soup and pie. After seasoning it, bake it with butter. When cold, take
the meat from the bones, and beat it in a mortar. If not high enough,
add salt, mace, pepper, and a piece of fresh butter melted in a spoonful
or two of gravy that came from the hare. When well mixed, put it into
small pots, and cover it with butter. The legs and back should be baked
at the bottom of the jar, to keep them moist, and the bones be put over
them.
POTTED HERRINGS. Scale, clean, and season them well. Bake them in a pan
with spice, bay leaves, and some butter. When cold, lay them in a
potting pot, and cover them over with butter. They are very fine for a
supper dish.
POTTED LOBSTERS. Half boil them, pick out the meat, cut it into small
pieces, season with mace, white pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Press it close
into a pot, and cover it with butter; bake it half an hour, and then
put in the spawn. When cold take out the lobster, and put it into pots
with a little of the butter. Beat the rest of the butter in a mortar,
with some of the spawn, mix the coloured butter with as much as will be
sufficient to cover the pots, and strain it. Cayenne may be added, if
approved.--Another way. Take out the meat as whole as possible, split
the tail, and remove the gut; and if the inside be not watery, it may be
added. Season with mace, nutmeg, white pepper, salt, and a clove or two,
in the finest powder. Lay a little fine butter at the bottom of the pan,
and the lobster smooth over it, with bay leaves between; cover it with
butter, and bake it gently. When done, pour the whole on the bottom of a
sieve; and with a fork lay the pieces into potting pots, some of each
sort, with the seasoning about it. When cold, pour clarified butter
over, but not hot. It will be good the next day; but if highly seasoned,
and well covered with butter, it will keep some time. Potted lobster may
be used cold, or as a fricassee, with a cream sauce. It then looks very
nicely, and eats well, especially if there is spawn. Mackarel, herrings,
and trout, are good potted in the same way.
POTTED MACKEREL. Clean, season, and bake them in a pan with spice, bay
leaves, and some butter. When cold, lay them in a pot for potting, and
cover them over with butter.
POTTED MOOR GAME. Pick, singe, and wash the birds nicely. Dry and season
them pretty high, inside and out, with pepper, mace, nutmeg, allspice,
and salt. Pack them in as small a pot as will hold them, cover them with
butter, and bake in a very slow oven. When cold, take off the butter,
dry them from the gravy, and put one bird into each pot, which should
just fit. Add as much more butter as will cover them, but take care
that it be not oiled. The best way to melt it is, by warming it in a
bason placed in a bowl of hot water.
POTTED PARTRIDGE. Clean them nicely, and season with mace, allspice,
white pepper, and salt, all in fine powder. Rub every part well, then
lay the breast downwards in a pan, and pack the birds as close as
possible. Put a good deal of butter on them, cover the pan with a paste
of coarse flour and a paper over, tie it close and bake it. When cold,
put the birds into pots, and cover them with butter. The butter that has
covered potted things will serve for basting, or for paste for meat
pies.
POTTED PIGEONS. Let them be quite fresh, clean them carefully, and
season them with salt and pepper. Lay them close in a small deep pan;
for the smaller the surface, and the closer they are packed, the less
butter will be wanted. Cover them with butter, then with very thick
paper tied down, and bake them. When cold, put them dry into pots that
will hold two or three in each, and pour butter over them, using that
which was baked in part. If they are to be kept, the butter should be
laid pretty thick over them. If pigeons were boned, and then put in an
oval form into the pot, they would lie closer, and require less butter.
They may be stuffed with a fine forcemeat made with veal, bacon, and the
other ingredients, and then they will eat very fine. If a high flavour
is preferred, add mace, allspice, and a little cayenne, before baking.
POTTED RABBITS. Cut up two or three young but full-grown rabbits, and
take off the leg bones at the thigh. Pack them as closely as possible in
a small pan, after seasoning them with pepper, salt, mace, allspice, and
cayenne, all in very fine powder. Make the top as smooth as possible.
Keep out the heads and the carcase bones, but take off the meat about
the neck. Put in a good deal of butter, and bake the whole gently. Keep
it two days in the pan, then shift it into small pots, with some
additional butter. When a rabbit is to be blanched, set it on the fire
with a small quantity of cold water, and let it boil. It is then to be
taken out immediately, and put into cold water for a few minutes.
POTTED SALMON. Scale and wipe a large piece of salmon, but do not wash
it. Salt it, and let it lie till the salt is melted and drained from it;
then season it with pounded mace, cloves, and whole pepper. Lay in a few
bay leaves, put it close into a pan, cover it over with butter, and bake
it. When well done, drain it from the gravy, put it into pots to keep,
and when cold cover it with clarified butter. Any kind of firm fish may
be potted in the same manner.
POTTED SHRIMPS. When boiled, take them out of the skins, and season them
with salt, white pepper, and a very little mace and cloves. Press them
into a pot, set it in the oven ten minutes, and when cold lay on butter.
POTTED TROUT. Scale and draw out the entrails of the fish without
opening the belly, give them a wash, and let them drain from the water.
Season the fish well with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, and ginger. Lay
them into a broad pan in two layers, cover them with butter, and then
with paper. Lay some sticks across the pan to keep the paper up. Bake
them moderately, then take them out and drain them. Put them into pots
in two layers, and fill up the pots with clarified butter, as cool as it
can be to run properly. Any other fish may be potted in the same way.
POTTED VEAL. Cold fillet makes the finest potted veal, or it may be
done as follows. Season a large slice of the fillet before it is
dressed, with some mace, peppercorns, and two or three cloves. Lay it
close into a potting pan that will but just hold it, fill the pan up
with water, and bake it three hours. Then pound it in a mortar, and
flavour it with salt. In pounding, put to it a little of the baked
gravy, if the meat is to be eaten soon; otherwise only a little butter
just melted. When done, cover it over with butter. To pot veal or
chicken with ham, pound some cold veal or the white of a chicken,
seasoned as above, and place layers of it with layers of ham pounded, or
rather shred. Press down each, and cover the whole with clarified
butter.
POTTED VENISON. If the venison be stale, rub it with vinegar, dry it
with a cloth, and rub it well with red wine. Season it with pepper,
salt, and mace, and put it into a jar. Pour over it half a pint of red
wine, lay in a pound of butter, and bake it tender. When it is done,
clean it from the bones and skin, and beat it in a marble mortar with
the fat and gravy. Press it hard into the pots, and pour clarified
butter over it.
POULTICES. Common poultice is best made of white bread, put into boiling
water till it is of a proper thickness. Then let it boil, and add a bit
of lard, or a little sweet oil. Water answers the purpose better than
milk, as the poultice thus made will retain the moisture longer.--A
poultice to ripen tumours or swellings, should consist of two ounces of
white lily roots, half a pound of figs, and two ounces of meal or bean
flour. These are to be boiled in water till it comes to a proper
consistence; the poultice is then spread on a thick cloth, applied warm,
and shifted as often as it grows dry.--Carrot poultice is made of clean
grated carrots mixed with water, so as to form a soft pulp. This is an
excellent poultice to ease pain arising from a sore; it not only
cleanses it, but takes off the offensive smell which generally attends
such complaints. It also affords great relief in cancers, and should be
changed twice a day.
POULTRY. Previously to their being dressed, every description of game
and poultry requires to be carefully picked, and neatly trussed; every
plug should be removed, and the hair nicely singed with white paper. In
drawing poultry, care must be taken not to break the gall bag, for no
washing will take off the bitter where it has touched. In dressing wild
fowl, a brisk clear fire must be kept up, that they may be done of a
fine yellow brown, but so as to leave the gravy in: the fine flavour is
lost if done too much. Tame fowls require more roasting, and are longer
in heating through than others. All sorts should be continually basted,
that they may be served up with a froth, and appear of a fine colour. A
large fowl will take three quarters of an hour, a middling one half an
hour, and a small one, or a chicken, twenty minutes. The fire must be
very quick and clear, before any fowls are put down. A capon will take
from half an hour to thirty-five minutes, a goose an hour, wild ducks a
quarter of an hour, pheasants twenty minutes, a small stuffed turkey an
hour and a quarter, turkey poults twenty minutes, grouse a quarter of an
hour, quails ten minutes, and partridges about twenty-five minutes. A
hare will take nearly an hour, and the hind part requires most heat.
Pigs and geese require a brisk fire, and quick turning. Hares and
rabbits must be well attended to, and the extremities brought to the
quick part of the fire, to be done equally with the backs.
POULTRY YARD. In the rearing of poultry, care should be taken to choose
a fine large breed, or the ends of good management may be defeated. The
Dartford sort is generally approved, but it is difficult to say which is
to be preferred, if they be but healthy and vigorous. The black sort are
very juicy, but as their legs are so much discoloured, they are not well
adapted for boiling. Those hens are usually preferred for setting, which
have tufts of feathers on their head; those that crow are not considered
so profitable. Some fine young fowls should be reared every year, to
keep up a stock of good breeders, and bad layers and careless nurses
should be excluded. The best age for a setting hen is from two to five
years, and it is necessary to remark which among them are the best
breeders. Hens set twenty days, and convenient places should be provided
for their laying, which will also serve for setting and hatching. A hen
house should be large and high, should be frequently cleaned out, and
well secured from the approach of vermin, or the eggs will be sucked,
and the fowls destroyed. Hens must not be disturbed while sitting, for
if frightened, they are apt to forsake their nests. Wormwood and rue
should be planted about their houses; some of the former should
occasionally be boiled, and sprinkled about the floor, which should not
be paved, but formed of smooth earth. The windows of the house should be
open to the rising sun, and a hole left at the door to let in the
smaller fowls; the larger may be let in and out by opening the door.
There should be a small sliding board to shut down when the fowls are
gone to roost, to prevent the ravages of vermin, and a strong door and
lock should be added, to secure the poultry from thieves and robbers.
Let the hens lay some time before they are allowed to set, the proper
time for which will be from the end of February to the beginning of
May. Broods of chickens are hatched all through the summer, but those
that come out very late require care till they have gained sufficient
strength. Feed the hens well during the time of laying, and give them
oats occasionally. If the eggs of any other sort are put under a hen
with some of her own, observe to add her own as many days after the
others as there is a difference in the length of their setting. A turkey
and duck set thirty days, the hen only twenty. Choose large clear eggs
to put her upon, and such a number as she can properly cover; about ten
or twelve are quite sufficient. If the eggs be very large, they
sometimes contain a double yolk, and in that case neither will be
productive. When some of the chickens are hatched, long before the
others, it may be necessary to keep them in a basket of wool till the
others come forth. The day after they are hatched, give them some crumbs
of white bread or grots soaked in milk, which are very nourishing. As
soon as they have gained a little strength, feed them with curd, cheese
parings cut small, or any soft food, but nothing that is sour, and
provide them with clean water twice a day. Keep the hen under a pen till
the young have strength to follow her about, which will be in two or
three weeks; and be sure to feed the hen well. Poultry in general should
be fed as nearly as possible at the same hour of the day, and in the
same place, as this will be the surest way of collecting them together.
Potatoes boiled in a little water, so as to be dry and mealy, and then
cut, and wetted with skim milk that is not sour, will form an agreeable
food for poultry, and young turkies will thrive much on it. Grain should
however be given occasionally, or the constant use of potatoe food will
make their flesh soft and insipid. The food of fowls goes first into
the crop, which softens it; it then passes into the gizzard, which by
constant friction macerates it; this is facilitated by small stones
which are generally found there, and which help to digest the food. If a
setting hen be troubled with vermin, let her be well washed with a
decoction of white lupins. The pip in fowls is occasioned by drinking
dirty water, or taking filthy food. The general symptom is a white thin
scale on the tongue, which should be pulled off with the finger;
afterwards rub the tongue with a little salt, and the disorder will be
removed.--GEESE require a somewhat different management. They generally
breed once in a year; but if well kept, they will frequently hatch twice
within that period. Three of these birds are usually allotted to a
gander; if there were more, the eggs would be rendered abortive. The
quantity of eggs to be placed under each goose while setting, is about a
dozen or thirteen. While brooding, they should be well fed with corn and
water, which must be placed near them, so that they may eat at pleasure.
The ganders should never be excluded from their company, because they
are then instinctively anxious to watch over and guard their own geese.
The nests of geese should be made of straw, and so confined that the
eggs may not roll out, as the geese turn them every day. When they are
nearly hatched, it is proper to break the shell near the back of the
young gosling, as well for the purpose of admitting the air, as to
enable it to make its escape at the proper time. To fatten young geese,
the best way is to coop them up in a dark narrow place, where they are
to be fed with ground malt mixed with milk; or if milk be scarce, with
barley meal mashed up with water. A less expensive way will be to give
them boiled oats, with either duck's meat or boiled carrots; and as
they are very fond of variety, these may be given them alternately.
They will then become fat in a few weeks, and their flesh will acquire a
fine flavour. In order to fatten stubble geese at Michaelmas time, the
way is to turn them out on the wheat stubble, or those pastures that
grow after wheat has been harvested. They are afterwards to be pent up,
and fed with ground malt mixed with water. Boiled oats or wheat may
occasionally be substituted.--DUCKS are fattened in the same manner,
only they must be allowed a large pan of water to dabble in. Those kept
for breeders, should have the convenience of a large pond; and such as
have their bills a little turned up will generally be found the most
prolific. In the spring of the year, an additional number of ducks may
be reared by putting the eggs under the care of the hen, who will hatch
them as her own brood.--TURKIES, early in the spring, will often wander
to a distance in order to construct their nest, where the hen deposits
from fourteen to seventeen eggs, but seldom produces more than one brood
in a season. Great numbers are reared in the northern counties, and
driven by hundreds to the London market by means of a shred of scarlet
cloth fastened to the end of a pole, which from their antipathy to this
colour serves as a whip. Turkies being extremely delicate fowls, are
soon injured by the cold: hence it is necessary, soon after they are
hatched, to force them to swallow one whole peppercorn each, and then
restore them to the parent bird. They are also liable to a peculiar
disorder, which often proves fatal in a little time. On inspecting the
rump feathers, two or three of their quills will be found to contain
blood; but on drawing them out, the chickens soon recover, and
afterwards require no other care than common poultry. Young turkies
should be fed with crumbs of bread and milk, eggs boiled hard and
chopped, or with common dock leaves cut fine, and mixed with fresh
butter-milk. They also require to be kept in the sunshine or a warm
place, and guarded from the rain, or from running among the nettles.
They are very fond of the common garden peppercress, or cut-leaved
cress, and should be supplied with as much of it as they will eat, or
allowed to pick it off the bed. In Norfolk they are fed with curds and
chopped onions, also with buck wheat, and are literally crammed with
boluses of barley meal till their crops are full, which perhaps may
account for the superior excellence of the turkies in that part of the
kingdom.
POUNCE. This article, used in writing, is made of gum sandaric, powdered
and sifted very fine; or an equal quantity of rosin, burnt alum, and
cuttle fishbone well dried, and mixed together. This last is of a
superior quality.
POUND CAKE. Beat a pound of butter to a cream, and mix with it the
whites and yolks of eight eggs beaten apart. Have ready warm by the
fire, a pound of flour, and the same of sifted sugar. Mix them and a few
cloves, a little nutmeg and cinnamon, in fine powder together; then by
degrees work the dry ingredients into the butter and eggs. It must be
well beaten for a full hour, adding a glass of wine, and some carraway
seeds. Butter a pan, and bake it a full hour in a quick oven. The above
proportions, leaving out four ounces of the butter, and the same of
sugar, make a less luscious cake, but a very pleasant one.
POUNDED CHEESE. Cut a pound of good mellow cheese into thin slices, add
to it two or three ounces of fresh butter, rub them well together in a
mortar till quite smooth. When cheese is dry, and for those whose
digestion is feeble, this is the best way of eating it; and spread on
bread, it makes an excellent supper. The flavour of this dish may be
encreased by pounding it with curry powder, ground spice, black cayenne,
and a little made mustard; or it may be moistened with a glass of
sherry. If pressed down hard in a jar, and covered with clarified
butter, it will keep for several days in cool weather.
PRAWNS AND SHRIMPS. When fresh they have a sweet flavour, are firm and
stiff, and of a bright colour. Shrimps are of the prawn kind, and may be
judged by the same rules.
PRAWN SOUP. Boil six whitings and a large eel, in as much water as will
cover them, after being well cleaned. Skim them clean, and put in whole
pepper, mace, ginger, parsley, or onion, a little thyme, and three
cloves, and boil the whole to a mash. Pick fifty crawfish, or a hundred
prawns; pound the shells, and a small roll. But first boil them with a
little water, vinegar, salt, and herbs. Put this liquor over the shells
in a sieve, and then pour the soup, clear from the sediment. Chop a
lobster, and add this to it, with a quart of good beef gravy. Add also
the tails of the crawfish, or the prawns, with some flour and butter.
The seasoning may be heightened, if approved.
PRESERVES. These can never be done to perfection, without plenty of good
sugar. Fruits may be kept with small quantities of sugar, but then they
must boil so long that there is as much waste in the boiling away, as
some more sugar added at first would have cost, and the quality of the
preserve will neither be so proper for use, nor of so good an
appearance, as with a larger proportion of sugar, and moderate boiling.
Fruits are often put up without any sugar at all, but if they do not
ferment and spoil, which is very common, they must have a good deal of
sugar added to them when used, and thus the risk of spoiling seems
hardly compensated by any saving. The only real economy that can be
exercised in this case is, not to make any preserves at all. The most
perfect state in which fruits in general can be taken for preserving is,
just when they are full ripe. Sooner than this they have not acquired
their best qualities, and if they hang long after it they begin to lose
them. Some persons will delay the doing them, under an idea that the
longer they hang the less sugar they require. But it is a false economy
that would lose the perfection of the fruit to save some of the sugar,
and probably quite unfounded in fact, as all things will naturally keep
the best that are taken at their highest perfection, and hence do with
as little sugar then as at any time.
PRESERVED CUCUMBERS. Choose such as are most free from seed; some should
be small to preserve whole, and others large to cut in pieces. Put them
into a jar, with strong salt and water, and a cabbage leaf to keep them
down, and set them in a warm place till they turn yellow. Then wash and
set them over the fire in fresh water, with a little salt, and a fresh
cabbage leaf over them; cover the pan close, but they must not be
boiled. If not of a fine green, change the water, cover them as before,
and make them hot; when of a good green, take them off the fire, and let
them stand till cold. Cut the large cucumbers in quarters, and take out
the seeds and pulp; put them into cold water for two days, and change
the water twice each day. Place on the fire a pound of refined sugar,
with half a pint of water; skim it clean, put in the rind of a lemon,
and an ounce of ginger with the outside scraped off. When the syrup is
pretty thick take it off, and when cold wipe the cucumbers dry, and put
them in. Boil the syrup every two or three days, continuing to do so
for three weeks, and make it stronger if necessary. Be sure to put the
syrup to the cucumbers quite cold, cover them close, and keep them in a
dry place.
PRESERVED OYSTERS. Open the oysters carefully, so as not to cut them,
except in dividing the gristle which attaches the shells. Put them into
a mortar, and add about two drams of salt to a dozen oysters. Pound and
then rub them through the back of a hair sieve, and put them into the
mortar again, with as much well-dried flour as will make them into a
paste. Roll it out several times, and at last flour and roll it out the
thickness of a half crown, and divide it into pieces about an inch
square. Lay them in a Dutch oven, that they may dry gently without being
burnt; turn them every half hour, and when they begin to dry, crumble
them. They will take about four hours to dry, then pound them fine, sift
and put them into bottles, and seal them down. To make half a pint of
oyster sauce, put one ounce of butter into a stewpan, with three drams
of oyster powder, and six spoonfuls of milk. Set it on a slow fire, stir
it till it boils, and season it with salt. This powder, if made of plump
juicy natives, will abound with the flavour of the fish; and if closely
corked, and kept in a dry place, will remain good for some time. It is
also an agreeable substitute when oysters are out of season, and is a
valuable addition to the list of fish sauces. It is equally good with
boiled fowl, or rump steak; and sprinkled on bread and butter, it makes
a very good sandwich.
PRESERVED WALNUTS. Put the walnuts into cold water, let them boil five
minutes, strain off the water, and change it three times. Dry the nuts
in a cloth, and weigh them; to every pound of nuts allow a pound of
sugar, and stick a clove in each. Put them into a jar with some rose
vinegar; boil up a syrup, with a pint of water and half a pound of
sugar, and pour over them. Let them stand three or four days, and boil
up the syrup again. Repeat this three times, and at last give the
walnuts a good scald, and let them remain in the syrup.