Stonejars, well glazed, are best for all sorts of pickles, as earthen vessels will not resist the vinegar, which penetrates through them.
Never touch pickles with the hand, or any thing greasy; but always make use of a wooden spoon, and keep them closely tied down, in a cool, dry place.
When you add vinegar to old pickles, let it boil, and stand till cold before you use it: on the contrary, when you make pickles, put it on the ingredients boiling and done with the usual spices.
Boil a quantity of vinegar proportionate to that of the almonds to be pickled, skim it, and put into it salt, mace, ginger, Jamaica and white pepper. Put it into a jar, and let it stand till cold. Throw your almonds into the liquor, which must cover them.
Artichokes should be laid about six hours in a very strong brine of salt and water. Then put them into a pot of boiling water, and boil them till you can draw the leaves from the bottom, which must be cut smooth and clean, and put into a pot, with whole black pepper, salt, cloves, mace, bay-leaves, and as much white wine vinegar as will cover them. Lastly, pour upon them melted butter an inch thick, and cover them down close. When you take out any for use, put them into boiling water, with a piece of butter to plump them, and you may use them for whatever you please.
Boil your artichokes for half a day in salt and water; put them into a pot of boiling water, allowing them to continueboiling until you can just draw off the leaves from the bottom; cut them very clean and smooth, and put them into the pot with cloves, mace, salt, pepper, two bay-leaves, and as much vinegar as will cover them. Pour melted butter over to cover them about an inch thick; tie and keep them close down for use, with a piece of butter to plump them. You may use these for what you like.
Scrape the asparagus, and cut off the prime part at the ends; wipe them, and lay them carefully in a jar or jelly-pot, pour vinegar over them, and let them lie in this about fourteen days. Then boil fresh vinegar, and pour it on them hot; repeat this until they are of a good colour; add a little mace and nutmeg, and tie them down close. This does very well for a made dish when asparagus is not to be had.
Gather the barberries when full ripe, picking out those that look bad. Lay them in a deep pot. Make two quarts of strong brine of salt and water; boil it with a pint of vinegar, a pound of white sugar, a few cloves, whole white pepper, and mace, tied in a bag; skim it, and when cold pour it on your barberries. Barberries with stones will pickle; they must be without stones for preserving.
Colour the water of the worst barberries, and add salt till the brine is strong enough to bear an egg. Boil it for half an hour, skimming it, and when cold strain itover the barberries. Lay something on them to keep them in the liquor: put them into a glass, and cover with leather.
Boil a strong brine of salt and water, let it stand till quite cold, and pour it upon the barberries.
Put into a jar some maiden barberries, with a good quantity of salt; tie on a bladder, and when the liquor scums change it.
Beet-root must be boiled in strong salt and water, to which add a pint of vinegar and a little cochineal. When boiled enough, take it off the fire, and keep it in the liquor in whichit has been boiled. It makes a pretty garnish for a dish of fish, and is not unpleasant to eat.
Boil the root till tender, peel it, and, if you think proper, cut it into shapes. Pour over it a hot pickle of white wine vinegar, horseradish, a little ginger, and pepper.
Boil your beet-root in salt and water, with a little cochineal and vinegar; when half boiled, put in your turnips pared; when they are done enough, take them off, and keep them in the same liquor in which they were boiled.
Shave the cabbage into long slips, or, if you like, cut it in quarters. Scald it in salt and water for about four minutes; then take it out, and let it cool. Boil some vinegar, salt, ginger, whole pepper, and mace; after boiling and skimming it, let it get cold, and then put in your cabbage, which, if covered down presently, will keep white.
Slice the cabbage very fine crosswise, put it on an earthen dish, sprinkle a handful of salt over it, cover it with another dish, and let it stand twenty-four hours. Then put it in a colander to drain, and lay it in your jar; take white wine vinegar enough to cover it, a little cloves, mace, and allspice. Put them in whole with one pennyworth of cochineal, bruised fine; boil it up, and put it over the cabbage, hot, or cold, which you like best. Cover it close with a cloth till it is cold, and then tie it over with leather.
Slice the cabbage into a colander, sprinkle each layer with salt, let it drain two days; then put it into wide-mouthed bottles, pour on it boiling vinegar, sufficient to cover it, and add a few slices of beet-root. Cover the bottle with bladder.
Take a firm cabbage cut in quarters; slice it; boil your vinegar with ginger and pepper; let it stand till cold; then pour it over your cabbage, and tie it down. It will be fit for use in three weeks.
Capers are the produce of, a small shrub, but preserved in pickle, and are grown in some parts of England, but they come chiefly from the neighbourhood of Toulon, the produce of which is considered the finest of any in Europe. The buds are gathered from the blossom before they open, and then spread on the floor, where the sun cannot reach them, and there they are left till they begin to wither; they are then thrown into sharp vinegar, and in about three days bay salt is added in proper quantity, and when this is dissolved they are fit for packing for sale, and sent all over the world.
Let the pods be gathered with the stalks on before they turn red, and with a penknife cut a slit down the side, and take out all the seed, but as little of the meat as possible. Lay them in strong brine for three days, changing the brine every day. Take them out, lay them on a cloth, and another over them. Boil the liquor, put into it some mace and nutmeg beaten small; put the pods into a jar; when the liquor is cold, pour it over them, and tie down with a bladder and leather.
Cut from the closest and whitest heads pieces about the length of your finger, and boil them in a cloth with milk and water, but not till tender. Take them out very carefully, and let them stand till cold. With the best white wine vinegar boil nutmeg, cut into quarters, mace, cloves, a little whole pepper, and a bay-leaf, and let it remain till cold. Pour this into the jar to your cauliflower, and in three or four days it will be ready for use.
Having cut the flower in bunches, throw them for a minute into boiling salt and water, and then into cold spring water. Drain and dry them; cover with double-distilled vinegar; in a week put fresh vinegar, with a little mace and nutmeg, covering down close.
Put an equal weight of the flowers and of sugar, fill up with white wine vinegar, and to every pint of vinegar put a pound of sugar.
The codlings should be the size of large walnuts; put vine leaves in the bottom of your pan, and lay in the codlings, covering with leaves and then with water; set them over a gentle fire till they may be peeled; then peel and put them into the water, with vine leaves at top and bottom, covering them close; set them over a slow fire till they become green, and, when they are cold, take off the end whole, cutting it round with a small knife; scoop out the core, fill the apple with garlic and mustard seed, put on the bit, and set that end uppermost in the pickle, which must be double-distilled vinegar cold, with mace and cloves.
Gather young cucumbers, commonly called gherkins—the small long sort are considered the best—wipe them very clean with a cloth; boil some salt and water, and pour over them; keep them close covered. Repeat this every day till they are green, putting fresh water every other day: let them stand near the fire, just to keep warm; the brine must be strong enough to bear an egg. When they are green, boil some white wine vinegar, pour it over them, put some mace in with them, and cover them with leather. It is better to put the salt and water to them once only, and they should be boiled up over the fire, in the vinegar, in a bell-metal kettle, with some vine leaves over, to green them. A brass kettle will not hurt, if very clean, and the cucumbers are turned out of it as soon as off the fire.
In a large earthen pan mix spring water and salt well together, taking two pounds of salt to every gallon of water. Throw in your cucumbers, wash them well, and let them remain for twelve hours; then drain and wipe them very dry, and put them into a jar. Put into a bell-metal pot a gallon of the best white wine vinegar, half an ounce of cloves and of mace, one ounce of allspice, one ounce of mustard-seed, a stick of horseradish sliced, six bay-leaves, a little dill, two or three races of ginger, a nutmeg cut in pieces, and a handful of salt. Boil all together, and pour it over the cucumbers. Cover them close down, and let them stand twenty-four hours, then pour off the vinegar from them, boil it, pour it over them again, and cover them close: repeat this process every day till they are green. Then tie them down with bladder and leather; set them in a cool dry place, and they will keep for three or four years. Beans may be pickled in the same manner.
Wipe the cucumbers clean with a coarse cloth, and put them into a jar. Take some vinegar, into which put pepper, ginger,cloves, and a handful of salt. Pour it boiling hot over the cucumbers, and smother them with a flannel: let them stand a fortnight; then take off the pickle, and boil it again. Pour it boiling on the cucumbers, and smother them as before. The pickle should be boiled in a bell-metal skillet. With two thousand cucumbers put into the pot about a pennyworth of Roman vitriol.
Take a cucumber, cut out a slip from the side, taking out the seeds, but be careful to let as much of the meat remain as you can. Bruise mustard seed, a clove of garlic, some bits of horseradish, slices of ginger, and put in all these. Tie the piece on again, and make a pickle of vinegar, whole pepper, salt, mace, and cloves: boil it, and pour it on the mangoes, and continue this for nine days together. When cold, cover them down with leather.
Scrape out the core and seed, filling them with whole pepper, a clove of garlic, and other spice. Put them into salt and water, covered close up, for twenty-four hours; then drain and wipe them dry. Boil as much vinegar with spice as will cover them, and pour it on them scalding hot.
Take cucumbers not full grown, slice them into a pewter dish; to twelve cucumbers put three or four onions sliced, and as you do them strew salt on them; cover them with a pewter dish, and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then take out the onions, strain the liquor from the cucumbers through a colander, and put them in a well glazed jar, with a pickle made of white wine vinegar, distilled in a cold still, with seasoning of mace, cloves, and pepper. The pickle must be poured boiling hot upon them, and then cover them down as close as possible. In four or five days take them out of the pickle, boil it, and pour it on as before, keeping the jar very close. Repeat this three times; cover the jar with a bladder, and leather over it; the cucumbers will keep the whole year, and be of a fine sea-green, but perhaps not of so fine colour when first you open them; they will become so, however, if the vinegar is really fine.
Take six or eight middling-sized cucumbers, the smoothest you can procure; pare them, cut a small piece off the end, and scoop out all the seeds; blanch them for three or four minutes in boiling water on the fire; then put them into coldwater to make the forcemeat. Then take some veal off the leg, calf’s udder, fat bacon, and a piece of suet, and put it in boiling water about four minutes; take it out, and chop all together; put some parsley, small green onions, and shalots, all finely chopped, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg, sufficient for seasoning it, some crumbs of bread that have been steeped in cream, the whites of two eggs, and four yolks beaten well in a mortar. Stuff your cucumbers with this, and put the piece you cut off each upon it again. Lay at the bottom of your stewpan some thin slices of bacon, with the skin of the veal, onions in slices, parsley, thyme, some cloves; put your cucumbers in your stewpan, and cover them with bacon, &c., as at the bottom, and then add some strong broth, just sufficient to cover them. Set them over a slow fire covered, and let them stew slowly for an hour. Make some brown gravy of a good colour, and well tasted; and, when your cucumbers are stewed, take them out, drain them well from all grease, and put them in your brown gravy; it must not be thick. Set it over the stove for two minutes, and squeeze in the juice of a lemon.
To make brown gravy, put into your stewpan a quarter of a pound of butter; set it over the fire, and, when melted, put in a spoonful of flour, and keep stirring it till it is as brown as you wish, but be careful not to let it burn; put some good gravy to it, and let it boil some time, with parsley, onions, thyme, and spices, and then strain it to your cucumbers.
Should any of the cucumbers be left at dinner, you may serve them up another way for supper; cut the cucumbers in two, lengthwise, or, if you like, in round slices; add yolks of eggs beaten, and dust them all well over with crumb of bread rubbed very fine; fry them very hot; make them of a good colour, and serve them in a dish, with fried parsley.
Take some small cucumbers, and large ones that will cut in quarters, but let them be as green and as free from seeds as you can get them. Put them into a narrow-mouthed jar, in strong salt and water, with a cabbage-leaf to keep them from rising; tie a paper over them, and set them in a warm place till they are yellow. Then wash them out, and set them over the fire in fresh water, with a little salt and a fresh cabbage-leaf over them. Cover the pan very close, but be sure you do not let them boil. If they are not of a fine green, change the water, which will help them; then make them hot, and cover them as before. When you find them of a good green, takethem off the fire, and let them stand till they are cold: then cut the large ones into quarters; take out the seeds and soft parts, put them into cold water, and let them stand two days; but change the water twice each day, to take out the salt; put a pound of refined sugar to a pint of water, and set it over the fire; when you have skimmed it clear, put in the rind of a lemon and an ounce of ginger, scraping off the outside. Take your syrup off as soon as it is pretty thick, and, when it is cold, wipe the cucumbers dry and put them into it. Boil the syrup once in two or three days for three weeks, and strengthen the syrup if required, for the greatest danger of spoiling them is at first. When you put the syrup to the cucumbers, wait till it is quite cold.
Gather them when very slender; string and parboil them in very strong salt and water; then take them out, and dry them between two linen cloths. When they are well drained, put them into a large earthen vessel, and, having boiled up the same kind of pickle as for cucumbers, pour as much upon your beans as will cover them well. Strain the liquor from them three days successively; boil it up, and put your beans into the vinegar on the fire till they are warm through. After the third boiling, put them into jars for use, and tie them down.
Take from the small slender beans their stalks, and let them remain fourteen days in salt and water; then wash and well cleanse them from the brine, and put them in a saucepan of water over a slow fire, covering them with vine-leaves. Do not let them boil, but only stew, until they are tender, as for eating; strain them off, lay them on a coarse cloth to dry, and put them into pots; boil and skim alegar, and pour it over, covering them close; keep boiling in this manner for three or four days, or until they become green; add spice, as you would to other pickles, and, when cold, cover with leather.
Put in a large jar a layer of beans, the younger the better, and a layer of salt, alternately, and tie it down close. When wanted for use, boil them in a quantity of boiling water: change the water two or three times, always adding the fresh water boiling; then put them into cold water to soak out the salt, and cut them when you want them for dressing for table. They must not be soaked before they are boiled.
Take a quarter of a hundred of herrings; cut off their heads and tails; take out the roes, and clean them; then take half an ounce of Jamaica and half an ounce of common pepper, an ounce of bay salt, and an ounce and a half of common salt; beat the pepper fine, mix it with the salt, and put some of this seasoning into the belly of each herring. Lay them in rows, and between every row strew some of the seasoning, and lay a bunch or two of thyme, parsley, and sage, and three or four bay-leaves. Cover your fish with good vinegar, and your pot with paste; put the pot into the oven after the household bread is drawn; let it remain all night; and, when it comes out of the oven, pour out all the liquor, take out the herbs; again boil up the liquor; add as much more vinegar as will cover the herrings, skim it clean, and strain it. When cold, pour it over your herrings.
Cut off their heads, cleanse them well, and lay a row at the bottom of an earthen pot, sprinkling them over with bay salt and saltpetre, mixed together. Repeat this until your pan is full; then cover them, and bake them gently; when cold, they will be as red as anchovies, and the bones dissolved.
Lay one pound of ginger in salt and water for a whole night; then scrape and cut it in thin slices, and lay them in the sun to dry; put them into a jar till the other ingredients are ready. Peel two pounds of garlic, and cut it in thin slices; cover it with salt for three days; drain it well from the brine, and dry it as above directed. Take young cabbages, cut them in quarters, salt them for three days, and dry them as above; do the same with cauliflowers, celery, and radishes, scraping the latter and leaving the tops of the celery on, French beans, and asparagus, which last two must be salted only two days, and dried in the same manner. Take long pepper and salt it, but do not dry it too much, three ounces of turmeric, and a quarter of a pound of mustard seed finely bruised; put these into a stone jar, and pour on them a gallon of strong vinegar; look at it now and then, and if you see occasion add more vinegar. Proceed in the same manner with plums, peaches, melons, apples, cucumbers; artichoke bottoms must be pared and cut raw; then salt them, and give them just one gentle boil, putting them into the water when hot. Never do red cabbage or walnuts. The more every thing is dried, the plumper it will become in the vinegar. Put in a pound or two of whole garlic prepared as above to act as a pickle. You need never empty the jar, as the pickle keeps; but as things come into season, do them and throw them in, observing that the vinegar always covers them. If the ingredients cannot be conveniently dried by the sun, you may do them by the fire, but the sun is best.
Select the closest and whitest cabbage you can get, take off the outside leaves, quarter and cut them into thin slices, and lay them upon a sieve; salt well between each layer of the cabbage, and let it drain till the next day; then dry it in a cloth, and spread it in dishes before the fire, or the sun, often turning it till dry. Put it in a stone jar, with half a pint of white mustard seed, a little mace and cloves beat to a powder, as much cayenne as will lie on a shilling, a large head of garlic, and one pennyworth of turmeric in powder. Pour on it three quarts of vinegar boiling hot; cover it close with a cloth, and let it stand a fortnight; then turn it all out into a saucepan. Boil it, turning it often, about eight minutes, and put it up in your jar for use. It will be ready in a month. If other things are put in, they should lie in salt three days and then be dried; in this case, it will be necessary to make the pickle stronger, by adding ginger and horseradish, and it must be kept longer before used.
Boil one pound of salt, four ounces of ginger, eight ounces of shalots or garlic, a spoonful of cayenne pepper, two ounces of mustard seed, and six quarts of good vinegar. When cold, you may put in green fruit or any vegetable you choose, fresh as you pick them, only wiping off the dust. Stop your jar close, and put in a little turmeric to colour it.
Cut the lemons through the yellow rind only, into eight parts; then put them into a deep pan, a layer of salt and a layer of lemons, so as not to touch one another; set them in the chimney corner, and be sure to turn them every day, and to pack them up in the same manner as before. This you must continue doing fifteen or sixteen days; then take them out of the salt, lay them in a flat pan, and put them in the sun every day for a month; or, if there should be no sun, before the fire; then put them in the pickle; in about six months they will be fit to eat. Make the pickle for them as follows: Take twopounds of peeled garlic, eight pods of India pepper, when it is green; one pound and a half of ginger, one pound and a quarter of mustard seed, half an ounce of turmeric; each clove of the garlic must be split in half; the ginger must be cut in small slices, and, as no green ginger can be had in Europe, you must cover the ginger with salt in a clean earthen vessel, until it is soft, which it will be in about three weeks, or something more, by which means you may cut it as you please; the mustard seed must be reduced, but not to powder, and the turmeric pounded fine: mix them well together, and add three ounces of oil of mustard seed. Put these ingredients into a gallon of the best white wine vinegar boiled; then put the whole upon the lemons in a glazed jar, and tie them up close. They will not be fit in less than six months. When the vinegar is boiled, let it stand to be cold, or rather lukewarm, before you put it to the lemons, and if you use more than a gallon of vinegar, increase the quantity of each ingredient in proportion. Strictly observe the direction first given, to let the lemons lie in salt fifteen or sixteen days, to turn them every day, and to let them be thoroughly dry before you put the pickle to them; it will be a month at least before they are sufficiently dry.
Take twelve lemons pared so thin that not the least of the whites is to be seen; slit them across at each end, and work in as much salt as you can, rubbing them very well within and without. Lay them in an earthen pan for three or four days, and strew a good deal of salt over them; then put in twelve cloves of garlic, and a large handful of horseradish; dry the lemons with the salt over them in a very slow oven, till the lemons have no moisture in them, but the garlic and the horseradish must not be dried so much. Then take a gallon of vinegar, cloves, mace, and nutmegs, broken roughly, half an ounce of each, and the like quantity of cayenne pepper. Give them a boil in the vinegar; and, when cold, stir in a quarter of a pound of flour of mustard, and pour it upon the lemons, garlic, &c. Stir them every day, for a week together, or more. When the lemons are used in made dishes, shred them very small; and, when you use the liquor, shake it before you put it to the sauce, or in a cruet. When the lemons are dried, they must be as hard as a crust of bread, but not burned.
Take two dozen lemons, cut off about an inch at one end, scoop out all the pulp, fill them with salt, and sew on the tops.Let them continue over the mouth of an oven, or in any slow heat, for about three weeks, till they are quite dried. Take out the salt; lay them in an earthen jar; put to them six quarts of the best vinegar which has been boiled; add some long pepper, mace, ginger, and cinnamon, a few bay-leaves, four cloves of garlic, and six ounces of the best flour of mustard. When quite cold, cover up the jar, and let it stand for three weeks or a month. Then strain off the liquor, and bottle it.
Quarter the lemons lengthwise, taking care not to cut them so low as to separate; put a table-spoonful of salt into each. Set them on a pewter dish; dry them very slowly in a cool oven or in the sun; they will take two or three weeks to dry properly. For a dozen large lemons boil three quarts of vinegar, with two dozen peppercorns, two dozen allspices, and four races of ginger sliced. When the vinegar is cold, put it, with the lemons, the ingredients, and all the salt, into a jar; add a quarter of a pound of flour of mustard and two dozen cloves of garlic; the garlic must be peeled and softened in scalding water for a little while, then covered with salt for three days, and dried before it is put into the jar. Let the whole remain for two months closely tied down and stirred every day; then squeeze the lemons well; strain and bottle the liquor.
Select small thick-rinded lemons; rub them with a flannel; slit them in four parts, but not through to the pulp; stuff the slits full of salt, and set them upright in a pan. Let them remain thus for five or six days, or longer if the salt should not be melted, turning them three times a day in their own liquor, until they become tender. Then make a pickle of rape, vinegar, and the brine from the lemons, ginger, and Jamaica pepper. Boil and skim it, and when cold put it to the lemons, with three cloves of garlic, and two ounces of mustard seed. This is quite sufficient for six lemons.
Boil them in water and afterwards in vinegar and sugar, and then cut them in slices.
Select fruit free from spots; lay them gently in a barrel. Take pure water, and make it so strong with bay-salt as that it would bear an egg; with this brine fill up the barrel, and close it tight.
Take of green mangoes two pounds, green ginger one pound, yellow mustard seed one pound; half dried chives, garlic, salt, mustard, oil, of each two ounces; fine vinegar, four bottles. Cut the mangoes in slices lengthwise, and place them in the sun till half dried. Slice the ginger also; put the whole in a jar well closed, and set it in the sun for a month. This pickle will keep for years, and improves by age.
Scoop your melons clean from the pulp; fill them with scraped horseradish, ginger, nutmeg, sliced garlic, mace, pepper, mustard-seed, and tie them up. Afterwards take the best white wine vinegar, a quartered nutmeg, a handful of salt, whole pepper, cloves, and mace, or a little ginger; let the vinegar and spice boil together, and when boiling hot pour it over the fruit, and tie them down very close for two or three days; but, if you wish to have them green, let them be put over a fire in their pickle in a metal pot, until they are scalding hot and green; then pour them into pots, and stop them close down, and, when cold, cover them with wet bladder and leather.
Cut off the tops of the melons, so as that you may take out the seeds with a small spoon; lay them in salt and water, changing it every twenty-four hours for nine successive days: then take them out, wipe them dry, and put into each one clove of garlic or two small shalots, a slice or two of horseradish, a slice of ginger, and a tea-spoonful of mustard seed; this being done, tie up their tops again very fast with packthread, and boil them up in a sufficient quantity of white wine vinegar, bay-salt, and spices, as for cucumbers, skimming the pickle as it rises; put a piece of alum into your pickle, about the size of a walnut; and, after it has boiled a quarter of an hour, pour it, with the fruit, into your jar or pan, and cover it with a cloth. Next day boil your pickle again, and pour it hot upon your melons. After this has been repeated three times, and the pickle and fruit are quite cold, stop them up as directed for mushrooms. These and all other pickles should be set in a dry place, and frequently inspected; and, if they grow mouldy, you must pour off the liquor and boil it up as at first.
Pour over your melons or other vegetables boiling hot salt and water, and dry them the next day; cut a piece out of theside; scrape away the seed very clean; and fill them with scraped horseradish, garlic, and mustard seed; then put in the piece, and tie it close. Pour boiling hot vinegar over them, and in about three days boil up the vinegar with cloves, pepper, and ginger: then throw in your mangoes, and boil them up quick for a few minutes; put them in jars, which should be of stone, and cover them close.
The melons ought to be small and the cucumbers large. Should they not turn out green enough, the vinegar must be boiled again.
Gather your mushrooms in August or September, and peel off the uppermost skin; cut the large ones into quarters, and, as you do them, throw them into clear water, but be very careful not to have any worm-eaten ones. You may put the buttons in whole; the white are the best, and look better than the red. Take them out, and wash them in another clear water; then put them into a dry skillet without water; and with a little salt set them on the fire to boil in their own liquor, till half is consumed and they are as tender as you wish them; as the scum rises, take it off. Remove them from the fire: pour them into a colander, and drain off all the water. Have ready pickle, boiled and become cold again, made of the best white wine vinegar; then add a little mace, ginger, cloves, and whole pepper: boil it; put your mushrooms in the pickle when cold, and tie them up close.
Put your mushrooms into salt and water, and wash them clean with a flannel, throw them into water as you do them; then boil some salt and water: when it boils, put in your mushrooms, and let them boil one minute. Take them out, and smother them between two flannels; when cold, put them into white wine vinegar, with what spice you choose. The vinegar must be boiled and stand till cold. Keep them closely tied down with a bladder. A bit of alum is frequently put to keep them firm.
The white mushrooms are done the same way, using milk and water instead of salt and water, distilled vinegar in the room of white wine vinegar, no spices except mace, and a lump of alum.
Cut off the stalks of the small hard mushrooms, called buttons, and wash and rub them dry in a clean flannel. Boil some water and salt, and while boiling put in the mushrooms. Letthem just boil, and strain them through a cloth. Make a pickle of white wine vinegar, mace, and ginger, and put to them; then put them into pots, with a little oil over them, and stop them close.
Put young mushrooms into milk and water; take them out, dry them well, and put them into a brine made of salt and spring water. Boil the brine, and put in the mushrooms; boil them up for five minutes; drain them quick, covering them up between two cloths and drying them well. Boil a pickle of double-distilled vinegar and mace; when it is cold, put in the buttons, and pour oil on the top. It is advisable to put them into small glass jars, as they do not keep after being opened. It is an excellent way to boil them in milk.
Put your mushrooms into water; rub them very clean with a piece of flannel; put them into milk and water, and boil them till they are rather tender. Then pour them into an earthen colander, and pump cold water on them till they are quite cold. Have ready some salt and water; put them into it; let them lie twenty-four hours; then dry them in a cloth. Then put them into a pickle made of the best white wine vinegar, mace, pepper, and nutmeg. If you choose to boil your pickle, it must be quite cold before you put in the mushrooms.
Peel your mushrooms, and throw them into clean water; wash them in two or three waters, and boil them in a little water, with a bundle of sweet-herbs, a good quantity of salt, a little rosemary, and spice of all sorts. When well boiled, let them remain in the liquor for twenty-four hours; pour the liquor into a hot cloth, smothering them for a night and a day; then put in your pickle, which make of elder and white wine vinegar, with all kinds of spice, horseradish, ginger, and lemon-juice. Put them into pots, cover with oiled paper, and keep them close for use.
Clean them very well, and take out the gills; boil them tender with a little salt, and dry them with a cloth. Make a strong brine; when it is cold, put in the mushrooms, and in about ten days or a fortnight change the brine, and put them into small bottles, pouring oil on the top.
Wipe them very clean, put them into a stewpan with mace, cloves, pepper, and salt, and to every quart of mushrooms put about two large spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup; stew them gently over a slow fire for about half an hour, then let them cool. Put them into bottles. To each quart of mushrooms put a quarter of a pint of white wine vinegar boiled and cooled; stop the bottles close with rosin.
Cut off their stalks, and cut or scrape out the gills, and with a little salt put them into a saucepan. Set them on the fire, and let them stew in their own liquor; then pour them into a sieve to drain. When dry, put them into a slack oven upon tin plates, and, when quite dry, put them into shallow boxes for use.
The liquor will make ketchup.
Take about a peck of mushrooms, wash them, and rub them with a piece of flannel, taking out the gills, but do not peel them. Put to them half an ounce of beaten pepper, four bay-leaves, four cloves, twelve blades of mace, a handful of salt, eight onions, a bit of butter, and half a pint of vinegar; stew all these as quick as possible; keep stirring till the liquor is quite out of the mushrooms; then drain them, and bottle the liquor and spice when cold. Dry the mushrooms in an oven, first on a flat or broad pan, then on sieves, until they can be beaten into powder. This quantity will make about seven ounces. Stop the powder close in wide-mouthed bottles.
Cut cabbages, cauliflowers, and onions, in small pieces or slices; salt them together, and let them stand in the salt for a few days. Then take them up in a strainer that the brine may run off; put them in a jar that will hold three quarts; take enough vinegar to cover them; boil it up, pour it on them, and cover it till next day. Pour the vinegar off, take the same quantity of fresh vinegar, of black pepper, ginger, and Jamaica pepper, each one ounce; boil them up together, let the liquor stand till cold; then mix four tea-spoonfuls of turmeric, and six ounces of flour of mustard, which pour on them cold. Cover the pickle up close; let it stand three weeks; and it will be fit for use. The spices must be put in whole.
The seed must be full grown and gathered on a dry day. Let them lie two or three days in salt and water; take them out, well dry them, and put them into a jar. Take as much white wine vinegar as will cover them, and boil it up with mace, sliced ginger, and a few bay leaves, for a quarter of an hour. Pour the pickle upon the seeds boiling hot. This must be repeated three days, keeping them covered with a folded cloth. After the third time, take care to let them be quite cold before you stop them up, which you must do very close.
Take your onions when they are dry enough to lay up for winter, the smaller the better they look: put them in a pot, cover them with spring water, with a handful of salt, and let them boil up; then strain them off. Take off three coats; lay them on a cloth, and let two persons take hold of it, one at each end, and rub them backwards and forwards till they are very dry. Then put them in your jars or bottles, with some blades of mace, cloves, and nutmeg, cut into pieces; take some double-distilled white wine vinegar, boil it up with a little salt; let it stand till it is cold, and put it over the onions. Cork them close, and tie a bladder and leather over them.
Take the smallest onions you can get; peel and put them into spring water and salt made very strong. Shift them daily for six days; then boil them a very little; skim them well, and make a pickle as for cucumbers, only adding a little mustard seed. Let the onions and the pickle both be cold, when you put them together. Keep them stopped very close, or they will spoil.
Peel some small white onions, and boil them in water with salt; strain them, and let them remain till cool in a cloth. Make the pickle as for mushrooms; when quite cold, put them in and cover them down. Should the onions become mouldy, boil them again, carefully skimming off the impurities; then let them cool, and proceed as at first.
Cauliflowers are excellent done in this way.
Put your small onions, after peeling them, into salt and water, shifting them once a day for three or fourdays; set them over the fire in milk and water till ready to boil; drythem; and, when boiled and cold, pour over a pickle made of double-distilled vinegar, a bay-leaf or two, salt, and mace.
Parboil small white onions, and let them cool. Make a pickle with half vinegar, half wine, into which put some salt, a little ginger, some mace, and sliced nutmeg. Boil all this up together, skimming it well. Let it stand till quite cold; then put in your onions, covering them down. Should they become mouldy, boil the liquor again, but skim it well; let it stand till quite cold before the onions are again put in, and they will keep all the year.
Take the small white round onions; peel off the brown skin. Have ready a stewpan of boiling water; throw in as many onions as will cover the top. As soon as they look clear on the outside, take them up quickly, lay them on a clean cloth, and cover them close with another cloth.
Having peeled your onions, cut out a small piece from the bottom, scoop out a little of the inside, and put them into salt and water for three or four days, changing the brine twice a day. Then drain and stuff them, first putting in flour of mustard, then a little ginger cut small, mace, shalot cut small, then more mustard, and filling up with scraped horseradish. Put on the bottom piece, and tie it on close. Make a strong pickle of white wine vinegar, ginger, mace, sliced horseradish, nutmeg, and salt: put in your mangoes, and boil them up two or three times. Take care not to boil them too much, otherwise they lose their firmness and will not keep. Put them, with the pickle, into a jar. Boil the pickle again next morning, and pour it over them.
Boil the peels of the fruit in vinegar and sugar, and lay them in the pickle; but be careful to cut them in small long slices, about the length of half the peel of your lemon. It must be boiled in water previously to boiling in sugar and vinegar.
Take a quantity of large oysters with their liquor; wash well all the grit from them, and to every three pints of clear water put half an ounce of bruised pepper, some salt, and a quarter of an ounce of mace. Let these boil over a gentle fire, until a fourth part is consumed, skimming it; just scald the oysters,and put them into the liquor; put them into barrels or pots; stop them very close, and they will keep for a year in a cool place.
Parboil some large oysters in their own liquor; make pickle of their liquor with vinegar, a pint of white wine, mace, salt and pepper; boil and skim it, and when cold put in the oysters, and keep them.
Take whole pepper and mace, of each a quarter of an ounce, and half a pint of white wine vinegar. Set the oysters on the fire, in their own liquor, with a little water, mace, pepper, and half a pound of salt; skim them well as they heat, and only allow them just to boil for fear of hardening them. Take them out to dry, skim the liquor, and then put in the rest of the spice with the vinegar. Should the vinegar be very strong, reduce it a little, and boil it up again for a short time. Let both stand till cold: put your oysters into the pickle: in a day or two, taste your pickle, and, should it not be sharp enough, add a little more vinegar.
Take the largest oysters you can get, and just plump them over the fire in their own liquor; then strain it from them, and cover the oysters close in a cloth. Take an equal quantity of white wine and vinegar, and a little of the oyster liquor, with mace, white pepper, and lemon-peel, pared very thin, also salt, the quantity of each according to your judgment and taste, taking care that there be sufficient liquor to cover them. Set it on the fire, and, when it boils, put in the oysters; just give them one boil up; put the pickle in a pot, and the oysters closely covered in a cloth till the pickle is quite cold.
Simmer them, till done, in their own liquor; take them out one by one, strain the liquor from them, and boil them with one third of vinegar. Put the oysters in a jar, in layers, with a little mace, whole and white pepper, between the layers; then pour over them the liquor hot.
Take whole pepper and mace, of each a quarter of an ounce, and put to them half a pint of white wine vinegar.
Take some of the largest peaches, when full grown and just ripening, throw them into salt and water, and add a little bay-salt. Let them lie two or three days, covering them with a board; take them out and dry them, and with a sharp knife cut them open and take out the stone; then cut some garlic very fine, scrape a great deal of horseradish, mix the same quantity of mustard seed, a few bruised cloves, and ginger sliced very thin, and with this fill the hollow of the peaches. Tie them round, and lay them in a jar; throw in some broken cinnamon, cloves, mace, and a small quantity of cochineal, and pour over as much vinegar as will fill the jar. To every quart put a quarter of a pint of the best mustard, well made, some cloves, mace, nutmeg, two or three heads of garlic, and some sliced ginger. Mix the pickle well together; pour it over the peaches, and tie them down close with either leather or a bladder. They will soon be fit for use.
In the same manner you may do white plums.
Pick the dead leaves from the branches of purslain, and lay them in a pan. Make some strong brine; boil and skim it clean, and, when boiled and cold, put in the purslain, and cover it; it will keep all the year. When wanted for use, boil it in fresh water, having the water boiling before you put it in. When boiled and turned green, cool it, take it out afterwards, put it into wide-mouth bottles, with strong white wine vinegar to it, and close it for use.
Cut in pieces half a dozen quinces; put them into an earthen pot, with a gallon of water and two pounds of honey. Mix the whole together, and boil it leisurely in a kettle for half an hour. Strain the liquor into an earthen pot: and, when cold, wipe the quinces clean, and lay them in it. Cover them very close, and they will keep all the year.
Make a pickle with cold spring water and bay salt, strong enough to bear an egg; put in your pods; lay a thin board on them to keep them under water, and let them stand ten days. Drain them in a sieve, and lay them on a cloth to dry; then take as much white wine vinegar as you think will cover them, boil and put your pods in a jar, with ginger, mace, cloves, and Jamaica pepper; put your vinegar boiling hot on them; cover them with a coarse cloth three or four times double, that the steam may come through a little, and let them stand two days; repeat this two or three times. When cold, put in a pint of mustard-seed and some horseradish, and cover them close.
Cut off the head of the fish, take out the intestines, but do not slit the belly; cut your pieces across, about two or three inches in breadth; take the blood next to the back clean out: wash and scale it; then put salt and water over the fire, and a handful of bay leaves; put in the salmon, and, when it is boiled, take it off and skim it clear. Take out the pieces with a skimmer as whole as you can; lay them on a table to drain; strain a handful of salt slightly over them; when they are cold, stick some cloves on each side of them. Then take a cask, well washed, and seasoned with hot and cold water, three or four days before you use it; put in the pickle you boiled your salmon in hot, some time before you use it; then take broad mace, sliced nutmeg, white pepper, just bruised, and a little black; mix the pepper with salt, sufficient to season the salmon; strew some pepper, salt, and bay-leaves, at the bottom of the cask; then put in a layer of salmon, then spice, salt, bay-leaves, and pepper, as before, until the cask is full. Put on the head, and bore a hole in the top of it; fill up the cask with good white wine vinegar, cork it, and, in two or three days, take out the cork and put more vinegar, and the fat will come out; do so three or four times; then cut off the cork, and pitch it; if it be for present use, put it in a jar, closely covered.
Well scrape the salmon, take out the entrails, and well wash and dry it. Cut it in pieces of such size as you think proper; take three parts of common vinegar and one of water, enough to cover the fish. Put in a handful of salt, and stir it till dissolved. Add some mace, whole pepper, cloves, sliced nutmeg, and boil all these till the salmon is sufficiently done. Take it out of the liquor, and let it cool. Put it into a barrel, and over every layer of salmon strew black pepper, mace, cloves, and pounded nutmeg; and, when the barrel is full, pour upon the salmon the liquor in which it was boiled, mixed with vinegar, in which a few bay-leaves have been boiled, and then left till cold. Close up the barrel, and keep it for use.
Cut your fish into small slices, and clean them well from the blood, by wiping and pressing them in a dry cloth; afterwards lay it in a kettle of boiling water, taking care not to break it, and, when nearly boiled, make a pickle as follows: two quarts of water, three quarts of rape vinegar; boil it with a little fennel and salt till it tastes strong; then skim it; let it cool; lay the fish in a kettle, and pour the pickle to it pretty warm.
The same process will do for sturgeon, excepting the fennel, and putting a little more salt, or for any other fish.
Cut your salmon in round slices about two inches thick, and tie it with matting, like sturgeon; season it with pepper, mace, and salt; then put it into a broad earthen pan, with an equal quantity of port wine and vinegar to cover it, and add three or four bay-leaves. The pickle also must be seasoned with the spices above-mentioned. The pan must be covered with a coarse cloth, and baked with household bread.
Pick and lay it in strong brine, cold; let it remain twenty-four hours, boil the brine once on a quick fire, and pour it immediately on the samphire. After standing twenty-four hours, just boil it again on a quick fire, and stand till cold. Lay it in a pot, let the pickle settle, and cover the samphire with the clear portion of the pickle. Set it in a dry place, and, should the pickle become mothery, boil it once a month, and, when cold, put the samphire into it.
Lay the smelts in a pot in rows, and lay upon them sliced lemon, mace, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, powdered bay-leaves, and salt. Make pickle of red wine vinegar, saltpetre, and bruised cochineal; when cold, pour it on the smelts, and cover the pot close.
Pare off all the hard ends of the leaves and stalks of the suckers, and scald them in salt and water, and, when cold, put them into glass bottles, with three blades of mace, and thin sliced nutmeg; fill them with distilled vinegar.
Take the middling sort of beer, but indifferently hopped, let it work as long as possible, and fine it down with isinglass; then draw it from the sediment, and put ten pounds weight of the husks of grapes to every ten gallons. Mash them together, and let them stand in the sun, or, if not in summer, in a close room, heated by fire, and, in about three or four weeks, it will become an excellent vinegar. Should you not havegrape husks, you may take the pressing of sour apples, but the vinegar will not prove so good either in taste or body. Cyder will make a decent sort of vinegar, and also unripe grapes, or plums, but foul white Rhenish wines, set in a warm place, will fine, naturally, into good vinegar.
To a pound and a half of the brownest sugar put a gallon of warm water; mix it well together; then spread a hot toast thick with yest, and let it work very well about twenty-four hours. Skim off the toast and the yest, and pour off the clear liquor, and set it out in the sun. The cask must be full, and, if painted and hooped with iron hoops, it will endure the weather better. Lay a tile over the bunghole.
To every gallon of water put three pounds of Malaga raisins; stop it up close, and let it stand in the cellar two years.
Infuse a quarter of an ounce of cayenne, four heads of garlic, some shalots, half a drachm of cochineal, a quarter of a pint of ketchup, soy, walnut pickle, and an ounce of black, white, and long pepper, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg, all grossly bruised, a little mace, and cloves, in a quart of the best wine vinegar; cork it close, and put a leather and bladder over it. Let it stand before the fire for a month, shaking it frequently. You must let it stand upon the ingredients, and fill up with vinegar as you take any out. This is not only an excellent sauce, but a powerful preservative against infectious disorders.
Half an ounce of cayenne pepper, a large head of garlic, half a drachm of cochineal, two spoonfuls of soy, the same of walnut pickle, and a pint of vinegar.
Gather the pods of capsicum when full ripe; put them into a jar with a clove of garlic and a little cayenne pepper; boil the vinegar, and pour it on hot; fill up your jar: let it stand for a fortnight; pour it off clear, and it will be fit for use.
Put two gallons of strong alegar to a peck of the pips of elder-flowers, set it in the sun in a stone jar for a fortnight,and then filter it through a flannel bag; when you draw it off, put it into small bottles, in which it will preserve its flavour better than in larger ones; when you mix the flowers and the alegar together, be careful not to drop any stalks amongst the pips.
Take good vinegar, fill a cask three quarters full, and gather some elder-flowers, nearly or moderately blown, but in a dry day; pick off the small flowers and sprigs from the greater stalks, and air them well in the sun, that they may grow dry, but not so as to break or crumble. To every four gallons of vinegar put a pound of them, sewing them up in a fine rag.
Pick the flowers before they are too much blown from the stalks, and dry them in the sun, but not when it is very hot. Put a handful of them to a quart of the best white wine vinegar, and let it stand a fortnight. Strain and draw it off, and put it into a cask, keeping out about a quart. Make it very hot, and put it into your cask to produce fermentation. Stop it very close, and draw it off when wanted.
Gather the elder-flowers in dry weather, pick them clean from the stalks, and put two pints of them to a gallon of the best white wine vinegar. Let them infuse for ten days, stirring them every day till the last day or two; then strain off the vinegar, and bottle it.
Take sixty cloves, two nutmegs sliced, and eight cloves of garlic, to a quart of vinegar.
To every gallon of water take six pounds of full ripe gooseberries; bruise them, and put them into a vessel, pouring the water cold upon them. Set the vessel in a hot place till the gooseberries come to the top, which they will do in about a fortnight; then draw off the liquor, and, when you have taken the gooseberries out of the vessel, measure the liquor into it again, and to every gallon put a pound of coarse sugar. It will work again, and, when it has done working, stop it down close, set it near the fire or in the sun: it will be fit for use in about six months. If the vessel is not full, it will be ready sooner.
Take rue, sage, mint, rosemary, wormwood, and lavender, of each a large handful; put them into a stone jar, with a gallon of the best vinegar; tie it down very close, and let it stand a fortnight in the sun, shaking the jar every day. Bottle it, and to every bottle add a quarter of an ounce of camphor, beaten very fine. The best time to make it is in June or July.
Put four quarts of spring water to two pounds of Malaga raisins, lay a stone or slate over the bung-hole, and set it in the sun till ready for use. If you put it into a stone jar or bottle, and let it stand in the chimney corner, for a proper time, it will answer the same purpose.
Fill a very large jug or jar with raspberries; then pour as much white wine vinegar upon them as it will hold; let it stand four days, stirring it three times every day. Let it stand four days more, covered close up, stirring it once a day. Strain it through a hair sieve, and afterwards through a flannel bag; and to every pint of liquor add one pound of loaf-sugar. Simmer it over the fire, skimming it all the time, till quite clear. As soon as cold, bottle it.
This is very good sauce for a plain batter pudding and pancakes.
Take two pounds of sugar; dissolve it in a pint of water; then clarify, and let it boil till it is a thick syrup. Take the same quantity of raspberries, or currants, but not too ripe, and pour over them a quarter of a pint of vinegar, in which they must steep for twenty-four hours. Pour the fruit and vinegar into the syrup, taking care not to bruise the fruit; then give it one boil, strain it, and cork it up close in bottles. The fruit must be carefully picked and cleaned, observing not to use any that is in the least decayed. To the syrup of currants a few raspberries may be added, to heighten the flavour. An earthen pipkin is the best to boil in.
Fill a jug with raspberries; add as much of the best vinegar as the jug will hold; let the fruit steep ten or twelve days; then strain the liquor through a fine sieve, without squeezing the raspberries; put three pounds of lump sugar to a quart of juice, and skim it.
Take large full grown walnuts before they are hard; lay them in salt and water for two days: then shift them into fresh water, and let them lie two days longer; change them again, and let them lie two days longer; take them out, and put them in your pickle pot; when the pot is half full, put in some shalots, and a head ofgarlic. To a hundred of walnuts add half an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of black pepper, six bay-leaves, and a stick of horseradish. Then fill your pots, and pour boiling vinegar over them; cover them with a plate, and when cold tie them down.
Before you put the nuts into salt and water, prick them well with a pin.