puff paste round the inside of the dish, and lay in the meat. Add some
small potatoes, if approved, fill up the dish with water, and cover it
with the paste.
BEEF PUDDING. Roll some fine steaks with fat between, and a very little
shred onion. Lay a paste of suet in a bason, put in the rolled steaks,
cover the bason with a paste, and pinch the edges to keep in the gravy.
Cover with a cloth tied close, and let the pudding boil slowly a
considerable time.--If for baking, make a batter of milk, two eggs and
flour, or, which is much better, potatoes boiled, and mashed through a
cullender. Lay a little of it at the bottom of the dish, then put in the
steaks prepared as above, and very well seasoned. Pour the remainder of
the batter over them, and bake it.
BEEF SANDERS. Mince some beef small, with onion, pepper and salt, and
add a little gravy. Put it into scallop shells or saucers, making them
three parts full, and fill them up with potatoes, mashed with a little
cream. Put a bit of butter on the top, and brown them in an oven, or
before the fire, or with a salamander. Mutton may be made into sanders
in the same way.
BEEF SCALLOPS. Mince some beef fine, with onion, pepper and salt, and
add a little gravy. Put the mince into scallop shells or saucers three
parts full, and fill them up with potatoes, mashed with a little cream.
Lay a bit of butter on the tops, and brown them in an oven, or before
the fire.
BEEF STEAKS. To have them fine, they should be cut from a rump that has
hung a few days. Broil them over a very clear or charcoal fire; put into
the dish a little minced shalot, a table-spoonful of ketchup. The steak
should be turned often, that the gravy may not be drawn out on either
side. This dish requires to be eaten so hot and fresh done, that it is
not in perfection if served with any thing else. Pepper and salt should
be added when taking it off the fire, and a bit of butter rubbed on at
the moment of serving. If accompanied with oyster sauce, strain off the
liquor from the oysters, and throw them into cold water to take off the
grit, while you simmer the liquor with a bit of mace and lemon peel.
Then put in the oysters, stew them a few minutes, add a little cream,
and some butter rubbed in a bit of flour. Let them boil up once, and
throw the sauce over the steaks at the moment of sending the dish to
table.
BEEF STEW. Cut into small pieces four or five pounds of beef, with some
hard fat. Put these into a stewpan, with three pints of water, a little
salt and pepper, a sprig of sweet herbs, and three cloves. Cover the pan
very close, and let it stew four hours over a slow fire. Throw in some
carrots and turnips, cut into square pieces; the white part of a leek,
with two heads of celery chopped fine; a crust of bread, and two
spoonfuls of vinegar. When done, put it into a deep dish, set it over
hot water, and cover it close. Skim the gravy, and put in a few pickled
mushrooms; thicken it with flour and butter, make it hot, and pour it
over the beef.
BEEF TEA. Cut a pound of fleshy beef into thin slices; simmer it with a
quart of water twenty minutes, after it has once boiled, and been
skimmed. Season it, if approved; but a little salt only is sufficient.
BEEF VINGRETTE. Cut a slice of under-done boiled beef three inches
thick, and a little fat. Stew it in half a pint of water, a glass of
white wine, a bunch of sweet herbs, an onion, and a bay leaf. Season it
with three cloves pounded, and pepper, till the liquor is nearly wasted
away, turning it once. Serve it up cold. Strain off the gravy, and mix
it with a little vinegar for sauce.
BEER. During the present ruinous system of taxation, it is extremely
difficult, though highly desirable, to procure a cheap and wholesome
beverage, especially for the labouring part of the community, to whom it
is as needful as their daily food. Beer that is brewed and drunk at
home, is more pure and nutricious than what is generally purchased at an
alehouse; and those who cannot afford a better article, may perhaps find
it convenient to adopt the following method for obtaining some cheap
drink for small families.--To half a bushel of malt, add four pounds of
treacle, and three quarters of a pound of hops. This will make
twenty-five gallons of wholesome beer, which will be fit for use in a
fortnight; but it is not calculated for keeping, especially in warm
weather. Beer brewed in this way will not cost one halfpenny a pint. An
agreeable table beer may be made ready for drinking in three or four
days, consisting of treacle and water, fermented with a little yeast.
Boil six or seven gallons of water, pour it on the same quantity of cold
water in a cask, and a gallon of treacle. Stir them well together; and
when the fermentation is abated, close the bung-hole in the usual way. A
little of the outer rind of an orange peel infused into the beer, and
taken out as soon as it has imparted a sufficient degree of bitterness,
will give it an agreeable flavour, and assist in keeping the beer from
turning sour. A little gentian root boiled in the water, either with or
without the orange peel, will give a wholesome and pleasant bitter to
this beer. A small quantity, by way of experiment, may be made thus. To
eight quarts of boiling water, put one ounce of treacle, a quarter of
an ounce of ginger, and two bay leaves. Let the whole boil a quarter of
an hour; then cool and work it with yeast, the same as other beer.
Another way to make a cheap malt liquor is to take a bushel of malt,
with as much water and hops as if two bushels of malt were allowed in
the common way, and put seven pounds of the coarsest brown sugar into
the boiling wort. This makes a very pleasant liquor; is as strong, and
will keep as long without turning sour or flat, as if two bushels had
been employed. Twenty gallons of good beer may be made from a bushel of
malt, and three quarters of a pound of hops, if care be taken to extract
all their goodness. For this purpose boil twenty-four gallons of water,
and steep the malt in it for three hours: then tie up the hops in a hair
cloth, and boil malt, hops, and wort, all together for three quarters of
an hour, which will reduce it to about twenty gallons. Strain it off,
and set it to work when lukewarm. See BREWING.--As however it does not
suit some persons to brew, in any way whatever, it may be necessary to
add a few brief remarks on the distinguishing qualities of sound beer,
that persons may know what it is they purchase, and how far their health
may be affected by it. Wholesome beer then ought to be of a bright
colour, and perfectly transparent, neither too high nor too pale. It
should have a pleasant and mellow taste, sharp and agreeably bitter,
without being hard or sour. It should leave no pungent sensation on the
tongue; and if drank in any tolerable quantity, it must neither produce
speedy intoxication, nor any of the usual effects of sleep, nausea,
headache, or languor; nor should it be retained too long after drinking
it, or be too quickly discharged. If beer purchased at the alehouse be
suspected of having been adulterated with the infusion of vitriol, for
the purpose of adding to its strength, it may be detected by putting in
a few nut galls, which will immediately turn it black, if it have been
so adulterated; and the beer ought by all means to be rejected, as
highly injurious to the constitution, and may be fatal even to life
itself.
BEES. A hive of bees may be considered as a populous city, containing
thirty thousand inhabitants. This community is in itself a monarchy,
composed of a queen, of males which are the drones, and of working bees
called neuters. The combs being composed of pure wax, serve as a
magazine for their stores, and a nursery for their young. Between the
combs there is a space sufficient for two bees to march abreast, and
there are also transverse defiles by which they can more easily pass
from one comb to another.--The queen bee is distinguishable from the
rest by the form of her body. She is much longer, unwieldy, and of a
brighter colour, and seldom leaves the parent hive; but when she goes to
settle a new colony, all the bees attend her to the place of
destination. A hive of bees cannot subsist without a queen, as she
produces their numerous progeny; and hence their attachment to her is
unalterable. When a queen dies, the bees immediately cease working,
consume their honey, fly about at unusual times, and eventually pine
away, if not supplied with another sovereign. The death of the queen is
proclaimed by a clear and uninterrupted humming, which should be a
warning to the owner to provide the bees if possible with another queen,
whose presence will restore vigour and exertion; of such importance is a
sovereign to the existence and prosperity of this community. It is
computed that a pregnant queen bee contains about five thousand eggs,
and that she produces from ten to twelve thousand bees in the space of
two months.--Drones are smaller than the queen, but larger than the
working bees, and when on the wing they make a greater noise. Their
office is to impregnate the eggs of the queen after they are deposited
in the cells; but when this is effected, as they become useless to the
hive, they are destroyed by the working bees and thrown out; and having
no sting, they are without the power of resistance. After the season of
the encrease of the bees is past, and when they attend to the collection
of winter stores, every vestige of the drones is destroyed to make room
for the honey. When drones are observed in a hive late in autumn, it is
usually a sign that the stock is poor.--Working bees compose the most
numerous body of the state. They have the care of the hive, collect the
wax and honey, fabricate the wax into combs, feed the young, keep the
hive clean, expel all strangers, and employ themselves in promoting the
general prosperity. The working bee has two stomachs, one to contain the
honey, and another for the crude wax. Among the different kinds of
working bees, those are to be preferred which are small, smooth, and
shining, and of a gentle disposition.--Considering the rich productions
of these little insects, and the valuable purposes to which they may be
applied, it is truly astonishing that so important an object in rural
economy has been so little attended to by the inhabitants of this
country. In Egypt, the cultivation of bees forms a leading object, and
their productions constitute a part of its riches. About the end of
October, when sustenance cannot be provided for them at home, the
inhabitants of Lower Egypt embark their bees on the Nile, and convey
them to the distant regions of Upper Egypt, when the inundation is
withdrawn, and the flowers are beginning to bud. These insects are thus
conducted through the whole extent of that fertile country; and after
having gathered all the rich produce of the banks of the Nile, are
re-conducted home about the beginning of February. In France also,
floating bee-hives are very common. One barge contains from sixty to a
hundred hives, which are well defended from the inclemency of the
weather. Thus the owners float them gently down the stream, while they
gather the honey from the flowers along its banks, and a little
bee-house yields the proprietors a considerable income. At other times
they convey bees by land, to places where honey and wax may be
collected. The hives are fastened to each other by laths placed on a
thin packcloth, which is drawn up on each side and tied with packthread
several times round their tops. Forty or fifty hives are then laid in a
cart, and the owner takes them to distant places where the bees may feed
and work. But without this labour the industrious bee might be
cultivated to great advantage, and thousands of pounds weight of wax and
honey collected, which now are suffered to be wasted on the desert air,
or perish unheeded amidst the flowers of the field.--Those whose
attention may be directed to the subject by these remarks, and who
intend to erect an apiary, should purchase the stocks towards the close
of the year, when bees are cheapest; and such only as are full of combs,
and well furnished with bees. To ascertain the age of the hives it
should be remarked, that the combs of the last year are white, while
those of the former year acquire a darkish yellow. Where the combs are
black, the hive should be rejected as too old, and liable to the inroads
of vermin. In order to obtain the greatest possible advantage from the
cultivation of bees, it is necessary to supply them with every
convenience for the support of themselves and their young. And though it
may be too much trouble to transport them to distant places, in order
to provide them with the richest food, and to increase their abundant
stores; yet in some instances this plan might in part be adopted with
considerable success. It has been seen in Germany, as well as in other
parts of the continent, that forty large bee hives have been filled with
honey, to the amount of seventy pounds each, in one fortnight, by their
being placed near a large field of buck wheat in flower; and as this and
various other plants adapted to enrich the hive are to be found in many
parts of England, there is no reason why a similar advantage might not
be derived from such an experiment.--Besides providing for them the
richest food in summer, in order to facilitate their labours, it is
equally necessary to attend to their preservation in the winter. To
guard against the effects of cold, the bees should be examined during
the winter; and if instead of being clustered between the combs, they
are found in numbers at the bottom of the hive, they should be carried
to a warmer place, where they will soon recover. In very severe seasons,
lay on the bottom of an old cask the depth of half a foot of fine earth
pressed down hard; place the stool on this with the hive, and cut a hole
in the cask opposite to the entrance of the hive, in which fix a piece
of reed or hollow elder, and then cover the whole with dry earth. This
will preserve a communication with the external air, and at the same
time keep out the cold. The bees remaining in a torpid state during the
winter, they require but little food; but as every sunny day revives and
prompts them to exercise, a small supply is necessary on these
occasions. Many hives of bees which are supposed to have died of cold,
have in reality perished by famine, especially when a rainy summer
prevented them from collecting a sufficient store of provision. Hence
the hives should be carefully examined in autumn, and ought then to
weigh at least eighteen pounds each. When bees require to be fed, the
honey should be diluted with water, and put into an empty comb, split
reeds, or upon clear wood, which the bees will suck perfectly dry. But
it is a much better way to replenish the weak hives in September, with
such a portion of combs filled with honey taken from other hives as may
be deemed a sufficient supply. This is done by turning up the weak hive,
cutting out the empty combs, and placing full ones in their stead, so
secure as not to fall down when the hive is replaced. If this be too
troublesome, a plate of honey may be set under the hive, and straws laid
across the plate, covered with paper perforated with small holes,
through which the bees will suck the honey without difficulty.--These
valuable insects are liable to various disorders, both from the food
they eat, from foreign enemies, and from one another. If they have fed
greedily on the blossoms of the milk thistle or the elm, it will render
them incapable of working, and the hive will be stained with filth. The
best cure in this case is pounded pomegranate seed, moistened with sweet
wine; or raisins mixed with wine or mead, and the infusion of rosemary.
When they are infested with vermin, the hive must be cleansed, and
perfumed with a branch of pomegranate or the wild fig-tree, which will
effectually destroy them. Butterflies sometimes conceal themselves in
the hives, and annoy the bees; but these intruders may easily be
exterminated by placing lighted candles in deep tin pots between the
hives, as they will be attracted by the flame, and so perish. In order
to extirpate wasps and hornets preying upon the honey, it is only
necessary to expose shallow vessels near the hive with a little water,
to which those depredators eagerly repair to quench their thirst, and
thus easily drown themselves. To prevent bees of one society from
attacking or destroying those of another, which is frequently the case,
the following method may be tried. Let a board about an inch thick be
laid on the bee bench, and set the hive upon it with its mouth exactly
on the edge. The mouth of the hive should also be contracted to about an
inch in length, and a semicircular hole made in the board immediately
under the mouth of the hive. By this simple method, the bees which come
to make the attack will be foiled, and constrained to act with great
disadvantage. If this do not succeed, remove the hive to a distant part
of the garden, and to a more easterly or colder aspect, which will
frequently end the contest.--When bees are to be taken up for the
purpose of obtaining the wax and honey, great care should be taken not
to destroy the insects; and for this end the following method is
recommended. The upper box on the hive, which principally contains the
honey, is first to be taken off. The joint should be loosened, the
cement scraped off, and then a piece of iron wire to be drawn through
the comb so as to divide it. When the upper box is thus separated, its
cover is to be taken off and immediately placed on the second box, which
is now the highest. Having taken out the contents of the box which has
been separated, it is to be placed again on the stand, under the lower
box, and its door only is to be left open. If any bees remain in the box
when taken away, a little smoke will drive them out, and they will
quickly return to their own hive. In this manner a second or a third box
of honey may be removed in succession, when the lower part of the hive
appears to be full; but care must be taken not to deprive the bees
entirely of the stock which they have collected for the winter. In
taking up a common straw hive of bees, the best way is to remove it
into a darkened room, that it may appear to the bees as if it were late
in the evening. Then gently turning the hive bottom upwards, and
supporting it in that position, cover it with an empty hive a little
raised towards the window, to give the bees sufficient light to guide
their ascent. Keep the empty hive steadily supported on the edge of the
full hive, and strike the hand round the full hive to frighten the bees,
till they have nearly all ascended into the other. The new hive
containing the bees must be placed on the stand of the apiary, to
receive the absent bees as they return from the fields.
BEET ROOT. This cooling and wholesome vegetable is good boiled, and
sliced with a small quantity of onion, or stewed with whole onions in
the following manner. Boil the beet tender with the skin on, slice it
into a stewpan with a little broth and a spoonful of vinegar. Simmer it
till the gravy is tinged with the colour; then put it into a small dish,
and make a round of button onions, first boiled tender. Take off the
skin just before serving, and let them be quite hot and clear. Or roast
three large onions, and peel off the outer skins till they look clear;
and serve round them the stewed beet root. The root must not be broken
before it is dressed, or it will lose its colour, and look ill.--To
preserve beet-root for winter use, they should not be cleared from the
earth, but kept in layers of dry sand.
BEETLES. When these insects become troublesome in the house, put some
small lumps of quick lime into the chinks or holes of the wall from
whence they issue, or scatter it on the ground. Or at night, lay a
spoonful of treacle on a piece of wood, and float it in a pan of water:
beetles are so fond of syrup, that they will be drowned in attempting to
get at it. The common black beetle may also be extirpated by placing a
hedgehog in the room, during the summer nights; or by laying a bundle of
pea straw near their holes, and afterwards burning it when the beetles
have crept into it.
BENTON CAKES. Mix a paste of flour, a little bit of butter, and milk.
Roll it as thin as possible, and bake on a backstone over the fire, or
on a hot hearth. Another sort of Benton tea-cakes are made like
biscuits, by rubbing into a pound of flour six ounces of butter, and
three large spoonfuls of yeast. Work up the paste with a sufficient
quantity of new milk, make it into biscuits, and prick them with a clean
fork. Or melt six or seven ounces of butter, with a sufficient quantity
of new milk warmed to make seven pounds of flour into a stiff paste.
Roll it thin, and make it into biscuits.
BENTON SAUCE. Grate some horse-radish, or scrape it very fine. Add to it
a little made mustard, some pounded white sugar, and four large
spoonfuls of vinegar. Serve it up in a saucer: this is good with hot or
cold roast beef.
BILLS OF FARE, or list of various articles in season in different
months.
JANUARY.----_Poultry._ Game, pheasants, partridges, hares, rabbits,
woodcocks, snipes, turkeys, capons, pullets, fowls, chickens, tame
pigeons.--_Fish._ Carp, tench, perch, eels, lampreys, crayfish, cod,
soles, flounders, plaice, turbot, skate, thornback, sturgeon, smelts,
whitings, crabs, lobsters, prawns, oysters.--_Vegetables._ Cabbage,
savoys, coleworts, sprouts, brocoli, leeks, onions, beet, sorrel,
chervil, endive, spinach, celery, garlic, potatoes, parsnips, turnips,
shalots, lettuces, cresses, mustard, rape, salsify, herbs dry and
green.--_Fruit._ Apples, pears, nuts, walnuts, medlars, grapes.
FEBRUARY, MARCH.----Meat, fowls and game, as in January, with the
addition of ducklings and chickens.--_Fish._ As the last two months,
except that cod is not thought so good, from February to
July.--_Vegetables._ The same as the former months, with the addition of
kidney beans.--_Fruit._ Apples, pears, forced strawberries.
APRIL, MAY, JUNE.----_Meat._ Beef, mutton, veal, lamb, venison in
June.----_Poultry._ Pullets, fowls, chickens, ducklings, pigeons,
rabbits, leverets.--_Fish._ Carp, tench, soles, smelts, eels, trout,
turbot, lobsters, chub, salmon, herrings, crayfish, mackarel, crabs,
prawns, shrimps.--_Vegetables._ As before, and in May, early potatoes,
peas, radishes, kidney beans, carrots, turnips, early cabbages,
cauliflowers, asparagus, artichokes, all sorts of forced
sallads.--_Fruit._ In June, strawberries, cherries, melons, green
apricots, gooseberries and currants for tarts. In July, cherries,
strawberries, pears, melons, gooseberries, currants, apricots, grapes,
nectarines, peaches; but most of these are forced.
JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER.--Meat as before.--_Poultry._ Pullets, fowls,
chickens, rabbits, pigeons, green geese, leverets, turkey poults,
plovers, wheatears, and geese in September.--_Fish._ Cod, haddock,
flounders, plaice, skate, thornback, mullets, pike, carp, eels,
shellfish, except oysters; mackarel the first two months, but are not
good in August.--_Vegetables._ Beans, peas, French beans, and various
others.--_Fruit._ In July, strawberries, gooseberries, pineapples,
plums, cherries, apricots, raspberries, melons, currants, damsons. In
August and September, peaches, plums, filberts, figs, mulberries,
cherries, apples, pears, nectarines, grapes, pines, melons,
strawberries, medlars, quinces, morella cherries, damsons, and various
plums.
OCTOBER.--Meat as before, and doe-venison.----_Poultry._ Game,
pheasants, fowls, partridges, larks, hares, dotterels, wild ducks,
teal, snipes, widgeon, grouse.--_Fish._ Dories, smelts, pike, perch,
holibets, brills, carp, salmon trout, barbel, gudgeons, tench,
shellfish.--_Vegetables._ As in January, French beans, runners, windsor
beans.----_Fruit._ Peaches, pears, figs, bullace, grapes, apples,
medlars, damsons, filberts, nuts, walnuts, quinces, services.