and one of small beer. Skim it well, put in onions, carrots, turnips,
celery, pepper and salt. When the meat is tender, take it out, strain
off the soup, put a little butter and flour into the saucepan, and stir
it well, to prevent burning. Take off the fat, put the soup into a
stewpan, and stew the beef in it till it is quite tender. Serve up the
soup with turnips and carrots, spinage or celery. A leg of beef cut in
pieces, and stewed five or six hours, will make good soup; and any kind
of roots or spices may be added or omitted at pleasure. Or stew some
peas, lettuce, and onions, in a very little water, with a bone of beef
or ham. While these are doing, season some mutton or lamb steaks, and
fry them of a nice brown. Three quarters of an hour before serving, put
the steaks into a stewpan, and the vegetables over them. Stew them, and
serve all together in a tureen. Another way of making a good hodge
podge, is to stew a knuckle of veal and a scrag of mutton, with some
vegetables, adding a bit of butter rolled in flour.
HOG'S CHEEKS. If to be dried as usual, cut out the snout, remove the
brains, and split the head, taking off the upper bone to make the chawl
a good shape. Rub it well with salt, and next day take away the brine.
On the following day cover the head with half an ounce of saltpetre, two
ounces of bay salt, a little common salt, and four ounces of coarse
sugar. Let the head be often turned, and after ten days smoke it for a
week like bacon.
HOG'S EARS FORCED. Parboil two pair of ears, or take some that have
been soused. Make a forcemeat of an anchovy, some sage and parsley, a
quarter of a pound of chopped suet, bread crumbs, and only a little
salt. Mix all these with the yolks of two eggs, raise the skin of the
upper side of the ears, and stuff them with the mixture. Fry the ears in
fresh butter, of a fine colour; then pour away the fat, and drain them.
Prepare half a pint of rich gravy, with a glass of fine sherry, three
tea-spoonfuls of made mustard, a little butter and flour, a small onion
whole, and a little pepper or cayenne. Put this with the ears into a
stewpan, and cover it close; stew it gently for half an hour, shaking
the pan often. When done enough, take out the onion, place the ears
carefully in a dish, and pour the sauce over them. If a larger dish is
wanted, the meat from two feet may be added to the above.
HOG'S HEAD. To make some excellent meat of a hog's head, split it, take
out the brains, cut off the ears, and sprinkle it with salt for a day.
Then drain it, salt it again with common salt and saltpetre for three
days, and afterwards lay the whole in a small quantity of water for two
days. Wash it, and boil it till all the bones will come out. Skin the
tongue, and take the skin carefully off the head, to put under and over.
Chop the head as quick as possible, season it with pepper and salt, and
a little mace or allspice berries. Put the skin into a small pan, with
the chopped head between, and press it down. When cold it will turn out,
and make a kind of brawn. If too fat, a few bits of lean pork may be
prepared in the same way, and added to it. Add salt and vinegar, and
boil these with some of the liquor for a pickle to keep it.
HOG'S LARD. This should be carefully melted in a jar placed in a kettle
of water, and boiled with a sprig of rosemary. After it has been
prepared, run it into bladders that have been extremely well cleaned.
The smaller they are, the better the lard will keep: if the air reaches
it, it becomes rank. Lard being a most useful article for frying fish,
it should be prepared with care. Mixed with butter, it makes fine crust.
HOLLOW BISCUITS. Mix a pound and a quarter of butter with three pounds
and a half of flour, adding a pint of warm water. Cut out the paste with
a wine glass, or a small tin, and set them in a brisk oven, after the
white bread is drawn.
HONES. For joining them together, or cementing them to their frames,
melt a little common glue without water, with half its weight of rosin,
and a small quantity of red ochre.
HONEY. The honey produced by young bees, and which flows spontaneously,
is purer than that expressed from the comb; and hence it is called
virgin honey. The best sort is of a thick consistence, and of a whitish
colour, inclining to yellow: it possesses an agreeable smell, and a
pleasant taste. When the combs are removed from the hive, they are taken
by the hand into a sieve, and left to drain into a vessel sufficiently
wide for the purpose. After it has stood a proper time to settle, the
pure honey is poured into earthen jars, tied down close to exclude the
air.
HONEY VINEGAR. When honey is extracted from the combs, by means of
pressure, take the whole mass, break and separate it, and into each tub
or vessel put one part of combs, and two of water. Set them in the sun,
or in a warm place, and cover them with cloths. Fermentation takes place
in a few days, and continues from eight to twelve days, according to the
temperature of the situation in which the operation is carried on.
During the fermentation, stir the matter from time to time, and press it
down with the hand, that it may be perfectly soaked. When the
fermentation is over, put the matter to drain on sieves or strainers. At
the bottom of the vessels will be found a yellow liquor, which must be
thrown away, because it would soon contract a disagreeable smell, which
it would communicate to the vinegar. Then wash the tubs, put into them
the water separated from the other matter, and it will immediately begin
to turn sour. The tubs must then be covered again with cloths, and kept
moderately warm. A pellicle or skin is formed on the surface, beneath
which the vinegar acquires strength. In a month's time it begins to be
sharp, but must be suffered to stand a little longer, and then put into
a cask, of which the bunghole is to be left open. It may then be used
like any other vinegar. All kinds of vinegar may be strengthened by
suffering it to be repeatedly frozen, and then separating the upper cake
of ice or water from it.
HOOPING COUGH. This disorder generally attacks children, to whom it
often proves fatal for want of proper management. Those who breathe an
impure air, live upon poor sustenance, drink much warm tea, and do not
take sufficient exercise, are most subject to this convulsive cough. In
the beginning of the disorder, the child should be removed to a change
of air, and the juice of onions or horseradish applied to the soles of
the feet. The diet light and nourishing, and taken in small quantities;
the drink must be lukewarm, consisting chiefly of toast and water, mixed
with a little white wine. If the cough be attended with feverish
symptoms, a gentle emetic must be taken, of camomile flowers, and
afterwards the following liniment applied to the pit of the stomach.
Dissolve one scruple of tartar emetic in two ounces of spring water, and
add half an ounce of the tincture of cantharides: rub a tea-spoonful of
it every hour on the lower region of the stomach with a warm piece of
flannel, and let the wetted part be kept warm with flannel. This will be
found to be the best remedy for the hooping cough.
HOPS. The quality of this article is generally determined by the price;
yet hops may be strong, and not good. They should be bright, of a
pleasant flavour, and have no foreign leaves or bits of branches among
them. The hop is the husk or seed pod of the hop vine, as the cone is
that of the fir tree; and the seeds themselves are deposited, like those
of the fir, round a little soft stalk, enveloped by the several folds of
this pod or cone. If in the gathering, leaves or tendrils of the vine
are mixed with the hops, they may help to increase the weight, but will
give a bad taste to the beer; and if they abound, they will spoil it.
Great attention therefore must be paid to see that they are free from
any foreign mixture. There are also numerous sorts of hops, varying in
size, in form, and quality. Those that are best for brewing are
generally known by the absence of a brown colour, which indicates
perished hops; a colour between green and yellow, a great quantity of
the yellow farina, seeds not too large or hard, a clamminess when rubbed
between the fingers, and a lively pleasant smell, are the general
indications of good hops. At almost any age they retain the power of
preserving beer, but not of imparting a pleasant flavour; and therefore
new hops are to be preferred. Supposing them to be of a good quality, a
pound of hops may be allowed to a bushel of malt, when the beer is
strong, or brewed in warm weather; but under other circumstances, half
the quantity will be sufficient.
HOP-TOP SOUP. Take a quantity of hop-tops when they are in the greatest
perfection, tie them in small bunches, soak them in water, and put them
to some thin peas-soup. Boil them up, add three spoonfuls of onion
juice, with salt and pepper. When done enough, serve them up in a
tureen, with sippets of toasted bread at the bottom.
HORSERADISH POWDER. In November or December, slice some horseradish the
thickness of a shilling, and lay it to dry very gradually in a Dutch
oven, for a strong heat would very soon evaporate its flavour. When
quite dry, pound it fine, and bottle it.
HORSERADISH VINEGAR. Pour a quart of the best vinegar on three ounces of
scraped horseradish, an ounce of minced shalot, and a dram of cayenne.
Let it stand a week, and it will give an excellent relish to cold beef,
or other articles. A little black pepper and mustard, celery or cress
seed, may be added to the above.
HOUSE DRAINS. The smell of house drains is oftentimes exceedingly
offensive, but may be completely prevented by pouring down them a
mixture of lime water, and the ley of wood ashes, or suds that have been
used in washing. An article known by the name of a sink trap may be had
at the ironmongers, which is a cheap and simple apparatus, for carrying
off the waste water and other offensive matter from sinks and drains.
But as the diffusion of any collection of filth tends to produce disease
and mortality, it should not be suffered to settle and stagnate near our
dwellings, and every possible care should be taken to render them sweet
and wholesome.
HOUSE TAX. As the present system of taxation involves so important a
part of the annual expenditure, and is in many instances attended with
so much vexation and trouble, it concerns every housekeeper to be
acquainted with the extent of his own liability, and of course to
regulate his conveniences accordingly. It appears then, that every
inhabited dwellinghouse, containing not more than six windows or lights,
is subject to the yearly sum of six shillings and six-pence, if under
the value of five pounds a year. But every dwellinghouse worth five
pounds and under twenty pounds rent by the year, pays the yearly sum of
one shilling and six-pence in the pound; every house worth twenty pounds
and under forty pounds a year, two shillings and three-pence in the
pound; and for every house worth forty pounds and upwards, the yearly
sum of two shillings and ten-pence in the pound. These rents however are
to be taken from the rates in which they are charged, and not from the
rents which are actually paid.
HOUSEHOLD BREAD. Four ounces of salt are dissolved in three quarts of
water, and mixed with a pint of yeast. This mixture is poured into a
cavity made in a peck of second flour, placed in a large pan or trough.
When properly kneaded and fermented, it is divided into pieces of a
certain weight, and baked. Sometimes, in farm houses, a portion of rice
flour, boiled potatoes, or rye meal, is mixed with the flour, previous
to kneading the dough. The rye and rice serve to bind the bread, but the
potatoes render it light and spongy.--Or, for a larger quantity, put a
bushel of flour into a trough, two thirds wheat and one of rye. Mix a
quart of yeast with nine quarts of warm water, and work it into the
flour till it becomes tough. Leave it to rise about an hour; and as soon
as it rises, add a pound of salt, and as much warm water as before.
Work it well, and cover it with flannel. Make the loaves a quarter of an
hour before the oven is ready; and if they weigh five pounds each, they
will require to be baked two hours and a half.
HUNG BEEF. Make a strong brine with bay salt, common salt, and
saltpetre, and put in ribs of beef for nine days. Then dry it, or smoke
it in a chimney. Or rub the meat with salt and saltpetre, and repeat it
for a fortnight, and dry it in wood smoke.
HUNGARY WATER. To one pint of highly rectified spirits of wine, put an
ounce of the oil of rosemary, and two drams of the essence of ambergris.
Shake the bottle well several times, and let the cork remain out
twenty-four hours. Shake it daily for a whole month, and then put the
water into small bottles for use.
HUNTER'S BEEF. To a round of beef that weighs twenty-five pounds, allow
three ounces of saltpetre, three ounces of the coarsest sugar, an ounce
of cloves, half an ounce of allspice, a nutmeg, and three handfuls of
common salt, all in the finest powder. The beef should hang two or three
days; then rub the above mixture well into it, and turn and rub it every
day for two or three weeks. The bone must be taken out first. When to be
dressed, dip it into cold water, to take off the loose spice; bind it up
tight with tape, and put it into a pan with a tea-cupful of water at the
bottom. Cover the top of the meat with shred suet, and the pan with a
brown crust and paper, and bake it five or six hours. When cold, take
off the paste and tape. The gravy is very fine, and a little of it is a
great improvement to any kind of hash or soup. Both the gravy and the
meat will keep some time. The meat should be cut with a very sharp
knife, and quite smooth, to prevent waste.
HUNTER'S PUDDING. Mix together a pound of suet, a pound of flour, a
pound of currants, and a pound of raisins stoned and cut. Add the rind
of half a lemon finely shred, six peppercorns in fine powder, four eggs,
a glass of brandy, a little salt, and as much milk as will make it of a
proper consistence. Boil it in a floured cloth, or a melon mould, eight
or nine hours. A spoonful of peach water may sometimes be added to
change the flavour. This pudding will keep six months after it is
boiled, if tied up in the same cloth when cold, and hung up, folded in
writing paper to preserve it from the dust. When to be eaten, it must be
boiled a full hour, and served with sweet sauce.
HYSTERICS. The sudden effusion of water on the face and hands, while the
fit is on, and especially immersing the feet in cold water, will afford
relief. Fetid smells are also proper; such as the burning of feathers,
leather, or the smoke of sulphur, and the application of strong volatile
alkali, or other pungent matters to the nostrils. To effect a radical
cure, the cold bath, mineral waters, and other tonics are necessary. In
Germany however, they cure hysteric affections by eating carraway seeds
finely powdered, with a little ginger and salt, spread on bread and
butter every morning.
I.
ICE FOR ICEING. To prepare artificial ice for articles of confectionary,
procure a few pounds of real ice, reduce it nearly to powder, and throw
a large handful or more of salt amongst it. This should be done in as
cool a place as possible. The ice and salt being put into a pail, pour
some cream into an ice pot, and cover it down. Then immerse it in the
ice, and draw that round the pot, so as to enclose every part of it. In
a few minutes stir it well with a spoon or spatula, removing to the
centre those parts which have iced round the edges. If the ice cream or
water be in a a form, shut the bottom close, and move the whole in the
ice, as a spoon cannot be used for that purpose without danger of waste.
There should be holes in the pail, to let off the ice as it thaws. When
any fluid tends towards cold, moving it quickly will encrease that
tendency; and likewise, when any fluid is tending to heat, stirring it
will facilitate its boiling.
ICE CREAMS. Mix the juice of the fruits with as much sugar as will be
wanted, before the cream is added, and let the cream be of a middling
richness.
ICE WATERS. Rub some fine sugar on lemon or orange, to give the colour
and flavour; then squeeze the juice of either on its respective peel.
Add water and sugar to make a fine sherbet, and strain it before it be
put into the ice-pot. If orange, the greater proportion should be of the
china juice, and only a little of seville, and a small bit of the peel
grated by the sugar. The juice of currants or raspberries, or any other
sort of fruit, being squeezed out, sweetened, and mixed with water, may
be prepared for iceing in the same way.
ICEING FOR CAKES. Beat and sift half a pound of fine sugar, put it into
a mortar with four spoonfuls of rose water, and the whites of two eggs
beaten and strained. Whisk it well, and when the cake is almost cold,
dip a feather in the iceing, and cover the cake well. Set it in the oven
to harden, but suffer it not to remain to be discoloured, and then keep
it in a dry place.--For a very large cake, beat up the whites of twenty
fresh eggs, and reduce to powder a pound of double refined sugar, sifted
through a lawn sieve. Mix these well in a deep earthen pan, add orange
flower water, barely sufficient to give it a flavour, and a piece of
fresh lemon peel. Whisk it for three hours till the mixture is thick and
white, then with a thin broad piece of board spread it all over the top
and sides, and set it in a cool oven, and an hour will harden it.
ICEING FOR TARTS. Beat well together the yolk of an egg and some melted
butter, smear the tarts with a feather, and sift sugar over them as they
are put into the oven. Or beat up the white of an egg, wash the paste
with it, and sift over some white sugar.
ILIAC PASSION. This dangerous malady, in which the motion of the bowels
is totally impeded or inverted, arises from spasms, violent exertions of
the body, eating of unripe fruit, drinking of sour liquors, worms,
obstinate costiveness, and various other causes, which produce the most
excruciating pain in the region of the abdomen. Large blisters applied
to the most painful part, emollient clysters, fomentations, and the warm
bath, are amongst the most likely means; but in many instances, this
disorder is not to be controuled by medicine. No remedy however can be
applied with greater safety or advantage, than frequent doses of castor
oil: and if this fail, quicksilver in a natural state is the only
medicine on which any reliance can be placed.
IMPERIAL. Put into a stone jar two ounces of cream of tartar, and the
juice and paring of two lemons. Pour on them seven quarts of boiling
water, stir it well, and cover it close. When cold, sweeten it with loaf
sugar; strain, bottle, and cork it tight. This makes a very pleasant and
wholesome liquor; but if drunk too freely, it becomes injurious. In
bottling it off, add half a pint of rum to the whole quantity.
IMPERIAL CREAM. Boil a quart of cream with the thin rind of a lemon, and
stir it till nearly cold. Have ready in a dish or bowl, in which it is
to be served, the juice of three lemons strained, mixed with as much
sugar as will sweeten the cream. Pour this into the dish from a large
tea-pot, holding it high, and moving it about to mix with the juice. It
should be made at least six hours before it is used; and if the day
before, it would be still better.
IMPERIAL WATER. Put into an earthen pan, four ounces of sugar, and the
rind of three lemons. Boil an ounce of cream of tartar in three quarts
of water, and pour it on the sugar and lemon. Let it stand all night,
clear it through a bag, and bottle it.
INCENSE. Compound in a marble mortar, a large quantity of lignum
rhodium, and anise, with a little powder of dried orange peel, and gum
benzoin. Add some gum dragon dissolved in rose water, and a little
civet. Beat the whole together, form the mixture into small cakes, and
place them on paper to dry. One of these cakes being burnt, will diffuse
an agreeable odour throughout the largest apartment.
INDELIBLE INK. Gum arabic dissolved in water, and well mixed with fine
ivory black, will make writing indelible. If the writing be afterwards
varnished over with the white of an egg clarified, it will preserve it
to any length of time.
INDIAN PICKLE. Lay a pound of white ginger in water one night; then
scrape, slice, and lay it in salt in a pan, till the other ingredients
are prepared. Peel and slice a pound of garlic, lay it in salt three
days, and afterwards dry it in the sun. Salt and dry some long pepper in
the same way: then prepare various sorts of vegetables in the following
manner. Quarter some small white cabbages, salt them three days, then
squeeze and lay them in the sun to dry. Cut some cauliflowers into
branches, take off the green part of radishes, cut celery into lengths
of about three inches, put in young French beans whole, and the shoots
of elder, which will look like bamboo. Choose apples and cucumbers of a
sort the least seedy, quarter them, or cut them in slices. All must be
salted, drained, and dried in the sun, except the latter, over which
some boiling vinegar must be poured. In twelve hours drain them, but use
no salt. Put the spice into a large stone jar, adding the garlic, a
quarter of a pound of mustard seed, an ounce of turmeric, and vinegar
sufficient for the quantity of pickle. When the vegetables are dried and
ready, the following directions must be observed. Put some of them into
a half-gallon stone jar, and pour over them a quart of boiling vinegar.
Next day take out those vegetables; and when drained, put them into a
large stock jar. Boil the vinegar, pour it over some more of the
vegetables, let them lie all night, and complete the operation as
before. Thus proceed till each set is cleansed from the dust they may
have contracted. Then to every gallon of vinegar, put two ounces of
flour of mustard, gradually mixing in a little of it boiling hot, and
stop the jar tight. The whole of the vinegar should be previously
scalded, and set to cool before it is put to the spice. This pickle will
not be ready for a year, but a small quantity may be got ready for
eating in a fortnight, by only giving the cauliflower one scald in
water, after salting and drying as above, but without the preparative
vinegar: then pour the vinegar, which has the spice and garlic, boiling
hot over it. If at any time it be found that the vegetables have not
swelled properly, boiling the pickle, and pouring it hot over them, will
make them plump.--Another way. Cut the heads of some good cauliflowers
into pieces, and add some slices of the inside of the stalk. Put to them
a white cabbage cut in pieces, with inside slices of carrot, turnips,
and onions. Boil a strong brine of salt and water, simmer the vegetables
in it one minute, drain them, and dry them on tins over an oven till
they are shriveled up; then put them into a jar, and prepare the
following pickle. To two quarts of good vinegar, put an ounce of the
flour of mustard, one of ginger, one of long pepper, four of cloves, a
few shalots, and a little horseradish. Boil the vinegar, put the
vegetables into a jar, and pour it hot over them. When cold, tie them
down, and add more vinegar afterwards, if necessary. In the course of a
week or two, the pickle will be fit for use.
INDIGESTION. Persons of weak delicate habits, particularly the sedentary
and studious, are frequently subject to indigestion. The liberal use of
cold water alone, in drinking, washing, and bathing, is often sufficient
to effect a cure. Drinking of sea water, gentle purgatives, with bark
and bitters, light and nourishing food, early rising, and gentle
exercise in the open air, are also of great importance.
INFECTION. During the prevalence of any infectious disease, every thing
requires to be kept perfectly clean, and the sick room to be freely
ventilated. The door or window should generally be open, the bed
curtains only drawn to shade the light, clothes frequently changed and
washed in cold water, all discharges from the patient instantly removed,
and the floor near the bed rubbed every day with a wet cloth. Take also
a hot brick, lay it in an earthen pan, and pour pickle vinegar upon it.
This will refresh the patient, as well as purify the surrounding
atmosphere. Those who are obliged to attend the patients, should not
approach them fasting, nor inhale their breath; and while in their
apartment, should avoid eating and drinking, and swallowing their own
saliva. It will also be of considerable service to smell vinegar and
camphor, to fumigate the room with tobacco, and to chew myrrh and
cinnamon, which promote a plentiful discharge from the mouth. As soon as
a person has returned from visiting an infected patient, he ought
immediately to wash his mouth and hands with vinegar, to change his
clothes, and expose them to the fresh air; and to drink an infusion of
sage, or other aromatic herbs. After the disorder has subsided, the
walls of the room should be washed with hot lime, which will render it
perfectly sweet.
INFLAMMATIONS. In external inflammations, attended with heat and
swelling of the part affected, cooling applications and a little opening
medicine are the best adapted; and in some cases, cataplasms of warm
emollient herbs may be used with advantage.