killed and dressed as soon as caught. They abound very much in the dykes
of Lincolnshire. When they are to be bought, examine whether the gills
are red and hard to open, the eyes bright, and the body stiff. The tench
has a slimy matter about it, the clearness and brightness of which
indicate freshness. The season for this delicate fish is July, August,
and September. When to be dressed, put them into cold water, boil them
carefully, and serve with melted butter and soy. They are also very fine
stewed, or fricasseed, as follows. To fricassee tench white. Having
cleaned your tench very well, cut off their heads, slit them in two, and
if large, cut each half in three pieces, if small, in two: melt some
butter in a stewpan, and put in your tench; dust in some flour, and pour
in some boiling water, and a few mushrooms, and season it with salt,
pepper, a bundle of sweet herbs, and an onion stuck with cloves: when
this boils, pour in a pint of white wine boiling hot; let it stew till
sufficiently wasted; take out the fish, and strain the liquor, saving
the mushrooms; bind your fricassee with the yolk of three or four eggs
beaten up with a little verjuice, some parsley chopped fine, and a
little nutmeg grated; stir it all the time it boils, scum it very clean,
pour your sauce over the fish, and send it to table.--To fricassee tench
brown. Prepare your tench as in the other receipt; put some butter and
flour into a stewpan, and brown it; then put in the tench with the same
seasoning you did your white fricassee; when you have tossed them up,
moisten them with a little fish broth; boil a pint of white wine, and
put to your fricassee, stew it till enough, and properly wasted; then
take the fish up, and strain the liquor, bind it with a brown cullis,
and serve it up. If asparagus or artichokes are in season, you may boil
these, and add them to your fricassee.
TENCH BROTH. Clean the fish, and set them on the fire with three pints
of water; add some parsley, a slice of onion, and a few peppercorns.
Simmer till the fish is broken, the broth become good, and reduced one
half. Add some salt, and strain it off. Tench broth is very nutricious,
and light of digestion.
THICK MILK. Beat up an egg, and add to it a tea spoonful of flour. Mix
it smooth with a tea-spoonful of cold milk, and put to it a pint of
boiling milk. Stir it over a slow fire till it boils, then pour it out,
and add a little sugar and nutmeg. The saucepan should have a little
cold water put into it first, to prevent the milk from burning at the
bottom, or marbles boiled in it will answer the same purpose.
THICKENED GRAVY. To a quart of gravy allow a table-spoonful of
thickening, or from one to two table-spoonfuls of flour, according to
the thickness required. Put a ladleful of the gravy into a basin with
the thickening, stir it up quick, add the rest by degrees, till it is
all well mixed. Then pour it back into a stewpan, and leave it by the
side of the fire to simmer for half an hour longer, that the thickening
may be thoroughly incorporated with the gravy. Let it neither be too
pale nor too dark a colour. If not thick enough, let it stew longer, or
add to it a little glaze or portable soup. If too thick, it may be
diluted with a spoonful or too of warm broth or water.
THICKENED SOUP. Put into a small stewpan three table-spoonfuls of the
fat taken off the soup, and mix it with four table-spoonfuls of flour.
Pour in a ladleful of the soup, mix it with the rest by degrees, and
boil it up till it is smooth. This may be rendered more savoury by
adding a little ketchup. The soup should be strained through a tammis.
THICKENING. Clarified butter is best for this purpose, or put some fresh
butter into a stewpan over a slow clear fire. When it is melted, add
fine flour sufficient to make it the thickness of paste. Stir it well
together with a wooden spoon for fifteen or twenty minutes, till it is
quite smooth, and the colour of a guinea. This must be done very
gradually and patiently, or it will be spoiled. Pour it into an earthen
pan, and it will keep good a fortnight in summer, and longer in winter.
Particular attention must be paid in making it; if it gets any burnt
smell or taste, it will spoil every thing it is put into. When cold, it
should be thick enough to cut out with a knife, like a solid paste. This
is a very essential article in the kitchen, and the basis of consistency
in most made dishes, soups, sauces, and ragouts. In making this
thickening, the less butter and the more flour is used the better. They
must be thoroughly worked together, and the broth or soup added by
degrees. Unless well incorporated, the sauce will taste floury, and have
a greasy disagreeable appearance. To prevent this, it must be finished
and cleansed, after it is thickened, by adding a little broth or warm
water, and setting it by the side of the fire to raise any fat that is
not thoroughly incorporated with the gravy, that it may be carefully
removed as it comes to the top. Some cooks merely thicken their soups
and sauces with flour, or the farina of potatoe; and others use the fat
skimmings off the top of broth, as a substitute for butter.
THORNS AND SPLINTERS. To run prickles or thorns, such as those of roses,
thistles, and chesnuts, or little splinters of wood or bone, into the
hands, feet, or legs, is a very common accident, and provided any such
substance be immediately extracted, it is seldom attended with any bad
consequences. But the more certain prevention is a compress of linen
dipped in warm water, and applied to the part, or to bathe it a little
while in warm water. If the thorn or splinter cannot be extracted
directly, or if any part of it be left in, it causes an inflammation,
and nothing but timely precaution will prevent its coming to an abscess.
A plaster of shoemaker's wax spread upon leather, draws these wounds
remarkably well. When it is known that any part of the splinter remains,
an expert surgeon would open the place and take it out; but if it be
unobserved, as will sometimes happen when the substance is very small,
till the inflammation begins, and no advice can at once be procured, the
steam of water should be applied to it first, and then a poultice of
bread crumb and milk, with a few drops of peruvian balsam. It is quite
necessary that the injured part should be kept in the easiest posture,
and as still as possible. If this does not soon succeed, good advice
must be procured without delay, as an accident of this kind neglected,
or improperly treated, may be the occasion of losing a limb. In this and
all other cases of inflammation, a forbearance from animal food and
fermented liquors, is always advisable.
THRUSH. This disorder in children affects the mouth and throat, and
sometimes the stomach. In the former case it will be sufficient to
cleanse the mouth with a little sage tea, sweetened with the honey of
roses, and mixed with a dram of borax. In the latter, great benefit may
be derived from a decoction of carrots in water, or an ounce of linseed
boiled in a pint of water till reduced to a consistence, and sweetened
with two ounces of honey, a table-spoonful of which may be given
occasionally. This complaint may generally be prevented by a due
attention to cleanliness, daily washing and bathing the child in
lukewarm water, washing its mouth after it has been applied to the
breast, giving it pure air, and removing any obstruction in the bowels
by the use of manna or tamarinds.
THYME. These plants may be easily raised from seed, by slipping the
roots and branches, and by cuttings; but the seed method is seldom
practised, except with the second sort, or garden thyme. The seed should
be sown in the early spring on light, rich, dry ground, which should be
properly dug over, and the surface be made moderately smooth with the
spade. As the seed is small, it should not be sown too thick, or be
covered too deep: the seed is best sown while the ground is fresh
stirred, either broad-cast on the surface, raking it in lightly, or in
flat shallow drills, earthed over thinly: the plants appear in two or
three weeks. It is necessary to be careful to keep them well weeded,
giving occasional light waterings in dry weather; and by June they will
require thinning, especially if the plants are to grow stocky, and with
bushy full heads; in which case they should be set out to six or eight
inches distance; when those thinned out may be planted in another place,
in rows six or eight inches asunder, giving water till fresh rooted,
keeping the whole clean from weeds by occasional hoeing between them in
dry days, which will also stir the surface of the earth, and much
improve the growth of the plants: they will be in perfection for use in
summer, or early in autumn. Some think the common thyme best cultivated
for kitchen use in beds or borders, in rows at least half a foot apart,
employing for the purpose either the young seedling plants, which are
fit to set out, or the root slips of old plants, each of which soon
increase into plants of bushy growths proper for being cropped for the
above use. It may also often be well cultivated as an edging to herbary
and other compartments; in both of which methods the plants multiply
exceedingly fast by offsets, and are abiding, furnishing the means of
great future increase. Some should, however, always be annually raised
from seed in the above manner, as such plants possess a stronger
aromatic quality than those from old ones. When it is intended to
increase any particular varieties, and continue them the same with
certainty, it can only be effected by slips and cuttings. In respect to
the offsets and slips, all the sorts multiply by offsets of the root and
slips of the branches: the rooted slips are the most expeditious method,
as the old plants increase into many offset stems rising from the root,
each furnished with fibres; and by taking up the old plants in the
spring, &c. and slipping or dividing them into separate parts, not too
small, with roots to each, and planting them in beds of good earth, in
rows half a foot asunder, giving water directly, and repeating it
occasionally in dry weather till they have taken root, and begin to
shoot at top; they soon grow freely, and form good bushy plants in two
or three months. The strong slips of the branches without roots, succeed
when planted any time in the early spring season in a shady border, in
rows four or five inches distant, giving due waterings; and become good
plants by autumn, when they may be planted out where they are to remain.
The cuttings of the young branches grow readily, the same as the slips,
when planted at the same season in a shady place, and well watered. The
common thyme is in universal use as a pot-herb for various culinary
purposes; it may also be employed in assemblage with other small plants,
to embellish the fronts of flower-borders, shrubbery clumps, small and
sloping banks, &c. placing the plants detached or singly, to form little
bushy tufts, and in which the variegated sorts, and the silver thyme and
lemon thyme particularly, form a very agreeable variety. The lemon thyme
is also in much estimation for its peculiar odoriferous smell. Some of
each of these sorts may also be potted, in order to be moved
occasionally to any particular places as may be required, and under
occasional shelter in severe winters, to preserve the plants more
effectually in a lively state; likewise some of the mastick thyme.
Spanish and Portugal thymes are also sometimes potted for the same
purpose, and to place under the protection of a garden frame or
greenhouse in winter, to continue them in a more fresh and lively
growth; and sometimes some of the smaller thymes are sown or planted for
edgings to particular beds or borders for variety, such as the lemon
thyme, silver-leaved and variegated sorts; also occasionally the common
thyme; and all kept low, close and regular, by clipping them at the
sides and tops annually in the summer season. All the several sorts and
varieties possess an aromatic quality, which principally resides in the
leaves, whence it is imparted and affords a line agreeable fragrance.
But the first three kinds are much the most noted and valued in kitchen
gardens, and more especially the common thyme, which is so very useful
as a culinary herb.
TIN COVERS. Properly to clean tin covers and pewter pots, get the finest
whiting, which is only sold in large cakes, the small being mixed with
sand. Powder and mix a little of it with a drop of sweet oil, rub the
pots and covers well with it, and wipe them clean. Then dust over some
dry whiting in a muslin bag, and rub the articles bright with dry
leather. The last is to prevent rust, which must be carefully guarded
against by wiping thoroughly dry, and setting them by the fire when they
come from table. If covers are once hung up without wiping, the steam
will be sure to rust the inside.
TINCTURE OF ALLSPICE. Bruise three ounces of allspice, and steep it in a
quart of brandy. Shake it up occasionally and after a fortnight pour off
the clear liquor. It makes a most grateful addition in all cases where
allspice is used, in gravies, or to flavour and preserve potted meats.
TINCTURE OF BARK. To make the compound tincture, take two ounces of
Peruvian bark powdered, half an ounce of Seville orange peel, and half
an ounce of bruised cinnamon. Infuse the whole in a pint and a half of
brandy, let it stand five or six days in a close vessel, and then strain
off the tincture. Take one or two tea-spoonfuls twice a day in any
suitable liquor, sharpened with a few drops of the spirits of vitriol.
This tincture is highly beneficial in intermitting fevers, and in slow,
nervous, or putrid fevers, especially towards their decline.
TINCTURE OF CINNAMON. This exhilirating cordial is made by pouring a
bottle of the best brandy on three ounces of bruised cinnamon. A
tea-spoonful of it, and a lump of sugar, in a glass of good sherry or
madeira, with the yolk of an egg beaten up in it, was formerly
considered as the balsam of life. Two tea-spoonfuls of it in a wine
glass of water, are at present a very pleasant remedy in nervous
languors, and in relaxations of the bowels. In the latter case, five
drops of laudanum may be added to each dose.
TINCTURE OF CLOVES. Bruise three ounces of cloves, steep them for ten
days in a quart of brandy, and strain off the tincture through a flannel
sieve. It imparts an excellent flavour to mulled wine. In all cases
tinctures are to be preferred to essences, as affording a much finer
flavour.
TINCTURE OF LEMON PEEL. A very easy and economical way of obtaining and
preserving the flavour of lemon peel, is to fill a wide-mouthed pint
bottle half full of brandy or rum; and when a lemon is used, pare off
the rind very thin, and put it into the spirits. In the course of a
fortnight the liquor will be strongly flavoured with the lemon.
TINCTURE OF NUTMEG. Steep three ounces of nutmeg in a quart of brandy,
and let it stand a fortnight. Shake it up occasionally, and then pour
off the clear liquor.
TINCTURE OF RHUBARB. Take two ounces and a half of rhubarb, and half an
ounce of lesser cardamon seeds; steep them for a week in a quart of
brandy, and strain off the tincture. To make the bitter tincture of
rhubarb, add an ounce of gentian root, and a dram of snake root. The
tincture is of great use in case of indigestion, pain or weakness of the
stomach; and from one to three or four spoonfuls may be taken every day.
TINGEING OF GLASS. The art of tingeing glass of various colours is by
mixing with it, while in a state of fusion, some of the metallic oxides;
and on this process, well conducted, depends the formation of pastes.
Blue glass is formed by means of oxide of cobalt; green, by the oxide of
iron or copper; violet, by oxide of manganese; red, by a mixture of the
oxides of copper and iron; purple, by the purple oxide of gold; white,
by the oxides of arsenic and of zinc; yellow, by the oxide of silver,
and by combustible bodies.
TOAST AND WATER. Take a slice of fine and stale loaf-bread, cut very
thin, (as thin as toast is ever cut) and let it be carefully toasted on
both sides, until it be completely browned all over, but no wise
blackened or burned in any way. Put this into a common deep stone or
china jug, and pour over it, from the tea kettle, as much clean boiling
water as you wish to make into drink. Much depends on the water being
actually in a boiling state. Cover the jug with a saucer or plate, and
let the drink stand until it be quite cold; it is then fit to be used;
the fresher it is made the better, and of course the more agreeable. The
above will be found a pleasant, light, and highly diuretic drink. It is
peculiarly grateful to the stomach, and excellent for carrying off the
effects of any excess in drinking. It is also a most excellent drink at
meals, and may be used in the summer time, if more agreeable to the
drinker.
TOASTED CHEESE. Mix some fine butter, made mustard, and salt, into a
mass. Spread it on fresh made thin toasts, and grate some Gloucester
cheese upon them.
TOMATOES. These are chiefly used in soups and sauces, and serve as
little dishes at table at any part of a dinner. When they are to be
baked, cut the tomatoes lengthways in the middle, with the part where
there is a rind downwards. Strew upon each a seasoning of pepper, salt,
and sweet herbs chopped small. Set them in the oven till they are soft,
and serve them up, without any other sauce. The fruit of the purple egg
plant is eaten, prepared in the same manner.
TOMATA SAUCE. For hot or cold meats put tomatas, when perfectly ripe,
into an earthen jar. Set it in an oven when the bread is drawn, till
they are quite soft; then separate the skins from the pulp, and mix this
with capsicum vinegar, and a few cloves of pounded garlic, which must
both be proportioned to the quantity of fruit. Add powdered ginger and
salt to taste. Some white wine vinegar and cayenne may be used instead
of capsicum vinegar. Keep the mixture in small wide-mouthed bottles,
well corked, and in a cool dry place.
TONGUES. When a tongue is intended to be eaten cold, season it with
common salt and saltpetre, brown sugar, a little bay salt, pepper,
cloves, mace, and allspice, in fine powder, and let it lie a fortnight.
Then take away the pickle, put the tongue into a small pan, and lay some
butter on it. Cover it with brown crust, and bake it slowly till it
becomes so tender that a straw would go through it. The thin part of
tongues, when hung up to dry, grates like hung beef, and also makes a
fine addition to the flavour of omlets.--To boil a tongue. If it is a
dried tongue, soak it over night; the next day put it into cold water,
and let it have a good deal of room; it will take at least four hours.
If it is a green tongue out of the pickle, you need not soak it, but it
will require near the same time. About an hour before you send it to
table, take it out and blanch it, then put it into the pot again till
you want it, by this means it will eat the tenderer.
TONGUE AND UDDER. Clean the tongue nicely, rub it with salt, a very
little saltpetre, and a little coarse sugar, and let it lie for two or
three days. When to be dressed, have a fresh tender udder with some fat
to it, and boil that and the tongue gently till half done. Take them
very clean out of the water, then tie the thick end of the one to the
thin end of the other, and roast them with a few cloves stuck into the
udder. Serve them up with gravy in the dish, and currant jelly in a
tureen. A dried tongue to be boiled, requires to be previously soaked
for ten or twelve hours. A tongue out of pickle is only to be washed,
and boiled in the same way. It will take four hours to do it well, and
for the first two hours it should only simmer. About an hour before it
is done it should be taken up and peeled, and then put into the boiler
again to finish it. Serve it up with turnips nicely mashed, and laid
round it.
TOOTH ACH. The best possible preventive of this disorder is to keep the
teeth clean, as directed for the Teeth and Gums. If the gums be
inflamed, recourse should be had to bleeding by leeches, and blisters
behind the ears. A few drops of laudanum in cotton, laid on the tooth,
will sometimes afford relief. In some cases, vitriolic aether dropped on
the cheek, and the hand held to the part till the liquid is evaporated,
is found to answer the purpose. But it is much easier to prescribe the
means of preventing the disorder, than to point out a specific remedy;
and the nostrums generally given on this subject are either ineffectual
or injurious.
TOURTE CRUST. To make a crust for French pies called tourtes, take a
pound and a half of fine flour, a pound of butter, and three quarters of
an ounce of salt. Put the flour upon a clean pie board, make a hole in
the middle, and put in the salt, with the butter cut into small pieces.
Pour in the water carefully, as it is of great importance that the crust
be rather stiff; and for this purpose there should only be just water
enough to make it hold together so as to roll it out smooth. Work up the
butter and water well together with the hand, and mix it in the flour by
degrees. When the flour is all mixed in, mould the paste till it is
quite smooth and free from lumps, and let it lie two hours before it be
used. This is a very nice crust for putting round the dish for baked
puddings.
TOURTES OF FISH. Prepare the crust and put it into the dish, as for meat
tourtes. Then take almost any kind of fish, cut them from the backbone,
and lay them in slices upon the crust, with a little bunch of sweet
herbs in the middle, some salt and pounded spice, according to the
taste. Lay butter all over the top crust, and bake it an hour and a
half. Cut the crust round after it is baked, take out the herbs, skim
off the remainder of the fat, pour on a sauce of fish gravy, and serve
it up. Mushrooms are very nice in the sauce, and so are capers, but the
flavour of the sauce must be regulated by the taste. Truffles and morels
may also be put in, as in the meat tourtes. Eels, pike, salmon, tench,
whiting, are proper for the purpose. Nothing makes a nicer tourte in
this way than large soles, taking off the flesh from the backbone,
without the side fins. Lobsters also make an excellent tourte, and
oysters are very nice mixed with other fish.
TOURTES OF MEAT. Prepare a crust of paste, roll it out, and line a dish
with it not deeper than a common plate. Veal, chicken, pigeons,
sweetbread, or game of any kind, may be prepared as follows. Cut in
pieces whichever is preferred, just heat it in water, drain it, season
it with pepper and salt, lay it upon the crust without piling it up
high, and leave a border round the rim of the dish. Place some pieces of
butter upon the meat to keep it moist, and add truffles, mushrooms,
morels, artichoke bottoms, or forcemeat balls, at pleasure. Cover the
whole with slices of fat bacon, and then lay a crust over it exactly
corresponding with that underneath. Glaze over the upper crust with yolk
of egg, and set the tourte into an oven. When it has been in a quarter
of an hour, draw it to the mouth of the oven, and make a hole in the
centre of the crust to let out the fumes. Let it stand nearly three
hours longer in the oven, then take it out, cut the crust round with the
rim, take it off, take out the bacon, and clear off any fat that may
remain on the top. Have ready a rich ragout sauce to pour over it, then
replace the crust, and serve it up. This dish is according to the
French fashion.
TRANSPARENT MARMALADE. Cut the palest Seville oranges in quarters, take
out the pulp, and put it in a bason, picking out the seeds and skins.
Let the outsides soak in water with a little salt all night, then boil
them in a good quantity of spring water till tender; drain, and cut them
in very thin slices, and put them to the pulp. To every pound, add a
pound and a half of double-refined sugar beaten fine; boil them together
twenty minutes, but be careful not to break the slices. It must be
stirred all the time very gently, and put into glasses when cold.