peppers, then pepper and salt the tomatoes; lay slices of tomato
and a little sweet pepper until the dish is full. Pour over all a
dressing of oil, mustard and vinegar. A pint of shelled shrimp is a
great improvement to this salad, but it is good without.
JAMBALAYA OF FOWLS AND RICE
Cut up and stew a fowl; when half done, add a cup of raw rice, a
slice of ham minced, and pepper and salt; let all cook together until
the rice swells and absorbs all the gravy of the stewed chicken, but
it must not be allowed to get hard or dry. Serve in a deep dish.
Southern children are very fond of this; it is said to be an Indian
dish, and very wholesome as well as palatable; it can be made of many
things.
COLD SLAW WITH HOT SAUCE
Chop fine a firm white head of cabbage, or better than that, slice
it with a patent slicer; lay it in very cold water for an hour, then
take it out, drain it, and when drained thoroughly, place it in the
dish it is to be served in and pour over it the following sauce: Take
two cups of strong vinegar to a quart of cut cabbage, stir in it one
teaspoonful of mustard and salt, a tablespoonful of butter, and three
teaspoons of white sugar. Make this all hot, and at the last moment
stir in the yolks of two or three eggs; stir rapidly and pour on to
the chopped cabbage in the dish. It should be served instantly or the
sauce will harden.
PLAIN COLD SLAW, WITH VINEGAR
This is made by chopping or slicing the cabbage as in the above
recipe. When it is soaked, and is cool and firm, dust pepper on it,
throw in a little salt and pour over it a cup of cold, sharp vinegar.
Sliced hard-boiled eggs are a great improvement if put over the
cabbage when sent to table. Sliced onions also make a good salad when
seasoned with salt, pepper and vinegar. Mix a little sweet, sliced
vegetable pepper with the onions.
PICKLES
HINTS ON THEIR MANAGEMENT
Pickles should always have vinegar enough to cover them; those
intended for immediate use should be kept in wide-top stone-ware
jars. Keep a cloth folded upon the pickles, and the jar covered
with a plate or wooden vessel; they should occasionally be looked
over, and the softest and least likely to keep, used first. Pickles
intended for use the following summer should be assorted from the
remainder when first made; choose those most firm, and of equal size;
put them into stone, or glass-ware, with fresh vinegar to cover them;
cover the vessel close, with several thicknesses of paper, or a tin
cover, or if wide-mouthed bottles are used, cork them tightly.
Cucumbers may be put down in a strong salt and water brine, to be
greened and pickled as they are wanted. Keep them under the brine.
When wanted, freshen them in two or three changes of water, for two
or three days, until by cutting one open, you find it but little
salt; then pour scalding vinegar over them three times, and keep them
covered; add spices and seasoning to the vinegar, to suit the taste.
The vessels in which pickles have been, whether of glass, wood, or
stone, will never be fit for preserved fruit; they will surely spoil
if put in them. After pickles are used, throw out the vinegar, wash
the vessels first in cold water, then pour hot water into them, cover
and let it remain until cold, then wash, wipe, and dry them near the
fire or in the sun, and set them away for future use. Wooden ware
will require to be wet occasionally, or to be kept in a damp place,
that it may not become leaky. Should catsups seem frothy or foamy,
put them in a bright brass, or porcelain kettle, over the fire; boil
slowly, and skim until no more scum rises, then turn into an earthen
vessel to cool, after which put in bottles and stop them tight.
TO PICKLE CUCUMBERS PLAIN WITHOUT SPICES
Take one hundred small cucumbers, or more, if you wish, salt them
freely, and let them remain eight or ten hours; then drain them, put
them into boiling vinegar enough to cover them, and place vine leaves
among and over them to green them; let them scald a few minutes in
the vinegar, and take them from the fire, but place them near it to
keep warm and become green; if the leaves turn yellow, put fresh ones
among them. When green you can pack them away in jars; season them at
any time you may desire, as they will keep well if scalded thoroughly
with the boiling vinegar.
CUCUMBER PICKLES IN WHISKEY
Prepare your cucumbers as usual by letting them stay a few days in
brine, or if time is an object scald them in brine, and then proceed
to pickle them. The same brine may be used many times, pouring
it boiling hot on each mess of cucumbers. If you have no vinegar
convenient drop your scalded cucumbers into a mixture of one part
whiskey and three parts water. Secure them carefully from the air,
and by Christmas they will be fine, firm, green pickles, and the
whiskey and water will be excellent vinegar. Add spices after they
are pickled. If you do not wish all your pickles spiced, keep a
stone-pot of well-spiced vinegar by itself, and put in a few at a
time as you want them.
CUCUMBER AND ONION PICKLE
Take a dozen fine crisp cucumbers and four large onions. Cut both in
thick slices, sprinkle salt and pepper on them, and let them stand.
Next day drain them well and scald them in boiling vinegar; cover
close after scalding. Next day scald again with a bag of mace, nutmeg
and ginger, in the vinegar; then place them in jars and cork close.
If the vinegar seems to have lost its strength, replace with fresh,
and put the bag of spices in again to keep the flavor.
OLD-TIME SWEET PICKLED CUCUMBERS
Put your cucumbers in brine for eight days; slice them without
soaking; let the slices be an inch thick. When cut, soak them until
the salt is nearly out, changing the water very often. Then put them
in a kettle, with vine leaves laid between the layers; cover them
well with leaves, and sprinkle pulverized alum all through them, to
harden and green them, then cover with vinegar, and set them on the
back of the stove until they become green. Take the cucumbers out
and boil them a little in ginger tea (half an hour will be enough).
Make a syrup of one quart of strong vinegar, and one pint of water,
three pounds of sugar to four pounds of cucumbers, with one ounce
of cinnamon, cloves, mace and white ginger to every ten pounds of
fruit. Make this syrup hot, and put in the cucumbers and boil them
until clear. When they are clear take them out and boil the syrup
until it is thick enough to keep. Pour it over the cucumbers, which
should have been placed in jars ready for the syrup. They are now
ready to use, or seal up, as may be desired. If not convenient to
pickle after eight days salt brining, it does not hurt to let them
remain a few days longer.
PICKLED EGGS
When eggs are abundant and cheap, it is well to pickle some for a
time of scarcity. Boil three or four dozen eggs for half an hour,
let them cool, and then take off the shells, and place them in
wide-mouthed jars, and pour over them scalding vinegar. Season the
vinegar with whole pepper, cloves, or allspice, ginger, and a few
cloves of garlic. When cold, they must be bunged down very close.
Let them be well covered with the vinegar, and in a month they will
be fit for use. The above pickle is by no means expensive, and as an
accompaniment to cold meat is not to be surpassed for piquancy and
gout.
SWEET PICKLE OF FIGS
Put the figs in brine at night; in the morning, or after being in
brine about twelve hours, take them out, wash off the salt, and put
them in alum water for three hours. Then take them out and scald
them in hot water until heated through. Make a syrup of a quart of
vinegar, a pint of sugar with a tablespoonful of cinnamon, mace, and
cloves each; boil half an hour, and pour on the figs boiling hot.
Repeat the boiling next day, and bottle up and seal for future use.
SWEET PLUM PICKLE
Take eight pounds of fruit, four pounds of sugar, two quarts of
vinegar, one ounce of cinnamon and one of cloves. Boil the vinegar,
sugar and spices together; skim it carefully and pour it boiling on
the fruit; pour it off, and skim and scald each day for three days;
it will then be fit for use. If for putting away, scald it the fourth
time and cork up tightly. Plums prepared in this way are superior to
the old way, with sugar alone.
GREEN TOMATO SWEET PICKLE
Slice tomatoes until you have seven pounds, sprinkle them with
salt, and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then soak them for the
same length of time in fresh water to get the brine from them. When
drained off and ready, allow four and a half pounds of sugar, one
ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves, and enough vinegar to cover
them. Boil the compound together and pour it over the tomatoes; let
them stand twenty-four hours, then bring all to a boil, and tie away
in jars, and keep in a cool place away from the light.
CANTALOUPE SWEET PICKLE
Take a ripe cantaloupe, quarter it, remove the seeds and cut it into
pieces an inch square. Put the cut pieces in a stone crock, and
pour on scalding vinegar; when it cools heat it again, and return
it to the cantaloupe. Repeat this next day. On the fourth day take
out the fruit and add fresh vinegar to cover it. To every quart of
this vinegar add three pounds of loaf sugar, and five pounds of
cantaloupe. Put to them nutmeg, cinnamon and mace, to taste. Put all
in a porcelain-lined kettle and simmer until the fruit can be pierced
with a straw. Pack it in small jars and keep in a cool place.
CHOPPED CABBAGE PICKLE
Put together one pint of chopped onions, three gills (or three
wineglassfuls) of white mustard seed, three tablespoonfuls of ground
mustard and the same of celery seed; add a pound of brown sugar
and three quarts of good vinegar. Cook this compound slowly until
it begins to thicken, then pour it hot upon two gallons of chopped
cabbage, which should be shaved or chopped very thin. This pickle is
ready to bottle for use when it has boiled fifteen minutes.
TO PICKLE CABBAGE. A VERY NICE YELLOW PICKLE
Cut four cabbage heads into eighths, if large, or quarters, if small;
they must be white and tender. Soak it in strong brine for three days
and scald it in clear water until you can pierce it with a straw.
Take it out and dry it on large dishes for twenty-four hours. Then
put it into strong vinegar, with powdered turmeric, sufficient to
color the cabbage yellow. Let it remain in this vinegar ten days;
then take it out and drain on a sieve for several hours. Have the
following spices prepared, then pack in a jar alternately one layer
of cabbage and one of spices. For each gallon of vinegar allow five
pounds of sugar, three ounces of turmeric, two of ginger, four of
horseradish, two of white mustard seed, one-half ounce of celery
seed, quarter of an ounce of mace, two ounces of whole pepper, white
if you can get it, and four ounces of garlic. Scald the vinegar and
sugar together, and pour hot on the cabbage and the spices. Cover
tight, and you will have an admirable pickle.
TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE
Slice the cabbage and sprinkle with salt. Let it remain three days;
drain, and pour over it boiling vinegar in which you have put mace,
bruised ginger, whole pepper and cloves; let it remain in this until
next day. Then give one more scald, and it is ready to put up for
use. The purple red cabbage is the best.
CHOW-CHOW PICKLE
Take a quarter of a peck each, of green tomatoes, pickling-beans, and
white onions (scald the onions separately), add one dozen cucumbers,
green peppers, and a head of cabbage chopped. Season with ground
mustard, celery seed, and salt to taste. Pour over these the best
cider vinegar to cover them, and let all boil two hours, and while
hot add two tablespoonfuls of sweet oil and the same of white sugar.
Bottle and seal up carefully in wide-mouthed glass jars.
PICKLED CAULIFLOWER
Take large, ripe, full-blown cauliflowers; divide the pieces equally
and throw them into a kettle of boiling water; boil them until a
little soft, but not as much as if for the table. Take the pieces out
and let them cool, then scald an ounce of mace, to each quart of
good cider vinegar, and pour it hot on the cauliflower. Spices such
as are usually used in pickling, improve this recipe, and should be
tied in a bag and thrown in with the pickle at the last, remembering
not to use dark spices, as they discolor the cauliflower. White
pepper, white mustard seed and ginger are the spices suitable for
this pickle.
PICKLED LEMONS
They should be small and have a thick rind. Rub them hard with a
piece of flannel, then slit them through the rind in four quarters,
but not through the pulp; fill the slits with salt hard pressed in,
set them upright in a crock four or five days, until the salt melts.
Turn them each day in their own liquid until they get tender. Make
the pickle to cover them of vinegar, some of the brine of the lemons,
pepper and ginger; boil this pickle and skim it well, and when cold
put it over the lemons with two ounces of mustard seed and two cloves
of garlic, to six lemons. This is fine for fish when the lemons are
all used.
TO PICKLE ONIONS
Peel the onions, boil some strong salt and water and put it over
them, cover, and let them stand twenty-four hours, then take them up
with a skimmer; make some vinegar boiling hot, put to it whole pepper
and mustard seed, and pour it over the onions to cover them; when
cold cover close.
PREMIUM MUSTARD PICKLE
Soak three quarts of small cucumbers, gherkins, or green tomatoes,
in strong salt water for three days; then put them into fresh cold
water for a day or two, then scald them in plain vinegar and set
them by in a place to cool. Take a gallon of vinegar, add to it one
ounce of white mustard seed, two ounces of turmeric, three of sliced
ginger, two of shredded horseradish, one-half pound of mustard, three
pounds of brown sugar, one-half pint of sweet oil, one ounce each
of celery seed, black pepper, cloves, mace, and one teaspoonful of
cayenne pepper. Boil all these ingredients for fifteen minutes and
pour it on the cucumbers, gherkins, or other scalded vegetable you
may wish to pickle.
WALNUT PICKLE
Pick the walnuts about the Fourth of July. They should be so soft
that a pin can be run through them. Lay them in salt and water ten
days, change the water two or three times during the ten days. Rub
off the outside with a coarse cloth and proceed to finish the pickle.
For one hundred nuts, make a pickle of two quarts of vinegar, one
ounce of ground pepper, same of ginger, half an ounce of mace,
cloves, nutmegs and mustard seed. Put these spices in a bag, lay it
in the vinegar and boil all together a few minutes; then set the
pickle away for use. If the vinegar is not very strong, add fresh
vinegar to the last scalding of the pickles.
PICKLED OYSTERS
Take fine large oysters, put them over a gentle fire in their own
liquor, and a small lump of butter to each hundred oysters. Let them
boil ten minutes, when they are plump and white; take them from their
liquor with a skimmer and spread them on a thickly folded cloth.
When they are firm and cold take half as much of their own liquor
and half of good vinegar, make this hot, and take a stone crock, put
in a layer of oysters, a spoonful of ground mace, a dozen cloves,
allspice, and whole pepper alternately. If to be kept, put them in
glass jars with a little sweet oil on top. Stop them and seal tight,
and they will, if kept in a cool place, be good for months.
COUNTRY GREEN PICKLE
One peck of tomatoes, eight green peppers to be chopped fine. They
must be the vegetable or sweet pepper. Soak the tomatoes and pepper
twenty-four hours in weak brine; drain off the brine, and add to the
green tomatoes a head of finely chopped cabbage; scald all in boiling
vinegar twenty minutes. Skim it out from the vinegar, and place in a
large jar, and add three pints of grated horseradish and such other
spices as you please. Fill the jars with strong cold vinegar and tie
up for use.
TOMATO SAUCE PICKLE
One gallon of tomatoes and one gallon of vinegar. Slice the tomatoes
(green ones are firmest), and sprinkle salt between each layer. Let
them remain thus for twelve hours, then rinse them, and put them to
drain on a sieve. Put your vinegar to boil with a dozen onions cut
up in it, season high with cloves, pepper and ginger, and when this
boils throw in your tomatoes and let them boil five minutes. Finish
by stirring in one-quarter of a pound of mustard and a pound of
sugar; then add a quart of vinegar and bottle it.
PLAIN PEACH PICKLE
Take eight or ten fine, nearly ripe peaches; free-stone are preferred
by some, but experience teaches that clings make the firmest pickle.
Wipe off the down with a flannel rag, and put them into brine strong
enough to bear up an egg. In two days drain them from this brine,
and scald them in boiling vinegar, and let them stay in all night.
Next day boil in a quart of vinegar, one ounce of whole pepper,
one of broken-up ginger, eight blades of mace, and two ounces of
mustard-seed; pour this boiling on the peaches, and when cool, put
them in jars, and pack away carefully in a cool place.
PEACH PICKLES
Take ripe, sound, cling-stone peaches; remove the down with a brush
like a clothes brush; make a gallon of good vinegar hot; add to it
four pounds of brown sugar; boil and skim it clear. Stick five or six
cloves into each of the peaches, then pour the hot vinegar over them,
cover the vessel and set it in a cold place for eight or ten days,
then drain off the vinegar, make it hot, skim it, and again turn it
over the peaches; let them become cold, then put them into glass jars
and secure as directed for preserves. Free-stone peaches may be used.
PEACHES AND APRICOT PICKLE
Take peaches fully grown, but not mellow; cover them in strong salt
and water for one week. Take them from the brine and wipe them
carefully, rubbing each peach to see if it is firm. Put to a gallon
of vinegar half an ounce each of cloves, pepper corns, sliced ginger
root, white mustard seed, and a little salt. Scald the peaches with
this boiling vinegar, repeat this three times; add half as much fresh
vinegar, and cork them up in jars. Keep them dark and cool. Light
will spoil pickles or preserves as much as heat does. Apricots may be
pickled in the same way.
GREEN PEACHES PICKLED
Brush the down from green peaches (cling-stones); put them in salt
and water, with grape leaves and a bit of saleratus; set them over a
moderate fire to simmer slowly until they are a fine green, then take
them out, wipe them dry, and smooth the skins; take enough vinegar
to cover them, put to it whole pepper, allspice, and mustard seed,
making it boiling hot, and turn it over the peaches. Repeat the
scalding three successive days.
PEACH MANGOES
Steep some large free-stone peaches in brine for two days, then wipe
each peach carefully, and cut a hole in it just sufficient to allow
the seed to come out; then throw them into cold vinegar until you
make the stuffing, which is to fill up the cavity occupied by the
seed. Take fresh white mustard seed which has been wet with vinegar,
and allowed to swell a few hours, scraped horseradish, powdered
ginger, a few pods of red pepper, a few small onions, or, better
still, a clove of garlic. Mix all with vinegar, and add half as much
chopped peach. Stuff the peaches hard with this mixture, replace the
piece cut out, and tie it up tight with pack-thread. Boil a quart of
vinegar for each dozen peaches; season it with the same spices as
the stuffing. Boil the spices in a small bag, and then put in the
peaches and let them scald ten or fifteen minutes, just long enough
to be thoroughly hot all through. Place the peaches in jars, and pour
scalding vinegar well spiced over them--the vinegar must cover them;
add at the top a tablespoonful of salad oil. Cover the jar tight by
tying leather over it.
MELON MANGOES
Get the late, small, smooth, green melons, they should not be larger
than a teacup; cut out a piece from the stem end large enough to
allow you to take the seeds from the inside; scrape out all the
soft part, and when done, cover with the piece cut out and lay them
in rows in a stone or wooden vessel as you do them. Make a strong
brine of salt and water, pour it over the melons and let them remain
in it twenty-four hours. Prepare the following stuffing: sliced
horseradish, very small cucumbers, nasturtiums, small white onions,
mustard seed, whole pepper, cloves and allspice; scald the pickles
and cull them. Rinse the melons in cold water, then wipe each one dry
and fill it. Put a cucumber, one or two small onions, with sliced
horseradish and mustard seed, into each melon; put on the piece
belonging to it and sew it with a coarse needle and thread; lay them
in a stone pot or wooden vessel, the cut side up; when all are in,
strew over them cloves and pepper, make the vinegar (enough to cover
them) boiling hot, and put it over them, then cover with a folded
towel; let them stand one night, then drain off the vinegar, make it
hot again and pour it on, covering as before. Repeat this scalding
four or five times, until the mangoes are a fine green; three times
is generally enough. Be sure the melons are green and freshly
gathered. The proper sort are the last on the vines, green and firm.
If you wish to keep them till the next summer, choose the most firm,
put in a jar and cover with cold fresh vinegar; tie thick paper over
them.
BREAD AND YEAST
REMARKS ON YEAST
Without good yeast to start with it is impossible to make good bread,
therefore I devote a few moments to this important consideration.
There are several kinds of yeast used for raising bread and rolls.
Brewers’ yeast is given to start with, though too strong for a family
bread. Bakers’ is better, but not always to be had. A housekeeper
should get a little of any good yeast to commence with, and when she
finds it is good, and is well risen and sweet, instead of pouring it
into flour, and baking it, it is better to thicken it with cornmeal,
cut the cakes out, dry in a cool place, and keep the cakes always on
hand for any purpose to which they are suited, _i. e._, in the making
of bread, rolls, pocketbooks, loaf, cake, sally lunn, or any kind of
light biscuit.
TO MAKE RISING WITH YEAST CAKE
Take a heaping spoonful of good yeast cake pounded, one-half a cup
of warm water, a lump of sugar, and enough sifted flour to make a
thick batter. Set this to rise in a cool place in summer, and a warm
place in winter. It will be light and ready to use in about three
hours, unless it is kept very cool. A heaping spoonful is the proper
quantity for one quart of flour; half a cup of lard will make the
bread better and richer. It is well to grease the bread on top before
baking.
TURNPIKE CAKES, COMMONLY CALLED HARD YEAST
Put a cup of hops into a pint of water; when boiling hot, strain it
over a pint of corn-meal; add a teacup of bakers’ yeast, and when
cool roll the dough in flour, and cut it out into cakes, and dry them
for use.
LIQUID YEAST OF PARCHED CORN AND HOPS, WHICH DOES NOT TURN SOUR
Take two teacupfuls of corn, parch it thoroughly, being careful not
to burn it; add a good handful of hops; boil in water enough to cover
well, for an hour and a half. Pare six good-sized potatoes, and boil
them for half an hour with the corn and hops. Sift the potatoes (when
done) through a colander, and strain the liquor through a cloth onto
the potatoes; add a tablespoonful of vinegar, one cup of sugar, and a
half cup of salt; put in cold water enough to make up a gallon. Put
the whole in a jug, having added a teacupful of good yeast to raise
it. Set the jug, without corking, in a warm place till it begins to
“work,” then cork it and put it in the cellar, and the longer it
stands the better it becomes. When wanted for bread, you should (at
noon) take five or six boiled potatoes, mash them very fine, stir in
a teacupful of flour, and pour on a quart of boiling water; then put
in a cup nearly full of yeast, and set the ferment in a warm place
till night; then set a soft sponge, with warm water and flour, adding
the ferment; it will be ready to mould up hard the first thing in the
morning. Let it rise till quite light, then mould it out in loaves,
rise again, and bake in the usual way. The sponge should not be set
near the stove. The superior qualities of this yeast are shown by
the fact that you never use saleratus in the bread, and it never
sours. If the directions are followed, with good flour, you may be
sure of sweet light bread every time.
MISS BEECHER’S POTATO YEAST