of pork. Take off the skin, and nearly all the fat, and fry them of a
nice brown. Put the steaks into a stewpan, with good gravy enough to
make a proper sauce to them, adding pepper and salt. Ten minutes before
they are done, thicken the gravy with a piece of butter rolled in flour.
A little shalot, or ketchup, or both may be added.
STEWED POTATOES. Half boil some potatoes, drain and peel them nicely,
and cut them into neat pieces. Put them into a stewpan with some cream,
fresh butter, and salt, each proportioned to the quantity of potatoes;
or stew them in good gravy, with pepper and salt. Simmer them gently
till they are well done and be careful not to let them break.
STEWED PRUNES. Stew some prunes gently in a little water, till the
stones will slip out easily, but they must not be boiled too much. These
are useful in fevers, or in any complaint where fruit is proper; and
when fruit more acid would not agree.
STEWED RABBIT. Divide them into quarters, flour and fry them in butter;
then put them into a stewpan, with some good gravy, and a glass of white
wine. Season with salt, pepper, and a sprig of sweet herbs. Cover them
close, and let them stew till they become tender. Strain off the sauce,
thicken it with flour and butter, and pour it over them.
STEWED RED CABBAGE. Slice a small red cabbage, or half a large one, and
wash it clean. Put it into a saucepan with pepper, salt, and butter, but
no water except what hangs about the cabbage. Stew it tender, and when
ready to serve, add two or three spoonfuls of vinegar, and give it one
boil over the fire. It may be eaten with cold meat, or with sausages
laid upon it.--Another way. Shred the cabbage, and wash it. Put it into
a saucepan with pepper, salt, some slices of onion; and a little plain
gravy. When it is boiled quite tender, add a bit of butter rubbed with
flour, a few minutes before serving, with two or three spoonfuls of
vinegar, and boil it up.--Another. Cut the cabbage very thin, put it
into a stewpan with a small slice of ham, and half an ounce of butter at
the bottom. Put in half a pint of broth, and a gill of vinegar, and let
it stew three hours covered down. When it is very tender, add a little
more broth, salt, pepper, and a table-spoonful of pounded sugar. Mix
these well, and boil it till the liquor is wasted. Then put it into the
dish, and lay fried sausages upon it.
STEWED RUMP OF BEEF. Wash it well, and season it high with pepper,
cayenne, salt, allspice, three cloves, and a blade of mace, all in fine
powder. Bind it up tight, and lay it into a pot that will just hold it.
Fry three large onions sliced, and put them to it, with three carrots,
two turnips, one shalot, four cloves, a blade of mace, and some celery.
Cover the meat with good beef broth, or weak gravy. Simmer it as gently
as possible for several hours, till quite tender. Clear off the fat, and
add to the gravy half a pint of port wine, a glass of vinegar, and a
large spoonful of ketchup; half a pint of beer may be added. Simmer for
half an hour, and serve in a deep dish. The herbs to be used should be
burnet, tarragon, parsley, thyme, basil, savoury, marjoram, pennyroyal,
knotted marjoram, and some chives; a good handful all together. But
observe to proportion the quantities to the pungency of the several
sorts. Garnish with carrots, turnips, or truffles and morels, or pickles
of different colours, cut small, and laid in little heaps separate.
Chopped parsley, chives, and beet root may be added. If there is too
much gravy for the dish, take only a part to season for serving, the
less the better; and to increase the richness, add a few beef bones and
shanks of mutton in stewing. A spoonful or two of made mustard is a
great improvement to the gravy.--Another way. Half roast the rump, then
put it into a large pot with three pints of water, one of small beer,
one of port vine, some salt, three or four spoonfuls of vinegar, and two
of ketchup. Add a bunch of sweet herbs, consisting of burnet, tarragon,
parsley, thyme, basil, savoury, pennyroyal, marjoram, knotted marjoram,
and a leaf or two of sage; also some onions, cloves, and cayenne. Cover
it close, and simmer it for two or three hours, till quite tender. When
done lay it into a deep dish, set it over some hot water, and cover it
close. Skim the gravy, put in a few pickled mushrooms, truffles, morels,
and oysters if agreeable, but it is very good without. Thicken the gravy
with flour and butter, heat it with the above, and pour it over the
beef. Forcemeat balls of veal, anchovies, bacon, suet, herbs, spice,
bread, and eggs to bind, are a great improvement. A rump of beef is
excellent roasted; but in the country it is generally sold whole with
the edge-bone, or cut across instead of lengthways as in London, where
one piece is for boiling, and the rump for stewing or roasting. This
must be attended to, the whole being too large to dress
together.--Another way. Raise the lean next the chump-end; cut that bone
off, but leave the chine-bone, then with two skewers fasten the meat as
if the bone was not taken away: Put it into a pot with a little more
water than will cover it: Add parsley, thyme, two or three large onions,
a handful of salt, whole pepper half an ounce, half a quarter of an
ounce of cloves, the same quantity of mace; cover it close down, and
stew it over a slow fire for three hours, till your beef is very tender.
To make your sauce, take two pounds of gravy beef, cut it in pretty
thick slices, and flour them well; put a piece of butter into your
stewpan, over a stove, or a quick fire. When that is brown, put in the
slices of beef, and fry them brown, as quick as you can; then add water
as much as you think will be sufficient to make a very strong gravy; cut
an onion cross with parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt, two or three
cloves, and a blade of mace; let this stew till your gravy is very rich,
then strain it off, and thicken it up with a piece of butter rolled in
flour.
STEWED SAVOYS. These may be done in the same manner as red cabbage; but
the better way is to boil the savoy in water till about half done, and
then stew it. This takes off the strong flavour, and makes it much more
agreeable.
STEWED SCALLOPS. Boil them very well in salt and water; take out the
fish, stew them in some of their liquor, with a little white wine, two
or three blades of mace, a little nutmeg, and a good piece of butter
rolled in flour; let them be thoroughly stewed, then pour in a little
cream, shake your pan round, and squeeze in the juice of a Seville
orange. Send them to table garnished with baked sippets and orange.
STEWED SOLES. Half fry them in butter, take out the fish, and put a
quart of water or gravy into the pan, two anchovies, and a sliced onion.
When they have boiled slowly for a quarter of an hour, put the fish in
again, and stew them gently about twenty minutes. Take them out, thicken
the liquor with butter and flour, boil it gently, strain it over the
fish, and serve it with oyster, cockle, or shrimp sauce.
STEWED SORREL. Wash it clean, and put it into a silver vessel, or stone
jar, with no more water than hangs to the leaves. Simmer it as slowly as
possible; and when done enough, beat it up with a piece of butter. This
is very fine with a fricandeau, with roast meat, mackarel, or any thing
usually eaten with an acid sauce. The same thickening may be added, as
for spinach and sorrel. It is as well prepared in a stone jar set before
the fire, only it requires a longer time.
STEWED SPINACH WITH CREAM. Boil the spinach till nearly done enough,
then squeeze all the water from it, and put it into a stewpan, with a
piece of butter and some salt. Stir it over the fire till the butter is
well mixed in with it, and add as much cream as will make it of a
moderate thickness. Shake it for a minute or two over the fire, and
serve it up with sippets of bread, either fried or toasted.
STEWED SPINACH WITH GRAVY. Pick the spinach nicely, then wash it well,
and put it into a stewpan, with a few spoonfuls of water, and a little
salt. Stew this till quite tender, shaking the pan very often to prevent
its burning. When done enough, put it into a sieve to drain, and give it
a slight squeeze. Beat the spinach well, then return it to the stewpan
with some gravy, pepper, salt, and a piece of butter. Let it stew about
a quarter of an hour, stirring it frequently. Serve it up either in a
dish by itself, or with poached eggs upon it, according to the occasion
for which it is wanted.
STEWED SPINACH WITH SORREL. Take spinach and sorrel, in the proportion
of three fourths of spinach to one of sorrel. Pick and wash these very
nicely; cut them a little, and put them into a stewpan, with two or
three spoonfuls of water. Keep them stirring over the fire, till they
begin to soften and to liquify. Then leave it to stew at a distance over
the fire for an hour or more, stirring it every now and then. Thicken it
with a little flour, and when quite done, add some pepper and salt, and
serve it up. This will form an excellent sauce to all kinds of meat, or
to eat with potatoes. Almost any kind of cold vegetables may be added to
this stew. They should be put in just long enough to heat, and mixed in
properly with the spinach before it is served up.
STEWED TONGUE. Prepare a tongue with saltpetre and common salt for a
week, and turn it every day. Boil it tender enough to peel, and
afterwards stew it in a moderately strong gravy. Season it with soy,
mushroom ketchup, cayenne, pounded cloves, and salt if necessary. Serve
with truffles, morels, and mushrooms. The roots of the tongue must be
removed before it is salted, but some fat should be left.
STEWED TURKEY. Have a nice hen turkey trussed close, and the breast-bone
broken; put it into a stewpan with a good piece of butter; let the
breast and pinions be glazed of a fine brown; then put it into a stewpan
that is very clean; and a faggot of sweet herbs, an onion stuck with
three cloves, two blades of mace, some whole pepper, and a little salt;
then put in as much strong broth or gravy as will just cover it; cover
it very close, and let it stew over a moderate fire, till you think it
is tender; in the mean time make some forcemeat balls of veal, &c. and
let them be fried of a fine brown, in readiness. When your turkey is
done, take it up, put it into your dish, and keep it hot; strain off
your liquor into a clean stewpan, and scum it very clean: if it is not
thick enough, roll apiece of butter in flour; put in half a glass of
white wine, and your forcemeat balls; toss up all together, till your
sauce is of a good thickness; squeeze in a little lemon; pour your sauce
over the turkey, and garnish your dish with lemon. In the same manner
you may do a large fowl; and you may add morels, truffles, artichoke
bottoms, &c.--Another. Put turkey or fowl into a stewpan, with a
sufficient quantity of gravy or good broth, a head of celery cut small,
whole pepper, and a sprig of thyme tied up in a muslin bag. When these
are stewed enough, take them up, thicken the liquor with flour and
butter, lay the meat in a dish, and pour the sauce over it.
STEWED VEAL. Cut off the neck end of a breast of veal, and stew it for
gravy. Make a forcemeat of the sweetbread boiled, a few crumbs of bread,
a little beef suet, an egg, pepper and salt, a spoonful or two of cream,
and a little grated nutmeg. Mix them all together, raise the thin part
of the breast, and put in the stuffing. Skewer the skin close down,
dredge it over with flour, tie it up in a cloth, and stew it in milk and
water rather more than an hour: if a large one, an hour and a half. The
proper sauce for this dish is made of a little gravy, a few oysters, a
few mushrooms chopped fine, and a little lemon juice, thickened with
flour and butter. If preferred, the veal may be stewed in broth, or weak
gravy. Then thicken the gravy it was stewed in, pour it over the veal,
and garnish with forcemeat balls.
STEWED VENISON. Let the meat hang as long as it will keep sweet. Take
out the bone, beat the meat with a rolling-pin, lay on some slices of
mutton fat, sprinkle over it a little pepper and salt, roll it up light
and tie it. Stew it in mutton or beef gravy, with a quarter of a pint of
port wine, some pepper and allspice. Cover it close, and simmer it as
slowly as possible for three or four hours. When quite tender take off
the tape, lay the meat on a dish, strain the gravy over it, and serve it
up with currant jelly.
STEWED WATER CRESSES. Pick and wash a quantity of water cresses, and
boil them for a few minutes. Drain and press them dry, chop them
slightly, and put them into a stewpan, either with good gravy or cream,
and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Add a thickening of butter rolled in
flour, if necessary. Stew them gently for ten minutes, or a quarter of
an hour, and serve them up with a garnish of sippets, of fried or
toasted bread.
STICKING PLASTER. Melt three ounces of diachylon with half an ounce of
rosin, and when cooled to about the thickness of treacle, spread it upon
a piece of smooth soft linen.
STILTON CHEESE. This rich and relishing article is made in the following
manner. The night's cream is put into the morning's milk, with the
rennet. When the curd is come, it is not broken, as is usually done with
other cheese, but taken out whole, and put into a sieve to drain. Here
it is pressed till it becomes firm and dry, when it is placed in a
wooden hoop made to fit it, in order to prevent its breaking. After
being taken out of the hoop, the cheese is bound with cloths, which are
changed every day, till it is sufficiently firm to support itself. The
cloths are then removed, and the cheese is rubbed with a brush and
turned every day. The rennet bag should be kept perfectly sweet and
fresh: if it be in the least degree tainted, the cheese will never have
a good flavour.
STINGS. The stings of bees are often more virulent than those of wasps,
and attended with more painful effects. The sting being barbed, it is
always left in the wound. When therefore a person is stung by a bee, the
sting should be instantly extracted, or it will communicate more of its
poison, according to the time it is permitted to remain. It should be
carefully pulled out with a steady hand, for if any of it break in,
remedies will in a great measure be ineffectual. When the sting is
completely extracted, the wounded part should be sucked, and very little
inflammation will ensue. If a few drops of the spirits of hartshorn be
immediately rubbed on the part affected, the cure will be more speedily
accomplished. Another simple remedy is, a solution of indigo in water,
or of potash, a little oil of tartar, or common sweet oil, rubbed upon
the part. Honey and olive oil, or some bruised mallows, may occasionally
be substituted with advantage; but their application should be repeated
till the pain ceases. Rubbing on a little common salt, after it has been
moistened, is also said to be an effectual cure. If a wasp or bee has
been incautiously swallowed in a glass of liquor, take a spoonful of
common salt, or repeated doses of salt and water. This will immediately
kill the insect, and prevent the injurious effects of the sting. To
remove the disagreeable itching which arises from the sting of gnats,
wash the part directly with cold water; or at night, rub on fuller's
earth mixed with water.
STOCK. To make a clear brown stock, for gravy or gravy soup, put into a
stewpan with two quarts of water, a pound of lean beef, a pound of the
lean of a gammon of bacon, all sliced. Add two or three scraped carrots,
two onions, two turnips, and two heads of sliced celery. Stew the meat
quite tender, but do not let it brown. When thus prepared, it will serve
either for soup, or brown or white gravy. If for brown, put in some soup
colouring, and boil it a few minutes.
STOCK-FISH. Put it into water, and let it remain there two days,
shifting the water often; then take it out, and clean the skin and inner
part with a hard brush, and hang it up for one night in the air. In the
morning put it again into water, and let it remain till the next
morning, shifting the water often; take it out, and hang it up for
another day, when it will be fit for dressing. Roll up the fish round,
and tie it close with a tape; put it into a fish-kettle, the water of
which simmers when you put it on: let it remain simmering for three
quarters of an hour, then let it boil for five minutes, and the fish is
enough.
STOMACHIC TINCTURE. In low nervous affections arising from a languid
circulation, and when the stomach is in a state of debility, the
following tincture will be found to be strengthening and beneficial. An
ounce and a half of peruvian bark bruised, and an ounce of orange peel,
steeped in a pint of the best brandy, for ten days. Shake the bottle
every day, then let it settle for two days, and decant off the clear
liquor. Take a tea-spoonful of the tincture in a wine glass of water,
twice a day, when the stomach feels empty and uneasy, an hour before
dinner, and also in the evening. This agreeable aromatic tonic will
procure an appetite, and aid digestion. Tea made with dried Seville
orange peel, in the same way as common tea, and drunk with milk and
sugar, has been taken by nervous persons with great benefit. Sucking a
bit of dried orange peel about an hour before dinner, when the stomach
is empty, is very grateful and strengthening.
STONE STAIRS AND HALLS. In order to clean these properly, boil a pound
of pipe-maker's clay with a quart of water, a quart of small beer, and a
bit of stone blue. Wash the stairs or the floor with this mixture, and
when dry, rub it with flannel and a brush.
STOPPLES. When a glass stopple is set fast, in a bottle or decanter, rub
a drop or two of olive oil round it, close to the mouth of the decanter,
and place it near the fire. The oil will soon insinuate itself
downwards, and the stopple may then be loosened by the hand, or by
striking it lightly with a piece of soft wood. Sometimes the rubbing of
the neck of the bottle with a small key, and striking the head of the
stopper, will be sufficient to loosen it, without the application of any
oil.
STORING. The storing of fruits, vegetables, and roots, has been
performed in various ways, which are well known already; but lately some
better modes have been suggested for this purpose. For apples and pears,
after they have been carefully gathered from the trees, and laid in
heaps covered with clean cloths or mats for sweating, which is effected
in three or four days, they remaining for that length of time
afterwards, they are to be wiped separately with clean cloths; when some
glazed earthen jars are to be provided with tops and covers, and
likewise a quantity of pure pit-sand, which is quite free from any
mixture. This is to be thoroughly dried upon a flue. Then put a layer of
this sand an inch thick on the bottoms of the jars; above this layer of
fruit, a quarter of an inch free of each other; covering the whole with
sand to the depth of an inch; then a second course of fruit is to be
laid in, and again covered with an inch of the sand, proceeding in the
same way until the whole be finished and completed. An inch and a half
in depth of sand may be laid over the last or uppermost layer of fruit;
when the jars are to be closed and placed in some dry situation, as cool
as possible, but entirely out of the way of frost. The usual time at
which each kind of such fruits should be ready for the table being
known, the jars containing such fruit may, it is said, be examined, by
turning out the sand and fruit together cautiously into a sieve. The
ripe fruit may then be laid upon the shelves of the fruit-room for use,
and the unripe be carefully replaced in the jars as before, but with
fresh dry sand. Some kinds of apples managed in this way, will, it is
said, keep a great while, as till July; and pears until April, and in
some sorts till June. It is not improbable but that many other sorts of
fruit might be stored and preserved in somewhat the same way. Vegetables
of the cauliflower kind have been stored and kept well through a great
part of the winter, by putting them, when in full head, on a dry day,
into pits about eighteen inches in depth, and much the same breadth, in
a perfectly dry soil, with the stalks and leaves to them, the latter
being carefully doubled over and lapped round the heads, instead of
hanging them up in sheds or other places, as is the usual practice in
preserving them. In performing the work, it is begun at one end of the
pits, laying the heads in with the root-stalks uppermost, so as that the
former may incline downwards, the roots of the one layer covering the
tops or heads of the other, until the whole is completed. The pits are
then to be closely covered up with the earth into a sort of ridge, and
beaten quite smooth with the back of the spade, in order that the
rain-water may be fully thrown off. Fine cauliflowers have been thus
stored and kept for the occasional supply of the table until the middle
of the following January. For storing and preserving different kinds of
roots for common summer use, until the coming in or return of the
natural crops, the following method has likewise been proposed. As the
ice in ice-houses has commonly subsided some feet, as four, five, or
more, by the beginning of the spring, it is proposed to deposit in the
rooms or vacancies so left empty, the roots that are to be preserved. As
soon as any openings in the places have been well stuffed with straw,
and the surfaces of the ice covered with the sort of material,
case-boxes, dry ware, casks, baskets, or any other such vessels, are to
be placed upon it, which are then to be filled with the roots, such as
turnips, carrots, beets, celery, potatoes in particular, and some
others. In cases where there are not ice-houses, vegetation may be
greatly retarded, and the roots preserved by storing them in deep
vaulted cellars, caves, coal-pits, mines, or in any place seated deep in
the earth. Potatoes have also been well stored and preserved, it is
said, by earthing them in small parcels, as about two bolls each, heaped
up, and covered in the usual way with straw and earth; which are turned
over into other pits in the early spring, first rubbing off all the
sprouts or shoots, and having the roots well watered in small quantities
as they are put into the other pits, the whole earthy covering being
also well watered and beaten together at the time with the back part of
the spade. This covering is to be made to the thickness of about two
feet. The same practice or process is to be repeated every time the
potatoes are turned over, which should be about once in three weeks, as
the state of the weather may be. And where the pits or heaps are not in
the shade, it is sometimes proper, when the season is very hot, to cover
them with mats supported on sticks, so as to permit a free current of
air between the mats and the heaps. In this way it is stated that these
roots have been preserved quite plump and entire in the taste until the
end of September, or till the succeeding crop becomes perfectly ripe, so
as to be used without loss, as that must always be the case where the
roots are largely employed before they are in a state of mature growth.
It is asserted, too, that in this manner potatoes are even capable of
recovering in plumpness and taste, where they have been suffered, by
improper exposure to air or heat, to become deficient in these
qualities.
STOVE BLACKING, for backs of grates, hearths, and the fronts of stoves,
is made in the following manner. Boil a quarter of a pound of the best
black lead, with a pint of small beer, and a bit of soap the size of a
walnut. When that is melted, dip in a painter's brush, and wet the
grate, having first cleared off all the soot and dust. Then take a hard
brush, and rub it till it is quite bright. A mixture of black lead and
whites of eggs well beaten together, will answer the same purpose.