of salt and water, strong enough to swim an egg, and skim it well. When
the brine is quite cold, pour it on the walnuts, and let them soak for
six days. Change the brine, and let them stand six more; then drain and
put them into a jar, pouring over them a sufficient quantity of the best
vinegar. Add plenty of black pepper, pimento, ginger, mace, cloves,
mustard seed, and horseradish, all boiled together, but put on cold. To
every hundred of walnuts put six spoonfuls of mustard seed, and two or
three heads of garlic or shalot, but the latter is the mildest. The
walnuts will be fit for use in about six months; but if closely covered,
they will be good for several years: the air will soften them. The
pickle will be equal to ketchup, when the walnuts are used.--Another
way. Put the walnuts into a jar, cover them with the best vinegar cold,
and let them stand four months. Then, pour off the pickle, and boil as
much fresh vinegar as will cover the walnuts, adding to every three
quarts of vinegar a quarter of a pound of the best mustard, a stick of
horseradish sliced, half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of
allspice, and a good handful of salt. Pour the whole boiling hot upon
the walnuts, and cover them close: they will be fit for use in three or
four months. Two ounces of garlic or shalot may be added, but must not
be boiled in the vinegar. The pickle in which the walnuts stood the
first four months, may be used as ketchup.
PICTURES. The following simple method of preventing flies from sitting
on pictures, or any other furniture, is well experienced, and if
generally adopted, would prevent much trouble and damage. Soak a large
bunch of leeks five or six days in a pail of water, and wash the
pictures with it, or any other piece of furniture. The flies will never
come near any thing that is so washed.
PIE SAUCE. Mix some gravy with an anchovy, a sprig of sweet herbs, an
onion, and a little mushroom liquor. Boil and thicken it with butter
rolled in flour, add a little red wine, and pour the sauce into the pie.
This serves for mutton, lamb, veal, or beef pies, when such an addition
is required.
PIES AND TARTS. Attention should be paid to the heat of the oven for all
kinds of pies and tarts. Light paste should be put into a moderate oven:
if too hot the crust will not rise, but burn: if too slack, the paste
will be heavy, and not of a good colour. Raised paste should have a
quick oven, and well closed. Iced tarts should be done in a slack oven,
or the iceing will become brown before the tarts are baked.
PIGEONS. In order to breed pigeons, it is best to take two young ones at
a time; and if well looked after, and plentifully fed, they will breed
every month. They should be kept very clean, and the bottom of the
dove-cote be strewed with sand once a month or oftener. Tares and white
peas are their proper food, and they should be provided with plenty of
fresh water. Starlings and other birds are apt to come among them, and
suck the eggs. Vermin likewise are their enemies, and frequently destroy
them. If the brood should be too small, put among them a few tame
pigeons of their own colour. Observe not to have too large a proportion
of cock birds, for they are quarrelsome, and will soon thin the
dove-cote. Pigeons are fond of salt, and it keeps them in health. Lay a
large piece of clay near their dwelling, and pour upon it any of the
salt brine that may be useless in the family. Bay salt and cummin seeds
mixed together, is a universal remedy for the diseases of pigeons. The
backs and breasts are sometimes scabby, but may be cured in the
following manner. Take a quarter of a pound of bay salt, and as much
common salt; a pound of fennel seed, a pound of dill seed, as much
cummin seed, and an ounce of assafoetida; mix all with a little wheat
flour, and some fine wrought clay. When all are well beaten together,
put it into two earthen pots, and bake them in the oven. When the pots
are cold, put them on the table in the dove-cote; the pigeons will eat
the mixture and get well.
PIGEONS DRESSED. These birds are particularly useful, as they may be
dressed in so many ways. The good flavour of them depends very much on
their being cropped and drawn as soon as killed. No other bird requires
so much washing. Pigeons left from dinner the day before may be stewed,
or made into a pie. In either case, care must be taken not to overdo
them, which will make them stringy. They need only be heated up in gravy
ready prepared; and forcemeat balls may be fried and added, instead of
putting a stuffing into them. If for a pie, let beef steaks be stewed
in a little water, and put cold under them. Cover each pigeon with a
piece of fat bacon to keep them moist, season as usual, and put in some
eggs.--In purchasing pigeons, be careful to see that they are quite
fresh: if they look flabby about the vent, and that part is discoloured,
they are stale. The feet should be supple: if old the feet are harsh.
The tame ones are larger than the wild, and by some they are thought to
be the best. They should be fat and tender; but many are deceived in
their size, because a full crop is as large as the whole body of a small
pigeon. The wood-pigeon is large, and the flesh dark coloured: if
properly kept, and not over roasted, the flavour is equal to teal.
PIGEONS IN DISGUISE. Draw the pigeons, take out the craw very carefully,
wash them clean, cut off the pinions, and turn their legs under their
wings. Season them with pepper and salt, roll each pigeon in a puff
paste, close them well, tie them in separate cloths, and boil them an
hour and a half. When they are untied be careful they do not break; put
them in a dish, and pour a little good gravy over them.
PIGEONS IN A HOLE. Truss four young pigeons, as for boiling, and season
them with pepper, salt, and mace. Put into the belly of each a small
piece of butter, lay them in a pie dish, and pour batter over them, made
of three eggs, two spoonfuls of flour, and half a pint of milk. Bake
them in a moderate oven, and send them to table in the same dish.
PIGEONS IN JELLY. Save some of the liquor in which a knuckle of veal has
been boiled, or boil a calf's or a neat's foot; put the broth into a pan
with a blade of mace, a bunch of sweet herbs, some white pepper, lemon
peel, a slice of lean bacon, and the pigeons. Bake them, and let them
stand to be cold; but season them before baking. When done, take them
out of the liquor, cover them close to preserve the colour, and clear
the jelly by boiling it with the whites of two eggs. Strain it through a
thick cloth dipped in boiling water, and put into a sieve. The fat must
be all removed, before it be cleared. Put the jelly roughly over and
round the pigeons.--A beautiful dish may be made in the following
manner. Pick two very nice pigeons, and make them look as well as
possible by singeing, washing, and cleaning the heads well. Leave the
heads and the feet on, but the nails must be clipped close to the claws.
Roast them of a very nice brown; and when done, put a small sprig of
myrtle into the bill of each. Prepare a savoury jelly, and with it half
fill a bowl of such a size as shall be proper to turn down on the dish
intended for serving in. When the jelly and the birds are cold, see that
no gravy hangs to the birds, and then lay them upside down in the jelly.
Before the rest of it begins to set, pour it over the birds, so as to be
three inches above the feet. This should be done full twenty four hours
before serving. The dish thus prepared will have a very handsome
appearance in the mid range of a second coarse; or when served with the
jelly roughed large, it makes a side or corner dish, being then of a
smaller size. The head of the pigeons should be kept up, as if alive, by
tying the neck with some thread, and the legs bent as if the birds sat
upon them.
PIGEON PIE. Rub the pigeons with pepper and salt, inside and out. Put in
a bit of butter, and if approved, some parsley chopped with the livers,
and a little of the same seasoning. Lay a beef steak at the bottom of
the dish, and the birds on it; between every two, a hard egg. Put a cup
of water in the dish; and if a thin slice or two of ham be added, it
will greatly improve the flavour. When ham is cut for gravy or pies, the
under part should be taken, rather than the prime. Season the gizzards,
and two joints of the wings, and place them in the centre of the pie.
Over them, in a hole made in the crust, put three of the feet nicely
cleaned, to show what pie it is.
PIG'S CHEEK. To prepare a pig's cheek for boiling, cut off the snout,
and clean the head. Divide it, take out the eyes and the brains,
sprinkle the head with salt, and let it drain twenty-four hours. Salt it
with common salt and saltpetre; and if to be dressed without being
stewed with peas, let it lie eight or ten days, but less if to be
dressed with peas. It must first be washed, and then simmered till all
is tender.
PIG'S FEET AND EARS. Clean them carefully, soak them some hours, and
boil them quite tender. Then take them out, and boil a little salt and
vinegar with some of the liquor, and pour it over them when cold. When
to be dressed, dry them, cut the feet in two, and slice the ears. Fry
them, and serve with butter, mustard, and vinegar. They may be either
done in batter, or only floured.
PIG'S FEET AND EARS FRICASSEED. If to be dressed with cream, put no
vinegar into the pickle. Cut the feet and ears into neat bits, and boil
them in a little milk. Pour the liquor from them, and simmer in a little
veal broth, with a bit of onion, mace, and lemon peel. Before the dish
is served up, add a little cream, flour, butter, and salt.
PIG'S FEET JELLY. Clean the feet and ears very carefully, and soak them
some hours. Then boil them in a very small quantity of water, till every
bone can be taken out. Throw in half a handful of chopped sage, the same
of parsley, and a seasoning of pepper, salt, and mace in fine powder.
Simmer till the herbs are scalded, and then pour the whole into a melon
form.
PIG'S HARSLET. Wash and dry some liver, sweetbreads, and fat and lean
bits of pork, beating the latter with a rolling-pin to make it tender.
Season with pepper, salt, sage, and a little onion shred fine. When
mixed, put all into a cawl, and fasten it up tight with a needle and
thread. Roast it on a hanging jack, or by a string. Serve with a sauce
of port wine and water, and mustard, just boiled up, and put into the
dish. Or serve it in slices with parsley for a fry.
PIG'S HEAD COLLARED. Scour the head and ears nicely, take off the hair
and snout, and remove the eyes and the brain. Lay the head into water
one night, then drain it, salt it extremely well with common salt and
saltpetre, and let it lie five days. Boil it enough to take out the
bones, then lay it on a dresser, turning the thick end of one side of
the head towards the thin end of the other, to make the roll of equal
size. Sprinkle it well with salt and white pepper, and roll it with the
ears. The pig's feet may also be placed round the outside when boned, or
the thin parts of two cow heels, if approved. Put it in a cloth, bind it
with a broad tape, and boil it till quite tender. Place a good weight
upon it, and do not remove the covering till the meat is cold. If the
collar is to be more like brawn, salt it longer, add a larger proportion
of saltpetre, and put in also some pieces of lean pork. Then cover it
with cow heel to make it look like the horn. This may be kept in a
pickle of boiled salt and water, or out of pickle with vinegar: it will
be found a very convenient article to have in the house. If likely to
spoil, slice and fry it, either with or without batter.
PIG SAUCE. Take a tea-spoonful of white gravy, a small piece of anchovy,
with the gravy from the roasting of the pig, and mix the brains with it
when chopped. Add a quarter of a pound of butter, a little flour to
thicken it, a slice of lemon, and a little salt. Shake it over the fire,
and put it hot into the dish. Good sauce may also be made by putting
some of the bread and sage, which has been roasted in the pig, into good
beef gravy, and adding the brains to it.
PILAU. Stew a pound of rice in white gravy till it is tender. Half boil
a well grown fowl, then lay it into a baking dish with some pepper and
salt strewed over it. Lay truffles, morels, mushrooms, hard eggs, or
forcemeat balls, any or all of them round it at pleasure; put a little
gravy into the dish, and spread the rice over the whole like a paste.
Bake it gently, till the fowl is done enough. If it seem dry, cut a hole
carefully at the top, and pour in some white gravy, made pretty warm,
before it is sent to table. Partridges or pheasants are very nice,
dressed the same way.
PILCHARD PIE. Soak two or three salted pilchards for some hours, the day
before they are to be dressed. Clean and skin the white part of some
large leeks, scald them in milk and water, and put them in layers into a
dish, with the pilchards. Cover the whole with a good plain crust. When
the pie is taken out of the oven, lift up the side crust with a knife,
and empty out all the liquor: then pour in half a pint of scalded cream.
PILE OINTMENT. Cut some green shoots of elder early in the spring, clear
away the bark, and put two good handfuls into a quart of thick cream.
Boil it till it comes to an ointment, and as it rises take it off with a
spoon, and be careful to prevent its burning. Strain the ointment
through a fine cloth, and keep it for use.
PILES. If this complaint be occasioned by costiveness, proper attention
must be paid to that circumstance; but if it originate from weakness,
strong purgatives must be avoided. The part affected should be bathed
twice a day with a sponge dipped in cold water, and the bowels regulated
by the mildest laxatives. An electuary, consisting of one ounce of
sulphur, and half an ounce of cream of tartar, mixed with a sufficient
quantity of treacle, may be taken three or four times a day. The patient
would also find relief by sitting over the steam of warm water. A useful
liniment for this disorder may be made of two ounces of emollient
ointment, and half an ounce of laudanum. Mix them with the yolk of an
egg, and work them well together.
PILLS. Opening pills may be made of two drams of Castile soap, and two
drams of succotrine aloes, mixed with a sufficient quantity of common
syrup. Or when aloes will not agree with the patient, take two drams of
the extract of jalap, two drams of vitriolated tartar, and as much syrup
of ginger as will form them of a proper consistence for pills. Four or
five of these pills will generally prove a sufficient purge; and for
keeping the body gently open, one may be taken night and
morning.--Composing pills may consist of ten grains of purified opium,
and half a dram of Castile soap, beaten together, and formed into twenty
parts. When a quieting draught will not sit upon the stomach, one or two
of these pills may be taken to great advantage.--Pills for the jaundice
may be made of one dram each of Castile soap, succotrine aloes, and
rhubarb, mixed up with a sufficient quantity of syrup. Five or six of
these pills taken twice a day, more or less, to keep the body open, with
the assistance of a proper diet, will often effect a cure.
PIPERS. Boil or bake them with a pudding well seasoned. If baked, put a
large cup of rich broth into the dish; and when done, boil up together
for sauce, the broth, some essence of anchovy, and a squeeze of lemon.
PIPPIN PUDDING. Coddle six pippins in vine leaves covered with water,
very gently, that the inside may be done without breaking the skins.
When soft, take off the skin, and with a tea-spoon take the pulp from
the core. Press it through a cullender, add two spoonfuls of
orange-flower water, three eggs beaten, a glass of raisin wine, a pint
of scalding cream, sugar and nutmeg to taste. Lay a thin puff paste at
the bottom and sides of the dish; shred some very thin lemon peel as
fine as possible, and put it into the dish; likewise lemon, orange, and
citron, in small slices, but not so thin as to dissolve in the baking.
PIPPIN TARTS. Pare two seville or china oranges quite thin, boil the
peel tender and shred it fine. Pare and core twenty pippins, put them in
a stewpan, with as little water as possible. When half done, add half a
pound of sugar, the orange peel and juice, and boil all together till it
is pretty thick. When cold, put it in a shallow dish, or pattipans lined
with paste, to turn out, and be eaten cold.
PISTACHIO CREAM. Blanch four ounces of pistachio nuts, beat them fine
with a little rose-water, and add the paste to a pint of cream. Sweeten
it, let it just boil, and then put it into glasses.
PISTACHIO TART. Shell and peel half a pound of pistachio nuts, beat them
very fine in a marble mortar, and work into them a piece of fresh
butter. Add to this a quarter of a pint of cream, or of the juice of
beet leaves, extracted by pounding them in a marble mortar, and then
draining off the juice through a piece of muslin. Grate in two
macarones, add the yolks of two eggs, a little salt, and sugar to the
taste. Bake it lightly with a puff crust under it, and some little
ornaments on the top. Sift some fine sugar over, before it is sent to
table.
PLAICE. The following is an excellent way of dressing a large plaice,
especially if there be a roe. Sprinkle it with salt, and keep it twenty
four hours. Then wash, and wipe it dry, smear it over with egg, and
cover it with crumbs of bread. Boil up some lard or fine dripping, with
two large spoonfuls of vinegar; lay in the fish, and fry it of a fine
colour. Drain off the fat, serve it with fried parsley laid round, and
anchovy sauce. The fish may be dipped in vinegar, instead of putting
vinegar in the pan.
PLAIN BREAD PUDDING. Prepare five ounces of bread crumbs, put them in a
basin, pour three quarters of a pint of boiling milk over them, put a
plate over the top to keep in the steam, and let it stand twenty
minutes. Then beat it up quite smooth, with two ounces of sugar, and a
little nutmeg. Break four eggs on a plate, leaving out one white, beat
them well, and add them to the pudding. Stir it all well together, put
it into a mould that has been well buttered and floured, tie a cloth
tight over it, and boil it an hour.
PLAIN CHEESECAKES. Three quarters of a pound of cheese curd, and a
quarter of a pound of butter, beat together in a mortar. Add a quarter
of a pound of fine bread soaked in milk, three eggs, six ounces of
currants well washed and picked, sugar to the taste, a little candied
orange peel, and a little sack. Bake them in a puff crust in a quick
oven.
PLAIN FRITTERS. Grate a fine penny loaf into a pint of milk, beat it
smooth, add the yolks of five eggs, three ounces of fine sugar, and a
little nutmeg. Fry them in hog's lard, and serve them up with melted
butter and sugar.
PLAIN PEAS SOUP. The receipts too generally given for peas are so much
crowded with ingredients, that they entirely overpower the flavour of
the peas. Nothing more is necessary to plain good soup, than a quart of
split peas, two heads of celery, and an onion. Boil all together in
three quarts of broth or soft water; let them simmer gently on a trivet
over a slow fire for three hours, and keep them stirring, to prevent
burning at the bottom of the kettle. If the water boils away, and the
soup gets too thick, add some boiling water to it. When the peas are
well softened, work them through a coarse sieve, and then through a
tammis. Wash out the stewpan, return the soup into it, and give it a
boil up; take off any scum that rises, and the soup is ready. Prepare
some fried bread and dried mint, and send them up with it on two side
dishes. This is an excellent family soup, produced with very little
trouble or expense, the two quarts not exceeding the charge of one
shilling. Half a dram of bruised celery seed, and a little sugar, added
just before finishing the soup, will give it as much flavour as two
heads of the fresh vegetable.
PLAIN RICE PUDDING. Wash and pick some rice, scatter among it some
pimento finely powdered, but not too much. Tie up the rice in a cloth,
and leave plenty of room for it to swell. Boil it in a good quantity of
water for an hour or two, and serve it with butter and sugar, or milk.
Lemon peel may be added to the pudding, but it is very good without
spice, and may be eaten with butter and salt.
PLANTING. In rendering swampy ground useful, nothing is so well adapted
as planting it with birch or alder, which grows spontaneously on bogs
and swamps, a kind of soil which otherwise would produce nothing but
weeds and rushes. The wood of the alder is particularly useful for all
kinds of machinery, for pipes, drains, and pump trees, as it possesses
the peculiar quality of resisting injury from wet and weather. The bark
is also highly valuable to black dyers, who purchase it at a good price;
and it is much to be lamented that the properties of this useful tree
are not duly appreciated.
PLANTATIONS. Young plantations are liable to great injury, by being
barked in the winter season. To prevent this, take a quantity of grease,
scent it with a little tar, and mix them well together. Brush it round
the stems of young trees, as high at least as hares and rabbits can
reach, and it will effectually prevent their being barked by these
animals. Tar must not be used alone, for when exposed to the sun and
air, it becomes hard and binding, and hinders the growth of the
plantation. Grease will not have this effect, and the scent of the tar
is highly obnoxious to hares and rabbits.
PLASTERS. Common plaster is made of six pints of olive oil, and two
pounds and a half of litharge finely powdered. A smaller quantity may of
course be made of equal proportions. Boil them together over a gentle
fire, in about a gallon of water, and keep the ingredients constantly
stirring. After they have boiled about three hours, a little of the
salve may be taken out, and put into cold water. When of a proper
consistence, the whole may be suffered to cool, and the water pressed
out of it with the hands. This will serve as a basis for other plasters,
and is generally applied in slight wounds and excoriations of the skin.
It keeps the part warm and supple, and defends it from the air, which is
all that is necessary in such cases.--Adhesive plaster, which is
principally used for keeping on other dressings, consists of half a
pound of common plaster, and a quarter of a pound of Burgundy pitch
melted together.--Anodyne plaster is as follows. Melt an ounce of the
adhesive, and when cooling, mix with it a dram of powdered opium, and
the same of camphor, previously rubbing with a little oil. This plaster
generally gives ease in acute pains, especially of the nervous
kind.--Blistering plaster is made in a variety of ways, but seldom of a
proper consistence. When compounded of oils, and other greasy
substances, its effects are lessened, and it is apt to run, while pitch
and rosin render it hard and inconvenient. The following will be found
the best method. Take six ounces of venice turpentine, two ounces of
yellow wax, three ounces of spanish flies finely powdered, and one ounce
of the flour of mustard. Melt the wax, and while it is warm, add the
turpentine to it, taking care not to evaporate it by too much heat.
After the turpentine and wax are sufficiently incorporated, sprinkle in
the powders, and stir the mass till it is cold. When the blistering
plaster is not at hand, mix with any soft ointment a sufficient quantity
of powdered flies, or form them into a plaster with flour and vinegar.
PLATE. The best way to clean plate, is to boil an ounce of prepared
hartshorn powder in a quart of water; and while on the fire, put in as
much plate as the vessel will hold. Let it boil a little, then take it
out, drain it over the saucepan, and dry it before the fire. Put in
more, and serve it the same, till all is done. Then soak some clean rags
in the water, and when dry they will serve to clean the plate. Cloths
thus saturated with hartshorn powder, are also the best things for
cleaning brass locks, and the finger plates of doors. When the plate is
quite dry, it must be rubbed bright with soft leather. In many plate
powders there is a mixture of quicksilver, which is very injurious; and
among other disadvantages, it makes silver so brittle that it will break
with a fall. In common cases, whitening, properly purified from sand,
applied wet, and rubbed till dry, is one of the cheapest and best of all
plate powders.
PLATING OF GLASS. Pour some mercury on a tin foil, smoothly laid on a
flat table, and rub it gently with a hare's foot. It soon unites itself
to the tin, which then becomes very splendid, or is what they call
quickened. A plate of glass is then cautiously, passed upon the tin
leaf, in such a manner as to sweep off the redundant mercury, which is
not incorporated with the tin. Leaden weights are then to be placed on
the glass; and in a little time the quicksilvered tin foil adheres, so
firmly to the glass, that the weights may be removed without any danger
of its falling off. The glass thus coated is a common looking-glass.
About two ounces of mercury are sufficient for covering three square
feet of glass.