spoonful of ground coffee, and a pint of water. Put your coffee into a
tin pot, with a piece of fish skin about the size of a ninepence, to two
or three quarts of water, turn on your water boiling hot, and boil the
coffee from fifteen to twenty minutes, take it off, and let it stand to
settle five or six minutes, then turn it off carefully. French coffee is
made in a German filter, the water is turned on to it boiling hot, an
ounce to each person is allowed, put in a piece of fish skin before you
turn on the water. When cream cannot be preserved for coffee, boiled
milk is a good substitute. Many people dislike to settle coffee with
fish skin, thinking it imparts a disagreeable taste to the coffee, but
it is owing to its not being prepared properly, the skin should be taken
from mild codfish, washed, and cut into small pieces and dried
perfectly. The white of an egg, egg shells, and isinglass, are all good
to settle coffee. The best kind of coffee is old Java, and Mocha; before
it is roasted, it should be hung over the fire two or three hours to
dry, if dried in the oven it looses its strength, it should be hung at
such a distance from the fire, as to be in no danger of burning. When
dry put it on hot coals, and stir it constantly till done, which is
ascertained by biting one of the lightest kernels, if it is brittle, the
whole is done. Put it in a box, and cover it up tight, to keep in the
steam.
Coffee is much better roasted in a coffee roaster, than a kettle, as the
fine aromatic flavor of the coffee is preserved, which escapes in a
great measure, when roasted in an open kettle.
258. _To make Tea._
Scald your tea pot, and put in a tea spoonful of tea, for each person
that is to drink it, if it is a weak kind of tea, more will be required,
pour on just boiling water enough to cover it, let it stand six or eight
minutes, not longer if you wish to have it in perfection, pour on the
rest of the water boiling hot.
259. _Chocolate._
Scrape the chocolate off fine, and mix it smoothly with a little cold
milk, or water. If liked very rich, make it entirely of milk, if not,
use equal quantities of milk and water, boil it, then stir in the
chocolate while boiling, sweeten it to your taste, let it boil five or
six minutes; if liked rich, grate in a little nutmeg. A heaping table
spoonful of grated chocolate to a pint of milk, or water, is the right
proportion.
260. _Hop Beer._
For three gallons of beer, take nine quarts of water, six ounces of
hops. Boil the hops in half the water three hours, strain it, then boil
the hops again in the remainder of the water, three hours longer, with a
tea cup of ginger. Strain and put it with the rest of the liquor, and
two quarts of molasses, and when lukewarm, put in a pint of new yeast,
without any salt in it. Keep it in a temperate place, till it has ceased
fermenting, which is ascertained by the froth subsiding. Turn it off
carefully into a cask, or bottle it; it should not be corked very tight,
or it will burst the bottles. Keep the bottles in a cool place.
261. _Spruce Beer._
Take five gallons of water, and boil with a couple of ounces of hops,
when it has boiled four or five hours, strain it, put to it two quarts
of molasses, when lukewarm, put in a pint of fresh yeast, without any
salt in it, (brewer's is the best,) put in three table spoonsful of the
essence of spruce. A decoction made of the leaves of white or black
spruce, is equally as good as the essence; boil the hops with the
leaves. Let the beer stand in a temperate situation, several days
exposed to the air, then put it in a cask, or bottle it, it will be fit
to drink in the course of a few days. This is a nice summer drink, and a
powerful antiscorbutic.
262. _Spring Beer._
Take a small bunch each of sarsaparilla, sweet fern, wintergreen,
sassafras, and spice wood, boil them with three ounces of hops, to six
gallons of water, pare two or three raw potatoes, and throw them into
the beer while it is boiling. When it has boiled five or six hours,
strain it, and put to it three pints of molasses, when cool stir in a
pint of fresh yeast, if the beer is too thick, dilute it with a little
cold water. When fermented, bottle and keep it in a cool place.
263. _Ginger Beer._
Take three table spoonsful of ginger, one of cream of tartar, and boil
them gently in a gallon of water, with a lemon cut in slices; sweeten it
to your taste, with loaf or Havana sugar, boil it three quarters of an
hour. Strain it, and when cool, put in a tea cup of yeast; as soon as it
has ceased fermenting, bottle it.
264. _A good Family Wine._
Take equal parts of red and white currants, grapes, raspberries and
English cherries, bruise and mix them with soft water, in the proportion
of four pounds of fruit, to one gallon of water, let the liquid remain
for two or three hours, then strain it, and to each gallon of wine add
three pounds of sugar. Let it stand open three days, stirring it
frequently, skim, and put it in a cask, place it in a temperate
situation, where it will ferment slowly, when fermented add to it a
ninth part of brandy, and stop it up tight. In two or three years it
will be very rich.
265. _Currant Wine._
Strain the currants, which should be perfectly ripe, to each quart of
juice, put two of water, and three pounds of sugar. Stir the whole well
together, and let it stand twenty four hours, then skim it, and set it
in a cool place, where it will ferment slowly, let it remain three or
four days, if at the end of that time, it has fermented, add one quart
of French brandy, to every fifteen gallons, stop it tight, when it is
clear, it is fit to bottle. This wine is better for being kept several
years.
266. _Raspberry Shrub._
To a quart of vinegar, put three quarts of fresh ripe raspberries, let
it stand a day, then strain it, and to each pint, put a pound of white
sugar. Put it in a jar, and set it in a kettle of boiling water, boil it
an hour, skim it till clear. When cool add a wine glass of wine, to each
pint of shrub. A couple of table spoonsful of this, mixed with a tumbler
of water, is a very wholesome and refreshing drink in fevers.
267. _Noyeau._
To three pints of good French brandy, put four ounces of bitter almonds,
or peach meats bruised, put in half an ounce of cinnamon, the same
quantity of mace and amber, pounded fine, add a tea spoonful of cloves;
let it stand for a fortnight, shaking it often, then add a quart of
water, and a pound and a quarter of sugar, let it stand a week, shaking
it each day, then strain it off for use.
268. _Spring Fruit Sherbet._
Boil in a quart of water six or eight stalks of the rhubarb plant, with
the peel of a lemon pared very thin, and the juice of it. When it has
boiled eight, or ten minutes, take it, sweeten it to the taste with any
kind of syrup you like, or honey, flavor it with rosewater, strain it,
let it stand five or six hours, it will then be fit to drink. It is a
fine thing to assuage thirst.
269. _Grape Wine._
To every gallon of ripe grapes, put a gallon of soft water, bruise the
grapes, and let them stand a week, without stirring, then draw off the
liquor carefully; to each gallon, put three pounds of lump sugar, when
fermented, put it in a cask, stop it up tight, in six months it will be
fit to bottle.
270. _Smallage Cordial._
Take the young sprouts of smallage, wash and drain them till perfectly
dry. Cut them into small pieces, and put them in a bottle, with stoned
raisins, a layer of each alternately; when the bottle is two thirds
full, fill it up with good French brandy. Cork it up, let it stand four
or five days, then pour in as much more brandy, as you can get in. It
will be fit for use in the course of a few days.
_Miscellaneous Receipts, and observations useful to young housekeepers._
1. _To make Essence of Lemon._
Take one drachm of the best oil of lemon, and two ounces of strong
rectified spirit. Mix the spirit by degrees, with the oil. Another way
to procure the essence of the peel, is to rub the peel with lumps of
sugar, till the yellow part is all taken up. Scrape off the surface of
the sugar, and press it down tight, in a preserving pot, and cover it
tight; a little of this sugar gives a fine flavor to pies or cake. This
mode of procuring the essence of the peel, is superior to any other, as
the fine flavor of the peel is extracted without any alloy.
2. _Essence of Ginger._
Put three ounces of fresh grated ginger, an ounce of thin cut lemon
peel, into a quart of brandy, or proof spirit, bottle and cork it, let
it stand for ten days, shaking it up each day, it will then be fit for
use. A few drops of this, in a little water, or on a lump of sugar,
answers all the purposes of ginger tea, and is much more convenient and
palatable.
3. _Rose Water._
Gather your roses on a dry day, when full blown, pick off the leaves,
and to a peck of them, put a quart of water. Put them in a cold still,
and put it over a slow fire, the slower they are distilled the better.
When distilled put it in the bottles, let it stand a couple of days,
then cork it tight.
4. _Spice Brandy._
Into a large wide mouthed bottle, put French brandy, and fresh rose
leaves, or lemon and orange peel. When this has stood a week, it is nice
spice for pies, puddings and cake. Peach meats or almonds steeped in
brandy are very good spice for custards.
5. _Barley Water._
Take a couple of ounces of pearl barley, wash it in cold water, and put
it into half a pint of boiling water, and let it boil four or five
minutes, then turn off the water, and pour on two quarts of boiling
water, strain it, and put to it two ounces of figs sliced, two of stoned
raisins, half an ounce of liquorice cut into small bits, and bruised,
boil it till reduced to a quart, and strain it. This is a very wholesome
drink in fevers.
6. _Water Gruel._
Mix a couple of table spoonsful of Indian meal, with one of flour and a
little water, stir it into a pint of boiling water, let it boil six or
eight minutes, then take it up put in a piece of butter of the size of a
walnut, pepper and salt, to your taste, and nutmeg, or cinnamon if you
like, turn it on to toasted bread or crackers. To convert this into
caudle, add a little ale; wine or brandy, and loaf sugar.
7. _Wine Whey._
Into a pint of milk while boiling, stir a couple of wine glasses of
wine, let it boil for a moment, then take it off, when the curd has
settled, turn off the whey, and sweeten it with loaf sugar. Where wine
cannot be procured, cider, or half the quantity of vinegar, is a good
substitute.
8. _Stomachic Tincture._
Bruise an ounce and a half of Peruvian bark, and one of bitter dried
orange peel. Steep it in brandy or proof spirit, for a fortnight,
shaking it each day. Let it remain for a couple of days without shaking
it, then decant the liquor. A tea spoonful of it in a wine glass of
water, is a fine tonic.
9. _Beef Tea._
Broil a pound of fresh beef ten minutes, take it up, pepper and salt it,
cut it into small pieces, and turn a pint of boiling water on to it, let
it steep in a warm place for half an hour, then strain it off, and it is
fit to drink. This is a quick way of making it, but the best way is to
cut beef into small bits, and fill a junk bottle with it, stop it up
tight, and immerse it in a kettle of cold water, put it where it will
boil four or five hours. This way is superior to the other, as the
juices of the meat are obtained unmixed with water; a table spoonful of
this is as nourishing as a cup full of that which is made by broiling.
10. _Carrageen or Irish Moss._
American, or Irish Carrageen, is a very nutritious and light article of
food for children, and invalids, and is a good thickener of milk and
broths, and for blanc mange is equal to the most expensive ingredients,
while the cost is very trifling. The following decoction for consumptive
patients, is recommended. Steep half an ounce of the moss in cold water,
for a few minutes, then take it out, boil it in a quart of milk until
it attains the consistency of warm jelly, strain it, and sweeten it to
the taste, with white sugar or honey, flavor it with whatever spice is
most agreeable, if milk is disagreeable, water may be substituted. If a
tea spoonful of the tincture of rhutany is mixed with a cup full of the
decoction, a tone will be given to the stomach, at the same time that
nourishment is conveyed to the system.
11. _Moss Blanc Mange._
Steep half an ounce of Irish moss in a pint and a half of milk; when it
becomes a thick jelly sweeten it with loaf sugar, and flavor it with
white wine and cinnamon. To make orange, lemon or savory jellies, use a
similar process, substituting water for milk. Jellies made of it, are
more nourishing, than those made of sago, tapioca or arrow root.
12. _Elderberry Syrup._
Wash and strain the berries, which should be perfectly ripe, to a pint
of the juice put a pint of molasses. Boil it twenty minutes, stirring it
constantly; then take it from the fire, and when cold add to each quart
four table spoonsful of brandy; bottle and cork it. This is an excellent
remedy for a tight cough.
13. _New Bread and Cake from old and rusked bread._
Bread that is several days old, may be renewed by putting it into a
steamer, and steaming it from half to three quarters of an hour,
according to its size; the steamer should not be more than half full,
otherwise the water will boil up on to the bread. When steamed, wrap it
up loosely in a dry cloth, and let it remain till quite dry, it will
then appear like bread just baked. If pieces of bread are put in the
oven and dried, several hours after baking in it, they will keep good a
long time. They are good as fresh bread for dressing to meat, and for
puddings, if soaked soft in cold water. Rich cake with wine or brandy in
it, will keep good several months in winter, if kept in a cool place.
The day it is to be eaten, it should be put in a tin pan, and set in a
bake pan that has a tea cup of water in it, when heated thoroughly
through take it up.
14. _To Preserve Cheese from Insects and Mould._
Cover the cheese while whole with a paste made of wheat flour, put a
piece of paper or cloth over it, and cover it with the paste, keep it in
a cool dry place. Cheese that has skippers in it, if kept till cold
weather will be free from them. Cheese that is growing mouldy can be
prevented from becoming any more so, by grating it fine and moistening
it with wine, and covering it up in a jar. It is preferred by many
people to that which is not grated.
15. _To keep Vegetables and Herbs._
Succulent vegetables, are preserved best in a cool shady place that is
damp. Turnips, potatoes, and similar vegetables should be protected from
the air and frost, by being buried in earth; in very severe cold
weather, they should be covered with a linen cloth. It is said that the
dust of charcoal will keep potatoes from sprouting, if sprinkled over
them.--Herbs should be gathered on a dry day, either just before or
while in blossom; they should be tied in bundles and hung in a shady
airy place, with the blossoms downwards. When perfectly dry, put away
the medicinal ones in bundles; pick off the leaves of those that are to
be used in cooking, pound and sift them, and keep them in bottles corked
tight.
16. _To preserve various kinds of Fruit over winter._
Apples can be kept till June, by taking only those that are perfectly
sound, and wiping them dry, and putting them in barrels with a layer of
bran to each layer of apples. Cover the barrel with a linen cloth to
protect them from the frost. Mortar put on the top of the apples, is
said to be an excellent thing to prevent their decaying, as it draws the
air from them, which is the principal cause of decay; the mortar should
not touch the apples. To preserve oranges and lemons for several months,
take those that are perfectly fresh, and wrap each one by itself in soft
paper, and put them in glass jars, or a very tight box, strew white sand
thickly round each one and over the top. The sand should be previously
perfectly dried in the oven, several hours after baking in it. Cover the
fruit up tight, and keep it in a cool dry place, but not so cold as to
freeze it. To preserve grapes gather them on a dry day, when not quite
dead ripe; pick those off from the stem, that are not perfectly fair,
lay them in a glass jar and on each layer sprinkle a layer of dry bran,
taking care that none of the grapes touch each other, have a layer of
bran on the top of them, and cork and seal them tight. A box will do to
keep them in if covered with mortar. To restore them to their freshness
when they are to be eaten, cut the ends of the stalks and immerse them
in wine, let them remain in it for a few moments before they are to be
eaten. Various kinds of green fruit, such as grapes, currants,
gooseberries and plums, can be kept the year round by putting them in
bottles, and setting them in an oven four or five hours after baking in
it; let them remain in it till they begin to shrink, then cork and seal
them tight, they will be fit for pies, whenever you wish to use them.
Ripe blackberries, and whortleberries, dried perfectly in the sun, and
tied up in bags so as to exclude the air, will keep good over the
winter. Whenever you wish to use them for pies, pour on boiling water
enough to cover them, and let them remain in it till they swell to
nearly the original size, then drain off the water, and use them.
17. _To extract essences from various kinds of flowers._
Procure a quantity of the petals of any kind of flowers that have an
agreeable fragrance. Card thin layers of cotton, which dip into the
finest Florence oil. Sprinkle a small quantity of salt on the flowers,
and put a layer of them in a glass jar or wide mouthed bottle, with a
layer of the cotton, put in a layer of each alternately until the jar is
full, then cover the top up tight with a bladder. Place the vessel in a
south window, exposed to the heat of the sun. In the course of a
fortnight, a fragrant oil may be squeezed from the cotton, little
inferior if rose leaves are made use of, to the imported otto of rose.
18. _Indelible Ink for marking linen._
Dissolve a drachm of lunar caustic, in half an ounce of pure cold water.
Dip whatever is to be marked in pearlash water, dry it perfectly, then
rub it smooth with a silver spoon, (ironing it sets the pearlash water,)
write on it, and place it in the sun, and let it remain until the name
appears plain and black. Red ink for marking linen, is made by mixing
and reducing to a fine powder, half an ounce of vermilion, a drachm of
the salt of steel, and linseed oil enough to render it of the
consistency of black durable ink.
19. _Perfume Bags._
Rose leaves dried in the shade, and mixed with powdered cloves, cinnamon
and mace, put in small bags and pressed, is a fine thing to keep in
drawers of linen, to perfume them.
20. _Lip Salve._
Dissolve a small lump of white sugar, in a table spoonful of rose water,
clear water will do but is not as good. Mix it with a table spoonful of
sweet oil, a piece of spermaceti of the size of half a butternut. Simmer
the whole together about eight or ten minutes.
21. _Bread Seals._
Take the crust of newly baked bread, moisten it with gum water and milk,
add either vermilion in powder or rose pink, to color it. When moistened
work it with the fingers till it forms a consistent paste without
cracking; it should then be laid in a cellar, till the next day. Then
break it into pieces of the size you wish to have the seals, warm and
roll them into balls, press one at a time, on the warm impression of a
seal press. The bread should go into every part of the sealing wax
impression; while the bread remains on it, pinch the upper part so as to
form a handle, to hold the bread seal when in use. Take off the bread
seal, trim all the superfluous parts, put the seals where they will dry
slowly. The more the bread has been worked with the fingers, the more
glossy and smooth will be the seals, and the better impression will they
make.
22. _To loosen the Glass Stopples of Decanters or Smelling Bottles when
wedged in tight._
Rub a drop or two of oil with a feather round the stopple, close to the
mouth of the bottle or decanter, then place it between one and two feet
from the fire. The heat will cause the oil to run down between the
stopple and mouth. When warm strike it gently on both sides with any
light wooden instrument, you may happen to have; then try to loosen it
with the hand. If it will not move, repeat the process of rubbing oil on
it, and warming it. By persevering in this method, you will at length
succeed in loosening it, however firmly it may be wedged in.
23. _Cement for broken China, Glass and Earthenware._
To half a pint of skimmed milk, add an equal quantity of vinegar to
curdle it, then separate the curd from the whey, and mix the curd with
the whites of five eggs, beat the whole well together, then add enough
of the finest quicklime to form a consistent paste. (Plaster of Paris is
still better if it can be procured, than lime.) Rub this mixture on the
broken edges of the china or glass, match the pieces and bind them
tightly together, and let them remain bound several weeks. They will
then be as firm as if never broken. Boiling crockery in milk is a good
thing to cement them, the pieces should be matched, bound with pieces of
cloth, and boiled half an hour, they should remain in the milk till
cold, and not be used for several weeks. Pulverized quicklime mixed with
the white of an egg and rubbed in the cracks of china and glass, will
prevent their coming apart; the dishes should be bound firmly for
several weeks, after it is rubbed in. The Chinese method of mending
broken china, is to grind flint glass, on a painter's stone, as fine as
possible, and then beat it, with the white of an egg to a froth, and lay
it on the edges of the broken pieces. It should remain bound several
weeks. It is said, that no art will then be able to break it in the same
place.
24. _Japanese Cement or Rice Glue._
Mix rice flour intimately with cold water, and then gently boil it. It
answers all the purposes of wheat flour paste, and is far superior in
point of transparency and smoothness. This composition made with a
comparatively small proportion of water, that it may have the
consistence of plastic clay, will form models, busts, statues, basso
relievos and similar articles. The Japanese make fish of it which very
much resemble those made of mother of pearl. Articles made of it when
dry are susceptible of a very high polish. Poland starch, is a very nice
cement, for pasting layers of paper together, and any fancy articles
when it is necessary.
25. _Cement for Alabaster._
Take of bees' wax one pound, of rosin half a pound, and three quarters
of a pound of alabaster. Melt the wax and rosin, then strew the
alabaster, previously reduced to a fine powder, over in it lightly. Stir
the whole well together, then knead the mass in water, in order to
incorporate the powder thoroughly with the rosin and wax. Heat the
cement and the alabaster, which should be perfectly dry, when applied
join and keep it bound a week. This composition when properly managed
forms an extremely strong cement.
26. _To Extract Fruit Stains._
Hold the spot over steam till quite moist, then over burning sulphur;
the sulphurous gas will cause the spot to disappear.
27. _To extract spots of paint from Silk, Woolen and Cotton Goods._
Saturate the spots with spirits of turpentine, let it remain several
hours, then take the cloth and rub it between the hands. It will crumble
away and not injure either the texture or color of the cloth.
28. _To remove black stains on Scarlet Merinos or Broadcloths._
Wash the stain in water with a little tartaric acid in it, rinse it
directly, and care should be taken not to get any of the acid water on
the clean part of the dress. Weak pearlash water is good to remove
stains produced by acids.
29. _To remove grease spots from Paper, Silk or Woolen._
Grate on chalk enough to cover the grease spots. French chalk is the
best, but common chalk will answer very well. Cover the spots with brown
paper, and set a warm flat iron on the top, and let it remain until
cold. Care must be taken not to get the iron so hot as to change the
color of the article. If the grease does not appear to be extracted, on
removing the flat iron, grate on more chalk, and heat the iron, and put
it on again.
30. _To extract stains from white Cotton goods and Colored Silks._