put into a stewpot which has the hard fat upon it, with a small quantity
of water. Let it boil up, and skim it well; then add carrots, turnips,
onions, celery, and a few pepper corns. Stew it till it is quite tender;
then take out the fat bones, and remove all the fat from the soup.
Either serve that and the meat in a tureen, or the soup alone, and the
meat on a dish, garnished with vegetables. The following sauce with the
beef, will be found to be very excellent.--Take half a pint of the soup,
and mix it with a spoonful of ketchup, a glass of port wine, a
tea-spoonful of made mustard, a little flour and salt, and a bit of
butter. Boil all together a few minutes, and pour it round the meat.
Chop capers, walnuts, red cabbage, pickled cucumbers, and chives or
parsley, small, and place them in separate heaps over it.
BROAD BEANS. Boil them tender, with a bunch of parsley, which must
afterwards be chopped and put into melted butter, to serve with them.
Bacon or pickled pork is usually boiled with the beans, but the meat
will be of a better colour, if boiled separately.
BROCOLI. To dress brocoli, cut the heads with short stalks, and pare off
the tough skin. Tie the small shoots into bunches, and boil them a
shorter time than the heads. A little salt should be put into the water.
Serve them up with or without toast.
BROILING. Cleanliness is extremely necessary in this mode of cookery;
and for this purpose the gridiron, which is too frequently neglected,
ought to be carefully attended to, keeping it perfectly clean between
the bars, and bright on the top. When hot, wipe it well with a linen
cloth; and before using it, rub the bars with mutton suet, to prevent
the meat being marked by the gridiron. The bars should be made with a
small gutter in them to carry off the gravy into a trough in front, to
prevent the fat from dropping into the fire and making a smoke, which
will spoil the flavour of the meat. Upright gridirons are therefore the
best, as they can be set before the fire, without fear of smoke, and the
gravy is preserved in the trough under them. A brisk and clear fire is
also indispensable, that the bars of the gridiron may all be hot through
before any thing be laid upon them, yet not so as to burn the meat, but
to give it that colour and flavour which constitute the perfection of
this mode of cooking. Never hasten any thing that is broiling, lest it
be smoked and spoiled; but the moment it is done, send it up as hot as
possible.
BROILED COD. Cut the fish in thick slices, dry and flour it well; rub
the gridiron with chalk, set it on a clear fire, and lay on the slices
of cod. Keep them high from the fire, turn them often, till they are
quite done, and of a fine brown. Take them up carefully without
breaking, and serve with lobster or shrimp sauce.
BROILED EELS. Skin and clean a large eel, cut it in pieces and broil it
slowly over a good fire. Dust it well with dried parsley, and serve it
up with melted butter.
BROILED FOWL. Cut a large fowl into four quarters, put them on a
bird-spit, and tie that on another spit, and half roast. Or half roast
the whole fowl, and finish it on the gridiron, which will make it less
dry than if wholly broiled. Another way is to split the fowl down the
back, pepper, salt, and broil it, and serve with mushroom sauce.
BROILED HERRINGS. Flour them first, broil them of a good colour, and
serve with plain butter for sauce.
BROILED PIGEONS. After cleaning, split the backs, pepper and salt them,
and broil them very nicely. Pour over them either stewed or pickled
mushrooms in melted butter, and serve them up as hot as possible.
BROILED SALMON. Cut slices an inch thick, and season with pepper and
salt. Lay each slice in half a sheet of white paper, well buttered;
twist the ends of the paper, and broil the slices over a slow fire six
or eight minutes. Serve them in the paper, with anchovy sauce.
BROKEN CHINA. To repair any article of this description, beat some lime
into the finest powder, and sift it through muslin. Tie some of it into
a thin muslin, put on the edges of the broken china some white of an
egg, and dust on a little lime as quickly as possible; but be careful to
unite the broken parts very exactly.
BROTH. A very nourishing kind of broth for weakly persons may be made as
follows. Boil two pounds of loin of mutton, with a large handful of
chervil, in two quarts of water, till reduced to one. Any other herb or
roots may be added. Remove part of the fat, and take half a pint three
or four times a day. If a broth is wanted to be made quickly, take a
bone or two of a neck or loin of mutton, pare off the fat and the skin,
set it on the fire in a small tin saucepan that has a cover, with three
quarters of a pint of water, the meat being first beaten, and cut in
thin bits. Put in a bit of thyme and parsley, and if approved, a slice
of onion. Let it boil very quick, skim it nicely; take off the cover, if
likely to be too weak; otherwise keep it covered. Half an hour is
sufficient for the whole process.
BROWN GRAVY. Cover the bottom of a stewpan with lean veal an inch thick,
overlay it with slices of undressed gammon, two or three onions, two or
three bay leaves, some sweet herbs, two blades of mace, and three
cloves. Cover the stewpan, and set it over a slow fire; but when the
juices come out, let the fire be a little quicker. When the meat is of a
fine brown, fill the pan with good beef-broth, boil and skim it, then
simmer it an hour. Add a little water, thickened with flour; boil it
half an hour, and strain it. Gravy thus made will keep a week.
BROWN BREAD ICE. Grate some brown bread as fine as possible, soak a
small proportion in cream two or three hours, sweeten and ice it.
BROWN BREAD PUDDING. Half a pound of stale brown bread grated, half a
pound of currants, ditto of shred suet, sugar and nutmeg. Mix it up
with four eggs, a spoonful of brandy, and twice as much cream. Boil it
in a cloth or bason of proper size three or four hours.
BROWNING. Powder four ounces of double-refined sugar, put it into a very
nice iron fryingpan, with one ounce of fresh butter. Mix it well over a
clear fire; and when it begins to froth, hold it up higher: when of a
very fine dark brown, pour in a small quantity of a pint of port, and
the whole by very slow degrees, stirring it all the time. Put to the
above half an ounce of Jamaica, and the same of black pepper, six cloves
of shalots peeled, three blades of mace bruised, three spoonfuls of
mushroom and the same of walnut ketchup, some salt, and the finely-pared
rind of a lemon. Boil gently fifteen minutes, pour it into a bason till
cold, take off the scum, and bottle it for use. This article is intended
to colour and flavour made-up dishes.
BRUISES. When the contusion is slight, fomentations of warm vinegar and
water, frequently applied, will generally relieve it. Cataplasms of
fresh cow-dung applied to bruises, occasioned by violent blows or falls,
will seldom fail to have a good effect. Nothing however is more
certainly efficacious than a porter plaster immediately applied to the
part affected. Boil some porter in an earthen vessel over a slow fire
till it be well thickened; and when cold spread it on a piece of leather
to form the intended plaster.
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK. Boil, chop and fry some cabbage, with a little
butter, pepper and salt. Lay on it slices of underdone beef, lightly
fried.
BUGS. Dip a sponge or brush into a strong solution of vitriol, and rub
it on the bedstead, or in the places where these vermin harbour, and it
will destroy both them and their nits. If the bugs appear after once
using it, the application must be repeated, and some of the liquid
poured into the joints and holes of the bedstead and headboard. Beds
that have much woodwork require to be taken down and well examined,
before they can be thoroughly cleared of these vermin, and the mixture
should be rubbed into all the joints and crevices with a painter's
brush. It should also be applied to the walls of the room to insure
success; and if mixed with a little lime, it will produce a lively
yellow. The boiling of any kind of woodwork or household furniture in an
iron cauldron, with a solution of vitriol, will prevent the breeding of
bugs, and preserve it from rottenness and decay. Sulphur made into a
paste, or arsenic dissolved in water, and applied in the same manner,
will also be found an effectual remedy for the bugs. But if these do not
completely succeed, take half a pint of the highest rectified spirits of
wine, and half a pint of spirits of turpentine; dissolve in this mixture
half an ounce of camphor, and shake them well together. Dust the bed or
the furniture, dip a sponge or brush into the mixture, wet them all
over, and pour some of the liquid into the holes and crevices. If any
should afterwards appear, wet the lacings of the bed, the foldings of
the curtains near the rings, and other parts where it is at all likely
the bugs may nestle and breed, and it will not fail to destroy them. The
smell of this mixture is not unwholesome, and may be applied to the
finest damask bed without any fear of soiling it. It should be well
shaked together, but never used by candle-light, for fear of its taking
fire.
BULLACE CHEESE. To every quart of full ripe bullace, add a quarter of a
pound of loaf sugar finely powdered. Put them into a pot, and bake them
in a moderate oven till they are soft. Rub them through a hair sieve;
to every pound of pulp add half a pound of loaf sugar powdered, and in
the meantime keep it stirring. Pour the pulp into preserving pots, tie
brandy paper over; and keep them in a dry place. When it has stood a few
months, it will cut out very bright and fine.
BUNS. To make a good plain bun, that may be eaten with or without
toasting and butter, rub four ounces of butter into two pounds of flour,
four ounces of sugar, a nutmeg, a few Jamaica peppers, and a
dessert-spoonful of caraways. Put a spoonful or two of cream into a cup
of yeast, and as much good milk as will make the above into a light
paste. Set it to rise by the fire till the oven be ready, and bake the
buns quickly on tins.--To make some of a richer sort, mix one pound and
a half of dried flour with half a pound of sugar. Melt eighteen ounces
of butter in a little warm water, add six spoonfuls of rose-water, and
knead the above into a light dough, with half a pint of yeast. Then mix
in five ounces of caraway comfits, and put some on them.
BURNS. In slight cases, the juice of onions, a little ink or brandy
rubbed immediately on the part affected, will prevent blisters. The
juice of burdock, mixed with an equal quantity of olive oil, will make a
good ointment for the purpose, and the fresh leaves of that plant may
also be applied as a kind of plaster. Houseleek used by itself, or mixed
with cream, will afford quick relief in external inflammations. A little
spirit of turpentine, or linseed oil, mixed with lime water, if kept
constantly to the part will remove the pain. But warm vinegar and water,
frequently applied with a woollen cloth, is most to be depended on in
these cases.
BURNT CREAM. Boil a pint of cream with a stick of cinnamon, and some
lemon peel. Take it off the fire, and pour it very slowly into the
yolks of four eggs, stirring it till half cold. Sweeten it, take out the
spice, and pour it into a dish. When cold, strew over it some white
pounded sugar, and brown it with a salamander. Or, make a rich custard
without sugar, and boil in it some lemon peel. When cold, sift over it
plenty of white sugar, and brown the top with a salamander.
BUTTER. No one article of family consumption is of greater consequence
than butter of a superior quality, and no one requires more care and
management. It possesses various degrees of goodness, according to the
food on which the cows are pastured, and the manner in which the dairy
is conducted; but its sweetness is not affected by the cream being
turned, of which it is made. When cows are in turnips, or eat cabbages,
the taste is strong and disagreeable; and to remedy this, the following
methods have been tried with advantage. When the milk is strained into
the pans, put to every six gallons one gallon of boiling water. Or
dissolve one ounce of nitre in a pint of spring water, and put a quarter
of a pint to every fifteen gallons of milk. Or, in churning, keep back a
quarter of a pint of sour cream, and put it into a well-scalded pot,
into which the next cream is to be gathered. Stir that well, and do so
with every fresh addition.--TO MAKE BUTTER, skim the milk in the summer,
when the sun has not heated the dairy. At that season it should stand
for butter twenty-four hours without skimming, and forty-eight in
winter. Deposit the cream-pot in a very cold cellar, unless the dairy
itself is sufficiently cold. If you cannot churn daily, shift the cream
into scalded fresh pots; but never omit churning twice a week. If
possible, place the churn in a thorough air; and if not a barrel one,
set it in a tub of water two feet deep, which will give firmness to the
butter. When the butter is come, pour off the buttermilk, and put the
butter into a fresh scalded pan, or tubs, which have afterwards been in
cold water. Pour water on it, and let it lie to acquire some hardness
before it is worked; then change the water, and beat it with flat boards
so perfectly, that not the least taste of buttermilk remain, and that
the water which must be often changed, shall be quite clear. Then work
some salt into it, weigh, and make it into forms; throw them into cold
water, in an earthen pan with a cover. Nice cool butter will then be had
in the hottest weather. It requires more working in hot than in cold
weather; but care should be taken at all times not to leave a particle
of buttermilk, or a sour taste, as is too often done.--TO PRESERVE
BUTTER, take two parts of the best common salt, one part of fine
loaf-sugar, and one of saltpetre; beat them well together. To sixteen
ounces of butter, thoroughly cleansed from the milk, add one ounce of
this mixture: work it well, and pot down the butter when it becomes firm
and cold. Butter thus preserved is the better for keeping, and should
not be used under a month. This article should be kept from the air, and
is best in pots of well-glazed ware, that will hold from ten to fourteen
pounds each. Put some salt on the top; and when that is turned to brine,
if not enough to cover the butter entirely, add some strong salt and
water. It then requires only to be covered from the dust, and will be
good for winter use.--IN PURCHASING BUTTER at market, recollect that if
fresh, it ought to smell like a nosegay, and be of an equal colour
throughout. If sour in smell, it has not been sufficiently washed: if
veiny and open, it is probably mixed with stale butter, or some of an
inferior quality. To ascertain the quality of salt butter, put a knife
into it, and smell it when drawn out: if there is any thing rancid or
unpleasant, the butter is bad. Salt butter being made at different
times, the layers in casks will greatly vary; and it is not easy to
ascertain its quality, except by unhooping the cask, and trying it
between the staves.
BUTTER DISH. Roll butter in different forms, like a cake or a pine, and
mark it with a tea-spoon. Or roll it in crimping rollers, work it
through a cullender, or scoop it with a tea-spoon; mix it with grated
beef, tongue, or anchovies. Garnish with a wreath of curled parsley, and
it will serve as a little dish.
BUTTERMILK, if made of sweet cream, is a delicious and very wholesome
article of food. Those who can relish sour buttermilk, will find it
still more light, and it is reckoned very beneficial in consumptive
cases. If not very sour, it is also as good as cream to eat with fruit;
but it should be sweetened with white sugar, and mixed with a very
little milk. It does equally well for cakes and rice puddings, and of
course it is economical to churn before the cream is too stale for any
thing but to feed pigs.--The celebrated Dr. Boerhaaeve recommended the
frequent use of sweet buttermilk in all consumptive cases, and that it
should form the whole of the patient's drink, while biscuits and rusks,
with ripe and dried fruits of various kinds, should chiefly be depended
on as articles of food. For this purpose take the milk from the cow into
a small churn; in about ten minutes begin churning, and continue till
the flakes of butter swim about pretty thick, and the milk is discharged
of all the oily particles, and appears thin and blue. Strain it through
a sieve, and let the patient drink it as frequently as possible.
BUTTERMILK PUDDING. Warm three quarts of new milk, turn it with a quart
of buttermilk, and drain the curd through a sieve. When dry pound in a
marble mortar, with nearly half a pound of sugar, a lemon boiled tender,
the crumb of a roll grated, a nutmeg grated, six bitter almonds, four
ounces of warm butter, a tea-cupful of good cream, the yolks of five and
whites of three eggs, a glass of sweet wine and a glass of brandy. When
well incorporated, bake in small cups or bowls well buttered. If the
bottom be not brown, use a salamander; but serve as quick as possible,
and with pudding sauce.
BUTTERED CRABS. Pick out the inside when boiled, beat it up in a little
gravy, with wine, pepper, salt, nutmeg, a few crumbs of bread, a piece
of butter rolled in a little flour, and some vinegar or lemon juice.
Serve it up hot.
BUTTERED EGGS. Beat four or five eggs, yolk and white together; put a
quarter of a pound of butter in a bason, and then put that into boiling
water. Stir it till melted, then put that butter and the eggs into a
saucepan; keep a bason in your hand, just hold the saucepan in the other
over a slow part of the fire, shaking it one way, as it begins to warm.
Pour it into the bason and back again, then hold it over the fire,
stirring it constantly in the saucepan, and pouring it into the bason,
more perfectly to mix the egg and butter, until they shall be hot
without boiling. Serve on toasted bread, or in a bason, to eat with salt
fish or red herrings.
BUTTERED LOAF. Take three quarts of new milk, and add as much rennet as
is sufficient to turn it; then break the curd, and drain off all the
whey through a clean cloth. Pound it in a stone mortar, add the white of
one and the yolks of six eggs, a good handful of grated bread, half as
much of fine flour, and a little salt. Mix them well together with the
hand, divide the whole into four round loaves, and place them upon white
paper. After they are well buttered, varnish them all over with a
feather, dipped in the yolk of an egg stirred up with a little beer. Set
the loaves in a quick oven three quarters of an hour; while baking, take
half a pound of new butter, add to it four spoonfuls of water, half a
nutmeg grated, and sugar sufficient to sweeten it. Stir them together
over the fire till they boil; when sufficiently thickened, draw the
loaves from the oven, open their tops, pour in the butter and sugar, and
send them up with sugar strewed over them.
BUTTERED LOBSTERS. Pick out the meat, cut and warm it, with a little
weak brown gravy, nutmeg, salt, pepper, butter, and a little flour. If
done white, a little white gravy and cream.
BUTTERED ORANGES. Grate off a little of the outside rind of four Seville
oranges, and cut a round hole at the blunt end opposite the stalk, large
enough to take out the pulp and seeds and juice. Then pick the seeds and
skin from the pulp, rub the oranges with a little salt, and lay them in
water for a short time. The bits cut out are to be saved. Boil the fruit
in fresh water till they are tender, shifting the water to take out the
bitterness. In the meantime make a thin syrup with fine sugar, put the
oranges into it, and boil them up. As the quantity of syrup need not be
enough to cover them, turn them round, that each part may partake of the
syrup, and let them remain in it hot till they are wanted. About half an
hour before serving, put some sugar to the pulp, and set it over the
fire; mix it well, and let it boil. Then add a spoonful of white wine
for every orange, give it a boil, put in a bit of fresh butter, and stir
it over the fire to thicken. Fill the oranges with it, and serve them
with some of the syrup in the dish, with the bits on the top.
BUTTERED ORANGE-JUICE. Mix the juice of seven Seville oranges with four
spoonfuls of rose-water, and add the yolks of eight and the whites of
four eggs well beaten. Strain the liquor on half a pound of sugar
pounded, stir it over a gentle fire; and when it begins to thicken, add
a piece of butter the size of a small walnut. Keep it over the fire a
few minutes longer, then pour it into a flat dish, and serve it to eat
cold. If no silver saucepan for the purpose, do it in a china bason in a
saucepan of boiling water, the top of which will just receive the bason.
BUTTERED PRAWNS. Take them out of the husk; warm them with a little good
gravy, a bit of butter and flour, a taste of nutmeg, pepper and salt.
Simmer them together a minute or two, and serve with sippets; or with
cream sauce, instead of brown. Shrimps are done in the same manner.
BUTTERED RICE. Wash and pick some rice, drain, and set it on the fire,
with new milk sufficient to make it swell. When tender, pour off the
milk, and add a bit of butter, a little sugar and pounded cinnamon.
Shake and keep it from burning on the fire, and serve it up as a sweet
dish.
C.
CABBAGE. Wash and pick it carefully, and if very large, quarter it. Put
it into a saucepan with plenty of boiling-water, and a large spoonful of
salt; if any scum rises, take it off, and boil it till the stalk is
tender. Keep the vegetable well covered with water all the time of
boiling, and see that no smoke or dirt arises from stirring the fire.
With careful management the cabbage will look as beautiful when dressed,
as it did when growing. The flavour of an old cabbage may be much
improved, by taking it up when half done, and putting it directly into
another saucepan of fresh boiling water. When taken up, drain it in a
cullender. It may be chopped and warmed with a piece of butter, pepper
and salt, or sent to table whole with melted butter. Savoys and greens
in general are dressed in the same way.
CAKES. In making and baking cakes the following particulars should be
attended to. The currants should be nicely picked and washed, dried in a
cloth, and set before the fire. If damp, they will make cakes or
puddings heavy. Before they are added, a dust of dry flour should be
scattered among them, and then shaken together, which will make the cake
or pudding lighter. Eggs should be beaten a long time, whites and yolks
apart, and always strained. Sugar should be rubbed to a powder on a
clean board, and sifted through a fine hair or lawn sieve. Lemon peel
requires to be pared very thin, and with a little sugar beaten to a
paste in a marble mortar. It should then be mixed with a little wine or
cream, so as to divide easily among the other ingredients. After all the
articles are put into the pan, they should be long and thoroughly
beaten, as the lightness of the cake depends much on their being well
incorporated. Both black and white plumb cakes, being made with yeast,
require less butter and eggs, and eat equally light and rich. If the
leaven be only of flour, milk and water, and yeast, it becomes more
tough, and is less easily divided, than if the butter be first put with
those ingredients, and the dough afterwards set to rise by the fire. The
heat of the oven is of great importance for cakes, especially large
ones. If not pretty quick, the batter will not rise; and if too quick,
put some white paper over the cake to prevent its being burnt. If not
long enough lighted to have a body of heat, or it is become slack, the
cake will be heavy. To know when it is soaked, take a broad-bladed knife
that is very bright, and thrust it into the centre; draw it out
instantly, and if the paste in any degree adheres, return the cake to
the oven, and close it up. If the heat is sufficient to raise but not to
soak the baking, a little fresh fuel should be introduced, after taking
out the cakes and keeping them hot, and then returning them to the oven
as quickly as possible. Particular care however should be taken to
prevent this inconvenience, when large cakes are to be baked.
CAKE TRIFLE. Bake a rice cake in a mould; and when cold, cut it round
with a sharp knife, about two inches from the edge, taking care not to
perforate the bottom. Put in a thick custard, and some spoonfuls of
raspberry jam; and then put on a high whip.