and sifted. Mix it with a pound of flour well dried, and rub into it
three ounces of butter, so fine as not to be seen. Put the yolks of two
eggs well beaten into some cream, mix it with the above into a smooth
paste, roll it out thin, and bake it in a moderate oven.--Another. Mix
with a pound of fine flour dried, an ounce of sugar pounded and sifted.
Crumble three ounces of butter into it, till it looks all like flour;
and with a glass of boiling cream, work it up to a fine paste.--To make
a richer crust, but not sweet, rub six ounces of butter into eight
ounces of fine flour. Mix it into a stiffish paste, with as little water
as possible; beat it well, and roll it thin. This, as well as the
former, is proper for tarts of fresh or preserved fruit.--Another. To a
pound of flour allow six ounces of butter, and a little salt. Rub the
butter well into the flour with the hand, till the whole is well united,
and then put in a small quantity of cold water, just enough to mix it to
a paste. Mould it quite smooth with the hand, and roll it out for use.
SHORT PASTE. Rub a quarter of a pound of butter into a pound of flour,
mixed with water and two eggs. Work it up to a good stiffness, and roll
it out. If for sweet tarts, two table-spoonfuls of sugar should be
added.
SHOULDER OF LAMB FORCED. Bone a shoulder of lamb, and fill it up with
forcemeat; braise it two hours over a slow stove. Take it up and glaze
it, or it may be glazed only, and not braised. Serve with sorrel sauce
under the lamb.
SHOULDER OF LAMB GRILLED. Roast a shoulder of lamb till about three
parts done, score it both ways into squares about an inch large, rub it
over with yolks of egg, season it with pepper and salt, and strew it
over with bread crumbs and chopped parsley. Set it before the fire,
brown it with a salamander, and serve it up with gravy, mushroom
ketchup, lemon juice, and a piece of butter rolled in flour. Heat it
over the fire till it is well thickened.
SHOULDER OF MUTTON. If intended to be boiled with oysters, hang it up
some days, and then salt it well for two days. Bone it, sprinkle it with
pepper, and a little pounded mace. Lay some oysters over it, and roll
the meat up tight and tie it. Stew it in a small quantity of water, with
an onion and a few peppercorns, till it is quite tender. Prepare a
little good gravy, and some oysters stewed in it; thicken this with
flour and butter, and pour it over the mutton when the tape is taken
off. The stewpan should be kept close covered. If the shoulder is to be
roasted, serve it up with onion sauce. The blade-bone may be broiled.
SHOULDER OF PORK. A shoulder or a breast of pork is best put into
pickle. Salt the shoulder as a leg; and when very nice it may be
roasted, instead of being boiled.
SHOULDER OF VEAL. Cut off the knuckle for a stew or gravy, and roast the
other part with stuffing. It may be larded, and served with melted
butter. The blade-bone, with a good deal of meat left on it, eats
extremely well with mushroom or oyster sauce, or with mushroom ketchup
in butter.
SHOULDER OF VENISON. The neck and shoulder are roasted the same as the
haunch, and served with the same sauce. But if the shoulder is to be
stewed, take out the bone, and beat the meat with a rolling-pin. Lay
amongst it some slices of mutton fat, that have lain a few hours in a
little port wine; sprinkle a little pepper and allspice over it in fine
powder, roll and tie it up tight. Set it in a stewpan that will just
hold it, with mutton or beef gravy, half a pint of port wine, with
pepper and allspice. Simmer it close covered, and very slowly, for three
or four hours. When quite tender, take off the tape, set the meat on a
dish, and strain the gravy over it. Serve with currant-jelly sauce. This
is the best way of dressing a shoulder of venison, unless it be very
fat, and then it should be roasted. The bone should be stewed with it.
SHREWSBURY CAKES. Sift one pound of sugar, some pounded cinnamon, and
nutmeg grated, into three pounds of fine flour. Add a little rose water
to three eggs well beaten, and mix with the flour; then pour into it as
much melted butter as will make it a good thickness to roll out. Mould
it well, roll it thin, and cut it into any shape you please.
SHRIMP PIE. Pick a quart of shrimps; if they be very salt, season them
only with mace and a clove or two. Mince two or three anchovies, mix
them with the spice, and then season the shrimps. Put some butter at the
bottom of the dish, and over the shrimps, with a glass of sharp white
wine. The pie will not take long in baking, and the paste must be light
and thin.
SHRIMP SAUCE. If the shrimps be not ready picked pour over a little
water to wash them. Put them to butter melted thick and smooth, give
them one boil, and add the juice of a lemon.
SHRUB. To a gallon of rum, put a quart of the juice of Seville oranges,
and two pounds and a half of loaf sugar beaten fine, and then barrel it.
Steep the rinds of half a dozen oranges in a little rum, the next day
strain it into the vessel, and make it up ten gallons with water that
has been boiled. Stir the liquor twice a day for a fortnight, or the
shrub will be spoiled.
SICK ROOMS. To purify sick rooms from noxious vapours, exhalations, and
all kinds of infected air, put half an ounce of finely pulverized black
oxide of manganese into a saucer, and pour upon it nearly an ounce of
muriatic acid. Place the saucer on the floor of the infected apartment,
leave it and shut the door, and the contagion will be completely
destroyed. Muriatic acid with red oxide of lead will have a similar
effect. Sulphur burnt for the same purpose, has the power of overcoming
the effects of noxious vapours. Shallow vessels filled with lime water
are of great use in absorbing carbonic acid gas, especially in workshops
where charcoal is burnt. Newly prepared charcoal will absorb various
kinds of noxious effluvia, and might be used with considerable advantage
for the purification of privies, if small pieces of it are strewed upon
the floor. Never venture into a sick room if you are in a violent
perspiration (if circumstances require your continuance there for any
time,) for the moment your body becomes cold, it is in a state likely to
absorb the infection, and give you the disease. Nor visit a sick person,
(especially if the complaint be of a contagious nature) with an empty
stomach; as this disposes the system more readily to receive the
contagion. In attending a sick person, place yourself where the air
passes from the door or window to the bed of the diseased, not betwixt
the diseased person and any fire that is in the room, as the heat of the
fire will draw the infectious vapour in that direction, and you would
run much danger from breathing in it.
SILK DYES. Silk is usually dyed red with cochineal, or carthamus, and
sometimes with Brazil wood. Archil is employed to give silk a bloom, but
it is seldom used by itself, unless when the colour wanted is lilac.
Silk may be dyed crimson, by steeping it in a solution of alum, and then
dyeing it in the usual way in a cochineal bath. Poppy colour, cherry,
rose, and flesh colour, are given to silk by means of carthamus. The
process consists merely in keeping the silk as long as it extracts any
colour, in an alkaline solution of carthamus, into which as much lemon
juice has been poured, as is sufficient to give it a fine cherry red
colour. Silk cannot be dyed a full scarlet; but a colour approaching to
scarlet may be given to it, by first impregnating the stuff with
murio-sulphate of tin, and afterwards dyeing it in equal parts of
cochineal and quercitron bark.
SILK STOCKINGS. To clean silk stockings properly, it is necessary first
to wash them in a lukewarm liquor of white soap, then to rinse them in
clean water, and wash them again as before. They are to be washed a
third time in a stronger soap liquor, made hot and tinged with blueing,
and rinsed in clean water. Before they are quite dry, they are to be
stoved with brimstone, and afterwards polished with glass upon a wooden
leg. Gauzes are whitened in the same manner, only a little gum is put in
the soap liquor before they are stoved.
SILKS CLEANED. The best method of cleaning silks, woollens, and cottons,
without damage to their texture and colour, is to grate some raw
potatoes to a fine pulp in clean water, and pass the liquid matter
through a coarse sieve into another vessel of water. Let the mixture
stand till the fine white particles of the potatoes are precipitated;
then pour off the liquor, and preserve it for use. The article to be
cleaned should then be laid upon a linen cloth on a table; and having
provided a clean sponge, dip it into the potatoe liquor, and apply it to
the article to be cleaned, till the dirt is made to disappear; then wash
it in clean water several times. Two middle-sized potatoes will be
sufficient for a pint of water. The coarse pulp, which does not pass
through the sieve, is of great use in cleaning worsted curtains,
tapestry, carpets, and other coarse articles. The mucilaginous liquor
will clean all sorts of silk, cotton or woollen goods, without hurting
or spoiling the colour. It may also be used in cleaning oil paintings,
or furniture that is soiled. Dirtied painted wainscots may be cleaned by
wetting a sponge in the liquor, then dipping it in a little fine clean
sand, and afterwards rubbing the wainscot with it.
SILVERING. For silvering glass globes, and such kind of articles, one
part of mercury, and four of tin, are generally used. But if two parts
of mercury, one of tin, one of lead, and one of bismuth, are melted
together, the compound which they form will answer the purpose better.
Either of them must be made in an iron ladle, over a clear fire, and be
frequently stirred. The glass to be silvered must be very clean and dry.
The alloy is poured in at the top, and shaken till the whole internal
surface is covered.
SILVERING OF IVORY. Prepare a diluted solution of nitrate of silver, and
immerse in it an ivory paper knife. When the ivory has become yellow, in
that part where it is in contact with the fluid, take it out and immerse
it in an ale glass containing distilled water, placed in a window. In a
short time, by exposure to the rays of the sun, it will become intensely
black. Take it out of the water, wipe it dry, and rub it with a piece of
leather. The silver will now appear on the ivory in a metallic state,
and the knife will retain its silvery coat for a long time.
SILVERING ON SILK. Paint flowers or figures of any kind on a white silk
ribbon, with a camel hair pencil, dipped in a solution of nitrate of
silver. Immerse this whilst wet in a jar of sulphurous acid gas, by
burning sulphur under a jar of atmospheric air. The penciling will then
assume a beautiful metallic brilliance.
SINAPISMS. The sinapism is a poultice made of vinegar instead of milk,
and rendered warm and stimulating by the addition of mustard,
horseradish, or garlic. The common sinapism is made of equal quantities
of bread crumbs and mustard, a sufficient quantity of strong vinegar,
and mixing all together into a poultice. When a sinapism is required to
be more stimulating, a little bruised garlic may be added. Sinapisms are
employed to recal the blood and spirits to a weak part, as in the case
of palsy; they are also of service in deep-seated pains, as in the case
of sciatica. When the gout seizes the head or stomach, they are applied
to the feet to bring the disorder down, and are likewise applied to the
soles of the feet in a low state of fever. They should not be suffered
to lie on till they have raised blisters, but till the parts become red,
and will continue so when pressed with the finger.
SIPPETS. When the stomach is too weak to receive meat, put on a very hot
plate two or three sippets of bread, and pour over them some beef,
mutton, or veal gravy. Flavour with a little salt.
SIMPLE WATERS. The most expeditious method of distilling waters is to
tie a piece of muslin or gauze, over a glazed earthen pot, whose mouth
is just large enough to receive the bottom of a warming pan; on this lay
your herb, clipped, whether mint, lavender, or whatever else you please;
then place upon them the hot warming-pan, with live coals in it, to
cause heat just enough to prevent burning, by which means, as the steam
issuing out of the herb cannot mount upwards, by reason of the bottom of
the pan just fitting the brim of the vessel below it, it must
necessarily descend, and collect into water at the bottom of the
receiver, and that strongly impregnated with the essential oil and salt
of the vegetable thus distilled; which, if you want to make spirituous,
or compound water of, is easily done, by simply adding some good
spirits, or French brandy to it, which will keep good for a long time,
and be much better than if the spirits had passed through a still, which
must of necessity waste some of their strength. Care should be taken not
to let the fire be too strong, lest it scorch the plants; and to be made
of charcoal, for continuance and better regulation, which must be
managed by lifting up and laying down the lid, as you want to increase
or decrease the degrees of heat. The cooler the season, the deeper the
earthen pan; and the less fire at first (afterwards to be gradually
raised) in the greater perfection will the distilled water be
obtained.--As the more moveable, or volatile parts of vegetables, are
the aqueous, the oily, the gummy, the resinous, and the saline, these
are to be expected in the waters of this process; the heat here employed
being so great as to burst the vessels of the plants, some of which
contain so large a quantity of oil, that it may be seen swimming on the
surface of the water.--Medical waters thus procured will afford us
nearly all the native virtues of vegetables, and give us a mixture of
their several principles, whence they in a manner come up to the
expressed juice, or extract gained therefrom: and if brandy be at the
same time added to these distilled waters, so strong of oil and salt, a
compound, or spirituous water, may be likewise procured, at a cheap and
easy rate.--Although a small quantity only of distilled water can be
obtained at a time by this confined operation, yet it compensates in
strength what is deficient in quantity. Such liquors, if well corked up
from the air, will keep good a long time, especially if about a
twentieth part of any spirits be added, in order to preserve the same
more effectually.
SIZE FROM POTATOES. One of the beneficial uses of potatoes, not perhaps
generally known, is, that the starch of them, quite fresh, and washed
only once, may be employed to make size, which, mixed with chalk, and
diluted in a little water, forms a very beautiful and good white for
ceilings. This size has no smell, while animal size, which putrefies so
readily, always exhales a very disagreeable odour. That of potatoes, as
it is very little subject to putrefaction, appears, from experience, to
be more durable in tenacity and whiteness; and, for white-washing,
should be preferred to animal size, the decomposition of which is always
accompanied with unhealthy exhalations.
SKATE. In the purchase of this article, observe that it be very white
and thick. It requires to be hung up one day at least before it is
dressed; if too fresh, it eats tough. Skate may either be boiled, or
fried in crumbs, being first dipped in egg. Crimp skate should be boiled
and sent up in a napkin, or it may be fried as above.
SKATE SOUP. This is made of the stock fish for soup, with an ounce of
vermicelli boiled in it, a little before it is served. Then add half a
pint of cream, beaten with the yolks of two eggs. Stir it by the side of
the fire, but not on it. Serve it up with a small French roll warmed in
a Dutch oven, and then soaked an hour in the soup.
SKIRRETS. Hamburgh parsley, scorzonera, and skirrets, are much esteemed
for their roots, the only part which is eaten. They should be boiled
like young carrots, and they will eat very well with meat, or alone, or
in soups. The shoots of salsify in the spring, from the roots of a year
old, gathered green and tender, will eat very nice, if boiled in the
same manner as asparagus.
SLATE, a well-known, neat, convenient, and durable material, for the
covering of the roofs of buildings. There are great varieties of this
substance; and it likewise differs very greatly in its qualities and
colours. In some places it is found in thick laminae, or flakes; while in
others it is thin and light. The colours are white, brown, and blue. It
is so durable, in some cases, as to have been known to continue sound
and good for centuries. However, unless it should be brought from a
quarry of well reputed goodness, it is necessary to try its properties,
which may be done by striking the slate sharply against a large stone,
and if it produce a complete sound, it is a mark of goodness; but if in
hewing it does not shatter before the edge of the _sect_, or instrument
commonly used for that purpose, the criterion is decisive. The goodness
of slate may be farther estimated by its colour: the deep black hue is
apt to imbibe moisture, but the lighter is always the least penetrable:
the touch also may be in some degree a guide, for a good firm stone
feels somewhat hard and rough, whereas an open slate feels very smooth,
and as it were, greasy. And another method of trying the goodness of
slate, is to place the slate-stone lengthwise and perpendicularly in a
tub of water, about half a foot deep, care being taken that the upper or
unimmersed part of the slate be not accidentally wetted by the hand, or
otherwise; let it remain in this state twenty-four hours; if good and
firm stone, it will not draw water more than half an inch above the
surface of the water, and that perhaps at the edges only, those parts
having been a little loosened in the hewing; but a spongy defective
stone will draw water to the very top. There is still another mode,
held to be infallible. First, weigh two or three of the most suspected
slates, noting the weight; then immerge them in a vessel of water twelve
hours; take them out, and wipe them as clean as possible with a linen
cloth; and if they weigh more than at first, it denotes that quality of
slate which imbibes water: a drachm is allowable in a dozen pounds, and
no more. It may be noticed, that in laying of this material, a bushel
and a half of lime, and three bushels of fresh-water sand, will be
sufficient for a square of work; but if it be pin plastered, it will
take above as much more: but good slate, well laid and plastered to the
pin, will lie an hundred years; and on good timber a much longer time.
It has been common to lay the slates dry, or on moss only, but they are
much better when laid with plaster. When they are to be plastered to the
pin, then about the first quantity of lime and sand will be sufficient
for the purpose, when well mixed and blended together, by properly
working them. Slates differ very much in thickness as well as colour,
which suits them for different situations and purposes. A great deal of
good slate of various kinds is raised in different parts of Wales, and
much excellent blue and other coloured sorts is procured from the
northern parts of Lancashire, and other neighbouring places, as well as
from different other counties throughout the kingdom. In some parts the
slate is distributed into three kinds, as the best, the middling, and
the waste or common sort.
SLEEP. 'Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,' is indispensible to
the continuance of health and life; and the night is appropriated for
the recovery of that strength which is expended on the various exercises
of the day. But sleep, as well as diet and exercise, ought to be duly
regulated; for too little of it, as well as too much, is alike
injurious. A medium ought therefore to be observed, though the real
proportion cannot be ascertained by any given time, as one person will
be more refreshed by five or six hours sleep, than another by eight or
ten. Children may be allowed to take as much as they please; but for
adults, six hours is generally sufficient, and no one ought to exceed
eight. To make sleep refreshing, it is necessary to take sufficient
exercise in the open air. Too much exertion will prevent sleep, as well
as too little; yet we seldom hear the active and laborious complain of
restless nights, for they generally enjoy the luxury of undisturbed
repose. Refreshing sleep is often prevented by the use of strong tea, or
heavy suppers; and the stomach being loaded, occasions frightful dreams,
and broken and interrupted rest. It is also necessary to guard against
anxiety and corroding grief: many by indulging these, have banished
sleep so long that they could never afterwards enjoy it. Sleep taken in
the forepart of the night is most refreshing, and nothing more
effectually undermines and ruins the constitution than night watching.
How quickly the want of rest in due season will destroy the most
blooming complexion, or best state of health, may be seen in the ghastly
countenances of those who turn the day into night, and the night into
day.
SLICED CUCUMBERS. Cut some cucumbers into thick slices, drain them in a
cullender, and add some sliced onions. Use some strong vinegar, and
pickle them in the same manner as gherkins and French beans.
SLICES OF BEEF. To prepare red beef for slices, cut off a piece of thin
flank, and remove the skin. Rub the beef well with a mixture made of two
pounds of common salt, two ounces of bay salt, two ounces of saltpetre,
and half a pound of moist sugar, pounded together in a marble mortar.
Put it into an earthen pan, and turn and rub it daily for a week. Then
take it out of the brine and wipe it, strew over it pounded mace,
cloves, pepper, a little allspice, plenty of chopped parsley, and a few
shalots. Roll it up, bind it round with tape, boil it quite tender, and
press it. When cold cut it into slices, and garnish it with pickled
barberries, fresh parsley, or any other approved article.
SLICES OF COD. To boil slices of codfish, put plenty of salt into some
spring water. Boil it up quick, and then put in the fish. Keep it
boiling, and skim it very clean. It will be done sufficiently in eight
or ten minutes. Some small pieces may be fried and served round it.
Oyster, shrimp, or anchovy sauce, should be served with it.
SLICES OF HAM. Bacon or ham may be fried, broiled on a gridiron over a
clear fire, or toasted with a fork. The slices should be of the same
thickness in every part. To have it curled, the slices should be cut
about two inches long, then rolled up, and a little wooden skewer passed
through them. Put them into a cheese toaster or Dutch oven, for eight or
ten minutes, turning the slices as they crisp. This is considered the
handsomest way of dressing rashers of bacon, but it is best uncurled,
because it is crisper, and more equally done. Slices of ham or bacon
should not be more than half a quarter of an inch thick, and will eat
much more mellow if soaked in hot water for a quarter of an hour, and
then dried in a cloth, before they are toasted.
SLICES OF SALMON. When washed, wipe the salmon quite dry. Rub the slices
over with a soft brush dipped in sweet oil, season with pepper and salt,
fold them neatly in clean white paper, and broil them over a clear
fire.