four or five eggs well beaten to a pint of cream, adding some pulps of
apples, sugar, spices, and sippets of white bread. It may be baked
either in a dish, or in a crust.--Another way. Beat eight eggs, leaving
out four whites, with a little rose water; strain them to two quarts of
new milk, and a small nutmeg grated, and sugar to your taste; cut a
French roll in thin slices, and lay in the bottom of a soup dish (after
buttering it) then pour over your milk and eggs, and bake it in a slow
oven.
WHITE PUDDINGS. Pour two pints and a half of scalding hot milk upon half
a pound of Naples biscuits, or bread; let it stand uncovered, and when
well soaked, bruise the bread very fine. Add half a pound of almonds
well beaten with orange-flower water, three quarters of a pound of
sugar, a pound of beef suet or marrow shred fine, a quarter of an ounce
of salt, ten yolks of eggs and five whites. Mix the whole thoroughly
together, and put it into the skins well prepared, filling them but half
full, and tying them at proper distances like sausages. The skins must
be carefully cleaned, and laid in rose water some hours before they are
used. Currants may be used instead of almonds, if preferred.
WHITE HOG'S PUDDINGS. When the skins have been well soaked and cleaned,
rinse and soak them all night in rose water, and put into them the
following preparation. Mix half a pound of blanched almonds cut into
seven or eight parts, with a pound of grated bread, two pounds of marrow
or rich suet, a pound of currants, some beaten cinnamon, cloves, mace,
and nutmeg; a quart of cream, the yolks of six and whites of two eggs, a
little orange-flower water, a little fine Lisbon sugar, and some lemon
peel and citron sliced, and half fill the skins. To know whether it be
sweet enough, warm a little in a panikin. Much care must be taken in
boiling, to prevent the puddings from bursting. Prick them with a small
fork as they rise, and boil them in milk and water. Lay them in a table
cloth till cold.
WHITE ONION SAUCE. Peel half a dozen white Spanish onions, cut them in
half, and lay them in a pan of spring water for a quarter of an hour.
Boil them an hour, or till quite tender, drain them well on a hair
sieve, and then chop and bruise them fine. Put them into a clean
saucepan with flour and butter, half a tea-spoonful of salt, and some
cream or good milk. Stir it till it boils, rub the whole through a
sieve, adding milk or cream to make it of a proper thickness. This is
the usual sauce for boiled rabbits, mutton, or tripe; but there requires
plenty of it.
WHITE SAUCE. This favourite sauce is equally adapted to fowls,
fricassee, rabbits, white meat, fish, and vegetables; and it is seldom
necessary to purchase any fresh meat to make it, as the proportion of
that flavour is but small. The liquor in which fowls, veal, or rabbit
have been boiled, will answer the purpose; or the broth of whatever
meat happens to be in the house, such as necks of chickens, raw or
dressed veal. Stew with a little water any of these, with a bit of lemon
peel, some sliced onion, some white peppercorns, a little pounded mace
or nutmeg, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Keep it on the fire till the
flavour is good; then strain it, and add a little good cream, a piece of
butter, a very little flour, and salt to your taste. A squeeze of lemon
may be added after the sauce is taken off the fire, shaking it well.
Yolk of egg is often used in fricassee, cream is better, as the former
is apt to curdle.
WHITE SOUP. Take a scrag of mutton, a knuckle of veal, after cutting off
as much meat as will make collops, two or three shank bones of mutton
nicely cleaned, and a quarter of very fine undressed lean gammon of
bacon. Add a bunch of sweet herbs, a piece of fresh lemon peel, two or
three onions, three blades of mace, and a dessert-spoonful of white
pepper. Boil all in three quarts of water, till the meat falls quite to
pieces. Next day take off the fat, clear the jelly from the sediment,
and put it into a nice tin saucepan. If maccaroni be used, it should be
added soon enough to get perfectly tender, after soaking in cold water.
Vermicelli may be added after the thickening, as it requires less time
to do. Prepare the thickening beforehand thus: blanch a quarter of a
pound of sweet almonds, and beat them to a paste in a marble mortar,
with a spoonful of water to prevent their oiling. Then mince a large
slice of cold veal or chicken, and beat it with a piece of stale white
bread; add all this to a pint of thick cream, a bit of fresh lemon peel,
and a blade of pounded mace. Boil it a few minutes, add to it a pint of
soup, and strain and pulp it through a coarse sieve. This thickening is
then fit for putting to the rest, which should boil for half an hour
afterwards.--To make a plainer white soup, boil a small knuckle of veal,
till the liquor is reduced to three pints. Add seasoning as above, and a
quarter of a pint of good milk. Two spoonfuls of cream, and a little
ground rice, will give it a proper thickness. The meat and the soup may
both be served together.--Another. Take a scrag or knuckle of veal,
slices of undressed gammon of bacon, onions, mace, and simmer them in a
small quantity of water, till it is very strong. Lower it with a good
beef broth made the day before, and stew it till the meat is done to
rags. Add cream, vermicelli, a roll, and almonds.
WHITE WINE WHEY. Set on the fire half a pint of new milk; the moment it
boils up, pour in as much sound raisin wine as will completely turn it,
and until it looks clear. Let it boil up, then set the saucepan aside
till the curd subsides, and do not stir it. Pour the whey off, add to it
half a pint of boiling water, and a little lump sugar. The whey will
thus be cleared of milky particles, and may be made to any degree of
weakness.
WHITINGS. These may be had almost at any time, but are chiefly in season
during the first three months of the year. In choosing them, the
firmness of the body and fins is chiefly to be looked to; and in places
where there is no regular supply of fish, it will be found an
accommodation to dry them for keeping. The largest are best for this
purpose. Take out the gills, the eyes, and the entrails, and remove the
blood from the backbone. Wipe them dry, salt the inside, and lay them on
a board for the night. Hang them up in a dry place, and after three or
four days they will be fit to eat. When to be dressed, skin and rub
them over with egg, and cover them with bread crumbs. Lay them before
the fire, baste with butter till sufficiently browned, and serve them
with egg sauce.
WHITLOWS. As soon as the disorder is apparent, the finger affected is to
be plunged into warm water, or the steam of boiling water may be applied
to it. The application must be very frequently repeated the first day,
and the complaint will soon be dispersed. Unfortunately however it is
too generally supposed, that such slight attacks can have only slight
consequences, and hence they are too apt to be neglected till the
complaint has considerably increased. But in this state no time should
be lost in resorting to skilful advice, as the danger attending these
small tumours is much greater than is usually imagined.
WHOLE RICE PANCAKES. Stew half a pound of whole rice in water till it is
very tender, and let it stand in a basin to cool. Break it small, put to
it half a pint of scalded cream, half a pound of clarified butter, a
handful of flour, a little nutmeg and salt, and five eggs well beaten.
Stir these well together, and fry them in butter or lard. Serve them up
with sugar sifted over them, and a Seville orange or lemon cut and laid
round the dish. This preparation may be made into a pudding, either
baked or boiled, and with currants added or not, as approved. Three
quarters of an hour will bake it, and an hour will boil it.
WHOLE RICE PUDDING. Stew very gently a quarter of a pound of whole rice,
in a pint and a half of new milk. When the rice is tender, pour it into
a basin, stir in a piece of butter, and let it stand till quite cool.
Then put in four eggs, a little salt, some nutmeg and sugar. Boil it an
hour in a basin well buttered.
WILD DUCKS. A wild duck, or a widgeon, will require twenty or
twenty-five minutes roasting, according to the size. A teal, from
fifteen to twenty minutes; and other birds of this kind, in proportion
to their size, a longer or a shorter time. Baste them with butter, and
take them up with the gravy in, sprinkling a little over them before
they are quite done. Serve them up with shalot sauce in a boat, or with
good gravy, and lemons cut in quarters.
WILD FOWL. Season with salt and pepper, and put a piece of butter into
each; but the flavour is best preserved without stuffing. To take off
the fishy taste which wild fowl sometimes have, put an onion, salt, and
hot water, into the dripping pan, and baste them with this for the first
ten minutes: then take away the pan, and baste constantly with butter.
Wild fowl require much less dressing than tame: they should be served of
a fine colour, and well frothed up. A rich brown gravy should be sent in
the dish; and when the breast is cut into slices, before taking off the
bone, a squeeze of lemon, with pepper and salt, is a great improvement
to the flavour.
WILTSHIRE BACON. The way to cure Wiltshire bacon is to sprinkle the
flitch with salt, and let the blood drain off for twenty-four hours.
Then mix a pound and a half of coarse sugar, the same quantity of bay
salt, not quite so much as half a pound of saltpetre, and a pound of
common salt. Rub this mixture well on the bacon, turning it every day
for a month: then hang it to dry, and afterwards smoke it ten days. The
quantity of salts above mentioned is sufficient for the whole hog.
WILTSHIRE CHEESE. This is made of new milk, a little lowered with water
and skim milk. The curd is first broken with the hand and dish, care
being taken to let the whey run off gradually, to prevent its carrying
away with it the fat of the cowl. For thin cheese the curd is not
broken so fine as in Gloucestershire; for thick cheese it is crushed
finer still. The whey is poured off as it rises, and the curd pressed
down. The mass is then pared down three or four times over, in slices
about an inch thick, in order to extract all the whey from it, and then
it is pressed and scalded as before. After separating the whey, the curd
is sometimes broken again, and salted in the cowl; and at others it is
taken warm out of the liquor, and salted in the vat. Thin cheeses are
placed in one layer, with a small handful of salt; and thick ones in two
layers, with two handfuls of salt; the salt being spread and rubbed
uniformly among the curd.
WINDSOR BEANS. These should be boiled in plenty of water, with a little
salt, and be put in when the water boils. Serve them up with boiled
bacon, and parsley and butter in a boat.
WINDSOR BEANS FRICASSEED. When grown large, but not mealy, boil, blanch,
and lay them in a white sauce previously heated up. Warm them through in
the sauce, and serve them up. No beans but what are of a fine green
should be used for this dish.
WINDSOR PUDDING. Shred half a pound of suet very fine, grate into it
half a pound of French roll, a little nutmeg, and the rind of a lemon.
Add to these half a pound of chopped apple, half a pound of currants
clean washed and fried, half a pound of jar raisins stoned and chopped,
a glass of rich sweet wine, and five eggs well beaten, with a little
salt. Mix all thoroughly together, and boil it in a basin or mould for
three hours. Sift fine sugar over it when sent to table, and pour white
wine sauce into the dish.
WINDSOR SOAP. Cut the best white soap into thin slices, melt it over a
slow fire, and scent it with oil of carraway, or any other agreeable
perfume. Shaving boxes may then be filled with the melted soap, or it
may be poured into a small drawer or any other mould; and after it has
stood a few days to dry, it may be cut into square pieces ready for use.
WINE. The moderate use of wine is highly conducive to health, especially
in weak and languid habits, and in convalescents who are recovering from
the attacks of malignant fevers. Hence it forms an extensive article of
commerce, and immense quantities are consumed in this country. But
nothing is more capable of being adulterated, or of producing more
pernicious effects on the human constitution, and therefore it requires
the strictest attention. A few simple means only will be sufficient to
detect such adulterations, and to prevent their fatal consequences. If
new white wine, for example, be of a sweetish flavour, and leave a
certain astringency on the tongue; if it has an unusually high colour,
disproportionate to its nominal age and real strength; or if it has a
strong pungent taste, resembling that of brandy or other ardent spirits,
such liquor may be considered as adulterated. When old wine presents
either a very pale or a very deep colour, or possesses a very tart and
astringent taste, and deposits a thick crust on the sides or bottom of
glass vessels, it has then probably been coloured with some foreign
substance. This may easily be detected by passing the liquor through
filtering paper, when the colouring ingredients will remain on the
surface. The fraud may also be discovered by filling a small vial with
the suspected wine, and closing its mouth with the finger: the bottle is
then to be inverted, and immersed in a basin of clear water. The finger
being withdrawn, the tinging or adulterating matter will pass into the
water, so that the former may be observed sinking to the bottom by its
own weight. Wines becoming tart or sour, are frequently mixed with the
juice of carrots and turnips; and if this do not recover the sweetness
to a sufficient degree, alum or the sugar of lead is sometimes added;
but which cannot fail to be productive of the worst effects, and will
certainly operate as slow poison. To detect the alum, let the suspected
liquor be mixed with a little lime water. At the end of ten or twelve
hours the composition must be filtered, and if crystals be formed, it
contains no alum. But if it be adulterated, the sediment will split into
small segments, which will adhere to the filtering paper on which it is
spread. In order to detect the litharge or sugar of lead, a few drops of
the solution of yellow orpiment and quicklime should be poured into a
glass of wine. If the colour of the liquor change, and become
successively dark red, black or brown, it is an evident proof of its
being adulterated with lead. As orpiment is poisonous, it would be
better to use a few drops of vitriolic acid for this purpose, which
should be introduced into a small quantity of the suspected liquor. This
will cause the lead to sink to the bottom of the glass, in the form of a
white powder. A solution of hepatic gas in distilled water, if added to
wine sophisticated with lead, will produce a black sediment, and thus
discover the smallest quantity of that poisonous metal; but in pure
wine, no precipitation will take place. The following preparation has
been proved to be a sufficient test for adulterated wine or cider. Let
one dram of the dry liver of sulphur, and two drams of the cream of
tartar, be shaken in two ounces of distilled water, till the whole
become saturated with hepatic gas: the mixture is then to be filtered
through blotting paper, and kept in a vial closely corked. In order to
try the purity of wine, about twenty drops of this test are to be
poured into a small glass: if the wine only become turbid with white
clouds, and a similar sediment be deposited, it is then not impregnated
with any metallic ingredients. But if it turn black or muddy, its colour
approach to a deep red, and its taste be at first sweet, and then
astringent, the liquor certainly contains the sugar, or other pernicious
preparation of lead. The presence of iron is indicated by the wine
acquiring a dark blue coat, after the test is put in, similar to that of
pale ink; and if there be any particles of copper or verdigris, a
blackish grey sediment will be formed. A small portion of sulphur is
always mixed with white wines, in order to preserve them; but if too
large a quantity be employed, the wine thus impregnated becomes
injurious. Sulphur however may easily be detected, for if a piece of an
egg shell, or of silver, be immersed in the wine, it instantly acquires
a black hue. Quicklime is also mixed with wine, for imparting a
beautiful red colour. Its presence may easily be ascertained by
suffering a little wine to stand in a glass for two or three days; when
the lime, held in solution, will appear on the surface in the form of a
thin pellicle or crust. The least hurtful but most common adulteration
of wine, is that of mixing it with water, which may be detected by
throwing into it a small piece of quicklime. If it slack or dissolve the
lime, the wine must have been diluted; but if the contrary, which will
seldom be the case, the liquor may be considered as genuine.
WINE COOLED. The best way of cooling wine or other liquors in hot
weather, is to dip a cloth in cold water, and wrap it round the bottle
two or three times, then place it in the sun. The process should be
renewed once or twice.
WINE POSSET. Boil some slices of white bread in a quart of milk. When
quite soft, take it off the fire, grate in half a nutmeg, and a little
sugar. Pour it out, and add by degrees a pint of sweet wine, and serve
it with toasted bread.
WINE REFINED. In order to refine either wine or cider, beat up the
whites and shells of twenty eggs. Mix a quart of the liquor with them,
and put it into the cask. Stir it well to the bottom, let it stand half
an hour, and stop it up close. In a few days it may be bottled off.
WINE ROLL. Soak a penny French roll in raisin wine till it will hold no
more: put it in a dish, and pour round it a custard, or cream, sugar,
and lemon juice. Just before it is served, sprinkle over it some
nonpareil comfits, or stick into it a few blanched almonds slit. Sponge
biscuits may be used instead of the roll.
WINE SAUCE. For venison or hare, mix together a quarter of a pint of
claret or port, the same quantity of plain mutton gravy, and a
table-spoonful of currant jelly. Let it just boil up, and send it to
table in a sauce boat.
WINE VINEGAR. After making raisin wine, when the fruit has been
strained, lay it on a heap to heat; then to every hundred weight, put
fifteen gallons of water. Set the cask in the sun, and put in a toast of
yeast. As vinegar is so necessary an article in a family, and one on
which so great a profit is made, a barrel or two might always be kept
preparing, according to what suited. If the raisins of wine were ready,
that kind might be made; if gooseberries be cheap and plentiful, then
gooseberry vinegar may be preferred; or if neither, then the sugar
vinegar; so that the cask need not be left empty, or be liable to grow
musty.
WINE WHEY. Put on the fire a pint of milk and water, and the moment it
begins to boil, pour in as much sweet wine as will turn it into whey,
and make it look clear. Boil it up, and let it stand off the fire till
the curd all sinks to the bottom. Do not stir it, but pour off the whey
for use. Or put a pint of skimmed milk and half a pint of white wine
into a basin, let it stand a few minutes, and pour over it a pint of
boiling water. When the curd has settled to the bottom, pour off the
whey, and put in a piece of lump sugar, a sprig of balm, or a slice of
lemon.
WINTER VEGETABLES. To preserve several vegetables to eat in the winter,
observe the following rules. French beans should be gathered young, and
put into a little wooden keg, a layer of them about three inches deep.
Then sprinkle them with salt, put another layer of beans, and so on till
the keg is full, but be careful not to sprinkle too much salt. Lay over
them a plate, or a cover of wood that will go into the keg, and put a
heavy stone upon it. A pickle will rise from the beans and salt; and if
they are too salt, the soaking and boiling will not be sufficient to
make them palatable. When they are to be eaten, they must be cut,
soaked, and boiled as fresh beans. Carrots, parsnips, and beet root,
should be kept in layers of dry sand, and neither they nor potatoes
should be cleared from the earth. Store onions keep best hung up in a
dry cold room. Parsley should be cut close to the stalks, and dried in a
warm room, or on tins in a very cool oven. Its flavour and colour may
thus be preserved, and will be found useful in winter. Artichoke
bottoms, slowly dried, should be kept in paper bags. Truffles, morels,
and lemon peel, should be hung in a dry place, and ticketed. Small close
cabbages, laid on a stone floor before the frost sets in, will blanch
and be very fine, after many weeks' keeping.
WOOD. An excellent glue, superior to the common sort, and suitable for
joining broken furniture or any kind of wood, may be made of an ounce
of isinglass dissolved in a pint of brandy. The isinglass should be
pounded, dissolved by gentle heat, strained through a piece of muslin,
and kept in a glass closely stopped. When required for use, it should be
dissolved with moderate heat, and applied the same as common glue. Its
effect is so powerful as to join the parts of wood stronger than the
wood itself, but should not be exposed to damp or moisture.
WOODCOCKS. These will keep good for several days. Roast them without
drawing, and serve them on toast. The thigh and back are esteemed the
best. Butter only should be eaten with them, as gravy diminishes the
fineness of the flavour. To roast woodcocks and snipes in the French
method, take out the trails and chop them, except the stomachs, with
some minced bacon, or a piece of butter. Add some parsley and chives,
and a little salt. Put this stuffing into the birds, sow up the opening,
and roast them with bacon covered with paper. Serve them up with Spanish
sauce.
WOOLLENS. To preserve articles of this sort from the moths, let them be
well brushed and shaken, and laid up cool and dry. Then mix among them
bitter apples from the druggists', in small muslin bags, carefully sewn
up in several folds of linen, and turned in at the edges.
WORMS. A strong decoction of walnut tree leaves thrown upon the ground
where there are worm casts, will cause them to rise up. They may then be
given to the poultry, or thrown into the fish pond. Salt and water, or a
ley of wood ashes, poured into worm-holes on a gravel walk, will
effectually destroy them. Sea water, the brine of salted meat, or soot,
will be found to answer the same purpose.
WORMS. Worms in children are denoted by paleness of the face, itching of
the nose, grinding of the teeth during sleep, offensive breath, and
nausea. The belly is hard and painful, and in the morning there is a
copious flow of saliva, and an uncommon craving for dry food. Amongst a
variety of other medicines for destroying worms in the human body, the
following will be found effectual. Make a solution of tartarised
antimony, two grains in four ounces of water, and take two or three
tea-spoonfuls three times a day, for four days; and on the following day
a purging powder of calomel and jalap, from three to six grains each. Or
take half a pound of senna leaves well bruised, and twelve ounces of
olive oil, and digest them together in a sand heat for four or five
days. Strain off the liquor, take a spoonful in the morning fasting,
persevere in it, and it will be found effectual in the most obstinate
cases. A more simple remedy is to pour some port wine into a pewter
dish, and let it stand for twenty-four hours. Half a common
wine-glassful is a sufficient dose for an infant, and a whole one for an
adult.