stoppered bottle has remained undisturbed for a considerable time,
the stopper becomes firmly fixed in the neck of the bottle, and
cannot be moved by the hand in the ordinary way. The removal of a
fixed stopper requires judgment and tact, in order to preserve the
bottle unbroken. One or other of the following means may be resorted
to:--(_a_) Place the bottle firmly on a table, and hold it with the
left hand. Then apply the right hand to the stopper, and pull it
forcibly on one side, using the thumb as a fulcrum at the exterior
of the neck of the bottle. If the stopper moves, the motion will
be indicated by a ticking kind of noise; and the stopper can then
be withdrawn without further trouble. This plan should be tried at
various parts, observing to pull the stopper towards the operator,
and not away from him. (_b_) By tapping the stopper on alternate
sides with the handle of a hammer, or with a piece of wood, it can
frequently be loosened. (_c_) Dip one end of a cloth in boiling
water, and then wrap it round the neck of the bottle; the heat causes
the neck to expand which allows the stopper more room, whereby it
can often be removed with ease. (_d_) Or the flame of a spirit lamp
may be applied to the neck of the bottle with the same effect. But
in both cases the operation must be performed quickly, in order
that the heat may not get at the stopper and expand it, for if such
is the case, it remains as firmly fixed as before. (_e_) Pass a
piece of strong twine round the neck of the bottle and fix one end
of the string to a hook; the neck will be heated by the friction
occasioned by drawing the bottle rapidly backwards and forwards,
the bottle being held in one hand, and one end of the string in
the other. The heat expands the neck as before described. (_f_)
Stoppers are sometimes fixed by the coagulating or crystallisation
of substances between the inside neck of the bottle and the stopper.
The application of oil, or water, or muriatic acid, to the top of the
bottle, will often dissolve away so much of the hard matter as to
render the removal of the stopper easy. (_g_) When the fixed stopper
of a glass bottle resists all management--such as warming the neck
with a cloth wet with warm water, by tapping, and by the wrench,
or by all these in combination--there is another means which will
frequently succeed. Let the bottle be inverted, so as to stand on the
stopper in a vessel of water so filled that the water reaches up to
the shoulder of the bottle, but not to the label. Two or three nights
of this treatment may be required sometimes before the stopper will
yield. (_h_) Another method is to use a stopper extractor. This can
easily be made out of a block of wood 3 in. square and 2 in. thick,
by cutting a hole through its centre large enough to receive the head
of the stopper. The use of the above is preferable to pulling out two
drawers, sticking the head of the stopper between them, and twisting
the bottle round. To apply the extractor, it is placed over the
stopper, and grasped firmly in one hand, while the neck of the bottle
is held by the other. A gentle, but firm and steady twisting motion
is then used, care being taken to keep both hands moving in the same
plane, but in opposite directions. If the pressure be applied too
vigorously or spasmodically, or if the lines of the direction of the
opposite forces be not quite parallel, there is a danger of wrenching
off the head of the stopper or breaking the neck of the bottle.
=Housekeeping.=--Volumes might be written on this subject, with
column after column of figures to illustrate exactly how much of the
annual income should be expended on each item; but when done, the
labour would be practically fruitless, for the simple reason that
each household has its own special wants. The skill and knowledge of
the housewife are constantly devoted to the solution of the question
how to supply the needs of the house. No brief summary of hints or
information can help her. Every topic discussed in this volume has
a bearing on the subject and must be studied. A few words of advice
may be offered:--(1) Keep account of every penny received and spent.
(2) Pay cash. (3) Study quality before price: cheap things are seldom
economical. (4) Avoid both extravagance and waste. (5) Trust nothing
to the servants. (6) Consult the index of this volume whenever you
are in doubt.
=Marketing.=--The following observations condensed from two series
of articles in that inestimable journal _The Queen_, will indicate
what is in season during each month of the year; they will also
contain suggestions as to the best mode of marketing and the signs
and symptoms by which the quality of foods may be judged. Obviously
remarks on the latter heads when once made will not need repetition.
January.
_Meat._--Of meats, beef and mutton are of course in season all the
year round; pork only in the cold weather. Veal can be had at any
time, but it is cheaper in late spring and summer; and even lamb as
an article of luxury can be bought as early in the year as this. Doe
venison can be bought this month. The greatest difficulty a young
housekeeper has to encounter is that of going to choose meat at the
butcher’s. No rules without experience in applying them are likely
to be of great value. Good beef should be red, with a purplish hue
where it has been lately cut. If it is very brilliant scarlet or very
pale, it is not good. The fat should be opaque, not transparent,
and should be abundant on the ribs and under the sirloin; there
should be plenty of white or yellowish suet inside the animal, and
even on the lean joints there should be specks of fat mixed up
with the meat. It should not waste much in cooking, though this
has to do with the stove as well as the meat, and it should not be
watery--lying, for example, in a pool of moisture on the block. All
this may have to do with the wholesomeness of the meat, as these
are the indications to show that the animal was in good health when
it was killed, and that it was not “knocked on the head to save its
life.” Even for those who do not like any fat with meat, a lean
joint should be ordered, not a joint that would be fat on a healthy
animal. This does not apply to the preposterously fat beasts killed
about Christmas time, that are scarcely in a state of health from
repletion, and the meat is too rich to be very wholesome, and far
too fat to be economical. The yellow colour of the fat in Christmas
beef is caused by feeding on oilcake instead of green food. Then,
as regards the tenderness of meat, it should be fine grained, and
should not have thick strips of sinew or gristle running through it.
All meat has some in some parts, of course; for instance, in the
coarse end of the ribs (i.e. the ribs nearest the tail) there is a
strip of gristle about 1½ in. under the skin. It is there always,
and is very tough and prominent in old meat. Butchers often cut it
out, and it should be cut out before cooking; but it is better still
to insist on having the first cut of the ribs (i.e. the shoulder
end). All these indications are, it may be easily seen, comparative
rather than absolute, and an inexperienced housewife walking into a
butcher’s shop will be puzzled to know exactly how red, what tinge
of purple, what proportion of fat, and what thickness of gristle she
is to be prepared to expect. It is for each woman to decide whether
she will choose her own meat or leave it to the butcher’s choosing.
At any rate, the butcher will do his part of the bargain better if
he clearly understands that his customer knows good meat from second
rate, and will not overlook shortcomings in quality or weight. The
meat should be weighed frequently, if not invariably, and the butcher
should not be allowed to send more than is ordered, or less than he
charges for. Comparatively few butchers kill their own meat. They
buy at the dead-meat markets such parts of such animals as they have
the best sale for. A first-class butcher in a wealthy neighbourhood,
only buys the best meat and the prime joints; but a butcher in a poor
neighbourhood, with a low-class trade, finds a ready sale for coarser
inferior meat, and in some town slums it seems as though every
animal had at least 6 heads and a corresponding number of internal
arrangements. The coarse meat may be perfectly wholesome; it would
be in a respectable shop; but, being coarse or tough, it commands
a much less price in the wholesale market, the sales at which, and
the ruling prices, are quoted constantly in the daily papers. The
price given is at per stone of 8 lb. Retail buyers can often make an
excellent bargain in the meat markets, either by arranging with a
salesman to have a certain quantity delivered once or twice a week,
or by going to the market themselves. On a Saturday night, or on any
night in bad keeping weather, meat of all kinds can often be bought
at much less than its usual price. Against this has to be set the
trouble, the value of the time, the railway fare, and the possibility
of an inexperienced person being taken in.
Beef is no doubt the cheapest meat to buy. It is most satisfying, and
there is least bone. The prime joints of beef, and the leg and loin
of mutton are usually about the same price, and in these there is
not much difference; but the cheaper joints of mutton are very bony,
while the cheaper joints o£ beef can be quite solid meat with no bone
at all. These solid pieces of beef are what economical people should
buy, instead of ribs and sirloins, and rump, for every day household
use. They are far less fat than the more expensive joints, and
therefore they waste less in cutting at table as well as in cooking.
Ribs of beef cut to greater advantage for a large party if the bone
is taken out and the meat rolled. The cheaper joints are the thick
flank, “leg of mutton piece” (part of the shoulder), the shin, clod,
and sticking piece. Of these the last three are only fit for stewing
or braising, as the meat is tough, though it is wholesome and
nourishing. It is very suitable for economical pies and puddings, but
needs separate stewing first. Of mutton the leg is most economical,
though the shoulder is generally lower in price. Breasts of mutton
are sometimes sold at a very low price, and may then be cheap for
stewing or braising. On the whole, the fillet is probably the most
economical joint of roasting veal; the breast is better fitted for
stewing, but it should be considerably lower in price than the leaner
and less bony joints.
_Fish._--Cod is now at its cheapest; soles, more or less in season
all the year; lemon soles, which are rather less round in shape,
less firm in texture, and about half the price of the black soles;
haddocks, skate, conger, hake, herrings, plaice, ling, all of which
are among the cheapest of fish; whiting, halibut, oysters, lobsters,
crabs, shrimps; with shell-fish, such as winkles, whelks, and
mussels, all are in season. Turbot, smelts, brill, flounders, and sea
bream, red and grey mullet, are also to be recommended. Rhine salmon
puts in an appearance this month, and, taken in conjunction with
early cucumber, is delicious in flavour if extravagant in cost.
_Game and Poultry._--Turkey is never better than at this season;
but we may recommend our readers, if they wish to taste turkey in
perfection, to eschew the larger specimens, and pin their faith on a
hen turkey of 7-9 lb. in weight. Among birds eaten with the trail,
the golden plover is perhaps one of the best when skilfully dressed,
either as a roast or _en salmis_. Larks, excellent either roasted,
_en caisses_, or as an adjunct to rump-steak pudding, are also
abundant; while from America are imported the savoury pinnated grouse
and succulent canvas-back duck--not to be eaten except with currant
jelly and celery salad. Grouse went out in December, but there remain
fowls, chickens, geese, pheasants, partridges, wild ducks, hares,
rabbits, capercailzies, snipe, and woodcock.
_Vegetables._--Broccoli, cabbage, savoys, spinach, Scotch kale,
and sprouts for green; the green part of leeks is also useful as a
garnish. Celery, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, and turnips for
white vegetables. Lettuce, endive, beetroot, cresses, and forced
cucumbers for salad. Potatoes can be bought at 50_s._ to 60_s._ a
ton, according to size and quality. There is no economy in buying
very small potatoes, as even at a low price, they are dear in the
long run. Small consumers will find it more economical to buy by
the sack of 168 lb. or the bushel of 56 lb. They should be kept in
the dark and covered so that frost cannot reach them. Every week
until new potatoes come in, the old ones grow dearer, and it is more
difficult to get them good. A rough skin is said to indicate a mealy
potato, and a smooth skin a waxy one; but that is not a sure guide,
and the best way is to boil a sample and watch the result. There
are few potatoes that cannot be made good by appropriate cooking,
but some are good anyhow. Salsify--better known and appreciated in
France and in America than in this country--an excellent vegetable,
susceptible of varied treatment at the hands of a skilful cook--is
also to be obtained.
_Fruit._--Not now very plentiful. American apples, by the lb. or
barrel, can be had in plenty, but they are not cheap. Apple chips can
be used for all cooking purposes where fresh apples are employed, and
are no doubt the cheapest substitute for fresh fruit. Medlars, pears,
and hothouse grapes are the only home-grown fruits. American grapes,
sent over in barrels of sawdust, and oranges are so familiar that we
almost forget they are foreign. This is pre-eminently the season for
dried and crystallised fruits of all kinds. Old raisins (which can,
of course, be bought at a much cheaper rate than any new crop) are
better than new for cake and pudding making, as the skins are less
tough, and large cake bakers commonly buy their year’s stock late in
the season.
February.
_Meat._--Beef, mutton, pork, and in a lesser degree veal are all
in season, and lamb begins to appear frequently on our tables; but
neither lamb nor veal has yet attained its highest flavour.
_Fish._--Turbot and brill are still seasonable, and are much alike,
though turbot is considered the better, and is the dearer of the two.
The flesh should have a yellowish tinge, and these, like all other
flat fish, should be preferred when they are thick in proportion to
their size. Turbot keeps well for a few days, and should be hung up
by its tail, not laid flat. Other fish are still in season that were
in the markets last month. The lists of the London fish markets give
the following names: Soles, plaice, sturgeon, eels, conger, skate,
haddocks, sprats, halibut, herrings, whiting, mackerel, hake, roker,
coal fish, smelts. As much fish is caught and brought to London that
should be left in the sea, it does not follow that all the prices
quoted are of fish in full season. There are names in the list quite
unfamiliar to some readers, but there is not one that does not
belong to a fish that, good of its kind and well cooked, is fit to
set before any one. We often should fare better and save money if we
lengthened our list. Codfish, haddock, plaice, flounders, and the
ever-welcome sole are in fine condition, but herrings and mackerel
are not to be recommended. Smelts, whitings, and red mullet are still
in season. Of late years the conger-eel has taken up a position
formerly denied to him, and although in bad odour, on account of his
cheapness, he is not a bad fish when carefully dressed, and, above
all things, makes an excellent soup. Shell-fish are scarce, dear,
and--with the exception of oysters--are not so good as later in the
season. Salmon is never finer than during this month.
_Game and Poultry._--Game is on the wane. Grouse, pheasant, and
partridge are over, and game imported from the forests of Norway and
the prairies of Illinois but inadequately fills the place of our
home-grown birds. In default of these come swimming and wading fowl,
woodcock, snipe, and golden plover. Wild duck holds its own, and
always presents an appetising morsel. Of all Lenten fowl, the curlew
holds the chiefest place, and affords an admirable dish either as a
roast or _en salmis_. The godwit is also an excellent bird. Larks are
to be had, and, in default of ortolans, are agreeable if diminutive.
Hares are still to the fore, and rabbit is to be obtained, and may be
roasted, smothered in onions, or best of all exhibited in a curry.
Barndoor poultry waxes scarce and dear. Turkeys no longer abound as
at Christmas, and guinea-fowl are found the best substitute. Spring
chickens present but a diminutive appearance, while geese and ducks
are becoming rare.
_Vegetables._--Seakale and rhubarb can be added to the list of
vegetables, but they are still costly, though before the end of the
month forced rhubarb will be common.
_Fruit._--Oranges are now at the lowest prices, and very plentiful.
It is a time of year when bottled and tinned fruits are in great
request, both for dessert and for cooking.
Apples, with the exception of the _reinette_ and other varieties of
russets, are becoming scarce. France and America, however, send us
lady-apples, and a few choice pippens, such as the famous Newtown
variety.
_Breadstuffs._--Good flour should have a very slight yellow tinge,
should not feel gritty between the fingers, and it should be
adherent, so that a handful pressed together retain its shape. There
should be no mouldy smell nor acid taste. The best test of all is
to bake a loaf of bread, always granted that the character of the
flour is not to be held liable for shortcomings of cook or yeast.
The very fine and white pastry flour makes the best-looking and
also delicious-tasting bread, and is much to be preferred for puff
paste and rolls; but for family use seconds flour and seconds bread
is better, for not only is it cheaper, but it is more nourishing,
because it contains less starch and a larger proportion of bone and
flesh forming material. Rice is added in making bread, sometimes
because it is cheaper than flour, at other times because it retains
water. Bread made so is heavier and of closer texture. Potatoes are
used only in small quantity, to assist the action of the yeast. Alum
enables flour to be used that without it could not make passable
bread.
As it cools, bread begins to lose weight. This may be stopped by
throwing a thick cloth over the loaves, but the crust thereby
becomes heavy. No private person would need to do this, but as
household bread is sold by weight, and every customer may demand a
full 4 lb. to each quartern, or 2 lb. to an ordinary loaf, it is
sometimes in the baker’s interest to do so. When bread is left at the
house it is not customary to weigh it, but the humbler housekeepers
who fetch their bread take care to have a slice thrown in as
makeweight if the scale does not turn at 2 lb. or 4 lb. Fancy bread
is never sold by weight.
It is customary to allow about 1 lb. baker’s bread a day for each
person. Two people would eat a half-quartern loaf between them. Of
course, individual appetites vary, and if there is great abundance
of other food, the bread bill may be diminished; but (though, of
course, there should be no idea of stinting the supply) 1 lb. a day
is an ample allowance, and if more is consumed there is probably some
waste going on, new loaves being begun before the old are finished,
and pieces of bread thrown into the dustbin or hog-tub. This is as
unnecessary as it is undesirable. Half a stale loaf can be made fresh
by warming it through in the oven. Slices of bread should not be cut
till they are needed; but if they are cut, they can be made into
puddings or fritters for the nursery tea or kitchen supper, much more
popular and wholesome, and no more costly, than the monotonous bread
and butter and bread and cheese. Smaller pieces can be dried and
pounded for cutlets or fish; soaked in cold water or milk, they come
in for rissoles and stuffing.
March.
_Meat._--Pork is not seasonable in hot weather, and is not often seen
on table after this month. Beef, mutton, and veal are obtainable as
usual, and lamb can also be had, though it will be dear for a few
weeks yet.
_Fish._--Slightly salted and smoked haddocks are consumed in enormous
quantities in London. Fresh or smoked, they are always a low-priced
fish. There is not much to be remembered in choosing such fish,
except that they should be large and thick; the smaller ones are all
bone and skin. They should be scalded to draw out the salt and to
make them soft, a preliminary to cooking that is often forgotten.
Perhaps nothing varies in quality and price so much as fish.
It must be in season, as it is always tasteless and insipid,
sometimes actually unwholesome, at other times. Fish out of season
should not be bought, however cheap it seems to be. It is always
in best condition just before spawning, when it is filled with
roe. Afterwards it loses the store of fat, and becomes poor and
watery. It must be fresh, and this is not easy of detection to
the inexperienced. The smell is a guide; but fish kept on ice may
not smell disagreeably, yet it may have been a long time out of
the water, and as soon as it is taken from the ice it will begin
to decompose, and in a few hours of warm weather will be quite
uneatable. It should be bright and red about the gills and eyes, not
dull and brown; but this also is an appearance that the fishmongers
know how to give the fish long after nature has taken it away. It
should not have been knocked about or bruised; the scales should be
all there. A large fish is usually to be preferred to a small one,
provided it be not old and coarse fleshed, and consequently tough,
for the small contain a greater proportion of bone. The flesh should,
with some few exceptions, have a bluish tinge when freshly cut. It
should be firm, though not tough; but the firmness has something to
do with good cookery. Salt enough to make the water like weak brine,
or a little vinegar, tends to make the flesh of boiled fish firm.
In choosing any shell-fish, the great thing to be considered is
the weight in proportion to size. The heavier they are the better;
the lighter fish are apt to be watery. Of lobsters choose those
with broadest tails. The very large lobsters, hoary with white
incrustations on the shell, are often old and tough.
Cod is a winter fish, flourishing best in the coldest waters.
Whitebait is brought into town each afternoon for the late dinners
of fashionable London, as it loses its freshness even in a few hours,
especially when the warm weather of June and July comes. Smelts when
fresh are brown on the back and silvery-looking. They are not so
plentiful now as in late autumn.
Monday is a dangerous day to go marketing, because perishable goods
may have been kept from the Saturday before. For the same reason, on
Saturday night fish may often be bought very cheap, because, though
it is perfectly good at the time, it will not keep for 36 hours.
All oily fish must be perfectly fresh, and they do not generally keep
long or well. Salmon trout, for instance, is said never to be eaten
in perfection except by the fisherman, and many cases of poisoning
with mackerel have been sufficiently severe to be noticed in the
papers, while mild cases of discomfort due to that cause are known to
every one. Mackerel lives but a very little time after it is taken
out of the water. There are two mackerel fisheries, one in the spring
and one in the autumn, and the fish are sometimes sold even in London
at a very low price; in the fishing villages a score or more can be
bought for a shilling. Nothing like this price is to be met with
in town, but yet they are among the cheapest foods as soon as the
fishing boats are in full work; and tons will be sold this month and
next from barrows in the streets, often excellent fish, though they
cost about a quarter of what we pay at the fishmonger’s. It should be
bright and silvery looking, not bruised about the head.
Of salmon, it is usual to allow about ½ lb. for each person, if
a handsome piece is wanted for boiling; less will do if a large
party is to be provided for, but more is needed for a dinner of 2
or 3 persons. The middle of the fish costs more than the head and
shoulders, and the tail less than either. Salmon goes farther than
most kinds of fish, but only very seldom is it a cheap food. A curdy
appearance between the flakes generally denotes a good fish. Turbot
and the smaller species of the same genus are in prime condition.
Brill is an admirable fish when chicken-turbot is not to be had.
Soles are firm and white as ever. Salmon, now in splendid condition,
has to endure the rivalry of the dainty trout. Towards the end of
the present month shad begin to ascend the Severn and some of the
rivers of France. This delicate fish is never better than when simply
grilled. Eels are now in season, and may be served either as a stew,
a spatchcock, or _à la tartare_.
_Game and Poultry._--Goslings are to be found, and in the opinion of
many are much more agreeable in their youthful beauty than in the
mature and adipose condition of stubble-fed geese. Guinea-fowl are
always good, great and small, and perhaps are best when nipped in the
bud as mere eggs--a delicious morsel to a delicate palate.
Very little game is to be had, and that little consists, besides
hares, of aquatic birds, woodcock, snipe, plover, widgeon, and teal,
together with curlew.
_Vegetables._--The vegetable market shows signs of spring. Forced
cucumbers appear to keep salmon company. Spring salads take the place
of winter. Artichokes from France are tolerably plentiful, and that
excellent vegetable--sorrel, which forms such an agreeable addition
to shad or to a _fricandeau_, is to be seen in our markets, although
at present it finds but little favour in the sight of English cooks.
Covent Garden imports sweet potatoes for the benefit of American
customers, and custard-apples from the island of Madeira. New
potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips are more abundant than in the
preceding month. Portugal sends green peas, and imported asparagus
becomes less costly.
_Fruit._--We should be badly off for fruit if it were not for
oranges, which are actually cheaper than English apples in the apple
season. Now is the time to make marmalade, as Seville oranges are
plentiful. If oranges or any other fresh fruit have to be kept, they
should be in the dark, and laid on wood, not on a plate or dish. It
is better to put them in rows, and not heap them up. Grapes are still
in the market, flanked by apples and pears of the most durable kinds,
and early strawberries.
April.
_Meat._--Grass lamb is the meat of the season.