taste, and be quite too acid. Take fine tomatos that are quite ripe, put
them into a pan, and scald them in very hot water. Let them remain for
ten minutes, or till you can peel them without scalding your hands.
Drain them through a sieve. You may either press out all the seeds,
(retaining only the pulp or liquid,) or leave the seeds in, squeezing
the tomatos slightly. Put them into a stew-pan, which must on no account
be of copper, as the acid of the tomatos will render it poisonous. We
knew a lady who died in agonies from eating tomatos cooked in a copper
vessel that had the tinning partly worn off. If the tin inside is
indispensable, (which it is) why have any copper about it? A vessel of
_double_ block tin only, will last as long, and stand the fire as well
as if there was copper inside. For all stews, an iron pan, lined with
delft (or what is called porcelain or enamel) is excellent. Best of all
for stewing tomatos, and many other things, is a _bain marie_, or double
kettle, with the water outside, in the outer kettle.
Having nearly filled the stew-pan with the tomatos, (cut up, if they are
large) add a little salt and pepper, a piece of fresh butter dredged
with flour, and (if approved) a very little chopped onion. If you have
ready-boiled onions at hand, take one or two of them and mince it fine.
Add to the tomatos some powdered white sugar to lessen the excessive
acid. Put but very few bread-crumbs--if too many, they will weaken the
taste. Tomatos are an improvement to every kind of plain soups, and may
be added, with advantage, after the soup is in the tureen. The cooking
of tomatos should be commenced at least three hours before dinner. Put
no water with them--their own juice is sufficient.
Many persons like tomatos raw, sliced like cucumbers, and seasoned with
vinegar and pepper.
TO KEEP TOMATO PULP.--Having boiled them till entirely dissolved,
(adding a little salt and pepper) press and strain them through a sieve,
pour the liquor into pint or half-pint bottles, (which must be perfectly
clean) and stand the bottles up in a large iron pot or oven, with a
layer of straw in the bottom. Fill up the pot with cold water, cork
them tightly, and let the water boil round the bottles for five hours.
As it boils away, fill up with more hot water. When you take them out,
put a spoonful of salad oil at the top of each bottle; seal the bottles
with rosin cement. This pulp will be good for tomato purposes till next
summer, if kept in a cool dry place. When you open a bottle use it fast,
or cork it again immediately.
BROILED TOMATOS.--Take the very largest and ripest tomatos. Wash, but do
not scald or peel them. Cut the tomatos _half_ apart on four sides,
extract the seeds, and fill each tomato with a nice forcemeat of
stuffing, made of bread-crumbs, butter, minced veal or pork, mace,
nutmeg, and sweet marjoram. Having stewed this stuffing in a sauce-pan,
(moistening it with tomato juice, or gravy) fill all the tomatos with
it, opening them out a little like the leaves of a tulip. Butter
slightly a heated gridiron, and broil them on it. Or, they may be baked
in an oven.
This is a dish for company, either at dinner or breakfast.
BUTTON TOMATOS.--These are the very smallest tomatos, and are excellent
for pickling and preserving. If quite ripe, and free from blemishes,
they will keep very well in cold vinegar, and are the easiest done of
all pickles. There are two sorts of button tomatos, the red and the
yellow, both equally good. Wipe every tomato clean and dry, and put
them into small glass jars that have a cover. Fill the jars two-thirds
with the tomatos, and then fill up to the top with the best cider
vinegar. On the top put a table-spoonful of salad oil, and cover them
closely. They require nothing to secure their keeping well. But the
taste will be improved, by putting in with them, three very small thin
muslin bags, each containing mace, nutmeg, and ginger, broken small, but
not powdered. Lay one bag of spice at the bottom of the jar; one about
the middle, and one near the top. If done without spice, they are the
cheapest of all pickles. Do not put them into soups or stews; but eat
them cold with meat, like other pickles.
If kegs of these tomatos were carried to sea, and liberally served out
to the crew, the scurvy would be less frequent, even on long voyages.
Large whole tomatos would do for this purpose. We wish it were the
universal custom in ships to take out with them plenty of tomatos kept
in this way in vinegar. Tomato catchup is now much used for the army--so
it should be for the navy; not only for the sick, but for the well; to
keep them well.
BREAD, PLAIN CAKES, etc.
HINTS ON HEATING OVENS AND BAKING.--Brick ovens are generally heated
with dry fagots or small branches, or with light split wood. For baking
bread, the oven-wood must be heavier than for pies. A heap of wood
should be placed in the centre of the oven on the brick floor, and then
set on fire. While the wood is burning, the door of the oven must be
left open. When the wood is all burnt down, and reduced to a mass of
small red coals, the oven will be very hot. Then shovel out all the
coals and sweep the oven floor with a broom, till it is perfectly clean,
and entirely free from ashes. Try the heat within. For baking bread, the
floor of the oven should look red, and a little flour thrown in should
burn brown immediately. If you can hold your hand within the mouth of
the oven as long as you can distinctly count twenty, the heat is about
right. Pies, puddings, &c., require less heat. When a brick oven is
used, a peel, or large broad-bladed long-handled wooden shovel is
necessary for putting in the bread, pies, &c., placing them on the broad
or shovel-end of the peel, and slipping them off on the oven floor. Then
close up the door of the oven, and leave the things to bake. When done,
slip the peel beneath them, and hand them out on it.
To bake in an Iron Dutch oven, (a large deep, cast-iron pan, with a
handle, a close-fitting lid, and standing on three or four feet,) you
must first stand the lid upright before a clear fire to heat the inside;
and it will be best if the oven itself is also stood up before the fire
for the same purpose. This should be done while the article to be baked
is preparing, that it may be put in as soon as it is ready. The oven may
be suspended to the crane, and hung over the fire, or it may be set on a
bed of hot wood coals in the corner of the hearth. As soon as the loaf
or pie is in, put on the lid of the oven, and cover it all over with hot
coals, replenishing it with more live coals as the baking proceeds. If
you find it too hot on the top, deaden it with ashes. If the oven stands
on the hearth, keep up the heat at the bottom, by additional live coals
placed beneath it. Whether the oven is hung over the fire, or stood on
the hearth, there must always be hot coals all over the lid, the hottest
near the edge.
To bake on a griddle, you may either hang it over the fire, or set it
over hot coals on the hearth. Most griddles have feet. The fire must be
quite clear and bright, and free from smoke, or the cakes will be
blackened, and have a disagreeable taste. The griddle must be perfectly
clean; and while you are baking, it will require frequent scraping, with
a broad knife. If it is well scraped after every cake is taken off, it
will not want greasing, as there will be no stickiness. Otherwise, some
butter tied up in a clean rag and laid on a saucer, must be kept at hand
all the time, to rub over the griddle between the baking of each cake;
for butter, lard, or nice beef or veal dripping may be substituted, but
it will not be so fine. Never grease with mutton fat, as it will
communicate the taste of tallow. A bit of the fat of _fresh_ pork may
do, (stuck on a fork,) but salt pork will give the outside of the cakes
a disagreeable saltness, and therefore should not be used.
A griddle may be placed in the oven of a hot stove. Some close stoves
have a hole in the top with a flat lid or cover, which lid can be used
as a griddle.
The tin-reflecting ovens (with shelves for the pies and cakes) that are
used for baking in the summer, and that, having a furnace beneath, and a
chimney-pipe, can be set out of doors, so that the kitchen may not be
kept hot, are very good for things that will bake soon, and that do not
require what is called a strong, solid heat. But they are not effective
unless the inside is kept _very bright_; otherwise it will not reflect
the heat. The tin ovens should (as well as tin roasters) be cleaned
thoroughly and scoured bright with sand every time they are used.
The art of baking with anthracite, (or any other mineral coal,) can only
be acquired by practice. The above hints on baking, refer exclusively to
wood fires.
When a charcoal furnace is used for baking, stewing, or any sort of
cooking, it should either be set out in the open air, or the door of the
kitchen must be kept open all the time. The vapor of charcoal in a
close room is so deleterious as to cause death.
DRIED CORN MEAL YEAST CAKES.--Half a pound of fresh hops, four quarts of
water, a pint of wheat or rye flour, half a pint of strong fresh yeast
from the brewer or baker, three pints or more of indian meal. Boil half
a pound of fresh hops in four quarts of water, till the liquid is
reduced to two quarts. Strain it into a pan, and mix in sufficient wheat
flour to make a thin batter, adding half a pint of the best yeast you
can procure. Leave it to ferment; and when the fermentation is over,
stir in sufficient indian meal to make a moderately stiff dough. Cover
it, and set in a warm place to rise. When it has become very light, roll
it out into a square sheet an inch thick, and cut it into flat cakes,
about four inches square. Spread them out separately, on a large dish,
and let them dry slowly in a cool place where there is no sun. While
drying, turn them five or six times a day. When they are quite dry and
hard, put them, separately, into brown paper bags, and keep them in a
box closely covered, and in a place not the least damp.
When you want them to use for yeast, dissolve in a little warm water one
or more of the cakes, in proportion to the quantity of bread you intend
making. When it is quite dissolved, stir it hard, thicken it with a
little wheat flour, cover it, and place it near the fire to rise, before
you use it. Then mix it with the flour, according to the usual manner
of making bread. One yeast cake is enough for two quarts of meal or
flour.
This way of preserving yeast is very convenient for keeping through the
summer, or for conveying to a distance.
EXCELLENT HOME-MADE YEAST.--Yeast should always be kept in a glass
bottle or a stone jug, and never in earthen or metal. Before you make
fresh yeast, empty entirely the vessel that has contained the last; and
if of stone, scald it twice with boiling water, in which it will be well
to mix a little clear lye. Then rince it with cold water, till perfectly
clean. If you have not used lye in scalding it, dissolve some potash or
pearlash in the rinsing water, to remove any acidity that may linger
about the vessel, and may therefore spoil the new yeast. If you keep
your yeast in glass bottles, the water must be warm, but not hot; as
scalding water may crack them: also, melt some potash or pearlash in
this water. The vessel for keeping it being purified, proceed to make
your yeast. Have ready, in a kettle over the fire, two quarts of boiling
water; put into it a very large handful of hops, (as fine and fresh as
possible,) and let the water boil again with the hops in it for twenty
minutes more. Sift into a pan three pints of wheat flour. Strain the
liquor from the hops into a large bowl, and pour half of it hot over the
flour. Stir it well, and press out all the lumps till it is quite
smooth. Let the other half of the liquid stand till it is cool, and then
pour it gradually to the rest; mixing it well, by stirring as you
proceed. Then take half a pint of good strong yeast--brewer's or baker's
yeast, if you can get it fresh; if not, you must use some that has been
left from your last making, provided it is not the least sour; stir this
yeast into the mixture of hop water and flour, put it immediately into
your jug or bottles, and cork it loosely till the fermentation is over,
(which should be in an hour,) and it will then be fit for use.
Afterwards cork it tightly. It will keep better if you put a raisin or
two into the bottom of each bottle, before you pour in the fresh yeast.
Into a stone jug put half a dozen raisins.
All yeast is better and more powerful for being fresh. It is better to
make it frequently, (the trouble being little,) than to risk its
becoming sour by endeavoring to keep it too long. When sour it becomes
weak and watery, and tastes and smells disagreeably, and will never make
light bread; besides, being very unwholesome. The acidity may be
somewhat corrected by stirring in some dissolved pearlash, saleratus, or
soda, immediately before the yeast is used; but it is better to have it
good and fresh, without the necessity of any corrective. Yeast should
always be kept in a cool place.
Those who live in towns where there are breweries have no occasion to
make their own yeast during the brewing season, and in summer they can
every day supply themselves with fresh yeast from the baker's. It is
only in country places where there are neither brewers or bakers that it
is expedient to make it at home. For home-made yeast, we know the above
receipt to be excellent.
Sweet cakes, buns, rusks, &c., require stronger and fresher yeast than
bread; the sugar will otherwise retard their rising.
INDIAN BREAD OR PONE.--Four quarts of indian meal sifted, a large half
pint of wheat flour, a table-spoonful of salt, half a pint of strong
fresh yeast, a quart of warm water. Sift into a large deep pan the
indian meal and the wheat flour, mixing them well. Make a hole in the
centre. The water must be warm, but not hot. Mix it with the yeast, and
pour them into the hole in the midst of the meal. Take a spoon, and with
it mix into the liquid enough of the surrounding meal to make a thin
batter, which you must stir till it is quite smooth, and free from
lumps. Then strew a handful of wheat flour over the surface, scattering
it thinly, so as to cover the whole. Warm a clean cloth, and lay it
folded over the top of the pan. Then set it in a warm place to rise,
nearer the fire in winter than in summer. When it is quite light, and
has risen so that the flour on the surface is cracked, strew on the
salt, and begin to form the whole mass into a dough; commencing round
the hole that contains the batter, and adding, gradually, sufficient
lukewarm water (which you must have ready for the purpose,) to mix it of
the proper consistence. When the whole is completely mixed, and the
batter in the centre is thoroughly incorporated with the dough, knead it
hard for at least half an hour. Then, having formed the dough into a
round lump in the middle of the pan, strew a little more flour thinly
over it. Cover it, and set it again in a warm place for half an hour.
Then flour your pasteboard, divide the dough equally, and make it into
two loaves. Have the oven ready. Put in the loaves directly, and bake
them about two hours or more. Indian meal requires always more baking
than wheat. When you take them out, it is well to wrap each loaf in a
clean, coarse towel, well sprinkled with cold water, and rolled up damp
till the bread is baked. Having thus wrapped up the loaves, stand them
on end to cool slowly. The damp cloths will prevent the crust from
hardening too much while the loaves are cooling.
All indian bread, and every sort of indian cake, is best when quite
fresh.
Excellent bread may be made of equal proportions of wheat, rye flour,
and indian corn; or of three parts wheat and one part indian. All bread
should be kept closely secluded from the air, wrapped in cloths, and put
away in boxes or baskets with tightly-fitting lids.
Should you find the dough sour, (either from the heat of the weather, or
from standing too long,) you may recover it, by dissolving in a little
lukewarm water a tea-spoonful of pearlash, saleratus, or soda. Sprinkle
this water all over the dough. Then knead it in, so that it may be
dispersed throughout. Then put it into the oven as soon as possible;
first tasting the dough, to discover if the sourness is entirely
removed. If not, mix in a little more pearlash, and then taste it again.
Take care not to put in too much of any of these alkaline substances,
lest they communicate a disagreeable, soapy taste to the bread.
When you buy corn meal, it will keep better if the whole is sifted as
soon as you get it. Avoid buying much at a time, unless you can keep it
in a very cool place. When sour, it is unfit to eat. Common indian meal
is much the best for use.
INDIAN RYE BREAD.--Two quarts of indian meal, two quarts of rye meal,
three pints of milk or water, two tea-spoonfuls of salt, half a pint of
strong fresh yeast. Having sifted the rye and indian meal in a large
pan, mix them well together, adding the salt. Boil the milk or water in
a sauce-pan, and when scalding hot pour it on the meal, and stir the
whole very hard. If too stiff, add a little more warm water. Let it
stand till it becomes only of a lukewarm heat, and then stir in the
yeast. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough, and knead it long and hard
for at least half an hour. Then cover the pan with a thick cloth that
has been previously warmed, and set it near the fire to rise. When the
dough is quite light, and cracked all over the top, take it out of the
pan; divide the mass in half, make it into two loaves, knead each loaf
well for ten minutes or more, and then cover and set them again near the
fire for about half an hour. By this time have the oven ready, put in
the loaves directly, and bake them at least an hour and a half. This
bread is considered very wholesome.
Should you find the dough sour, you may rectify it by kneading in a
tea-spoonful of soda or pearlash, dissolved in a little warm water.
INDIAN WHEAT BREAD.--This is made in the above manner, substituting
wheat for rye flour.
In any sort of home-made bread, (either white or brown) a handful or
more of indian meal will be found an improvement, rendering it moist and
sweet.
BOSTON RYE AND INDIAN BREAD.--Two quarts of indian meal, two quarts of
rye meal, half a pint of strong fresh yeast, half a pint of West India
molasses, a small table-spoonful of salt. Sift the rye and indian meal
into a large pan or wooden bowl; and mix them well together, adding a
little salt. Have ready half a pint of water, warm but not hot. Mix with
it the molasses, and then stir into it the yeast. Make a hole in the
middle of the pan of meal, pour in the liquid, and then with a spoon
work into it a portion of the flour that surrounds the hole, till the
liquid in the centre becomes a thick batter. Sprinkle the top with rye
meal, lay a thick cloth over the pan, and set it in a warm place to
rise. In three or four hours it should be light enough to appear cracked
all over the surface. Then pour into the middle (by degrees) about a
pint of warm water, (it must not be hot,) and as you pour mix it well
all through the dough, till the whole becomes a round mass. Sprinkle
some rye flour on the dough, and having floured your hands, knead it
long and hard, (at least half an hour, and after it ceases to stick to
your hands,) turning it over as you proceed. Then sprinkle the dough
again with flour, cover it, and again set it in a warm place to rise.
Have the oven ready, and of the proper heat, so that the bread may be
put in as soon as it has completely risen the second time. When
perfectly light, the dough will stand high, and the surface will be
cracked all over. This quantity will be sufficient for a common-sized
loaf. Set it directly into the oven, and bake it about two hours. When
bread has done rising, it will fall again if not put into the oven. As
soon as it is done, wrap it immediately in a clean coarse towel wet with
cold water, and stand it up on end till it is cool.
This is a palatable, cheap, and wholesome bread. It may be baked in a
deep tin or iron pan.
If the dough should have stood so long as to become sour, (which it
will, if mixed over night,) restore it by kneading in a small
tea-spoonful of pearlash or saleratus melted in a little warm water.
EGG PONE.--Three eggs, a quart of indian meal, a large table-spoonful of
fresh butter, a small tea-spoonful of salt, a half pint (or more) of
milk. Beat the eggs very light, and mix them with the milk. Then stir
in, gradually, the indian meal, adding the salt and butter. It must not
be a batter, but a soft dough, just thick enough to be stirred well with
a spoon. If too thin, add more indian meal; if too stiff, thin it with a
little more milk. Beat or stir it _long and hard_. Butter a tin or iron
pan. Put the mixture into it, and set the pan immediately into an oven,
which must be moderately hot at first, and the heat increased afterward.
A Dutch oven is best for this purpose. It should bake an hour and a half
or two hours, in proportion to its thickness. Send it to table hot, and
cut into slices. Eat it with butter, or molasses.
INDIAN MUSH.--Have ready on a clear fire a pot of boiling water. Stir
into it, by degrees, (a handful at a time,) sufficient indian meal to
make a very thick porridge, and then add a very small portion of salt,
allowing not more than a level tea-spoonful to a quart of meal. You must
keep the pot boiling all the time you are stirring in the meal; and
between every handful stir hard with the mush-stick, (a round stick
about half a yard long, flattened at the lower end,) as, if not well
stirred, the mush will be lumpy. After it is sufficiently thick and
smooth, keep it boiling an hour longer, stirring it occasionally. Then
cover the pot closely, and hang it higher up the chimney, or set it on
hot coals on the hearth, so as to simmer it slowly for another hour. The
goodness and wholesomeness of mush depends greatly on its being long and
thoroughly boiled. It should also be made very thick. If well made, and
well cooked, it is wholesome and nutritious; but the contrary, if thin,
and not sufficiently boiled. It is not too long to have it three or four
hours over the fire, first boiling, then simmering. On the contrary, it
will be better for it. The coarser the corn meal the less cooking it
requires. Send it to table hot, and in a deep dish. Eat it with sweet
milk, buttermilk, or cream, or with butter and sugar, or with butter and
molasses; making a hole in the middle of your plate of mush, putting
some butter into the hole, and then adding the sugar or molasses.
Cold mush that has been left may be cut into slices, or mouthfuls, and
fried next day, in butter, or in nice dripping of veal, beef, or pork;
but not mutton or lamb.
INDIAN HASTY PUDDING.--Put two quarts of milk into a clean pot or
sauce-pan. Set it over the fire, adding a level tea-spoonful of salt,
and, when it comes to a boil, stir in a lump of fresh butter about the
size of a goose egg. Then add (a handful at a time) sufficient indian
meal to make it very thick, stirring it all the while with a mush stick.
Keep it boiling well, and continue to throw in indian meal till it is so
thick that the stick stands upright in it. Then send it to table hot,
and eat it with milk, cream, or molasses and butter. What is left may be
cut into slices, and fried next day, or boiled in a bag.
INDIAN MEAL GRUEL.--This is an excellent food for the sick. Having
sifted some indian meal, mix in a quart bowl three table-spoonfuls of
the meal with six of cold water. Stir it smooth, and press out the lumps
against the side of the bowl. Have ready a very clean sauce-pan,
entirely free from grease, with a pint of boiling water. Pour this,
scalding hot, on the mixture in the bowl, a little at a time, and stir
it well, adding a pinch of salt. Then put the whole back into the
sauce-pan. Set it on hot coals and stir it till it boils, making the
spoon go down to the bottom to prevent the gruel from burning. After it
has come to a boil, let it continue boiling half an hour, stirring it
frequently, and skimming it. Give it to the invalid warm, in a bowl or
tumbler, to be eaten with a tea-spoon. It may be sweetened with a little
sugar. When the physician permits, some grated nutmeg may be added;
also, a very little wine.