The greatest possible attention must be paid to cleanliness. All the
utensils must be daily scalded and brushed, washed in plenty of cold
water, dried with clean cloths, and turned up in the air.
The dairy should be kept perfectly clean and cool.
In milking, if the cows be not left perfectly dry, the quantity will be
decreased. The quantity depends on the goodness of different cows, on
the pasture, and on the length of time from calving. A middling cow
gives a pound of butter a day for five or six weeks, and sometimes
longer. When the milk decreases, a change even to a worse pasture will
effect an alteration; and where water is within reach of the animals, it
is of great consequence to the milk.
The chief of the cows should come in the end of March, or the beginning
of April, and one the end of September; then the family will be supplied
with milk in the winter.
When a calf is to be reared, it should be taken from the cow in a week
at furthest, or it will cause great trouble in rearing, because it will
be difficult to make it take milk in a pan. The calf should be taken
from the cow in the morning, and kept without food till next morning,
when being hungry it will take it without much trouble. Skimmed milk
made as warm as new, is to be given twice a day in such quantities as it
shall require and if milk run short, a fine smooth gruel mixed with it
will do very well. This is to be continued till the calf be taken out to
grass, which at first will be only by day, then milk must be given when
housed in the evening.
_To scald Cream._
In winter the milk stands twenty four hours before scalded; in the
summer twelve. The milkpan is to be put on a hot hearth, if you have
one, or if not, into a brass kettle of water, of a size to receive the
pan. It must remain on the fire till quite hot, but on no account boil,
or there will be a skin, instead of cream, upon the milk. You will know
when done enough by the undulations on the surface, and looking quite
thick. The time required to scald cream depends on the size of the pan
and the heat of the fire; the slower the better. Remove the pan into the
dairy when done, and skim it next day.
Of cream thus prepared, the butter is usually made in Devonshire, &c.
_Buttermilk._
If made of sweet cream, is a delicious and most wholesome food. Those
who can relish sour buttermilk, find it still more light; and it is
reckoned more beneficial in some cases.
_To cure Mawskins for Rennet._
Cut the calf’s stomach open, rub it well with salt, let it hang to drain
two days, then salt it well, and let it lie in that pickle a month or
more; then take it out, drain, and flour it, stretch it out with a
stick, and let it hang up to dry.
A piece of this is to be soaked, and kept ready to turn the milk in
cheesemaking time.
Some lands make cheese of a better quality than the butter produced on
them is.
When the soil is poor, the cheese will want fat; to remedy which, after
pressing the whey from the curd, crumble it quite small, and work into
it a pound of fine fresh butter; then press, &c. as usual.
_Cream Cheese._
Put five quarts of strippings, that is, the last of the milk, into a
pan, with two spoonfuls of rennet. When the curd is come, strike it down
two or three times with the skimming dish just to break it. Let it stand
two hours, then spread a cheesecloth on a sieve, put the curd on it, and
let the whey drain; break the curd a little with your hand, and put it
into a vat with a two pound weight upon it. Let it stand twelve hours,
take it out, and bind a fillet round. Turn every day till dry, from one
board to another; cover them with nettles, or clean dockleaves, and put
between two pewter plates to ripen. If the weather be warm, it will be
ready in three weeks.
_Another._
Have ready a kettle of boiling water, put five quarts of new milk into a
pan, and _five pints_ of cold water, and _five_ of hot; when of a proper
heat, put in as much rennet as will bring it in twenty minutes, likewise
a bit of sugar. When come, strike the skimmer three or four times down,
and leave it on the curd. In an hour or two lade it into the vat without
touching it; put a two pound weight on it when the whey has run from it,
and the vat is full.
_Another sort._
Put as much salt to three pints of raw cream as shall season it; stir it
well, and pour it into a sieve in which you have folded a cheesecloth
three or four times, and laid at the bottom. When it hardens, cover it
with nettles on a pewter plate.
_Rush Cream Cheese._
To a quart of fresh cream, put a pint of new milk warm enough to make
the cream a proper warmth, a bit of sugar and a little rennet.
Set near the fire till the curd comes, fill a vat made in the form of a
brick, of wheat straw or rushes sewed together. Have ready a square of
straw, or rushes sewed flat to rest the vat on, and another to cover it;
the vat being open at top and bottom. Next day take it out, and change
it as above to ripen. A half pound weight will be sufficient to put on
it.
_Another way._
Take a pint of very thick sour cream from the top of the pan for
gathering for butter, lay a napkin on two plates, and pour half into
each, let them stand twelve hours, then put them on a fresh wet napkin
in one plate, and cover with the same; this do every twelve hours until
you find the cheese begins to look dry, then ripen it with nut leaves;
it will be ready in ten days.
Fresh nettles, or two pewter plates, will ripen cream cheese very well.
_To brew very fine Welsh Ale._
Pour forty two gallons of water hot, but not quite boiling, on four
bushels of malt, cover, and let it stand three hours. In the mean time
infuse a pound and a half of hops in a little hot water, or two pounds
if the ale is to be kept five or six months, and put water and hops into
the tub, and run the wort upon them, and boil them together three hours.
Strain off the hops, and keep for the small beer. Let the wort stand in
a high tub till cool enough to receive the yeast, of which put two
quarts of ale, or if you cannot get it, of small beer yeast. Mix it
thoroughly and often. When the wort has done working, the second or
third day, the yeast will sink rather than rise in the middle, remove it
then, and turn the ale as it works out, pour a quart in at a time, and
gently, to prevent the fermentation from continuing too long, which
weakens the liquor. Put a bit of paper over the bunghole two or three
days before stopping up.
_Strong Beer, or Ale._
Twelve bushels of malt to the hogshead for beer, eight for ale; for
either pour the whole quantity of water hot, but not boiling, on at
once, and let it infuse three hours close covered; mash it in the first
half hour, and let it stand the remainder of the time. Run it on the
hops previously infused in water; for strong beer three quarters of a
pound to a bushel, if for ale, half a pound. Boil them with the wort two
hours from the time it begins to boil. Cool a pailful to add three
quarts of yeast to, which will prepare it for putting to the rest when
ready next day; but if possible, put together the same night. Turn as
usual. Cover the bunghole with paper when the beer has done working; and
when it is to be stopped have ready a pound and a half of hops, dried
before the fire, put them into the bunghole, and fasten it up.
Let it stand twelve months in casks, and twelve in bottles before it be
drank. It will keep, and be very fine, eight or ten years. It should be
brewed the beginning of March.
Great care must be taken that bottles are perfectly prepared, and that
the corks are of the best sort.
The ale will be ready in three or four months; and if the vent peg be
never removed, it will have spirit and strength to the very last. Allow
two gallons of water at first for waste.
After the beer or ale is run from the grains, pour a hogshead and a half
for the twelve bushels, and a hogshead of water if eight were brewed;
mash, and let stand, and then boil, &c. Use some of the hops for this
table beer that were boiled for the strong beer.
_Excellent Table Beer._
On three bushels of malt pour of hot water the third of the quantity you
are to use, which is to be thirty nine gallons. Cover it warm half an
hour, then mash, and let it stand two hours and a half more, then set it
to drain. When dry, add half the remaining water, mash, and let it stand
half an hour, run that into another tub, and pour the rest of the water
on the malt, stir it well, and cover it, letting it infuse a full hour.
Run that off, and mix all together. A pound and a quarter of hops should
be infused in water, as in the former receipt, and be put into the tub
for the first running.
Boil the hops with the wort an hour from the time it first boils. Strain
off, and cool. If the whole be not cool enough that day to add to the
yeast, a pail or two of wort may be prepared, and a quart of yeast put
to it over night. Before tunning, all the wort should be added together,
and thoroughly mixed with the lade pail. When the wort ceases to work,
put a bit of paper on the bunghole for three days, when it may be safely
fastened close. In three or four weeks the beer will be fit for
drinking.
_Note._ Servants should be directed to put a cork into every barrel as
soon as the cock is taken out, the air causing casks to become musty.
_To refine Beer, Ale, Wine, or Cider._
Put two ounces of isinglass shavings to soak in a quart of the liquor
that you want to clear, beat it with a whisk every day till dissolved.
Draw off a third part of the cask, and mix the above with it; likewise a
quarter of an ounce of pearlashes, one ounce of salt of tartar calcined,
and one ounce of burnt alum powdered. Stir it well, then return the
liquor into the cask, and stir it with a clean stick. Stop it up, and in
a few days it will be fine.
_To make excellent Coffee._ See among sick Cookery.
_Orgeat._
Boil a quart of new milk with a stick of cinnamon, sweeten to your
taste, and let grow cold; then pour it by degrees to three ounces of
almonds, and twenty bitter, that have been blanched and beaten to a
paste, with a little water to prevent oiling; boil all together, and
stir till cold, then add half a glass of brandy.
_Another way._
Blanch and pound three quarters of a pound of almonds, and thirty
bitter, with a spoonful of water. Stir in by degrees two pints of water,
and three of milk, and strain the whole through a cloth. Dissolve half a
pound of fine sugar in a pint of water, boil and skim it well; mix it
with the other, as likewise two spoonfuls of orange flower water, and a
teacupful of the best brandy.
_Lemonade. To be made a day before wanted._
Pare two dozen of tolerably sized lemons as thin as possible, put
eighteen of the rinds into three quarts of hot, not boiling water, and
cover it over for three or four hours. Rub some fine sugar on the lemons
to attract the essence, and put it into a China bowl, into which squeeze
the juice of the lemons: to it add one pound and a half of fine sugar,
then put the water to the above, and three quarts of milk made boiling
hot; mix, and pour through a jellybag till perfectly clear.
_Another way._
Pare a number of lemons according to the quantity you are likely to
want; on the peels pour hot water, but more juice will be necessary than
you need use the peels of. While infusing, boil sugar and water to a
good syrup with the white of an egg whipt up. When it boils, pour a
little cold water into it; set it on again, and when it boils up take
the pan off, and set it to settle. If there is any skum, take it off,
and pour it clear from the sediment to the water the peels were infused
in, and the lemonjuice; stir and taste it, and add as much more water as
shall be necessary to make a very rich lemonade. Wet a jellybag, and
squeeze it dry, then strain the liquor, which is uncommonly fine.
_Raspberry vinegar._
Put a pound of fine fruit into a China bowl, and pour upon it a quart of
the best white wine vinegar; next day strain the liquor on a pound of
fresh raspberries; and the following day do the same, but do not squeeze
the fruit, only drain the liquor as dry as you can from it. The last
time pass it through a canvass previously wet with vinegar to prevent
waste. Put it into a stonejar, with a pound of sugar to every pint of
juice, broken into large lumps; stir it when melted, then put the jar
into a saucepan of water, or on a hot hearth, let it simmer, and skim
it. When cold, bottle it.
This is one of the most useful preparations that can be kept in a house,
not only as affording the most refreshing beverage, but being of
singular efficacy in complaints of the chest. A large spoonful or two in
a tumbler of water.
N. B. Use no glazed or metal vessel for it.
_Note._ The fruit, with equal quantity of sugar, makes excellent
raspberry cakes without boiling.
_Raspberry wine._
To every quart of well picked raspberries put a quart of water; bruise,
and let them stand two days; strain off the liquor, and to every gallon
put three pounds of lump sugar; when dissolved put the liquor in a
barrel, and when fine, which will be in about two months, bottle it, and
to each bottle put a spoonful of brandy, or a glass of wine.
_Raspberry, or Currant wine._
To every three pints of fruit, carefully cleared from mouldy or bad, put
one quart of water; bruise the former. In twenty four hours strain the
liquor, and put to every quart a pound of sugar, a good middling quality
of Lisbon. If for white currants, use lump sugar. It is best to put the
fruit, &c. in a large pan, and when in three or four days the skum
rises, take that off before the liquor be put into the barrel.
Those who make from their own gardens may not have a sufficiency to fill
the barrel at once. The wine will not be hurt if made in the pan, in the
above proportions, and added as the fruit ripens, and can be gathered in
dry weather. Keep an account of what is put in each time.
_Imperial._
Put two ounces of cream of tartar, and the juice and paring of two
lemons into a stonejar; pour on them seven quarts of boiling water, stir
and cover close. When cold, sweeten with loaf sugar, and straining it,
bottle and cork it tight.
This is a very pleasant liquor, and very wholesome; but from the latter
consideration was at one time drank in such quantities, as to become
injurious. Add, in bottling, half a pint of rum to the whole quantity.
_Excellent Gingerwine._
Put into a very nice boiler ten gallons of water, twelve pounds and a
half of lump sugar, with the whites of six or eight eggs well beaten and
strained; mix all well while cold; when the liquor boils, skim it well;
put in half a pound of common white ginger bruised, boil it twenty
minutes. Have ready the very thin rinds of ten lemons, and pour the
liquor on them; when _cool_, turn it with two spoonfuls of yeast; put a
quart of the liquor to two ounces of isinglass shavings, while warm,
_whisk_ it well three or four times, and pour all together into the
barrel. Next day stop it up; in three weeks bottle, and in three months
it will be a delicious and refreshing liquor; and though very cool,
perfectly safe.
_Another for Gingerwine._
Boil nine quarts of water with six pounds of lump sugar, the rinds of
two or three lemons very thinly pared, with two ounces of bruised white
ginger half an hour; skim. Put three quarters of a pound of raisins into
the cask; when the liquor is lukewarm, tun it with the juice of two
lemons strained, and a spoonful and a half of yeast. Stir it daily, then
put in half a pint of brandy, and half an ounce of isinglass shavings;
stop it up, and bottle it six or seven weeks. Do not put the lemonpeel
in the barrel.
_Alderwine._
To every quart of berries put two quarts of water, _boil_ half an hour,
run the liquor, and break the fruit through a hair sieve; then to every
quart of juice, put three quarters of a pound of Lisbon sugar, not the
very coarsest, but coarse. Boil the whole a quarter of an hour with some
Jamaica peppers, ginger, and a few cloves. Pour it into a tub, and when
of a proper warmth into the barrel, with toast and yeast to work, which
there is more difficulty to make it do than most other liquors. When it
ceases to hiss, put a quart of brandy to eight gallons, and stop up.
Bottle in the spring or at Christmas.
_White Alderwine; very much like Frontiniac._
Boil eighteen pounds of white powder sugar, with six gallons of water,
and two whites of eggs well beaten; then skim it, and put in a quarter
of a peck of alder flowers from the tree that bears _white_ berries; do
not keep them on the fire. When near cold, stir it, and put in six
spoonfuls of lemonjuice, four or five of yeast, and beat well into the
liquor; stir it every day; put six pounds of the best raisins, stoned,
into the cask, and tun the wine. Stop it close, and bottle in six
months.
When well kept, this wine will pass for Frontiniac.
_Clary Wine._
Boil fifteen gallons of water, with forty five pounds of sugar, skim it,
when cool put a little to a quarter of a pint of yeast, and so by
degrees add a little more. In an hour pour the small quantity to the
large, pour the liquor on clary flowers, picked in the dry; the quantity
for the above is twelve quarts. Those who gather from their own garden
may not have sufficient to put in at once, and may add as they can get
them, keeping account of each quart. When it ceases to hiss, and the
flowers are all in, stop it up for four months. Rack it off, empty the
barrel of the dregs, and adding a gallon of the best brandy, stop it up,
and let it stand six or eight weeks then bottle it.
_A rich and pleasant Wine._
Take new cyder from the press, mix it with as much honey as will support
an egg, boil gently fifteen minutes, but not in an iron, brass, or
copper pot. Skim it well; when cool, let it be tunned, but do not quite
fill. In March following bottle it, and it will be fit to drink in six
weeks; will be less sweet if kept longer in the cask. You will have a
rich and strong wine, and it will keep well. This will serve for any
culinary purposes which sack, or sweet wine, are directed for.
Duhamel says, honey is a fine ingredient to assist, and render
palatable, new crabbed austere cider.
_Raisinwine, with Cider._
Put two hundred weight of Malaga raisins into a cask, and pour upon them
a hogshead of good sound cider that is not rough. Stir it well two or
three days; stop it, and let it stand six months; then rack into a cask
that it will fill, and put in a gallon of the best brandy.
If raisinwine be much used, it would answer well to keep a cask always
for it, and bottle off one year’s wine just in time to make the next,
which, allowing the six months of infusion, would make the wine to be
eighteen months old. In cider countries this way is very economical; and
even if not thought strong enough, the addition of another quarter of a
hundred of raisins would be sufficient, and the wine would still be very
cheap.
When the raisins are pressed through a horsehair bag, they will either
produce a very good spirit by distillation, and must be sent to a
chymist who will do it (but if for that purpose, they must be very
little pressed); or they will make excellent vinegar, on which article
see page 116.
The stalks should be picked off for the above, and may be thrown into
any cask of vinegar that is making; being very acid.
_Raisinwine, without Cider._
On four hundred weight of Malagas pour one hogshead of spring water,
stir well daily for fourteen days, then squeeze the raisins in a
horsehair bag in a press, and tun the liquor; when it ceases to hiss,
stop it close. In six months rack it off into another cask, or into a
tub, and after clearing out the sediment, return it into the same, but
do not wash it; add a gallon of the best brandy, stop it close, and in
six months bottle it.
Take care of the pressed fruit, for the uses of which refer to the
preceding receipt.
_Ratafia._
Blanch two ounces of peach and apricot kernels, bruise and put them into
a bottle, and fill nearly up with brandy. Dissolve half a pound of white
sugarcandy in a cup of cold water, and add to the brandy after it has
stood a month on the kernels, and they are strained off; then filter
through paper, and bottle for use.
_Raspberry brandy._
Pick fine dry fruit, put into a stonejar, and the jar into a kettle of
water, or on a hot hearth, till the juice will run; strain, and to every
pint add half a pound of sugar, give one boil, and skim it; when cold,
put equal quantities of juice and brandy, shake well, and bottle. Some
people prefer it stronger of the brandy.
_Verder, or Milkpunch._
Pare six oranges, and six lemons as thin as you can, grate them after
with sugar to get the flavour. Steep the peels in a bottle of rum or
brandy stopped close twenty four hours. Squeeze the fruit on a pound and
a half of sugar, add to it four quarts of water, and one of new milk
boiling hot; stir the rum into the above, and run it through a jellybag
till perfectly clear. Bottle, and cork close immediately.
_Norfolkpunch._
Pare six lemons and three Seville oranges very thin, squeeze the juice
into a large teapot, put to it two quarts of brandy, one of white wine,
and one of milk, and one pound and a quarter of sugar. Let it be mixed,
and then covered for twenty four hours, strain through a jellybag till
clear; then bottle it.
_Orange, or Lemon syrup; a most useful thing to keep in the house, to
take with water, in colds or fevers._
Squeeze the juice of very good fruit, and boil when strained, a pint to
a pound of sugar, over a very gentle fire; skim it well; when clear,
pour it into a China bowl, and in twenty four hours bottle it for use.
_White Currant shrub._
Strip the fruit, and prepare in a jar as for jelly; strain the juice, of
which put two quarts to one gallon of rum, and two pounds of lump sugar;
strain through a jellybag.
* * * * *
The following pages will contain Cookery for the sick; it being of more
consequence to support those whose bad appetites will not allow them to
take the necessary nourishment, than to stimulate those that are in
health.
It may not be unnecessary to advise that a choice be made of the things
most likely to agree with the patient; _that_ a change be provided;
_that_ some one at least be always ready; _that_ not too much of those
be made at once, which are not likely to keep, as invalids require
variety; and let them succeed each other in a different form and
flavour.
_A great Restorative._
Bake two calf’s feet in three pints of water, and new milk, in a jar
close covered, three hours and a half. When cold remove the fat.
Give a large teacupful the last and first thing. Whatever flavour is
approved, give it by baking in it lemonpeel, cinnamon, or mace. Add
sugar.
_Another._
Simmer six sheep’s trotters, two blades of mace, a little cinnamon,
lemonpeel, a few hartshorn shavings, and a little isinglass, in two
quarts of water to one; when cold take off the fat, and give near half a
pint twice a day; warming with it a little new milk.
_Another._
Boil one ounce of isinglass shavings, forty Jamaica peppers, and a bit
of brown crust of bread, in a quart of water to a pint, and strain it.
This makes a pleasant jelly to keep in the house; of which a large
spoonful may be taken in wine and water, milk, tea, soup, or any way.
_Another most pleasant Draught._
Boil a quarter of an ounce of isinglass shavings with a pint of new milk
to half, add a bit of sugar, and, for change, a bitter almond. Give this
at night, not too warm.
Blamange, Dutch Flummery, and Jellies, as directed pages 164 and 165, or
less rich according to judgment.
_A very nourishing Veal broth._
Put the knuckle of a leg or shoulder of veal, with very little meat to
it, an old fowl, and four shankbones of mutton extremely well soaked and
brushed, three blades of mace, ten peppercorns, an onion, and a large
bit of bread, and three quarts of water, into a stewpot that covers
close, and simmer in the slowest manner after it has boiled up, and been
skimmed; or, bake it; strain and take off the fat. Salt as wanted.
_A clear Broth that will keep long._
Put the mouse round of beef, a knucklebone of veal, and a few shanks of
mutton into a deep pan, and cover close with a dish or coarse crust;
bake till the beef is done enough for eating, with only as much water as
will cover. When cold, cover it close in a cool place. When to be used,
give what flavour may be approved.
_Dr. Ratcluff’s restorative Porkjelly._
Take a leg of well fed pork, just as cut up, beat it, and break the
bone. Set it over a gentle fire, with three gallons of water, and simmer
to one. Let half an ounce of mace, and the same of nutmegs, stew in it.
Strain through a line sieve. When cold, take off the fat. Give a
chocolate cup the first and last thing, and at noon, putting salt to
taste.
_Beef tea._
Cut a pound of fleshy beef in thin slices, simmer with a quart of water
twenty minutes, after it has once boiled, and been skimmed. Season, if
approved; but it has generally only salt.
_Broth of Beef, Mutton, and Veal._
Put two pounds of lean beef, two pounds of scrag of mutton, sweet herbs,
and ten peppercorns, into a nice tin saucepan, with five quarts of
water; simmer to three quarts; and clear from the fat when cold.
_Note._ That soup and broth made of different meats are more supporting,
as well as better flavoured.