layer of this jelly at the top.
LAFAYETTE GINGERBREAD.--Cut up in a deep pan half a pound of the best
fresh butter, with a half pound of excellent brown sugar; and stir it to
cream with a spaddle. Add a pint of West India molasses, mixed with half
a pint of warm milk; four table-spoonfuls of ginger; a heaped
table-spoonful of mixed powdered cinnamon and powdered mace and nutmeg;
and a glass of brandy. Sift in a pound and a half of fine flour. Beat
six eggs till very light and thick, and mix them, alternately, into the
pan of butter, sugar, molasses, &c. At the last, mix in the yellow rind
(grated fine) of two large oranges and the juice. Stir the whole very
hard. Melt in one cup a very small level tea-spoonful of soda, and in
another a small level salt-spoon of tartaric acid. Dissolve them both in
lukewarm water, and see that both are quite melted. First stir the soda
into the mixture, and then put in the tartaric acid. On no account
exceed the quantity of the two alkalis, as if too much is used, they
will destroy entirely the flavoring, and communicate a very disagreeable
taste instead. Few cakes are the better for any of the alkaline powders,
and many sorts are entirely spoiled by them. Even in gingerbread they
should be used very sparingly, rather less than more of the prescribed
quantity. Having buttered, (with the same butter) a large round or
oblong pan, put in the mixture, and bake it in a moderate oven till
thoroughly done, keeping up a steady heat, but watching that it does not
burn. There is no gingerbread superior to this, if well made. Instead of
lemon or orange, cut in half a pound of seedless raisins, dredge them
well with flour, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture.
This is also called Franklin gingerbread.
GINGER NUTS.--Cut a pound of the best fresh butter into two pounds or
two quarts of sifted flour, and half a pound of fine brown sugar. Add
four heaped table-spoonfuls of ground ginger; a heaped table-spoonful of
powdered cinnamon, and the same quantity of mixed nutmeg and mace. Mix
all the ingredients thoroughly together; adding, gradually, a large pint
of West India molasses, and the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon
or orange. Stir it very hard with a spaddle. Flour your hands, break
off pieces of the dough, and knead each piece a little; then flatten
them on the top. Make them the size of a quarter dollar. Or, (flouring
your pasteboard) roll out the dough, and cut out the ginger-nuts with
the edge of a small wine-glass. Bake them on buttered tins, having first
glazed them with a thin mixture of molasses and water. The same dough
may be baked in long straight sticks, divided by lines deeply marked
with a knife.
There are many other gingerbreads; but any of the soft sorts may be made
with little variation from the foregoing directions for Lafayette
gingerbread; and of the hard sort of ginger-nut preparation, the above
is the basis of the rest. If the receipts are liberally and exactly
followed, it will be found that to those two none are superior.
PIGEON PIE.--For this pie take six fine fat tame pigeons, carefully
cleaned and picked. Lay them in cold water for an hour, changing the
water twice during that time. This is to remove what is called "the
taste of the nest." Have ready the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs,
seasoned with powdered nutmeg. Place a bit of fresh butter rolled in
flour, in the inside of each pigeon, with its liver cut up, and with a
yolk of egg seasoned with powdered mace. Lay a nice tender beef steak,
or thin veal cutlet, in the bottom of a large deep dish, that has been
lined with puff-paste. Butter the steak, and dredge it with flour.
There must be meat enough to cover well the bottom of the pie dish. Lay
the pigeons upon it, with the breast downward, (their heads and feet cut
off, and their livers cut up, and put inside with the stuffing.) Fill up
the dish with water. Roll out and put on the lid of the pie, which you
may ornament with paste leaves or flowers, according to your taste. For
company, pigeon pies are expected to look handsome. It is no longer
fashionable to have the feet of the pigeons sticking out of the slit in
the top of the paste.
Moorfowl, pheasants, partridges, or quails, may be made into pies in the
above manner. It is usual, for partridge pies, to peel two fine sweet
oranges; and having divided them into quarters, carefully remove the
strings and seeds, and put the oranges into the birds without any other
stuffing. Instead of beef steak or veal cutlet, lay a thin slice of cold
ham in the bottom of the pie-dish.
This receipt, and the following, were accidentally omitted in their
proper places.
CHICKEN PIE.--Skin a pair of fine fowls, and cut them up. Save out the
necks, backs, feet, livers, and gizzards, and the ends of the pinions;
and seasoning them with a little pepper and salt add some trimmings or
spare bits of fresh beef or veal, and stew them in a small sauce-pan
with a little water, to make the gravy. Let them stew till all to rags,
and then strain off the liquid; and while hot, stir into it a beaten
egg and a bit of fresh butter, dredged with flour. In the mean time make
a nice puff-paste, and roll it out rather thick; divide it in two
circular sheets. Line with one sheet the bottom and sides of a deep pie
dish, and put in the best pieces of chicken. Lay among them four
hard-boiled eggs, sliced or quartered. Season well with powdered mace or
nutmeg. The gravy being strained, pour that into the pie, and finish at
the top with a layer of butter divided into small pieces, and dredge
with flour. This is what the old English cookery books mean when they
say--"Close the pie with a _lear_."
A chicken pie will be improved by the addition of a dozen or more large
fresh oysters, stewed. If you add oysters, take off the lid or upper
crust as soon as the pie is baked, and put in the oysters _then_; if put
in at the beginning, they will bake too long. Replace the lid nicely,
and send the pie to table hot.
The lid should have in the top a cross slit with a nice paste flower in
it. To make a paste flower roll out a straight narrow slip of paste,
about four or five inches wide. Roll it up with your fingers as if you
were rolling up a ribbon. Then with a sharp knife cut four clefts in the
upper half, and when baked, it will spread apart as like the leaves of a
flower.
SWEETMEATS.
No sweetmeats can either look well or taste well unless the fruit and
the sugar are of the best quality. As in all other branches of cookery,
it is false economy to provide bad or low-priced ingredients. It has of
late years been difficult to obtain _very_ good sugar at any price, so
much is adulterated with flour or ground starch. In the common powdered
sugar the flour is so palpable that we are surprised at its having any
sale at all; and the large quantity required to produce any perceptible
sweetness renders it totally unfit for sweetmeats, or indeed for any
thing else. The best brown sugar is better than this, having clarified
it with white of egg. To do this, allow to every pound of sugar the
beaten white of an egg, and a half pint of clear cold water. Having
poured the water on the sugar, let it stand to melt before it goes on
the fire. Then add the white of egg and put in on to boil. When it
boils, carefully take off the scum as it rises, and add when it is
boiling hard another jill or quarter pint of water for each pound of
sugar. Remove it from the fire when the scum ceases to rise, and let it
stand for a quarter of an hour to settle. Strain, and bottle it for use.
The best brown sugar _thus prepared_ will make a good syrup; and good
marmalade, when white sugar of the best quality is not to be obtained.
But for the nicest sweetmeats use always, if you can, the best
double-refined loaf.
In warm weather there is nothing better for a preserving fire than a
portable charcoal furnace placed out in the open air; as in a room with
the doors or windows shut the vapor of charcoal is deadly, and never
fails to produce suffocation. Of whatever the fire is made, it should be
clear and steady without smoke or blaze. Never use copper or bell-metal
for either preserving or pickling. For all such purposes employ only
iron, lined with what is called porcelain or enamel, but is in reality a
thick strong white earthen, first made at Delft, in Holland. This lining
will crack if the kettle is placed over a blaze, which it should never
be. All sweetmeats should be boiled with the lid off. If covered, the
steam having no means of escaping, returns upon them, and causes them to
look dark and unsightly. When done, put the sweetmeats warm into jars or
glasses, and leave them open a few hours that the watery particles may
evaporate, but have them all pasted and closely covered before night. Do
nothing to render your preserves hard, or firm, as it is called. It is
better to have them soft and tender. The old custom of steeping them for
days in salt and water, and then boiling them in something else to
remove the salt, is now considered foolish, and is seldom practised.
Put up jellies and small sweetmeats in common tumblers, laying on the
surface of each a double cover of white tissue paper cut exactly to fit,
and then put on another cover of thick white paper pleated and notched
where it descends below the edge, using always gum tragacanth paste,
which you should keep always in the house, as it requires no boiling;
and if in making it, a bit of corrosive sublimate (not larger than a
cherry-stone) is dissolved with the ounce of gum tragacanth and the half
pint of warm water, in a yellow or white-ware mug, and _stirred only
with a stick_, the paste will never spoil, and if kept covered, will be
found superior to all others. No metal must touch this cement, as it
will then turn black and spoil.
Keep your sweetmeats always in a dry place. But if after a while you see
a coat of mould on the surface, you need not throw them away, till you
have tried to recover them by carefully removing every particle of
mould, filling up the jars with fresh sugar, and setting them, one by
one, in a bottle of water, and in this way boiling them over again. But
if they have an unpleasant smell, and you see insects about them, of
course they must be thrown away. To purify jars, clean and scrape them,
and wash them thoroughly with ley and water, or with a solution of
soda--afterwards exposing them to the sun and air for a week or more.
_Jellies._--We have already given directions for various fruit jellies
in the chapter on Fine Desserts. They are all made nearly in the same
manner, using the juice of the fruit, and sufficient sugar to make it
congeal and to keep it. Jellies should always be bright and transparent,
and therefore require the best and ripest of fruit and the finest of
loaf sugar.
MARMALADE OR JAMS.--Marmalade or jams are the easiest sweetmeats to
make, and are useful for all sweetmeat purposes. They are all made
nearly in the same manner; and to be very good, and to keep well, at
least a pound of fine sugar should be allowed to every pound of
fruit--the fruit being quite ripe, freshly gathered, and of the best
kind.
_For Peach Marmalade_--Take fine, juicy free-stone peaches. Pare them;
cut them in half; remove the stones, and let them be saved and the
kernels extracted to use as bitter almonds. Cut up the peaches, and
allow for each pound a pound of sugar. Lay the peaches (with all the
sugar among them,) in a large pan or tureen, and let them rest for three
or four hours. Boil the peaches and sugar together in a porcelain kettle
(without a cover) for half an hour, skimming and stirring well. When it
becomes a thick smooth mass it is finished. Put it up in glass jars, and
leave it uncovered till cool; but not longer. The flavor will be much
improved by boiling with the peaches and sugar one or two handfuls of
the kernels, blanched and pounded; or else a bunch of fresh peach
leaves, to be removed afterward.
_Quince Marmalade_ is made in the same manner--first carefully removing
all the blemishes. Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of quinces. They
must boil longer than peaches. All marmalades must be cooked till the
form of the fruit is quite indistinguishable, and till it mashes into a
thick smooth mass. Quinces should be allowed to remain on the trees till
after the first frost, which greatly improves them. Persimmons and wild
grapes are not eatable till they are touched by the frost.
_Tomato Marmalade._--Make this when lemons are ripe and plenty. To every
two pounds of tomatos allow two pounds of sugar, and the grated yellow
rind and the juice of one lemon. The worst way of using lemons for any
purpose is to merely slice them. Depend on the slices for flavoring, and
they are wasted; the taste being scarcely perceptible. They should
always be first rolled under your hand, which increases the yield of
juice. Then grate off from the outside the _yellow_ rind only (the white
part of the rind is worse than useless,) and having cut the lemon,
squeeze the juice through a tin strainer to exclude the seeds, which
otherwise would be troublesome to pick out. The yellow rind and the
juice are all you need want of a lemon for any purpose of flavoring.
Scald the tomatos to make them peel easily, and mix the sugar thoroughly
with them. Boil them slowly for an hour in a porcelain kettle, skimming
carefully, and stirring well after each skimming. Then add the lemon
grate and the juice, and boil the marmalade another half hour, or till
it is a thick smooth mass.
_Pumpkin Marmalade._--Take a fine ripe high-colored pumpkin. Cut it up.
Empty it very clean of the seeds and strings; take off a thick paring.
Slice the pieces small and thin, and weigh them. To each pound of
pumpkin allow a pound of powdered sugar, and the grated peel and the
juice of one large lemon. Pumpkin sweetmeats require a high lemon
flavoring. Boil the pumpkin alone, till quite soft. Then mash it in a
cullender till the water is pressed out, and the pumpkin left dry.
Afterwards put it into a porcelain kettle, mix with it the sugar and
lemon, and boil it again till it becomes a thick jam. Cantaloupe
marmalade is made in the same way with lemon and sugar--also marmalade
of ripe figs.
_Plum Marmalade._--Choose plums that are fully ripe. Allow to each pound
a pound and a half of sugar. Scald them till the skins peel off easily,
and extract all the stones. Lay them in the sugar for two or three hours
or more, and then boil them till they become a thick smooth mass.
Green-gages the same.
_Raspberry Jam._--To every quart of fine ripe raspberries allow a pound
of best loaf sugar, powdered. Put them together into a broad white-ware
pan, and let them rest for two or three hours. Then boil them in an
uncovered porcelain kettle, taking off the scum carefully. When no more
scum rises, mash them, and boil them to a smooth thick marmalade. When
cold, put it up in half pint tumblers, and cover them with rounds of
double tissue paper, cut exactly to fit, and then with thick white
paper dipped in brandy.
_Strawberry Jam._--The strawberries must be quite ripe, and very fine.
Allow to each quart a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Put them into a
large white-ware pan; a layer of sugar and a layer of strawberries
alternately, finishing with strawberries on the top. Let them rest in
the sugar and juice three or four hours. Then boil and skim them till
they become very thick and smooth. When cold, put them up in tumblers,
with double tissue paper over the top. Blackberry jam is made in the
same manner.
_Gooseberry Jam._--Top and tail the gooseberries, which must be
thoroughly ripe, and with thin skins. They require to every pound of
fruit a pound and a half of sugar of the best sort. Mash them with a
wooden beetle, and put them with all the sugar into an uncovered
porcelain kettle, and boil and skim them. When half done add more sugar,
and continue boiling till they are a very thick marmalade. When cold,
cover the tumblers with brandy paper.
_Pine-apple Marmalade._--Take the best and ripest pine-apples; remove
the leaves, and split each pine-apple into four pieces, and cut out the
core from the centre. Stand the pieces upright in a deep dish, and, with
a large coarse grater grate down all the _flesh_ of the fruit, as it is
called. To every pint of grated pine-apple allow a pound of powdered
loaf sugar, and put them together in a large tureen. Let them rest two
hours. Then transfer the whole to a porcelain kettle. Leave it
uncovered; and boil, skim, and stir, till it becomes a very thick
marmalade. When cool, put it up in glass jars. It is a very nice
sweetmeat, particularly for shells or tarts.
_Grape Marmalade._--Take a sufficiency of fine grapes, thoroughly ripe.
Having picked them from the stems, mash them with a wooden beetle, and
then press them through a sieve. To every pint of the pulp allow a pound
of powdered sugar, well mixed in; let it stand an hour or two. Then boil
it, uncovered, in a porcelain kettle, skimming and stirring well, till
it is very thick and smooth. When cool, put it up in small marmalade
pots of white-ware with lids, and paste a band of thick white paper
round each, at the small crack where the cover fits on. A good marmalade
for the backwoods may be made of wild grapes and maple sugar.
_Cherry Marmalade._--If you cannot procure morellas, (the best of all
cherries for sweetmeats) use the large Virginia or carnation cherries.
Black cherries are unfit for cooking. Stem and stone your cherries,
saving all the juice you can. Allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar to
every pint of cherries. Boil the fruit and the sugar together,
uncovered, for an hour, skimming and stirring. When cool, put it in
white-ware marmalade pots and paste the lids.
_Orange Marmalade._--Quarter some large ripe oranges, and remove the
rind, the seeds, and the strings or filaments, taking care to save all
the juice. Put the pulp, with the juice, into a porcelain kettle, and
mix with it an equal quantity of strained honey, adding sufficient
powdered loaf sugar to render it very thick and sweet. The honey alone
will not make it sweet enough. Boil it uncovered, and skim it till very
thick, smooth, and clear. Taste it, and if necessary add more sugar, and
boil it longer. When cold, put it up in tumblers or white-ware marmalade
pots, and cover it securely. This marmalade is exquisite, and very
superior to any other.
_Orange Milk._--Take four dozen large ripe juicy oranges, and roll them
under your hand. Cut them in two; remove the seeds, and squeeze the
juice into a large clean stone jar. Have ready four pounds of the best
double-refined loaf sugar, dissolved in a gallon of French brandy. Pour
it into the jar that contains the orange juice; stir the mixture well,
and add the yellow rind of the oranges, pared so thin from the white as
to be transparent, and divide it into bits. Cover the jar, and let it
stand four days, stirring it frequently. Then take a gallon of new
unskimmed milk, (the morning's milk of that day,) boil it alone, and
when it comes to a hard boil pour it into the mixture of orange, sugar,
and brandy. Cover it closely, and let it stand till quite cold. Then
strain it into another vessel through a linen jelly bag. Bottle it
immediately, and seal the corks. It improves by keeping. To use it, pour
it out in half tumblers, and fill up with ice water, or serve it round
undiluted in small cordial glasses, after ice-cream. It is much
admired, and in orange countries may be made in large quantities. Lemon
milk is made in the same manner, having a larger proportion of sugar.
_Fruit in Syrups._--Make a syrup in the proportion of half a pint of
water to every pound of sugar, and a pint of the juice of any sort of
fine ripe fruit. Boil and skim it till very clear, but not till it
congeals or jellies. Then bottle it, and cork the bottles. As the fresh
fruit comes again into season, select the finest, largest, and ripest.
For instance, half fill a white-ware preserve jar with fine fresh
strawberries, and fill up from a bottle of strawberry syrup; or ripe
raspberries with raspberry syrup; currants, with currant syrup, &c.
Cover them closely till wanted for immediate use.
PRESERVED CITRON MELONS.--Take some fine citron melons; pare, core, and
cut them into slices. Then weigh them; and, to every six pounds of
melon, allow six pounds of the best double refined loaf sugar, and the
juice and yellow rind (grated very fine,) of four large fresh lemons,
and _a quarter_ of a pound of root ginger.
Put the slices of lemon into a preserving kettle, and boil them half an
hour or more, till they look _quite_ clear, and are so tender that a
broom twig will pierce through them. Then drain them; lay them in a
broad pan of cold water, cover them, and let them stand all night. In
the morning tie the root ginger in a thin muslin cloth, and boil it in
three pints of clear spring or pump water till the water is highly
flavored. Then take out the bag of ginger. Having broken up the sugar
put it into a clean preserving kettle, and pour the ginger water over
it. When the sugar is all melted set it over the fire, put in the grated
yellow peel of the lemons, and boil and skim it till no more scum rises.
Then put in the sliced citrons, and the juice of the lemons; and boil
them in the syrup till all the slices are quite transparent, and so soft
that a straw will go through them; but do not allow them to break. When
quite done, put the slices (while still warm,) into wide-mouthed glass
or white-ware jars, and gently pour on the syrup. Lay inside of each
jar, upon the top of the syrup, a round of white paper dipped in brandy.
Put on the lids of the jars, and tie leather over them.
This will be found a delicious sweetmeat; equal to any imported from the
West Indies, and far less expensive.
PINE-APPLES PRESERVED.--Take six fine large pine-apples, as ripe as you
can get them. Make them very clean, but do not, at first, pare off the
rind or cut off the leaves. The rind and leaves being left on while
boiling will _keep in_ the flavor of the fruit. Put the pine-apples
whole into a very large and very clean iron pot. Fill it up with cold
water, and boil the pine-apples till they are so tender that you can
pierce them through the rind to the core, with a splinter skewer or a
twig from a corn broom. Then take them out of the pot, and drain them.
When they are so cool as to be handled without inconvenience, remove the
leaves, and pare off the rind. Cut then into round slices about half an
inch thick, extracting the core from the centre as to leave a small
round hole in every slice. Weigh them, and to each pound of fruit allow
a pound of double refined loaf sugar, broken up and powdered. Cover the
bottom of a large dish or dishes with a thick layer of the sugar. On
this place a layer of pine-apple slices; then a layer of sugar; then a
layer of fruit, and so on till the slices are all thickly covered,
finishing with a layer of sugar at the top. Let them stand twenty-four
hours. Then drain the slices from the syrup, and lay them in wide jars.
Put all the syrup into a clear porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it
till the scum ceases to rise. Then pour it hot upon the pine-apple.
While warm, cover the jars closely with white paper cut to fit, and
dipped in brandy; and then tie on a piece of bladder. There is no better
way of preserving pine-apples, or that retains the flavor so well.
Quinces may be preserved in the same manner.