Imperial Pop.—(a) 1 oz. cream of tartar, ¼ lb. lump sugar, the juice and peel of 1 lemon or less, according to taste. Pour over this 4 qt. of boiling water, and drink when cold.
(b) 1½ gal. boiling water, 1½ lb. best white sugar, 1 oz. best ginger, 1 oz. lemon juice. When cool, strain and ferment with 1 oz. yeast, and bottle.
Lawn Sleeve.—The same as Bishop. Substitute Madeira or sherry for port, with 3 glasses hot calves’-foot jelly.
Lemonade.—(a) Can be used in powders, and carried when out shooting, fishing, &c.:soda bicarbonate, 20 gr.; citric or tartaric acid, 15 gr.; sugar to taste—the sugar and soda in one glass, and the acid in another; mix.
(b) Take lemon juice, sugar, and water only. About 1 lemon to 1 pint water, adding the peel cut very thin, and sugar to the palate.
Lemon Beer.—1 lb. sugar, 1 lemon sliced, 1 teacupful yeast, 1 gal. boiling water, 1 oz. ginger, bruised. Let it stand 12 to 20 hours, after which it may be bottled.
Lemon Shrub.—The juice of 12 lemons, the thin rind of 2, 1 lb. sugar, the whites of 2 eggs well whisked, 1 pint water, ½ pint rum, and ½ pint brandy. Mix and strain.
Lemon Whey.—1 pint boiling milk, ½ pint lemon juice, sugar to taste. Mix and strain.
Linseed Tea.—Take 3 tablespoonfuls linseed, about 1 pint water, and boil for 10 minutes. Strain off the water, put in a jug with 2 lemons, cut in thin slices; put also some brown sugar. A wineglassful of wine is an improvement. This has been found most nourishing for invalids.
Loving Cup.—(a) ½ oz. cloves, allspice (whole), and cinnamon; mix them together with 1 pint water; boil till reduced to one-third, then strain it off. Add 2 bot. sherry, 2 Madeira, 1 port, 1 claret, the juice of 6 lemons, 1½ lb. loaf sugar, 2 nutmegs grated finely, 1 qt. water. Flavour with the spices according to taste. This is sufficient for 150 guests. Send round cold.
(b) Extract the juice from the peel of the lemon by rubbing sugar on it, cut 2 lemons into thin slices; add the rind of 1 lemon cut thin, ¼ lb. loaf sugar, and ½ pint brandy; put the whole into a large jug, mix it well together, and pour 1 qt. cold spring water upon it; grate a nutmeg into it, and add 1 pint Madeira, and 1 bot. cider; sweeten it to taste with capillaire or lump sugar; put (in summer) a handful of balm, and the same quantity of borage, in flower, into it, stalks downward; then put the jug containing the liquor into a tub of ice, and when it has remained there 1 hour it is fit for use. The balm and borage should be fresh gathered. In winter use ale instead of cider, omit ice, and drink warm.
Mangold-wurzel Beer.—Wash the roots, scrape and pare them, cut them up as for sheep, fill the boiler with them and then pour as much water to them as it will hold. Let them boil about 6 hours, and then strain them through a basket, but do not press them. Measure the liquor back again into the boiler and to every 7 pails put 3 lb. hops, 6 lb. coarse brown sugar, and ½ lb. mustard-seed. Boil together for 2 hours, then strain through the brewing-sieve; when cool, work it with yeast the same as other beer. Before putting into the barrel the next day, skim off the dark-looking froth.
Marigold Wine.—Boil 25 lb. good loaf sugar and 4 lb. honey with 10 gal. soft water, and the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, 1 hour, skimming until quite clear; pour hot upon 3 pecks marigold flowers and 4 lb. good raisins, stoned and shredded, covering the vessel close. Next day stir the liquor continually 20 minutes, and let remain covered until the following morning. Then strain, and put into cask upon the rinds of 6 Seville oranges pared very thin, and 8 oz. sugar candy broken small, reserving 2 gal., which must be made nearly boiling hot, and stirred amongst the rest. Then work with 7 or 8 tablespoonfuls good fresh yeast, cover the bung-hole with a tile, and let it work over, filling it up every day as the liquor decreases. When it has ceased fermenting, put in 3 pints French brandy, and 1 oz. dissolved isinglass, and stop it up securely. It will be fine in 9 months, and fit to bottle, but will improve if kept longer. Let it remain in bottles well corked and sealed 12 months.
May Drink.—Put into a large glass mug or china bowl about 2 doz. black-currant leaves, a small handful of woodruff, and a quantity, according to taste, of pounded lump sugar and lemon juice; pour in 2 bot. hock or Moselle, never mind how common. Stir the whole occasionally for ½ hour, and serve.
Mead.—(a) Dissolve 1 oz. cream of tartar in 5 gal. boiling water; pour the solution off clear upon 20 lb. fine honey, boil them together and remove the scum as it rises.Towards the end of the boiling add 1 oz. fine hops; about 10 minutes afterwards put the liquor into a tub to cool; when reduced to the temperature of 70° or 80° F. (rather less than the warmth of new milk), according to the season, add a slice of bread toasted and smeared over with a little yeast. The liquor should now stand in a warm room, and be stirred occasionally. As soon as it begins to carry a head, it should be tunned, and the cask filled up, from time to time, from the reserve, till the fermentation has nearly subsided. It should now be bunged down, leaving a small peg-hole; in a few days this also may be closed, and in about 12 months the wine will be fit to bottle.
(b) 10 gal. water, 2 lemons, cut in slices, 2 gal. honey, a handful dried ginger root. Mix all together, and boil ½ hour, carefully skimming all the time. While boiling add 2 oz. hops. Remove from the fire, and while the liquid is lukewarm add a strong yeast, and put into a cask to work about 3 weeks, when it is fit for use.
(c) 1 gal. water, 3 lb. strained honey. Boil about ½ hour, adding to it ½ oz. hops; skim carefully, and drain the skimmings through a hair sieve, returning what runs through. Remove from the fire, and when the liquid is lukewarm stir into it ½ pint yeast, which is sufficient for 9 gal. mead. Put into a cask and let it work over, filling it up until fermentation subsides. Put a strong paper over the bung-hole. This mead may be flavoured with spices while boiling, and make a delicious summer drink.
Milk Lemonade.—Loaf sugar 1½ lb., dissolved in 1 qt. boiling water, with ½ pint lemon juice, and 1½ pint milk; this makes a capital summer beverage; ½ pint sherry added is a great improvement.
Milk Punch.—(a) Pare the rind off 12 lemons and 2 Seville oranges thinly; put them to steep in 6 pints rum, brandy, or whisky for 24 hours; then add 2 lb. refined sugar, 3 pints water, 2 nutmegs grated, and 1 pint lemon juice; stir it till the sugar is dissolved; then take 3 pints new milk, boiling hot, and pour on the ingredients; let stand 12 hours, closely covered; strain through a jelly-bag till quite clear; bottle.
(b) Pare 18 lemons very thin, infuse the peel in 1 qt. rum, and keep closely covered. The next day squeeze the juice of the 18 lemons over 4 lb. white sugar, and keep this also closely covered. The third day mix the above ingredients together, and add 3 qt. more rum (or 1 qt. rum and 2 qt. best cognac, which is preferred by some), and 5 qt. water that has been boiled, but is cold when added, also 2 qt. boiling milk; stir the whole mixture for about 10 minutes, cover close, and let it stand for about 3 hours, until quite cold; strain through a flannel bag 2 or 3 times, till quite clear. In bottling, care should be taken that the corks fit tight, and it will keep 3 or 4 years.
(c) The following is a celebrated Cambridge recipe for milk punch:—Beat up 4 new-laid eggs in the bowl in which you intend sending the punch to table; then add the following ingredients (recollecting always to put in the noyeau first), ½ pint noyeau, of rum, and of brandy, and then ½ pint noyeau, rum, and brandy mixed in equal proportions. Have 2 qt. milk boiling, to which add ½ teacup sugar, and then pour it on to the spirit, putting a little nutmeg grated on the top.
Molasses Beer.—1 lb. brown sugar, 1 oz. bruised ginger, 1 lb. molasses, ½ oz. hops. Boil for a few minutes with 3 qt. water; strain and add 5 qt. water and a spoonful of yeast; let this work all night, and bottle in the morning.
Moselle Cup.—(a) To 1 bot. still or sparkling Moselle add 1 bot. soda-water, 1 glass sherry or brandy, 4 or 5 thin slices of pineapple, the peel of half a lemon cut very thin, and powdered sugar according to taste; let the whole stand about 1 hour, and before serving add some lumps of clear ice.
(b) As (a), except the pineapple, for which substitute 1 pint fresh strawberries, or 3 or 4 peaches or nectarines.
(c) As (a), but add, instead of fruit, some sprigs of woodruff. Woodruff is a herb much used on the Rhine for making May drink, its peculiar flavour being most powerful in May; it is to be found in forests in many parts of England also.
(d) When neither fruit nor woodruff can be obtained, add, instead of sherry orbrandy, a glass or two of milk punch or essence of punch, and a little more of the lemon peel.
Mulled Ale.—To 1 qt. strong ale add 1 large wineglass gin or whisky. Pour it into a clean saucepan, and put it on a brisk fire until it creams, adding at the same time brown sugar, grated ginger, and nutmeg to taste; add cold ale until the whole is lukewarm. Serve in a brown earthenware two-handled cup, adding a thick piece of toasted bread. The toasted bread is covered with brown sugar, and eaten with toasted cheese.
Nectar.—Citric acid, 1 dr.; potash bicarbonate, 1 scr.; White sugar, 1 oz. Fill a soda-water bottle nearly full of water; drop in the potash and sugar, and finally the crystals of citric acid. Quickly cork the bottle and shake. The crystals being dissolved, the nectar is fit for use.
Nettle Beer.—1 peck green nettles, 1 handful dandelion, 1 oz. ginger, 1 oz. yeast, 1 handful coltsfoot, 2 lb. brown sugar, 1 oz. cream tartar, 3 gal. boiling water. Infuse the herbs in the boiling water, and when cold strain the liquor. In it dissolve the cream of tartar and the sugar, adding the yeast and bruised ginger. Let the whole work about 12 hours, skim the liquor carefully, and put into champagne bottles. Close tightly with good corks softened in boiling water, and tie the corks down. After a few days the beer is ready for use.
Nettle Wine.—Boil 25 lb. best loaf sugar with 10 gal. river or rain water, and the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, 1 hour, skimming well; pour the hot liquor upon 5 pecks young tops of nettles previously bruised a little, and cover the vessel close with cloths. When at a proper temperature work it with 8 tablespoonfuls of good yeast, stirring well 3 days; then strain the liquor into the cask upon 8 oz. cream of tartar, 4 lb. Malaga raisins stoned, the rinds of 8 lemons pared very thin, and 6 oz. white sugar candy broken; leave out the bung, keeping the cask quite full until fermentation has ceased. Add 3 pints white French brandy, stop up the cask securely, and keep it in a cool cellar 10 months; bottle it, wire and seal the corks, and in 6 months it will be excellent.
Oatmeal Drink.—Mix ½ lb. oatmeal with 5 gal. cold water, boil it for ½ hour, and strain it through a rather coarse gravy strainer; add brown sugar to taste while hot. It is very much improved by the addition of ½ oz. citric acid or 1 oz. tartaric acid. The thinly-cut rind of 2 or 3 lemons or oranges may be boiled in it; or a still cheaper flavouring is to add, before boiling, a bit of cinnamon stick or a few cloves. To be served cold.
Orange Wine.—The oranges must be perfectly ripe. Peel them and cut them in halves, crossways of the cells; squeeze into a tub. The press used must be so close that the seeds cannot pass into the must. Add 2 lb. white sugar to each gallon of sour orange juice, or 1 lb. each gallon of sweet orange juice, and 1 qt. water to each gallon of the mixed sugar and juice. Close fermentation is necessary. The resultant wine is amber-coloured, and tastes like dry hock, with the orange aroma. Vinegar can be made from the refuse, and extract from the peels.
Oxford Grace Cup.—Extract juice from peeling of a lemon, and cut the remainder into thin slices; put it into a jug or bowl, and pour on it 1½ pints strong beer, and a bottle of sherry; grate a nutmeg into it; sweeten it to taste; stir till the sugar is dissolved, and then add 3 or 4 slices bread toasted brown. Let stand 2 hours and strain off.
Oxford Mull.—Boil a small quantity of cinnamon, cloves, and mace in ½ pint water; pour into it a bottle of port wine, and when it is nearly boiling add 2 lemons thinly sliced; sweeten it to taste.
Oxford Punch.—Extract the juice from the rind of 3 lemons by rubbing loaf sugar on them; the peeling of 2 Seville oranges and 2 lemons cut very thin, the juice of 4 Seville oranges and 10 lemons, 6 glasses of calves’-foot jelly in a liquid state: put into a jug and stir well together. Pour 2 qt. boiling water on the mixture, cover the jug closely, and place it near the fire for ¼ hour, then strain the liquid through a sieve into a punch-bowl or jug, sweeten it with a bottle of capillaire, and add ½ pint white wine,1 pint French brandy, 1 pint Jamaica rum, and 1 bot. orange shrub. The mixture to be stirred as the spirits are poured in. If not sufficiently sweet, add loaf sugar, gradually, in small quantities, or a spoonful of capillaire. To be served hot or cold.
Parsnip Wine.—May be made by infusing 5 or 6 lb. of the chopped stem in 1 gal. hot water till cold; strain, and add to each gallon of the infusion 3 or 4 lb. white sugar, 1 oz. cream of tartar, and about 2 to 5 per cent. brandy. When well made and strong, this wine is of rich and excellent quality, especially after fermentation.
Parting Cup.—Put 2 or 3 slices of very brown toast in a bowl; grate over the same a little nutmeg; then pour in 1 qt. ale (mild preferable), and ⅔ bot. sherry; sweeten with syrup, and (immediately before drinking) add 1 bot. soda water; a little clove or cinnamon may be added, if approved of.
Primrose Wine.—Pick the flowers of fresh-gathered primroses from the stalks, and put 3 pecks of them and 1 peck cowslip pips into a clean vessel; boil 30 lb. good loaf sugar with 2 oz. best ginger bruised, and 10 gal. of river or rain water, ¾ hour, skimming it well; then add the whites of 10 eggs well beaten, boiling and skimming until it is perfectly clear; pour this boiling hot upon the flowers, stir well 10 minutes, and cover the vessel up closely for 3 days, adding 6 lb. Smyrna raisins cut small, and stoned, the juice of 10 lemons, and their rinds pared off very thin; let them infuse, stirring well twice daily, and on the fourth day warm the liquor, and work it at the proper temperature with ½ pint good yeast; when it has fermented 3 days, strain well, and filter into the cask; cover the bung-hole with a tile, keep the cask full, and let it work out; when it has ceased fermenting, pour in 3 pints white French brandy and 1 oz. best isinglass dissolved in 1 qt. of the wine; stop up the cask, put sand on the bung, and keep it in a cool cellar 12 months; bottle it, and in 6 months more it will be ready.
Punch.—(a) Take the juice and thin rind of 1 lemon, juice of 2 sweet oranges, taking out the pips; pour on these 3 pints boiling water; add ½ lb. loaf sugar, and when the sugar is dissolved, add ½ pint old Jamaica rum, and ½ pint cognac. Let stand for 6 hours, and bottle.
(b) Rub ¼ lb. white lump sugar over 1 large lemon until it has absorbed all the yellow part of the skin; then put the sugar into your bowl, add the juice of the same lemon, and mix well together. Pour over them 1 pint boiling water, stirring well together; then add ½ pint rum, ½ pint brandy, and ½ teaspoonful nutmeg; again mix well together, and it is ready to serve. Great care should be taken that the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
(c) ½ pint rum, ½ pint brandy, ½ pint stout (made hot), 1 quartern of cloves, 1 quartern of shrub, 1 lemon sliced, and the juice of one, ¼ lb. loaf sugar, 1 qt. boiling water.
(d) 1 bot. rum, 1 of sherry, 1 pint brandy, the juice of 3 lemons and 3 Seville oranges, 1½ lb. lump sugar; rub the rinds of the lemon and oranges with some of the sugar; add 1 qt. new milk to these ingredients, not quite boiling. Let stand 24 hours covered close, strain through a jelly bag, and bottle close. It will keep many years.
Raisin Wine.—Pick the raisins from their stalks, and put them into a tub with 1 gal. spring water (which has been boiled and allowed to cool) to every 8 lb. fruit; stir it thoroughly every day, then strain it into a cask, and leave it until the fermentation has ceased; add a bottle of brandy, bung up the barrel tight, and leave it for 12 months. Then strain it again into a clean cask. It may be bottled after standing 2 years.
Rhenish Cup.—(a) Take with 1 bot. light hock about 1 doz. sprigs of woodruff, ¼ orange cut in small slices, and about 2 oz. powdered sugar. The herbs are to be removed after having been in the wine ½ hour or longer, according to taste. A bottle of sparkling wine, added to 4 or 5 bot. still hock, is a great improvement. A little ice is recommended.
(b) Instead of woodruff and orange, take to each bottle of hock about ½ pint highly flavoured strawberries. Sugar as above. The fruit to be taken with the wine after having been in it about 1 hour.
(c) Take some thin slices of pineapple instead of the strawberries.
(d) Take to each bottle of hock 2 highly flavoured peaches, peeled and cut in slices. Sugar as above.
Rhubarb Wine.—(a) The rhubarb must be quite ripe; to 1 gal. rain-water, boiling, cut 8 lb. rhubarb into thin slices, put into pan or tub, cover close with a thick cloth or blanket, and stir 3 times a day for a week; then strain through a cloth, and add 4 lb. loaf sugar, the juice of 2 lemons and the rind of 1. To fine it, take 1 oz. isinglass and 1 pint of the liquor, and melt it over the fire; be sure you do not add it to the rest of the liquor till quite cold; then cask it. When the fermentation is over, bung it down. Bottle in March, and the following June it will be fit for use.
(b) To every 5 lb. rhubarb stalks, when sliced and bruised, put 1 gal. cold spring water; let stand 3 days, stir 2 or 3 times every day, then press and strain through a sieve, and to 1 gal. liquor put 30½ lb. loaf sugar, stir it well, and when melted barrel it; when it has done working, bung it up close, first suspending a muslin bag with isinglass from the bung into the barrel (say 2 oz. for 15 gal). In 6 months bottle it and wire the bottles; let them stand up for the first month, then lay 4 or 5 down lengthwise for a week, and if none burst all may be laid down. Should a large quantity be made it must remain longer in cask.
(c) Take 18 lb. rhubarb, cut it into small pieces, put them with 20 gal. soft water in a copper, and boil till soft; then strain through a sieve, add 5 or 6 handfuls balm, fresh or dried. To 1 gal. liquor put 3 lb. lump sugar and ½ lb. Malaga raisins, chopped; when lukewarm, put it into the barrel, and in 3 weeks stop it down. In 6 months, bottle. It will be fit to use in 3 months, or it will keep 20 years. You may make it pink colour by adding 1 pint damson juice.
(d) In the absence of a press to extract the juice, the stalks are boiled in a common stove boiler, using 2 qt. water to a boilerful of stalks. The stalks are very juicy, and after boiling require no pressing; they are merely left to drain; to 1 gal. juice add 2 lb. sugar, and place in a barrel to ferment; after fermenting, it should be corked tight.
(e) Cut up fruit into pieces, 2 in. long; to 1 gal. such add 1 gal. water and 3½ lb. loaf sugar. Fermentation will soon commence; stir up twice daily; when the pulp ceases to rise, wring out 1 qt. at a time in a piece of thin canvas; cork down in stone bottle or cask. Ease the cork for a minute twice daily the first week, as an after fret (fermentation) may occur. Good to drink in about 6 months. To please fancy you may add a little cut up dandelion root (fresh) or a handful of the leaves per gallon: but it must be all put together at commencement. Nearly all other fruits may be treated in the same way.
Sarsaparilla Beer.—Take of compound syrup of sarsaparilla 1 pint; good pale ale 7 pints; use no yeast.
Sham Champagne.—1 oz. tartaric acid, 1 oz. ginger root, 2½ gal. water, 1 good-sized lemon, 1½ lb. white sugar, 1 gill yeast. Slice lemon, bruise ginger, and mix all, except the yeast; boil the water and pour on, letting stand till cooled to blood heat. Add the yeast and stand in the sun one day. Bottle at night, tying the corks. In 2 days it may be used.
Sherry Cobbler.—Procure some clean ice, slice it on an ice plane, or pound it with a hammer, putting the ice into a linen or paper bag; then half fill a tumbler with it, and add 1 or 2 glasses sherry, ½ tablespoonful lemon juice, and 1 spoonful powdered white sugar, more or less according to palate. Imbibe through a straw.
Smoker’s Drink.—(a) In a large tumbler put a coffee-cup of hot (very strong) Mocha coffee, pure, a piece of sugar, according to taste (it ought not to be too sweet), a handsome dash of pure cognac; then fill up with pure cold water, and drink after stirring well up.
(b) Lemon and water, with or without sugar.
Spruce Beer.—(a) Take 10 gal. boiling water, 10 lb. sugar, 4 oz. essence of spruce,mix, and when nearly cold add ½ pint yeast. Next day bottle, and tie down as ginger beer.
(b) 2 oz. hops, 10 gal. water, 2 oz. chip sassafras. Boil ½ hour, strain and add 7 lb. brown sugar. 1 oz. essence of ginger, 1 oz. essence of spruce, ½ oz. ground pimento. Put into a cask, and cool; add 1½ pints of yeast; let stand 24 hours, and bottle.
Still Lemonade.—The juice of 3 lemons, the peel of 1, ¼ lb. lump sugar, and 1 qt. cold water. Mix, digest for 5 hours, and strain.
Sulphuric Orangeade.—3 oz. dilute sulphuric acid, 3 oz. concentrated compound infusion of orange peel, 12 oz. simple syrup, and 4 gal. boiled filtered water. A wineglassful of this mixture is taken as a draught in as much boiled and filtered water as may be agreeable.
Summer Drinks.—(a) Cold tea flavoured with sliced lemon and dashed with cognac. The tea should be properly made—not allowed to stand until it becomes rank, but boiling water should be poured on the leaves, allowed to stand 5 minutes, then poured into a jug with slices of lemon at the bottom. A wineglass of good brandy added when cool.
(b) Mix together 2 qt. best bottled cider—old, if possible—sweeten to taste, taking care that the sugar is perfectly melted. Add ½ nutmeg grated, a little powdered ginger, a glass of brandy, a glass of noyeau; cut a lemon into it in moderately thin slices, and let them remain there. Make it 2 hours before wanted, and stand in some ice.
(c) Sherry, 6 tablespoonfuls; brandy, 2 tablespoonfuls; sugar, 1½ oz.; 2 or 3 shreds of fresh lemon peel, cut very thin. This is the stock. It will be found convenient, when a quantity is required, to make a syrup of the sugar (1 oz. water to 2 oz. sugar), and to prepare the stock beforehand. The above quantity of stock should be added to 1 bot. claret and 1 bot. soda water. These should be kept in a cool place—a refrigerator, for instance—and only opened just before drinking. A lump of ice and a little borage are improvements; 2 bot. soda water instead of one can be used in summer.
(d) To 1½ pint good ale allow 1 bot. ginger beer. For this beverage the ginger beer must be in an effervescing state, and the beer not in the least turned or sour. Mix them together, and drink immediately.
(e) Get 3 pints water, 3 oz. tartaric acid, 3½ lb. lump sugar; mix and put to the fire to warm, not quite boil. While the above is getting hot, get the whites of 3 eggs and 4 teaspoonfuls wheaten flour, which well beat together, then mix by well stirring it with the water, acid, and sugar, then boil the whole 3 minutes. When cold, flavour with essence of lemon; bottle off. For use put a medium-sized spoonful of the liquor into a tumbler, fill up with water, and add a little soda carbonate; stir up and drink. A small quantity of brandy or sherry with the soda is a great improvement.
(f) Milk and whisky; quantity according to taste; the less spirit the better.
(g) Melt or dissolve by a gentle heat 1 oz. black currant jelly in ½ pint syrup; when cold add the same quantity of rum. In summer the above is best; for the winter months, do as follows: Pick fine dry black currants, put them into a stone jar, and then the jar into a saucepan of boiling water till the juice is extracted; strain, and to every pint add ½ lb. loaf sugar; give one boil and skim well; when cold add the same quantity of rum (or gin, if you prefer it), shake well, and bottle.
(h) 8 or 10 drops sulphuric acid added to a glass of water make a very wholesome subacid refreshing drink, having tonic properties, and well adapted to check the tendency to diarrhœa that exists during sultry weather.
(i) Mix 1 oz. essence of ginger and 1 oz. essence of cloves; put 20-30 drops into a tumbler of water. This renders even tepid water good.
Syllabubs.—(a) Put 1 pint beer and 1 pint cider into a punchbowl, grate in a small nutmeg, and sweeten it to your taste. Put the bowl under a cow and milk in about 3 pints milk; wash and pick some currants, make them plump before the fire, and strew them over the syllabub. (b) Take 1 qt. cream, 3 gills white wine, the juice of 1 lemon and of 2 Seville oranges, add sugar to taste, beat it well, and fill up your glasses as thefroth, rises. (c) Take ¼ lb. loaf sugar in one piece, and rub on it 2 lemons till you have got all the essence out of the rinds, then pour over the sugar 1 gill white wine, and when it is dissolved add the juice of the lemons and 1 pint cream, whip it well, or mill it with a chocolate mill. (d) Take ½ pint cream, ½ pint white wine, and the juice of a lemon, sweeten it to your taste with white sugar, put in a piece of the paring of the lemon and some powdered cinnamon, beat it well, and as it rises take up the froth with a spoon and lay it on a sieve to drain; fill your glasses half full with wine, sweeten it, and fill up with the whisked cream. (e) Put into a china bowl 1 pint port wine and 1 pint sherry, sugar to taste, milk the bowl nearly full, cover it with clotted cream, grate nutmeg over it.
Toast and Water.—(a) Hold a small piece of bread before the fire until it is the colour of mahogany, but do not let it burn. Put it in a jug and pour boiling water upon it, cover it down close until cold. (b) The bread should be very slowly and thoroughly toasted, great care being taken to prevent its burning in the slightest degree; cold water should then be poured over it. It must stand some time before being used.
Wassail Bowl.—Put into a bowl ½ lb. Lisbon sugar; pour on it 1 pint warm beer; grate a nutmeg and some ginger into it; add 4 glasses sherry and 5 additional pints beer; stir well; sweeten to taste; let stand covered up 2 or 3 hours; then put 3 or 4 slices bread (cut thin and toasted brown) into it. Sometimes a couple or three slices of lemon, and a few lumps of loaf sugar rubbed in the peeling of a lemon, are introduced.
White Wine Negus.—Extract the juice from the peel of a lemon by rubbing loaf sugar on it, or cut the peel of a lemon very thin, and pound it in a mortar; cut 2 lemons into thin slices, add 4 glasses calves’-foot jelly in a liquid state, small quantities of cinnamon, mace, cloves, and allspice. Put the whole into a jug, pour 1 qt. boiling water upon it, cover the jug close, let stand ¼ hour, and then add 1 bot. boiling white wine; grate half a nutmeg into it, stir well together, sweeten to taste. In making port wine negus, omit the jelly. Negus is not confined to any particular sort of wine; if the jelly is omitted, it can be made with any or several sorts mixed together.
Wines, British.—There are many persons who would rather buy their drinks than have the trouble and expense of making them. Such will be glad to know that Beaufoy’s British wines and non-alcoholic drinks are to be recommended before all others.
Bread.—Household bread may be made with brewers’ yeast (barm) or with German yeast.
(a)With Brewers’ Yeast.—Take a small quantity—say 2 lb. flour. This should be perfectly dry, or the dough will not rise well. Put it into a bowl—a brown earthenware one glazed on the inside is best—which should also be perfectly dry, and in the winter slightly warmed. Stir in 1 teaspoonful salt, then make a hole about 1½ in. in depth in the centre of the flour. Have ready 1½ tablespoonful fresh brewers’ yeast, mixed in 1 teaspoonful warm—nothot—water; pour this into the hole, and stir a handful of flour lightly into it with a wooden spoon. Then cover with flour again, lightly. Lay a thick cloth over the pan, taking care that it does not press on the flour, and stand it in a warm corner. When the flour at the top of the yeast begins to crack, and the “sponge”—i.e., fermented dough—runs through, which, if the yeast be perfectly fresh and good, it will do in about ½ hour; it is then fit to knead. Now the potatoes may be added, but they must first be finely mashed. A jug of warm water must be ready, and a small quantity at a time poured into a pan; this should be thoroughly mixed with the other ingredients—notwith a spoon this time, but the hand. Continue pouring in water and mixing till the mass is perfectly free from lumps, and about the consistency of pastry for pies or puddings. Then turn it out of the pan on to a well-floured pastry board, and roll to and fro for about 3 minutes. Put it back into the pan, again covered with a thick cloth, and leave to rise. Another ½ hour or so will find it fit for the oven. This can easily be ascertained by pulling the dough slightly apart; if it be close and heavy, it must remain a while longer; but if it looks spongy and rises again quickly after the pressure is removed, it is ready for the baking. If tins are to be used, they should be warmed, and a very little butter or dripping should be rubbed over the bottom and sides, to prevent the dough sticking. Many people prefer “cottage” or “batch” loaves as they are called in some countries, made something in the shape of a brioche cake; but a tyro in the art will find it safest to trust to the tins till she has by practice become light-fingered enough to manipulate the dough easily and quickly; for it must be borne in mind that dough, like pastry, becomes heavy by rough or too frequent handling. (Bessie Tremaine.)
Ovens and Baking.—With regard to the baking. The loaves must not be put into too hot an oven at first, or they will not rise; neither must the oven be too cool, or the bread will be underdone, and taste heavy and sodden. A good test is to sprinkle a little flour on the bottom of the oven, and shut the door; if in 5 minutes the flour is found to be coloured a golden brown, the bread may with safety be put in; if, on the contrary, the flour is a deep brown and smells burnt, the oven is too hot, and the fire should be slightly checked, also the oven door left open for a few minutes. The best way of regulating the temperature of the oven is to use a Bailey’s pyrometer (W. H. Bailey and Co., Albion Works, Salford, near Manchester), by which it is easy to see whether the fire should be urged or checked, ensuring the proper degree of heat without wasting fuel.
Bread is generally supposed to have a more pleasant flavour when baked in a brick oven. One reason why this is so is because the brick oven (when there is one attached to a house) is generally so large and cumbrous, besides being troublesome to heat, thatit is only used on baking days for bread or cake; so that there is no stale flavour of meat, game, or poultry hanging about it. This should be borne in mind when the baking is to be done in a kitchener, which should be thoroughly ventilated and washed out before the bread is put in. If this is attended to, the difference in the taste will be scarcely perceptible. (Bessie Tremaine.)
Mention may here be made of Perkins’ Patent Steam Oven (Seaford Street, Gray’s Inn Road), in which the baking is remarkably even and regular; and of the portable gas oven (J. Baker and Sons, 58 City Road). See also p.1003.
Yeast.—(a) First get 6 good-sized potatoes, wash and pare them and boil them in 2 qt. water with a handful of hops (the latter in a small bag kept for the purpose). When quite soft take them out, mash fine, and pour upon them the water in which they were boiled, adding a little water for what may have boiled away, and also ½ cup salt and same of white sugar. When cooled down to a lukewarm temperature add 1 cup yeast to ferment it with. It does not rise, it works like beer, and having been covered closely and kept in a warm place, in the course of 5-6 hours the entire surface will be covered with fine bubbles, which indicate that it is ready for use. It should now be bottled and put in the cellar, where it will keep a long time. The bottles must not be corked tight at first, or they will be liable to burst. If the theory be true that some of the same kind must be used to start with, some difficulty may be encountered in introducing it where it is not used.
(b) Boil and mash 1 lb. potatoes, mix with them ¼ lb. coarse raw sugar and 1 teaspoonful salt, add 1 qt. tepid water, and let the mixture stand in a warm place for 24 hours; then boil a small handful of hops for 10 minutes in ½ pint water, strain, and add the liquor to the yeast. Again let it stand for 24 hours; if it does not then ferment, get a little brewers’ yeast, and let it work for 24 hours; then strain it, and it is fit for use. When cold, put away the yeast in stone bottles, the cork tied down firmly. Keep in a cool dry place until wanted. About ½ pint yeast will be required to ferment 7 lb. flour.
(c)With German Yeast.—The one great point is to knead well. Not only should the dough be well kneaded, but the sponge, where it is placed to rise, should be well and rapidly beaten with a wooden spoon. The effect will be speedily seen, for the grain of the sponge becomes closer and finer, and, when put in a suitable place, will at once begin to rise in very fine bubbles. Potatoes much improve bread, and, in order to use them with a good effect, they must be steamed and beaten to a pulp, or, rather, to a cream; for a little water must be added to the pulp as soon as all the lumps have been beaten away, and this water should be in quantity just sufficient to give the potatoes the consistency of thick cream. This potato cream is to be put in the sponge before the beating commences—in fact, it is part of the sponge. It is advisable to put German yeast in water over night, and in the morning, when you are ready to lay your sponge, you must add to the yeast and water 2 lumps sugar. As the sugar assists the yeast to ferment, it must not be carelessly put in and left. As soon as it is dissolved the sponge should be mixed. Bread mixed with milk is much better than that made with water. Therefore, if you can procure it, place some milk on the fire to boil, and when it has partly cooled it is ready for use. An easy mode of cooling milk that has boiled is to place the can containing it in a pail of cold water.
Never make bread with raw milk, for the chances are that the dough will become sour, and, although a little soda carbonate will counteract the acidity when in the sponge, it is impossible to remedy any such accident in the dough. It is a very difficult thing to tell anyone how much liquid to use to any given quantity of flour. American flour, which makes the finest bread, requires more liquid than English flour. The reason is obvious—the better the flour the drier, and American flour is very dry. Although commanding a higher price than English, it is in reality much more economical, as a stone of American flour will produce a much larger batch of bread than a stone of English flour will.
¼ lb. yeast will be found sufficient for an ordinary baking. It is a general rule to lay the sponge in the centre of the flour that you intend shall form the dough. This is a mistaken idea, and the better plan is to have a bowl about the size of a toilette basin. Warm it; do not quite half fill with flour. Have your yeast and sugar ready dissolved and smoothly mixed with cold water; have also in a jug at your left hand some milk that has been boiled and lost its scalding heat. Your bread will be improved if you provide yourself too with some warm creamed potatoes (you may with advantage have as much potato as flour in your sponge). It is quite out of the question to say when it will have risen—the weather affects it, and it will vary each time. The better way is to keep a watchful eye on it. It is fit to be taken when it has risen to a fine spongy mass, presenting the appearance of froth.
Have a large bowl ready warmed, place in this as much flour as you judge will make the quantity of bread you desire; but do not more than half fill your bowl, or there will be no room for rising. Make a hole in the centre of the flour, and pour in the sponge, add a small quantity of salt, and proceed to knead it up, moistening from time to time with milk, or water, as the case may be. Do not have the dough too stiff. It is as well to use the right hand first, and keep the left free to add the liquid from the jug. The right hand has most power, and vigour is required in kneading bread. We have proof of this in the Italians, who knead their dough with such force as to produce corns on the knuckles of the hand. When you find you have sufficient liquid, let the left hand take its share in pounding and working the dough.
Draw the dough from the sides of the pan to the middle in kneading, and continue to do this until it ceases to stick either to the hands or bowl. Having arrived at this point, place the bread-bowl in a warm position, and cover with a cloth. When the dough is ready to be made into loaves it will be risen and cracked all over. The bread-tins must be rubbed inside with lard before using. Remember, when you cut your dough into loaves, that it is necessary to knead it up again before placing in the tins. It is a good plan to nearly ¾ fill the tins, prick through with a fork, and put to rise again. Stand your tins together, if possible, and place a clean light cloth over them, to keep any dust off, and also to prevent the surface of the dough from drying. The loaves must rise until they nearly reach the tops of the tins. Now place in an oven that has a moderately good heat, and do not open the door during the first 15 minutes. The middle shelf of an oven is the proper place for bread, and the tins should stand on rings; there is then no chance of burning the bottoms of the loaves. After the loaves have been in the oven ½ hour, change their positions. An hour should bake an ordinary loaf. During the last ½ hour the heat of the oven may be allowed to decrease.
As soon as your bread is baked, take the loaves out of the tins and wrap them in a clean old blanket kept especially for the purpose. The object is to prevent hard crust, and the blanket will absorb any moisture caused by the steam. When quite cold the bread may be placed in the bread-pan, which should be kept in a cold damp place. No bread will keep in a good state which is in a dry, warm situation. It is certain to dry, crack, and mould. It will be found a good plan to bake once a week during the winter, and twice during the summer months. Should any difficulty be experienced during very sultry weather, make the dough in the evening with quite cold water or milk, there will be no sponge to lay in this case; all must be kneaded up at once, and in the morning it will be ready for use. Bread made up in this way is excellent if well kneaded, but never has such delicate grain as that made by the above directions.
The only real enemy to success in bread-making is warm sultry weather. When the air is charged with electricity, the housewife may think of danger. Want of attention is, in the majority of cases, the real cause of mishaps. (Harriett Estill.)
The flour called “seconds” makes a more economical loaf for family use than the first quality; when, however, a very white light kind of bread is preferred, “best whites” must be used. German yeast should be perfectly fresh and sweet, in whichstate it is nearly white and quite dry. Dissolve 1½ oz. in a few spoonfuls of cool water, and then stir into it 3½ pints tepid water; pour it rapidly over 5 lb. flour, in which 1 tablespoonful salt has been mixed; beat it up with the hand or a wooden spoon until well mixed, then gradually work in 2 lb. more of flour, kneading it well. When finished, the dough will be perfectly smooth, and not a particle will adhere to the hands or pan. Set the dough in a warm place to rise for an hour, then work it up with a handful of flour until it is stiff; divide it into 2 or 3 loaves, working them up into a compact shape. Put them on a floured baking sheet, and bake them in an oven as hot as it can be without burning the bread, as it will then keep its shape. In about 10 minutes the heat may be moderated and kept equal until the bread is finished. A 5 lb. loaf will take 1¼ hour to bake. A skewer may be thrust into the loaf, and if it comes out clean the bread is done enough, but generally the appearance of the loaf should indicate this to anyone having the least experience. (Mary Hooper.)
Biscuits, Cakes, and Fancy Breads.—Of these there is an endless variety, the majority being well adapted for making at home.
Abernethy Biscuits.—(a) Dissolve ¼ lb. butter in ½ pint warm milk, and with 4 lb. fine flour, a few caraways, and ½ lb. sugar, make a stiff but smooth paste; to render the biscuits short and light, add ½ dr. ammonia carbonate in powder. Roll out very thin; stamp the biscuits, pricking them with a fork, and bake in tins in a quick oven.
(b) Into 7 lb. flour rub 1 lb. butter; add 1 lb. moist sugar, powdered, and 2 oz. caraway seeds; make into smooth dough with 2½ pints water containing 4 oz. sal volatile; roll into thin sheets; cut into biscuits, place on buttered tins, wash tops with white of egg, bake in quick oven.
Almond Bread.—8 oz. sweet almonds, 1 oz. bitter almonds blanched and dried; pound fine with 18 oz. loaf sugar in a mortar; pass through sieve; mix into soft batter with yolk of egg; grate off the peel of 1 lemon, and add it with 2 oz. flour; mix lightly as for sponge cake; pour the batter into square, flat, tin dishes, turned up about 2 in., and buttered inside; bake in cool oven.
Almond Cakes.—Cover 1 lb. sweet almonds with boiling water in a saucepan; when just boiling, strain off, and rub skins off; slice up 2 oz. of them; put remainder into a mortar with 2¼ lb. loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful orange-flower water and white of 6 eggs, pound fine; spread wafer-paper on a tin, and drop on pieces of the paste as large as walnuts; sprinkle each with the shredded almonds; bake in slow oven.
Almond Savoy Cake.—Take 1 lb. blanched sweet almonds (4 oz. of them may be bitter), 2 lb. sugar, 1 pint yolk of egg, ½ pint whole eggs, 1 lb. flour, and the whites of 12 eggs beaten to a firm froth. Pound the almonds with the sugar in a mortar, and sift through a wire sieve, or grind in a mill, and mix with the sugar in the mortar. First mix the whole eggs well with the almonds and sugar, then add the yolks by degrees, stirring until quite light; then mix in the whites, and afterwards the flour lightly; prepare some moulds as for Savoy cakes, or only butter them. Fill the moulds ¾ full, and bake in a moderate oven.
American Biscuits.—Rub ½ lb. butter with 4 lb. flour; add 1 pint milk or water; mix well; break up the dough; bake in hot oven.
Apple Bread.—After having boiled 1 lb. peeled apples, bruise them while quite warm into 2 lb. flour, including the proper quantity of leaven, and knead the whole without water, the juice of the fruit being quite sufficient. When this mixture has acquired the consistency of paste, put it into a vessel, in which allow it to rise for about 12 hours. By this process you obtain a very sweet bread, extremely light.
Banbury Cake.—(a) 1½ lb. flour, 1 lb. butter; roll the butter in sheets in part of the flour; wet up the rest of the flour in nearly ½ pint water and a little German or brewers’ yeast; make into a smooth paste, roll in a large sheet, and lay on the butter; double up, and roll out again; do this 5 times; cut into square pieces, about 1½ oz. each. Mix together currants, candied peel chopped fine, moist sugar, and a little brandy; put 2 teaspoonfulsof this mixture on each piece of paste; bring the two corners together in the middle, and close them up of an oval shape; turn the closing downwards; sift finely powdered loaf sugar over the tops; put on a cold tin; let stand awhile in the cold to prove; bake in rather a cool oven.
(b) 2 lb. currants, ½ oz. each ground allspice and powdered cinnamon; 4 oz. each candied orange and lemon peel; 8 oz. butter, 1 lb. moist sugar, 12 oz. flour; mix the whole well together; roll out a piece of puff paste; cut into oval shape; put a small quantity of composition into each, and double up in the shape of a puff; put on a board, flatten down with rolling-pin, and sift powdered sugar over; do not put too close together; bake on iron plates in a hot oven.
Bath Buns.—1 lb. flour, peel of 2 lemons grated fine, ½ lb. butter melted in teacup of cream, 1 teaspoonful yeast, 3 eggs; mix; add ½ lb. powdered loaf sugar; mix well; let stand to rise; quantities will make about 3 dozen buns.
Bath Cake.—Roll 1¾ lb. moist sugar till fine; add ¾ pint water; let stand all night; into 4½ lb. flour rub 3 oz. butter; make a hole in it, and pour in the sugar and water with ½ pint honey water; roll thin; cut out, place on buttered tin, wash over with water, bake in quick oven.
Biscuit Powder.—Dry the biscuits in a slow oven; grind with a rolling-pin on a clean board till the powder is fine; sift through a fine hair-sieve, and it is fit for use.
Bordeaux Cake.—Make a mixture as for pound-cakes, leaving out the fruit, peel, and spices; bake in a round or oval hoop. When baked and cold, cut into slices ½ in. thick; spread each slice with jam or marmalade. The outside of the cake may be cut round, or fluted to form a star; and the centre of the cake is occasionally cut out to about 1½ in. from the edge, leaving the bottom slice whole: this may be filled with preserved wet or dry fruits, creams, or a trifle. The top is ornamented with piping, wet or dry fruits, and peels, or piped with jam and icing.
Brandy Snaps.—(a) Rub ¼ lb. butter into ½ lb. flour, add ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ oz. ground ginger, and the grated rind and juice of a lemon. Mix with a little treacle to a paste thin enough to spread on tins. Bake in a moderate oven, and when done enough cut it into strips whilst still on the tins, and then roll it round the fingers. When cold put in a tin at once, or they will lose their crispness. (b) Take 1 lb. flour, ½ lb. coarse brown sugar, ¼ lb. butter, 1 dessertspoonful allspice, 2 of ground ginger, the grated peel of half, and the juice of a whole lemon; mix altogether, adding ½ lb. treacle; beat it well; butter some sheet tins, and spread the paste thinly over them, bake in rather a slow oven. When done cut it into squares, and roll each square round the finger as it is raised from the tin. (c) ½ lb. salt butter, ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ lb. treacle and flour (more treacle than flour), 1½ oz. finely-powdered ginger. The butter, treacle, and part of the sugar to be made boiling hot, and poured on the remainder of the ingredients well mixed. Spread it very thinly with a knife on a sheet tin which has been buttered, and bake. When done, to be taken off with a knife.
Breakfast Cake.—Mix ½ oz. German yeast with ½ pint warm milk in a pan; weigh 2 lb. flour and take sufficient of it to make the milk the consistence of batter. When this sponge has risen, take a little milk—melt in it 3 oz. butter; add a teaspoonful of salt, and the yolks of 8 eggs; mix well with the sponge, and make into a dough with the remaining portion of flour. Do not use more milk with the eggs than will make ½ pint, or the dough will be too soft. When the dough is proved, make it into cakes about 2 in. thick; put them into buttered hoops; lay the hoops on iron plates, and when they are lightly risen, bake them in a warm oven; cut into slices ½ in. thick and butter each.
Bride Cake.—Cleanse and dry 2½ lb. currants; stone ½ lb. muscatel raisins; pound ¼ oz. mace, ⅛ oz. cinnamon; scald ¼ lb. sweet almonds, remove skins, and shred; slice up 2 oz. each candied citron, lemon, and orange peel; break 8 new eggs into a basin; sift 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar into 1¼ lb. flour; in a warmed pan beat 1 lb. butter by handtill it melts, then add the sugar and beat again; add ⅕ of the flour, stir, and add nearly half the eggs; beat up, add more flour and remainder of eggs; beat again and stir in rest of flour and currants; next add the raisins, almonds, candied peel, spices, and ½ gill brandy; thoroughly mix; double paper the tin, and bake in a very slow oven.
Brighton Biscuits.—Take 1¼ lb. good moist sugar; roll fine; mix with 2½ lb. flour, and sift through a flour sieve; rub in 2 oz. butter; make a hole in the middle, and strew in a few caraway seeds; pour in ½ pint each honey-water and milk; mix into dough, but do not work too much; roll out in thin sheets; cut into biscuits and put 2 in. apart on buttered tin; wash with milk; bake steadily.
Buttered Biscuits.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good yeast; break smooth; prove; cut into biscuits; bake in strong heat.
Captain’s Biscuits.—Rub 6 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. water; break smooth; bake in good strong heat.
Chelsea Buns.—Take ½ or 1 quartern light bread dough; dust the dresser or table with flour, and roll out with a rolling-pin into a sheet about ¼ in. thick; over the surface put 4-6 oz. butter, in little bits, work up and roll out 2 or 3 times, the same as for making puff paste. The last time it is rolled out, spread thinly and evenly over the surface, either moist or powdered loaf sugar; moisten by sprinkling with water; cut into strips, ½-¾ in. wide; roll up so as to form a coil or roll of dough about 2 in. in diameter. Lay these pieces (when rolled up) on a clean baking-tin, with some butter rubbed over the surface, to prevent the buns adhering when baked. Place rather more than ¼ in. asunder, with one of the cut edges downward. Put in a warm place, covered with a cloth, to prove, or rise; bake in a moderately warm oven. May be made richer by using more butter and sugar, and seeds or spice may be added at pleasure. When baked, some sugar may be sifted over the surface.
Cheese Cake.—Beat 4 oz. butter with the hand in a warm pan, till it comes to a fine cream; add 4 oz. powdered sugar; beat well; add yolks of 2 eggs; beat again; add a little milk; beat all well together, and mix in 4 oz. clean currants; lay puff paste in the patty-pans; fill half full; shake a little sugar over, and bake in a good heat.
Cinnamon Buns.—Same as saffron, omitting the caraway seeds and saffron, and substituting ground cinnamon.
Cinnamon, Currant, and Caraway Cake.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; then wet up with ½ pint each honey-water and milk. Divide the dough into 3 parts; add to one part a little powdered cinnamon; to another a few currants; to another a few caraway seeds. Roll in sheets to the thickness of the currants; cut to about the size of a penny; wash with a little milk, and bake in a steady heat.
Colchester Bread.—(a) Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; cut with a Colchester cutter to about the thickness of a penny; wash with milk; bake quick; wash with egg and milk while hot; when cold cut apart.
(b) Put ¾ lb. loaf sugar into a saucepan, with ¼ pint water over steady fire; stir till dissolved; beat 6 eggs with a whisk in a pan; when the sugar boils pour it gently on the eggs, beating till cold; stir in ¾ lb. fine sifted flour; paper frames; fill ¾ full with the batter; sift sugar over; bake in steady oven.
Cracknel Biscuits.—Rub 6 oz. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole put 6 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 8 eggs and ¼ pint water; break dough smooth; make and dock like captain’s biscuits; form on the reel; drop into a stew-pan of water boiling over the fire; when they swim, take out with a skimmer, and put into a pailful of cold water; let remain 2 hours before baking; drain in a cloth or sieve; bake on clean tins in a brisk oven.
Crumpets.—These are made of batter composed of flour, water (or milk), and a small quantity of yeast. To 1 lb. best wheaten flour add 3 tablespoonfuls yeast. A portion of the liquid paste, not too thin (after being suffered to rise), is poured on a heated iron plate, and baked, like pancakes in a pan.
Curd Cheese Cake.—Warm 1 pint new milk; stir in a little rennet; keep warm till a nice curd appears; break and strain the whey through a hair-sieve; put mixture prepared as for cheese-cakes, but without any currants, into sieve with curd; rub all through together; mix in currants; fill out, and bake in a good heat.
Derby Cake.—Rub 1 lb. butter in 2½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; beat 2 eggs with 3 tablespoonfuls honey-water, and milk to make up ½ pint; add ½ lb. currants; mix; bake in a steady oven.
Diet Bread.—Whisk the yolks of 12 and the whites of 6 eggs, together, so as just to break them; put ¼ pint water into a saucepan or small stew-pan, add 1 lb. loaf sugar, and put on the fire; take it off just before it boils; put in the eggs, and whisk well till cold; stir in lightly 1 lb. flour; put mixture into papered square tins; sift sugar over tops; bake in cool oven till dry and firm on top.
Drop Biscuits.—Warm the pan; put in 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar and 8 eggs; beat with a whisk till milk warm; then beat till cold; stir in lightly 1 lb. sugar, 2 oz. fine sifted flour, ½ oz. caraway seeds; put batter into a bladder, drop through the pipe, in quantities about the size of a nutmeg, on wafer-paper; sift sugar over the top; bake in quick oven.
Drops.—Whisk ½ teacup water, 6 eggs, and 1 lb. sifted loaf sugar together till thick; add a few caraway seeds, and 18 oz. flour; mix lightly together; drop on wafer-paper, about the size of a small walnut; sift sugar over, and bake in a hot oven.
Filbert Biscuits.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb. flour; make a hole, and put in 10 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 4 tablespoonfuls honey-water, 1 of orange-flower water, and ¾ pint milk; break dough smooth; mould as large as a nutmeg, and round; cut twice across the top each way, about half through, with a sharp knife; place on tin; bake in steady heat.
French Rolls.—Set a sponge with 1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good small-beer yeast; let sponge rise and drop; melt 1 oz. butter in 1 pint warm milk, and 1 oz. salt; wet up about 7 lb. flour; let lie ½ hour; put on warm tins; prove well; bake in quick oven.
Ginger Cake.—Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; add as much ground ginger as will give a pleasant taste; cut as thick as a shilling and as large as a penny; wash with water; bake quick.
Hot Cross Buns.—Take 1 qt. milk, 12 oz. butter, 12 oz. sugar, ½ oz. mixed spice, 2 eggs, 2 oz. German yeast, or ½ teacupful of good thick small-beer yeast, and 4 lb. flour. If to be made with currants, add 1 or 1½ lb. currants, clean washed, picked, and dried. Make the milk blood-warm; if the weather is cold, rather warmer; put it into a gallon pan, with half the sugar, 6 oz. of flour, the yeast and eggs; mix together, cover the pan, and put in a warm place. When this has risen with a high, frothy head, and again fallen and become nearly flat, it is ready for the remaining portion of the ingredients to be mixed with it; but while rising, the butter should be rubbed in with the flour between the hands, until reduced to small crumbles. Mix the whole together into a nice mellow dough. If the flour is not very good and strong, about 4-6 oz. more may be required to make the dough of the required consistence. Cover the pan; let remain in a warm place for about ½ hour, or until the dough has risen 4 in. Make into buns by moulding the dough up into small balls lightly under the hands, and place on warm tins, slightly rubbed over with butter, about 3-4 in. asunder. Half-prove, and cross; brush the tops over with milk, and finish proving; bake in a hot oven; when done, brush the tops over again with milk. The best method for proving is to put the tins on shelves in a warm cupboard near the fire. Place a pan with hot water at the bottom, but put no tin on the pan. Put a piece of heated iron or brick into the water in the pan occasionally, to cause a steam to ascend, which will keep the surface of the buns moist, when they will expand or prove to their full size, otherwise the surface will be hardened, and prevent expansion. Keep the cupboard door close shut until ready to bake.
Italian Bread.—Take 1 lb. butter, 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar, 18 oz. flour, 12 eggs, ½ lb. citron and lemon peel. Mix as for pound-cake. If the mixture begins to curdle, which is most likely from the quantity of eggs, add a little of the flour. When the eggs are all used, and it is light, stir in the remainder of the flour lightly. Bake in long, narrow tins, either papered or buttered; first put in a layer of the mixture, and cover with the peel cut in large thin slices; proceed in this way until ¾ full, and bake in a moderate oven.
Lemon Biscuits.—Prepare dough as for filbert biscuits, but leave out orange-flower water and use 6 drops essence of lemon; cut out, dock with lemon docker; bake in good steady heat.
Lemon Cheese Cake.—Prepare as for common cheese-cakes; grate rind of fresh lemon; squeeze the juice, and mix.
Lord Mayor’s Cake.—Whisk 1 lb. sifted loaf sugar and 8 eggs in a warm earthen pan for 15 minutes, or until quite thick; add a few caraway seeds and 1 lb. flour; mix lightly with a spoon, and drop on paper, about the size of a small teacup; place on iron plates; sift sugar or caraway seeds on top; bake in hot oven; when done, take off the papers, and stick two together.
Lunch or School Cake.—Mix ½ lb. moist sugar with 2 lb. flour; in a hole in the middle put 1 tablespoonful good thick yeast (not bitter); warm ½ pint milk rather more than blood warm, but not hot enough to scald the yeast; mix ⅓ with the yeast and a little of the flour; when it has risen (say ¾ hour if the yeast is good) melt ½ lb. butter in a little more milk; add 1½ lb. currants, a little candied peel, and grated rind of lemon, and 1 teaspoonful powdered allspice; mix; butter hoop or tin, put in, and set in warm place to rise; bake in warm oven. This cake should be mixed up rather softer than bread dough.
Macaroons.—Pound 1 lb. blanched and dried sweet almonds fine in a mortar; pass through wire sieve; make into softish batter, with whites of 5 or 6 eggs, and a spoonful or two of orange-flower water; beat well; lay on oval wafer-paper; dredge tops with powdered loaf sugar; bake in rather cool oven.
Madeira Cake.—Whisk 4 eggs very light, and, still whisking, throw in by slow degrees the following ingredients in the order named—6 oz. each sifted sugar and flour, 4 oz. butter, slightly dissolved but not heated, the rind of a fresh lemon, and ⅓ teaspoonful soda carbonate; beat well just before moulding; bake for 1 hour in moderate oven. Each portion of butter must be beaten into the mixture until no appearance of it remains, before the next is added.
Muffins.—These should be baked on a hot iron plate. To 1 peck flour add ¾ pint good small-beer yeast, 4 oz. of salt, and water (or milk) slightly warmed, sufficient to form a dough of rather soft consistency; when light, small portions of the dough are put into holes, made in a layer of flour about 2 in. thick, placed on a board; cover up with a blanket, and stand near a fire, to cause the dough to rise to a semi-globular shape; place on heated iron plate, and bake; when bottoms begin to acquire brownish colour, turn, and bake opposite side.
Naples Biscuits.—Take 6 oz. each moist and loaf sugar, ¼ pint water; proceed as for diet cake, with 6 eggs and ¾ lb. flour; have tins papered: fill nearly full of the batter; sugar the tops; bake in rather slow oven. These biscuits are diet-bread batter, fancifully dropped into tins, papered with white paper, and baked in a warm oven, with a little sugar sifted over the top.
Oatmeal Cakes.—These are composed of oatmeal and water; and the difficulties lie, first, in wetting, with sufficient quickness, the whole of the meal, without drenching any portion of it; secondly, in properly kneading and rolling out the cakes with dexterity and despatch; and, finally, in turning them while baking, or “firing.” They are sometimes baked on a “girdle” or “griddle”—a flat piece of cast iron, placed over a bright fire; sometimes on a “toaster,” which is similar to a hanger, with a sliding back, which supports the cake in front of the fire; and sometimes in an American oven.
The process of making is as follows:—Put 2 or 3 handfuls of meal into a 3 pint basin; stir while pouring in boiling water; when all is moistened, having scattered a handful of dry meal over the paste-board, turn out the “leaven” with a spoon or your hand, dusted with meal; take a piece, according to the size of cake required, and knead out, using the rolling-pin if wanted thin; shape with a knife or tin cutter 4-5 in. in diameter. As oatmeal swells and dries very rapidly, to have cakes that will stick together, and, at the same time, eat short or “free,” this process cannot be done too expeditiously. Each of the three modes of baking gives a different flavour. For toasting let the cakes be 10 or 12 in. in diameter, nip up the edge all round, and cut them across twice, which makes a square edge for them to stand on. In this form they are called “farls.” For turning, use a broad, supple knife, or a piece of tin plate. A little butter melted in the water is an improvement.
Parkin.—(a) 4 lb. oatmeal, 4 lb. treacle, 1 lb. sugar, 1 lb. butter, 2 oz. powdered ginger. Set a pan before the fire with the treacle and butter in it. When dissolved, add the other ingredients, and stir it as stiff as you can with a knife, but do not knead it. Add 1 teacupful brandy (if liked), and bake it in a cool oven in dripping pans or flat dishes about 2 in. thick. Do not turn it out till quite cold, or it will break, but cut it across with a knife where you would like it divided. It must be baked in a cool oven. Some people make it in round cakes. (b) 1 lb. Yorkshire oatmeal, 1 lb. thick treacle (not golden syrup), ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. moist sugar, mixed spice and ginger to taste. Rub the butter into the meal with the sugar and spice, then add the treacle (melted, if too thick), mix all well together, and bake in flat tins, such as are used for Yorkshire puddings, in a slow oven, for 2 hours or more. Parkin is not fit for eating for 2-3 days, till it has become perfectly soft. (c) 7 lb. oatmeal, 1 lb. butter, 2 lb. treacle, 3 tablespoonfuls soda carbonate; to be baked in hoops the same as teacakes. The butter to be melted and mixed with the treacle warm. (d) 4 lb. oatmeal, ¾ lb. butter, ¾ lb. lard; currants, raisins (candied lemon peel if approved), ginger, and cayenne pepper to taste. Add sufficient treacle to make the whole into a soft paste. Bake in a slow oven. The treacle, butter, and lard should be warmed a little together. Butter and lard keep the cake moist longer than if only butter were used.
Plum Cake.—(a) Set a sponge with 1 lb. flour, ½ pint warm milk, and 3 tablespoonfuls good yeast; beat up 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. powdered sugar, 2 eggs, and 4 oz. flour as for pound cake; put in sponge, and beat all well together; add 1 lb. currants; bake without proving in a slow oven.
(b) Beat 1 lb. butter with your hand in a warm pan till it comes to a fine cream, add 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; beat together to a nice cream; have 1¼ lb. flour sifted, put in a little, and stir; add 4 eggs; beat well; add a little more flour and 4 more eggs; beat it well again; stir in remainder of flour; for small cakes, butter the tins; for large ones, paper; sugar over the top, and bake in moderate heat.
(c) Sift 1 lb. loaf sugar; add 1 lb. fresh butter, melted a little, and worked by hand to consistency of cream; beat together; while doing so, add 10 eggs; beat till well incorporated; mix 4 oz. candied orange or lemon peel, shred or cut small, a few currants and 1 lb. flour well together; put in a hoop; sift sugar on top; bake in warm oven.
Porridge.—Put on the fire a pan, of the size that will hold the quantity required, about ⅔ full of water; when the water is quick boiling take a handful of meal, and holding the hand over the pan—of course high enough to avoid being burned by the steam—let the meal slide slowly through the fingers into the water, the other hand stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, or what Scotch cooks call the “spurtle.” Continue this till enough of meal is put into the water, then add salt to taste, and, allow the porridge to boil for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally lest it stick to the pan and scorch. Porridge is not good if boiled less than 20 minutes; but for children, or delicate stomachs it should be boiled the full ½ hour, by which time the meal is so well swelled and softened that it becomes a digestible and most nutritious article offood. Letting the meal slide slowly into the water is an important element in making good porridge. If it is thrown in too quickly, or the water allowed to cease boiling, it forms into lumps, and is not so good. It is not easy to give any rule as to the proportion of meal to water, as the thickness of porridge is quite a matter of taste. Of course it must be still thin when one stops putting in the meal, as it swells to more than half as much again with the boiling.
Pound Cake.—The following table gives the ingredients necessary for rich pound-, Twelfth-, or bride-cakes of different prices:—