To each square of a chocolate cake allow three jills, or a chocolate
cup and a half of boiling water. Scrape down the chocolate with a
knife, and mix it first to a paste with a small quantity of the hot
water; just enough to melt it in. Then put it into a block tin pot with
the remainder of the water, set it on hot coals; cover it, and let it
boil (stirring it twice) till the liquid is one third reduced. Supply
that third with cream or rich milk; stir it again, and take it off the
fire. Serve it up as hot as possible, with dry toast, or dry rusk. It
chills immediately. If you wish it frothed, pour it into the cup, and
twirl round in it the little wooden instrument called a chocolate mill,
till you have covered the top with foam.
TO MAKE TEA.--In buying tea, it is best to get it by the box, of an
importer, that you may be sure of having it fresh, and unmixed with
any that is old and of inferior quality. The box should be kept in a
very dry place. If green tea is good, it will look green in the cup
when poured out. Black tea should be dark coloured and have a fragrant
flowery smell. The best pots for making tea are those of china.
Metal and Wedgwood tea-pots by frequent use will often communicate a
disagreeable taste to the tea. This disadvantage may be remedied in
Wedgwood ware, by occasionally boiling the tea-pots in a vessel of hot
water.
In preparing to make tea, let the pot be twice scalded from the
tea-kettle, which must be boiling hard at the moment the water is
poured on the tea; otherwise it will be weak and insipid, even when a
large quantity is put in. The best way is to have a chafing dish, with
a kettle always boiling on it, in the room where the tea is made. It
is a good rule to allow two heaping tea-spoonfuls of tea to a large
cup-full of water, or two tea-spoonfuls for each grown person that is
to drink tea, and one spoonful extra. The pot being twice scalded, put
in the tea, and pour on the water about ten minutes before you want
to fill the cups, that it may have time to draw or infuse. Have hot
water in another pot, to weaken the cups of those that like it so. That
the second course of cups may be as strong as the first, put some tea
into a cup just before you sit down to table, pour on it a very little
boiling water, (just enough to cover it,) set a saucer over it to keep
in the steam, and let it infuse till you have filled all the first
cups; then add it to that already in the tea-pot, and pour in a little
boiling water from the kettle. Except that it is less convenient for a
large family, a kettle on a chafing dish is better than an urn, as the
water may be kept longer boiling.
In making black tea, use a larger quantity than of green, as it is of
a much weaker nature. The best black teas in general use are pekoe and
pouchong; the best green teas are imperial, young hyson, and gunpowder.
TO MAKE COFFEE--The manner in which coffee is roasted is of great
importance to its flavour. If roasted too little, it will be weak and
insipid; if too much, the taste will be bitter and unpleasant. To have
it very good, it should be roasted immediately before it is made, doing
no more than the quantity you want at that time. It loses much of its
strength by keeping, even in twenty-four hours after roasting. It
should on no consideration be ground till directly before it is made.
Every family should be provided with a coffee roaster, which is an iron
cylinder to stand before the fire, and is either turned by a handle, or
wound up like a jack to go of itself. If roasted in an open pot or pan,
much of the flavour evaporates in the process. Before the coffee is
put into the roaster, it should be carefully examined and picked, lest
there should be stones or bad grains among it. It should be roasted of
a bright brown; and will be improved by putting among it a piece of
butter when about half done.
Watch it carefully while roasting, looking at it frequently.
A coffee-mill affixed to the wall is far more convenient than one that
must be held on the lap. It is best to grind the coffee while warm.
Allow half a pint of ground coffee to one quart of water. If the coffee
is not freshly roasted, you should put in more. Put the water into the
tin coffee-pot, and set it on hot coals; when it boils, put in the
coffee, a spoonful at a time, (stirring it between each spoonful,) and
add two or three chips of isinglass, or the white of an egg. Stir it
frequently, till it has risen up to the top in boiling; then set it a
little farther from the fire, and boil it gently for ten minutes, or a
quarter of an hour; after which pour in a tea-cup of cold water, and
put it in the corner to settle for ten minutes. Scald your silver or
china pot, and transfer the coffee to it; carefully pouring it off from
the grounds, so as not to disturb them.
If coffee is allowed to boil too long, it will lose much of its
strength, and also become sour.
FRENCH COFFEE.--To make coffee without boiling, you must have a biggin,
the best sort of which is what in France is called a Grecque. They are
to be had of various sizes and prices at the tin stores. Coffee made
in this manner is much less troublesome than when boiled, and requires
no white of egg or isinglass to clear it. The coffee should be freshly
roasted and ground. Allow two cupfuls of ground coffee to six cupfuls
of boiling water. Having first scalded the biggin, (which should have
strainers of perforated tin, and not of linen,) put in the coffee, and
pour on the water, which should be boiling hard at the time. Shut down
the lid, place the pot near the fire, and the coffee will be ready as
soon as it has all drained through the coarse and fine strainers into
the receiver below the spout. Scald your china or silver pot, and pour
the coffee into it. But it is best to have a biggin in the form of an
urn, in which the coffee can both be made and brought to table.
For what is called milk coffee,--boil the milk or cream separately;
bring it to table in a covered vessel, and pour it hot into the coffee,
the flavour of which will be impaired if the milk is boiled with it.