After cutting off the stalk closely, and with a sharp penknife peeling
off carefully their thin outside skin, measure two quarts, taking care
that they are all of the right sort, and freshly gathered; the outside
of a dull whitish color, and the underside of a fine pinkish salmon
tinge. If very white above and below, or if bright yellow, they are
poisonous. _Good_ mushrooms grow always in open fields or airy places;
never in woods or marshes. To pickle two quarts, prepare eight little
bags of very clear muslin; and tie up in each bag six blades of mace,
six slices of root ginger, and half a nutmeg broken up. Have ready four
glass jars, such as are considered to hold a quart. Lay a bag of spice
in the bottom of each. Having sprinkled the mushrooms well with salt,
let them rest till next day. Then divide the mushrooms and their liquor
into four pints. Put one pint into each jar, with a bag of spice at the
bottom, and another at the top. Pour on boiling cider vinegar of the
best quality, and finish with a table-spoonful of salad oil. Cork the
jars immediately, and tie leather carefully over the top. All mushrooms
turn brown on the under-side the day after they are gathered, and
sometimes sooner.
Boiling the spice in the vinegar will weaken the mushroom flavor. When
you open a jar of pickled mushrooms, immediately cork it again; tie on
the leather cover, and use it up as soon as possible. Therefore, pint
jars, with half a pint of mushrooms in each, are convenient.
BELL-PEPPERS PICKLED.--Take fine full-grown bell-peppers. Make a brine
in a stone jar of salt and water, strong enough to float an egg, and let
the peppers remain in it two days, putting a weight on the cover to keep
it down. Then take them out, wash them well in cold water, drain them,
and wipe them dry. Cut a slit in the side of each, and extract all the
seeds, as if left in, they will be entirely too hot. Through these slits
let all the water run out. Put them into a clean stone jar. Boil
sufficient of the best cider vinegar, interspersed with the muslin bags
of broken-up cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg. Pour it, boiling hot, on the
peppers in the jar. Distribute the bags of spice among the peppers, and
cork the jar warm. You may stuff the peppers in the manner of mangoes,
with pickled red cabbage finely shred, minced onions and minced
cucumbers pickled, and seasoned with a little mustard seed, ginger, and
mace. Tie up the slit with packthread, crossing all round. Fill up the
jars with vinegar, putting sweet oil on the top.
Your may green bell-peppers in the usual way, with vine leaves or
cabbage leaves.
All pickles should be kept in a dry place. If you find them mouldy they
are not always spoiled. Take them out of the jar, wipe off all the mould
carefully, and throw away the vinegar. Wash the jar very clean, scald
it, and set it in the sun to purify still more. Make a new pickle with
fresh seasoning, and put them into that.
PICKLED CAULIFLOWERS.--Take large, ripe, full-blown cauliflowers. Remove
the leaves and stalk, and divide the blossom into pieces or clusters of
equal size. Throw them into a porcelain kettle of boiling water, (adding
a little salt,) let them simmer, and skim them well. When they come to a
boil, take them up with a perforated skimmer, and lay them on a sieve to
drain. Put them into stone jars, (three parts full.) Season with mace
and nutmeg infused in sufficient of the best cider vinegar, and simmer
it for a quarter of an hour. When it comes to a boil take it off the
fire, and pour it hot over the cauliflower in the jar, filling quite up
to the top, and adding sweet oil at the last. Cover it while warm, and
tie leather over the top. If you wish to have the cauliflowers yellow,
boil with the vinegar some turmeric powder tied up in thin muslin. This
is a very nice pickle.
Broccoli is done in the same manner, but should be previously greened by
boiling it with vine leaves.
PICKLED BEETS WITH CABBAGE.--Take a large fine _red_ cabbage, wash it
well, and drain it. Quarter it, (having removed the stalk) and slice it
with a cabbage-cutter as for coldslaw. Boil some beets in the usual way
till quite tender, (they require a very long time) and while warm peel
and slice them in round pieces, or split them down, and cut them into
long bits. Lay them in a large stone jar, alternately with layers of
the shred cabbage, till the jar is more than half full. Have ready some
scalding vinegar that has been boiled with a seasoning of blades of mace
and sliced ginger root, and some nutmeg. Pour the vinegar, boiling hot,
upon the cabbage and beet, till you have the jars quite full. Finish
with a large table-spoonful of sweet oil. Cover the jar with leather,
and put it away warm.
PICKLED CUCUMBERS.--Take small young cucumbers, freshly gathered, and
free from blemishes. Make a brine strong enough to float an egg, and let
the cucumbers lie in it till they become yellow, stirring them down to
the bottom twice a day. Then pour off all the brine, wash the cucumbers
in cold water, and drain them. Lay a thick bed of fresh green vine
leaves in the bottom and sides of a porcelain kettle. Put in the
cucumbers, and pour on sufficient cold water to wet them all
plentifully. Then cover them, closely, with more vine leaves, and pour
on more water, packing the leaves well and pressing them down. Fill up
to the top with water and vine leaves, and cover the kettle closely to
keep in the steam. Hang it over a slow fire where there is no blaze, and
keep it _warm_ all night, but not _hot_. In the morning if the pickles
are not a fine deep green, remove the vine leaves and replace them with
a fresh supply. After this, they will be generally green enough; but if
not, continue till they are. Then drain the cucumbers on a sieve, and
transfer them to a very clean stone jar. To fifty cucumbers allow four
quarts of excellent vinegar, and a bit of alum about the size of a large
grain of corn, with half an ounce of mustard seed, half an ounce of
mace, a broken-up nutmeg, and half an ounce of root ginger, sliced. Tie
up the spice in three muslin bags, and boil them ten minutes in the
vinegar. Then take out and lay them among the cucumbers in the jar; one
to the bottom, one in the middle, and one at the top. Pour over them the
vinegar boiling hot; add a table-spoonful of sweet oil, and cork the jar
immediately, tying a leather over it. Keep wooden pickle spoons in the
pantry for taking out pickles, and always be careful to close the jar
immediately after.
You need not keep the bags of spice in the jars more than two or three
weeks.
PICKLED ONIONS.--Take the small silver-skinned white onions. Peel off
the outer skin. Make a brine strong enough to float an egg, skim it
well, and when it begins to cool pour it upon the onions. Let them stand
in it (closely covered,) till quite cold. Then take them out, peel off
another skin, and wash them through a cullender in cold water. Next,
boil them in milk till tender all through, so that you can easily pierce
them with a needle. Then drain off the milk. Measure them, and to a
quart of onions allow a quart of the best cider vinegar. Boil in the
vinegar two muslin bags tied up with broken-up nutmeg and mace. When it
has boiled, pour it hot over the onions in the jar; having laid one bag
of spice at the bottom, and one in the middle. The onions should fill
two thirds of the jar, and the vinegar the remainder. Finish with a
table-spoonful of salad oil, and cork the jar immediately, and tie on
the leather cover.
As onions pickled this way are generally much liked, it is well, when
doing them, to make several jars full.
_Cucumber and Onion Pickle._--To a dozen fine cucumbers allow three
large onions. Pare the cucumbers and peel the onions, and cut both into
thick slices. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them, and let them rest till
next day. Then drain them well, and put them into a stone jar. Pour
boiling vinegar over them. Close the jar, and set it in a warm place.
Next day repeat the boiling vinegar, and cork the jar. Next day repeat
it again, with a bag of mace, nutmeg, and ginger, boiled in the vinegar.
Then cork the jar, and tie it up. When the pickle is finished, divide it
in small stone jars, with sweet oil on the top of each.
WALNUTS OR BUTTERNUTS PICKLED--Gather them in early summer, when they
are full-grown, but so tender that a large needle will easily pierce
them all through. Rub off the outer skin with a coarse cloth, and then
lay them in salt and water for a week, changing the brine every other
day. Allow for this brine a small quarter of a pound of salt to a large
quart of water. Make enough to cover all the nuts well. Place a large
lid over the pan, and keep them closely from the air. The last day take
them out of the brine, drain them, and prick every one quite through in
several places with a large needle. Drain them again, spread them out on
large flat dishes, and set them to blacken for two days in the hot sun.
For a hundred nuts, allow a gallon of excellent cider vinegar, half an
ounce of black pepper-corns, half an ounce of cloves, half an ounce of
allspice, an ounce of root ginger, and an ounce of mace. Boil the spice
in the vinegar for ten minutes, tied up in eight small muslin bags. Then
take them out, and having divided the nuts in four stone jars,
distribute among them, equally, the bags of spice, and pour on the
vinegar hot, an equal portion in each jar. While warm, secure them with
flat corks, and tie leather over them. Done this way, you may begin to
use them in a week. If you have not enough of vinegar to fill the jars
up to the top, add some cold, and strew among the nuts some blades of
mace. Finish with a large spoonful of salad oil at the top of each jar.
PICKLED PLUMS.--Take large fine plums; perfect, and quite ripe. To every
quart of plums allow half a pound of the best white sugar powdered, and
a large pint of the best cider vinegar. Melt the sugar in the vinegar,
and put it with the fruit into a porcelain kettle; all the plums having
been previously pricked to the stone with a large needle. Lay among them
some small muslin bags filled with broken nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon;
and if you choose, a few cloves. Give them one boil up, skimming them
well. Put them warm into stone jars, with the bags interspersed, and
cork them immediately. Green gages may be done in this manner, first
rendering them greener by boiling with vine leaves in the usual way.
_Damsons Pickled._--Do these in the same manner as plums; but as they
are much more acid, allow brown sugar of the best kind. Plums or damsons
may be pickled plain, and with little trouble if full ripe, pricked with
a needle, and packed down in a stone jar with profuse layers of brown
sugar between the layers of fruit; the jars filled up with cold cider
vinegar, and putting sweet oil at the top.
_Pickled Cherries._--Take the largest and finest red cherries, fully
ripe. Morellas are the best. Either remove the stems entirely, or cut
them short, within two inches of the fruit. Have ready a large glass
jar. Fill it two thirds with fresh newly-gathered cherries, and then
fill up to the top with the best vinegar. Keep it well covered, and if
both fruit and vinegar are of excellent quality, no boiling is
necessary, and no spice, as the cherry flavor will be retained, and they
will not shrivel.
_Button Tomatos._--The small round tomatos, either red or yellow, will
keep perfectly, if put whole into cold vinegar of the _really_ best
quality. You may add a bag of spice if you choose.
_Nasturtion Seeds._--Keep a large glass jar of cold cider vinegar, and
put in the green seeds of nasturtions after the flowers are off, and the
seeds full-grown, but not hard. Remove the stalks. In this simple way
nasturtions will keep perfectly well, and are an excellent substitute
for capers with boiled mutton. They can be raised profusely, even in a
city garden, and the blossoms are very beautiful. With pepper-grass and
nasturtion flowers from your own garden, you can have a nice salad for a
summer evening tea-table.
The three pickles above (cherries, button tomatos, and nasturtion
seeds,) are cheap, easy, and palatable. Try them. To flavor them with
spice, boil the vinegar with a bag of spice in it, and pour it on hot,
leaving the bag among them in the jar.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SICK.
CHICKEN BROTH.--Skin and cut up a fine full-grown fowl. If but little is
wanted, take only the dark meat for the broth, and put it into a pot
with a small quart of water, and slowly boil it to rags. Strain the
liquid and return it to the pot, and thicken it with two spoonfuls of
arrow root, if no vegetables are permitted. Otherwise, you may boil with
the chicken some sliced onion and sliced turnip, with a grated parsnip
and a sliced potato, straining out the vegetables with the shreds of
fowl. You may reserve the white meat of the breast and wings to make
another dish, if the patient is permitted to take it. This is the white
meat cut off the bones, and stewed slowly in fresh oyster liquid, with a
bit of nice butter. If the patient is well enough, stir in a beaten egg
just before the stew is taken from the fire.
_Oyster Soup for Invalids._--Remove the gristle from a dozen fine large
fresh oysters. Take half their liquor and mix it with an equal portion
of very good milk, seasoning it with three or four blades of mace, and a
stalk of celery scraped and cut into pieces. When it has boiled and been
skimmed well, strain it over the oysters, and let all simmer together
till the oysters are plumped, but do not let them come to a boil. Serve
it up in a bowl, with some milk biscuit to eat with it.
_Clam Soup for Invalids._--Where salt is permitted, cut up and boil
slowly in their own liquor a dozen or more small sand clams. When well
boiled and skimmed, strain the liquor into a clean sauce-pan, and
thicken it with bread crumbs, and a small bit of nice fresh butter. The
clams are of no further use. Throw them away.
MUTTON BROTH FOR THE SICK.--Take two pounds from a nice neck of mutton,
and leave out some of the fat if there seems too much. Cut the meat from
the bones, and put it into a pot with a large quart of water, and no
seasoning. Boil it till the meat is all in rags. Do not skim it, as the
fat on the surface is very healing, if without salt or pepper. When
done, strain it into a bowl. Let the patient eat with it a slice of very
light wheat bread, having the crust cut off. It is excellent for the
dysentery. When the patient is convalescent, a little seasoning may be
allowed, and some well-boiled mashed turnips stirred into the bowl of
soup with a boiled onion sliced, and a thickening of arrow-root or
farina, stirred in about half an hour before the soup is taken up. Pour
it off clear from the shreds of meat at the bottom.
_Veal Broth for Invalids._--Take a pound of knuckle of veal cut in
pieces, four calf's feet, split up. Boil them in a large quart of water,
till they are all reduced to rags. Then strain the liquid, and add to it
the soft part, only, of half a dozen fine oysters, and three or four
blades of mace. Set it again on the fire, and as soon as it simmers
well, take it off, and serve it up with very light milk biscuit, or
little bread rolls, to eat with it. Veal broth may be made with a piece
of knuckle of veal cut small, and boiled in the liquor of clams instead
of water. The clams themselves must be omitted, as they are always tough
and indigestible for an invalid, but their liquor adds a pleasant
relish to the insipidity of the veal. As the strength of the patient
improves, a grated carrot, a sliced onion, and some sliced turnip, may
be added to the veal from the beginning.
_Raw Oysters for the Sick._--Take large fine fresh oysters, and
carefully cut out the hard part or gristle. They are considered very
good for convalescents, being, when raw, cooling, refreshing, and
nutritious. Drain them well from the liquor, making them as dry as you
can; and if permitted, accompany the oysters with black pepper and
vinegar, and a plate of bread and butter.
_Birds._--Convalescents, not yet allowed to eat meat, can generally
relish birds nicely broiled, or stewed in their own gravy, with any
appropriate seasoning, and a little _fresh_ butter, if they are not very
fat. When dished, lay under each a piece of nice toast, dipped for a
minute in hot water.
_Beefsteak for Invalids._--When this can be eaten with an appetite,
there is no greater promoter of returning health; but it must be of the
best sirloin steak, very tender, well broiled, and thoroughly done on
both sides, the gravy being carefully saved to serve up with it, a
little fresh butter being added after the meat comes off the gridiron.
If the taste of onion is desired, merely rub the plate with a peeled
onion. A very tender lamb-chop well broiled may be eaten by way of
change; but a tenderloin steak is better. Avoid pork, or veal cutlets.
_Gravy Sippets._--For invalids who cannot yet eat meat, a light and
relishing preparation may be made with one or two slices of the best
wheat bread, divested of the crust, and spread on a hot plate, while
some nice well-skimmed gravy is poured over them; the gravy of roast
beef, veal, or mutton, that has had no butter about it. Gravy sippets
will form a variety to the usual broths, and other beginnings for the
resumption of animal food.
HERB TEAS.--Have one or more china or white-ware pots for the purpose of
making herb teas; and see that, after using, they are well washed, well
scalded and dried, and set open in the sun till wanted again. The herbs,
whether green or dried, should be of excellent quality, and picked very
clean from dust and stems. Having well-scalded the pot, take the
allotted quantity of the herb and put it in; then pour on the water,
which must be actually boiling at the time, and press the herbs down at
the bottom with a silver spoon. Then put on the lid closely, and
immediately stop up the spout with a small cork, or a wad of soft white
paper rolled tightly. This is to keep in the steam, and prevent the
strength of the herb from escaping. When sufficiently boiled, pour into
a pitcher with a lid, and through a strainer, as much of the tea as is
wanted. Strainers of block tin, with a handle and _very fine_ close
holes, are excellent for this and other purposes.
_Herb Candies._--Hoarhound candy, and many others, may be made of a
strong decoction or tea of the herb, thickened with loaf sugar, and
boiled, skimmed, and stirred till very thick and stiff. Then pour it
smoothly into a square tin pan and set it in a cool place to congeal.
While still soft, mark it in even squares with a knife. When quite cold
and hard, loosen it from the pan with a knife, and take it out. It is
good for coughs.
Peppermint candy is made in the same way, and is used for flatulence.
GRUEL.--Gruels, for patients who are unable to take any thing more
substantial, may be made of ground rice flour, arrow root, indian meal,
oatmeal grits, or farina. Mix to a paste, with water, two large
table-spoonfuls of any of the above articles; then stir the paste,
gradually, into a pint of water boiling on the fire, making it very
smooth and pressing out all the lumps. To prevent it boiling over, when
it has risen nearly to the top of the pan, remove it from the fire.
Sweeten it while hot, and, if permitted, add a little white wine with
nutmeg, and a small bit of fresh butter.
_Toast and Water._--Cut a large slice or two of the best wheat bread;
pare off all the crust; and with a long-handled toasting fork toast it
evenly on both sides, not allowing it to blacken or burn in any part.
While hot from the fire, plunge the toast immediately into a quart
pitcher of clear cold water. Cover the pitcher instantly, and let it
infuse for half an hour or more, without leaving off the cover. When
done, it should be of a very pale brown color.
JELLY WATER.--Stir a table-spoonful of currant jelly into a half pint
tumbler of ice water, if the patient is feverish. The jelly may be of
other fruit, and if not sweet enough add some loaf sugar. The juice of
any ripe fruit, made sweet and mixed with cold water, is a good
substitute when sweetmeats are not at hand. Warm drinks are now seldom
used, but to promote perspiration and carry off a cold. Tamarinds are in
themselves very cooling and pleasant, and make an agreeable drink
infused in water, either warm or cold.
CARRAGEEN BLANCMANGE.--Carrageen is a species of sea moss which becomes
glutinous when boiled, and is considered remarkably nutritious and
strengthening. It can also be rendered very palatable. It is found
abundantly on some parts of our sea-coast, and may be obtained of the
best druggists, very nicely cleaned and pressed. To a small loose
handful of carrageen allow a small quart of rich unskimmed milk, half a
pound of powdered white sugar, a stick of the best cinnamon broken-up,
six or seven blades of mace, and half a nutmeg, powdered. Having washed
the carrageen through two or three cold waters, and shaken it out to
remove the drops that hang about it, put it to a pint and a half of the
cold milk. Boil it half an hour in a covered porcelain kettle. Then take
it out, for if it boils too long the carrageen will taste too strongly.
In another vessel boil the remaining half pint of milk with the spices,
till very highly flavored. Then strain it into the carrageen milk, and
stir in, gradually, the half pound of powdered loaf sugar. Set the
porcelain kettle again over the fire, and let it boil fast for five
minutes longer. Then strain it into moulds or bowls previously wet with
cold water; and when it has well congealed, turn it out, and serve it up
with sweetened cream, flavored with rose-water or peach-water. If for an
invalid, who is not allowed spices, flavor it with rose-water only,
stirred in after the blancmange has been taken from the fire.
FARINA BLANCMANGE.--From a quart of rich milk take out half a pint. Put
the half pint into a small sauce-pan, and add (if permitted) sufficient
mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon to flavor it well; the spices being tied up
in a very thin muslin bag. Then add the flavored milk to the remainder,
having stirred in two heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Set
it over the fire in a porcelain kettle, and when it has come to a boil
sprinkle in, gradually, four large heaping table-spoonfuls of farina,
stirring it well. Keep it boiling a quarter of an hour after all the
farina is in. When done, strain it into blancmange moulds, and set it on
ice to congeal. If for an invalid not allowed spice, boil it plain, and
when taken from the fire stir in a wine-glass of rose-water. If
rose-water is boiled with it from the beginning, the strength and flavor
will evaporate.
_Farina Flummery._--Mix with a small pint of water a large pint of the
juice of ripe currants, or strawberries, or of stewed cranberries in
winter, made very sweet with white sugar. Boil the water and juice
together, and stir in gradually a quarter pound of farina, and then boil
it fifteen minutes longer. Afterwards transfer it to moulds, and set it
on ice till congealed.
_Farina Gruel._--Have some water boiling on the fire, and when it boils
fast, sprinkle in sufficient farina to make it moderately thick. Then
sweeten it with white sugar. If permitted, stir in some white wine, and
nutmeg grated.
BEEF TEA.--Take a pound of fine fresh beefsteak cut from the round,
without any fat. Chop it into small bits, and season it with a level
salt-spoon of salt. Put it into a wide-mouthed bottle, cork it closely,
and set it into a kettle of cold water, which must reach to the neck of
the bottle. Let it boil steadily for three hours, by which time the
essence will be all extracted from the beef. Then remove the cork, and
strain the liquid into a bowl, and skim it. It can be made still more
conveniently in a _bain-marie_ or double kettle; an article useful for
many purposes, particular in cookery for an invalid. Mutton or veal tea
are made in the same manner. Also chicken tea, or essence of any sort of
poultry or game.
_Chicken Panada._--Having skinned and cut up a fine full-grown chicken,
take the white meat from the breast and wings, and mince it small for
panada. The dark meat will do for chicken tea. Add to the panada a slice
of wheat bread crumbled and mixed in, and boil it in a _bain-marie_ with
the water outside; seasoning it (if permitted) with powdered mace or
nutmeg.