Milford, are much the best. The native Milton are fine, being white and
fleshy; but others may be made to possess both these qualities in some
degree, by proper feeding. Colchester oysters come to market early in
August, the Milton in October, and are in the highest perfection about
Christmas, but continue in season till the middle of May. When alive and
good, the shell closes on the knife; but if an oyster opens its mouth,
it will soon be good for nothing. Oysters should be eaten the minute
they are opened, with their own liquor in the under shell, or the
delicious flavour will be lost. The rock oyster is the largest, but if
eaten raw it tastes coarse and brackish, but may be improved by feeding.
In order to do this, cover the oysters with clean water, and allow a
pint of salt to about two gallons; this will cleanse them from the mud
and sand contracted in the bed. After they have lain twelve hours,
change it for fresh salt and water; and in twelve hours more they will
be fit to eat, and will continue in a good state for two or three days.
At the time of high water in the place from whence they were taken, they
will open their shells, in expectation of receiving their usual food.
The real Colchester or Pyfleet barrelled oysters, that are packed at the
beds, are better without being put into water; they are carefully and
tightly packed, and must not be disturbed till wanted for the table. In
temperate weather these will keep good for a week or ten days. To
preserve barrelled oysters however, the best way is to remove the upper
hoop, so that the head may fall down upon the oysters, and then to place
a weight upon it. This will compress the oysters, keep in the liquor,
and preserve them for several days.
P.
PAIN IN THE EAR. This complaint is sometimes so prevalent as to resemble
an epidemic, particularly amongst children. The most effectual remedy
yet discovered has been a clove of garlic, steeped for a few minutes in
warm sallad oil, and put into the ear, rolled up in muslin or fine
linen. When the garlic has accomplished its object, and is removed from
the ear, it should be replaced with cotton, to prevent the patient
taking cold.
PAINT. Painted doors and windows may be made to look well for a
considerable time, if properly cleaned. A cloth should never be used,
for it leaves some lint behind; but take off the dust with a painter's
brush, or a pair of bellows. When the painting is soiled or stained, dip
a sponge or a bit of flannel in soda water, wash it off quickly, and dry
it immediately, or the strength of the soda will eat off the colour.
When wainscot requires scouring, it should be done from the top
downwards, and the soda be prevented from running on the uncleaned part
as much as possible, or marks will appear after the whole is finished.
One person should dry the board with old linen, as fast as the other has
scoured off the dirt, and washed away the soda.
PAINT FOR IRON. For preserving palisadoes and other kinds of iron work
exposed to the weather, heat some common litharge in a shovel over the
fire. Then scatter over it a small quantity of sulphur, and grind it in
oil. This lead will reduce it to a good lead colour, which will dry very
quickly, get remarkably hard, and resist the weather better than any
other common paint.
PAINTINGS. Oil paintings frequently become smoked or dirty, and in order
to their being properly cleaned, require to be treated with the
greatest care. Dissolve a little common salt in some stale urine, dip a
woollen cloth in the liquid, and rub the paintings over with it till
they are quite clean. Then wash them with a sponge and clean water, dry
them gradually, and rub them over with a clean cloth.
PALING PRESERVED. The following cheap and valuable composition will
preserve all sorts of wood work exposed to the vicissitudes of the
weather. Take some well-burnt lime, and expose it to the air till it
falls to powder, without putting any water to it, and mix with it two
thirds of wood ashes, and one third of fine sand. Sift the whole through
a fine sieve, and work it up with linseed oil to the consistence of
common paint, taking care to grind it fine, and mix it well together.
The composition may be improved by the addition of an equal quantity of
coal tar with the linseed oil; and two coats of it laid on any kind of
weather boards, will be found superior to any kind of paint used for
that purpose.
PALPITATION OF THE HEART. Persons of a full habit may find relief in
bleeding; but where it is accompanied with nervous affections, as is
generally the case, bleeding must by all means be avoided. Frequent
bathing the feet in warm water, a stimulating plaster applied to the
left side, and gentle exercise, are the most proper.
PALSY. The luxurious, the sedentary, and those who have suffered great
anxiety and distress of mind, are the most subject to this disorder,
which generally attacks the left side, and is attended with numbness and
drowsiness. The parts affected ought to be frequently rubbed with a
flesh brush, or with the hand. Blisters, warm plasters, volatile
liniments, and electricity should likewise be employed. The following
electuary is also recommended. Mix an ounce of flour of mustard, and an
ounce of the conserve of roses, in some syrup of ginger; and take a
tea-spoonful of it three or four times a day.
PANADA. To make panada in five minutes, set a little water on the fire
with a glass of white wine, some sugar, and a scrape of nutmeg and lemon
peel, grating meanwhile some crumbs of bread. The moment the mixture
boils up, keeping it still on the fire, put in the crumbs, and let it
boil as fast as it can. When of a proper thickness just to drink, take
it off.--Another way. Make the panada as above, but instead of a glass
of wine, put in a tea-spoonful of rum, a little butter and sugar. This
makes a very pleasant article for the sick.--Another. Put into the water
a bit of lemon peel, and mix in the crumbs: when nearly boiled enough,
add some lemon or orange syrup. Observe to boil all the ingredients; for
if any be added after, the panada will break, and not turn to jelly.
PANCAKES. Make a light batter of eggs, flour, and milk. Fry it in a
small pan, in hot dripping or lard. Salt, nutmeg, or ginger, may be
added. Sugar and lemon should be served, to eat with them. When eggs are
very scarce, the batter may be made of flour and small beer, with the
addition of a little ginger; or clean snow, with flour, and a very
little milk, will serve instead of egg. Fine pancakes, fried without
butter or lard, are made as follows. Beat six fresh eggs extremely well,
strain and mix them with a pint of cream, four ounces of sugar, a glass
of wine, half a nutmeg grated, and as much flour as will make it almost
as thick as ordinary pancake batter, but not quite. Heat the fryingpan
tolerably hot, wipe it with a clean cloth, and pour in the batter so as
to make the pancakes thin.--New England pancakes are made of a pint of
cream, mixed with five spoonfuls of fine flour, seven yolks and four
whites of eggs, and a very little salt. They are then fried very thin in
fresh butter, and sent to table six or eight at once, with sugar and
cinnamon strewed between them.--Another way to make cream pancakes. Stir
a pint of cream gradually into three spoonfuls of flour, and beat them
very smooth. Add to this six eggs, half a pound of melted butter, and a
little sugar. These pancakes will fry from their own richness, without
either butter or lard. Run the batter over the pan as thin as possible,
and when the pancakes are just coloured they are done enough.
PAP BREAD. To prepare a light nourishing food for young children, pour
scalding water on some thin slices of good white bread, and let it stand
uncovered till it cools. Then drain off the water, bruise the bread
fine, and mix it with as much new milk as will make a pap of a moderate
thickness. It will be warm enough for use, without setting it on the
fire. It is common to add sugar, but the pap is better without it, as is
almost all food intended for children; and the taste will not require
it, till habit makes it familiar.
PAPER. All sorts of paper improve by keeping, if laid in a dry place,
and preserved from mould and damp. It is bought much cheaper by the
ream, than by the quire. The expense of this article is chiefly
occasioned by the enormous duty laid upon it, and the necessity of
importing foreign rags to supply the consumption. If more care were
taken in families generally, to preserve the rags and cuttings of linen
from being wasted, there would be less need of foreign imports, and
paper might be manufactured a little cheaper.
PAPER HANGINGS. To clean these properly, first blow off the dust with
the bellows, and then wipe the paper downwards in the slightest manner
with the crumb of a stale white loaf. Do not cross the paper, nor go
upwards, but begin at the top, and the dirt of the paper and the crumbs
will fall together. Observe not to wipe more than half a yard at a
stroke, and after doing all the upper part, go round again, beginning a
little above where you left off. If it be not done very lightly, the
dirt will adhere to the paper; but if properly attended to, the paper
will look fresh and new.
PAPER PASTE. To make a strong paste for paper, take two large spoonfuls
of fine flour, and as much pounded rosin as will lie upon a shilling.
Mix them up with as much strong beer as will make the paste of a due
consistence, and boil it half an hour. It is best used cold.
PARSLEY. To preserve parsley through the winter, gather some fine fresh
sprigs in May, June, or July. Pick and wash them clean, set on a stewpan
half full of water, put a little salt in it, boil and scum it clean.
Then add the parsley, let it boil for two minutes, and take it out and
lay it on a sieve before the fire, that it may be dried as quick as
possible. Put it by in a tin box, and keep it in a dry place. When
wanted, lay it in a basin, and cover it with warm water for a few
minutes before you use it.
PARSLEY AND BUTTER. Wash some parsley very clean, and pick it carefully
leaf by leaf. Put a tea-spoonful of salt into half a pint of boiling
water, boil the parsley in it about ten minutes, drain it on a sieve,
mince it quite fine, and then, bruise it to a pulp. Put it into a sauce
boat, and mix with it by degrees about half a pint of good melted
butter, only do not put so much flour to it, as the parsley will be sure
to add to its thickness. Parsley and butter should not be poured over
boiled dishes, but be sent up in a boat. The delicacy of this elegant
and innocent relish, depends upon the parsley being minced very fine.
With the addition of a slice of lemon cut into dice, a little allspice
and vinegar, it is made into Dutch sauce.
PARSLEY PIE. Lay a fowl, or a few bones of the scrag of veal, seasoned,
into a dish. Scald a cullenderful of picked parsley in milk; season it,
and add it to the fowl or meat, with a tea-cupful of any sort of good
broth or gravy. When baked, pour into it a quarter of a pint of cream
scalded, with a little bit of butter and flour. Shake it round, and mix
it with the gravy in the dish. Lettuces, white mustard leaves, or
spinach, well scalded, may be added to the parsley.
PARSLEY SAUCE. When no parsley leaves are to be had, tie up a little
parsley seed in a piece of clean muslin, and boil it in water ten
minutes. Use this water to melt the butter, and throw into it a little
boiled spinach minced, to look like parsley.
PARSNIPS. Carrots and parsnips, when laid up for the winter, should have
the tops cut off close, be cleared of the rough earth, and kept in a dry
place. Lay a bed of dry sand on the floor, two or three inches thick,
put the roots upon it close together, with the top of one to the bottom
of the next, and so on. Cover the first layer with sand two inches
thick, and then place another layer of roots, and go on thus till the
whole store are laid up. Cover the heap with dry straw, laid on
tolerably thick. Beet roots, salsify, Hamburgh parsley roots,
horseradish, and turnips, should all be laid up in the same manner, as a
supply against frosty weather, when they cannot be got out of the
ground.
PARSNIPS BOILED. These require to be done very tender, and may be served
whole with melted butter, or beaten smooth in a bowl, warmed up with a
little cream, butter, flour, and salt. Parsnips are highly nutricious,
and make an agreeable sauce to salt fish.
PARSNIPS FRICASSEED. Boil them in milk till they are soft. Then cut them
lengthways into bits, two or three inches long, and simmer them in a
white sauce, made of two spoonfuls of broth. Add a bit of mace, half a
cupful of cream, a little flour and butter, pepper and salt.
PARSNIP WINE. To twelve pounds of sliced parsnips, add four gallons of
water, and boil them till they become soft. Squeeze the liquor well out
of them, run it through a sieve, and add to every gallon three pounds of
lump sugar. Boil the whole three quarters of an hour, and when it is
nearly cold, add a little yeast. Let it stand in a tub for ten days,
stirring it from the bottom every day, and then put it into a cask for
twelve months. As it works over, fill it up every day.
PARTRIDGE BOILED. This species of game is in season in the autumn. If
the birds be young, the bill is of a dark colour, and the legs inclined
to yellow. When fresh and good, the vent will be firm; but when stale,
this part will look greenish. Boiled partridges require to be trussed
the same as chickens: from twenty to twenty-five minutes will do them
sufficiently. Serve them up with either white or brown mushroom sauce,
or with rice stewed in gravy, made pretty thick, and seasoned with
pepper and salt. Pour the sauce over them, or serve them up with celery
sauce. A boiled pheasant is dressed in the same manner, allowing three
quarters of an hour for the cooking.
PARTRIDGE PIE. Pick and singe four partridges, cut off the legs at the
knee, season with pepper, salt, chopped parsley, thyme, and mushrooms.
Lay a veal steak and a slice of ham at the bottom of the dish, put in
the partridge, and half a pint of good broth. Lay puff paste on the edge
of the dish, and cover with the same; brush it over with egg, and bake
it an hour.
PARTRIDGE SOUP. Skin two old partridges, and cut them into pieces, with
three or four slices of ham, a stick of celery, and three large onions
sliced. Fry them all in butter till brown, but take care not to burn
them. Then put them into a stewpan, with five pints of boiling water, a
few peppercorns, a shank or two of mutton, and a little salt. Stew it
gently two hours, strain it through a sieve, and put it again into a
stewpan, with some stewed celery and fried bread. When it is near
boiling, skim it, pour it into a tureen, and send it up hot.
PASTE PUDDINGS. Make a paste of butter and flour, roll it out thin, and
spread any kind of jam, or currants over it, with some suet chopped
fine. Roll it up together, close the paste at both ends, and boil it in
a cloth.
PASTRY. An adept in pastry never leaves any part of it adhering to the
board or dish, used in making it. It is best when rolled on marble, or a
very large slate. In very hot weather, the butter should be put into
cold water to make it as firm as possible; and if made early in the
morning, and preserved from the air until it is to be baked, the pastry
will be found much better. An expert hand will use much less butter and
produce lighter crust than others. Good salt butter well washed, will
make a fine flaky crust. When preserved fruits are used in pastry, they
should not be baked long; and those that have been done with their full
proportion of sugar, require no baking at all. The crust should be baked
in a tin shape, and the fruit be added afterwards; or it may be put into
a small dish or tart pans, and the covers be baked on a tin cut out into
any form.
PATTIES. Slice some chicken, turkey, or veal, with dressed ham, or
sirloin of beef. Add some parsley, thyme, and lemon peel, chopped very
fine. Pound all together in a mortar, and season with salt and white
pepper. Line the pattipans with puff paste, fill them with meat, lay on
the paste, close the edges, cut the paste round, brush it over with egg,
and bake the patties twenty minutes.
PAVEMENTS. For cleaning stone stairs, and hall pavements, boil together
half a pint each of size and stone-blue water, with two table-spoonfuls
of whiting, and two cakes of pipe-clay, in about two quarts of
water.--Wash the stones over with a flannel slightly wetted in this
mixture; and when dry, rub them with a flannel and brush.
PAYMENT OF RENT. Rent due for tenements let from year to year, is
commonly paid on the four quarter days; and when the payments are
regularly made at the quarter, the tenant cannot be deprived of
possession at any other time than at the end of a complete year from the
commencement of his tenancy. If therefore he took possession at
Midsummer, he must quit at Midsummer, and notice thereof must be sent at
or before the preceding Christmas. A similar notice is also required
from the tenant to the landlord, when it is intended to leave the
premises.--Every quarter's rent is deemed a separate debt, for which the
landlord can bring a separate action, or distress for nonpayment. The
landlord himself is the proper person to demand rent: if he employs
another person, he must be duly authorised by power of attorney, clearly
specifying the person from whom, and the premises for which the rent is
due: or the demand will be insufficient, if the tenant should be
inclined to evade payment. The following is the form of a receipt for
rent:--'Received of R. C. February 13, 1823, the sum of ten pounds
twelve shillings for a quarter's rent, due at Christmas last.'
'L10 12 0 J. W. M.'
PEA FOWL. These require to be fed the same as turkeys. They are
generally so shy, that they are seldom to be found for some days after
hatching; and it is very wrong to pursue them, as many ignorant people
do, under the idea of bringing them home. It only causes the hen to
carry the young ones through dangerous places, and by hurrying she is
apt to tread upon them. The cock bird kills all the young chickens he
can get at, by one blow on the centre of the head with his bill, and he
does the same by his own brood, before the feathers of the crown come
out. Nature therefore directs the hen to hide and keep them out of his
way, till the feathers rise.
PEA POWDER. Pound together in a marble mortar half an ounce each of
dried mint and sage, a dram of celery seed, and a quarter of a dram of
cayenne, and rub them through a fine sieve. This gives a very savoury
relish to pea soup, and to water gruel. A dram of allspice, or black
pepper, may be pounded with the above, as an addition, or instead of the
cayenne.
PEACH WINE. Take peaches, apricots, and nectarines, when they are full
of juice, pare them, and take out the stones. Then slice them thin, pour
over them from one to two gallons of water, and a quart of white wine.
Simmer the whole gently for a considerable time, till the sliced fruit
becomes soft. Pour off the liquid part into another vessel, containing
more peaches that have been sliced but not heated; let them stand for
twelve hours, then pour out the liquid part, and press what remains
through a fine hair bag. Let the whole be now put into a cask to
ferment, and add a pound and a half of loaf sugar to each gallon. Boil
an ounce of beaten cloves in a quart of white wine, and put it into the
cask; the morella wine will have a delicious flavour. Wine may be made
of apricots by only bruising, and pouring the hot water upon them: this
wine does not require so much sweetening. To give it a curious flavour,
boil an ounce of mace, and half an ounce of nutmegs, in a quart of white
wine; and when the wine is fermenting, pour the liquid in hot. In about
twenty days or a month, these wines will be fit for bottling.
PEARL BARLEY PUDDING. Cleanse a pound of pearl barley, and put to it
three quarts of milk, half a pound of sugar, and a grated nutmeg. Bake
it in a deep pan, take it out of the oven, and beat up six eggs with it.
Then butter a dish, pour in the pudding, and bake it again an hour.
PEARLS. To make artificial pearls, take the blay or bleak fish, which is
very common in the rivers near London, and scrape off the fine silvery
scales from the belly. Wash and rub them in water; let the water settle,
and a sediment will be found of an oily consistence. A little of this is
to be dropped into a hollow glass bead of a bluish tint, and shaken
about, so as to cover all the internal surface. After this the bead is
filled up with melted white wax, to give it weight and solidity.
PEARS. Large ones, when intended to be kept, should be tied and hung up
by the stalk.
PEAS. Young green peas, well dressed, are one of the greatest delicacies
of the vegetable kingdom. They must be quite young; it is equally
indispensable that they be fresh gathered, and cooked as soon as they
are shelled, for they soon lose both their colour and sweetness. Of
course they should never be purchased ready shelled. To have them in
perfection, they must be gathered the same day that they are dressed,
and be put on to boil within half an hour after they are shelled. As
large and small peas cannot be boiled together, the small ones should be
separated from the rest, by being passed through a riddle or coarse
sieve. For a peck of young peas, which will not be more than sufficient
for two or three persons, after they are shelled, set on a saucepan with
a gallon of water. When it boils, put in the peas with a table-spoonful
of salt. Skim it well, keep them quickly boiling from twenty to thirty
minutes, according to their age and size. To judge whether they are done
enough, take some out with a spoon and taste them, but be careful not to
boil them beyond the point of perfection. When slightly indented, and
done enough, drain them on a hair sieve. Put them into a pie dish, and
lay some small bits of butter on the peas; put another dish over them,
and turn them over and over, in order to diffuse the butter equally
among them. Or send them to table plain from the saucepan, with melted
butter in a sauce tureen. Garnish the dish with a few sprigs of mint,
boiled by themselves.
PEAS AND BACON. Cut a piece of nice streaked bacon, lay it in water to
take out some of the salt, and boil it with some dried peas, in a little
water. Add two carrots or parsnips, two onions, and a bunch of sweet
herbs. When the peas are done enough, pulp them through a cullender or
sieve, and serve them over the bacon.
PEAS CULTIVATED. Instead of sowing peas in straight rows, they should be
formed into circles of three or four feet diameter, with a space of two
feet between each circle. By this means they will blossom nearer the
ground, than when enclosed in long rows, and will ripen much sooner. Or
if set in straight rows, a bed of ten or twelve feet wide should be
left between, for onions and carrots, or any crops which do not grow
tall. The peas will not be drawn up so much, but will grow stronger, and
be more productive. Scarlet beans should be treated in the same manner.
PEAS AND PORK. Two pounds of the belly part of pickled pork will make
very good broth for peas soup, if the pork be not too salt. If it has
been in salt several days, it must be laid in water the night before it
is used. Put on three quarts of soft water, or liquor in which meat has
been boiled, with a quart of peas, and let it boil gently for two hours.
Then put in the pork, and let it simmer for an hour or more, till it is
quite tender. When done, wash the pork clean in hot water, send it up in
a dish, or cut into small pieces and put with the soup into the tureen.
PEAS PORRIDGE. Boil the peas, and pulp them through a cullender. Heat
them up in a saucepan with some butter, chopped parsley and chives, and
season with pepper and salt.
PEAS PUDDING. Soak the peas an hour or two before they are boiled; and
when nearly done, beat them up with salt and pepper, an egg, and a bit
of butter. Tie it up in a cloth, and boil it half an hour.
PEAS SOUP. Save the liquor of boiled pork or beef: if too salt, dilute
it with water, or use fresh water only, adding the bones of roast beef,
a ham or gammon bone, or an anchovy or two. Simmer these with some good
whole or split peas; the smaller the quantity of water at first the
better. Continue to simmer till the peas will pulp through a cullender;
then set on the pulp to stew, with more of the liquor that boiled the
peas, two carrots, a turnip, a leek, and a stick of chopped celery, till
all is quite tender. The last requires less time, an hour will do it.
When ready, put into a tureen some fried bread cut into dice, dried mint
rubbed fine, pepper and salt if needed, and pour in the soup. When there
is plenty of vegetables, no meat is necessary; but if meat be preferred,
a pig's foot or ham bone may be boiled with the peas, which is called
the stock. More butter than is above mentioned will be necessary, if the
soup is required to be very rich.