when imagined to be past eating, they are often in the highest
perfection. They are never good if eaten when fresh killed. A hare will
keep longer and eat better, if not opened for four or five days, or
according to the state of the weather. If paunched when it comes from
the field, it should be wiped quite dry, the heart and liver taken out,
and the liver scalded to keep for stuffing. Repeat this wiping every
day, rub a mixture of pepper and ginger on the inside, and put a large
piece of charcoal into it. If the spice be applied early, it will
prevent that musty taste which long keeping in the damp occasions, and
which also affects the stuffing. If an old hare is to be roasted, it
should be kept as long as possible, and well soaked. This may be judged
of, in the following manner. If the claws are blunt and rugged, the ears
dry and tough, and the haunch thick, it is old. But if the claws are
smooth and sharp, the ears easily tear, and the cleft in the lip is not
much spread, it is young. If fresh and newly killed, the body will be
stiff, and the flesh pale. To know a real leveret, it is necessary to
look for a knob or small bone near the foot on its fore leg: if there be
none, it is a hare.
HARE PIE. Cut up the hare, and season it; bake it with eggs and
forcemeat, in a dish or raised crust. When cold take off the lid, and
cover the meat with Savoury Jelly: see the article.
HARE SAUCE. This usually consists of currant jelly warmed up; or it may
be made of half a pint of port, and a quarter of a pound of sugar,
simmered together over a clear fire for about five minutes. It may also
be made of half a pint of vinegar, and a quarter of a pound of sugar,
reduced to a syrup.
HARE SOUP. Take an old hare unfit for other purposes, cut it into
pieces, and put it into a jar; add a pound and a half of lean beef, two
or three shank bones of mutton well cleaned, a slice of lean bacon or
ham, an onion, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Pour on two quarts of boiling
water, cover the jar close with bladder and paper, and set it in a
kettle of water. Simmer till the hare is stewed to pieces, strain off
the liquor, boil it up once, with a chopped anchovy, and add a spoonful
of soy, a little cayenne, and salt. A few fine forcemeat balls, fried of
a good brown, should be served in the tureen.
HARRICO OF MUTTON. Remove some of the fat, and cut the middle or best
end of the neck into rather thin steaks. Flour and fry them in their own
fat, of a fine light brown, but not enough for eating. Then put them
into a dish while you fry the carrots, turnips, and onions; the carrots
and turnips in dice, the onions sliced. They must only be warmed, and
not browned. Then lay the steaks at the bottom of a stewpan, the
vegetables over them, and pour on as much boiling water as will just
cover them. Give them one boil, skim them well, and then set the pan on
the side of the fire to simmer gently till all is tender. In three or
four hours skim them; add pepper and salt, and a spoonful of ketchup.
HARRICO OF VEAL. Take the best end of a small neck, cut the bones short,
but leave it whole. Then put it into a stewpan, just covered with brown
gravy; and when it is nearly done, have ready a pint of boiled peas, six
cucumbers pared and sliced, and two cabbage-lettuces cut into quarters,
all stewed in a little good broth. Add them to the veal, and let them
simmer ten minutes. When the veal is in the dish, pour the sauce and
vegetables over it, and lay the lettuce with forcemeat balls round it.
HARTSHORN JELLY. Simmer eight ounces of hartshorn shavings with two
quarts of water, till reduced to one. Strain and boil it with the rinds
of four China oranges, and two lemons pared thin. When cool, add the
juice of both, half a pound of sugar, and the whites of six eggs beaten
to a froth. Let the jelly have three or four boils without stirring, and
strain it through a jelly bag.
HASHED BEEF. Put into a stewpan, a pint and a half of broth or water, a
large table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, with the gravy saved from the
beef. Add a quarter of an ounce of onion sliced very fine, and boil it
about ten minutes. Put a large table-spoonful of flour into a basin,
just wet it with a little water, mix it well together, then stir it into
the broth, and boil it five or ten minutes. Rub it through a sieve,
return it to the stewpan, put in the hash, and let it stand by the side
of the fire till the meat is warm. A tea-spoonful of parsley chopped
very fine, and put in five minutes before it is served up, will be an
agreeable addition; or to give a higher relish, a glass of port wine,
and a spoonful of currant jelly. Hashes and meats dressed a second time,
should only simmer gently, till just warmed through.
HASHED DUCK. Cut a cold duck into joints, and warm it in gravy, without
boiling, and add a glass of port wine.
HASHED HARE. Season the legs and wings first, and then broil them, which
will greatly improve the flavour. Rub them with cold butter and serve
them quite hot. The other parts, warmed with gravy, and a little
stuffing, may be served separately.
HASHED MUTTON. Cut thin slices of dressed mutton, fat and lean, and
flour them. Have ready a little onion boiled in two or three spoonfuls
of water; add to it a little gravy, season the meat, and make it hot,
but not to boil. Serve up the hash in a covered dish. Instead of onion,
a clove, a spoonful of currant jelly, and half a glass of port wine,
will give an agreeable venison flavour, if the meat be fine. For a
change, the hash may be warmed up with pickled cucumber or walnut cut
small.
HASHED VENISON. Warm it with its own gravy, or some of it without
seasoning; but it should only be warmed through, and not boiled. If no
fat be left, cut some slices of mutton fat, set it on the fire with a
little port wine and sugar, and simmer it dry. Then put it to the hash,
and it will eat as well as the fat of venison.
HASTY DISH OF EGGS. Beat up six eggs, pour them into a saucepan, hold it
over the fire till they begin to thicken, and keep stirring from the
bottom all the time. Then add a piece of butter the size of a walnut,
stir it about till the eggs and water are thoroughly mixed, and the eggs
quite dry. Put it on a plate, and serve it hot.
HASTY FRITTERS. Melt some butter in a saucepan, put in half a pint of
good ale, and stir a little flour into it by degrees. Add a few
currants, or chopped apples; beat them up quick, and drop a large
spoonful at a time into the pan, till the bottom is nearly covered.
Keep them separate, turn them with a slice; and when of a fine brown,
serve them up hot, with grated sugar over them.
HASTY PUDDING. Boil some milk over a clear fire, and take it off. Keep
putting in flour with one hand, and stirring it with the other, till it
becomes quite thick. Boil it a few minutes, pour it into a dish, and
garnish with pieces of butter. To make a better pudding, beat up an egg
and flour into a stiff paste, and mince it fine. Put the mince into a
quart of boiling milk, with a little butter and salt, cinnamon and
sugar, and stir them carefully together. When sufficiently thickened,
pour it into a dish, and stick bits of butter on the top. Or shred some
suet, add grated bread, a few currants, the yolks of four eggs and the
whites of two, with some grated lemon peel and ginger. Mix the whole
together, and make it into balls the size and shape of an egg, with a
little flour. Throw them into a skillet of boiling water, and boil them
twenty minutes; but when sufficiently done, they will rise to the top.
Serve with cold butter, or pudding sauce.
HATS. Gentlemen's hats are often damaged by a shower of rain, which
takes off the gloss, and leaves them spotted. To prevent this, shake out
the wet as much as possible, wipe the hat carefully with a clean
handkerchief, observing to lay the beaver smooth. Then fix the hat in
its original shape, and hang it to dry at a distance from the fire. Next
morning, brush it several times with a soft brush in the proper
direction, and the hat will have sustained but little injury. A flat
iron moderately heated, and passed two or three times gently over the
hat, will raise the gloss, and give the hat its former good appearance.
HAUNCH OF MUTTON. Keep it as long as it can be preserved sweet, and
wash it with warm milk and water, or vinegar if necessary. When to be
dressed especially, observe to wash it well, lest the outside should
contract a bad flavour from keeping. Lay a paste of coarse flour on
strong paper, and fold the haunch in it; set it a great distance from
the fire, and allow proportionate time for the paste. Do not remove it
till nearly forty minutes before serving, and then baste it continually.
Bring the haunch nearer the fire before the paste is taken off, and
froth it up the same as venison. A gravy must be made of a pound and a
half of a loin of old mutton, simmered in a pint of water to half the
quantity, and no seasoning but salt. Brown it with a little burnt sugar,
and send it up in the dish. Care should be taken to retain a good deal
of gravy in the meat, for though long at the fire, the distance and
covering will prevent its roasting out. Serve with currant-jelly sauce.
HAUNCH OF VENISON. If it be the haunch of a buck, it will take full
three hours and a half roasting; if a doe, about half an hour less.
Venison should be rather under than overdone. Sprinkle some salt on a
sheet of white paper, spread it over with butter, and cover the fat with
it. Then lay a coarse paste on strong white paper, and cover the haunch;
tie it with fine packthread, and set it at a distance from a good fire.
Baste it often: ten minutes before serving take off the paste, draw the
meat nearer the fire, and baste it with butter and a good deal of flour,
to make it froth up well. Gravy for it should be put into a boat, and
not into the dish, unless there is none in the venison. To make the
gravy, cut off the fat from two or three pounds of a loin of old mutton,
and set it in steaks on a gridiron for a few minutes just to brown one
side. Put them into a saucepan with a quart of water, keep it closely
covered for an hour, and simmer it gently. Then uncover it, stew it till
the gravy is reduced to a pint, and season it with salt only.
Currant-jelly sauce must be served in a boat. Beat up the jelly with a
spoonful or two of port wine, and melt it over the fire. Where jelly
runs short, a little more wine must be added, and a few lumps of sugar.
Serve with French beans. If the old bread sauce be still preferred,
grate some white bread, and boil it with port wine and water, and a
large stick of cinnamon. When quite smooth, take out the cinnamon, and
add some sugar.
HAY STACKS. In making stacks of new hay, care should be taken to prevent
its heating and taking fire, by forming a tunnel completely through the
centre. This may be done by stuffing a sack full of straw, and tying up
the mouth with a cord; then make the rick round the sack, drawing it up
as the rick advances, and taking it out when finished.
HEAD ACHE. This disorder generally arises from some internal cause, and
is the symptom of a disease which requires first to be attended to; but
where it is a local affection only, it may be relieved by bathing the
part affected with spirits of hartshorn, or applying a poultice of elder
flowers. In some cases the most obstinate pain is removed by the use of
vervain, both internally in the form of a decoction, and also by
suspending the herb round the neck. Persons afflicted with headache
should beware of costiveness: their drink should be diluting, and their
feet and legs kept warm. It is very obvious, that as many disorders
arise from taking cold in the head, children should be inured to a light
and loose covering in their infancy, by which means violent headaches
might be prevented in mature age: and the maxim of keeping the feet
warm and the head cool, should be strictly attended to.
HEAD AND PLUCK. Whether of lamb or mutton, wash the head clean, take the
black part from the eyes, and the gall from the liver. Lay the head in
warm water; boil the lights, heart, and part of the liver; chop them
small, and add a little flour. Put it into a saucepan with some gravy,
or a little of the liquor it was boiled in, a spoonful of ketchup, a
small quantity of lemon juice, cream, pepper, and salt. Boil the head
very white and tender, lay it in the middle of the dish, and the mince
meat round it. Fry the other part of the liver with some small bits of
bacon, lay them on the mince meat, boil the brains the same as for a
calf's head, beat up an egg and mix with them, fry them in small cakes,
and lay them on the rim of the dish. Garnish with lemon and parsley.
HEART BURN. Persons subject to this disorder, ought to drink no stale
liquors, and to abstain from flatulent food. Take an infusion of bark,
or any other stomachic bitter; or a tea-spoonful of the powder of gum
arabic dissolved in a little water, or chew a few sweet almonds
blanched. An infusion of anise seeds, or ginger, have sometimes produced
the desired effect.
HEDGE HOG. Make a cake of any description, and bake it in a mould the
shape of a hedge hog. Turn it out of the mould, and let it stand a day
or two. Prick it with a fork, and let it remain all night in a dish full
of sweet wine. Slit some blanched almonds, and stick about it, and pour
boiled custard in the dish round it.
HERB PIE. Pick two handfuls of parsley from the stems, half the quantity
of spinach, two lettuces, some mustard and cresses, a few leaves of
borage, and white beet leaves. Wash and boil them a little, drain and
press out the water, cut them small; mix a batter of flour, two eggs
well beaten, a pint of cream, and half a pint of milk, and pour it on
the herbs. Cover with a good crust, and bake it.
HERB TEA. If betony be gathered and dried before it begins to flower, it
will be found to have the taste of tea, and all its good qualities,
without any of its bad ones: it is also considered as a remedy for the
headache. Hawthorn leaves dried, and one third of balm and sage, mixed
together, will make a wholesome and strengthening drink. An infusion of
ground ivy, mixed with a few flowers of lavender, and flavoured with a
drop of lemon juice, will make an agreeable substitute for common tea.
Various other vegetables might also be employed for this purpose; such
as sage, balm, peppermint, and similar spicy plants; the flowers of the
sweet woodroof, those of the burnet, or pimpernel rose; the leaves of
peach and almond trees, the young and tender leaves of bilberry, and
common raspberry; and the blossoms of the blackthorn, or sloe tree. Most
of these when carefully gathered and dried in the shade, especially if
they be managed like Indian tea-leaves, bear a great resemblance to the
foreign teas, and are at the same time of superior flavour and
salubrity.
HERBS FOR WINTER. Take any sort of sweet herbs, with three times the
quantity of parsley, and dry them in the air, without exposing them to
the sun. When quite dry, rub them through a hair sieve, put them in
canisters or bottles, and keep them in a dry place: they will be useful
for seasoning in the winter. Mint, sage, thyme, and such kind of herbs,
may be tied in small bunches, and dried in the air: then put each sort
separately into a bag, and hang it up in the kitchen. Parsley should be
picked from the stalks as soon as gathered, and dried in the shade to
preserve the colour. Cowslips and marigolds should be gathered dry,
picked clean, dried in a cloth, and kept in paper bags.
HESSIAN SOUP. Clean the root of a neat's tongue very nicely, and half an
ox's head, with salt and water, and soak them afterwards in water only.
Then stew them in five or six quarts of water, till tolerably tender.
Let the soup stand to be cold, take off the fat, which will do for
basting, or to make good paste for hot meat pies. Put to the soup a pint
of split peas, or a quart of whole ones, twelve carrots, six turnips,
six potatoes, six large onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, and two heads of
celery. Simmer them without the meat, till the vegetables are done
enough to pulp with the peas through a sieve; and the soup will then be
about the thickness of cream. Season it with pepper, salt, mace,
allspice, a clove or two, and a little cayenne, all in fine powder. If
the peas are bad, and the soup not thick enough, boil in it a slice of
roll, and pass it through the cullender; or add a little rice flour,
mixing it by degrees.--To make a ragout with the above, cut the nicest
part of the head, the kernels, and part of the fat from the root of the
tongue, into small thick pieces. Rub these with some of the above
seasoning, putting them into a quart of the liquor reserved for that
purpose before the vegetables were added; flour them well, and simmer
till they are nicely tender. Then add a little mushroom and walnut
ketchup, a little soy, a glass of port wine, and a tea-spoonful of made
mustard, and boil all up together. Serve with small eggs and forcemeat
balls. This furnishes an excellent soup and a ragout at a small expense.
HICCOUGH. A few small draughts of water in quick succession, or a
tea-spoonful of vinegar, will often afford immediate relief. Peppermint
water mixed with a few drops of vitriolic acid may be taken; and
sometimes sneezing, or the stench of an extinguished tallow candle, has
been found sufficient.
HIND QUARTER OF LAMB. Boil the leg in a floured cloth an hour and a
quarter; cut the loin into chops, fry them, lay them round the leg, with
a bit of parsley on each, and serve it up with spinach or brocoli.
HIND QUARTER OF PIG. To dress this joint lamb fashion, take off the
skin, roast it, and serve it up with mint sauce. A leg of lamb stuffed
like a leg of pork, and roasted, with drawn gravy, is very good. A loin
of mutton also, stuffed like a hare, and basted with milk. Put gravy in
the dish, served with currant jelly, or any other sauce.
HIVING OF BEES. When it is intended to introduce a swarm of bees into a
new hive, it must be thoroughly cleaned, and the inside rubbed with
virgin wax. A piece of nice honeycomb, made of very white wax, and about
nine inches long, should be hung on the cross bars near the top of the
hive, to form a kind of nest for the bees, and excite them to continue
their work. The new hive being thus prepared, is then to be placed under
an old one, before the bees begin to swarm, in such a manner as to be
quite close, and to leave the bees no passage except into the new hive.
As these insects generally work downwards, they will soon get into their
new habitation; and when it is occupied by one half of the swarm, some
holes must be made in the top of the old hive, and kept covered till the
proper time of making use of them. Preparation being thus made, take the
opportunity of a fine morning, about eight or nine o'clock, at which
time most of the bees are out, gathering their harvest. The comb is to
be cut through by means of a piece of iron wire, and the old hive
separated from the new one. An assistant must immediately place the
cover, which should be previously fitted, upon the top of the new one.
The old hive is then to be taken to the distance of twenty or thirty
yards, and placed firm upon a bench or table, but so as to leave a free
space both above and below. The holes at the top being opened, one of
the new boxes is to be placed on the top of the old hive, having the
cover loosely fastened on it; and is to be done in such a manner, by
closing the intervals between them with linen cloths, that the bees on
going out by the holes on the top of the old hive can only go into the
new one. But in order to drive the bees into the new hive, some live
coals must be placed under the old one, upon which some linen may be
thrown, to produce a volume of smoke; and the bees feeling the
annoyance, will ascend to the top of the old hive, and at length will go
through the holes into the new one. When they have nearly all entered,
it is to be removed gently from the old hive, and placed under the box
already mentioned, the top or cover having been taken off. If it should
appear the next morning that the two boxes, of which the new hive is now
composed, do not afford sufficient room for the bees, a third or fourth
box may be added, under the others, as their work goes on, changing them
from time to time so long as the season permits the bees to gather wax
and honey. When a new swarm is to be hived, the boxes prepared as above
and proportioned to the size of the swarm, are to be brought near the
place where the bees have settled. The upper box with the cover upon it,
must be taken from the others. The cross bars at the top should be
smeared with honey and water, the doors must be closed, the box turned
upside down, and held under the swarm, which is then to be shaken into
it as into a common hive. When the whole swarm is in the box, it is to
be carried to the other boxes, previously placed in their destined
situation, and carefully put upon them. The interstices are to be closed
with cement, and all the little doors closed, except the lowest, through
which the bees are to pass. The hive should be shaded from the sun for a
few days, that the bees may not be tempted to leave their new
habitation. It is more advantageous however to form artificial swarms,
than to collect those which abandon their native hives; and the hive
here recommended is more particularly adapted to that purpose. By this
mode of treatment, we not only avoid the inconveniences which attend the
procuring of swarms in the common way, but obtain the advantage of
having the hives always well stocked, which is of greater consequence
than merely to increase their number; for it has been observed, that if
a hive of four thousand bees give six pounds of honey, one of eight
thousand will give twenty-four pounds. On this principle it is proper to
unite two or more hives, when they happen to be thickly stocked. This
may be done by scattering a few handfuls of balm in those hives which
are to be united, which by giving them the same smell, they will be
unable to distinguish one another. After this preparation, the hives are
to be joined by placing them one upon the other, in the evening when
they are at rest, and taking away those boxes which are nearly empty.
All the little doors must be closed, except the lowest.----If bees are
kept in single straw hives in the usual way, the manner of hiving them
is somewhat different. They are first allowed to swarm, and having
settled, they are then taken to the hive. If they fix on the lower
branch of a tree, it may be cut off and laid on a cloth, and the hive
placed over it, so as to leave room for the bees to ascend into it. If
the queen can be found, and put into the hive, the rest will soon
follow. But if it be difficult to reach them, let them remain where they
have settled till the evening, when there will be less danger of
escaping. After this the hive is to be placed in the apiary, cemented
round the bottom, and covered from the wet at top. The usual method of
uniting swarms, is by spreading a cloth at night upon the ground close
to the hive, in which the hive with the new swarm is to be placed. By
giving a smart stroke on the top of the hive, all the bees will drop
into a cluster upon the cloth. Then take another hive from the beehouse,
and place it over the bees, when they will ascend into it, and mix with
those already there. Another way is to invert the hive in which the
united swarms are to live, and strike the bees of the other hive into it
as before. One of the queens is generally slain on this occasion,
together with a considerable number of the working bees. To prevent this
destruction, one of the queens should be sought for and taken, when the
bees are beaten out of the hive upon the cloth, before the union is
effected. Bees never swarm till the hive is too much crowded by the
young brood, which happens in May or June, according to the warmth of
the season. A good swarm should weigh five or six pounds; those that are
under four pounds weight, should be strengthened by a small additional
swarm. The size of the hive ought to be proportionate to the number of
the bees, and should be rather too small than too large, as they require
to be kept dry and warm in winter. In performing these several
operations, it will be necessary to defend the hands and face from the
sting of the bees. The best way of doing this is to cover the whole head
and neck with a coarse cloth or canvas, which may be brought down and
fastened round the waist. Through this cloth the motion of the bees may
be observed, without fearing their stings; and the hands may be
protected by a thick pair of gloves.