three quarters of water; strain it, and add three quarters of a pound
of sifted loaf sugar, the juice of six lemons and the rind of one;
boil the whole for a few minutes, strain it again, and let it stand
till quite cold and just beginning to stiffen; then beat the whites of
two eggs, and put them to it, and whisk till it is quite white; put it
into a mould, which must be first wetted with cold water. Salad oil is
much better than water for preparing the mould for turning out jelly,
blancmange, &c., but great care must be taken not to pour the jelly
into the mould till _quite cool_, or the oil will float on the top,
and after it is turned out it must be carefully wiped over with a
clean cloth. This plan only requires to be tried once to be invariably
adopted.
2122. Almond Custards.
Blanch and pound fine, with half a gill of rose water, six ounces of
sweet and half an ounce of bitter almonds; boil a pint of milk, with a
few coriander seeds, a little cinnamon, and some lemon-peel; sweeten
it with two ounces and a half of sugar, rub the almonds through a fine
sieve, with a pint of cream; strain the milk to the yolks of eight
eggs, and the whites of three well beaten; stir it over a fire till it
is of a good thickness, take it off the fire, and stir it till nearly
cold, to prevent its curdling.
2123. Arrowroot Blancmange.
A teacupful of arrowroot to a pint of milk; boil the milk with twelve
sweet and six bitter almonds, blanched and beaten; sweeten with loaf
sugar, and strain it; break the arrowroot with a little of the milk as
smooth as possible; pour the boiling milk upon it by degrees, stir the
while; put it back into the pan and boil a few minutes, still
stirring: dip the shape in cold water before you put it in, and turn
it out when cold.
2124. Red Currant Jelly.
With three parts of fine ripe red currants 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 in 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 clean 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, three pounds; juice of white currants, one pound: fifteen
minutes. Sugar, two pounds: eight minutes. 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 mentioned in the foregoing receipt.
[REVENGE IS THE ONLY DEBT WHICH IS WRONG TO PAY.]
2125. White Currant Jelly.
White currant jelly is made in the same way as red currant jelly, only
double refined sugar should be used, and it should not be boiled above
ten minutes. White currant jelly should be put through a lawn sieve.
2126. Another Receipt for White Currant Jelly.
After the fruit is stripped from the stalks, put it into the pan, and
when it boils, run it quickly through a sieve: take a pound of sugar
to each pint of juice, and let it boil twenty minutes.
2127. Black Currant Jelly.
To each pound of picked fruit allow one gill of water; set them on the
fire in the preserving-pan to scald, but do not let them boil; bruise
them well with a silver fork, or wooden beater; take them oft and
squeeze them through a hair sieve, and to every pint of juice allow a
pound of loaf or raw sugar; boil it ten minutes.
2128. Apricot Jelly.
Divide two dozen ripe apricots into halves, pound half of the kernels
in a gill of water, and a teaspoonful of lemon juice; reduce the fruit
to a pulp, and mix the kernels with it; put the whole into a stewpan
with a pound of sugar, boil thoroughly, skim till clear, and put into
small pots.
2129. Ox-heel Jelly.
Ox-heel Jelly is made in the same way as Calves' Feet Jelly (_See
par._ 2132).
2130. Arrowroot Jelly.
A tablespoonful of arrow-root, and cold water to form a paste; add a
pint of boiling water; stir briskly, boil for a few minutes. A little
sherry and sugar may be added. For infants, a drop or two of the
essence of caraway seed or cinnamon is preferable.
2131. An Excellent Jelly.
(_For the Sick room._)--Take rice, sago, pearl-barley, hartshorn
shavings, each one ounce; simmer with three pints of water to one, and
strain it. When cold, it will be a jelly, which give, dissolved in
wine, milk, or broth, in change with the other nourishment.
2132. Calves' Feet Jelly.
It is better to buy the feet of the butcher, than at the tripe-shop
ready boiled, because the best portion of the jelly has been
extracted. Slit them in two, and take every particle of fat from the
claws; wash well in warm water, put them in a large stewpan, and cover
with water; skim well, and let them boil gently for six or seven
hours, until reduced to about two quarts, then strain and skim off any
oily substance on the surface. It is best to boil the feet the day
before making the jelly, as, when the liquor is cold, the oily part
being at the top, and the other being firm, with pieces of blotting
paper applied to it, you may remove every particle of the oily
substance without wasting the liquor. Put the liquor in a stewpan to
melt, with a pound of lump sugar, the peel of two lemons, and the
juice of six, six whites and shells of eggs beat together, and a
bottle of sherry or Madeira; whisk the whole together until it is on
the boil, then put it by the side of the stove, and let it simmer a
quarter of an hour; strain it through a jelly-bag: what is strained
first must be poured into the bag again, until it is as bright and
clear as distilled water; then put the jelly in moulds, to be cold and
firm; if the weather is too warm, it requires some ice or some of
Nelson's gelatine.
If required to be very stiff, half an ounce of isinglass may be added
when the wine is put in. It may be flavoured by the juice of various
fruits and spices, &c., and coloured with saffron, cochineal, the
juice of beetroot, spinach juice, claret, &c. It is sometimes made
with cherry brandy, red noyeau, curaçao, or essence of punch.
2133. Orange Marmalade.
Select the largest Seville oranges, as they usually contain the
greatest quantity of juice, and take those that have clear skins, as
the skins form the largest part of the marmalade. Weigh the oranges,
and weigh also an equal quantity of loaf sugar. Peel the oranges,
dividing the peel of each into quarters, and put them into a
preserving-pan; cover them well with water, and set them on the fire
to boil. In the meantime prepare your oranges; divide them into gores,
then scrape with a teaspoon all the pulp from the white skin; or,
instead of peeling the oranges, cut a hole in the orange and scoop out
the pulp: remove carefully all the pips, of which there are
innumerable small ones in the Seville orange, which will escape
observation unless they are very minutely examined. Have a large basin
near you with some cold water in it, to throw the pips and peels
into--a pint is sufficient for a dozen oranges.
Boil these in the water, and having strained off the glutinous matter
which comes from them, add it to the other parts. When the peels have
boiled till they are sufficiently tender to admit of a fork being
stuck into them, scrape away all the pith from the inside of them; lay
them in folds, and cut them into thin slices of about an inch long.
Clarify the sugar; then throw the peels and pulp into it, stir it
well, and let it boil for half an hour. Then remove it from the fire,
and when it becomes cool, put it by in pots. Marmalade should be made
at the end of March, or at the beginning of April, as Seville oranges
are then in their best state.
2134. Apple Marmalade.
Peel and core two pounds of sub-acid apples--Wellingtons are excellent
for the purpose--and put them in an enamelled saucepan with one pint
of sweet cider, or half a pint of pure wine, and one pound of crushed
sugar. Cook them by a gentle heat three hours, or longer, until the
fruit is very soft, then squeeze it first through a cullender and then
through a sieve. If not sufficiently sweet, add powdered sugar to
taste, and put away in jars made air-tight by covering them with a
piece of wet bladder.
2135. Plum, Green-gage, or Apricot Jam
After taking away the stones from the fruit, and cutting out any
blemishes, put them over a slow fire, in a clean stewpan, with half a
pint of water, and when scalded, rub them through a hair sieve. To
every pound of pulp put one pound of sifted loaf sugar, put it into a
preserving pan over a brisk fire, and when it boils skim it well, and
throw in the kernels of the apricots and half an ounce of bitter
almonds, blanched. Then boil it fast for a quarter of an hour longer,
stirring it all the time. Store away in pots in the usual manner.
2136. Almond Flavour.
(ESSENCE OF PEACH KERNELS--QUINTESSENCE OF NOYEAU.)--Dissolve one
ounce of essential oil of bitter almonds in one pint of spirit of
wine. Use it as flavouring for cordials and pastry. _In large
quantities is exceedingly poisonous_. A few drops only should be used
to several pounds of syrups, pastry, &c. This and other flavourings
may be bought in small bottles, ready for use, of grocers or oilmen.
2137. Syrup of Orange or Lemon Peel.
Of fresh outer rind of Seville orange or lemon-peel, three ounces,
apothecaries' weight; boiling water, a pint and a half; infuse the
peel for a night in a close vessel; then strain the liquor; let it
stand to settle; and having poured it off clear from the sediment,
dissolve in it two pounds of double refined loaf sugar, and make it
into a syrup with a gentle heat.
[PRIDE COSTS MORE THAN HUNGER, THIRST, OR COLD.]
2138. Indian Syrup.
(A delicious summer drink.) Five pounds of lump sugar, two ounces of
citric acid, a gallon of boiling water: when cold add half a drachm of
essence of lemon and half a drachm of spirit of wine; stir it well and
bottle it. About two tablespoonfuls to a glass of cold water.
2139. Apples in Syrup for Immediate Use.
Pare and core some hard round apples, throwing them into a basin of
water as each is peeled. Clarify as much loaf sugar as will cover
them; put the apples in water with the juice and rind of a lemon, and
let them simmer till they are quite clear; great care must be taken
not to break them. Place them on the dish they are to appear upon at
table, and pour the syrup over.
2140. Pounding Almonds.
The almonds should be dried for a few days after being blanched. Set
them in a warm place, strewn singly over a dish or tin. A little
powdered lump sugar will assist the pounding. They may be first
chopped small, and rolled with a rolling pin.--Almond Paste may be
made in the same manner.
2141. Blanched Almonds.
Put the almonds into cold water, and heat them slowly to scalding;
then take them out and peel them quickly, throwing them into cold
water as they are done. Dry them in a cloth before serving.
2142. Freezing without Ice or Acids.
The use of ice in cooling depends upon the fact of its requiring a
vast quantity of heat to convert it from a solid into a liquid state,
or in other words, to melt it; and the heat so required is obtained
from those objects with which it may be in contact. A pound of ice
requires nearly as much heat to melt it as would be sufficient to make
a pound of cold water boiling hot; hence its cooling power is
extremely great. But ice does not begin to melt until the temperature
is above the freezing point, and therefore it cannot be employed in
freezing liquids, &c., but only in cooling them. If, however, any
substance is mixed with ice which is capable of causing it to melt
more rapidly, and at a lower temperature, a still more intense cooling
effect is the result; such a substance is common salt, and the degree
of cold produced by the mixture of one part of salt with two parts of
snow or pounded ice is greater than thirty degrees below freezing.
In making ice-creams and dessert ices, the following articles are
required:--Pewter ice-pots with tightly-fitting lids, furnished with
handles; wooden ice-pails, to hold the rough ice and salt--the pails
should be stoutly made, about the same depth as the ice pots, and nine
or ten inches more in diameter, with a hole in the side, fitted with a
good cork, in order that the water from the melted ice may be drawn
off as required. In addition, a broad spatula, about four inches long,
rounded at the end, and furnished with a long wooden handle, is
necessary to scrape the frozen cream from the sides of the ice-pot,
and for mixing the whole smoothly together. When making ices, place
the mixture of cream and fruit to be frozen in the ice-pot, cover it
with the lid, and put the pot in the ice-pail, which proceed to fill
up with coarsely-pounded ice and salt, in the proportion of about one
part of salt to three of ice; let the whole remain a few minutes (if
covered by a blanket so much the better), then whirl the pot briskly
by the handle for a few minutes, take off the lid, and with the
spatula scrape the iced cream from the sides, mixing the whole
smoothly; put on the lid, and whirl again, repeating all the
operations every few minutes until the whole of the cream is well
frozen.
Great care and considerable labour are required in stirring, so that
the whole cream may be smoothly frozen, and not in hard lumps. When
finished, if it is required to be kept any time, the melted ice and
salt should be allowed to escape, by removing the cork, and the pail
filled up with fresh materials. It is scarcely necessary to add, that
if any of the melted ice and salt is allowed to mix with the cream,
the latter is spoiled. From the difficulty of obtaining ice in places
distant from large towns, and in hot countries, and from the
impracticability of keeping it any length of time, or, in fact, of
keeping small quantities more than a few hours its use is much
limited, and many have been the attempts to obtain an efficient
substitute. For this purpose various salts have been employed, which,
when dissolved in water, or in acids, absorb a sufficient amount of
heat to freeze substances with which they may be placed in contact. We
shall not attempt, in this article, to describe all the various
freezing mixtures that have been devised, but speak only of those
which have been found practically useful.
Many of the freezing mixtures which are to be found described in books
are incorrectly so named, for although they themselves are below the
freezing point, yet they are not sufficiently powerful to freeze any
quantity of water, or other substances, when placed in a vessel within
them. In order to be efficient as a freezing mixture, as distinguished
from a cooling one, the materials used ought to be capable of
producing by themselves an amount of cold more than thirty degrees
below the freezing point of water, and this the ordinary mixtures will
not do. Much more efficient and really freezing mixtures may be made
by using acids to dissolve the salts. The cheapest, and perhaps the
best, of these for ordinary use, is one which is frequently employed
in France, both for making dessert ices, and cooling wines, &c. It
consists of coarsely powdered Glauber salt (sulphate of sodium), on
which is poured about two-thirds its weight of spirit of salts
(hydrochloric acid).
The mixture should be made in a wooden vessel, as that is preferable
to one made of metal, which conducts the external heat to the
materials with great rapidity; and when the substance to be cooled is
placed in the mixture, the whole should be covered with a blanket, a
piece of old woollen carpet doubled or some other non-conducting
material, to prevent the access of the external warmth; the vessel
used for icing wines should not be too large, that there may be no
waste of the freezing mixture. This combination produces a degree of
cold thirty degrees below freezing; and if the materials are bought of
any of the wholesale druggists or dry salters, it is exceedingly
economical. It is open, however, to the very great objection, that the
spirit of salt is an exceedingly corrosive liquid, and of a pungent,
disagreeable odour: this almost precludes its use for any purpose
except that of icing wines.
[FAIR AND SOFTLY GO SURE AND FAR.]
2143. Further Directions.
Actual quanties--one pound of chloride of ammonium, or sal ammoniac,
finely powdered, is to be _intimately_ mixed with two pounds of
nitrate of potasium or saltpetre, also in powder; this mixture we may
call No. 1. No. 2 is formed by crushing three pounds of the best
Scotch soda. In use, an equal bulk of both No. 1 and No. 2 is to be
taken, stirred together, placed in the ice-pail, surrounding the
ice-pot, and rather less cold water poured on than will dissolve the
whole; if one quart of No. 1, and the same bulk of No. 2 are taken, it
will require about one quart of water to dissolve them, and the
temperature will fall, if the materials used are cool, to nearly
thirty degrees below freezing. Those who fail, may trace their want of
success to one or other of the following points:--the use of too small
a quantity of the preparation,--the employment of a few ounces;
whereas, in freezing ices, the ice-pot must be entirely surrounded
with the freezing material: no one would attempt to freeze with four
ounces of ice and salt. Again, too large a quantity of water may be
used to dissolve the preparation, when all the excess of water has to
be cooled down instead of the substance it is wished to freeze. All
the materials used should be pure, and as cool as can be obtained. The
ice-pail in which the mixture is made must be of some non-conducting
material, as wood--which will prevent the access of warmth from the
air; and the ice-pot, in which the liquor to be frozen is placed,
should be of pewter, and surrounded nearly to its top by the freezing
mixture. Bear in mind that the making of ice-cream, under any
circumstances, is an operation requiring considerable dexterity and
practice.
2144. To Make Dessert Ices, both Cream and Water.
2145. Strawberry Ice Cream.
Take one pint of strawberries, one pint of cream, nearly half a pound
of powdered white sugar, the juice of a lemon; mash the fruit through
a sieve, and take out the seeds: mix with the other articles, and
freeze. A little new milk added makes the whole freeze more quickly.
2146. Raspberry Ice Cream.
The same as strawberry. These ices are often coloured by cochineal,
but the addition is not advantageous to the flavour. Strawberry or
raspberry jam may be used instead of the fresh fruit, or equal
quantities of jam and fruit employed. Of course the quantity of sugar
must be proportionately diminished.
2147. Strawberry Water Ice.
One large pottle of scarlet strawberries, the juice of a lemon, a
pound of sugar, or one pint of strong syrup, half a pint of water.
Mix,--first rubbing the fruit through a sieve,--and freeze.
2148. Raspberry Water Ice.
Raspberry Water Ice is made in precisely the same manner as
Strawberry-water ice.
2149. Lemon-Water Ice.
Lemon juice and water, each half a pint; strong syrup, one pint: the
rind of the lemons should be rasped off, before squeezing, with lump
sugar, which is to be added to the juice; mix the whole; strain after
standing an hour, and freeze. Beat up with a little sugar the whites
of two or three eggs, and as the ice is beginning to set, work this in
with the spatula, which will be found to much improve the consistence
and taste.
2150. Orange-Water Ice.
Orange-Water Ice is made in the same way as Lemon-water ice.
2151. Nitrate of Ammonium as a Freezing Mixture.
Another substance, which is free from any corrosive action or
unpleasant odour, is nitrate of ammonium, which, if simply dissolved
in rather less than its own weight of water, reduces the temperature
about twenty-five degrees below freezing. The objections to its use
are that its frigorific power is not sufficiently great to freeze
readily; and if it be required to form dessert ices, it is requisite
to renew the process, at the expiration of a quarter of an hour, a
second time, and, if the weather is very hot, and the water used is
rather warm, even a third or fourth time. Again, nitrate of ammonium
is a very expensive salt; even in France, where it is manufactured
expressly for this purpose, it is sold at the rate of three francs a
pound; and in England it cannot be obtained under a much higher price.
One great recommendation, however, attends its use, namely, that it
may be recovered again, and used any number of times, by simply
boiling away the water in which it is dissolved, by a gentle fire,
until a small portion, on being removed, crystallizes on cooling.
2152. Washing Soda as a Freezing Mixture.
If, however, nitrate of ammonium in coarse powder is put into the
cooler, and there is then added twice its weight of freshly crushed
washing soda, and an equal quantity of the coldest water that can be
obtained, an intensely powerful frigorific mixture is the result, the
cold often falling to forty degrees below freezing. This is by far
the most efficacious freezing mixture that can be made without the use
of ice or acids. But, unfortunately, it has an almost insuperable
objection, that the nitrate of ammonium is decomposed by the soda, and
cannot be recovered by evaporation; this raises the expense to so
great a height, that the plan is practically useless.
[ALL IS NOT GOLD THAT GLITTERS.]
2153. Sal Ammoniac as a Freezing Mixture.
If the ordinary sal ammoniac of the shops is used, it will be found
both difficult to powder, and expensive; in fact, it is so exceedingly
tough, that the only way in which it can be easily divided, except in
a drug mill, is by putting as large a quantity of the salt into water
which is actually boiling as the latter will dissolve; as the solution
cools, the salt crystalizes out in the solid form, and if stirred as
it cools, it separates in a state of fine division. As this process is
troublesome, and as the sal ammoniac is expensive, it is better to use
the crude muriate of ammonium, which is the same substance as sal
ammoniac, but before it has been purified by sublimation. This is not
usually kept by druggists, but may be readily obtained of any of the
artificial manure merchants, at a very moderate rate; and its purity
may be readily tested by placing a portion of it on a red-hot iron,
when it should fly off in a vapour, leaving scarcely any residue.
2154. Coldness of the Materials used.
It is hardly necessary to add, that in icing wines, or freezing, the
effect is great in proportion to the coldness of the materials used;
therefore, every article employed, viz., the water, tubs, mixtures,
&c., should be as cool as possible.
2155. Blackbirds.
The cock bird is of a deep black, with a yellow bill. The female is
dark brown. It is difficult to distinguish male from female birds when
young; but the darkest generally are males. Their food consists of
German paste, bread, meat, and bits of apple. The same treatment as
given for the thrush (_See par._ 2456) applies to the blackbird.
2156. Food of Blackbirds.
The natural food of the blackbird is berries, worms, insects, shelled
snails, cherries, and other similar fruit; and its artificial food,
lean fresh meat, cut very small, and mixed with bread, or German paste.
2157. Thrushes.
A cock may be distinguished from a hen by a darker back, and the more
glossy appearance of the feathers. The belly also is white. Their
natural food is insects, worms, and snails. In a domesticated state
they will eat raw meat, but snails and worms should be procured for
them. Young birds are hatched about the middle of April, and should be
kept very warm. They should be fed with raw meat, cut small, or bread
mixed in milk with hemp seed well bruised; when they can feed
themselves give them lean meat cut small, and mixed with bread or
German paste, plenty of clean water, and keep them in a warm, dry, and
sunny situation.
2158. Canaries.
To distinguish a cock bird from a hen, observe the bird when it is
singing, and if it be a cock you will perceive the throat heaving with
a pulse-like motion, a peculiarity which is scarcely perceptible in
the hen. Feed young canaries with white and yolk of hard egg, mixed
together with a little bread steeped in water. This should be pressed
and placed in one vessel, while in another should be put some boiled
rape seed, washed in fresh water. Change the food every day. When they
are a month old, put them into separate cages. Cut the claws of
cage-birds occasionally, when they become too long, but in doing so be
careful not to draw blood.
2159. Treatment of Canaries.