it in water. All farinaceous seeds, and the roots of most vegetables,
afford this substance in a greater or less degree; but it is most easily
obtained from the flour of wheat, by moistening any quantity thereof
with a little water, and kneading it with the hand into a tough paste:
this being washed with water, by letting fall upon it a very slender
stream, the water will be rendered turbid as it runs off, in consequence
of the fecula or starch which it extracts from the flour, and which will
subside when the water is allowed to stand at rest. The starch so
obtained, when dried in the sun, or by a stove, is usually concreted
into small masses of a long figure and columnar shape, which have a
fine white colour, scarcely any smell, and very little taste. If kept
dry, starch in this state continues a long time uninjured, although
exposed to the air. It is not soluble in cold water; but forms a thick
paste with boiling-hot water, and when this paste is allowed to cool, it
becomes semi-transparent and gelatinous, and being dried, becomes
brittle, and somewhat resembles gum. Starch, although found in all
nutritive grains, is only perfect when they have attained maturity, for
before this it is in a state approaching to mucilage, and so mixed with
saccharine matter and essential oils, that it cannot be extracted in
sufficient purity to concrete into masses. Wheat, or such parts of it as
are not used for human food, are usually employed for manufacturing
starch, such as the refuse wheat and bran; but when the finest starch is
required, good grain must be used. This, being well cleaned, and
sometimes coarsely bruised, is put into wooden vessels full of water to
ferment: to assist the fermentation, the vessels are exposed to the
greatest heat of the sun, and the water is changed twice a day, during
eight or twelve days, according to the season. When the grain bursts
easily under the finger, and gives out a milky white liquor when
squeezed, it is judged to be sufficiently softened and fermented. In
this state, the grains are taken out of the water by a sieve, and put
into a canvas sack, and the husks are separated and rubbed off, by
beating and rubbing the sack upon a plank: the sack is then put into a
tub filled with cold water, and trodden or beaten till the water becomes
milky and turbid, from the starch which it takes up from the grain. A
scum sometimes swims upon the surface of the water, which must be
carefully removed; the water is then run off through a fine sieve into a
settling-vessel, and fresh water is poured upon the grains, two or
three times, till it will not extract any more starch, or become
coloured by the grain. The water in the settling-vessels being left at
rest, precipitates the starch which it held suspended; and to get rid of
the saccharine matter, which was also dissolved by the water, the
vessels are exposed to the sun, which soon produces the acetous
fermentation, and takes up such matter as renders the starch more pure
and white. During this process, the starch for sale in the shops
receives its colour, which consists of smalt mixed with water and a
small quantity of alum, and is thoroughly incorporated with the starch;
but this starch is unfit for medicinal purposes. When the water becomes
completely sour, it is poured gently off from the starch, which is
washed several times afterwards with clean water, and at last is placed
to drain upon linen cloths supported by hurdles, and the water drips
through, leaving the starch upon the cloths, in which it is pressed or
wrung, to extract as much as possible of the water; and the remainder is
evaporated, by cutting the starch into pieces, which are laid up in airy
places, upon a floor of plaster or of slightly burnt bricks, until it
becomes completely dried from all moisture, partly by the access of warm
air, and partly by the floor imbibing the moisture. In winter time, the
heat of a stove must be employed to effect the drying. Lastly, the
pieces of dried starch are scraped, to remove the outside crust, which
makes inferior starch, and these pieces are broken into smaller pieces
for sale. The grain which remains in the sack after the starch is
extracted, contains the husks and the glutinous part of the wheat, which
are found very nutritious food for cattle. The French manufacturers,
according to "Les Arts et Metiers," pursue a more economical method, as
they are enabled, by employing an acid water for the fermentation in
the first instance, to use the most inferior wheat, and the bran or
husks of wheat. This water they prepare, by putting a pailful of warm
water into a tub, with about two pounds of leaven, such as some bakers
use to make their dough rise or ferment. The water stands two days, and
is then stirred up, and half a pailful of warm water added to it; then
being left to settle till it is clear, it is poured off for use. To use
this water in the fermentation of the materials, a quantity of it is
poured into a tub, and about as much fair water is poured upon it as
will fill the tub half full: the remainder of the tub is then filled up
with the materials, which are one half refuse wheat, and the other half
bran. In this tub it continues to steep and ferment during ten days, or
less, according to the strength of the leaven-water, and according to
the disposition of the weather for fermentation. When the materials have
been sufficiently steeped, or fermented, an unctuous matter, which is
the oil of the grain, will be seen swimming on the surface, having been
thrown up by the fermentation. This must be scummed off; and the
fermented grain, being taken out of the tub, is put into a fine hair
sieve, placed over a settling-tub, when fair water is poured upon it,
and washed through the sieve into the tub; by which means the starch is
carried through the sieve with the water, of which about six times the
quantity of the grain are used. The water stands in the settling tub for
a day, and becomes clear at top; when it is carefully laded out of the
tub, leaving at the bottom a white sediment, which is the starch. The
water which is taken off is sour, and is called _sure_ water: this is
the proper leaven for the first steeping of the materials. The starch
now obtained must be rendered marketable; for which purpose, as much
water is poured upon it as will enable it to be pounded and broken up
with a shovel, and then the tub is filled up with fair water. Two days
after this, the water is laded out from the tub, and the starch appears
in the bottom, but covered over with a dark-coloured and inferior kind
of starch, which is taken off, and employed for fattening hogs. The
remainder of the sediment, which is good starch, is washed several
times, to remove all the inferior starch; and when this is done, about
four inches of thick starch should be found at the bottom of each tub:
but the quantity varies, according to the goodness of the meal or bran
which has been used. It is evident that the refuse wheat, when employed
for making starch, ought to afford more, the whole being used, than the
bran or husks; but the starch so extracted is always of an inferior
quality to that which is extracted from the bran of good wheat,
particularly in the whiteness of its colour. The starch in the different
tubs is brought together into one, and there worked up with as much
water as will dissolve it into a thin paste, which is put into a silk
sieve, and strained through with fresh water. This water is settled in a
tub, and afterwards poured off, but before it is so completely settled
as to lose all its white colour: this renders the starch which is
deposited, still finer and whiter; and the starch which is deposited by
the water so poured off, is of a more common quality. The starch, thus
purified, is taken out of the bottom of the tubs, and put into
wicker-baskets, about eighteen inches long and ten deep, rounded at the
corners, and lined with linen cloths, which are not fastened to the
baskets. The water drips from the starch through the cloths for a day,
and the baskets are then carried up to apartments at the top of the
house, where the floor is made of very clean white plaster; and the
windows are thrown open, to admit a current of air. Here the baskets
are turned downwards upon the plaster-floor, and the linen cloths, not
being fastened to the baskets, follow the starch, and when taken off,
leave loaves, or cakes of starch, which are left to dry a little, and
are then broken into smaller pieces, and left on the plaster-floor, till
very dry. But if the weather is at all humid, the starch is removed from
the plaster-floor and spread out upon shelves, in an apartment which is
warmed by a stove, and there it remains till perfectly dry. The pieces
are afterwards scraped, to remove the outside crust, which makes common
starch; and the scraped pieces being again broken small, the starch is
carried to the stove, and spread out to a depth of three inches, on
hurdles covered with cloths. The starch must be turned over every
morning and evening, to prevent it from turning to a greenish colour,
which it would otherwise do. Those manufacturers who are not provided
with a stove, make use of the top of a baker's oven to spread the starch
upon; and after being thoroughly dried here, it is ready for sale.
Starch may be made from potatoes, by soaking them about an hour in
water, and taking off their roots and fibres, then rubbing them quite
clean by a strong brush: after this they are reduced to a pulp, by
grating them in water. This pulp is to be collected in a tub, and mixed
up with a large quantity of clear water: at the same time, another clean
tub must be provided; and a hair sieve, not too fine, must be supported
over it by two wooden rails extended across the tub. The pulp and water
are thrown into the sieve, and the flour of starch is carried through
with the water; fresh water must then be poured on, till it runs through
quite clear. The refuse pulp which remains in the sieve, being boiled in
water, makes an excellent food for animals; and the quantity of this
pulp is near seven-eighths of all the potatoes employed. The liquor
which has passed through the sieve is turbid, and of a darkish colour,
from the extractive matter which is dissolved in it. When it is suffered
to rest for five or six hours, all this matter deposits or settles to
the bottom, and the liquor which remains is to be poured off as useless;
and a large quantity of fresh water is thrown upon the flour, and
stirred up: it is then settled for a day, and the water being poured
off, the flour will be found to have again settled in a whiter state.
But to improve it, another quantity of water is poured on, and mixed up
with it; in which state it is passed through a fine silk sieve, to
arrest any small quantity of the pulp which may have escaped the first
hair sieve. The whole must afterwards be suffered to stand quiet, till
the flour is entirely settled, and the water above become perfectly
clear; but if the water has any sensible colour or taste, the flour must
be washed again with fresh water, for it is absolutely necessary that
none of the extractive matter be suffered to remain with it. The flour,
when thus obtained pure, and drained from the water, may be taken out of
the tub with a wooden shovel, and placed upon wicker-frames covered with
paper, to be dried in some situation properly defended from dust. When
the manufacture of starch from potatoes is attempted in a large way,
some kind of mill must be used to reduce them to a pulp, as the grating
of them by hand is too tedious an operation. A mill invented by M. Baume
is very complete for this purpose. In its general structure it resembles
a large coffee-mill: the grater consists of a cone of iron plate, about
seven inches in diameter, and eight inches in height, the exterior
surface of which is made toothed, like a rasp, by piercing holes through
the plate from the inside. This cone is fixed upon a verticle axle, with
a handle at the top to turn it by; and is mounted on the pivots of the
axle, within a hollow cylinder of plate-iron, toothed withinside like
the outside of the cone; the smallest end of the interior cone being
uppermost, and the lower or larger end being as large as the interior
diameter of the hollow cylinder. A conical hopper is fixed to the hollow
cylinder, round the top of it, into which the potatoes are thrown; and
falling down into the space between the outside of the cone and the
inside of the hollow cylinder, they are ground, and reduced to a pulp,
when the interior cone is turned round by its handle; and as the lower
part of the cone is fitted close to the interior diameter of the
cylinder, the potatoes must be ground to a fine pulp before they can
pass through between the two. The machine, when at work, is placed in a
tub filled with water; and as fast as the grinding proceeds, the pulp
mixes regularly with the water, ready for the process before described.
Poland starch is reckoned the best: its quality may be judged of by the
fineness of the grain, its being very brittle, and of a good colour. The
price of starch depends upon that of flour; and when bread is cheap,
starch may be bought to advantage. If it be of good quality it will keep
for some years, covered close, and laid up in a dry warm room. In the
year 1796, lord William Murray obtained a patent for manufacturing
starch from horse-chesnuts. The method was to take the horse-chesnuts
out of the outward green prickly husk, and either by hand, with a knife
or tool, or else with a mill adapted for the purpose, the brown rind was
carefully removed, leaving the chesnuts perfectly white, and without the
smallest speck. In this state the nuts were rasped or ground to a pulp
with water, and the pulp washed with water through a coarse horse-hair
sieve, and twice afterwards through finer sieves, with a constant
addition of clear cold water, till all the starch was washed clean from
the pulp which remained in the sieve; and the water being settled,
deposited the starch, which was afterwards repeatedly washed, purified,
and dried, in the same manner as the potatoe-starch before described. We
are not informed if this manufacture has been carried into effect. The
sour, nauseous, milky liquor obtained in the process of starch-making,
appears, upon analysis, to contain acetous acid, ammonia, alcohol,
gluten, and phosphate of lime. The office of the acid is to dissolve the
gluten and phosphate of lime, and thus to separate them from the starch.
Starch is used along with smalt, or stone-blue, to stiffen and clear
linen. The powder of it is also used to whiten and powder the hair. It
is also used by the dyers, to dispose their stuffs to take colours the
better. Starch is sometimes used instead of sugar-candy for mixing with
the colours that are used in strong gum-water, to make them work more
freely, and to prevent their cracking. It is also used medicinally for
the same intentions with the viscous substance which the flour of wheat
forms with milk, in fluxes and catarrhs, under various forms of powders,
mixtures, &c. A drachm of starch, with three ounces of any agreeable
simple water, and a little sugar, compose an elegant jelly, of which a
spoonful may be taken every hour or two. These gelatinous mixtures are
likewise an useful injection in some diarrhoeas, particularly where the
lower intestines have their natural mucus rubbed off by the flux, or are
constantly irritated by the acrimony of the matter.
STEAKS FRIED. Moisten the pan with butter, put in some beef steaks, and
when done, lay them on a dish. Put to the gravy that comes out of them,
a glass of port wine, half an anchovy, a sliced shalot with nutmeg,
pepper, and salt. Give it a boil in the pan, pour it over the steaks,
and send them hot to table. In a plainer way, put a little flour and
water into the pan with the gravy when the steaks are taken out, adding
a spoonful of ketchup, an onion or shalot. The wine and anchovy may be
omitted. Garnish with scraped horse-radish round the dish.
STEAK PIE. Raise a crust pretty deep and thick. Divide a breast or neck
of mutton into steaks, beat and season them with nutmeg, pepper, and
salt. Add some sweet herbs cut very fine, two onions sliced, the yolks
of three or four hard eggs minced, and two spoonfuls of capers. Scatter
these among the steaks as they are laid into the pie. Put on the top
crust, and let the pie soak in a moderately hot oven for two hours or
longer, according to its size. Have some gravy ready to put into it
through a funnel, when it is to be served up.
STEAK PUDDING. Make a paste of suet or dripping and flour, roll it out,
and line a basin with it. Season the meat, and put it in. Cover it with
the paste, pinch it close round the edge, tie it up in a cloth, and boil
it two hours, but be careful not to break it.--Another way. Make a good
paste, with suet shred very fine, and flour; mix it up with cold water,
and a little salt, and make your crust pretty stiff; about two pounds of
suet to a quarter of a peck of flour. Let the steaks be either beef or
mutton, well seasoned with pepper and salt; make it up like an
apple-pudding, tie it in a cloth tight, and put it into the water
boiling. If it be a large pudding, it will take four or five hours; if a
middling one, three hours.
STEAKS ROLLED. After beating them to make them tender, spread them over
with any quantity of high seasoned forcemeat. Then roll them up, and
skewer them tight. Fry the steaks in nice dripping, till they become of
a delicate brown. Then take them out of the fat in which they were
fried, and put them into a stewpan with some good gravy, a spoonful of
port wine, and some ketchup. When sufficiently stewed, serve them up
with the gravy, and a few pickled mushrooms.
STEAM. Steam is employed to great advantage for culinary purposes. It is
made to communicate with vessels in the form of boilers, as a substitute
for having fires under them, which is a great advantage, both in the
economy of fuel, and in avoiding at the same time the nuisance of ashes
and smoke. The most convenient application of steam for culinary
purposes is, when it directly acts upon the substance to be heated. This
has been generally effected by placing the substance, whether meat or
vegetables, in a vessel without water, and allowing the steam to enter
and condense upon it. The most convenient apparatus of this kind we have
yet heard of, consists of a cast-iron plate about thirty inches or three
feet square, standing horizontally in a recess in the wall, like a
table. Round the edge of this plate is a groove, about half an inch wide
and two inches deep. Into this groove fits an inverted tin vessel, like
a dish-cover. This is capable of being elevated and depressed by a
pulley and chain, having a counterpoise, in order to expose the table at
any time. The steam comes under the table and enters in the centre. The
dishes to receive the heat are placed on any part within the groove, the
steam being common to all. The water resulting from the condensation
runs into the groove, and at a point short of the top runs off. The
water which remains forms a complete water-lute, to prevent the escape
of steam. The table being placed in a recess, like a common stone
hearth, a small flue is placed over it to take away any steam that may
escape when the cover is lifted up. The great quantity of hot water
required in a scullery should be perpetually kept up by a supply of
steam. For this purpose a large cylindrical vessel of cast-iron should
be elevated in a corner of the scullery, in order that water may be
drawn from it by a cock. This vessel should be connected from the bottom
with a cold-water cistern, the bottom of which is level with the top of
the cylinder, by which the latter is kept constantly full. The hot-water
cylinder is closed firmly at the top, and therefore, when the air is
allowed to escape, the water rises to the top. If now a pipe be
connected with the top, coming down to where it is to be drawn off, if
any portion is drawn out here, as much will come in at the bottom of the
cylinder from the reservoir above. So far we have described this
cylinder without its steam-vessel. Within this cylinder, and about the
middle, is a distinct vessel, nearly of the width of the cylinder; but
having a free space round the inner vessel about an inch wide. The depth
of the inner vessel must be about one-sixth that of the outer one. This
inner vessel must have no connection with the outer one, and must be so
water-tight, that although it is surrounded with the water of the outer
one, none should get in. The inner vessel is on one side connected by a
pipe with a steam-boiler, having another pipe to allow the condensed
water to run off, which may be preserved as distilled water, and is
valuable for many purposes. The heat arising from the condensation is
communicated to the water in the outer vessel, the hottest being at the
top, where the mouth of the exit-pipe is placed. When, therefore, a
portion of hot water is drawn from the cock, the pipe of which comes
from the top of the vessel immediately under the cover, an equal
quantity comes in at the bottom from the reservoir. This useful
apparatus is the invention of an ingenious economist of Derby, and is
at present in use in his kitchen. The art of boiling vegetables of all
kinds in steam instead of water, might probably be managed to advantage,
as a greater degree of heat might be thus given them, by contriving to
increase the heat of the steam after it has left the water; and thus the
vegetable mucilage in roots and seeds, as in potatoes and flour
puddings, as well as in their leaves, stems, and flower-cups, might be
rendered probably more nutritive, and perhaps more palatable; but that
many of the leaves of vegetables, as the summits of cabbage-sprouts,
lose their green colour by being boiled in steam, and look like blanched
vegetables. Steam has likewise lately been applied in gardening to the
purpose of forcing plants of different kinds in the winter season, in
order to have their produce at an early period, as to the cucumber, and
some other vegetables of a somewhat similar nature; but the exact manner
of its application in this intention, so far as we know, has not yet
been communicated to the public; it is, however, by some mode of flues,
pipes, and other contrivances for conveying and containing it, so as
that its heat may be uninterruptedly, equally, and regularly afforded to
the roots of the plants which it is designed to push forward into the
fruiting state. It is said to have been used in some instances in
different parts of Lancashire with great success. But how far the
expense and advantage of such a method may admit of and encourage its
being introduced into general practice, have not, probably, yet been
well or fully ascertained. If it should be found capable of perfectly
succeeding in this use, on more full and correct experience, it will,
however, constitute not only a neat and clean, but an elegant mode of
forcing plants into fruit at early seasons.
STEAMED POTATOES. The potatoes must be well washed, but not pared, and
put into the steamer when the water boils. Moderate sized potatoes will
require three quarters of an hour to do them properly. They should be
taken up as soon as they are done enough, or they will become watery.
STEEL. To transform iron into steel, put four ounces of cast iron into a
crucible, with a considerable degree of heat. While in a state of
fusion, immerse in it a polished iron wire of some thickness, and keep
it there for some time, but not so long as to fuse it. When cold, the
wire will be so hard as to resist the action of a common file, being
converted into steel.
STEEL RUST. The prevention of rust, on such articles of furniture as are
made of polished steel, is an object of great importance in domestic
economy. The cutlers in Sheffield, when they have given a knife or razor
blade the requisite degree of polish, rub them with powdered quick-lime,
in order to prevent them from tarnishing; and it seems that articles
made of polished steel are dipped in lime water, before they are sent
into the retail market. But when steel has contracted rust, the method
of cleaning and polishing it is to oil the rusty parts, and let it
remain in that state two or three days. Then wipe it dry with clean
rags, and polish with emery or pumice stone, or hard wood. After the oil
is cleared off, a little fresh lime finely powdered will often be found
sufficient; but where a higher polish is required, it will be necessary
to use a paste composed of finely levigated bloodstone and spirits of
wine.
STEEL STOVES. To preserve them effectually from rust, beat into three
pounds of unsalted lard, two drams of camphor sliced thin, till the
whole is absorbed. Then take as much black lead as will make it of the
colour of broken steel; dip a rag into it, rub it thick on the stove,
and the steel will never rust, even if wetted. When the stove is to be
used, the grease must be washed off with hot water, and the steel be
dried before polishing.
STEWED ARTICHOKES. Wash and pare some Jerusalem artichokes, and part
them in two. Boil them in a small quantity of gravy till almost done,
and the liquor nearly consumed. Then add some cream, a piece of butter
rolled in flour and a little salt, all in proportion to the number of
artichokes. Stew them gently for ten minutes, and serve them up with
sippets of white bread fried.
STEWED ARTICHOKE BOTTOMS. Boil some artichokes till about half done, and
then take off the leaves and the choke. Trim the bottoms nicely, and
stew them gently in some gravy, with a little lemon-juice or vinegar,
and some salt, till they are quite tender. Before serving them up, wipe
them dry, then lay them in a dish with sippets of toasted or fried bread
laid round it, and pour some strong clear gravy over them. Dried
artichoke bottoms may also be used for stewing, but should first be
soaked a little while in warm water.
STEWED BREAST OF VEAL. Take a nice breast of veal, cut off the thin end,
and boil it down for your sauce, with a faggot of sweet herbs, an onion
stuck with three cloves, two blades of mace, some whole pepper and salt;
put to it a quart of water, and let it stew gently till half is wasted,
then raise the skin off your breast of veal, and make a forcemeat of the
sweetbread first parboiled, a few crumbs of bread, a little beef suet,
and some parsley shred very fine; season it with pepper, salt, and
nutmeg; moisten it with a spoonful of cream, and an egg; mix all well
together, and force your veal; skewer it down close, dredge it over with
flour, tie it up in a clean cloth, and let it boil an hour and a half.
If your gravy is done, strain it off, and take off the fat very clean;
blanch and beard half a pint of oysters, a gill of pickled mushrooms, a
little lemon-peel shred very fine: put this to your gravy, and thicken
it with a piece of butter rolled in flour; fry six or eight large
oysters, dipped in batter for garnish. When your veal is enough, dish it
up, and pour your sauce over. Garnish your dish with lemon, oysters, and
barberries.