I shall say nothing about roast meat, or any of the routine of ordinary

cooking; but I shall confine myself to a few extemporaneous dishes for

the table; and on these occasions the poultry-yard and the dove-cot

will be found of the utmost importance.

Any kind of _poultry_ will be tender if cooked as soon as it is killed,

though it will be tough if kept till the following day; and the

feathers may be removed almost instantaneously by dipping the dead bird

for a moment into boiling water. The only objection to fowls is, that

many persons, particularly gentlemen, are very apt to become tired of

them if they are served too frequently, and it is therefore advisable

to vary the modes of dressing them as much as possible.

Sometimes a forcemeat may be made for roast fowl, by boiling about a

dozen and a half of sweet chestnuts, and pounding part of them with

the boiled liver of the fowl, and about a quarter of a pound of bacon,

adding parsley and sweet herbs chopped very fine, with pepper, salt,

and other spices, to the taste. Fill both the body and the crop with

this mixture, and then roast the fowl; when it is done, make a sauce

by pounding the remaining chestnuts very smooth, and putting them with

a few spoonfuls of gravy and a glass of white wine into some melted

butter. The sauce is generally poured over the fowl when it is served

up.

_A broiled fowl_ should be split open at the back, and made as flat as

possible, and sometimes the breast-bone is removed. The thick parts are

generally scored, and seasoned with salt and pepper, after which it is

laid on the gridiron with the inside of the fowl next the fire. The

fowl is, however, very much improved by putting it, after it has been

split down and seasoned with pepper and salt, into a stewpan, with a

little butter, and only enough water to prevent it from burning. When

the fowl has stewed in this manner for about twenty minutes, it should

be laid for about five minutes over the fire on a gridiron previously

made quite hot, and served with a sauce made of the liquor in the

stewpan, flavoured with mushroom catsup, or in any other way that may

be preferred. Fresh mushrooms stewed and added to the liquor are a

great improvement to this dish.

_For a Dunelm of chickens._ Take a few mushrooms, peeled as if for

stewing; mince them very small, and put to them some butter, salt,

and cream. When put into a saucepan, stir over a gentle fire till the

mushrooms are nearly done; then add the white part of a roasted fowl,

after being minced very small. When sufficiently heated, it may be

served up. If fresh mushrooms cannot be had, a very small quantity of

mushroom powder or a little catsup may supply their place.

The French frequently put some rice tied quite loosely in a cloth into

the pot with a fowl, when it is to be boiled; and, when the fowl is

sufficiently done, they cut it up and _fricassee_ it, by putting the

pieces into a casserole, with a lump of butter worked into a paste with

a dessert-spoonful of flour and a wine-glassful of water, and the same

quantity of new milk, with salt, white pepper, mace, &c., to the taste.

Sometimes they add mushrooms, and sometimes small Welsh onions, and

artichoke bottoms which have been previously boiled, to the fricassée;

and sometimes they make the sauce much richer by adding to it the yolks

of four eggs well beaten, in which case they generally put in a little

lemon-juice or a very small quantity of vinegar, just before serving

up. In the mean time, a little salt is thrown into the water in which

the fowl was boiled, and the rice is kept simmering in it till the fowl

is ready. The rice is then drained, and, being taken out of the cloth,

is heaped round a dish in the centre of which the fricassée is put.

When the dish is wished to be of a superior description, only the best

parts of the fowl are used, and the back and side bones are kept back.

_Pigeons_ are still more useful in extemporaneous cooking than fowls,

as, being smaller, they are sooner cooked; besides, they are said to

lose their flavour when kept. They are very good roasted, either plain

or larded (that is, covered with slices of fat bacon, over which are

put vine leaves tied on with string): and when the pigeons are nearly

done, the string and the remains of the larding are taken off, and

the birds browned before the fire. Sometimes they are stuffed with

forcemeat before roasting. Another way of dressing pigeons is to cut

each in two, and put them into a casserole with a little butter and

a few slices of bacon. The casserole should then be held over the

fire for a few minutes, shaking it frequently to prevent the pigeons

from burning; and, as soon as they have acquired a light brown, a few

green peas should be added, and a sufficient quantity of the simple

kind of stock I first mentioned poured over them to cover the whole.

The pigeons should now stew gradually till they are done, and then a

lump of butter worked into a paste with flour should be put into the

casserole, to thicken the gravy before dishing up. This is a French

dish called _Pigeons aux petits pots_; and the following is another,

which is called _Pigeons à la crapaudine_. It is made by splitting

pigeons down the back, and flattening them as much as can be done

without breaking the bones too much. The pieces are then rubbed over

with oil, salt, and pepper; and, some crumbs of bread having been

prepared and mixed with parsley and Welsh onions chopped very fine,

they are rolled in the mixture so as to be covered with it as much as

possible, and then broiled. Sometimes the pieces of pigeon are dipped

in yolk of egg instead of oil. They are served with a sauce made of

shallots chopped fine, and mixed with pepper, salt, and vinegar, with a

little melted butter or oil.

_Ducks_ and _geese_ are generally best plain roasted with green peas,

or with apple or onion sauce. Dr. Hunter, however, gives the following

receipt for a savoury sauce for a roasted goose:--"A table-spoonful

of made mustard, half a tea-spoonful of Cayenne pepper, and three

spoonfuls of port wine. This mixture is to be made quite hot, and

poured into the body of the goose through a slit in the apron, just

before serving up."

_Game_ is generally very abundant in a country house. _Hares_ may be

either roasted, jugged, or made into soup. _Pheasants_ are generally

roasted, either larded or plain. Dr. Hunter recommends the inside to

be stuffed with the lean part of a sirloin of beef, minced small and

seasoned with pepper and salt.

_Partridges_ are cooked in various ways in France; but in England

they are generally either roasted, or dressed in the French way with

cabbages. The following is the French receipt for dressing _Perdrix

aux choux_. Take two partridges, and put them into a casserole with

butter, a very little flour, three cupfuls of gravy, a quarter of a

pound of fat bacon cut into dice, a little bunch of sweet herbs and

a laurel leaf, and let them stew gradually. In the mean time boil a

savoy cabbage with three quarters of a pound of pickled pork, or two

spoonfuls of dripping, filling the pot with water. When the savoy is

tender, take it out and drain it, and then put it into the casserole

with the partridges; let the whole stew for about half an hour, and

then serve it quite hot. Sometimes a carrot is cut in round slices and

stewed with the partridges, and this is a great improvement. Care must

be taken to remove the bundle of sweet herbs and the laurel leaf before

adding the cabbage, as otherwise it might be difficult to find them,

and they would not look well if sent to table. Brussels' sprouts may

be used instead of a savoy, and they render the dish more delicate. A

half-roasted duck may be stewed in this way instead of the partridges,

and is excellent.

Any kind of cold game makes an excellent _salad_, the meat being cut

from the bones and mixed with lettuces cut small, and dressed in the

usual manner. The French add capers, anchovies, or any other seasoning,

to salads, and garnish them with the flowers of the nasturtium and the

borage, which may be eaten without danger.

A _Magnonnaise_ is a salad with alternate rows of cold fowl or roast

veal, and lettuce, hard eggs cut in quarter slices, or carrot, or

beet, gherkins, anchovy, &c. Cold potatoes cut in slices, and dressed

with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, make an excellent salad, which

may be varied by the addition of fine herbs, slices of beet-root,

or anchovies taken from the bones and chopped fine. _Boulettes_ of

cold meat, chopped small, and mixed with crumbs of bread or mashed

potatoes, are also very useful _impromptu_ dishes. The mixed meat and

bread or potatoes is seasoned with pepper, salt, a little parsley,

and other herbs, and a shallot or two cut very small; the yolk of an

egg or two is then added, and the mixture is made into balls, which

are just glazed over with white of egg, and then fried; after which

they are served with a little gravy or sauce of any kind, or covered

with parsley put before the fire till it is quite crisp. Cold potatoes

may also be cut in slices and warmed in a casserole, with some butter

mixed first in a plate with a little flour, some parsley cut very fine,

pepper and salt, and a very little lemon-juice or vinegar: this is

called _à la maître d'hôtel_. They may also be cut in slices and fried,

and then served with _sauce blanche_.

_Sauce blanche_ is made by mixing butter with some flour on a plate,

and then putting it into a casserole with a little water. It should be

held over the fire, and frequently shaken, till it boils; it is then

taken off the fire, and a little salt and vinegar thrown in; after

which it is again shaken, and held over the fire till it is quite hot,

but not boiling, when it is served. Some cooks add a little of the yolk

of eggs, well beaten up with the salt and vinegar. _Carrots_ are very

good boiled, and then cut in slices, and dressed _à la maître d'hôtel_,

or fried and served with _sauce blanche_ like potatoes. Carrots are

also very good cut into small pieces and stewed till they are tender,

with a little butter, and only just enough water or gravy to prevent

them from burning. A sauce is made of the yolk of an egg beaten up with

some cream, a little salt being added, and it is poured on the carrots;

the saucepan is then again put on the fire, and when the whole is quite

hot it is served.

It may be useful here to mention two or three kinds of sauce which may

be used either for cold meat or fish; and also some of the ways the

French have of dressing cold fowl or veal, which are very nice.

_Dutch sour sauce._ Take the yolks of two eggs, a lump of butter, a

little bit of mace, and a table-spoonful of good white-wine vinegar.

Put all together into a saucepan over a gentle fire, and keep stirring

all one way till the sauce is thick enough for use.

_Onion sauce._ Melt some butter in a little thick cream, but add

neither water nor flour. Boil the onions, and take two coats from their

outsides. Chop the inside smooth, and put them into the melted butter,

with salt to the taste. Stir one way over the fire for a quarter of

an hour, and send up the sauce quite hot. Another way is to boil the

onions soft, and to rub their pulp through a cullender or coarse sieve

before adding it to the butter.

_Sauce à la Bechamel_ is made by putting sliced onions and carrots into

a saucepan with a little butter and flour and a pint of cream; pepper,

salt, and nutmeg are added, with mushrooms and finely chopped parsley,

if desired. The whole is suffered to stew gently three quarters of an

hour, and then it is strained and thickened with a liaison of yolks of

eggs. Another kind is made by adding an equal quantity of veal stock to

the cream; and dressing any dish _à la bechamel_ means serving it up

with a white sauce; either made as above or in any other way, provided

it consists principally of cream or thickened milk.

_Sauce velouté_ is a white sauce, the base of which is veal stock

instead of cream.

_A Liaison of eggs_ is made by taking some fresh eggs (it is essential

that they should be quite fresh), and separating the white carefully

from the yolk. The yolks are then beaten up, and two or three spoonfuls

of the liquor they are wanted to thicken is added to them, stirring

them carefully. The saucepan is then taken off the fire while the eggs

are gradually mixed with its contents, and only put on the fire again

for a minute, carefully stirring the contents so as to make them quite

hot, but not boiling, before they are served up.

_Sauce à la Tartare_ is mixed by putting shallots and other herbs cut

very fine, with mustard, salt, pepper, oil, and a little vinegar. The

ingredients are all mixed well together and served cold, or they may

be made hot for fish.

_A Blanquette_ is made by cutting cold meat into thin slices, and then

putting it into a saucepan with a lump of butter, a little flour,

pepper, salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a little gravy. Simmer it

gently five minutes, and then put the meat into a dish; and after

thickening the sauce with the yolks of eggs beaten up with a very small

quantity of vinegar, and putting it over the fire for a minute, pour it

quite hot over the meat.

_A Marinade_ is made by stewing the remains of a fowl or slices of

cold meat with butter or oil, vinegar, pepper, salt, onions, and sweet

herbs; and then draining the pieces, dipping them in white of egg, and

flouring them or covering them with bread crumbs, and frying them.

_A Capilotade_ is a brown fricassée or hash, and a _Terrine_ is a pie

baked in a dish, but without crust.

_Croustades_ are pieces of stale, firm bread, cut like sippets, but

much thicker, and hollowed out into the centre, keeping the piece cut

out to serve as a lid. The croustades are then fried a fine brown, and

while hot they are filled with minced fowl or veal; or if a sweet dish

is required, with some kind of marmalade or jam made hot.

_Omelettes_ are always a great addition to a dinner table, and they are

easily made. The following is the French receipt for the _Omelettes

aux fines herbes_. Take any quantity of eggs and beat them well, adding

pepper, salt, parsley, and any other herbs, with a few shallots or

small onions chopped very fine. Melt enough butter in a frying-pan to

cover the bottom of the frying-pan with liquid, and when it is boiling

pour in the omelette, and fry it till it becomes a fine brown. When

served, fold it so that only the brown side may be seen, and pour over

it a kind of sauce made by putting a little butter, flour, and catsup

in the pan, and shaking it for a few minutes over the fire; or a little

gravy may be heated and poured over it. The frying-pan should not be

too large, as an omelette should always be rather thick. About six or

eight eggs will make an omelette of the ordinary size, and about two

ounces of butter will be required for frying it. Other omelettes may

be made by omitting the herbs, and adding mushrooms cut very small,

or mushroom-powder, grated ham, grated cheese, or, in fact, any other

substance that may be thought desirable.

Dr. Hunter gives the following receipt for a _Potato omelette_. Take

three ounces of potatoes mashed, and add to them the yolks of five

eggs, and the whites of three. Add white pepper, salt, and nutmeg to

the taste. Fry in butter, and serve up with clear gravy, to which

some add a little lemon-juice. Sweet omelettes may be made by adding

to the eggs orange-flower water, and sugar, or grated lemon-peel and

sugar, or marmalade of apples or apricots, or raspberry or currant jam.

The omelette is then fried in the usual way; but it is usually served

without doubling it up, sugar being grated over the upper side after it

is put in the dish, which is then set in front of the fire for a few

minutes, or the omelette is browned by holding over it a flat red-hot

iron called a salamander.

The following is a receipt for making an _Omelette soufflée_, taken

from a French cookery book. Break six eggs; separate the whites

from the yolks, and beat up the latter with four ounces of grated

lump-sugar, and a little orange-flower water, or the rind of a lemon

cut very fine, or grated. Then beat the whites of the eggs into a

froth, and mix them quickly with the yolks, and pour them into a dish

in which two ounces of butter have been melted, and which is quite hot;

hold a salamander over the eggs for about five minutes, when they will

rise in blisters; then, sprinkling a little powdered sugar over the

dish, serve it quite hot, without losing a moment, as, if it be allowed

to cool, the puffed up part will fall, and the appearance of the dish

will be spoiled. When this dish is made in England, the butter is

generally melted in a frying-pan, into which the eggs are poured, and

suffered to fry for a minute or two, after which the omelette is put

into a hot dish, and set in the oven to rise. A little grated sugar is

then sprinkled over it, and it is served immediately.

Apples and apricots cut in slices and dipped in a light batter make a

very agreeable addition to a small dinner; and the flowers of the Judas

tree, and vine leaves, sugared and steeped in brandy, and the young

shoots of the vegetable marrow, all make nice dishes when dipped in

batter and fried.

_Frangipane_ is made by beating up two or three eggs, and then adding

to them two spoonfuls of flour, mixed quite smooth with a little milk.

Put the whole into a casserole, and set it on the fire for a quarter

of an hour, shaking it continually that the frangipane may not burn.

The dish may be flavoured with sugar, orange-flower water, or crushed

macaroons; and it is eaten with tarts or preserved fruit.

_Fromage à la crème_ is a very elegant addition to the dessert. It

is made by taking a pint of new milk, and adding to it a spoonful of

rennet, and keeping it warm till the curd rises; the curd is then

carefully taken up without breaking it, and laid in a wicker basket,

or on a sieve, to drain. When nearly all the whey has run off, it is

served with cream poured round it, and sugar grated on the top.

For _Syllabubs_, to one quart of cream put the rinds and juice of two

lemons, a teacupful of white wine, two table-spoonfuls of brandy, a

little nutmeg, and sugar to the taste; and then whip them to a froth

with a whisk.

A _Devonshire syllabub_, or _junket_, is made by putting a pint of

cider, with two table-spoonfuls of brandy, and sugar to the taste,

into a large bowl, and milking upon it till the bowl is nearly full.

In twenty minutes some clotted cream is heaped up in the middle of

the dish, and powdered cinnamon, grated nutmeg, and Harlequin comfits

strewed over the top. When cider cannot be procured, half a pint of

port is used instead, omitting the brandy; and when a cow is not

accessible, lukewarm milk poured from a coffee-pot spout, held up as

high as possible, will do almost as well.

For _impromptu Cheesecakes_. Take a quarter of a pound of butter, and

the same quantity of pounded lump-sugar, two eggs well beaten, and the

juice of a lemon, with the grated rind. Beat the butter into a cream,

and mix the whole well together. Then put some light puff paste in

pattypans, and drop a little of the mixture into each. Another way of

making impromptu cheesecakes is with butter, sugar, and sweet almonds,

taking of each a quarter of a pound, and adding the yolks of four eggs,

with the white of two, and the grated rind of a lemon.

_Common Cheesecakes_ made with curd take more time to prepare, but

are, I think, better; they are made by turning some milk with rennet

into curd, as if for making cheese, and then beating three quarters of

a pound of the curd, which should be quite dry so as to crumble, with

five ounces of butter till the mixture is quite smooth. Two ounces of

sweet almonds and five or six bitter ones, pounded in a mortar, and

mixed with four ounces of lump-sugar, crushed and sifted, should be

added; and the whole should be moistened with the yolks of four, and

the whites of two eggs beaten up with three spoonfuls of cream, two of

brandy, and a little nutmeg. The pattypans should be rather large, and

rubbed with butter before the paste is put into them, and the space

left for the curd should be filled quite full. These cheesecakes should

be baked about twenty minutes, and they are excellent. As I have said

you are to line your pattypans with puff paste, you will probably now

ask how it is to be made. There are numerous receipts given in the

cookery books, and I really don't know which is the best; but I will

tell you how I have seen most excellent paste made when I was a girl,

by one of the best plain cooks I ever met with.

For _Puff Paste_, the flour was put in a wide earthen pan set before

the fire, till it was quite warm, turning it frequently with the hands.

A little butter was then rubbed into the flour, and enough warm water

was added to make the whole into a very smooth and even paste, every

lump in the flour having been carefully crumbled in the process of

mixing. The paste was rolled out rather thick, and little bits of

butter stuck all over it; flour was then dusted over the butter, and

the paste was folded up so as to cover the flour. This was repeated as

often as required, and half a pound of butter to a pound of flour was

considered to make a very rich crust, a quarter of a pound of butter to

a pound of flour being the usual proportion.

_Short_ or _Sugar Paste_ was made by rubbing two ounces of lump-sugar,

crushed by a rolling-pin so as to be very fine, into a pound of dry

flour, and adding three ounces of butter, both the butter and the sugar

being so mixed as to leave no lumps. The yolks of two eggs were then

beaten up well, with some cream, and added to the flour, so as to make

it into a paste, and if more moisture was required, milk or cream was

used, but no water. This paste only required rolling out once, and it

was delicious.

In some of the modern cookery books equal quantities of butter and

flour, in addition to the yolks of two eggs, are recommended for rich

puff paste; and it is directed that the greater part of the butter

should be made into a ball, and the buttermilk having been squeezed

out of it, it should be put into the crust and covered with it, like

an apple in making an apple-dumpling. The crust is then to be floured

and rolled out five or six times. I have never tried this paste, and

I should think it would be difficult to make. Regular pastrycooks, I

am told, use oil, which they mix with the flour without any water; and

lard or dripping is often used in large families to save butter. Eggs

give a great richness to paste; but when used the whites should be

omitted, as they are apt to make the paste hard.

Having thus broken through my determination to give you only receipts

for impromptu cookery, I think I must give you a few hints on what may

be called National Cookery, or, in other words, that I may teach you

how to make the favourite dishes of most of the nations of Europe. I

do this principally to amuse you, and to enable you to produce variety

in your entertainments, as the greatest enemy you have to dread is

monotony; but you may occasionally find it useful to know how to

produce the favourite dishes of foreigners, when you have to entertain

them.

_The Pot au Feu_ is the popular soup of France, which is found in

every house, from the prince to the peasant: it is made by putting a

solid piece of beef into cold water, in the proportion of one pound of

meat to a quart of water, and letting it simmer in an earthen pot on

a hot hearth for six hours, taking off the scum as it rises. A little

salt is thrown in after the liquor has begun to simmer, and carrots,

cabbage, an onion or two, and any other vegetable that may be in

season are put in, after the scum, caused by the addition of the salt,

has been taken off. This pottage can never be made properly unless

wood is burned in the kitchen, as it requires to be kept constantly

simmering, but never boiling rapidly during the whole of the six hours;

and this can scarcely be accomplished with a tin kettle or saucepan

placed at the side of a coal fire. In France they generally use a

piece of the rump for the _pot au feu_, as they have their meat (which

they call _bouilli_) sent to table, with the best of the vegetables,

taken carefully out of the liquor, laid round it. The soup is then

strained off and poured quite hot on a slice of bread, either toasted

or untoasted, according to taste, which is laid at the bottom of the

tureen. Sometimes, instead of using bread, the pottage is served plain;

or vermicelli is added in the proportion of from one to two ounces to

each quart of soup. The vermicelli is put into a saucepan, and enough

of the bouillon to cover it is strained over it, and it is stewed very

gently for about half an hour, so as to be ready to add to the soup

when it is put into the tureen. In winter, instead of vegetables, rice

is frequently put into the _pot au feu_ about two hours before it is

served up; or it is stewed for about an hour in a separate saucepan,

and added when the pottage is served up.

_Macaroni_ is the national dish of Italy, and it is prepared by

covering it with ten times its volume of boiling water, and letting it

remain till it becomes soft. When this is the case, some salt is thrown

into the water, and the saucepan is held over the fire for a minute,

till the liquid begins to bubble, when cold water is thrown in to stop

the ebullition: the macaroni is then drained, and placed in a dish

alternately with small bits of butter, pepper, and grated cheese; or,

instead of butter, gravy of any kind may be used, or tomato sauce. The

Italians use the same kind of soup as the French, but they always serve

a dish of grated cheese to eat with it; and sometimes they add parsley

chopped very small to the potage before serving it. The cheese used

in Italy is either Parmesan or Gruyere, but any strong flavoured, dry

cheese will do.

_Sauer kraut_ is the national dish of Germany, and it is made from

very large close cabbages, which are deprived of their outer leaves

so as to leave only the hard white part, or head. The first process

of preparing them is to scoop out the interior part of the stalk with

an iron instrument or scoop; they are then cut into small shreds by a

wooden machine, composed of a flat board or tray, which has a ledge on

two sides, to steady a box or frame, into which the cabbages are put.

In the middle of the board are four flat pieces of steel, similar to

the steel part of a spokeshave, placed in an oblique direction, and the

near edge of each being a little raised up, with small spaces between

each, to let the shreds fall down into a tub placed underneath to

receive them. The cabbages are then put into the box before described,

which is pushed backwards and forwards, when the cabbages, being cut

by the steel, fall in small shreds into the tub placed below. A barrel

stands ready to receive them when cut, the sides of which are first

washed with vinegar. A man stands on a chair by the barrel, with clean

wooden shoes on, whose business it is to salt and prepare them, which

is done in the following manner:--The man first takes as much of the

cut cabbage as covers about four inches above the bottom; he next

strews upon it two handfuls of salt, one handful of unground pepper,

and a small quantity of salad oil; he then gets into the barrel, and

treads it down with his wooden shoes till it is well mixed and compact.

He next takes another layer of cabbage, and puts salt and pepper on

it as before, and treads it again, and so goes on till the barrel is

filled. A board is then placed on it, and upon the board some very

heavy weights are put, and it remains so ten or fifteen days, when it

partially ferments, and a great deal of water swims on the surface: it

is then put into the cellar for use. The men who prepare sauer kraut

are Tyrolese, and carry their machine on their backs from house to

house.

In the annexed sketch (fig. 6.), _a_ is the cutting-tray, _b_ the box

into which the cabbages are put, _c_ the scoop, and _d_ the tub into

which the shreds fall.

[Illustration: Fig. 6. _Cabbage-cutter for Sauer kraut._]

_The Beet-root soup called Barszcz or Barch_ is the national dish

of Poland. It is made by putting the siftings of rye into a barrel,

and filling it with warm water in the proportion of three quarts of

siftings to four or five gallons of water. The barrel is set in a warm

closet heated to about 70°, and soon begins to ferment. In twelve

hours it is ready for use. The liquor is then strained off, and set

near the fire, with any meat or poultry that may be required. When

the meat is sufficiently stewed it is taken out of the soup, which,

after it has been well skimmed and strained, is mixed with a pint of

cream in which four table-spoonfuls of flour have been beaten up, and

into which a red beet-root has been grated. The soup is then set on

the fire for a minute, and when quite hot it is served up. The meat is

served on a separate dish, and it is garnished with another beet-root

cut in slices, and dried mushrooms which have been previously boiled in

a separate saucepan. Another much superior kind of barch, (which may

be called a _beet purée_,) is made by boiling several roots of beet,

taking care not to break the skin, so that they may preserve their

bright red. When quite soft they are taken out of the water, peeled,

and rubbed through a sieve. Half a pound of flour is mixed with a

quart of thick sour cream, and added to five or six pounds' weight of

pulp, and this is thinned with stock from any kind of meat previously

boiled and strained. The whole is then suffered to simmer till the raw

taste of the flour is gone off, and it is then served quite hot. It

should be of the colour and consistency of raspberry cream, and, when

properly made, it is delicious. Both these receipts were given to me by

an English lady now residing in Poland, so that you may rely upon them

as being genuine; and the following receipts for Spanish dishes were

procured for me by a friend from a gentleman who is a native of Spain.

_The Olla Podrida_ is decidedly the national dish of Spain, and,

prepared according to the receipt I am going to give you, it is really

excellent. It is composed of the following ingredients:--a fowl, pieces

of beef, mutton, veal, and bacon; half a Spanish sausage, and some

garvanzos (Spanish peas). The garvanzos should be soaked all night in,

warm water and a little salt. Next morning the whole of the above are

to be slowly boiled together for three hours or more; add some onion,

one or two cloves, salt, carrot, garlic, and open cabbages. Pour the

soup upon _very thin pieces_ of bread, not toasted. After the soup, the

vegetables, bacon, and sausage are served on one dish, and the fowl

and meat on another. Sometimes vermicelli or rice is put into the soup

instead of the thin pieces of bread; but the bread appears to be most

generally used.

_To make a Puchero_, put from two to six pounds of beef into a

stew-pan, adding a quart of water for every pound of meat. Place the

saucepan on a moderate fire, which should be gradually increased in

force so that the scum may be carefully removed, which should be done

as it rises to the surface until no more of it appears. The saucepan

is then to be left on a fire, kept uniformly moderate, for the space

of four hours. When it has boiled two hours, put into it three carrots

of moderate size, two turnips, four leeks, and a parsnep, each cut in

half, a handful of parsley, more or less, a roasted onion pierced with

two or three cloves, and a good proportion of salt. Warm water must

be occasionally added, according as the soup evaporates. The above,

with the addition of a whole fowl, or even the half of a chicken only,

the giblets of a turkey, or a bone of roast lamb, makes an excellent

dish in the class of plain cooking. There should be put in this dish

some garvanzos soaked in warm water the previous night, and put into

the saucepan as soon as the soup begins to get warm. A piece of ham or

bacon, or a piece of the Spanish sausage, should be put in at the same

time as the vegetables.

_A Scotch haggis._ Take the large stomach of a sheep. After being

nicely cleaned, put it to soak in cold water for a night. Boil the

pluck of a sheep till it becomes very tender; mince it small, together

with a large portion of suet, and season with white pepper, salt, and a

little onion shred small; add a quart of the liquor in which the pluck

was boiled, and as much oatmeal, previously browned before the fire, as

will make the mixture as thick as batter. The ingredients are then put

into the stomach, which must be firmly sewed, to keep out the water;

and, after boiling for three hours, it is served up in a deep dish.

Though the pluck is here mentioned generally, we must observe that

neither the liver, nor what is called the cat's-piece or spleen, is to

be used. When the haggis comes to table a portion of the skin where it

is sewed is taken up with a fork, and a hole is made by cutting the

skin all round it. If the haggis has been properly made the gravy will

spurt out to a great height the moment the skin is pierced.

_Scotch barley broth_ is considered best when made with a sheep's head,

the wool from which has been singed off with a red-hot iron. This

operation requires great care, as every particle of the wool should be

removed, and yet no impression should be made on the skin. When singed

the head should be soaked in water all night. In the morning it is

scraped and washed, and then it is split open, and the brains taken

out. Some persons rub the brains over the skin of the head to remove

the blackness; but others do not like either the broth or the head

unless both are black. When properly prepared it is put into a kettle

with some turnips and carrots cut small, some onions, and some salt;

and a gallon of water should be added, in which a teacupful of Scotch

or pearl barley has been boiled slowly for half an hour. The whole

should then be boiled very gently for two or three hours, or longer,

in a close kettle. When served the soup should not be strained, but

only the head should be taken out and served on a separate dish, and

the broth should be sent to table with the barley and vegetables in it.

The meat on the head should be quite tender and thoroughly done. If the

taste of the head be disliked, the soup may be made by adding to the

stewed barley, the vegetables, and three pounds of the lean end of a

neck of mutton, instead of the head. A pint of green peas may also be

added, if in season.

_A Scotch hotch-potch._ Take equal quantities of fresh beef and mutton,

a pound and a half of each to three pints of water; chop them finely,

and let them simmer gently in a stew-pan. When the meat is tender,

season with salt and pepper, and add a peck of green peas, three or

four or more carrots, two cauliflowers, a few onions, and any other

vegetable that may be in season, cutting them small, and dredging them

with flour. The whole should stew gradually till the vegetables are

tender, when it should be served without straining. In the winter, when

other vegetables are scarce, potatoes may be substituted for some of

them; but carrots should always be most abundant.

_For an Irish stew._ Take four pounds of potatoes, and a pound and a

half of meat, with a few onions, and one carrot, which will make a good

stew for six or seven persons. The meat must be cut into small pieces;

if it is half mutton it will be all the better; add about three pints

of water. When the greater portion of the potatoes are in pulp, it will

be done. Season it with salt and pepper.

_The English national dishes_ are, I suppose, roast beef and plum

pudding. I need not tell you how to roast your beef, but I may give you

a receipt for a pudding under it, as I think puddings of that kind are

peculiar to England.

_For an excellent Yorkshire pudding,_ take six eggs, six heaped

table-spoonfuls of flour, and one tea-spoonful of salt. Beat the eggs

well, strain them, and mix them with the flour, and then add gradually

about a pint of milk, so as to make the whole into a rather thin

batter. Warm the pan, and rub it with dripping or butter before the

batter is poured into it, and let the batter be about an inch thick.

When the pudding is browned on one side cut it into quarters, or eight

pieces, and turn them to brown the other. In some places the pudding

is made very thin, and not turned; and sometimes currants are added. A

plainer pudding may be made with half a pound of flour, a tea-spoonful

of salt, three eggs, and a pint of milk.

_For a Plum pudding,_ take suet, flour, currants, and stoned raisins,

one pound each, the grated rind of a lemon, four eggs, a wine-glassful

of brandy, and as much milk as is required to make it of a proper

consistence. It should be boiled eight or nine hours in either a cloth

or a mould, and served with wine sauce.

_Sir Joseph Brookes's Plum pudding._ "Take the crumb of a twopenny

loaf, six ounces of suet, two apples grated, three ounces of sugar,

the rind of a lemon grated, a little candied orange, half a pound of

currants, two table-spoonfuls of flour, the yolks of four eggs, half a

nutmeg, a little ginger, and three table-spoonfuls of brandy. Mix all

well together, and boil two hours. Eight ounces of apple or gooseberry

pulp, with five ounces of sugar, may be substituted for the suet."

_Mr. Sopwith's Victoria pudding._ "Take half a pound of flour, half

a pound of currants, a quarter of a pound of suet shred very fine, a

quarter of a pound of moist sugar, half a pound of mashed potatoes, a

quarter of a pound of carrots boiled and beaten smooth, and one ounce

of lemon-peel. Mix all well together the night before the pudding is

wanted, and boil it four hours." Another similar pudding is made as

follows:--"Take of flour, suet chopped fine, currants, raisins, and

grated carrot, half a pound of each; mix the ingredients well together,

without any liquid, and boil five hours. A little grated lemon-peel may

be added, and the pudding should be served with sweet sauce poured over

it."

I shall now give you a few miscellaneous receipts of various kinds,

which I know to be good.

_A Charlotte de pommes_ is a French apple pudding, made by lining a

mould or dish with thin slices of stale bread that have been dipped in

clarified butter. The middle is then filled with apples, stewed as if

for sauce; and a piece of bread being laid on the top, the charlotte is

baked with fire above and below.

_A French Apple pudding_ is made by baking or stewing some apples with

sugar till they become a sort of marmalade. A custard is then made of

half a pound of sweet almonds, blanched and pounded smooth, with an

ounce of bitter ones, half a pint of cream, the yolks of two eggs, and

the white of one, and poured over the apples, which should then be

baked in a slow oven. As this is what is called a French apple pudding

in England, it may amuse you to give you now what is called an English

apple pudding in France; it is as follows:--Take twelve moderate-sized

apples, pare and core them, and then put them into a saucepan with four

or five table-spoonfuls of water. Stew them till they are soft, and

then mix them with half a pound of powdered lump sugar, the juice of

three lemons, and the grated rind of two, and the yolks of eight eggs

well beaten. Mix all well together; cover a dish with a light puff

paste, and pour the mixture into it. Put it into the oven, and bake it

half an hour.

_A Parsnep pudding_ is made by boiling two parsneps, draining the water

from them, mashing them, and adding grated bread, the yolks of two

eggs, sugar and spice to the taste, and a little cream; the whole, when

mixed, is poured into a light puff paste, and baked.

_Mr. Sopwith's Almond pudding._ Take five or six bitter almonds,

blanched, and pound them in a mortar, with seven or eight pieces of

lump sugar. Then beat up the yolks of two, and the whites of three

eggs, and add them to the almonds and sugar, with two spoonfuls

of cream made lukewarm. Pour the whole into a mould or basin well

buttered, and steam it for twenty minutes.

To make a _Cabinet pudding_. Butter a pudding basin, and line the

inside with a layer of raisins that have been previously stoned. Then

cut some thin bread and butter, taking off the crust, and fill the

basin with it. In another basin beat up three eggs, and add to them

a pint of milk, with sugar and spice; mix all well together, and

pour the whole into the first basin upon the bread and butter. Let

it stand half an hour, and then tie a floured cloth over it in the

usual manner, taking care that the basin is quite full. This is a most

delicious pudding; and when turned out of the basin it has a singular

appearance, the outside being quite covered with raisins.

For _Lemon cream_. Take a quart of lemonade made very sweet, strain

it, and put it in a saucepan on the fire. Add the yolks of eight eggs

beaten, and stir it always one way till it is of a proper thickness.

Serve it in custard-glasses, or in a cream-dish. To make the lemonade,

dissolve five ounces of sugar in two pints of boiling water, having

previously, with part of the sugar, rubbed the yellow rind off a lemon;

then add the juice of three lemons. Some persons put the lemon and

sugar into a jug, and pour the boiling water upon them.

_Rice flummery_, which is a very nice side dish, is made by mixing

a quarter of a pound of ground rice with a little cold milk, and

then adding a pint of hot milk which has been boiled with a stick of

cinnamon and a bit of lemon-peel; add sugar to the taste, and, if

required, a few drops of essence of almonds. Boil it up, stirring it

carefully, and then pour it into a mould.

_Dutch flummery_ is made by boiling two ounces of isinglass in three

half-pints of water very gently for half an hour. Strain the liquor,

and add a few lumps of sugar which have been rubbed on the rind of two

lemons, and the juice of three lemons strained; then beat the yolks

of seven eggs, and add them gradually. Put the whole over the fire,

and stir it carefully, all one way, till it boils, and then pour it

into a mould, or put it first into a basin to settle before putting it

into the mould. The whites of the eggs beaten up to a froth will look

very pretty over preserves; or they may be coloured with some kind of

preserve, to form a dish.

The following is a receipt to make _Rice cream_, which was sent to me

by a friend, and is said to be most excellent. Take a quarter of a

pound of ground rice, one quart of cream, the peel of a lemon, and a

small piece of butter. Put all into a stewpan, and place it over the

fire, stirring it carefully till it boils, when it should be of about

the same thickness as bread sauce. After boiling two minutes, add a

spoonful of prepared isinglass, and turn it out, as you would any other

cream. Send it to table with a little raspberry or currant syrup.

_Blancmange_ may be made quickly by boiling, or rather simmering, two

ounces of isinglass in three pints of milk till it is dissolved, which

will be in about half an hour. Then strain it into a pint and a half of

cream; sweeten it, and add a little peach-water, to give the flavour of

almonds. Let it boil up once, and then stand a few minutes to settle

before it is put into the moulds. Use tin moulds, and set them in cold

pump-water changing the water when it becomes warm, and the blancmange

will very soon be quite firm.

I will now give you a few miscellaneous receipts, and then I think you

will have had enough; for I know, as far as my own experience goes, I

have always felt perplexed, when I have taken up a cookery book, by the

great number of receipts which I found in it, and all of which appeared

to me so excellent that I knew not which to choose. I have, naturally

enough, supposed you to have the same feeling; and thus, in what I have

written, I have endeavoured as much as possible to save you the trouble

of selection, by giving you only such dishes as I either know to be

good myself, or which have been given to me by friends I can fully rely

upon. But I am forgetting your receipts; they are as follow:--

To make _Potato flour_ or _starch_, to serve also instead of

arrow-root. Peel and wash the potatoes, cutting out all the specks;

then grate or rasp them into a pan of water; stir it up well, and let

it remain for about ten hours, or till all the flour is settled down.

Then pour off the water with the fibrous parts of the potatoes, and put

some fresh water to the flour, which, as it settles very hard, must be

well stirred and strained into another pan, where let it remain till it

is again settled down, and so do till the water is quite clear, which

will be in four or five times mixing in fresh water; once straining

is sufficient. When clear enough, break the flour up into a dish, and

dry it gently before the fire; it takes a good while, as it must be

thoroughly dried and broken into a fine powder. It may then be put away

for use, and keeps a long time. Very small potatoes answer the purpose

as well as large; and, when persons grow them, it uses up those that

are too small for boiling. Ten ounces and a half of starch have been

produced from very small potatoes, which weighed only seven pounds and

a half before peeling them. When this flour is made on a large scale,

the potatoes may be washed, and then ground in a cider-mill without

paring.

_To pickle Lemons._ Grate off the rind, then lay them in salt for

six days; boil vinegar with a little turmeric, and pour over them

boiling; let them stand till next day; then boil in best vinegar, mace,

shallots, anchovy, Cayenne pods, and cloves; boil the lemons and liquor

together two minutes, and cover them close up. In a few days they will

be fit for use, and are much admired with fish, cutlets, or cold meat.

_Mixture for India Pickle._ One gallon of vinegar, a quarter of a

pound of garlic, half a pound of salt, a quarter of a pound of ginger,

two ounces of white mustard seed, and two teaspoonfuls of Cayenne

pepper; mix all well together. Any vegetables, such as small onions,

cauliflowers, French beans, radish pods, and gherkins, may be laid in

salt three days, dried, and put into the above mixture, and it is an

excellent pickle for general use.

_Cucumber Vinegar._ Pare and slice fifteen large cucumbers, and three

or four onions, a few shallots, and a clove or two of garlic. Then put

a layer of slices of cucumber in a deep jar, and strew over it some

pepper and salt, and a little Cayenne pepper; then a layer of onions

and shallots, with pepper and salt as before; repeating alternate

layers of cucumbers and onions till the jar is about half full, when

three pints of vinegar is to be poured on the whole. After standing

four days the vinegar is strained off, and is ready for use. It is a

great improvement to cold meat.

_Excellent Walnut catsup._ Take walnuts of the size fit for pickling;

cut and pound them in a marble mortar to obtain the juice. To a pint

of this juice put a pound of anchovies. Boil till the anchovies are

dissolved, and then strain through a piece of muslin. Then boil again,

and add a quarter of an ounce of mace, half a quarter of an ounce of

cloves, some whole white pepper, and seven or eight shallots, a few

cloves of garlic, and a pint of white wine vinegar. Boil all together

till the shallots become tender; then strain, and, when cold, bottle

for use.

_Tomato sauce_ may be made by putting ripe tomatoes into an earthen

jar, and setting it in an oven from which the bread has been just

drawn. When the tomatoes have become soft, the skins should be taken

out, and the pulp should be mixed with vinegar, a few cloves of garlic

pounded, Cayenne pepper, powdered ginger, and salt, to the taste.

Another way is to stew a gallon of ripe tomatoes with a pound of salt

till they are reduced to a pulp; then rub them through a sieve, and add

half a drachm of cochineal, and Cayenne pepper, mace, allspice, and

ginger to the taste. Let the whole boil gently for twenty minutes, and

when cold put into wide-mouthed bottles for use. By adding a little

brandy to each bottle, this sauce will keep several years. Tomatoes are

also very good, boiled gently in salt and water.

_For Tomato sauce_ (_the Spanish way_). Cut six tomatoes in half, and,

having pressed out their juice, put to them a sufficient quantity of

gravy, a quarter of a head of garlic, a little parsley, and a few drops

of vinegar. All this must be boiled together for a short time and

passed through a sieve. This sauce is a great improvement to mutton

chops, ham, boiled beef, or beef steaks.

_The Spanish mode of keeping Tomatoes._ Boil some sugar, in the

proportion of an ounce to each tomato, until it becomes candied. Add

a tenth part of onions; and when they begin to colour put in the

tomatoes, with salt, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg in suitable quantities.

Boil the whole on a very quick fire, and, when of sufficient thickness,

strain it through a hair-sieve. Place it on the fire again immediately,

and, when it becomes solid, put it into jelly-pots. These must be

covered with two plies of paper, and kept apart from the light. The

onions may be omitted from the above; in which case it can be used as a

sauce for a variety of dishes.

_Sirop de Cerises._ Prepare some ripe cherries by pulling out their

stalks, crush them, and leave them to ferment for twenty-four hours.

Press the cherries, and strain their juice through a sieve. The liquid

should be quite clear, and to every seventeen ounces of juice add two

pounds of lump sugar. Put the liquid into a stewpan on the fire, and

let it boil once, then take off the scum, and when the liquor is nearly

cold bottle it. All other syrups of fruit are made in the same manner.

I think you will now be as much tired of reading receipts for cookery

as I am of writing them, and therefore I will only add two receipts

for making _Pork pies_, the first of which is the mode practised in my

native county, Warwickshire.

Half a pound of lard is put into a saucepan containing a quart of

water. The saucepan is set on the fire, and stirred till the water

boils. The boiling lard and water is then poured slowly into as much

flour as will suffice to make it into a smooth and very stiff paste,

and mixed with a wooden spoon, after which it must be beaten with a

rolling-pin. When the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, the

paste is put into an earthen pan, covered with a linen cloth, and

placed near the fire, where it is left for about half an hour. The

meat is now prepared by being separated from every particle of bone,

skin, and gristle, and cut into pieces about the size of dice. Care is

taken to keep the fat and lean separate; but both are well seasoned

with pepper and salt. A piece of the paste large enough to form one pie

is then broken off the mass, and the rest is again covered up, as it

cannot be worked if it is too cold, though it will not stand if it is

too warm. If it breaks and crumbles, instead of being plastic, it is

too cold; and if it is too soft, and falls when raised, it is either

too warm or too rich. When it is of just the right heat to bear being

moulded, and yet to retain whatever shape may be given to it, the piece

of paste is worked with the hands on a pasteboard, into the form of a

high-peaked hat, with a broad brim; and then the peak of the hat being

turned downwards on the board, one of the hands is put inside the hat,

and the other used to raise and smooth the sides, till the pie is

gradually worked into a proper shape. The meat is then put into the

crust in layers, two of lean to one of fat, and pressed as closely as

possible, in order that the pie may cut firm when cold. When the pie is

quite full, the lid is put on, and wet round the edge to make it adhere

to the top of the walls, on which it is laid, the two being pinched

together, in order to unite them more thoroughly.

In Leicestershire, and some parts of Staffordshire, a layer of raisins

is often put below the meat, and, in Northamptonshire, pork pies or

pasties are made with the same kind of crust as I have described, but,

instead of being raised, it is rolled out, and then cut into pieces

of a proper size for the top and bottom, with a long piece of the

necessary width for the sides. The bottom is cemented to the walls with

egg, the two parts which are to adhere being pinched together; and

the crust is filled with well-seasoned meat, put in layers of fat and

lean as before; the lid is then put on, and, after it has been made to

adhere to the walls, it is washed over with a feather dipped in white

of egg.

These pies are frequently baked in a tin, which is made so as only to

support the walls, and is fastened on one side with a kind of skewer,

which may be drawn out, so as to allow the tin to be removed without

breaking the crust. As, however, the sides sometimes look too pale,

when the pie is baked in a tin, the pie may be put into the oven again

for a few minutes after the tin is removed, in order that the walls may

be properly browned.

All pork pies should be baked slowly, on account of the solid nature

of the meat; and a hole is generally made in the middle of the lid

to let out the steam. No water should be put into the pie when it is

made; but, when it is baked, a little gravy made from the bones of the

pork may be poured in through the hole in the lid. Pork pies are never

cut till they are cold. Those persons who dislike lard may use butter

instead of it for the crust; but it is not quite so good.

LETTER VI.

THE LARDER.--SALTING MEAT, BACON, AND HAMS.--THE DAIRY.--MANAGEMENT

OF MILK.--MAKING AND KEEPING BUTTER.--MAKING CHEESE OF VARIOUS

KINDS.--ICE-HOUSE, ICE-CELLAR, AND ICE-COOLER.

I will now proceed to say a few words on the other servants' offices.

The _Larder_ in a country house is generally a square or oblong room

near the kitchen, and sometimes sunk a step below it. It should be

kept as cool as possible, and should be contrived to be on the north

side of the house. Where practicable, there should be two windows, or

rather openings in the walls, opposite each other, filled in with wire

network instead of glass, to allow a free current of air through the

room, and yet to exclude flies and other insects. The floor should be

of brick, and furnished with a drain, so that it may be frequently

washed with plenty of water, without much trouble. The walls should be

whitewashed, and there should be fixed in them at intervals strong iron

hooks or holdfasts, for the purpose of suspending uncooked meat. Other

hooks should be fixed in the ceiling, for hung beef, tongues, hams, &c.

When the larder is dry, there may be also bacon racks fixed to the

ceiling; but, if the situation should be damp, these will be better

in the kitchen. In some places a circular rack is hung in the centre

with hooks round it for game; but in very large establishments there

is a separate larder for game, as the smell, when it is high, gives an

unpleasant flavour to the fresh meat kept near it. In the centre of

the larder there should be a strong wooden table or chopping-block for

cutting the meat upon; and close under the walls there is frequently

a raised settlice or dais of brick, about two feet high, which serves

to support earthen, slate, or wooden troughs for salting meat. In one

of the deepest of these should be a kind of pickle or brine, in which

anything that is to be salted for keeping may be put; and the other

more shallow troughs may be employed for slightly salting meat that is

soon to be used.

The pickle for the large brine trough is made by mixing four gallons of

water with a pound or a pound and a half of coarse sugar, four ounces

of saltpetre, and six pounds of common or bay salt. This mixture should

be boiled in a large kettle, and the scum taken off as it rises. When

no more scum appears, the vessel should be taken from the fire, and the

liquid suffered to stand till it is cold. Another pickle is made by

adding to four gallons of water, fourteen pounds of common salt, eight

pounds of bay salt, half a pound of saltpetre, and two ounces of sal

prunella. Boil the whole together for half an hour, and take off the

scum; when cold it is fit for use. The first kind is best for hung beef

and tongues; and the latter for salt beef and pickled pork.

When the pickle is ready, the meat to be salted should be examined, and

carefully wiped dry with a coarse cloth, any flyblows or bruised parts

being removed. If tongues are to be salted, the roots should be cut

off, and laid aside for soups; and then the tongues should be scraped

and rubbed dry before putting them into the pickling-trough. The skin

of the pork should be scraped and cleaned, and the fleshy part should

be carefully examined, and wiped dry, any mass that there may be of

congealed blood being removed. All the meat that is to be cured being

properly prepared, it should be laid in the pickling-trough and the

brine poured over it; and, if there are several pieces of meat, care

should be taken to lay them so that the brine may touch every part, and

completely cover the whole. Meat which has been preserved in the first

pickle for ten weeks or more, if cooked without being hung up to dry,

will be perfectly tender, and will eat as well as meat that has been

only freshly and slightly salted.

It is said that meat may be kept in this pickle for twelve months,

provided the pickle be boiled and skimmed about once in two months,

and that during the boiling, two ounces of sugar, and half a pound of

salt be added. In general, the articles which have been salted, after

remaining about a fortnight or three weeks in the pickle, are taken

out and hung up to dry. Some persons lay them to drain, and then hang

them up without any other preparation; but others advise them to be

wiped quite dry and put in paper bags before they are hung up. Whenever

fresh articles are put into the pickle, every thing should be taken

out of the trough, and the brine boiled up, the scum being taken off

and fresh salt and sugar added, as before directed. Sometimes meat is

merely salted when it is to be used in a few days; in which case the

meat is put into a smaller trough or pan, and only salt is used in the

proportion of a quarter of a pound of salt to every two pounds of meat.

The salt should be well rubbed in, and the meat turned every day.

The following general observations as to curing meat will probably

be of more use than multiplying receipts. What is called bay salt

(that is, salt made by evaporating sea-water) gives a finer flavour

than common salt, but rather more should be used, to produce the same

degree of saltness. Sugar makes meat tender, and gives mellowness and

richness, but the quantity used should never be more than one quarter

of the quantity of salt, or it will make the meat taste insipid.

Saltpetre gives a fine red colour, but it is apt to make the meat

hard; and, whenever it is used, there should be at least an equal

quantity of sugar to counteract its hardening tendency. The usual

proportion is, a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre to a pound of salt;

or, if used with sugar, one ounce of saltpetre to three pounds of

sugar. Meat should never be salted in very hot weather, unless it is

wanted for use in a few days; and it should never be put in pickle at

that season. If any meat in the slightest degree tainted be put into

the pickling-trough, the brine will be spoiled, and should be thrown

away. When it is absolutely necessary, in very hot weather, to salt

meat to keep, it is said that a tea-spoonful of muriatic acid and of

nitric acid (spirits of salt and aquafortis), in equal parts, should be

added to every pound of salt. It is also said that a dessert-spoonful

of pyroligneous acid added to every pound of salt will give a fine

smoky flavour, without any of the trouble attendant on smoking dried

meat; but this last must be used with great care, as too much would

spoil the meat.

As _Hams_ require to be salted with more care than any other kind of

meat, I have given below two or three particular receipts for curing

them, all of which I know to be excellent. The first is very useful in

the country, as the hams cured by it may be cooked without steeping.

For a ham twenty-four pounds in weight, take two ounces of saltpetre,

half a pound of common salt, one pound of bay salt, and one ounce of

black pepper. Mix these together, and rub them well into the ham: then

let it stand three days, and at the expiration of that time pour one

pound of treacle over it, and let it remain twenty-four hours; after

that time, let it be turned every day for a month, and each time rub

the liquor well into it. After this, steep the ham in cold water for

twelve hours, then dry it well and hang it up. It will not require

any further steeping when it is to be boiled; and it should be boiled

slowly, say at the rate of about three hours for a ham of the weight

of ten pounds. This receipt was given me by Mr. Beaton, and it is

impossible for any hams to be better than those cured in this way.

The following is the way of curing hams to give them the Westphalian

flavour. For two large hams, take one pound and a quarter of common

salt, two ounces and a half of saltpetre, three pounds of bay salt,

one pound and a half of brown sugar, and one quart of old beer; boil

them all together, and pour the mixture over the hams boiling hot. Turn

them and rub them well every day for sixteen days; then smoke them with

short horse-litter, and hang them up to dry.

The following is another mode of giving hams the Westphalian flavour,

and it is said to be excellent. For two hams weighing thirty pounds,

take one pound of common salt, half a pound of bay salt, three ounces

of saltpetre, and one ounce and a half of black pepper, the latter

ground, and finely sifted. Mix all these well together, and rub the

hams with the mixture for four days, turning them every day, and

having first washed them well with vinegar. On the fifth day, pour

over the hams two pounds of treacle, and rub them well with two ounces

of juniper berries bruised. Let them remain in this pickle six weeks,

turning and rubbing them daily; then take them out of the pickle, and

lay them in spring water for four-and-twenty hours; then wipe them dry

and send them to a chimney where wood is burnt. When thoroughly smoked,

take them down and put them in a chest with wood ashes. I may here

observe that, when hams are cured in any ordinary way, it is said that

the Westphalian flavour may be given to them by rubbing over them three

table-spoonfuls of a mixture of tar and spirits of wine, when they are

just taken out of the pickle.

The following is a mode of making _Mutton hams_, which some persons

are very fond of, though they are too strong for delicate stomachs.

Cut a hind quarter of mutton like a ham, and rub it with one ounce of

saltpetre, one pound of sugar, and one pound of salt. Lay it in a pan,

with the skin downwards for a fortnight, then roll it in bran, and hang

it up to dry.

In some places there is no regular larder, but the uncooked meat is

kept in a hanging _Safe_ in the open air, which is drawn up and down

by a pulley. Cooked meat is either kept in a similar safe, in a fixed

safe, in a separate room called a dry larder, or on a table in the

centre of the common or wet larder; but, in the latter case, every dish

should be covered with a wire-cloth cover to keep off the flies. In

many places the salting-room is apart from the larder, and this is a

great improvement.

The _Dairy_ should have thick walls, and a brick or stone floor, so

contrived that it may be washed with abundance of water every day, and

yet have all the water run off by means of a waste-pipe or drain. There

should be a kind of shelf of stone or slate round it, about four feet

from the ground, and a table of similar materials in the centre, for

the convenience of holding the vessels containing the milk and cream;

and the window, if there is but one, should look towards the north, and

be filled in with wire-cloth, so as to admit the air and yet exclude

the flies and other insects. Besides this wirework, the window should

also have either a sash frame with ground glass to open inside, or

outside shutters, to exclude the sun in very hot weather, and the

cold in winter. A thermometer should be kept in every dairy, and the

heat should never be allowed to rise above 55°, or to fall below 50°.

There should always be a scullery attached to the dairy containing a

fireplace and boiler, as the vessels in which milk is kept require to

be frequently washed with scalding-hot water to keep the milk sweet,

and to prevent the butter and cream from acquiring an unpleasant taste.

Though I do not imagine your knowledge of a dairy to be very great, I

suppose you are aware that the milk is drawn from the cow into a can or

wooden pail, and brought into the dairy, where it is strained, and then

put into shallow vessels or milk-pans, in which it is left for several

hours in order that the cream may rise. Cows are generally milked

twice a day; the morning's milk being skimmed in the afternoon, when

the afternoon's milk is put into pans, or set up as the dairy-maids

call it, and the afternoon's milk being skimmed in the morning. The

cream, after what is wanted for the table has been taken out, is put

into a large wide-mouthed jar or stein, and saved for butter. Cheese is

generally made of new milk, which is put at once into the cheese-tub

without setting it up in pans. The cheese-tub and cheese-press, the

churn and all the apparatus for making butter, generally stand in the

dairy scullery, where the operations of cheese and butter making are

carried on.

Various kinds of vessels have been recommended for milk, and they have

been made of lead, zinc, slate, and other materials. China are the

best; but the old-fashioned wooden or earthenware pans appear to be the

most general favourites; the only objections being, that wooden pans

require a great deal of care to keep them clean, and that the leaden

glaze of the earthenware pans is apt to be affected by the acid of the

milk, if it should be kept till it becomes sour. No good dairy-maid,

however, would ever keep milk in her pans till it became acid: and, if

by any chance wooden vessels became tainted by having had in them sour

or otherwise spoiled milk, they should be soaked in water in which a

large piece of soda has been dissolved; and, if this does not sweeten

them, they must be boiled in soda and water, and then immersed in pure

cold water for a day or two.

Milk when drawn from the cow is warm, and it should be set up in the

dairy before it is quite cold, or the _Cream_ will not rise properly.

Cream for butter may stand twelve hours on the milk, but the cream

that rises in two or three hours after the milk is set is considered

the richest. In many places the milk is skimmed twice, the second time

twelve hours after the first; but the second skimming is considered

very inferior to the first. In Devonshire, the dairy-maids set the

milk-pans on a hot hearth, in order to raise the rich cream peculiar to

that county.

In Scotland, _Butter_ is made by churning the whole of the milk, which

is put into the churn as it comes from the cow, and kept there till it

is slightly sour before it is churned; but this makes the operation of

churning very laborious, and the butter has always a sour taste. In

England, butter is made only from the cream, which is not put into the

churn till wanted for churning, but is kept previously from three days

to a week in a deep earthen vessel, and is stirred every day when fresh

cream is put in.

Churns are of two kinds, viz. the plunge-churn, the motion of which is

up and down; and the barrel-churn, which turns round, and is considered

much the best. Churning is generally performed in the open air in

summer, and in the dairy scullery near the fire in winter. If kept too

cold, the butter will not "come;" and, if too hot, the butter will be

soft, and will soon become rancid.

When the butter has come, as the dairy-maids call it, it is gathered

together with the hand or a net, and put into a kind of shallow tub;

the buttermilk is then emptied out of the churn, which should be left

to drain for half an hour or thereabouts, and be afterwards well washed

with scalding water and a little salt. The butter in the mean time is

kneaded and worked with the hand, or with two small and very smooth

pieces of wood, to get all the buttermilk out of it; and in England

water is generally poured over it to assist in this operation, though

in Scotland it is said that water spoils the butter. When all the

buttermilk is worked out, the butter is slightly salted, and then made

up into rolls or lumps with the two pieces of wood. In the South of

England, as soon as the butter is made, it is put into water; but in

the North it is laid in a dry cool place, and covered over.

When butter is intended for salting, it is not made into rolls, but the

salt is worked into it as soon as the buttermilk has been removed. The

following composition is recommended as a very good one for salting

butter for home use. Take two parts of salt, one part of lump sugar,

and one part of saltpetre. Beat them well together, and add one ounce

of this composition to every sixteen ounces of butter.

When cows are fed on turnips, an unpleasant taste is given both to

the milk and butter; but it may generally be removed in the following

manner. Pour a quart of boiling water on two ounces of saltpetre, and,

when it is thoroughly dissolved and cold, bottle it for use. If two

table-spoonfuls of this mixture be put to every four gallons of milk,

as soon as it is brought into the dairy and strained, it is said to

take off the unpleasant taste; or a lump of saltpetre about the size

of a walnut may be put into the cream-pot and well stirred twice a

day, when the fresh cream is added. In winter, butter is sometimes so

pale as to look almost like lard, but it may be coloured by a little

arnatto, which is sold for that purpose in the grocers' shops; or the

juice of carrot scraped and strained through muslin, or that of the

flowers of the marigold, may be used. In either case the colouring

matter is mixed with the cream before churning.

_Cheese_ is made by coagulating milk with rennet, and then separating

the whey or watery part from the curd, which, when salted, pressed, and

dried, becomes cheese. Rennet is the stomach of a calf washed, cleaned,

and salted thoroughly inside and out, being left in an earthen jar,

with a thick coating of salt on it, for three or four days. It is then

taken out of the pickle and hung up to dry, and in many places it is

kept in this state till wanted; but in others, after it has become dry,

it is resalted and placed again in the jar, which has a bladder or a

piece of thick paper pierced with pinholes tied over it, the rennet

being kept twelve months in this state before it is used. In London,

calves' stomachs and those of lambs, prepared for rennet, are kept in

large casks and sold in the oilmen's shops. In whatever way the rennet

has been pickled and preserved, it is always soaked in brine made of

salt and water or salt and whey, before it is used, and a bunch of

sweet herbs is generally put into the brine in which the rennet is

soaked, in order to give an agreeable flavour to the cheese. The whole,

however, must be strained off clear before it is put to the milk.

Whenever cheese is to be made, the milk must be warmed to about 90°

of Fahrenheit, or the rennet will not act. As soon as the curd has

set, it is separated from the whey in several different ways, and on

the manner in which this is done the kind of cheese produced will

principally depend. When a _Stilton_, or any other kind of rich buttery

cheese, is to be made, a very strong brine is prepared of salt and

cold water, in which is steeped a bundle of sweet herbs, consisting of

thyme, hyssop, marjoram, and savory, with a branch of sweet-briar, and

a few peppercorns. This is suffered to remain three or four days, after

which it is strained off, and the rennet having been put into it and

soaked four or five days, is then ready for use. When all is prepared,

the morning's new milk, together with the cream from the last night's

milking, is put into a narrow, but deep, circular pan, and the liquid

rennet put to it.

As soon as the curd is formed, it is very carefully removed from the

pan, without breaking it, if possible, and laid on a deep circular

sieve, where it is slightly pressed, in order that the whey may drain

from it. It is then put into the cheese-vat, which should be ten inches

and a half deep, and eight inches and a quarter over, with a moveable

hoop of wood on the top, over which a piece of flat board is generally

laid. As soon as the cheese has acquired a sufficient consistency, it

is removed from the vat and firmly bound round with a clean cloth,

which is changed every day, and the cheese bound tighter and tighter,

till at last it becomes sufficiently firm to stand alone. Every time

the cloth is changed, the cheese is wiped at the top and bottom and

turned, so that each end may be equally level. When it has become

sufficiently firm to support itself without the cloth, the cheese is

removed to the cheese-room; but it still requires to be turned twice a

day, and brushed, for about three months.

_Single and double Gloucester cheeses_ are made very differently from

Stilton, though the rennet is prepared for both in nearly the same

manner, except that some allspice and a little saltpetre are generally

added to the brine. In some places the brine is made of whey, in which

enough salt is put to make it float an egg; but it is said that cheeses

made in this manner are very apt to heave.

The best _single Gloucester_ cheese for toasting is what is called a

one-meal cheese; that is to say, it is made entirely of new milk taken

fresh from the cow. An inferior kind is called a two-meal cheese, and

it is made with the evening's milk after it has been skimmed in the

morning, mixed with the morning's new milk. The milk is then warmed,

and coloured with a little arnatto, care being taken, however, that

none of the solid part of the drug goes into the milk; the usual

practice, indeed, is to dip the arnatto in a little milk, and then to

rub it on a flat stone or plate. The colouring matter thus produced

is washed off into a basinful of milk, which is then allowed to stand

and settle, so as to deposit its sediment before it is poured into the

cheese-tub. The rennet is then added, and the whole is kept moderately

warm (the milk should never sink below 80°) till the curd is come,

which is generally in about an hour. The curd is then broken up with

a flat piece of wood called a cheese-knife, and the whey is strained

from it; the fragments of curd being frequently moved about, to allow

the whey to escape from them. Some boiling water is then mixed with a

little of the cold whey, and poured quite hot upon the curd, so as to

cover it, the curd being stirred briskly about, and afterwards left

for half an hour to sink. The liquor is then drained off, and the curd

taken up by the hands and carefully squeezed as it is put into the

cheese-vat, which is not only filled, but has as much piled on the

top as it will hold. When this is done, the curd in and on the vat

is turned into a cheese-cloth, and the vat is washed with whey. The

cloth, with the curd in it, is next placed in the vat, and the ends of

the cloth are turned over the top of the curd, and tucked into the vat

round the edges. It is then put into the cheese-press, where it remains

about three hours, after which it is taken out and the cloth changed,

before it is again put into the vat and into the press. In this state

it remains three or four hours longer. It is then taken out of the

vat and out of the cloth, and rubbed well with salt all over, taking

care that the salt touches every part, after which it is put into the

vat without a cloth, and replaced in the press. The next morning it

is taken out of the press and again salted and turned, and the same

operation is repeated in the evening. After this it is suffered to

remain five or six days in the press, being taken out every morning and

turned, but not salted. It is then removed to the cheese-room, where it

is turned every day for ten or twelve days, and frequently scraped and

rubbed. In some places, when the cheese is thoroughly dry, the outer

rind is painted with a mixture of Spanish brown and Indian pink, rubbed

in with the hand. The whey from this cheese produces a great deal of

butter; and, indeed, it is generally set up for cream as soon as it

comes from the curd.

The _double Gloucester cheese_ is always made with one meal's milk

warm from the cow, and the dairy-maids generally put a lemon, stuck

with cloves, into the brine in which they steep their rennet. The

cheese-making then proceeds in the same manner as for the single

Gloucester, except that, when about half the curd has been put into the

vat, an ounce of salt is sprinkled over it before the rest of the curd

is put in. The remainder of the operation is the same as for the single

Gloucester; the principal difference being in the thickness of the

cheese, which, of course, is occasioned by the greater depth of the vat

in which the curd is put.

In many parts of Gloucestershire, what is called _Sage cheese_ is made.

For this a couple of handfuls of sage leaves and a handful of parsley

are generally put into a portion of the evening's milk, and suffered to

remain all night. In the morning the milk is warmed, and, after being

strained from the leaves, it is turned to curd with the rennet in the

usual way. In the mean time a portion of the morning's milk, into which

no colouring matter is put, is turned to curd by rennet; and the curds

of both kinds are kept separate through the processes of draining and

scalding, till they are ready to be put into the vat, when they are

mixed according to the fancy of the dairy-maid. Sometimes the green

curd is pressed into a tin or wooden mould, so as to form a dolphin

or some other fanciful figure; in which case it is taken carefully out

of the mould, and put into the vat without breaking it, and the white

curd is crumbled between the fingers and pressed carefully and firmly

round it. In other cases the sage and parsley leaves are only bruised,

and the juice which is pressed from them is mingled with a portion of

the morning's milk; or one portion of the milk is coloured red with the

juice of boiled beet-root, another green with the juice from spinach

leaves flavoured with sage, and another yellow with the bruised petals

of the marigold. Portions of milk are coloured with these different

substances and coagulated separately, the curd being varied when

putting into the vat, according to the fancy of the dairy-maid. In

other cases the whole of the milk is coloured and flavoured with sage.

_Cheshire cheeses_ are generally very large, most of those made in

spring being one hundredweight each. The rennet for a Cheshire cheese

is not considered fit for use till it is three years old. It is soaked

in warm water the night before it is wanted, and in the morning the

liquor is considered ready without any further preparation. The

evening's milk is set up for cream in the usual way, and in the morning

the cream is taken off and put into a brass bowl made hot by rinsing

it with boiling water. A third part of the skimmed milk is then put

into another brass bowl, warmed in the same manner; and the two are

put into the cheese-tub, and mixed with the morning's milk warm from

the cow. The whole is coloured with the juice of scraped carrots, or

of the bruised flowers of the marigold. The liquor from the rennet is

then added, and, being well stirred in, the tub is closely covered and

kept in a warm temperature till the coagulation is complete, which is

generally in little more than half an hour.

As soon as the curd is well set, it is divided and turned over with a

bowl to separate it from the whey; after which it is broken into small

pieces by the hand, and suffered to settle down, while the whey, which

swims at the top, is poured off. The curd is pressed on one side of the

tub with a loose board, and the whey that runs from it is again poured

off. The curd is then drawn into the centre of the tub, and formed into

a heap, and the board is laid on the top and heavy weights placed on

it, generally amounting to a hundred pounds. This presses the curd into

a solid mass, and squeezes out an additional quantity of whey.

The mass of curd is then cut into slices, and boards and weights put

upon each slice. This is repeated several times, till not a drop more

whey will run from the curd; after which it is removed to a dry tub,

and crumbled with the fingers as small as possible. It is then well

salted, and put into a cheese-vat made warm by being scalded with

boiling water, and heaped up as high as it will go, the additional curd

being kept in its place by a movable tin hoop. A flat board is then

laid across the top to press down the curd, which generally rises to a

point in the centre of the vat, and the heavy weights are again put on

it. At the same time wooden skewers are run into the cheese, in order

that every particle of whey may be drawn out of it.

After standing some time, the cheese is taken out of the vat, and laid

on a large cheese-cloth, and the curd again broken from the top down

the centre, and more salt mixed with it; after which it is pressed into

the vat by the hand as before, and weights are again put upon it, while

skewers are run through holes purposely left in the vat, into the sides

of the cheese, as before. Another vat having been scalded by being

rinsed with boiling water, the cheese is wrapped in a cloth and put

into it; the ends of the cloth being folded over the cheese as tightly

as possible, and tucked inside the vat, where they are kept down by a

tin hoop called a binder, which is forced in between the cheese and the

upper part of the vat. The cheese is then put into the press under a

pressure of about a ton weight, and a number of thin iron skewers are

passed through the holes in the vat into the sides of the cheese. After

four hours it is turned, and the skewers removed to fresh places, when

the cheese is put into the press for another four hours; after which,

the process is repeated. It is then put into the press, and left there

all night; the following morning it is again turned, and put into the

press without the skewers. It remains in the press for four or five

days, being regularly turned every morning and evening; and it is taken

from the press into the cheese-room, where it is salted on the outside,

and tightly bound with a linen cloth. It is kept in this state and

turned twice a day for a week; after which it is put on the shelves

to dry for a fortnight or three weeks, during which period it must be

turned and wiped every day. Lastly, it is then laid on straw, and kept

rather warm, lest the rind should crack; and, when the rind begins to

feel hard, its surface is rubbed over with butter, and the cheese is

ready for the market. It is rather singular that, notwithstanding the

pains taken to drain every drop of whey from the Cheshire cheese, its

whey yields no butter, and is seldom made any use of except for feeding

pigs.

_Cheddar cheese_ is made like Cheshire, except that when the cheese is

broken down to be resalted, before it is put in the cheese-press, the

curd is crumbled, and four or five pounds of fresh butter are mixed

with it. The cheese is then put in a cloth into the vat, and placed

under the great press, where it remains only about a quarter of an

hour, before it is turned and put into a clean cloth: this process is

repeated three or four times; after which the cheese is wrapped in a

very fine cloth, and has three or four other cloths wrapped round it.

It is then put into the press, and remains there for forty-eight hours;

after which it is taken from the press, washed in whey, and then laid

on a shelf upon a clean cloth to dry. It is afterwards laid on a shelf

without any cloth, and turned every day till it begins to ripen.

The _Wiltshire cheeses_ are of four kinds: the thin, the thick,

the loaf cheese, and the pine-apple, or net, cheese. The first two

kinds are made nearly the same as the Gloucester cheeses; for which,

indeed, they are frequently sold in the London markets. The principal

difference in the manufacture consists in the curd, before it is

scalded, being cut into dice of about an inch square each, and a

thick layer of salt being thrown over them, which is said to harden

the surface of the curd, and to prevent its buttery particles being

washed away by the hot water. The curd is also put into the vat while

it is as hot as the dairy-maid can handle it; and salt is strewed in

between every layer. In all other respects, the manufacture of the

cheese is exactly the same as in Gloucestershire till it is ready

to be carried to the cheese-room, where it is either laid upon elder

leaves or the shelves are washed over with their juice, in order to

prevent the devastations of mites. The loaf cheeses are made the

same as the others; but their vats are from ten inches to a foot in

diameter, and six inches deep; and, when the curd is put into the

vat, it is in four layers, with alternate thin layers of salt. These

are what are generally sold in London as Wiltshire cheeses. The curd

for the pine-apple cheese is prepared in the same way as the others;

but, instead of being put into a vat and then into the cheese-press,

it is put into a net with no other pressure than from the hand of

the dairy-maid; who, however, prides herself on getting as much into

the net as it can possibly hold. The net is then hung up in the

cheese-room, and requires no further care.

I shall now give you only one more receipt for making keeping-cheeses,

and that shall be for the far-famed _Parmesan_. This celebrated cheese

is made with skim-milk. The night's milking is skimmed in the morning,

and the morning's milk is skimmed about two o'clock in the afternoon:

the two are then mixed together and put into a large copper kettle,

suspended over a fire by a crane. The milk is stirred till it has

reached 125° of Fahrenheit. The kettle is now turned from the fire,

between which and it a wooden screen is placed; and, when the bubbling

of the milk has subsided, a piece of rennet, tied in a linen rag, is

put into the milk, and squeezed several times in different places. The

rennet is then taken out, and the milk well stirred; after which it

is left till the curd has formed, which is generally in about three

quarters of an hour. As soon as this is the case the kettle is again

turned on the fire, and the mass of curd is heated to 150°, being well

stirred and divided while it is heating. A fourth part of the whey is

now taken out of the kettle, and the curd is heated to 180°, stirring

it rapidly all the time; and a few pinches of powdered saffron are

thrown in, which not only colour it, but give that peculiar flavour

always perceptible in Parmesan cheese. The cheese-maker (for as

Parmesan cheese is always made by a man, I must not say the dairy-maid)

then takes a small quantity of the curd in his hand, and squeezes it;

when, if he finds it adhere together, the kettle is instantly turned

off the fire, the wooden screen is again interposed, and the curd

is left to settle. The whey which rises is immediately poured off,

and two or three pailfuls of cold water are thrown over the curd.

The cheese-maker immediately plunges his arms into the kettle, and,

gathering the curd to one side, contrives to slip the whole mass into a

large cloth, which is raised as rapidly as possible, and transferred

to a mould without a bottom. This is an operation which requires both

strength and skill; for the cheese hardens so rapidly, that it requires

the greatest exertions to get it into the mould without spoiling its

shape. By its own power of contraction it presses out every drop of

whey. An iron plate, with a slight weight on it, is laid on the top to

keep it flat; but, by the time it is cold, it is become so hard as to

require no further pressure. It is then taken out of the mould, and a

thick layer of salt put on its upper surface. The next day the cheese

is turned, and the under surface salted in the same manner. In this way

the cheese is turned and salted every day for thirty or forty days,

till the salt will no longer dissolve. The rind of the cheese is then

scraped, and, after a little colouring matter has been rubbed over it,

it is covered with linseed oil.

I will now say a few words on _Cream cheeses_, and then, I think, you

will have had quite enough of this subject.

A _York cream cheese_ is made by taking a quart of new milk warm from

the cow, into which is sometimes put half a pint of cream, and adding

to it two spoonfuls of the water in which a piece of rennet has been

steeped all night. The milk is then set before the fire till the curd

is formed, when it should be taken up without breaking, if possible,

and put into a frame made of oak wood, seven inches long within, four

inches wide, and three inches and a half deep. This frame being open at

the top and bottom, it must be placed upon rushes to permit the whey

to run out; to encourage which, a board must be put within the frame

to support a weight to press down the curd, between which and the curd

some rushes must be put. After standing two days, the rushes must be

renewed, when the cheese should be taken from the vat and turned as

often as necessary. This will make an excellent cream cheese without

the cream; and, indeed, the York cheeses sold in the shops are always

made of milk only, without any cream. The rushes should be sewed

together with thread.

A kind of cream cheese is, however, made in Yorkshire of cream only,

without any rennet. "Take any quantity of cream and put it into a wet

cloth. Tie it up, and hang it in a cool place for seven or eight days.

Then take it from the cloth and put it into a mould (in another cloth)

with a weight upon it, for two or three days longer. Turn it twice a

day, when it will be fit for use."

The following is a receipt for making a _Bath cream cheese_. Add half a

pint of cream to a quart of new milk, and warm the mixture till it is

about 80° of Fahrenheit; then stir in as much rennet as will coagulate

it. As soon as the curd has formed, put a cloth over the bottom of a

large shallow vat, and, taking the curd up with a skimming-dish, place

it in the vat and wrap the cloth over it. As the curd shrinks, the

vat must be filled up with fresh curd, till the cheese is of a proper

thickness. When the cheese has become a little firm, it is turned out

of the vat and laid in a dry cloth. A board is then put over it, on

which is placed a weight of two pounds. At night it is put into another

clean cloth, and the next morning it is slightly salted with a little

fine dry salt, and placed on a bed of fresh nettles or strawberry

leaves, being covered with leaves of the same kind. These leaves are

changed every morning, and the cheese is turned twice a day for a

fortnight, after which it is fit for use.

I think I have now told you almost all I know relative to those points

of domestic economy in which a country life differs from a life in

town. I have, however, omitted to mention an _Ice-house_, which you

will find an important addition to your comfort in summer. A common

ice-house is a kind of well, built in Roman cement, and sunk in the

ground. It is arched over, and the ice is put in through a hole in the

top. A door is on one side for taking the ice out, and there is a drain

at the bottom for carrying away the water that runs off as the ice

melts.

A more modern invention is a small _cellar_ built adjoining the house,

with double walls, the space between the walls being filled with

charcoal. The cellar has double doors with a space between, so that

one may be shut before the other is opened, to prevent the entrance of

the atmospheric air. The ice is kept in a sunk part made like a bath,

at the farther end of the cellar, furnished with a drain to carry off

the superfluous water; and in the other part of the cellar are shelves,

on which wine or food can be placed to be kept cool. The old-fashioned

ice-house was always made in the park at some distance from the house,

and consequently was of very little use; but the modern ice-cellar is

very useful for keeping cool, water, butter, and other articles of

daily consumption; which can be fetched out of it when they are wanted,

as easily and expeditiously as they could be out of a common dairy or

pantry.

When ice is supplied from a distance, it will soon melt, if exposed

to the atmospheric air during summer. To prevent this it may be kept

in an _ice chest_, that is, a large deep coffer lined with cork, and

with a double lid; or in a box called a _refrigerator_, which may

even be brought into the dining-room. The refrigerator consists of a

double frame of wood, with the space between filled in with charcoal.

The bottles of wine are placed in little tin cases left for them, and

ice is put between the cases. Below the ice is a tin grating, through

which the melted water runs, and is let off when requisite by a cock.

The box is made to hold two bottles of wine on one side, and a bottle

of water and a glass for butter on the other.

The _American refrigerator_ is another contrivance of the same nature,

which will keep the ice unmelted for a fortnight even during the

hottest weather in summer. This box, like the other, is double, the

inner part being of lead, and the space between the two being filled

with sawdust. There are two lids so as completely to exclude the air

when both are closed.

_The usual mode of cooling wine and other liquids by ice_, is to

surround the bottle, or other vessel in which the liquor is contained,

entirely with ice, observing that the hottest part of the wine is

always at the top of the bottle, but that if the top is chilled faster

than the bottom, the cold wine descends, and that which is still warm

rises and takes its place. As, therefore, the wine is liable to be set

in motion by the process of cooling, it is best to decant it before

it is put into the refrigerator, as otherwise there will be danger

of disturbing the sediment of white wine and the crust of port. When

ice is perfectly clean and clear, like that of the Wenham Lake, it is

sometimes broken into small pieces, and put into the liquid which is

to be cooled; but this could not be done with the ice collected from

the dirty ponds near London.

When it is wished to cool wine rapidly, it is only necessary to put

it into a thin glass bottle, and to wet the outside with ether; as

cold is produced by rapid evaporation sooner than in any other manner,

wine-coolers are formed on this principle.

_A freezing mixture_ for cooling wine, and for freezing ice-creams,

may be formed by mixing five parts of sal ammoniac with five parts of

nitre and sixteen of water. A mixture of snow or pounded ice and salt

produces a most intense cold, but it is only while the salt is melting

the ice or snow that the cold is felt. Muriate of lime, mixed with

snow, produces a still greater degree of cold. Several other mixtures

may be used for freezing; but those producing the most intense cold

are mixtures of nearly equal parts of sulphate of soda with nitrous or

sulphuric acid, the sulphate predominating. Eight parts of sulphate

of soda, mixed with five parts of muriatic acid, will produce a cold

equal to zero. When any liquid is to be frozen by these mixtures, the

bottle containing the liquid is put into a wooden vessel containing the

mixture; and if the cold is to be very intense, the outer vessel may

be placed on a flat piece of cork in a much larger empty vessel, the

whole being covered with a woollen cloth. Water freezes soonest when it

has been boiled, and forms the most compact and beautiful ice.

_The principal utensils required_ for making ice-creams are a tub large

enough to contain about a bushel of ice, which must be pounded small,

and mixed with salt, nitre, or soda, and a freezing-pot made of pewter,

like those sent out with ice-creams. Copper spoons or spaddles are

also required for stirring the ingredients of which the ice-creams are

composed, while the process of freezing is going on. When all is ready,

the ingredients for the ice-creams are poured into the freezing-pot,

which is put up to its cover into the tub full of ice and salt, and

kept turning round continually by its handle till the freezing is

completed. The turning the pot is the most difficult part of the

operation, and it requires great attention, as, unless the ingredients

are kept in constant motion, the sugar, which is the heaviest, will

sink to the bottom, and the other articles will be unequally frozen, so

as to form unsightly lumps. The cover must be taken off occasionally,

to see how the process is going on, and the cream that has adhered to

the sides of the freezing-pot should be scraped off, and mixed with

the rest by the spaddle, in order to prevent waste. The whole of the

ingredients should also be mixed together with the spaddle if they

appear to be settling irregularly.

_Ice-creams_ and water-ices should be perfectly smooth, and soft enough

to break easily with a spoon. The ice-creams are made by mashing the

fruit with which they are to be flavoured, and adding to a pint of the

juice, after it has been strained, a pint of thick cream, the juice of

half a lemon, and sugar to the taste. The lemon-juice should be put in

last. Sometimes whipped cream is used, the cream being first mixed with

sugar, and laid on a fine sieve, turned the bottom upwards in a bowl,

as it is whipped, so that the cream which drains from it may not be

wasted. Water-ices are generally only the juice of the fruit strained

and sweetened, as, if water is added, the ice is apt to freeze too

hard. Lemon-ice is composed of the juice of four lemons, and the rind

of one, to a pint of clarified sugar-syrup, the whole being strained

before putting it into the freezing-pot.

[Illustration: _Garden Front of the Manor-House in its improved

state._]