of fresh butter, a quarter of an ounce of mace and cinnamon together,
beat fine, and mix the spice in the flour. Set on a quart of milk to
boil, break the butter in, and stir it till the milk boils; take off all
the butter, and a little of the milk; mix with the flour a pound of
sugar beat fine, a penny-worth of saffron made into a tincture; take a
pint of yeast that is not bitter, and stir it well into the remainder
of the milk; beat up six eggs very well, and put to the yeast and milk,
strain it to the flour, with some rose-water, and the tincture of
saffron; beat up all together with your hands lightly, and put it into a
hoop or pan well buttered. It will take an hour and a half in a quick
oven. You may make the tincture of saffron with the rose-water.
SAGE is raised from seed, or from slips. To have it at hand for winter
it is necessary to dry it; and it ought to be cut for this purpose
before it comes out into bloom, as indeed is the case with all other
herbs.
SAGE CHEESE. To make this kind of cheese, bruise the tops of young red
sage in a mortar, with some leaves of spinach, and squeeze out the
juice. Mix it with the rennet in the milk, more or less, according as
the taste and colour may be preferred. When the curd is come, break it
gently, and put it in with the skimmer, till it is pressed two inches
above one vat. Press it eight or ten hours, salt and turn it every day.
SAGO. To prevent the earthy taste, soak it an hour in cold water; pour
off the water, and wash it well. Then add more, and simmer it gently
till the berries are clear, with lemon peel and spice, if approved. Add
wine and sugar, and boil all up together.--If intended for the sick, or
those whom disease has left very feeble, boil a teacupful of washed,
sago in a quart of water, and a taste of lemon peel. When thickened,
grate in some ginger, and add half a pint of raisin wine, some brown
sugar, and two spoonfuls of Geneva: boil all up together.
SAGO MILK. Cleanse the sago as in the former article, and boil it slowly
in new milk. It swells so much, that a small quantity will be sufficient
for a quart; and when done, it will be diminished to about a pint. It
requires no sugar or flavouring.
SAGO PUDDING. Boil a pint and a half of new milk, with four spoonfuls of
sago nicely washed and picked; then add lemon peel, cinnamon, and
nutmeg. Sweeten the pudding, mix in four eggs, put a paste round the
dish, and bake it slowly.
SAIL CLOTH. The old mode of painting canvas was to wet it, and prime it
with Spanish brown. Then to give it a second coat of a chocolate colour,
made by mixing Spanish brown and black paint; and lastly, to finish it
with black. This was found to harden to such a degree as to crack, and
eventually to break, the canvas, and so to render it unserviceable in a
short time. The new method, which is greatly superior, is to grind
ninety-six pounds of English ochre with boiled oil, and to add sixteen
pounds of black paint, which mixture forms an indifferent black. A pound
of yellow soap, dissolved in six pints of water over the fire, is mixed
while hot, with the paint. This composition is then laid upon the
canvas, without being wetted as formerly, and as stiff as can
conveniently be done with a brush, so as to form a smooth surface. Two
days afterwards, a second coat of ochre and black is laid on, with a
very small portion of soap; and allowing this coat an intermediate day
for drying, the canvas is then finished with black paint as usual. Three
days being then allowed for it to dry and harden, it does not stick
together when taken down, and folded in cloths of sixty or seventy yards
each.
SALAD MIXTURE. Salad herbs should be gathered in the morning, as fresh
as possible, or they must be put into cold spring water for an hour.
Carefully wash and pick them, trim off all the dry or cankered leaves,
put them into a cullender to drain, and swing them dry in a coarse
clean napkin. Then pound together the yolks of two hard eggs, an ounce
of scraped horseradish, half an ounce of salt, a table-spoonful of made
mustard, four drams of minced shalots, one dram of celery seed, one dram
of cress seed, and half a dram of cayenne. Add by degrees a wine glass
of salad oil, three glasses of burnet, and three of tarragon vinegar.
When thoroughly incorporated, set it over a very gentle fire, and stir
it with a wooden spoon till it has simmered to the consistence of cream.
Then pass it through a tammis or fine sieve, and add it to the salad.
SALAD SAUCE. Mix two yolks of eggs boiled hard, as much grated Parmesan
cheese as will fill a dessert-spoon, a little patent mustard, a small
spoonful of tarragon vinegar, and a large one of ketchup. Stir them well
together, then put in four spoonfuls of salad oil, and one spoonful of
elder vinegar, and beat them up very smooth.
SALADS. Cold salads are proper to be eaten at all seasons of the year,
but are particularly to be recommended from the beginning of February to
the end of June. They are in greater perfection, and consequently more
powerful, during this period, than at any other, in opening
obstructions, sweetening and purifying the blood. The habit of eating
salad herbs tends considerably to prevent that pernicious and almost
general disease the scurvy, and all windy humours which offend the
stomach. Also from the middle of September till December, and during the
winter, if the weather be mild and open, all green herbs are wholesome,
and highly beneficial. It is true that they have not so much vigour in
the winter season, nor are they so medicinal as in the spring of the
year; yet those which continue fresh and green, will retain a
considerable portion of their natural qualities; and being eaten as
salads, with proper seasoning, they will operate much in the same way as
at other periods of the year. It is a necessary consequence of cold
weather, that the heat of the body is driven more inward than in warm
weather, as the cold of the atmosphere repels it from the surface. Hence
arises an appetite for strong and solid food, and strong drinks, which
for want of temperance and care, lays the foundation for diseases that
commonly make their appearance in the summer following. Eating freely of
salads and other vegetables in the winter, will prevent in a great
treasure these ill effects; and if properly seasoned and prepared, they
will warm the stomach, and be found exhilarating. The effect produced is
in unison with all the operations of the human constitution, while the
use of strong stimulants excites to unnatural action, which is soon
succeeded by a cold and chilling languor. Green herbs in winter are much
more beneficial than is generally imagined; they are particularly
salutary to aged persons, and such as are subject to stoppages, or
shortness of breath. In this case, instead of an onion, a clove of
garlic may be put into the salad, which is a preferable way of eating
it. This will open and warm the stomach, and give a general glow to the
whole system.--The following are the principal herbs used as salads.
Basil, balm, borage, burnet, celery, chervil, colewort, coriander,
corn-salad, cresses, endive, French fennel, lettuce, mint, mustard,
nasturtiums, nettle-tops, parsley, pennyroyal, radishes, rape, sage,
sorrel, spinage, tarragon, and water-cresses. Onions, both young and
full grown, shalots, garlic, and chives, are all used as seasoning to
salads. Red beet-root, boiled and cold, is often sliced into them.
Several of these herbs are very little in use as salads, but there are
none of them that may not be recommended as good for the purpose. The
usual salads are too much limited to what is specifically called small
salading, lettuce, celery, and endive. These are all excellent in their
kind, but to prefer them to the exclusion of every thing else, is a mere
prejudice. With a wish therefore to counteract it, and to provide a
larger assortment of wholesome salads, the following particulars are
given, with directions for preparing several different dishes of this
description. In general it may be proper to observe, that salads of all
kinds should be very fresh; or if not immediately procured in this
state, they may be refreshed by being put into cold spring water. They
should be very carefully washed and picked, and drained quite dry in a
clean cloth. In dressing lettuce, or small herbs, it is best to arrange
them, properly picked and cut, in the salad dish; then to mix the sauce
in something else, and pour it to the salad down the side of the dish,
so as to let it run to the bottom, and not to stir it up till used at
table. This preserves the crispness of the salad, which is one of its
principal delicacies. With celery and endive the sauce should be poured
upon them, and the whole well stirred together to mix it equally.
Lettuce, endive, and celery, may be eaten with salt only; and if well
chewed, as all salads ought to be, they often agree better than when
mixed with seasonings. If mustard in salad sauces occasion sickness, or
otherwise disagrees, cayenne pepper will often prove an excellent
substitute.--The following salads are remarkably wholesome, and have a
cooling and salutary effect upon the bowels. 1. Take spinage, parsley,
sorrel, lettuce, and a few onions. Then add oil, vinegar, and salt, to
give it a high taste and relish, but let the salt rather predominate
above the other ingredients. The wholesomest way of eating salads is
with bread only, in preference to bread and butter, bread and cheese, or
meat and bread; though any of these may be eaten with it, when the salad
is seasoned only with salt and vinegar. It is not advisable to eat
butter, cheese, or meat with salads, or any thing in which there is a
mixture of oil. All fat substances are heavy of digestion, and to mix
such as disagree in their nature, is to encrease this evil to a degree
that the stomach can hardly overcome. 2. Prepare some lettuce, spinage
tops, pennyroyal, sorrel, a few onions, and some parsley. Then season
them with oil, vinegar, and salt. 3. Another salad may be made of
lettuce, sorrel, spinage, tops of mint, and onions, seasoned as before.
4. Take spinage, lettuce, tarragon, and parsley, with some leaves of
balm. Or sorrel, tarragon, spinage, lettuce, onions, and parsley. Or
tops of pennyroyal, mint, lettuce, spinage, sorrel, and parsley. Or
lettuce, spinage, onions, pennyroyal, balm, and sorrel. Or sage,
lettuce, spinage, sorrel, onions, and parsley; seasoned with salt, oil,
and vinegar. 5. Make a salad of pennyroyal, sage, mint, balm, a little
lettuce, and sorrel; seasoned with oil, vinegar, and salt. This is an
excellent warming salad, though the above are all of an exhilarating
tendency. 6. Mix some lettuce, sorrel, endive, celery, spinage, and
onions, seasoned as above. 7. Take the fresh tender leaves of cole wort,
or cabbage plants, with lettuce, sorrel, parsley, tarragon, nettle tops,
mint, and pennyroyal; and season them with salt, oil, and vinegar. If
highly seasoned, this is a very warm and relishing salad. 8. For winter
salad, take some tender plants of colewort, sorrel, lettuce, endive,
celery, parsley, and sliced onions; and season them as before. 9.
Another winter salad may be made of lettuce, spinage, endive, celery,
and half a clove of garlic. Season it well with oil, vinegar, and salt.
This salad is very warming and wholesome. All these aromatic herbs are
particularly proper for phlegmatic and weakly persons, as they have the
property of warming the stomach, and improving the blood. To supply the
want of oil in salads, make some thick melted butter, and use it in the
same proportion as oil. Some sweet thick cream is a still better
substitute, and will do as well as oil, especially as some persons have
an aversion to oil. Cream also looks well in salads. A good salad sauce
may be made of two yolks of eggs boiled hard, mixed with a spoonful of
Parmesan cheese grated, a little patent mustard, a spoonful of tarragon
vinegar, and a larger one of ketchup. When stirred well together, add
four spoonfuls of salad oil, and one of elder vinegar, and beat them up
very smooth. It is very common in France, amongst all classes of people,
to dress cauliflowers and French beans to eat cold, as salads, with a
sauce of oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. In some parts of France, raw
salads, composed entirely of herbs growing wild in the fields, are in
frequent use; and for distinction sake, are called rural salads. The
English, who are not so fond of pungent flavours, are in the habit of
substituting sugar instead of pepper and salt, where oil is not used, in
order to soften the asperity of the vinegar.
SALMAGUNDY. This is a beautiful small dish, if in a nice shape, and the
colours of the ingredients be properly varied. For this purpose chop
separately the white part of cold chicken or veal, yolks of eggs boiled
hard, the whites of eggs, beet root, parsley, half a dozen anchovies,
red pickled cabbage, ham and grated tongue, or any thing well flavoured
and of a good colour. Some people like a small proportion of onion, but
it may be better omitted. A saucer, large teacup, or any other base,
must be put into a small dish; then make rows round it wide at the
bottom, and growing smaller towards the top, choosing such ingredients
for each row as will most vary the colours. At the top, a little sprig
of curled parsley may be stuck in; or without any thing on the dish, the
salmagundy may be laid in rows, or put into the half-whites of eggs,
which may be made to stand upright by cutting off a little bit at the
round end. In the latter case, each half egg receives but one
ingredient. Curled butter and parsley may be put as garnish between.
SALMON. If fresh and good, the flesh will be of a fine red, the gills
particularly; the scales very bright, and the whole fish stiff. When
just killed there is a whiteness between the flakes, which gives great
firmness; by keeping, this melts down, and the fish is more rich. The
Thames salmon bears the highest price; that caught in the Severn is next
in goodness, and by some it is preferred. Those with small heads, and
thick in the neck, are best.
SALMON AU COURT-BOUILLON. Scale and clean a fresh salmon very well,
score the sides deep, to take the seasoning; take of mace and cloves,
and white pepper, a quarter of an ounce each, a small nutmeg, and an
ounce of salt; beat these very fine in a mortar; cut a little lemon peel
fine, and shred some parsley, mix all together, and season the fish
inside and out; then work up near a pound of butter in flour, and fill
up the notches; the rest put into the belly of the fish; lay it in a
clean cloth or napkin, roll it up, and bind it round with packthread,
lay it into a fish-kettle, and put to it as much white wine vinegar, and
water in an equal quantity, as will be sufficient to boil it in. Set it
over a good charcoal fire, and when you think it is enough, draw it off
your stove, so that it may but just simmer. Fold a clean napkin the
length of your dish the fish is to go up in; take up the fish, unbind
it, and lay it on the napkin. Garnish your dish with picked raw parsley,
and horseradish. Send plain butter in a bason, and shalots chopped fine,
and simmered in vinegar in a boat.
SALMON A LA BRAISE. Clean a middling salmon, take the flesh of a tench,
or a large eel, and chop it very fine, with two anchovies, a little
lemon peel shred, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a little thyme and parsley;
mix all together with a good piece of butter, put into the belly of the
fish, and sew it up; put it into an oval stew-pan that will just hold
it; brown about half a pound of fresh butter, and put to it a pint of
fish broth, and a pint and a half of white wine; pour this over your
fish; if it does not cover it, add some more wine and broth; put in a
bundle of sweet herbs, and an onion, a little mace, two or three cloves,
and some whole pepper tied up in a piece of muslin: cover it close, and
let it stew gently over a slow fire. Before it is quite done, take out
your onion, herbs, and spice; then put in some mushrooms, truffles, and
morels, cut in pieces; let them stew all together, till the salmon is
enough; take it up carefully, take off all the scum, and pour your sauce
over. Garnish with horseradish, barberries, and lemon. Either of these
is a fine dish for a first course.
SALMON PIE. Make puff paste, and lay over your dish; clean and scale a
middling piece of salmon; cut it into three or four pieces, according to
the size of your dish, and season it pretty high with mace, cloves,
pepper, and salt; put some butter at the bottom, and lay in the salmon;
take the meat of a lobster cut small, and bruise the body with an
anchovy; melt as much butter as you think proper, stir the lobster into
it, with a glass of white wine, and a little nutmeg; pour this over the
salmon, lay on the top crust, and let it be well baked.
SALOOP. Boil together a little water, wine, lemon peel, and sugar. Mix
in a small quantity of saloop powder, previously rubbed smooth with a
little cold water. Stir it all together, and boil it a few minutes.
SALT. The properties of common salt are such as to render it an article
of the greatest importance in the preparation of food, and in the
preservation of health. If salt be withheld for any length of time,
diseases of the stomach become general, and worms are gendered in the
bowels, which are removed with great difficulty. In Ireland, salt is a
well-known common remedy for bots in the horse; and among the poor
people, a dose of common salt is esteemed a sufficient cure for the
worms. It is supposed by some medical men, that salt furnishes soda to
be mixed with the bile: without this necessary addition, the bile would
be deprived of the qualities necessary to assist in the operation of
digestion. One of the greatest grievances of which the poor man can
complain is the want of salt. Many of the insurrections and commotions
among the Hindoos, have been occasioned by the cruel and unjust
monopolies of certain unworthy servants of the East India Company, who
to aggrandize their own fortunes have oftentimes bought up, on
speculation, all the salt in the different ports and markets, and thus
have deprived the ingenious but wretched natives of their only remaining
comfort, salt being the only addition they are usually enabled to make
to their poor pittance of rice. Many of the poor in England, previously
to the late reduction especially, have loudly lamented the high price
of salt, which thousands are in the habit of using as the only seasoning
to their meal of potatoes. Salt is also of the greatest use in
agriculture. From one to two bushels makes fine manure for an acre of
land, varied according to the quality of the soil. This answers better
than almost any other compost. The Chinese have for ages been accustomed
to manure their fields by sprinkling them with sea water. The Persians
sprinkle the timber of their buildings with salt, to prevent them from
rotting. It is used in Abyssinia instead of money, where it passes from
hand to hand, under the shape of a brick, worth about eighteen pence. In
feeding of cattle, it is also found to be highly beneficial. A nobleman
who purchased two hundred Merino sheep in Spain, attributes the health
of his flock principally to the constant use of salt. These sheep having
been accustomed to that article in their native land, it was thought
necessary to supply them with it, especially in this damp climate, and
in the rich pastures of some parts of this country. A ton of salt is
used annually for every thousand sheep: a handful is put in the morning
on a flat stone or slate, ten of which, set a few yards apart, are
sufficient for a hundred sheep. This quantity is given twice a week. Out
of a flock of nearly a thousand, there were not ten old sheep that did
not readily take it, and not a single lamb which did not consume it
greedily. Salt is likewise a preventive of disorders in stock fed with
rank green food, as clover or turnips, and it is deemed a specific for
the rot. Horses and horned cattle are also very fond of salt: the cow
gives more milk, and richer in quality, when salt is mixed with her
food. The wild beasts of the American forests leave their haunts at
certain seasons, and travel in company to various places where salt is
to be found. There they lick the ground on which the salt lies, or which
is strongly impregnated by it. Cattle fed on grass which grows on the
sea shore, are always fatter and in better condition, than those which
graze on in land-pastures. Considering its various uses in agriculture,
as an article of food, and as a preservative from putrefaction, salt may
be pronounced one of the most generally useful and necessary of all the
minerals; and it is truly lamentable, that in almost all ages and
countries, particularly in those where despotism prevails, this should
be one of those necessaries of life, on which the most heavy taxes are
imposed. Bay salt is a kind of brownish impure salt, obtained in France,
Italy, and other countries, by evaporating sea water in pits. The
principal part of bay salt sold in this country is however of home
manufacture, being a coarse grained chrystalized salt, made dirty by
powdered Turkey umber, or some such colouring material, to give it the
appearance of a foreign article. The only utility which this salt
appears to possess, beyond that of the common fine-grained salt usually
found in the shops, is that it dissolves more slowly by moisture, and
therefore is better calculated for salting of fish, and other animal
substances, which cannot be wholly covered with brine. Basket salt is
made from the water of the salt springs in Cheshire and other places. It
differs from the common brine salt in the fineness of the grain, as well
as on account of its whiteness and purity. It is principally used at
table.
SALT BEEF. Great attention is requisite in salting meat; and in the
country, where large quantities are often cured, this is of particular
importance. Beef and pork should be well sprinkled, and a few hours
afterwards hung to drain, before it is rubbed with the salt. This
method, by cleansing the meat from the blood, serves to keep it from
tasting strong. It should be turned every day; and if wanted soon, it
should be rubbed daily. A salting tub or lead may be used, and a cover
to fit close. Those who use a good deal of salt meat will find it answer
well to boil up the pickle, and skim it clean; and when cold, pour it
over meat that has been sprinkled and drained.--To salt beef red, which
is extremely good to eat fresh from the pickle, or to hang to dry,
choose a piece of the flank, or any part that has but little bone.
Sprinkle it, and let it drain a day. Then rub it with common salt, bay
salt, and a small proportion of saltpetre, all in fine powder. A few
grains of cochineal may be added. Rub the pickle into the meat every day
for a week, and afterwards turning it only will be sufficient. It will
be excellent in about eight days; and in sixteen days it may be drained
from the pickle. Smoke it at the mouth of the oven, when heated with
wood, or send it to the baker's; a few days will be sufficient to smoke
it. A little of the coarsest sugar added to the salt, will be an
improvement. Red beef boiled tender, eats well with greens or carrots.
If it is to be grated as Dutch beef, then cut a lean bit, boil it
extremely tender, and put it hot under a press. When cold fold it in a
sheet of paper, and it will keep in a dry place two or three months,
ready for serving on bread and butter.--If a piece of beef is to be
prepared for eating immediately, it should not weigh more than five or
six pounds. Salt it thoroughly before it is to be put into the pot, take
a coarse cloth, flour it well, put the meat into it, and fold it up
close. Put it into a pot of boiling water, and boil it as another piece
of salt meat of the same size, and it will be as salt as if it had been
in pickle four or five days.
SALT COD. Soak and clean the piece intended to be dressed, and lay it
all night in water, with a glass of vinegar. Boil it enough, then break
it into flakes on the dish; pour over it parsnips boiled, beaten in a
mortar, and boiled up with cream. Add to it a large piece of butter,
rubbed in a little flour. Egg sauce may be sent up instead, or the
parsnip root whole. The fish may also be boiled without flaking, and
served with either of the sauces as above.