ROAST A BEEF HEART.

- BEEF KIDNEY.

- BEEF KIDNEY. (A plainer way.)

- AN EXCELLENT HASH OF COLD BEEF.

- A COMMON HASH OF COLD BEEF OR MUTTON.

- BRESLAW OF BEEF.

- NORMAN HASH.

- FRENCH RECEIPT FOR HASHED BOUILLI.

- BAKED MINCED BEEF.

- SAUNDERS.

- TO BOIL MARROW BONES.

- BAKED MARROW BONES.

- CLARIFIED MARROW FOR KEEPING.

- OX-CHEEK STUFFED AND BAKED.

CHAPTER XI.

- TO CHOOSE VEAL.

- TO TAKE THE HAIR FROM A CALF’S HEAD WITH THE SKIN ON.

- BOILED CALF’S HEAD.

- CALF’S HEAD, THE WARDER’S WAY.

- PREPARED CALF’S HEAD.

- BURLINGTON WHIMSEY.

- CUTLETS OF CALF’S HEAD.

- HASHED CALF’S HEAD. (REMOVE.)

- CHEAP HASH OF CALF’S HEAD.

- TO DRESS COLD CALF’S HEAD OR VEAL

- CALF’S HEAD BRAWN.

- TO ROAST A FILLET OF VEAL.

- FILLET OF VEAL, AU BÉCHAMEL, WITH OYSTERS.

- BOILED FILLET OF VEAL.

- ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.

- BOILED LOIN OF VEAL.

- STEWED LOIN OF VEAL.

- BOILED BREAST OF VEAL.

- TO ROAST A BREAST OF VEAL.

- TO BONE A SHOULDER OF VEAL, MUTTON, OR LAMB.

- STEWED SHOULDER OF VEAL.

- ROAST NECK OF VEAL.

- NECK OF VEAL À LA CRÊME.

- VEAL GOOSE.

- KNUCKLE OF VEAL EN RAGOUT.

- BOILED KNUCKLE OF VEAL.

- KNUCKLE OF VEAL WITH RICE.

- SMALL PAIN DE VEAU, OR, VEAL CAKE.

- BORDYKE VEAL CAKE.

- FRICANDEAU OF VEAL. (ENTRÉE).

- SPRING-STEW OF VEAL.

- NORMAN HARRICO.

- PLAIN VEAL CUTLETS.

- VEAL CUTLETS A L’INDIENNE, OR INDIAN FASHION. (ENTRÉE.)

- VEAL CUTLETS, OR COLLOPS, À LA FRANÇAISE. (ENTRÉE.)

- SCOTCH COLLOPS. (ENTRÉE.)

- VEAL CUTLETS À LA MODE DE LONDRES, OR, LONDON FASHION. (ENTRÉE.)

- SWEETBREADS SIMPLY DRESSED. (ENTRÉE.)

- SWEETBREAD CUTLETS. (ENTRÉE.)

- STEWED CALF’S FEET.

- CALF’S LIVER STOVED, OR STEWED.

- TO ROAST CALF’S LIVER.

- BLANQUETTE OF VEAL OR LAMB, WITH MUSHROOMS.

- MINCED VEAL.

- MINCED VEAL AND OYSTERS.

- VEAL-SYDNEY. (GOOD.)

- FRICASSEED VEAL.

- SMALL ENTRÉES OF SWEETBREADS, CALF’S BRAINS AND EARS, &c. &c.

CHAPTER XII.

- TO CHOOSE MUTTON.

- TO ROAST A HAUNCH OF MUTTON.[79]

- ROAST SADDLE OF MUTTON.

- TO ROAST A LEG OF MUTTON.

- BRAISED LEG OF MUTTON.

- LEG OF MUTTON BONED AND FORCED.

- A BOILED LEG OF MUTTON WITH TONGUE AND TURNIPS.

- ROAST OR STEWED FILLET OF MUTTON.

- TO ROAST A LOIN OF MUTTON.

- TO DRESS A LOIN OF MUTTON LIKE VENISON.

- ROAST NECK OF MUTTON.

- TO ROAST A SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

- THE CAVALIER’S BROIL.

- FORCED SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

- MUTTON CUTLETS STEWED IN THEIR OWN GRAVY.

- TO BROIL MUTTON CUTLETS. (ENTRÉE.)

- CHINA CHILO

- A GOOD FAMILY STEW OF MUTTON.

- AN IRISH STEW.

- A BAKED IRISH STEW.

- CUTLETS OF COLD MUTTON.

- MUTTON KIDNEYS À LA FRANÇAISE. (ENTRÉE.)

- BROILED MUTTON KIDNEYS.

- OXFORD RECEIPT FOR MUTTON KIDNEYS. (BREAKFAST DISH, OR ENTRÉE.)

- TO ROAST A FORE QUARTER OF LAMB.

- SADDLE OF LAMB.

- ROAST LOIN OF LAMB.

- STEWED LEG OF LAMB WITH WHITE SAUCE. (ENTRÉE.)[81]

- LOIN OF LAMB STEWED IN BUTTER. (ENTRÉE.)

- LAMB OR MUTTON CUTLETS, WITH SOUBISE SAUCE. (ENTRÉE.)

- LAMB CUTLETS IN THEIR OWN GRAVY.

- CUTLETS OF COLD LAMB.

CHAPTER XIII.

- TO CHOOSE PORK.

- TO MELT LARD.

- TO PRESERVE UNMELTED LARD FOR MANY MONTHS.

- TO ROAST A SUCKING PIG.

- BAKED PIG.

- PIG À LA TARTARE

- SUCKING PIG EN BLANQUETTE. (ENTRÉE.)

- TO ROAST PORK.

- TO ROAST A SADDLE OF PORK.

- TO BROIL OR FRY PORK CUTLETS.

- COBBETT’S RECEIPT FOR CURING BACON.

- A GENUINE YORKSHIRE RECEIPT FOR CURING HAMS AND BACON.

- KENTISH MODE OF CUTTING UP AND CURING A PIG.

- FRENCH BACON FOR LARDING.

- TO PICKLE CHEEKS OF BACON AND HAMS.

- MONSIEUR UDE’s RECEIPT, HAMS SUPERIOR TO WESTPHALIA.

- SUPER-EXCELLENT BACON.

- HAMS.

- TO BOIL A HAM.

- TO GARNISH AND ORNAMENT HAMS IN VARIOUS WAYS.

- FRENCH RECEIPT FOR BOILING A HAM.

- TO BAKE A HAM.

- TO BOIL BACON.

- BACON BROILED OR FRIED.

- DRESSED RASHERS OF BACON.

- TONBRIDGE BRAWN.

- ITALIAN PORK CHEESE.

- SAUSAGE-MEAT CAKE, OR, PAIN DE PORC FRAIS.

- SAUSAGES.

- KENTISH SAUSAGE-MEAT.

- EXCELLENT SAUSAGES.

- POUNDED SAUSAGE-MEAT.

- BOILED SAUSAGES. (ENTRÉE.)

- SAUSAGES AND CHESTNUTS. (ENTRÉE.)

- TRUFFLED SAUSAGES.

CHAPTER XIV.

- TO CHOOSE POULTRY.

- TO BONE A FOWL OR TURKEY WITHOUT OPENING IT.

- ANOTHER MODE OF BONING A FOWL OR TURKEY.

- TO BONE FOWLS FOR FRICASSEES, CURRIES, AND PIES.

- TO ROAST A TURKEY.

- TO BOIL A TURKEY.

- TURKEY BONED AND FORCED.

- TURKEY À LA FLAMANDE, OR, DINDE POUDRÉE.

- TO ROAST A TURKEY POULT.

- TO ROAST A GOOSE.

- TO ROAST A GREEN GOOSE.

- TO ROAST A FOWL.

- ROAST FOWL.

- TO ROAST A GUINEA FOWL.

- FOWL À LA CARLSFORS. (ENTRÉE.)

- BOILED FOWLS.

- TO BROIL A CHICKEN OR FOWL.

- FRICASSEED FOWLS OR CHICKENS. (ENTRÉE.)

- ENGLISH CHICKEN CUTLETS. (ENTRÉE).

- CUTLETS OF FOWLS, PARTRIDGES, OR PIGEONS. (ENTRÉE.)

- FRIED CHICKEN À LA MALABAR. (ENTRÉE.)

- HASHED FOWL. (ENTRÉE.)

- FRENCH AND OTHER RECEIPTS FOR MINCED FOWL. (ENTRÉE.)

- FRITOT OF COLD FOWLS.

- SCALLOPS OF FOWL AU BÉCHAMEL. (ENTRÉE.)

- GRILLADE OF COLD FOWLS.

- FOWLS À LA MAYONNAISE.

- TO ROAST DUCKS.

- STEWED DUCK. (ENTRÉE.)

- TO ROAST PIGEONS.

- BOILED PIGEONS.

CHAPTER XV.

- TO CHOOSE GAME.

- TO ROAST A HAUNCH OF VENISON.

- TO STEW A SHOULDER OF VENISON.

- TO HASH VENISON.[92]

- TO ROAST A HARE.

- ROAST HARE.

- STEWED HARE.

- TO ROAST A RABBIT.

- TO BOIL RABBITS.

- FRIED RABBIT.

- TO ROAST A PHEASANT.

- BOUDIN OF PHEASANT À LA RICHELIEU. (ENTRÉE.)

- TO ROAST PARTRIDGES.

- BOILED PARTRIDGES.

- PARTRIDGES WITH MUSHROOMS.

- BROILED PARTRIDGE.

- BROILED PARTRIDGE.

- THE FRENCH, OR RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE.

- TO ROAST THE LANDRAIL OR CORN-CRAKE.

- TO ROAST BLACK COCK AND GRAY HEN.

- TO ROAST GROUSE.

- A SALMI OF MOOR FOWL, PHEASANTS, OR PARTRIDGES. (ENTRÉE.)

- FRENCH SALMI, OR HASH OF GAME. (ENTRÉE.)

- TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.

- TO ROAST THE PINTAIL, OR SEA PHEASANT.

- TO ROAST WILD DUCKS.

- A SALMI, OR HASH OF WILD FOWL.

- CHRISTOPHER NORTH’S OWN SAUCE FOR MANY MEATS.

CHAPTER XVI.

- MR. ARNOTT’S CURRIE-POWDER.

- MR. ARNOTT’S CURRIE.

- A BENGAL CURRIE.

- A DRY CURRIE.

- A COMMON INDIAN CURRIE.

- SELIM’S CURRIES.

- CURRIED MACCARONI

- CURRIED EGGS.

- CURRIED SWEETBREADS.

- CURRIED OYSTERS.

- CURRIED GRAVY.

- POTTED MEATS.

- POTTED HAM.[100]

- POTTED CHICKEN, PARTRIDGE, OR PHEASANT.

- POTTED OX-TONGUE.

- POTTED ANCHOVIES.

- LOBSTER BUTTER.

- POTTED SHRIMPS, OR PRAWNS.

- POTTED MUSHROOMS.

- MOULDED POTTED MEAT OR FISH.

- POTTED HARE.

CHAPTER XVII.

TO CLEAR VEGETABLES FROM INSECTS.

TO BOIL VEGETABLES GREEN.

POTATOES.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

TO BOIL NEW POTATOES.

NEW POTATOES IN BUTTER.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

TO ROAST OR BAKE POTATOES.

SCOOPED POTATOES. (ENTREMETS.[106])

CRISPED POTATOES, OR POTATO-RIBBONS. (ENTREMETS.)

FRIED POTATOES. (ENTREMETS.)

MASHED POTATOES.

- ENGLISH POTATO BALLS, OR CROQUETTES.

POTATO BOULETTES. (ENTREMETS.)

POTATO RISSOLES.

POTATOES À LA MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL.

POTATOES À LA CRÈME.

KOHL CANNON, OR KALE CANNON.

TO BOIL SEA-KALE.

SEA-KALE STEWED IN GRAVY. (ENTREMETS.)

SPINACH. (ENTREMETS.)

SPINACH A L’ANGLAISE. (ENTREMETS.)

SPINACH.

ANOTHER COMMON ENGLISH RECEIPT FOR SPINACH.

TO DRESS DANDELIONS LIKE SPINACH, OR AS A SALAD.

BOILED TURNIP-RADISHES.

BOILED LEEKS.

STEWED LETTUCES.

TO BOIL ASPARAGUS.

ASPARAGUS POINTS DRESSED LIKE PEAS. (ENTREMETS.)

TO BOIL GREEN PEAS.

GREEN PEAS À LA FRANÇAISE, OR FRENCH FASHION. (ENTREMETS).

GREEN PEAS WITH CREAM. (ENTREMETS.)

TO BOIL FRENCH BEANS.

FRENCH BEANS À LA FRANÇAISE. (ENTREMETS.)

AN EXCELLENT RECEIPT FOR FRENCH BEANS À LA FRANÇAISE.

TO BOIL WINDSOR BEANS.

DRESSED CUCUMBERS.

MANDRANG, OR MANDRAM.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR MANDRAM.

DRESSED CUCUMBERS.

STEWED CUCUMBERS.

CUCUMBERS À LA POULETTE.

CUCUMBERS À LA CRÊME.

FRIED CUCUMBERS TO SERVE IN COMMON HASHES AND MINCES.

MELON.

TO BOIL CAULIFLOWERS.

CAULIFLOWERS.

CAULIFLOWERS WITH PARMESAN CHEESE.

CAULIFLOWERS À LA FRANÇAISE.

BROCCOLI.

TO BOIL ARTICHOKES.

FOR ARTICHOKES EN SALADE

VEGETABLE MARROW.

ROAST TOMATAS.

STEWED TOMATAS.

FORCED TOMATAS.

FORCED TOMATAS.

PURÉE OF TOMATAS.

TO BOIL GREEN INDIAN CORN.

MUSHROOMS AU BEURRE.

POTTED MUSHROOMS.

MUSHROOM-TOAST, OR CROÛTE AUX CHAMPIGNONS.

TRUFFLES AND THEIR USES.

TO PREPARE TRUFFLES FOR USE.

TRUFFLES À LA SERVIETTE.

TRUFFLES À L’ITALIENNE.

TO BOIL SPROUTS, CABBAGES, SAVOYS, LETTUCES, OR ENDIVE.

STEWED CABBAGE.

TO BOIL TURNIPS.

TO MASH TURNIPS.

TURNIPS IN WHITE SAUCE. (ENTREMETS.)

TURNIPS STEWED IN BUTTER. (GOOD.)

TURNIPS IN GRAVY.

TO BOIL CARROTS.

CARROTS. (ENTRÉE.)

SWEET CARROTS. (ENTREMETS.)

MASHED (OR BUTTERED) CARROTS.

CARROTS AU BEURRE, OR BUTTERED CARROTS.

CARROTS IN THEIR OWN JUICE.

TO BOIL PARSNEPS.

FRIED PARSNEPS.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.

TO FRY JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. (ENTREMETS.)

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES, À LA REINE.

MASHED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.

HARICOTS BLANCS.

TO BOIL BEET ROOT.

TO BAKE BEET ROOT.

STEWED BEET ROOT.

TO STEW RED CABBAGE.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

SALSIFY.

FRIED SALSIFY. (ENTREMETS.)

BOILED CELERY.

STEWED CELERY.

STEWED ONIONS.

STEWED CHESTNUTS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

- INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

- TO GLAZE OR ICE PASTRY.[112]

- FEUILLETAGE, OR FINE FRENCH PUFF PASTE.

- VERY GOOD LIGHT PASTE.

- ENGLISH PUFF-PASTE.

- CREAM CRUST.

- PATE BRISÉE, OR FRENCH CRUST FOR HOT OR COLD MEAT PIES.

- FLEAD CRUST.

- COMMON SUET-CRUST FOR PIES.

- VERY SUPERIOR SUET-CRUST.

- VERY RICH SHORT CRUST FOR TARTS.

- EXCELLENT SHORT CRUST FOR SWEET PASTRY.

- BRIOCHE PASTE.

- MODERN POTATO PASTY.

- CASSEROLE OF RICE.

- A GOOD COMMON ENGLISH GAME PIE.

- MODERN CHICKEN PIE.

- A COMMON CHICKEN PIE.

- PIGEON PIE.

- BEEF-STEAK PIE.

- COMMON MUTTON PIE.

- A GOOD MUTTON PIE.

- RAISED PIES.

- A VOL-AU-VENT. (ENTRÉE.)

- A VOL-AU-VENT OF FRUIT. (ENTREMETS.)

- VOL-AU-VENT À LA CRÊME. (ENTREMETS.)

- OYSTER PATTIES.[119] (ENTRÉE).

- COMMON LOBSTER PATTIES.

- SUPERLATIVE LOBSTER-PATTIES.

- GOOD CHICKEN PATTIES. (ENTRÉE.)

- PATTIES À LA PONTIFE. (ENTRÉE.)

- EXCELLENT MEAT ROLLS.

- SMALL VOLS-AU-VENTS, OR PATTY-CASES.

- ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR TARTLETS.

- A SEFTON, OR VEAL CUSTARD.

- APPLE CAKE, OR GERMAN TART.

- TOURTE MERINGUÉE, OR TART WITH ROYAL ICING.[122]

- A GOOD APPLE TART.

- TART OF VERY YOUNG GREEN APPLES. (GOOD.)

- BARBERRY TART.

- THE LADY’S TOURTE, AND CHRISTMAS TOURTE À LA CHÂTELAINE.

- GENOISES À LA REINE, OR HER MAJESTY’S PASTRY.

- ALMOND PASTE.

- TARTLETS OF ALMOND PASTE.

- FAIRY FANCIES.

- MINCEMEAT.

- SUPERLATIVE MINCEMEAT.

- MINCE PIES. (ENTREMETS.)

- MINCE PIES ROYAL. (ENTREMETS.)

- THE MONITOR’S TART, OR TOURTE À LA JUDD.

- PUDDING PIES. (ENTREMETS.)

- PUDDING PIES.

- COCOA-NUT CHEESE-CAKES. (ENTREMETS.)

- COMMON LEMON TARTLETS.

- MADAME WERNER’S ROSENVIK CHEESE-CAKES.

- APFEL KRAPFEN.

- CRÊME PATISSIÈRE, OR PASTRY CREAM.

- SMALL VOLS-AU-VENTS, À LA PARISIENNE. (ENTREMETS.)

- PASTRY SANDWICHES.

- LEMON SANDWICHES.

- FANCHONNETTES. (ENTREMETS).

- JELLY TARTLETS, OR CUSTARDS.

- STRAWBERRY TARTLETS. (GOOD.)

- RASPBERRY PUFFS.

- CREAMED TARTLETS.

- RAMEKINS À L’UDE, OR SEFTON FANCIES.

CHAPTER XIX.

- SOUFFLÉS.

- LOUISE FRANKS’ CITRON SOUFFLÉ.

- A FONDU, OR CHEESE SOUFFLÉ.

- OBSERVATIONS ON OMLETS, FRITTERS, &C.

- A COMMON OMLET.

- AN OMLETTE SOUFFLÉ. SECOND COURSE REMOVE OF ROAST.[133]

- PLAIN COMMON FRITTERS.

- PANCAKES.

- FRITTERS OF CAKE AND PUDDING.

- MINCEMEAT FRITTERS.

- VENETIAN FRITTERS.

- RHUBARB FRITTERS.

- APPLE, PEACH, APRICOT, OR ORANGE FRITTERS.

- BRIOCHE FRITTERS.

- POTATO FRITTERS. (ENTREMETS.)

- LEMON FRITTERS. (ENTREMETS.)

- CANNELONS. (ENTREMETS.)

- CANNELONS OF BRIOCHE PASTE. (ENTREMETS.)

- CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTREMETS.)

- FINER CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTREMETS.)

- SAVOURY CROQUETTES OF RICE. (ENTRÉE.)

- RISSOLES. (ENTRÉE.)

- VERY SAVOURY ENGLISH RISSOLES. (ENTRÉE.)

- SMALL FRIED BREAD PATTIES, OR CROUSTADES OF VARIOUS KINDS.

- DRESDEN PATTIES, OR CROUSTADES.

- TO PREPARE BEEF MARROW FOR FRYING CROUSTADES, SAVOURY TOASTS, &C.

- SMALL CROUSTADES, OR BREAD PATTIES, DRESSED IN MARROW.

- SMALL CROUSTADES À LA BONNE MAMAN.

- CURRIED TOASTS WITH ANCHOVIES.

- TO FILLET ANCHOVIES.

- SAVOURY TOASTS.

- TO CHOOSE MACCARONI AND OTHER ITALIAN PASTES.

- TO BOIL MACCARONI.

- RIBBON MACCARONI.[139]

- DRESSED MACCARONI.

- MACCARONI À LA REINE.

- SEMOULINA AND POLENTA À L’ITALIENNE. (GOOD.)

CHAPTER XX.

- GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

- TO CLEAN CURRANTS FOR PUDDINGS OR CAKES.

- TO STEAM A PUDDING IN A COMMON STEWPAN OR SAUCEPAN.

- TO MIX BATTER FOR PUDDINGS.

- SUET-CRUST, FOR MEAT OR FRUIT PUDDINGS.

- BUTTER CRUST FOR PUDDINGS.

- SAVOURY PUDDINGS.

- BEEF-STEAK, OR JOHN BULL’S PUDDING.

- SMALL BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.

- RUTH PINCH’S BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.

- MUTTON PUDDING.

- PARTRIDGE PUDDING.

- A PEAS PUDDING.

- WINE SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.

- COMMON WINE SAUCE.

- PUNCH SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.

- FOR CLEAR ARROW-ROOT SAUCE.

- A GERMAN CUSTARD PUDDING-SAUCE.

- A DELICIOUS GERMAN PUDDING-SAUCE.

- RED CURRANT OR RASPBERRY SAUCE. (GOOD.)

- COMMON RASPBERRY-SAUCE.

- SUPERIOR FRUIT-SAUCES FOR SWEET PUDDINGS.

- PINE-APPLE PUDDING-SAUCE.

- A VERY FINE PINE-APPLE SAUCE OR SYRUP, FOR PUDDINGS OR OTHER SWEET DISHES.

- GERMAN CHERRY SAUCE.

- COMMON BATTER PUDDING.

- ANOTHER BATTER PUDDING.

- BLACK-CAP PUDDING.

- BATTER FRUIT PUDDING.

- KENTISH SUET PUDDING.

- ANOTHER SUET PUDDING.

- APPLE, CURRANT, CHERRY, OR OTHER FRESH FRUIT PUDDING.

- A COMMON APPLE PUDDING.

- HERODOTUS’ PUDDING.

- THE PUBLISHER’S PUDDING.

- HER MAJESTY’S PUDDING.

- COMMON CUSTARD PUDDING.

- PRINCE ALBERT’S PUDDING.

- GERMAN PUDDING, AND SAUCE. (VERY GOOD.)

- THE WELCOME GUEST’S OWN PUDDING. (LIGHT AND WHOLESOME.)

- A CABINET PUDDING.

- A VERY FINE CABINET PUDDING.

- SNOWDON PUDDING.

- VERY GOOD RAISIN PUDDINGS.

- THE ELEGANT ECONOMIST’S PUDDING.

- PUDDING À LA SCOONES.

- INGOLDSBY CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS.

- SMALL AND VERY LIGHT PLUM PUDDING.

- VEGETABLE PLUM PUDDING.

- THE AUTHOR’S CHRISTMAS PUDDING.

- A KENTISH WELL PUDDING.

- ROLLED PUDDING.

- A BREAD PUDDING.

- A BROWN BREAD PUDDING.

- A GOOD BOILED RICE PUDDING.

- CHEAP RICE PUDDING.

- RICE AND GOOSEBERRY PUDDING.

- FASHIONABLE APPLE DUMPLINGS.

- ORANGE SNOW-BALLS.

- APPLE SNOW-BALLS.

- LIGHT CURRANT DUMPLINGS.

- LEMON DUMPLINGS. (LIGHT AND GOOD.)

- SUFFOLK, OR HARD DUMPLINGS.

- NORFOLK DUMPLINGS.

- SWEET BOILED PATTIES. (GOOD.)

- BOILED RICE TO BE SERVED WITH STEWED FRUITS, PRESERVES, OR RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

CHAPTER XXI.

- INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

- A BAKED PLUM PUDDING EN MOULE, OR MOULDED.

- THE PRINTER’S PUDDING.

- ALMOND PUDDING.

- THE YOUNG WIFE’S PUDDING.

- THE GOOD DAUGHTER’S MINCEMEAT PUDDING.

- MRS. HOWITT’S PUDDING.

- AN EXCELLENT LEMON PUDDING.

- LEMON SUET PUDDING.

- BAKEWELL PUDDING.

- RATIFIA PUDDING.

- THE ELEGANT ECONOMIST’S PUDDING.

- RICH BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.

- COMMON BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.

- A GOOD BAKED BREAD PUDDING.

- ANOTHER BAKED BREAD PUDDING.

- A GOOD SEMOULINA, OR SOUJEE PUDDING.

- FRENCH SEMOULINA PUDDING.

- SAXE-GOTHA PUDDING, OR TOURTE.

- BADEN-BADEN PUDDINGS.

- SUTHERLAND OR CASTLE PUDDINGS.

- MADELEINE PUDDINGS.

- A GOOD FRENCH RICE PUDDING, OR GÂTEAU DE RIZ.

- A COMMON RICE PUDDING.

- QUITE CHEAP RICE PUDDING.

- RICHER RICE PUDDING.

- RICE PUDDING MERINGUÉ.

- A GOOD GROUND RICE PUDDING.

- COMMON GROUND RICE PUDDING.

- GREEN GOOSEBERRY PUDDING.

- POTATO PUDDING.

- A RICHER POTATO PUDDING.

- A GOOD SPONGE CAKE PUDDING.

- CAKE AND CUSTARD, AND VARIOUS OTHER INEXPENSIVE PUDDINGS.

- BAKED APPLE PUDDING, OR CUSTARD.

- DUTCH CUSTARD, OR BAKED RASPBERRY PUDDING.

- GABRIELLE’S PUDDING, OR SWEET CASSEROLE OF RICE.

- VERMICELLI PUDDING WITH APPLES OR WITHOUT, AND PUDDINGS OF SOUJEE AND SEMOLA.

- RICE À LA VATHEK, OR RICE PUDDING À LA VATHEK.

- GOOD YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

- COMMON YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

- NORMANDY PUDDING. (GOOD.)

- COMMON BAKED RAISIN PUDDING.

- A RICHER BAKED RAISIN PUDDING.

- THE POOR AUTHOR’S PUDDING.

- PUDDING À LA PAYSANNE.

- THE CURATE’S PUDDING.

- A LIGHT BAKED BATTER PUDDING.

CHAPTER XXII.

- TO PRESERVE EGGS FRESH FOR MANY WEEKS.

- TO COOK EGGS IN THE SHELL WITHOUT BOILING THEM.

- TO BOIL EGGS IN THE SHELL.

- TO DRESS THE EGGS OF THE GUINEA FOWL AND BANTAM.

- TO DRESS TURKEYS’ EGGS.

- FORCED TURKEYS’ EGGS (OR SWANS’).

- TO BOIL A SWAN’S EGG HARD.

- SWAN’S EGG, EN SALADE.

- TO POACH EGGS.

- POACHED EGGS WITH GRAVY. (ENTREMETS.)

- ŒUFS AU PLAT.

- MILK AND CREAM.

- DEVONSHIRE, OR CLOTTED CREAM.

- DU LAIT A MADAME.

- CURDS AND WHEY.

CHAPTER XXIII.

TO PREPARE CALF’S FEET STOCK.

TO CLARIFY CALF’S FEET STOCK.

TO CLARIFY ISINGLASS.

SPINACH GREEN, FOR COLOURING SWEET DISHES, CONFECTIONARY, OR SOUPS.

PREPARED APPLE OR QUINCE JUICE.

COCOA-NUT FLAVOURED MILK.

COMPÔTES OF FRUIT.

COMPÔTE OF PEACHES.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR STEWED PEACHES.

COMPÔTE OF BARBERRIES FOR DESSERT.

BLACK CAPS PAR EXCELLENCE.

GATEAU DE POMMES.

GATEAU OF MIXED FRUITS. (GOOD.)

JELLIES.

ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR CALF’S FEET JELLY.

MODERN VARIETIES OF CALF’S FEET JELLY.

APPLE CALF’S FEET JELLY.

ORANGE CALF’S FEET JELLY.

ORANGE ISINGLASS JELLY.

VERY FINE ORANGE JELLY.

ORANGES FILLED WITH JELLY.

TO MAKE ORANGE BASKETS FOR JELLY.

LEMON CALF’S FEET JELLY.

CONSTANTIA JELLY.

RHUBARB ISINGLASS JELLY.

STRAWBERRY ISINGLASS JELLY.

FANCY JELLIES.

QUEEN MAB’S PUDDING.

NESSELRÔDE CREAM.

CRÊME À LA COMTESSE, OR THE COUNTESS’S CREAM.

AN EXCELLENT TRIFLE.

SWISS CREAM, OR TRIFLE.

TIPSY CAKE, OR BRANDY TRIFLE.

FILLED WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND FRESH STRAWBERRIES.

VERY GOOD LEMON CREAMS MADE WITHOUT CREAM.

FRUIT CREAMS, AND ITALIAN CREAMS.

VERY SUPERIOR WHIPPED SYLLABUBS.

BLANC-MANGES.

RICHER BLANC-MANGE.

JAUMANGE, OR JAUNE MANGER, SOMETIMES CALLED DUTCH FLUMMERY.

EXTREMELY GOOD STRAWBERRY BLANC-MANGE, OR BAVARIAN CREAM.

QUINCE BLANC-MANGE.

QUINCE BLANC-MANGE, WITH ALMOND CREAM.

APRICOT BLANC-MANGE, OR CRÊME PARISIENNE.

CURRANT BLANC-MANGE.

LEMON SPONGE, OR MOULDED LEMON CREAM.

AN APPLE HEDGE-HOG, OR SUÉDOISE.

VERY GOOD OLD-FASHIONED BOILED CUSTARD.

RICH BOILED CUSTARD.

THE QUEEN’S CUSTARD.

CURRANT CUSTARD.

QUINCE OR APPLE CUSTARDS.

THE DUKE’S CUSTARD.

CHOCOLATE CUSTARDS.

COMMON BAKED CUSTARD.

A FINER BAKED CUSTARD.

FRENCH CUSTARDS OR CREAMS.

GERMAN PUFFS.

A MERINGUE OF RHUBARB, OR GREEN GOOSEBERRIES.

CREAMED SPRING FRUIT, OR RHUBARB TRIFLE.

MERINGUE OF PEARS, OR OTHER FRUIT.

AN APPLE CHARLOTTE, OR CHARLOTTE DE POMMES.

MARMALADE FOR THE CHARLOTTE.

A CHARLOTTE À LA PARISIENNE.

A GERTRUDE À LA CREME.

POMMES AU BEURRE.

SUÉDOISE OF PEACHES.

AROCĒ DOCĒ (OR SWEET RICE, À LA PORTUGAISE.)

COCOA-NUT DOCE.

BUTTERED CHERRIES. (CERISES AU BEURRE.)

SWEET MACARONI.

BERMUDA WITCHES.

NESSELRÔDE PUDDING.

STEWED FIGS. (A VERY NICE COMPOTE.)

CHAPTER XXIV.

A FEW GENERAL RULES AND DIRECTIONS FOR PRESERVING.

TO EXTRACT THE JUICE OF PLUMS FOR JELLY.

TO WEIGH THE JUICE OF FRUIT.

RHUBARB JAM.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JAM.

TO DRY GREEN GOOSEBERRIES.

GREEN GOOSEBERRIES FOR TARTS.

RED GOOSEBERRY JAM.

VERY FINE GOOSEBERRY JAM.

JELLY OF RIPE GOOSEBERRIES.

UNMIXED GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

GOOSEBERRY PASTE.

TO DRY RIPE GOOSEBERRIES WITH SUGAR.

JAM OF KENTISH OR FLEMISH CHERRIES.

TO DRY CHERRIES WITH SUGAR.

DRIED CHERRIES.

CHERRIES DRIED WITHOUT SUGAR.

TO DRY MORELLA CHERRIES.

COMMON CHERRY CHEESE.

CHERRY PASTE. (FRENCH.)

STRAWBERRY JAM.

STRAWBERRY-JELLY.

TO PRESERVE STRAWBERRIES OR RASPBERRIES, FOR CREAMS OR ICES, WITHOUT BOILING.

RASPBERRY JAM.

VERY RICH RASPBERRY JAM OR MARMALADE.

GOOD RED OR WHITE RASPBERRY JAM.

RASPBERRY JELLY FOR FLAVOURING CREAMS.

ANOTHER RASPBERRY JELLY.

RED CURRANT JELLY.

SUPERLATIVE RED CURRANT JELLY.

FRENCH CURRANT JELLY.

DELICIOUS RED CURRANT JAM.

VERY FINE WHITE CURRANT JELLY.

WHITE CURRANT JAM, A BEAUTIFUL PRESERVE.

CURRANT PASTE.

FINE BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

COMMON BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

BLACK CURRANT JAM AND MARMALADE.

NURSERY PRESERVE.

ANOTHER GOOD COMMON PRESERVE.

A GOOD MÉLANGE, OR MIXED PRESERVE.

GROSEILLÉE.

SUPERIOR PINE-APPLE MARMALADE.

A FINE PRESERVE OF THE GREEN ORANGE PLUM.

GREENGAGE JAM, OR MARMALADE.

PRESERVE OF THE MAGNUM BONUM, OR MOGUL PLUM.

TO DRY OR PRESERVE MOGUL PLUMS IN SYRUP.

MUSSEL PLUM CHEESE AND JELLY.

APRICOT MARMALADE.

TO DRY APRICOTS.

DRIED APRICOTS.

PEACH JAM, OR MARMALADE.

TO PRESERVE, OR TO DRY PEACHES OR NECTARINES.

DAMSON JAM. (VERY GOOD.)

DAMSON JELLY.

DAMSON, OR RED PLUM SOLID. (GOOD.)

EXCELLENT DAMSON CHEESE.

RED GRAPE JELLY.

ENGLISH GUAVA.

VERY FINE IMPERATRICE PLUM MARMALADE.

TO DRY IMPERATRICE PLUMS.

TO BOTTLE FRUIT FOR WINTER USE.

APPLE JELLY.

EXCEEDINGLY FINE APPLE JELLY.

QUINCE JELLY.

QUINCE MARMALADE.

QUINCE AND APPLE MARMALADE.

QUINCE PASTE.

JELLY OF SIBERIAN CRABS.

TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.

BARBERRY JAM.

SUPERIOR BARBERRY JELLY, AND MARMALADE.

ORANGE MARMALADE.

GENUINE SCOTCH MARMALADE.

CLEAR ORANGE MARMALADE.

FINE JELLY OF SEVILLE ORANGES.

CHAPTER XXV.

- OBSERVATIONS ON PICKLES.

- TO PICKLE CHERRIES.

- TO PICKLE GHERKINS.

- TO PICKLE GHERKINS. (A French Receipt.)

- TO PICKLE PEACHES, AND PEACH MANGOES.

- SWEET PICKLE OF MELON. (FOREIGN RECEIPT.)

- TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS.

- MUSHROOMS IN BRINE.

- TO PICKLE WALNUTS.

- TO PICKLE BEET-ROOT.

- PICKLED ESCHALOTS.

- PICKLED ONIONS.

- TO PICKLE LEMONS, AND LIMES.

- LEMON MANGOES.

- TO PICKLE NASTURTIUMS.

- TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE.

CHAPTER XXVI.

- GENERAL REMARKS ON CAKES.

- TO BLANCH AND TO POUND ALMONDS.

- TO REDUCE ALMONDS TO A PASTE.

- TO COLOUR ALMONDS OR SUGAR-GRAINS, OR SUGAR-CANDY, FOR CAKES, OR PASTRY.

- TO PREPARE BUTTER FOR RICH CAKES.

- TO WHISK EGGS FOR LIGHT RICH CAKES.

- SUGAR GLAZINGS AND ICINGS.

- ORANGE-FLOWER MACAROONS. (DELICIOUS.)

- ALMOND MACAROONS.

- VERY FINE COCOA-NUT MACAROONS.

- IMPERIALS. (NOT VERY RICH.)

- FINE ALMOND CAKE.

- PLAIN POUND OR CURRANT CAKE.

- RICE CAKE.

- WHITE CAKE.

- A GOOD SPONGE CAKE.

- A SMALLER SPONGE CAKE.

- FINE VENETIAN CAKE OR CAKES.

- A GOOD MADEIRA CAKE.

- A SOLIMEMNE.

- BANBURY CAKES.

- MERINGUES.

- ITALIAN MERINGUES.

- THICK, LIGHT GINGERBREAD.

- ACTON GINGERBREAD.

- CHEAP AND VERY GOOD GINGER OVEN-CAKE OR CAKES.

- GOOD COMMON GINGERBREAD.

- RICHER GINGERBREAD.

- COCOA-NUT GINGERBREAD.

- A DELICIOUS CREAM-CAKE AND SWEET RUSKS.

- A GOOD LIGHT LUNCHEON-CAKE AND BROWN BRACK.

- A VERY CHEAP LUNCHEON BISCUIT, OR NURSERY CAKE.

- ISLE OF WIGHT DOUGH-NUTS.

- QUEEN CAKES.

- JUMBLES.

- A GOOD SODA CAKE.

- GOOD SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD.

- A GALETTE.

- SMALL SUGAR CAKES OF VARIOUS KINDS.

- FLEED OR FLEAD CAKES.

- LIGHT BUNS OF DIFFERENT KINDS.

- PLAIN DESSERT OR WINE BISCUITS, AND GINGER BISCUITS.

- THREADNEEDLE STREET BISCUITS.

- GOOD CAPTAIN’S BISCUITS.

- THE COLONEL’S BISCUITS.

- AUNT CHARLOTTE’S BISCUITS.

- EXCELLENT SODA BUNS.

CHAPTER XXVII.

- TO CLARIFY SUGAR.

- TO BOIL SUGAR FROM SYRUP TO CANDY, OR TO CARAMEL.

- CARAMEL.

- BARLEY-SUGAR.

- NOUGAT.

- GINGER CANDY.

- ORANGE-FLOWER CANDY.

- ORANGE-FLOWER CANDY. (Another Receipt.)

- COCOA-NUT CANDY.

- PALACE-BONBONS.

- EVERTON TOFFIE.

- CHOCOLATE DROPS.

- CHOCOLATE ALMONDS.

- SEVILLE ORANGE PASTE.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

- DESSERT DISHES.

- PEARLED FRUIT, OR FRUIT EN CHEMISE.

- SALAD OF MIXED SUMMER FRUITS.

- PEACH SALAD.

- ORANGE SALAD.

- TANGERINE ORANGES.

- PEACHES IN BRANDY. (Rotterdam Receipt.)

- BRANDIED MORELLA CHERRIES.

- BAKED COMPÔTE OF APPLES.

- DRIED NORFOLK BIFFINS.

- NORMANDY PIPPINS.

- STEWED PRUNEAUX DE TOURS, OR TOURS DRIED PLUMS.

- TO BAKE PEARS.

- STEWED PEARS.

- BOILED CHESTNUTS.

- ROASTED CHESTNUTS.

- ALMOND SHAMROCKS.

- SMALL SUGAR SOUFFLÉS.

- ICES.

CHAPTER XXIX.

- STRAWBERRY VINEGAR, OF DELICIOUS FLAVOUR.

- VERY FINE RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

- FINE CURRANT SYRUP, OR SIROP DE GROSEILLES.

- CHERRY-BRANDY.

- OXFORD PUNCH.

- OXFORD RECEIPT FOR BISHOP.

- CAMBRIDGE MILK PUNCH.

- TO MULL WINE.

- A BIRTHDAY SYLLABUB.

- AN ADMIRABLE COOL CUP.

- THE REGENT’S, OR GEORGE THE FOURTH’S, PUNCH.

- MINT JULEP, AN AMERICAN RECEIPT.

- DELICIOUS MILK LEMONADE.

- EXCELLENT PORTABLE LEMONADE.

- EXCELLENT BARLEY WATER.

- RAISIN WINE, WHICH, IF LONG KEPT, REALLY RESEMBLES FOREIGN.

- VERY GOOD ELDERBERRY WINE.

- VERY GOOD GINGER WINE.

- EXCELLENT ORANGE WINE.

- THE COUNSELLOR’S CUP.

CHAPTER XXX.

- COFFEE.

- TO ROAST COFFEE.

- A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING COFFEE.

- EXCELLENT BREAKFAST COFFEE.

- TO BOIL COFFEE.

- CAFÉ NOIR.

- BURNT COFFEE, OR COFFEE À LA MILITAIRE.

- TO MAKE CHOCOLATE.

- A SPANISH RECIPE FOR MAKING AND SERVING CHOCOLATE.

- TO MAKE COCOA.

CHAPTER XXXI.

- REMARKS ON HOME-MADE BREAD.

- TO PURIFY YEAST FOR BREAD OR CAKES.

- THE OVEN.

- A FEW RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING BREAD.

- HOUSEHOLD BREAD.

- BORDYKE BREAD.

- GERMAN YEAST.

- PROFESSOR LIEBIG’S BAVARIAN BROWN BREAD.

- ENGLISH BROWN BREAD.

- UNFERMENTED BREAD.

- POTATO BREAD.

- DINNER OR BREAKFAST ROLLS.

- GENEVA ROLLS, OR BUNS.

- RUSKS.

- EXCELLENT DAIRY-BREAD MADE WITHOUT YEAST.

- TO KEEP BREAD.

- TO FRESHEN STALE BREAD (AND PASTRY, ETC.), AND PRESERVE IT FROM MOULD.

- TO KNOW WHEN BREAD IS SUFFICIENTLY BAKED.

- ON THE PROPER FERMENTATION OF DOUGH.

CHAPTER XXXII.

- FOREIGN AND JEWISH COOKERY.

- REMARKS ON JEWISH COOKERY.

- JEWISH SMOKED BEEF.[188]

- CHORISSA (OR JEWISH SAUSAGE) WITH RICE.

- TO FRY SALMON AND OTHER FISH IN OIL.

- JEWISH ALMOND PUDDING.

- THE LADY’S OR INVALID’S NEW BAKED APPLE PUDDING.

- A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE JEWISH TABLE.

- TOMATA AND OTHER CHUTNIES.

- INDIAN LOBSTER-CUTLETS.

- AN INDIAN BURDWAN.

- THE KING OF OUDE’S OMLET.

- KEDGEREE OR KIDGEREE, AN INDIAN BREAKFAST DISH.

- A SIMPLE SYRIAN PILAW.

- SIMPLE TURKISH OR ARABIAN PILAW.

- A REAL INDIAN PILAW.

- INDIAN RECEIPT FOR CURRIED FISH.

- BENGAL CURRIE POWDER.

- RISOTTO À LA MILANAISE.

- STUFATO.

- BROILED EELS WITH SAGE. (ENTRÉE.)

- A SWISS MAYONNAISE.

- TENDRONS DE VEAU.

- POITRINE DE VEAU GLACÉE.

- BREAST OF VEAL. SIMPLY STEWED.[193]

- COMPOTE DE PIGEONS (STEWED PIGEONS.)

- MAI TRANK (MAY-DRINK).

- A VIENNESE SOUFFLÉ-PUDDING, CALLED SALZBURGER NOCKERL.

INDEX.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE