The best kind of meat for mince pies, is neats tongue and feet, and chickens; a shank of beef makes very good pies. Boil your meat till perfectly tender, then take it up, clear it from the bones and gristle, chop it very fine and mix it with double the quantity of chopped apple; if the meat is not fat, put in a little suet or melted butter, moisten it with cider, add cloves, mace, or nutmeg, and cinnamon, to your taste, sweeten it with molasses and sugar, add a little salt. If you wish to have your pies very rich, put in wine or brandy to your taste, the juice and peel of a lemon, the peel should be grated, and stoned raisins and citron cut in small strips. Bake the pies in shallow plates. Make apertures in the upper crust, before you cover the pies. Bake the pies from half, to three quarters of an hour. Mince meat for pies, with brandy or wine in it, and strongly spiced will keep several months, in cold weather. It should be put in a stone pot, and kept in a dry cool place.
Take mellow juicy peaches, wash and put them in a deep pie plate, or pudding dish, lined with pie crust, sprinkle sugar on each layer of peaches, a great dealwill be necessary to sweeten them sufficiently, put in about a table spoonful of water, sprinkle a little flour over the top and cover the pie with a thick crust. Bake it an hour. Pies made in this manner are much better than with the stones taken out, as the prussic acid of the stones, gives the pie a fine flavor. Dried peaches should be stewed and sweetened, before being made into pies; they do not require any spice.
Sour apples, cranberries, and dried peaches, all make nice tarts. Stew and strain them; if the peaches are not tart, put in the juice and grated peel of a lemon, put in a little sugar. Line shallow pie plates with a thin crust, put a rim of pie crust round the edge of the dish, fill the plates with your tart. Roll some of the crust very thin, cut it into narrow strips, with a jagging iron, and lay it on the pie in a fanciful manner. Bake the pies about twenty five minutes.
To a quart of boiling water, put a small tea cup of rice, and boil it till very soft. Then add a quart of milk, strain it through a sieve, put in a little salt, five beaten eggs, a nutmeg grated, and sugar enough to sweeten it, the sugar should be put in before the rice is strained, add a few raisins. Bake it in deep pie plates, without an upper crust.
Take the stalks of the rhubarb plant in the spring, or fore part of summer, (they are not good later,) cut them in small pieces, and stew them till tender; then strain and sweeten them to your taste, bake them with only an under crust.
Cherries and blackberries for pies, should be perfectly ripe; put them in a deep plate, with an under crust, and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon, or cloves, over them; cover them and bake them half an hour.
Grapes are the best for pies when very small and tender; if not very small, they should be stewed and strained, on account of the seeds. Sweeten them to your taste, no spice is necessary.
Pick them over, and stew them in just water enough to prevent their burning at the bottom, when tender sweeten them to your taste with sugar, and bake them without any spice, in deep dishes. Some people do not stew the currants before baking them, but they are not apt to be sweet enough, if not previously stewed.
Cut your pumpkin in two, take out the seeds, and wash the pumpkin, cut it into small strips, and boil it in just water enough to prevent its burning, when tender turn off the water, and let it steam over a moderate fire for fifteen minutes, taking care it does not burn. Take it up, strain it through the sieve, and if you like the pies very thin, put two quarts of milk, to a quart of the pumpkin, and six eggs; if you wish to have them thick, put a quart only of milk, to a quart of pumpkin, and three eggs. Three eggs to a quart of milk does very well, but they are better with five or six. Sweeten it with molasses or sugar, put in ginger, or grated lemon peel to your taste. Bake them in deep plates from fifty to sixty minutes in a hot oven.
Scrape three good sized carrots, boil them till very tender. Then rub them through a sieve, and mix them with a quart of milk, four beaten eggs, a piece of butter of the size of half an egg, a table spoonful of lemon juice, and the grated peel of half a one. Sweeten it to your taste. Bake it in deep pie plates with an under crust and rim.
Boil Irish or sweet potatoes, till very soft. Take them up, peel and mash them fine. To one quarter of a pound of potatoes put a quart of milk, three ounces of butter, melted; five eggs, a glass of wine, and one of lemon or French brandy. Put in sugar, and mace to your taste.
Pare tart mellow apples, quarter them, take out the seeds, and stew them in a little water till soft enough to rub through a sieve. To twelve table spoonsful of it when strained, put twelve table spoonsful of sugar, the same quantity of wine, five eggs, six table spoonsful of melted butter, half a pint of milk, the juice and grated peel of half a lemon, and half a nutmeg. Bake it in deep pie plates, without an upper crust.
Beat seven eggs with three table spoonsful of rolled sugar, mix them with a quart of milk, flavor it with nutmeg or rosewater. This is good baked either incups, or deep pie plates, with an under crust. Set the pie plates with the crust in the oven and let it bake a moment before you turn in the custard. To ascertain when the pie is done, stick a clean broom splinter through the center of the pie, if none of the custard adheres to it, it is sufficiently bakes.
Boil a quart of milk with a few peach leaves, or lemon peel; strain it. Put it back on the fire; when it boils, mix a table spoonful of flour, with a little milk, and turn it in, let it boil a minute, then put it with four beaten eggs, and sugar to your taste, and bake it in deep pie plates with an under crust.
Squeeze out the juice of two good sized lemons, grate the rind of the lemon, but not the white part, put the juice and grated lemon to a pint of milk. Beat six eggs, with five table spoonsful of powdered loaf sugar, and put them in the milk, with a couple of crackers pounded fine, and a table spoonful of melted butter. Line a pudding dish with pie crust, put a rim of puff paste, or nice pie crust, round the edge, turn the mixture into it, and bake it from twenty five to thirty minutes.
Cut off the brown part of the cocoanut, grate the remainder of it. Scald a quart of milk, and turn it on to the cocoanut, and three crackers pounded fine. Beat eight eggs, with three table spoonsful of sifted loaf sugar, turn it into the milk, together with a glass of wine, and half a grated nutmeg. If any of the milk of the cocoanut can be saved, to mix with the cow'smilk, it makes the pie nicer. Bake it in a deep pie plate, or pudding dish, with a rim of puff paste round the edge of the dish.
Make some puff paste, and roll it half an inch thick, cut it with a tumbler, into any number of puffs you want, cut the remainder of your paste, into narrow strips with a jagging iron, put them round the edge of those you have cut with a tumbler, lay the puffs on buttered plates, and bake them in a quick oven, till of a light brown. Then fill them with any preserved fruit, you may happen to have.
Boil a quart of milk. Beat six eggs with three table spoonsful of sugar, four eggs are enough if you want them plain, grate in a nutmeg, or put in a little rosewater, or essence of lemon. Turn the boiling milk on to the sugar and eggs, stir it several minutes then put it on a few coals, stir it constantly till boiling hot, take it up before it gets to boiling, stir it a few moments, then turn it into your cups and grate nutmeg on them.
Boil in a quart of milk, a couple of ounces each of sweet, and of bitter almonds, pounded fine. When it has boiled seven or eight minutes strain it on to the beaten yolks of eight eggs, and three table spoonsful of loaf sugar. Stir it several moments, then put it on a moderate fire, stir it without any cessation till scalding hot, then take it from the fire, and stir it constantly till nearly cold, then fill your glasses or cups. Just before they are to be eaten, beat the whites of theeggs, to a froth, and lay them on the top of the custards. A few grains of cochineal powder, or saffron in the beaten whites, makes them look handsomely.
Put a piece of calf's rennet three inches square, to a pint of wine, when it has stood seven or eight hours, it is fit for use. Whenever you wish to make your custard, put three table spoonsful of the wine, to a quart of milk, and four table spoonsful of powdered loaf sugar, flavor it with essence of lemon, or rosewater. Stir it twenty minutes, then dish it out, grate nutmeg over it. It should be eaten in the course of an hour after it is made, as it will soon curdle.
Stir a quart of milk very gradually into half a pint of flour, put in a little salt, seven beaten eggs, and a little nutmeg or essence of lemon, sweeten it to your taste, bake it three quarters of an hour.
Soak about three quarters of a pound of rusked bread, in milk, if you have not milk, water will do. When soft, squeeze out the water, mash it fine and put in a heaping table spoonful of flour, mixed with a tea cup of milk, put in three eggs, half a tea spoonful of salt. Mix the whole well together, flour the inside of your pudding bag, and put the pudding in. The bag should not be more than two thirds full, as the pudding swells considerably while boiling. The pudding should be put into a pot of boiling water, and boiled an hour and a half without intermission; if allowed to stop it will be heavy.
Pound rusked bread, and put five heaping table spoonsful of it to a quart of milk, three beaten eggs, four table spoonsful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of melted butter. Bake it an hour and a half; it is good without the eggs, if baked two hours and a half. It does not require any sauce.
Cut a loaf of baker's bread into thin slices, spread butter on both sides; lay them in a buttered pudding dish, and on each layer strew Zante currants, or stoned raisins, and citron cut into small pieces. Beat eight eggs with six table spoonsful of sugar rolled free from lumps; mix them with three pints of milk, and a grated nutmeg. Turn the whole over the bread and let it stand until the bread has absorbed most of the milk, then bake it about three quarters of an hour.
Into a pint and a half of flour, stir gradually a quart of milk; stir it till free from lumps, then add seven beaten eggs, a couple of tea spoonsful of salt, and a grated nutmeg. A pudding made in this manner is good either baked or boiled; it takes two hours to boil and one to bake it. It should be eaten as soon as cooked or it will be heavy. This as well as all other kinds of boiled puddings should not be put into the pot until the water boils and should not be allowed to stop for a moment, if the water wastes much in boiling, fill the pot up with boiling water. A pudding bag should be floured on the inside, and not filled more than two thirds full. When the pudding has boiled six or eightminutes turn it over, as it is apt to settle. Flour puddings require rich sauce.
Swell the rice with a little milk over a fire, then put in acid apples pared and cut in thin slices, or gooseberries and currants, add a couple of eggs, a tea spoonful of salt, fill your pudding bag half full and boil it an hour and a half. Serve it up with butter and sugar.
Pick over and wash two small tea cups of rice and put it into two quarts of milk; add a tea cup of butter, two of sugar, and a grated nutmeg. Butter a pudding dish, set it in a bake pan, then turn in the pudding, when it begins to thicken stir in three tea cups full of raisins. Bake it two hours, it will not fall if taken from the fire sometime before it is to be eaten, it is also good cold. It is good without any sauce, and is the only kind of pudding that eggs do not improve.
Pare large tart apples, take out the cores with a pen-knife; fill the holes with sugar, and a stick of cinnamon or mace. Put each one in a small bag well floured, fill them half full of unboiled rice, tie up the bags and boil them an hour and twenty minutes. When done turn them out carefully and serve them up with pudding sauce.
Boil three pints of milk, and turn it on to a pint of Indian meal, and five table spoonsful of wheatflour. When cool beat three eggs with the same quantity of sugar, and stir it into the pudding, together with a tea spoonful of salt, three tea spoonsful of cinnamon, and a piece of butter of the size of an egg. If raisins are put in the pudding, a tea cup more of milk will be required, as they absorb the milk. This pudding is good if the eggs are omitted. It takes two hours and a half to bake it.
Into a quart of boiling milk, stir a couple of table spoonsful of flour, and sifted Indian meal till it is a thick batter, and half a table spoonful of ginger or cinnamon, half a tea cup of molasses. Dip the pudding bag into water, wring it out, and flour the inside of it, and fill it not more than half full, as Indian puddings swell very much. Put it into boiling water, and keep it boiling constantly for four or five hours. A kettle of boiling water should be kept, to turn into the pudding pot as the water boils away.
Grate a cup and a half of green corn, mix it with a quart of milk, four beaten eggs, and half a grated nutmeg; melt a piece of butter of the size of a hen's egg, and stir it in. Bake it one hour.
Wet Indian meal with cold water sufficient to make a thin batter, turn part of it into a pot of boiling water; when it has boiled fifteen or twenty minutes stir in the remainder, salt it to your taste, and stir in Indian meal by the handful as long as you can stir the pudding stick round in it easily. When the stick can be made to stand upright in it for a minute, it is thick enough.It should boil slowly, and be stirred often; if you wish to fry it, it will be necessary to boil it, from two to three hours, if not it will boil sufficiently in an hour. If a little flour is stirred in just before it is taken up, it will fry better. Turn it into a deep dish, and if it is to be fried, let it stand till cold, then cut it into thin slices, flour and fry them in lard, till very brown.
Take raised or common pie crust, and roll it out about half an inch thick. Strew over it either currants, cherries, cranberries, gooseberries, black or whortle berries. Sprinkle sugar, and cinnamon or cloves over them. Roll it up carefully, join the ends together, and put it in a floured cloth and sew it up. Boil it an hour, and eat it with sauce as soon as done.
Mix a quart of milk gradually, with a quart of flour, stir it till smooth, then add a little essence of lemon, or rosewater, and five beaten eggs. Drop it into boiling hot fat by thespoonsful. They are lighter for being fried in a great deal of fat, but less greasy if fried in just enough to prevent their sticking to the griddle. They should be served up with pudding sauce.
Make good common, or raised pie crust, divide it into as many pieces, as you wish dumplings. Pare tart mellow apples, take out the cores, with a penknife, fill the holes with a blade of mace, and sugar. Roll out your crust half an inch thick, and enclose an apple in each piece. Tie them up in separate bags, that are floured inside. Drop them into a pot of boiling water, and boil them without any intermission for anhour, then take them out of the bags. If allowed to stop boiling they will not be light. Eat them with butter and sugar, or pudding sauce.
Mix three ounces of butter, with four table spoonsful of powdered loaf sugar, when stirred to a cream, add a quart of boiling milk, the juice and peel of two large oranges, the peel should be chopped very fine, put in a gill of wine, then an ounce of citron, cut into small strips, add eight eggs, the whiles and yolks beaten separately. Mix the whole well together, then turn it into a pudding dish, with a lining and rim of puff paste. Bake it directly in a quick oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes.
Pare and halve tart mellow apples, scoop out the cores, put a little flour in the hollow of the apples, and wet it so as to form a thick paste, stick a blade or two of mace and three or four Zante currants, in each one of the apples. Butter small cups, and put half an apple, in each one, lay three or four narrow strips of citron round each apple. Mix a quart of milk, with three table spoonsful of flour, six eggs, a grated nutmeg and four table spoonsful of sugar. Nearly fill the cups with this mixture. Bake them about thirty minutes. They should be eaten as soon as done.
Pare and take out the cores of nice tart apples, lay them in a pudding dish, well buttered, fill the holes of the apples, with nutmeg and sugar. For nine or ten apples, mix half a pint of flour with a quart of milk, four table spoonsful of sugar, and seveneggs, turn it over the apples, flavor it with whatever spice you like, and bake it about half an hour.
Soak three quarters of a pound of finely pounded crackers in two quarts of milk. Put in twelve beaten eggs, half a pound of stoned raisins, quarter of a pound of Zante currants, the same weight of citron, cut into small pieces, and five ounces of blanched and pounded almonds; add a wine glass of lemon brandy, or wine, and a little orange flower, or rosewater, and a little salt. Bake or boil it from two hours and a half, to three hours.
Melt half a pound of butter, and stir it into the same weight of double refined loaf sugar, add half a tea spoonful of essence of lemon, eight eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, and a couple of table spoonsful of cream. Set the whole on a few coals, stir it constantly till it thickens, take it off before it gets to boiling, and stir it till nearly cold, then turn it into a dish lined with pastry, put a rim of puff paste round the edge, and bake it half an hour. It will cut light and clear.
Mix a pint of lemon juice with a pound and three quarters of lump sugar. Dissolve it by a gentle heat, skim it until clear, then add one ounce of thin cut lemon peel, and simmer if gently for a few moments. Strain it through a flannel bag; when cold, bottle, cork, and seal it tight, keep it in a cool place. Another method of making it which is cheaper, and very good, is to dissolve half an ounce of citric acid, in apint of clarified syrup, by a gentle heat; when cool, put in a few drops of oil or a little essence of lemon.
Take nice fresh oranges, squeeze out the juice, and strain it; to a pint of juice put a pound and a half of while sugar. Dissolve it over a moderate fire, put in the peel of the oranges, and let the whole boil eight or ten minutes. Strain it till clear, through a flannel bag, bottle and cork it tight. This is nice to flavor puddings and pies, or sherbet.
Pick over blackberries that are perfectly ripe, boil them in their juice till they break to pieces, then strain them through a flannel cloth, and to each pint of juice put a pound of sugar. Boil it again for ten minutes, then strain it and add a wine glass of brandy to each pint of syrup. When cool, bottle and cork it tight, and set it in a cool place. This mixed with cold water in the proportion of a wine glass of it to two thirds of a tumbler of water is a very agreeable summer beverage, it also possesses fine medicinal properties.
For most kinds of fruit, one pound of sugar, to one of the fruit, is sufficient to preserve them; some kinds of fruit will do with less. Put your sugar into your preserving kettle, and turn in as much cold water as you think will cover your fruit, when put in, add the white of an egg to every three pounds of sugar, then put it over a slow fire; when the sugar has dissolved, put it where it will boil, let it boil several minutes, then take it from the fire, and skim it till clear, put it back on the fire, when the scum rises again, take thekettle off and skim it again, this operation repeat till it is perfectly clear, then put in the fruit. If you have not syrup enough to cover the fruit, take the fruit out and put in more cold water, and let it get to boiling before you put in the fruit, if you have too much syrup, it should boil away before you boil your fruit in it. White sugar is better than brown for preserving, but brown sugar answers very well for common sweet meats. Every kind of ware but iron, will do to preserve in, but earthen ware is the best on account of its not imparting an unpleasant taste, to the sweet meats.
Quinces if very ripe, are best pared and cut in slices about an inch thick, the cores should be taken out carefully with a small knife, then put the quinces in clarified syrup, and boil them till you can stick a broom splinter through them easily, take them up and put them in jars, and turn the syrup over them, cover them up, and put them in a cool place, as soon as done. Quinces preserved in this manner retain more of their natural flavor, but they cannot be preserved in this way without they are very ripe. If not very ripe pare and halve them, and take out the cores. Boil the quinces till tender, then take them out, strain the water they were boiled in, and use it to make a syrup for the quinces, allow a pound of sugar to a pound of the fruit, when clarified put in the quinces and boil them slowly half an hour. Set them away in jars covered with a paper wet in brandy. Look at them in the course of three or four days, and if they have begun to ferment, turn off the syrup, and scald it, then turn it back on the quinces. Some people boil the cores of the quinces with them, but the syrup does not look as nice for it. A cheap way of preserving quinces, which is very good for common use, is to boil theparings and cores in cider till tender, then strain the cider, and for ten pounds of quince, put in two pounds of brown sugar, and a couple of quarts of molasses, and the beaten whites of two eggs; put it on the fire, clarify it, then put in the quinces, which should be pared and halved, put in the peel of an orange, boil them till tender.
Wash and quarter them, put them on the fire, with a little water, and stew them till tender enough to rub through a sieve. When strained, put to a pound of pulp, a pound of brown sugar, set it back on the fire, and let it stew slowly, stir it constantly. To ascertain when it is done, take a little of it out and let it get cold, if it then cuts smooth and clear it is sufficiently stewed. Crab apple marmalade, is made in the same manner.
Take an ounce of race ginger, for every pound of pears. Scrape off the skin, cut it into thin slices, and boil it until tender, then take it from the fire, put in your sugar, allowing three quarters of a pound to a pound of the pears, set it on the fire, clarify it, then put in the pears, if very small they are good preserved whole, boil them till tender, then put them in jars tightly covered, set them away in a cool place. In the course of five or six days, boil the syrup again, and turn it on them while hot. Choke and Vergoulouse are the best pears for preserving. The ginger can be omitted if not liked.
Pare your peaches, which should be very ripe, and if you wish to preserve them whole, allow a pound ofsugar, to a pound of fruit. Take lump sugar, break it into small pieces, and dip each piece into cold water, let it be in just long enough to get saturated with the water, then put the lumps into a preserving kettle, set the kettle over a slow fire, when the sugar has dissolved, put in your peaches, boil them twenty minutes. These as well as all other sweet meats, should be set away in a cool place, as soon as done, if allowed to stand by the fire for a few hours, the syrup will not look clear; all preserves should be covered up tight. Let them remain several days, then turn the syrup from them, scald it, and turn it back on to them, while hot. If you preserve your peaches without the stones, three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit is sufficient, take those that are mellow and juicy, pare and halve them, take out the stones, put them in a deep dish; on each layer of peach, sprinkle your sugar, let them stand three or four hours, then put them on the fire with very little water, let them boil slowly for twenty minutes.
Take your currants from the stems, for a pound of currants, allow a pound of sugar. Make some syrup, clarify it, and put in the currants, let them boil slowly for a few moments. A table spoonful of these, mixed with a tumbler of water is a very wholesome drink in the summer.
Pick over your barberries, and put them in clarified syrup, boil them half an hour. Molasses does very well to preserve barberries in, for common use, with a little orange peel boiled with them. Preserved barberries mixed with water, is a very refreshing drink in fevers.
Take green ginger, and soak it until you can scrape off the outside, when scraped, soak it in salt and water one day, then take it out of the salt and water, and boil it till tender. Make a syrup of white sugar, allowing equal weights of sugar and ginger, when clarified take it off, and when cold, turn it on the ginger, let it remain a week, then boil the ginger and syrup together, until the syrup appears to have entered the ginger, when cool put in a little essence of lemon.
Take nice tart apples, halve and quarter them, and take out the cores. For a pound of apples, allow three quarters of a pound of sugar. When you have clarified your syrup, put in the apples, with the skin of a lemon pared thin. When the apples are tender, take them up, and let the syrup remain till cold, then turn it over them. Apples preserved in this manner, will keep but a few days. Crab apples should be preserved whole, with the skins on, and to a pound of the apples put a pound of sugar.
Cut and scrape the rinds of cymbelines, put them in strong salt and water, let them remain in it a week, then in fair water three days, changing the water every day, then soak them in alum water an hour. Tie up oyster shells, in a cloth, and boil them with the cymbelines. When the cymbelines are tender, take them up and put them in alum water. Make your syrup, allowing a pound and a half of sugar, to a pound of the melon, boil your cymbelines in it three quarters of an hour. These are good eaten as any other preserves, or put in cake instead of citron.
Take the rind of a nice watermelon, cut it in strips and boil them a quarter of an hour, with a tea spoonful of saleratus to three or four quarts of water, then soak them in alum water an hour, rinse and put them in clarified syrup, and boil them twenty minutes. When they have stood three or four days, turn the syrup from them, and boil it, then turn it back on the rinds while hot. Allow equal weights of rinds and sugar.
Allow three quarters of a pound of sugar, to a pound of cherries. Make your syrup, allowing half a pint of water, to two pounds of cherries, put in your cherries, shake them occasionally to prevent their sticking to the kettle. When the syrup is colored strain the cherries.
Procure muskmelons that are perfectly green, the later in the season, the better. Scrape off the skin of the rind, taking care not to scrape the green part. Cut them through the middle, and take out the seeds, then cut them in the form of rings an inch thick. Put them in salt and water, and let them lay several days, then in fair water one day, changing the water several times; take them out and soak them in alum water, one or two hours. Take race ginger, the green is the best, soak it until you can scrape off the outside, cut it in slices, and boil it until tender. Boil your melons in fresh water, with a handful of peach leaves, and the ginger, allowing half an ounce to each pound of fruit. When the melon is tender, put it in alum water, together with the ginger. Make the syrup forthe melons, allowing a pound of white sugar, to a pound of the fruit, when clarified put in the melons, and boil them, together with the ginger, half an hour, take them up, turn the syrup over them, when cool, drop in a little essence of lemon. When they have stood several days turn the syrup from them, boil and turn it back while hot, to the melons.
Pare off the rind of the pine apples, cut them in slices an inch thick. Weigh out a pound of white sugar, allowing a pound of it to each pound of fruit, lay your pine apples in a deep dish, on each layer of it sprinkle some of your sugar, (which should be powdered.) Set the pine apples away till the next day, reserving part of the sugar. Then turn the syrup from the pine apples into your preserving pan, add your reserved sugar, put in a tea cup of water, to the juice of four or five pine apples, clarify it, then put in the apples, and boil them till tender. Let the whole stand in a dish several days, and if there is any appearance of fermentation, put it in a preserving pan, scald it through, then turn it into glasses, and set it in a cool place.
Take a good sweet pumpkin, halve it, take out the seeds, and cut it in chips, of the size of a dollar. To each pound of pumpkin, allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and a gill of lemon juice. Put your pumpkin chips in a dish, and to each layer, put a layer of sugar, turn the lemon juice over the whole, and let it stand a day, then boil it till tender, with half a pint of water to four or five pounds of the pumpkin. Tie up ginger in a bag, and boil with it, also the rind of several lemons, cut into chips.
Take equal quantities of fruit and sugar. Make a syrup of the sugar, (which should be white,) with a little water, when it boils drop in the plums, boil them very slowly for a few moments, then take them up into dishes, and let them remain several days, then boil them again, until the syrup appears to have entered them. Put the plums in jars, boil the syrup again, in the course of two or three days, and turn it over them.
Take Chili or field strawberries, and hull them. Take equal quantities of fruit, and white sugar, and put a layer of each alternately in a preserving pan, having a layer of strawberries at the bottom, let them stand for half an hour, then put a gill of cold water with them, to prevent their burning at the bottom of the pan. Set them over a moderate fire, when the juice runs freely increase the fire, until they boil briskly, when they have boiled half an hour, take them up, turn them into bottles, cork them tight, and dip the mouths of the bottles into hot sealing wax. Keep them in dry sand.
For a pound of berries allow a pound of brown sugar, put a layer of each alternately in a dish, let them stand two or three hours, strain them, put them over a moderate fire, and boil them half an hour.
Pick over your fruit carefully, then mash and squeeze the berries through a flannel bag, to each pint of juice put a pound of white sugar, set it on the fire, when ithas boiled seven or eight minutes, take it from the fire and skim it till clear, then put it back on the fire; as fast as the scum rises take it from the fire, and skim it. To ascertain when it is done, take a little of it from the fire, and let it be till cold.
Wash and drain the berries till nearly dry, then put them in a preserving pan, with a plate at the bottom, heat them till they break, then strain them through a flannel cloth; to each pint put a pound of white sugar. Boil and skim them till perfectly clear, the kettle should be taken from the fire when skimmed. When the jelly has boiled four or five hours, take a little of it up, and put it in a tumbler of cold water, if it sinks to the bottom in a solid mass, it is done sufficiently. Jellies are improved, by being put in the sun for several days. Care must be taken, that the dew does not fall on them.
Halve your quinces, take out the cores, and boil the quinces until very soft, in just sufficient water to cover them, then squeeze them through a flannel bag, and to a pound of quince pulp, put a pound of white sugar. Boil and skim it till clear; when it becomes a jelly, strain it again, fill your glasses and cover them tight.
Take greenings, pippins or crab apples, halve them and take out the cores, boil them till tender in water just sufficient to cover them, boil with them the peel and juice of a lemon, to every three pounds of the apple. Strain the apple, and to each pound, put a pound of loaf sugar. Boil and skim it till clear; whenit becomes a jelly, take it up, color it if you like, either with saffron, beet juice, or cochineal. Strain it, and put it in glasses, and set them in a cool place.
Put on a slow fire an ounce and a half of isinglass, (pulled into small pieces,) a pint of water, with the rind of several lemons; when dissolved put in a pint of lemon juice, a pound and a half of white sugar, color it with a few grains of saffron, strain it through a flannel bag, then boil it ten or fifteen minutes, strain it till clear, let it remain till nearly congealed, then fill your glasses or moulds with it. To get it out of the moulds dip them into lukewarm water for a minute, the jelly will then come out easily.
To four feet put four quarts of water, boil them till tender, and the water boils away to one quart. Take it off, let it stand till cold, then skim off the fat carefully, and put the jelly into a preserving pan, and set it on the fire; when it melts take it from the fire, put in the beaten whites of seven eggs, a little cinnamon, half a pint of white wine, the juice of two lemons, and the rind, leaving out the white part; sweeten the whole to your taste, with loaf sugar. Put it back on the fire, and boil it fifteen minutes, then strain it through a flannel bag, without squeezing it, if it is not clear the first time it is strained, strain it till it is. The bag should be suspended on a nail over a dish, and the jelly poured into it, and allowed to drain through it gradually. When clear turn it into cups or glasses, and set them where the jelly will congeal, but not so cold as to freeze it. This kind of jelly will not keep longer than two or three days in warm weather. A knuckle of veal makes a jelly as good as calves' feet, it is madein the same manner. Jellies and sweet meats are less liable to ferment, if kept in glass jars or bottles. A paper wet in spirits and put over sweet meats, has a tendency to prevent their fermenting. Sweet meats should be carefully watched during warm weather, and if fermentation commences turn the syrup from them, scald it, and turn it back.
To make good strong coffee, allow for each person a heaping table spoonful of ground coffee, and a pint of water. Put your coffee into a tin pot, with a piece of fish skin about the size of a ninepence, to two or three quarts of water, turn on your water boiling hot, and boil the coffee from fifteen to twenty minutes, take it off, and let it stand to settle five or six minutes, then turn it off carefully. French coffee is made in a German filter, the water is turned on to it boiling hot, an ounce to each person is allowed, put in a piece of fish skin before you turn on the water. When cream cannot be preserved for coffee, boiled milk is a good substitute. Many people dislike to settle coffee with fish skin, thinking it imparts a disagreeable taste to the coffee, but it is owing to its not being prepared properly, the skin should be taken from mild codfish, washed, and cut into small pieces and dried perfectly. The white of an egg, egg shells, and isinglass, are all good to settle coffee. The best kind of coffee is old Java, and Mocha; before it is roasted, it should be hung over the fire two or three hours to dry, if dried in the oven it looses its strength, it should be hung at such a distance from the fire, as to be in no danger of burning. When dry put it on hot coals, and stir it constantly till done, which is ascertained by biting one of the lightest kernels, if it is brittle, the whole is done. Put it in a box, and cover it up tight, to keep in the steam.
Coffee is much better roasted in a coffee roaster, than a kettle, as the fine aromatic flavor of the coffee is preserved, which escapes in a great measure, when roasted in an open kettle.
Scald your tea pot, and put in a tea spoonful of tea, for each person that is to drink it, if it is a weak kind of tea, more will be required, pour on just boiling water enough to cover it, let it stand six or eight minutes, not longer if you wish to have it in perfection, pour on the rest of the water boiling hot.
Scrape the chocolate off fine, and mix it smoothly with a little cold milk, or water. If liked very rich, make it entirely of milk, if not, use equal quantities of milk and water, boil it, then stir in the chocolate while boiling, sweeten it to your taste, let it boil five or six minutes; if liked rich, grate in a little nutmeg. A heaping table spoonful of grated chocolate to a pint of milk, or water, is the right proportion.
For three gallons of beer, take nine quarts of water, six ounces of hops. Boil the hops in half the water three hours, strain it, then boil the hops again in the remainder of the water, three hours longer, with a tea cup of ginger. Strain and put it with the rest of the liquor, and two quarts of molasses, and when lukewarm, put in a pint of new yeast, without any salt in it. Keep it in a temperate place, till it has ceased fermenting, which is ascertained by the froth subsiding. Turn it off carefully into a cask, or bottle it; it should not be corked very tight, or it will burst the bottles. Keep the bottles in a cool place.
Take five gallons of water, and boil with a couple of ounces of hops, when it has boiled four or five hours, strain it, put to it two quarts of molasses, when lukewarm, put in a pint of fresh yeast, without any salt in it, (brewer's is the best,) put in three table spoonsful of the essence of spruce. A decoction made of the leaves of white or black spruce, is equally as good as the essence; boil the hops with the leaves. Let the beer stand in a temperate situation, several days exposed to the air, then put it in a cask, or bottle it, it will be fitto drink in the course of a few days. This is a nice summer drink, and a powerful antiscorbutic.
Take a small bunch each of sarsaparilla, sweet fern, wintergreen, sassafras, and spice wood, boil them with three ounces of hops, to six gallons of water, pare two or three raw potatoes, and throw them into the beer while it is boiling. When it has boiled five or six hours, strain it, and put to it three pints of molasses, when cool stir in a pint of fresh yeast, if the beer is too thick, dilute it with a little cold water. When fermented, bottle and keep it in a cool place.
Take three table spoonsful of ginger, one of cream of tartar, and boil them gently in a gallon of water, with a lemon cut in slices; sweeten it to your taste, with loaf or Havana sugar, boil it three quarters of an hour. Strain it, and when cool, put in a tea cup of yeast; as soon as it has ceased fermenting, bottle it.
Take equal parts of red and white currants, grapes, raspberries and English cherries, bruise and mix them with soft water, in the proportion of four pounds of fruit, to one gallon of water, let the liquid remain for two or three hours, then strain it, and to each gallon of wine add three pounds of sugar. Let it stand open three days, stirring it frequently, skim, and put it in a cask, place it in a temperate situation, where it will ferment slowly, when fermented add to it a ninth part of brandy, and stop it up tight. In two or three years it will be very rich.
Strain the currants, which should be perfectly ripe, to each quart of juice, put two of water, and three pounds of sugar. Stir the whole well together, and let it stand twenty four hours, then skim it, and set it in a cool place, where it will ferment slowly, let it remain three or four days, if at the end of that time, it has fermented, add one quart of French brandy, to every fifteen gallons, stop it tight, when it is clear, it is fit to bottle. This wine is better for being kept several years.
To a quart of vinegar, put three quarts of fresh ripe raspberries, let it stand a day, then strain it, and to each pint, put a pound of white sugar. Put it in a jar, and set it in a kettle of boiling water, boil it an hour, skim it till clear. When cool add a wine glass of wine, to each pint of shrub. A couple of table spoonsful of this, mixed with a tumbler of water, is a very wholesome and refreshing drink in fevers.
To three pints of good French brandy, put four ounces of bitter almonds, or peach meats bruised, put in half an ounce of cinnamon, the same quantity of mace and amber, pounded fine, add a tea spoonful of cloves; let it stand for a fortnight, shaking it often, then add a quart of water, and a pound and a quarter of sugar, let it stand a week, shaking it each day, then strain it off for use.
Boil in a quart of water six or eight stalks of the rhubarb plant, with the peel of a lemon pared very thin, and the juice of it. When it has boiled eight, or ten minutes, take it, sweeten it to the taste with any kind of syrup you like, or honey, flavor it with rosewater, strain it, let it stand five or six hours, it will then be fit to drink. It is a fine thing to assuage thirst.
To every gallon of ripe grapes, put a gallon of soft water, bruise the grapes, and let them stand a week, without stirring, then draw off the liquor carefully; to each gallon, put three pounds of lump sugar, when fermented, put it in a cask, stop it up tight, in six months it will be fit to bottle.
Take the young sprouts of smallage, wash and drain them till perfectly dry. Cut them into small pieces, and put them in a bottle, with stoned raisins, a layer of each alternately; when the bottle is two thirds full,fill it up with good French brandy. Cork it up, let it stand four or five days, then pour in as much more brandy, as you can get in. It will be fit for use in the course of a few days.
Take one drachm of the best oil of lemon, and two ounces of strong rectified spirit. Mix the spirit by degrees, with the oil. Another way to procure the essence of the peel, is to rub the peel with lumps of sugar, till the yellow part is all taken up. Scrape off the surface of the sugar, and press it down tight, in a preserving pot, and cover it tight; a little of this sugar gives a fine flavor to pies or cake. This mode of procuring the essence of the peel, is superior to any other, as the fine flavor of the peel is extracted without any alloy.
Put three ounces of fresh grated ginger, an ounce of thin cut lemon peel, into a quart of brandy, or proof spirit, bottle and cork it, let it stand for ten days, shaking it up each day, it will then be fit for use. A few drops of this, in a little water, or on a lump of sugar, answers all the purposes of ginger tea, and is much more convenient and palatable.
Gather your roses on a dry day, when full blown, pick off the leaves, and to a peck of them, put a quartof water. Put them in a cold still, and put it over a slow fire, the slower they are distilled the better. When distilled put it in the bottles, let it stand a couple of days, then cork it tight.
Into a large wide mouthed bottle, put French brandy, and fresh rose leaves, or lemon and orange peel. When this has stood a week, it is nice spice for pies, puddings and cake. Peach meats or almonds steeped in brandy are very good spice for custards.
Take a couple of ounces of pearl barley, wash it in cold water, and put it into half a pint of boiling water, and let it boil four or five minutes, then turn off the water, and pour on two quarts of boiling water, strain it, and put to it two ounces of figs sliced, two of stoned raisins, half an ounce of liquorice cut into small bits, and bruised, boil it till reduced to a quart, and strain it. This is a very wholesome drink in fevers.
Mix a couple of table spoonsful of Indian meal, with one of flour and a little water, stir it into a pint of boiling water, let it boil six or eight minutes, then take it up put in a piece of butter of the size of a walnut, pepper and salt, to your taste, and nutmeg, or cinnamon if you like, turn it on to toasted bread or crackers. To convert this into caudle, add a little ale; wine or brandy, and loaf sugar.
Into a pint of milk while boiling, stir a couple of wine glasses of wine, let it boil for a moment, thentake it off, when the curd has settled, turn off the whey, and sweeten it with loaf sugar. Where wine cannot be procured, cider, or half the quantity of vinegar, is a good substitute.
Bruise an ounce and a half of Peruvian bark, and one of bitter dried orange peel. Steep it in brandy or proof spirit, for a fortnight, shaking it each day. Let it remain for a couple of days without shaking it, then decant the liquor. A tea spoonful of it in a wine glass of water, is a fine tonic.
Broil a pound of fresh beef ten minutes, take it up, pepper and salt it, cut it into small pieces, and turn a pint of boiling water on to it, let it steep in a warm place for half an hour, then strain it off, and it is fit to drink. This is a quick way of making it, but the best way is to cut beef into small bits, and fill a junk bottle with it, stop it up tight, and immerse it in a kettle of cold water, put it where it will boil four or five hours. This way is superior to the other, as the juices of the meat are obtained unmixed with water; a table spoonful of this is as nourishing as a cup full of that which is made by broiling.
American, or Irish Carrageen, is a very nutritious and light article of food for children, and invalids, and is a good thickener of milk and broths, and for blanc mange is equal to the most expensive ingredients, while the cost is very trifling. The following decoction for consumptive patients, is recommended. Steep half an ounce of the moss in cold water, for a fewminutes, then take it out, boil it in a quart of milk until it attains the consistency of warm jelly, strain it, and sweeten it to the taste, with white sugar or honey, flavor it with whatever spice is most agreeable, if milk is disagreeable, water may be substituted. If a tea spoonful of the tincture of rhutany is mixed with a cup full of the decoction, a tone will be given to the stomach, at the same time that nourishment is conveyed to the system.
Steep half an ounce of Irish moss in a pint and a half of milk; when it becomes a thick jelly sweeten it with loaf sugar, and flavor it with white wine and cinnamon. To make orange, lemon or savory jellies, use a similar process, substituting water for milk. Jellies made of it, are more nourishing, than those made of sago, tapioca or arrow root.
Wash and strain the berries, which should be perfectly ripe, to a pint of the juice put a pint of molasses. Boil it twenty minutes, stirring it constantly; then take it from the fire, and when cold add to each quart four table spoonsful of brandy; bottle and cork it. This is an excellent remedy for a tight cough.
Bread that is several days old, may be renewed by putting it into a steamer, and steaming it from half to three quarters of an hour, according to its size; the steamer should not be more than half full, otherwise the water will boil up on to the bread. When steamed, wrap it up loosely in a dry cloth, and let it remain till quite dry, it will then appear like bread just baked.If pieces of bread are put in the oven and dried, several hours after baking in it, they will keep good a long time. They are good as fresh bread for dressing to meat, and for puddings, if soaked soft in cold water. Rich cake with wine or brandy in it, will keep good several months in winter, if kept in a cool place. The day it is to be eaten, it should be put in a tin pan, and set in a bake pan that has a tea cup of water in it, when heated thoroughly through take it up.
Cover the cheese while whole with a paste made of wheat flour, put a piece of paper or cloth over it, and cover it with the paste, keep it in a cool dry place. Cheese that has skippers in it, if kept till cold weather will be free from them. Cheese that is growing mouldy can be prevented from becoming any more so, by grating it fine and moistening it with wine, and covering it up in a jar. It is preferred by many people to that which is not grated.
Succulent vegetables, are preserved best in a cool shady place that is damp. Turnips, potatoes, and similar vegetables should be protected from the air and frost, by being buried in earth; in very severe cold weather, they should be covered with a linen cloth. It is said that the dust of charcoal will keep potatoes from sprouting, if sprinkled over them.—Herbs should be gathered on a dry day, either just before or while in blossom; they should be tied in bundles and hung in a shady airy place, with the blossoms downwards. When perfectly dry, put away the medicinal ones in bundles; pick off the leaves of those that are to be used in cooking, pound and sift them, and keep them in bottles corked tight.
Apples can be kept till June, by taking only those that are perfectly sound, and wiping them dry, and putting them in barrels with a layer of bran to each layer of apples. Cover the barrel with a linen cloth to protect them from the frost. Mortar put on the top of the apples, is said to be an excellent thing to prevent their decaying, as it draws the air from them, which is the principal cause of decay; the mortar should not touch the apples. To preserve oranges and lemons for several months, take those that are perfectly fresh, and wrap each one by itself in soft paper, and put them in glass jars, or a very tight box, strew white sand thickly round each one and over the top. The sand should be previously perfectly dried in the oven, several hours after baking in it. Cover the fruit up tight, and keep it in a cool dry place, but not so cold as to freeze it. To preserve grapes gather them on a dry day, when not quite dead ripe; pick those off from the stem, that are not perfectly fair, lay them in a glass jar and on each layer sprinkle a layer of dry bran, taking care that none of the grapes touch each other, have a layer of bran on the top of them, and cork and seal them tight. A box will do to keep them in if covered with mortar. To restore them to their freshness when they are to be eaten, cut the ends of the stalks and immerse them in wine, let them remain in it for a few moments before they are to be eaten. Various kinds of green fruit, such as grapes, currants, gooseberries and plums, can be kept the year round by putting them in bottles, and setting them in an oven four or five hours after baking in it; let them remain in it till they begin to shrink, then cork and seal them tight, they will be fit for pies, whenever you wish to use them. Ripe blackberries, and whortleberries, dried perfectly in the sun, and tied up in bagsso as to exclude the air, will keep good over the winter. Whenever you wish to use them for pies, pour on boiling water enough to cover them, and let them remain in it till they swell to nearly the original size, then drain off the water, and use them.
Procure a quantity of the petals of any kind of flowers that have an agreeable fragrance. Card thin layers of cotton, which dip into the finest Florence oil. Sprinkle a small quantity of salt on the flowers, and put a layer of them in a glass jar or wide mouthed bottle, with a layer of the cotton, put in a layer of each alternately until the jar is full, then cover the top up tight with a bladder. Place the vessel in a south window, exposed to the heat of the sun. In the course of a fortnight, a fragrant oil may be squeezed from the cotton, little inferior if rose leaves are made use of, to the imported otto of rose.
Dissolve a drachm of lunar caustic, in half an ounce of pure cold water. Dip whatever is to be marked in pearlash water, dry it perfectly, then rub it smooth with a silver spoon, (ironing it sets the pearlash water,) write on it, and place it in the sun, and let it remain until the name appears plain and black. Red ink for marking linen, is made by mixing and reducing to a fine powder, half an ounce of vermilion, a drachm of the salt of steel, and linseed oil enough to render it of the consistency of black durable ink.
Rose leaves dried in the shade, and mixed with powdered cloves, cinnamon and mace, put in smallbags and pressed, is a fine thing to keep in drawers of linen, to perfume them.
Dissolve a small lump of white sugar, in a table spoonful of rose water, clear water will do but is not as good. Mix it with a table spoonful of sweet oil, a piece of spermaceti of the size of half a butternut. Simmer the whole together about eight or ten minutes.
Take the crust of newly baked bread, moisten it with gum water and milk, add either vermilion in powder or rose pink, to color it. When moistened work it with the fingers till it forms a consistent paste without cracking; it should then be laid in a cellar, till the next day. Then break it into pieces of the size you wish to have the seals, warm and roll them into balls, press one at a time, on the warm impression of a seal press. The bread should go into every part of the sealing wax impression; while the bread remains on it, pinch the upper part so as to form a handle, to hold the bread seal when in use. Take off the bread seal, trim all the superfluous parts, put the seals where they will dry slowly. The more the bread has been worked with the fingers, the more glossy and smooth will be the seals, and the better impression will they make.
Rub a drop or two of oil with a feather round the stopple, close to the mouth of the bottle or decanter, then place it between one and two feet from the fire. The heat will cause the oil to run down between the stopple and mouth. When warm strike it gently onboth sides with any light wooden instrument, you may happen to have; then try to loosen it with the hand. If it will not move, repeat the process of rubbing oil on it, and warming it. By persevering in this method, you will at length succeed in loosening it, however firmly it may be wedged in.