poultry and game. Fish as the last month.--_Vegetables._ Carrots,
turnips, parsnips, potatoes, skirrets, onions, leeks, shalots, cabbage,
savoys, colewort, spinach, cardoons, cresses, endive, celery, lettuces,
salad, herbs.--_Fruit._ Pears, apples, nuts, walnuts, bullace, chesnuts,
medlars, grapes.
DECEMBER.--_Meat._ Beef, mutton, veal, house lamb, pork and
venison.--_Poultry._ Game, turkeys, geese, pullets, pigeons, capons,
fowls, chickens, rabbits, hares, snipes, woodcocks, larks, pheasants,
partridges, sea-fowls, guinea-fowls, wild ducks, teal, widgeon,
dotterels, dunbirds, grouse.--_Fish._ Turbot, cod, holibets, soles,
gurnets, sturgeon, carp, gudgeons, codlings, eels, dories,
shellfish.--_Vegetables._ As in the last month; asparagus
forced.--_Fruit._ As the last, except bullace.
BIRCH WINE. The season for obtaining the liquor from birch trees, is in
the latter end of February or the beginning of March, before the leaves
shoot out, and as the sap begins to rise. If the time be delayed, the
juice will grow too thick to be drawn out. It should be as thin and
clear as possible. The method of procuring the juice is by boring holes
in the trunk of the tree, and fixing in facets made of elder; but care
should be taken not to tap it in too many places at once, for fear of
injuring the tree. If the tree is large, it may be bored in five or six
places at once, and bottles are to be placed under the apertures to
receive the sap. When four or five gallons have been extracted from
different trees, cork the bottles very close, and wax them till the wine
is to be made, which should be as soon as possible after the sap has
been obtained. Boil the sap, and put four pounds of loaf sugar to every
gallon, also the rind of a lemon cut thin; then boil it again for nearly
an hour, skimming it well all the time. Into a cask that will contain
it, put a lighted brimstone match, stop it up till the match is burnt
out, and then pour the liquor into it as quickly as possible. When
nearly cold, work it with a toast spread with yeast, and let it stand
five or six days, stirring it two or three times a-day. Put the bung
lightly in till it has done working; then close it down, and let it
stand two or three months. The wine may then be bottled, and will be fit
for use in about a week. It makes a rich and salutary cordial, and its
virtues are much relied on in consumptive and scorbutic cases.
BISCUIT CAKE. One pound of flour, five eggs well beaten and strained,
eight ounces of sugar, a little rose or orange flower water. Beat the
whole thoroughly, and bake it one hour.
BISCUITS. To make hard biscuits, warm two ounces of butter in as much
skimmed milk as will make a pound of flour into a very stiff paste. Beat
it with a rolling pin, and work it very smooth. Roll it thin, and cut it
into round biscuits. Prick them full of holes with a fork, and about six
minutes will bake them.--For plain and very crisp biscuits, make a pound
of flour, the yolk of an egg, and some milk, into a very stiff paste.
Beat it well, and knead it quite smooth; roll the paste very thin, and
cut it into biscuits. Bake them in a slow oven till quite dry and
crisp.--To preserve biscuits for a long time sweet and good, no other
art is necessary than packing them up in casks well caulked, and
carefully lined with tin, so as to exclude the air. The biscuits should
be laid as close as possible; and when it is necessary to open the cask,
it must be speedily closed again with care. Sea bread may also be
preserved on a long voyage, by being put into a bag which has been
previously soaked in a quantity of liquid nitre, and dried. This has
been found to preserve the biscuits from the fatal effects of the wevil,
and other injurious insects, which are destructive to this necessary
article of human sustenance.
BITTERS. Bruise an ounce of gentian root, and two drams of cardamom
seeds together: add an ounce of lemon peel, and three drams of Seville
orange peel. Pour on the ingredients a pint and half of boiling water,
and let it stand an hour closely covered: then pour off the clear
liquor, and a glass of it taken two or three times a day will be found
an excellent bitter for the stomach.--Or slice an ounce of gentian root,
and add half a dram of snakes' root bruised, half a dram of saffron,
three quarters of a dram of cardamom seeds, and the same of cochineal
bruised together, and the peel of three Seville oranges. Steep the
ingredients in a pint of brandy fourteen days, shaking them together
frequently; then strain the tincture through a piece of muslin, and a
tea-spoonful in a glass of wine may be taken two or three times a day.
BLACK BUTTER. Boil a pound of moist sugar with three pounds of
gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and cherries, till reduced to half
the quantity. Put it into pots covered with brandy paper, and it will be
found a pleasant sweetmeat.
BLACK CAPS. Divide and core some fine large apples, put them in a
shallow pan, strew white sugar over, and bake them. Boil a glass of
wine, the same of water, and sweeten it for sauce. Or, take off a slice
from the stalk end of some apples, and core without paring them. Mix
with grated lemon, and a few cloves in fine powder, as much sugar as
will sweeten them. Stuff the holes as close as possible with this, and
turn the flat end down on a stewpan; set them on a very slow fire, with
some raisin wine and water. Cover them close, and now and then baste
them with the liquor: when done enough, black the tops with a
salamander.
BLACK INK. Infuse in a gallon of rain or soft water, a pound of blue
galls bruised, and keep it stirring for three weeks. Then add four
ounces of green copperas, four ounces of logwood chips, six ounces of
gum arabac, and a glass of brandy.--To make ink of a superior quality,
and fit for immediate use, prepare the following ingredients. Four
ounces of blue galls, two ounces of chipped logwood, two of sulphate of
iron, one ounce and a half of gum arabac, half an ounce of sulphate of
copper, and half an ounce of brown sugar. Boil the galls and logwood in
six pints of spring or distilled water, until nearly three pints of
water are evaporated, then strain it through a piece of flannel. Powder
the salts in a mortar, dissolve the gum in a little warm water, then mix
the whole together, and shake it frequently for two or three days;
during which time expose it to the air, and it will become blacker.
Decant the liquor into stone bottles well corked, and it will be fit for
use directly. Those who wish to avoid the trouble of such a process,
will find an excellent substitute in Walkden's Ink Powder ready
prepared, with directions how to use it. If a cup of sweet wort be added
to two papers of the powder, it will give it the brightness of japan
ink.
BLACK LEAD. The best preparation for cleaning cast-iron stoves is made
of black lead, mixed with a little common gin, or the dregs of port
wine, and laid on the stove with a piece of linen rag. Then with a clean
brush, not too hard, and dipped in some dried black lead powder, rub the
stove till it comes to a beautiful brightness. This will produce a much
finer black varnish on the cast-iron, than either boiling the black lead
with small beer and soap, or mixing it with white of egg, as is commonly
practised.
BLACK PAPER, for drawing patterns, may easily be made in the following
manner. Mix and smooth some lamp-black and sweet oil, with a piece of
flannel. Cover a sheet or two of large writing paper with this mixture,
then dab the paper dry with a rag of fine linen, and prepare it for
future use by putting the black side on another sheet of paper, and
fastening the corners together with a small pin. When wanted to draw,
lay the pattern on the back of the black paper, and go over it with the
point of a steel pencil. The black paper will then leave the impression
of the pattern on the under sheet, on which you must now draw it with
ink. If you draw patterns on cloth or muslin, do it with a pen dipped in
a bit of stone blue, a bit of sugar, and a little water, mixed smooth in
a tea cup, in which it will be always ready for use.
BLACK PUDDINGS. The pig's blood must be stirred with a little salt till
it is cold. Put a full quart of it to a quart of whole grits, and let it
stand all night. Soak the crumb of a quartern loaf in rather more than
two quarts of new milk made hot. In the meantime prepare the guts by
washing, turning and scraping, with salt and water, and changing the
water several times. Chop fine a little winter savoury and thyme, a good
quantity of pennyroyal, pepper and salt, a few cloves, some allspice,
ginger and nutmeg. Mix these all together, with three pounds of beef
suet, and six eggs well beaten and strained. Have ready some hog's fat
cut into large bits; and as the skins are filling with the pudding, put
in the fat at intervals. Tie up in links only half filled, and boil in a
large kettle, pricking them as they swell, or they will burst. When
boiled, lay them between clean cloths till cold, and hang them up in the
kitchen. When to be used, scald them a few minutes in water; wipe, and
put them into a Dutch oven. If there be not skins enough, put the
stuffing into basins, and boil it covered with floured cloths. Slice and
fry it when used.--Another way is, to soak all night a quart of bruised
grits in as much boiling-hot milk as will swell them, and leave half a
pint of liquid. Chop a quantity of pennyroyal, savoury and thyme; add
salt and pepper, and allspice finely powdered. Mix the above with a
quart of the blood, prepared as before directed; clean the skins
thoroughly, half fill them with the stuffing, put in as much of the leaf
fat of the pig as will make it pretty rich, and boil as before directed.
A small quantity of leeks finely shred and well mixed, is a great
improvement.--A superior article may be made as follows: boil a quart of
half-grits in as much milk as will swell them to the utmost, drain them
and add a quart of blood, a pint of rich cream, a pound of suet, some
mace, nutmeg, allspice, and four cloves, all in fine powder. And two
pounds of hog's leaf cut into dice, two leeks, a handful of parsley, ten
leaves of sage, a large handful of pennyroyal, and a sprig of thyme and
knotted marjoram, all finely minced; eight eggs well beaten, half a
pound of bread crumbs scalded in a pint of milk, with pepper and salt.
Soak and clean the skins in several waters, last of all in rose-water,
and half fill them with the stuffing. Tie the skins in links, boil and
prick them with a clean fork, to prevent their breaking, and cover them
with a clean cloth till cold.
BLACKBERRY JAM. Put some red, but not ripe, blackberries into a jar, and
cover it up closely. Set the jar in a kettle or deep stewpan of water
over the fire, as a water bath; and when it has simmered five or six
hours, force the juice through a sieve. To every pint of juice, add two
pounds of powdered loaf-sugar, boiling and scumming it in the same
manner as for any other jam or jelly. This simple article is said to
afford effectual relief in cases of stone or gravel: a tea-spoonful to
be taken every night, and repeated in the morning, if necessary. A good
jam may also be made of ripe blackberries, in a similar manner; and
both, like other jams, should be kept in jars, closely tied over with
brandy paper.
BLACKBERRY WINE. Pick and clean a quantity of ripe blackberries; to
every quart of fruit, add a quart of cold water which has first been
boiled. Bruise them well, and let the whole stand twenty-four hours,
stirring it occasionally during that time. Express all the juice and run
it through a sieve or jelly bag, on a pound and a half of sugar to each
gallon of liquid. Stir it till thoroughly dissolved, put it in a well
seasoned barrel, add a little dissolved isinglass, and let it remain
open till the next day; then bung it up. This makes a pleasant wine,
which may be bottled off in about two months.
BLACKING for shoes is made of four ounces of ivory black, three ounces
of the coarsest sugar, a table-spoonful of sweet oil, and a pint of
small beer, gradually mixed together cold.
BLACKING BALLS. Portable shoe-blacking, in the form of cakes or balls,
is made in the following manner. Take four ounces of mutton suet, one
ounce of bees-wax, one of sweet oil, and a dram each of powdered
sugar-candy and gum-arabac. Melt them well together over a slow fire;
add a spoonful of turpentine, and lamp-black sufficient to give it a
good black colour. While hot enough to run, make the composition into a
ball, by pouring it into a tin mould; or let it stand till nearly cold,
and then it may be moulded into any form by the hand.
BLADE-BONE OF PORK. Cut it from the bacon-hog, with a small quantity of
meat upon it, and lay it on the gridiron. When nearly done pepper and
salt it. Add a piece of butter, and a tea-spoonful of mustard; and serve
it up quickly. This dish is much admired in Somersetshire. A blade-bone
of mutton may be dressed in the same way.
BLAMANGE. Boil two ounces of isinglass half an hour, in a pint and half
of water, and strain off the cream. Sweeten it, and add some peach
water, or a few bitter almonds; let it boil up once, and put it into
what forms you please. Be sure to let the blamange settle before you
turn it into the forms, or the blacks will remain at the bottom of them,
and be on the top of the blamange when taken out of the moulds. If not
to be very stiff, a little less isinglass will do.--For Yellow Blamange,
pour a pint of boiling water upon an ounce of isinglass, and the peel of
one lemon. When cold, sweeten with two ounces of fine sugar: add a
quarter of a pint of white wine, the yolks of four eggs, and the juice
of one lemon. Stir all together, and let it boil five minutes: strain
through a bag, and put into cups.
BLANKETS, if not in constant use, are liable to be moth-eaten. To
prevent this, they should be folded and laid under feather beds that are
in use, and occasionally shaken. When soiled, they should be washed, not
scoured: and well dried before they are laid by, or they will breed
moths.
BLEACHING OF STRAW. This is generally done by the fumes of sulphur, in a
place enclosed for that purpose: but to render the straw very white, and
encrease its flexibility in platting, it should be dipped in a solution
of oxygenated muriatic acid, saturated with potash. Oxygenated muriate
of lime will also answer the purpose. To repair straw bonnets, they must
be carefully ripped to pieces; the plat should be bleached with the
above solution, and made up afresh.
BLUE INK. Dissolve an ounce of finely powdered verdigris, and half an
ounce of cream of tartar, in three ounces of water. This will make a
fine blue writing ink, which has the singular property of giving to an
iron nail, immersed in it for twenty-four hours, a beautiful green
colour.
BOARDED FLOORS will preserve a beautiful appearance, if treated in the
following manner. After washing them very clean with soda and warm
water, and a brush, wash them with a large sponge and clean water,
observing that no spot be left untouched. Be careful to clean straight
up and down, not crossing from board to board: then dry with clean
cloths, rubbing hard up and down the same way. The floors should not be
often wetted, but very thoroughly when done; and once a week dry-rubbed
with hot sand, and a heavy brush, the right way of the boards. If oil or
grease have stained the floor, make a strong lye of pearl-ashes and soft
water, and add as much unslaked lime as it will take up. Stir it
together, and then let it settle a few minutes; bottle it, and stop it
close. When used, lower it with a little water, and scour the part with
it. If the liquor lie long on the boards, it will extract their colour;
it must therefore be done with care and expedition. Stone work may be
freed from stains in the same way.
BOCKINGS. Mix three ounces of buck-wheat flour with a tea-cupful of warm
milk, and a spoonful of yeast. Let it rise before the fire about an
hour; then mix four eggs well beaten, and as much milk as will make the
batter the usual thickness for pancakes, and fry them in the same
manner.
BOILING. Cleanliness here is of great consequence; and for this purpose
all culinary vessels should be made of iron, or of other metals well
tinned. The pernicious effects of copper or brass may be perceived by
rubbing the hand round the inside of a pot or kettle made of either of
those metals, and which has been scoured clean and fit for use; for
though it may not discolour the hand, yet it will cause an offensive
smell, and must in some degree affect every article which is put into
it. If copper or brass be used, they should be well cleaned, and nothing
suffered to remain in the vessels longer than is necessary for the
purposes of cooking. In small families however, block-tin saucepans and
boilers are much to be preferred, as lightest and safest. If proper care
be taken of them, and they are well dried after being cleaned, they are
also by far the cheapest; the purchase of a new tin saucepan being
little more than the expense of tinning a copper one. Care should be
taken to have the covers of boiling pots fit close, not only to prevent
an unnecessary evaporation of the water, but that the smoke may not
insinuate itself under the edge of the lid, and give the meat a bad
taste. A trivet or fish drainer placed in the boiler to lay the meat on,
and to raise it an inch and a half from the bottom, will prevent that
side of it which comes next the bottom from being done too much, and the
lower part of the meat will be as delicately done as any other. Instead
of a trivet, four skewers stuck into the meat transversely will answer
the purpose, or a soup plate whelmed the wrong side upwards. With good
management it will take less fire for boiling than for roasting, but it
should be kept to a regular pitch, so as to keep the pot gently boiling
all the time. If it boils too fast, it will harden the meat, by
extracting too much of the gravy; but if it be allowed to simmer only,
or to boil gently, it will become rich and tender. The scum must be
carefully taken off as soon as the water boils, or it will sink and
discolour the meat. The oftener it is scummed, and the cleaner the top
of the water is kept, the cleaner will be the meat; and if a little cold
water be occasionally thrown in, it will bring up the remainder of the
scum to the surface. Neither mixing milk with the water nor wrapping up
the meat in a cloth are necessary, if the scum be attentively removed;
and the meat will have a more delicate colour, and a finer flavour, if
boiled in clear water only. The general rule for boiling is to allow a
quarter of an hour to a pound of meat; but if it be boiled gently or
simmered only, which is by far the superior way, twenty minutes to the
pound will scarcely be found too much. At the same time care must be
taken to keep the pot constantly boiling, and not to suffer the meat to
remain in after it is done enough, or it will become sodden, and lose
its flavour. The quantity of water is regulated by the size of the meat;
sufficient to cover it, but not to drown it; and the less water, the
more savoury will the meat be, and the better the broth. It is usual to
put all kinds of fresh meat into hot water, and salt meat into cold
water; but if the meat has been salted only a short time it is better to
put it in when the water boils, or it will draw out too much of the
gravy. Lamb, veal, and pork require rather more boiling than other
meat, to make them wholesome. The hind quarters of most animals require
longer time to dress than the fore quarters, and all kinds of provision
require more time in frosty weather than in summer. Large joints of beef
and mutton are better a little underdone; they make the richer hash; but
meat that is fresh slain will remain tough and hard, in whatever way it
may be cooked. All meat should be washed clean before it is put into the
boiler, but salt meat especially. A ham of twenty pounds will take four
hours and a half in boiling, and others in proportion. A dried tongue,
after being soaked, will take four hours boiling: a tongue out of
pickle, from two hours and a half to three hours, or more if very large:
it must be judged by its feeling quite tender. Boiling is in general the
most economical mode of cooking, if care be taken to preserve the broth,
and apply it to useful purposes.
BOILED BACON. Soak it, and take off the rind before boiling. A pound of
bacon boiled without the skin will weigh an ounce heavier than a pound
boiled with it. Fat bacon should be put into hot water, and lean into
cold water, when it is to be dressed. Young bacon will boil in about
three quarters of an hour. Grate some toasted bread over it, and set it
near the fire to brown it a little, before it is sent to table.
BOILED BEEF. When the water boils put in the meat, whether beef or
mutton, and take off the scum as it rises. If the scum be suffered to
sink, it will stick to the meat, and spoil its colour. Turnips, greens,
potatoes, or carrots with the beef, and caper sauce with the mutton.
BOILED CUSTARD. Set a pint of cream over a slow fire, adding two ounces
of sugar, and the rind of a lemon. Take it off the fire as soon as it
begins to simmer; as the cream cools, add by degrees the yolks of eight
eggs well beaten, with a spoonful of orange water. Stir it carefully
over a slow fire till it almost boils, and strain it quickly through a
piece of thin muslin. Put it into cups, and serve it up cold.
BOILED DUCK. Choose a fine fat duck, salt it two days, and boil it
slowly in a cloth. Serve it with onion sauce, but melt the butter with
milk instead of water.
BOILED EELS. The small ones are best, provided they are bright, and of a
good colour. After they are skinned, boil them in a small quantity of
water, with a quantity of parsley, which with the liquor should be sent
to table with them. Serve chopped parsley and butter for sauce.
BOILED FOWL. For boiling, choose those that are not black-legged. Pick
them nicely, singe, wash, and truss them. Flour them, and put them into
boiling water: half an hour will be sufficient for one of middling size.
Serve with parsley and butter; oyster, lemon, liver, or celery sauce. If
for dinner, ham, tongue or bacon is usually served with them, and also
greens.--When cooked with rice, stew the fowl very slowly in some clear
mutton broth well skimmed, and seasoned with onion, mace, pepper and
salt. About half an hour before it is ready, put in a quarter of a pint
of rice well washed and soaked. Simmer it till it is quite tender,
strain it from the broth, and put the rice on a sieve before the fire.
Keep the fowl hot, lay it in the middle of the dish, and the rice round
it without the broth. The broth will be nice by itself, but the less
liquor the fowl is done with the better. Gravy, or parsley and butter,
for sauce.
BOILED HAM. Soak the ham in cold water the night before it is to be
dressed, scrape it clean, and put it into the boiler with cold water.
Skim the liquor while boiling; let it not boil fast, but simmer only,
and add a little cold water occasionally for this purpose. When the ham
is done, take it up, pull off the skin carefully, and grate a crust of
bread over it so as to cover it tolerably thick. Set it before the fire,
or put it into the oven till the bread is crisp; garnish it with
carrots, or any thing that is in season. A ham of twenty pounds will
require five hours boiling, and others in proportion.
BOILED LEG OF PORK. Salt it eight or ten days; and when it is to be
dressed, weigh it. Let it lie half an hour in cold water to make it
white: allow a quarter of an hour for every pound, and half an hour
over, from the time it boils up. Skim it as soon as it boils, and
frequently after. Allow plenty of water, and save some of it for
peas-soup. The leg should be small, and of a fine grain; and if boiled
in a floured cloth, it will improve the colour and appearance. Serve it
with peas-pudding and turnips.
BOILED SALMON. Clean it carefully, boil it gently, and take it out of
the water as soon as done. Let the water be warm, if the fish be split:
if underdone, it is very unwholesome. Serve with shrimp or anchovy
sauce.