but though one of the most common, it is as commonly performed in a
very imperfect manner, and meets with less attention than the comfort of
a good meal requires. A fryingpan should be about four inches deep, with
a perfectly flat and thick bottom, and perpendicular sides. When used it
should be half filled with fat, for good frying is in fact, boiling in
fat. To make sure that the pan is quite clean, rub a little fat over it,
then make it warm, and wipe it out with a clean cloth. Great care must
be taken in frying, never to use any oil, butter, lard, or drippings,
but what is quite clean, fresh, and free from salt. Any thing dirty
spoils the appearance, any thing bad tasted or stale spoils the flavour,
and salt prevents its browning. Fine olive oil is the most delicate for
frying, but it is very expensive, and bad oil spoils every thing that is
dressed with it. For general purposes, and especially for fish, clean
fresh lard is not near so expensive as oil or clarified butter, and does
almost as well, except for collops and cutlets. Butter often burns
before any one is aware, and what is fried with it will get a dark and
dirty appearance. Dripping, if nicely clean and fresh, is almost as good
as any thing: if not clean, it may easily be clarified. Whatever fat be
used, let it remain in the pan a few minutes after frying, and then pour
it through a sieve into a clean bason. If not burnt, it will be found
much better than it was at first; but the fat in which fish has been
fried, will not serve any other purpose. To fry fish, parsley, potatoes,
or any thing that is watery, the fire must be very clear, and the fat
quite hot, which will be the case when it has done hissing. Fish will
neither be firm nor crisp, nor of a good colour, unless the fat be of a
proper heat. To determine this, throw a little bit of bread into the
pan: if it fries crisp, the fat is ready: if it burns the bread, it is
too hot. Whatever is fried before the fat is hot enough, will be pale
and sodden, and offend the palate and the stomach, as well as the eye.
The fat also must be thoroughly drained from the fry, especially from
such things as are dressed in bread crumbs, or the flavour will be
impaired. The dryness of fish depends much upon its having been fried in
fat of a due degree of heat, they are then crisp and dry in a few
minutes after being taken out of the pan: when they are not, lay them on
a soft cloth before the fire, and turn them till they are dry.
FRIED CARP. Scale, draw, and wash them clean; dry them in flour, and fry
them in hog's lard to a light brown. Fry some toast, cut three-corner
ways, with the roes; lay the fish on a coarse cloth to drain, and serve
them up with butter, anchovy sauce, and the juice of a lemon. Garnish
with the bread, roe, and lemon.
FRIED EELS. There is a greater difference in the goodness of eels than
of any other fish. The true silver-eel, so called from the bright colour
of the belly, is caught in the Thames. The Dutch eels sold at
Billingsgate are very bad; those taken in great floods are generally
good, but in ponds they have usually a strong rank flavour. Except the
middle of summer, they are always in season. If small, they should be
curled round and fried, being first dipped into eggs and crumbs of
bread.
FRIED EGGS. Boil six eggs for three minutes, put them in cold water, and
take off the shells, without breaking the whites. Wrap the eggs up in a
puff paste, smear them over with egg, and grate some bread over them.
Put into a stewpan a sufficient quantity of lard or butter to swim the
eggs; and when the lard is hot, put in the eggs, and fry them of a good
colour. Lay them on a cloth to drain.
FRIED HERBS. Clean and drain a good quantity of spinach leaves, two
large handfuls of parsley, and a handful of green onions. Chop the
parsley and onions, and sprinkle them among the spinach. Stew them
together with a little salt, and a bit of butter the size of a walnut.
Shake the pan when it begins to grow warm, and let it lie closely
covered over a slow stove till done enough. It is served with slices of
broiled calves' liver, small rashers of bacon, and fried eggs. The
latter on the herbs, and the other in a separate dish. This is the mode
of dressing herbs in Staffordshire.
FRIED MACKAREL. Stuff the fish with grated bread, minced parsley and
lemon peel, pepper and salt, nutmeg, and the yolk of an egg, all mixed
together. Serve with anchovy and fennel sauce. Or split the fish open,
cut off their heads, season and hang them up four or five hours, and
then broil them. Make the sauce of fennel and parsley chopped fine, and
mixed with melted butter.
FRIED OYSTERS. To prepare a garnish for boiled fish, make a batter of
flour, milk, and eggs. Season it a very little, dip the oysters into the
batter, and fry them of a fine yellow brown. A little nutmeg should be
put into the seasoning, and a few crumbs of bread into the flour.
FRIED PARSLEY. Pick some young parsley very clean, and put it into a
fryingpan with a bit of butter. Stir it with a knife till it becomes
crisp, and use it for garnishing. Or rub the picked parsley in a cloth
to clean it, and set it before the fire in a Dutch oven till it is
crisp. This is better than fried parsley, and may be rubbed on steaks,
calf's liver, or any other dish of the kind.
FRIED PATTIES. Mince a bit of cold veal, and six oysters; mix them with
a few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and a very small bit of
lemon peel. Add the liquor of the oysters, warm all together in a
tosser, but it must not boil, and then let it grow cold. Prepare a good
puff-paste, roll it thin, and cut it into round or square pieces. Put
some of the mixture between two of them, twist the edges to keep in the
gravy, and fry them of a fine brown. If baked, it becomes a fashionable
dish. All patties should be washed over with egg before they are baked.
FRIED POTATOES. Slice them thin, and fry them in butter till they are
brown; then lay them in a dish, and pour melted butter over them.
Potatoes may likewise be fried in butter, and served up with powder
sugar strewed over them. Any kind of fruit may be fried in the same
manner, and all batter should be fried in hog's lard.
FRIED RABBIT. Cut it into joints, and fry it in butter of a nice brown.
Send it to table with fried or dried parsley, and gravy or liver sauce.
FRIED SMELTS. Wipe them clean, take away the gills, rub them over with a
feather dipped in egg, and strew on some grated bread. Fry them in hog's
lard over a clear fire, and put them in when the fat is boiling hot.
When they are of a fine brown, take them out and drain off the fat.
Garnish with fried parsley and lemon.
FRIED SOLES. Divide two or three soles from the backbone, and take off
the head, fins, and tail. Sprinkle the inside with salt, roll them up
tight from the tail and upwards, and fasten with small skewers. Small
fish do not answer, but if large or of a tolerable size, put half a fish
in each roll. Dip them into yolks of eggs, and cover them with crumbs.
Egg them over again, and then put more crumbs. Fry them of a beautiful
colour in lard, or in clarified butter. Or dip the soles in egg, and
cover them with fine crumbs of bread. Set on a fryingpan of the proper
size, and put into it a good quantity of fresh lard or dripping. Let it
boil, and immediately put the fish into it, and do them of a fine brown.
Soles that have been fried, eat good cold with oil, vinegar, salt and
mustard.
FRIED TENCH. Scale and clean the fish well, dry and lay them before the
fire, dust them with flour, and fry them in dripping or hog's lard.
Serve with crisped parsley, and plain butter. Perch, trout, and grayling
may be done the same.
FRIED TURBOT. Cut a small turbot across in ribs, dry and flour it, put
it into a fryingpan, and cover it with boiling lard. Fry it brown, and
drain it. Clean the pan, put in a little wine, an anchovy, salt, nutmeg,
and a little ginger. Put in the fish, and stew it till the liquor is
half wasted. Then take it out, put in some butter rolled in flour, with
a minced lemon, and simmer them to a proper thickness. Rub a hot dish
with a piece of shalot, lay the turbot in the dish, and pour the sauce
over it.
FRIED VENISON. Cut the meat into slices, fry it of a bright brown, and
keep it hot before the fire. Make gravy of the bones, add a little
butter rolled in flour, stir it in the pan till it is thick and brown,
and put in some port and lemon juice. Warm the venison in it, put in the
dish, and pour the sauce over it. Send up currant jelly in a glass.
FRITTERS. Make them of pancake batter, dropped in small quantities into
the pan: or put apple into batter, pared and sliced, and fry some of it
with each slice. Currants, or very thinly-sliced lemon, make an
agreeable change. Fritters for company should be served on a folded
napkin in the dish. Any sort of sweetmeat, or ripe fruit, may be made
into fritters.
FRONTINIAC. Boil twelve pounds of loaf sugar, and six pounds of raisins
cut small, in six gallons of water. When the liquor is almost cold, put
in half a peck of elder flowers; and the next day six spoonfuls of the
syrup of lemons, and four of yeast. Let it stand two days, put it into a
barrel that will just hold it, and bottle it after it has stood about
two months.
FROST AND BLIGHTS. When a fruit tree is in full blossom, the best way to
preserve it from frost and blights is to twine a rope upon its branches,
and bring the end of it into a pail of water. If a light frost happen in
the night, the tree will not be affected by it; but an ice will be
formed on the surface of the water, in which the end of the rope is
immersed. This experiment may easily be tried on wall fruit, and has
been found to answer. If trees be infected with an easterly blight, the
best way is to fumigate them with brimstone strewed on burning charcoal:
this will effectually destroy the insects, and preserve the fruit.
Afterwards it will be proper to dash them with water, or wash the
branches with a woollen cloth, and clear them of all glutinous matter
and excrescences of every kind, which would harbour the insects; but the
washing should be performed in the early part of a warm day, that the
moisture may be exhaled before the cold of the evening approaches.
FROSTED POTATOES. If soaked three hours in cold water, before they are
to be prepared as food, changing the water every hour, these valuable
roots will recover their salubrious quality and flavour. While in cold
water, they must stand where a sufficiency of artificial heat may
prevent freezing. If much frozen, allow a quarter of an ounce of
saltpetre to every peck of potatoes, and dissolve it in the water. But
if so much penetrated by the frost as to render them unfit for culinary
purposes, they may be made into starch, and will yield a large quantity
of flour for that purpose.
FROTH FOR CREAMS. Sweeten half a pound of the pulp of damsons, or any
other scalded fruit. Put to it the whites of four eggs beaten, and beat
up the pulp with them till it will stand up, and take any form. It
should be rough, to imitate a rock, or the billows of the ocean. This
froth looks and eats well, and may be laid on cream, custard, or trifle,
with a spoon.
FRUIT. The method of preserving any kind of fruit all the year, is to
put them carefully into a wide-mouthed glass vessel, closed down with
oiled paper. The glasses are to be placed in a box filled with a mixture
of four pounds of dry sand, two pounds of bole-armeniac, and one pound
of saltpetre, so that the fruit may be completely covered. The fruit
should be gathered by the hand before it be thoroughly ripe, and the box
kept in a dry place.
FRUIT BISCUITS. To the pulp of any scalded fruit, put an equal weight of
sugar sifted, and beat it two hours. Then make it into little
white-paper forms, dry them in a cool oven, and turn them the next day.
They may be put into boxes in the course of two or three days.
FRUIT FOR CHILDREN. To prepare fruit for children, far more wholesome
than in puddings or pies, put some sliced apples, plums or gooseberries,
into a stone jar, and sprinkle among them a sufficient quantity of fine
moist sugar. Set the jar on a hot hearth, or in a saucepan of boiling
water, and let it remain till the fruit is well done. Slices of bread,
or boiled rice, may either be stewed with the fruit, or added when
eaten.
FRUIT PASTE. Put any kind of fruit into a preserving pan, stir it till
it will mash quite soft, and strain it. To one pint of juice, add a
pound and a half of fine sugar; dissolve the sugar in water, and boil it
till the water is dried up. Then mix it with the juice, boil it once,
pour it into plates, and dry it in a stove. When wanted for use, cut it
in strips, and make paste knots for garnishing.
FRUIT PUDDINGS. Make up a thick batter of milk and eggs, with a little
flour and salt; put in any kind of fruit, and either bake or boil it.
Apples should be pared and quartered, gooseberries and currants should
be picked and cleaned, before they are put into the batter. Or make a
thick paste, roll it out, and line a bason with it, after it has been
rubbed with a little butter. Then fill it with fruit, put on a lid, tie
it up close in a cloth, and boil it for two hours. The pudding will be
lighter, if only made in a bason, then turned out into a pudding cloth,
and boiled in plenty of water.
FRUIT STAINS. If stains of fruit or wine have been long in the linen,
rub the part on each side with yellow soap. Then lay on a thick mixture
of starch in cold water, rub it well in, and expose the linen to the sun
and air till the stain comes out. If not removed in three or four days,
rub off the mixture, and renew the process. When dry, it may be
sprinkled with a little water.--Many other stains may be taken out by
only dipping the linen into sour buttermilk, and drying it in a hot sun.
Then wash it in cold water and dry it, two or three times a day.
FRUIT FOR TARTS. To preserve fruit for family desserts, whether
cherries, plums, or apples, gather them when ripe, and put them in small
jars that will hold about a pound. Strew over each jar six ounces of
fine pounded sugar, and cover each with two bladders, separately tied
down. Set the jars in a large stewpan of water up to the neck, and let
it boil three hours gently. Keep these and all other sorts of fruit free
from damp.
FRUIT TREES. When they have the appearance of being old or worn out, and
are covered with moss and insects, they may be revived and made fruitful
by dressing them well with a brush, dipped in a solution of strong fresh
lime. The outer rind, with all its incumbrance, will then fall off; a
new and clean one will be formed, and the trees put on a healthy
appearance.
FRUITS IN JELLY. Put half a pint of calf's foot jelly into a bowl; when
stiff, lay in three peaches, and a bunch of grapes with the stalk
upwards. Cover over with vine leaves, and fill up the bowl with jelly.
Let it stand till the next day, and then set it to the brim in hot
water. When it gives way from the bowl, turn the jelly out carefully,
and send it to table. Any kind of fruit may be treated in the same way.
FUEL. Coals constitute a principal article of domestic convenience,
especially during the severity of winter. At that season they often
become very scarce, and are sold at an extravagant price. To remedy this
evil in some measure, take two-thirds of soft clay, free from stones,
and work it into three or four bushels of small coals previously sifted:
form this composition into balls or cakes, about three or four inches
thick, and let them be thoroughly dried. When the fire burns clear,
place four or five of these cakes in the front of the grate, where they
will soon become red, and yield a clear and strong heat till they are
totally consumed. The expense of a ton of this composition is but
trifling, when compared with that of a chaldron of coals, as it may be
prepared at one-fourth of the cost, and will be of greater service than
a chaldron and a half of the latter. Coal dust worked up with horse
dung, cow dung, saw dust, tanner's waste, or any other combustible
matter that is not too expensive, will also be found a saving in the
article of fuel. Nearly a third of the coals consumed in large towns and
cities might be saved, if the coal ashes were preserved, instead of
being thrown into the dust bins, and afterwards mixed with an equal
quantity of small coal, moistened with water. This mixture thrown behind
the fire, with a few round coals in front, would save the trouble of
sifting the ashes, and make a cheerful and pleasant fire.----THE BEST
MODE OF LIGHTING A FIRE.--Fill the grate with fresh coals quite up to
the upper bar but one; then lay on the wood in the usual manner, rather
collected in a mass than scattered. Over the wood place the cinders of
the preceding day, piled up as high as the grate will admit, and placed
loosely in rather large fragments, in order that the draft may be free:
a bit or two of fresh coal may be added to the cinders when once they
are lighted, but no small coal must be thrown on at first. When all is
prepared, light the wood, when the cinders in a short time being
thoroughly ignited, the gas rising from the coals below, which will now
be affected by the heat, will take fire as it passes through them,
leaving a very small portion of smoke to go up the chimney. One of the
advantages of this mode of lighting a fire is, that small coal is better
suited to the purpose than large, except a few pieces in front to keep
the small from falling out of the grate. A fire lighted in this way will
burn all day, without any thing being done to it. When apparently quite
out, on being stirred, you have in a few minutes a glowing fire. When
the upper part begins to cake, it must be stirred, but the lower must
not be touched.
FUMIGATION. To prevent infection from fever, take a handful each of rue,
sage, mint, rosemary, and lavender, all fresh gathered. Cut them small,
put them into a stone jar, pour on a pint of the best white-wine
vinegar, cover the jar close, and let it stand eight days in the sun, or
near the fire. Then strain it off, and dissolve in it an ounce of
camphor. This liquid sprinkled about the chamber, or fumigated, will
much revive the patient, and prevent the attendants from receiving the
infection. Or mix a spoonful of salt in a cup, with a little powdered
magnesia: pour on the mixture at different times a spoonful of strong
vitriolic acid, and the vapour arising from it will destroy the putrid
effluvia.
FURNITURE LININGS. These articles require to be first washed, and
afterwards dyed of a different colour, in order to change and improve
their appearance.--For a Buff or salmon colour, according to the depth
of the hue, rub down on a pewter plate two pennyworth of Spanish
arnatto, and then boil it in a pail of water a quarter of an hour. Put
into it two ounces of potash, stir it round, and instantly put in the
lining. Stir it all the time it is boiling, which must be five or six
minutes; then put it into cold spring water, and hang the articles up
singly without wringing. When almost dry, fold the lining, and mangle
it.--For Pink, the calico must be washed extremely clean, and thoroughly
dried. Then boil it in two gallons of soft water, and four ounces of
alum; take it out, and dry it in the air. Meanwhile boil in the alum
water two handfuls of wheat bran till quite slippery, and then strain
it. Take two scruples of cochineal, and two ounces of argall finely
pounded and sifted, and mix it with the liquor a little at a time. Put
the calico into the liquor, keep it stirring and boiling, till the
liquor is nearly wasted. Then take out the calico, wash it first in
chamber lye, and afterwards in cold water. Rinse it in water-starch
strained, dry it quick without hanging it in folds, and let it be well
mangled. It would be better still to have it callendered.--Blue. The
calico must be washed clean and dried. Then mix some of Scott's liquid
blue in as much water as will be sufficient to cover the things to be
dyed, and add some starch to give it a light stiffness. Dry a small
piece of the lining to see whether the colour is deep enough; and if
approved, put it in and wash it in the dye. Dry the articles singly, and
mangle or callender them.
FURS. To preserve them from the moth, comb them occasionally while in
use. When not wanted, mix among them bitter apples from the druggists,
in small muslin bags, sewing them in several folds of linen, carefully
turned in at the edges. Keep the furs in a cool place, free from damp.
G.
GAD FLY. Cows and oxen are often so distressed by the darts of the gad
fly, that they rush into the water for refuge till night approaches. The
only remedy is to wash the backs of the cattle in the spring with strong
tobacco-water, which would greatly prevent the generating of these
vermin. When sheep are struck with the fly, the way is to clip off the
wool, to rub the parts affected with powdered lime or wood ashes, and
afterwards to anoint them with currier's oil, which will heal the
wounds, and secure the animals from future attack. Or dissolve half an
ounce of corrosive sublimate in two quarts of soft water, and add a
quarter of a pint of spirits of turpentine. Cut off the wool as far as
it is infected, pour a few drops of the mixture in a circle round the
maggots produced by the flies, and afterwards rub a little of it among
them, and the maggots will immediately be destroyed.
GAME. Game ought not to be thrown away even after it has been kept a
long time, for when it seems to be spoiled it may often be made fit for
eating, by carefully cleaning and washing it with vinegar and water. If
there is danger of birds not keeping, the best way is to crop and draw
them. Pick them clean, wash them in two or three waters, and rub them
with salt. Plunge them into a kettle of boiling water one by one, and
draw them up and down by the legs, that the water may pass through them.
Let them remain in the water five or six minutes, and then hang them up
in a cool place. When drained, season the insides well with pepper and
salt, and wash them before they are roasted. The most delicate birds,
even grouse, may thus be preserved. Those that live by suction cannot be
done this way, as they are never drawn; and perhaps the heat might make
them worse, as the water could not pass through them; but they will bear
a high flavour. Lumps of charcoal put about birds and meat will preserve
them from taint, and restore what is spoiling.
GAME SAUCE. Wash and pare a head of celery, cut it into thin slices,
boil it gently till it becomes tender; then add a little beaten mace,
pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Thicken it with flour and butter, boil it up,
pour some of it in the dish, and some in a boat. Lemon pickle or lemon
juice may be added to it.
GAMMON. Take off the rind of the ham and gammon, and soak it in water;
cover the fat part with writing paper, roast, and baste it with canary.
When done, sprinkle it over with crumbs of bread and parsley. Serve it
with brown gravy, after it is well browned, and garnish it with raspings
of bread.
GARDEN HEDGES. A well trained hawthorn fence is the strongest, but as it
is apt to get thin and full of gaps at the bottom, the barberry is to be
preferred, especially on high banks with a light soil. It may be raised
from the berries as easily as hawthorn, and will grow faster, if the
suckers be planted early. The barberry puts up numerous suckers from the
roots; it will therefore always grow close at the bottom, and make an
impenetrable fence. In trimming any kind of close hedge, care should be
taken to slope the sides, and make it pointed at the top: otherwise, the
bottom being shaded by the upper part, will make it grow thin and full
of gaps. The sides of a young hedge may be trimmed, to make it bush the
better; but it should not be topped till it has arrived at a full yard
in height, though a few of the points may be taken off. The bottom of
hawthorn hedges may be conveniently thickened, by putting in some plants
of common sweet briar, or barberry.
GARDEN RHUBARB. To cultivate the common garden rhubarb, it should not
only have a depth of good soil, but it should be watered in dry weather,
and well covered with straw or dung in the winter season. It will then
become solid when taken out of the ground; and if cut into large slices,
and hung up in a warm kitchen, it will soon be fit for use. The plants
may be taken up when the leaves are decayed, either in spring or in
autumn, while the weather is dry; and when the roots are cleared from
dirt, without washing, they should be dried in the sun for a few days
before they are hung up. The better way would be to wrap them up
separately in whited brown paper, and dry them on the hob of a common
stove. Lemon and orange peel will dry remarkably well in the same
manner.
GARGLES. Common gargles may be made of figs boiled in milk and water,
with a little sal-ammoniac; or sage-tea, with honey and vinegar mixed
together. A sore throat may be gargled with it two or three times a day.