On managing a Dairy, 231 to
235
Home Brewery, 236 to
247
Cookery for the Sick, 247 to
264
Cookery for the Poor, 264 to
268
Useful Directions to give to Servants, 269 to
276
=Miscellaneous Observations=
FOR THE USE OF
THE MISTRESS OF A FAMILY;
BY WHICH MUCH MONEY WILL BE SAVED, AND THE GENERAL APPEARANCE GREATLY
IMPROVED.
The mistress of a family should always remember that the welfare and
good management of the house depend on the eye of the superior; and
consequently that nothing is too trifling for her notice, whereby waste
may be avoided; and this attention is of more importance, now that the
price of every necessary of life is increased to an enormous degree.
If a lady has never been accustomed, while single, to think of family
management, let her not upon that account fear that she cannot attain
it; she may consult others who are more experienced, and acquaint
herself with the necessary quantities of the several articles of family
expenditure in proportion to the number it consists of.
A minute account of the annual income, and the times of payment, should
be taken in writing; likewise an estimate of the supposed amount of each
article of expense; and those who are early accustomed to calculations
on domestic articles, will acquire so accurate a knowledge of what their
establishment requires, as will give them the happy medium between
prodigality and parsimony, without acquiring the character of meanness.
Ready money should be paid for all such things as come not into weekly
bills; and the best places for purchasing be attended to. In some
articles a discount of five per cent. is allowed in London, and other
large cities; and those who thus pay are usually best served. Under the
idea of buying cheap, many people go to new shops; but it is safest to
deal with people of established credit, who do not dispose of bad goods
by underselling.
To make people wait for their money injures them greatly, besides that a
higher price must be charged: perhaps the irregularity of payment may
have much evil influence on the price of various articles, and
contribute to the destruction of many families, in gradation downwards.
It is very necessary for a woman to be informed of the prices and
goodness of all articles in common use, and of the best times, as well
as places, for purchasing them. She should also be acquainted with the
_comparative_ prices of provisions, in order that she may be able to
substitute those that are most reasonable, when they will answer as
well, for others of the same kind, but which are more costly. A false
notion of economy leads many to purchase as bargains what is not wanted,
and sometimes never is used. Were this error avoided, more money would
remain for other purposes. Some things are better for keeping, and,
being in constant consumption, should be laid in accordingly; such as
paper, soap, and candles. Of these more hereafter.
A proper quantity of household articles should be always ready, and more
bought in before the others be consumed, to prevent inconvenience,
especially in the country.
A bill of parcels and receipts should be required, even if the money be
paid at the time of purchase; and, to avoid mistakes, let the goods be
compared with these when brought home.
Though it is very disagreeable to suspect any one’s honesty, and perhaps
mistakes have been unintentional, yet it is prudent to weigh meat,
sugars, &c. when brought in, and compare with the charge. The butcher
should be ordered to send the weight with the meat, and the cook to file
these checks, to be examined when the weekly bill shall be delivered.
A ticket should be given by the cook for each loaf, which will on return
give the number to be paid for.
Thus regularly conducted, the exact state of money affairs will be known
with ease; for it is delay of payment that occasions confusion.
Accounts should be regularly kept, and not the smallest articles omitted
to be entered; and if balanced every week and month, the income and
outgoings will be ascertained with facility, and their proportions to
other be duly observed. Some people approve of keeping in separate
purses the money for different purposes, as domestic articles, clothes,
pocket, education of children, &c.
Whichever way accounts be kept, some certain method should be adopted
and strictly adhered to.
Many families have owed their prosperity full as much to the conduct and
propriety of female management, as to the knowledge and activity of the
father.
Those who are served with brewer’s beer, or any other thing not paid for
on delivery, should have a book for entering the date; which will not
only prevent overcharges, but at one view give the annual consumption.
It is much to be feared, that for the waste of many of the good things
that God has given for our use, not abuse, the mistress and servants of
great houses will hereafter be called to a strict account.
Some part of every person’s fortune should be devoted to charity; by
which “a pious woman will build up her house before God, while she that
is foolish (_i. e._ lends nothing to the Lord) pulls it down with her
hands.” No one can complain of the want of gifts to the poor in this
land; but there is a mode of relief which would add greatly to their
comfort, and which being prepared from superfluity, and such materials
as are often thrown away, the expense would not be felt. In the latter
part of this work some hints for preparing the above are given.
By good hours, especially early breakfast, a family is more regular, and
much time is saved. If orders be given soon in the morning, there will
be more time to execute them; and servants, by doing their work with
ease, will be more equal to it, and fewer will be necessary.
It is worthy of notice, that the general expense will be reduced, if
every thing be kept in its proper place, applied to its proper use, and
mended, when the nature of an accident will allow, as soon as broken.
An inventory of furniture, linen, and china, should be kept, and the
things examined by it twice a year, or oftener, if there be a change of
servants; into each of whose care the articles used by him or her,
should be intrusted, with a list, as is done with plate. Tickets of
parchment with the family name, numbered, and specifying what bed it
belongs to, should be sewed on each feather bed, bolster, pillows, and
blankets.
Many well meaning servants are ignorant of the best means of managing,
and thereby waste as much as would maintain a small family, besides
causing the mistress of the house much chagrin by their irregularity;
and many families, from a want of method, have the appearance of chance
rather than of regular system. To avoid which the following hints may be
useful.
All things likely to be wanted should be in readiness; sugars of
different qualities should be kept broken, currants washed, picked and
dry in a jar; spice pounded, &c.
Where regular noonings or suppers are used (and in every house some
preparation is necessary for accidental visitors), care should be taken
to have such things in readiness as may be proper for either; a list of
several will be subjoined, a change of which will be agreeable, and if
properly managed will be attended with no great expense.
Every article should be kept in that place best suited to it, as much
waste may thereby be avoided, viz.
Vegetables will keep best on a stone floor if the air be excluded; meat
in a cold dry place; sugar and sweetmeats require a dry place; so does
salt; candles cold, but not damp; dried meats, hams, &c. the same; all
sorts of seeds for puddings, saloop, rice, &c. should be close covered
to preserve from insects. Flour should be kept in a cool perfectly dry
room, and the bag being tied should be changed upside down and back
every week, and well shaken. Soap should be cut with a wire or twine, in
pieces that form a long square, when first brought in, and kept out of
the air two or three weeks; for if it dry quick, it will crack, and when
wet break. Put it on a shelf, leaving a space between, and let it grow
hard gradually. Thus, it will save a full third in the consumption.
CHEESE should be washed and wiped if you wish to preserve it sound, and
the shelves be washed; changing the place every three or four weeks; but
if it be wanted to ripen, a damp cellar will bring it forward.
Bread is now so heavy an article of expense that all waste should be
guarded against, and having it cut in the room will tend much to prevent
it; since the scarcity in 1795 and 1800, that custom has been much
adopted. It should not be cut until a day old; earthen pans and covers
keep it best.
Rolls, muffins, or any sort of bread, may be made to taste new when two
or three days old, by dipping it uncut in water, and baking afresh or
toasting.
Eggs may be bought cheapest when the hens first begin to lay in the
spring, before they sit; in Lent and at Easter they become dear. They
may be preserved fresh by dipping them in boiling water, and instantly
taking them out, or by oiling the shell; either of which ways is to
prevent the air passing through it. They should be kept on shelves with
small holes to receive one in each, and be turned every other day.
Carrots, parsnips, and beet roots, should be kept in sand for winter
use, and neither they nor potatoes be cleared from the earth.
Store onions preserve best hung up in a dry cold room.
Straw to lay apples on should be quite dry, to prevent a musty taste.
Large pears should be tied up by the stalk.
Tarragon gives the flavour of French cookery, and in high gravies is a
great improvement; but should be added only a short time before serving.
Basil, savory, and knotted marjoram, or London thyme, to be used when
herbs are ordered; but with discretion, as they are very pungent.
Celery seeds give the flavour of the plant to soups.
Parsley should be cut close to the stalks, and dried on tins in a very
cool oven: it preserves its flavour and colour, and is very useful in
winter.
Artichoke bottoms which have been slowly dried, should be kept in paper
bags; and truffles, morels, lemonpeel, &c. in a dry place ticketed.
In towns, poultry being usually sold ready picked, the feathers, which
may occasionally come in in small quantities, are neglected: but orders
should be given to put them into a tub free from damp, and as they dry
to change them into paper bags, a few in each; they should hang in a dry
kitchen to season; fresh ones must not be added to those in part dried,
or they will occasion a musty smell, but they should go through the same
process. In a few months they will be fit to add to beds, or to make
pillows, without the usual mode of drying them in a cool oven, which may
be pursued if they are wanted before five or six months.
The best means to preserve blankets from moths is to fold and lay them
under the featherbeds that are in use, and they should be shaken
occasionally. When soiled, they should be washed, not scoured.
Candles made in cool weather are best; and when their price, and that of
soap, which rise and fall together, is likely to be higher, it will be
prudent to lay in the stock of both. This information the chandler can
always give; they are better for keeping eight or ten months, and will
not injure for two years, if properly placed in the cool; and there are
few articles that better deserve care in buying, and allowing a due
quantity of, according to the size of the family.
The price of starch depends upon that of flour; the best will keep good
in a dry warm room for some years; therefore when bread is cheap, it may
be bought to advantage, and covered close.
Pickles and sweetmeats should be preserved from air; where the former
are much used, small jars of each should be taken from the stock jar, to
prevent frequent opening.
Some of the lemons and oranges used for juice should be pared, first to
preserve the peel dry; some should be halved, and when squeezed, the
pulp cut out, and the outsides dried for grating. If for boiling in any
liquid, the first way is best. When these fruits are cheap, a proper
quantity should be bought, and prepared as hereafter directed,
especially by those who live in the country, where they cannot always be
had; and they are perpetually wanted in cookery.
When whites of eggs are used for jelly, or other purposes, contrive to
have pudding, custard, &c. to employ the yelks also. Should you not want
them for several hours, beat them up with a little water, and put them
in a cool place, or they will be hardened and useless. It was a mistake
of old, to think that the whites made cakes and puddings heavy; on the
contrary, if beaten long and separately, they contribute greatly to give
lightness, are an advantage to paste, and make a pretty dish beaten with
fruit, to set in cream, &c.
If copper utensils be used in the kitchen, the cook should be charged to
be very careful not to let the tin be rubbed off; and to have them fresh
done when the least defect appears, and never to put by any soup, gravy,
&c. in them, or any metal utensil; stone and earthen vessels should be
provided for those purposes, as likewise plenty of common dishes, that
the table set may not be used to put by cold meat.
Vegetables soon sour, and corrode metals and glazed red ware, by which a
strong poison is produced.
Vinegar by its acidity does the same, the glazing being of lead or
arsenic.
In hot weather, when it is difficult to preserve milk from becoming
sour, and spoiling the cream, it may be kept perfectly sweet by scalding
the new milk very gently, without boiling, and setting it by in the
earthen dish or pan that it is done in. This method is pursued in
Devonshire, and the milk is not skimmed under twenty four hours, and
would equally answer in small quantities for coffee, tea, &c.
Cream already skimmed may be kept twenty four hours if scalded without
sugar, and by adding to it as much powdered lump sugar as shall make it
pretty sweet will be good two days, keeping it in a cool place. Syrup of
cream may be preserved as above in the proportion of a pound and quarter
of sugar to a pint of perfectly fresh cream, keep it in a cool place two
or three hours; then put it in one or two ounce phials, and cork it
close. It will keep good thus for several weeks, and will be found very
useful on voyages.
To cool liquors in hot weather, dip a cloth in cold water, and wrap it
round the bottle two or three times, then place it in the sun; renew the
process once or twice.
The best way of scalding fruits, or boiling vinegar, is in a stone jar
on a hot iron hearth, or by putting the vessel into a saucepan of water,
called a waterbath.
The beautiful green given to pickles, formerly was made by the use of
bell mettle, brass, or copper, and consequently very injurious to the
stomach.
If chocolate, coffee, jelly, gruel, bark, &c. be suffered to boil over,
the strength is lost.
Marbles boiled in custard, or any thing likely to burn, will, by shaking
them in the saucepan, prevent it.
Gravies or soups, put by, should be daily changed into fresh scalded
pans. When there is fear of gravy meat being spoiled before it be
wanted, season it well, and lightly fry it, which will preserve it two
days longer; but the gravy is best when the juices are fresh. A receipt
for gravy that will keep a week is given under the article of SAUCES.
The cook should be encouraged to be careful of coals and cinders: for
the latter there is a new contrivance to sift, without dispersing the
dust of the ashes, by means of a covered tin bucket.
Small coal wetted makes the strongest fire for the back, but must remain
untouched until it cake. Cinders, lightly wet, give a great degree of
heat, and are better than coal for furnaces, ironing stoves, and ovens.
The cook should be charged to take care of jelly bags, tapes for the
collared things, &c. which, if not perfectly scalded, and kept dry, give
an unpleasant flavour when next used.
Cold water thrown on cast iron, when hot, will cause it to crack.
Hard water spoils the colour of vegetables; a pinch of pearlash, or salt
of wormwood, will prevent that effect.
When sirloins of beef, loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the
suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify; dripping will baste
every thing as well as butter, fowls and game excepted; and for kitchen
pies, nothing else should be used.
The fat off a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than
suet.
Meat and vegetables that the frost has touched should be soaked in cold
water two or three hours before they are used, or more if much iced.
When put into hot water or to the fire until thawed, no heat will dress
them properly.
Meat should be well examined, when it comes in warm weather; and if
flies have touched it, the part must be cut off, and then well washed.
In the height of summer, it is a very safe way to let meat that is to be
salted lie an hour in the coldest water, rubbing it well there in any
part likely to have been flyblown; then wipe it perfectly dry, and have
ready salt, and rub it thoroughly into every part, leaving a handful
over it besides. Turn it every day, and rub the pickle in, which will
make it ready for the table in three or four days; if it is desired to
be very much corned, wrap it in a well floured cloth, having rubbed it
previously with salt. The latter method will corn fresh beef fit for
table the day it comes in; but it must be put into the pot when the
water boils.
If the weather permits, meat eats much better for hanging two or three
days before it be salted.
The water in which meat has boiled makes an excellent soup for the poor,
when vegetables, oatmeal or pease, are added, and should not be cleared
from the fat.
Roast beef bones, or shank bones of ham, make fine pease soup, and
should be boiled with the pease the day before eaten, that the fat may
be removed.
The mistress of the house will find many great advantages in visiting
her larder daily, before she orders her bill of fare: she will see what
things require dressing, and thereby guard against their being spoiled.
Many articles may be re-dressed in a different form from that in which
they were first served, and improve the appearance of the table without
increasing expense. Many dishes require to be made of dressed meat or
fowls. Directions for several are hereafter given.
In every sort of provisions, the best of the kind goes farthest; cutting
out most advantageously, and affording most nourishment. Round of beef,
fillet of veal, and leg of mutton, bear a higher price; but having more
solid meat, deserve the preference. It is worth notice, however, that
those joints which are inferior may be dressed as palatably, and being
cheaper, ought to be bought in turn; and, when weighed with the prime
pieces, the price of the latter is reduced.
In loins of meat, the long pipe which runs by the bone should be taken
out, being apt to taint; as likewise the kernels of beef. Rumps and
aitchbones of beef are often bruised by the blows the drovers give, and
that part always taints: avoid purchasing such.
The shank bones of mutton should be saved, and, after soaking and
brushing, may be added to give richness to gravies or soups; and they
are particularly nourishing for the sick.
The feet of pork make various good dishes, and should be cut off before
the legs be cured. Observe the same of the ears.
Calves’ tongues, salted, make a more useful dish than when dressed with
the brains, which may be served without.
Some people like neats’ tongues cured with the root, in which case they
look much larger; but should the contrary be approved, the root must be
cut off close to the gullet, next to the tongue, but without taking away
the fat under the tongue. The root must be soaked in salt and water, and
extremely well cleaned before it be dressed as hereafter directed: and
the tongue laid in salt for a day and night before pickled.
Great attention is requisite in salting meat; and in the country, where
great quantities are cured, it is of still more importance. Beef and
pork should be well sprinkled, and a few hours after hung to drain,
before it be rubbed with the preserving salts; which mode, by cleansing
the meat from the blood, tends to keep it from tasting strong. It should
be turned daily, and if wanted soon, rubbed. A salting tub, or lead, may
be used, and a cover should fit close. Those who use a good deal of salt
meat will find it answer well to boil up the pickle, skim, and, when
cold, pour it over meat that has been sprinkled and drained. Salt is so
greatly increased in price, from the heavy duties, as to require
additional care, and the brine ought not to be thrown away, as is the
practice of some, after once using.
In some families great loss is sustained by the spoiling of meat. The
best mode to keep that which is to be eaten unsalted is, as before
directed, to examine it well; wipe it daily, and pound some charcoal,
and throw over it. If meat is brought from a distance in warm weather,
the butcher should be charged to cover it close, and bring it early in
the morning; but even then, if it be kept on the road, while he serves
the customers who are nearest to him, it will probably be flyblown. This
is most frequent in the country.
Mutton will keep long by washing with vinegar, and peppering the broad
end of the leg; if any damp appears, wipe it immediately. If rubbed with
salt lightly, it will not eat the worse. Boiled in seawater, is by some
much admired.
Game is often brought in when not likely to keep a day, in the cook’s
apprehension; yet may be preserved two or three days, if wanted, by the
following method:
If birds, (woodcocks and snipes excepted, which must not be drawn) draw
them, pick, and take out the crop; wash them in two or three waters, and
rub them with a little salt. Have ready a large saucepan of boiling
water, and plunge them in one by one; boil each five minutes, moving it,
that the water may go through them. When all are finished, hang them by
the heads in a cold place; when drained, pepper the inside and necks.
When to be roasted, wash to take off the pepper. The most delicate
birds, even grouse, may be kept this way, if not putrid. Birds that live
by suction, &c. bear being high; it is probable that the heat might
cause them to taint more, as a free passage for the scalding water could
not be obtained. Hares ought not to be paunched in the field, as they
keep longer, and eat much better without. But that is seldom in the
cook’s power to guard against. She should take out the liver and heart,
and parboil the former to keep for stuffing, wipe the inside every day,
quite dry, put a bunch of parsley, or some pepper, or both; thus it will
keep long, especially if the seasoning be rubbed early on the inside to
prevent any mustiness of taste, which often is communicated to the
stuffing by this omission, and want of extreme nicety in washing it in
water and vinegar before it be dressed, while the outside has been
preserved fresh by the skin. If old, a hare should be kept as long as
possible, except for soup, or jugging; and after soaking, in vinegar, be
well larded.
Freshwater fish has often a muddy taste; to take off which, soak it in
strong salt and water, or, if of a size to bear it, give it a scald in
the same, after extremely good cleaning and washing. The latter for carp
or eels.
Turbot will hang three or four days, if lightly rubbed with salt, and be
in quite as great perfection as the first day.
Fish may sometimes be bought reasonably by taking more than can be
dressed at once; when recourse may be had to pickling, potting, or
frying, to keep for stewing a succeeding day.
When thunder or hot weather causes beer to turn sour, half, or a whole
teaspoonful of salt of wormwood should be put into a jug, and let the
beer be drawn in it as small a time as possible before it be drank.
If the subject of servants be thought ill timed in a book upon family
arrangement, it must be by those who do not recollect that the
regularity and good management of the heads will be insufficient, if not
seconded by those who are to execute orders. It behoves every person to
be extremely careful who they take into their employ; to be very minute
in investigating the character they receive; and equally cautious to be
scrupulously just in giving one to others. Were this attended to, many
bad people would be incapacitated from doing mischief, by abusing the
trust reposed in them. And it may be fairly asserted, that the robbery,
or waste (which is but a milder epithet) of an unfaithful servant, will
be laid to the charge of the master or mistress, who, knowing such
faults in him, or even having only well grounded suspicions, is led by
entreaty or false pity, to slide him into another place. To refuse
countenance to the evil, is to encourage the good servant; such as are
honest, frugal, and attentive to their duties, should be liberally
rewarded: and such discrimination would encourage merit, and inspire
servants with a zeal to acquit themselves with fidelity.
On the other side it may be proper to observe, that a retributive
justice usually marks persons in that station sooner or later even in
this world. Those who are extravagant and idle in their servitude, are
ill prepared for the industry and sobriety on which their own future
welfare much depends; their faults, and the attendant punishment, come
home when they have families of their own, and sometimes much sooner.
They will see their wickedness or folly in the conduct of their
offspring, whom they must not expect to be better than the examples that
are set them.
It was the observation of a sensible woman, that she could always read
the fate of her servants when they married from her; those who had been
faithful and industrious in her service, continued their good habits in
their own families, and became respectable members of the community;
those who had been unfaithful servants, never were successful, and not
unfrequently were reduced to the parish.
The manner of carving is not only a very essential knowledge in point of
doing the honours of the table with grace, but makes a great difference
in the family consumption; and, though in large companies, a lady is so
much assisted as to make the art of less consequence, yet she should not
fail to acquaint herself with an attainment of which she must daily feel
the want. Some people haggle meat so as not to be able to help six times
from a large tongue, or a piece of beef. It is to be observed that a
thin sharp carving knife, and with a very little strength to the
management of it, will cut deep thin slices, cause the joint to look
neatly, and leave sufficient for a second helping, instead of that
disgusting appearance which is sometimes observable. Habit alone can
make people carve, or do the honours of a table well; for those who have
not had practice, there are very good directions in a little book of
Trusler’s.
In the following, and indeed all other receipts, though the quantities
may be as accurately set down as possible, yet much must be left to the
discretion of the person who uses them. The different taste of people
requires more or less of the flavour of spices, garlic, butter, &c.
which can never be directed by general rules; and if the cook has not a
good taste, and attention to that of her employers, not all the
ingredients with which nature or art can furnish her, will give an
exquisite relish to her dishes. The proper articles should be at hand,
and she must proportion them until the true zest be obtained.