The art and mystery of curing, preserving, and potting all kinds of meats, game, and fish; also, the art of pickling and the preservation of fruits and vegetables

by Anonymous

Pickles

RED CABBAGE.
A RECEIPT FROM HALTON CASTLE.

Take two middle-sized close-knit red cabbages, just when the frost has seasoned them, strip them of all superfluous leaves, cut them across in slices nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and scatter finely beaten bay or rock salt over them when laid on large dishes and covered with cloths; so let them lie twenty-four hours. Next drain the cabbage on a sieve and let it remain until the next day, still covered over. Put it into one jar that will contain it without pressure, and strew as you proceed pretty plentifully the following mixture amongst and finally upon the cabbage:

Allspice, coarsely beaten	1	oz.
Ginger, sliced	1½	oz.
Black peppercorns	1	oz.
Bay leaves, shred	½	oz.
Laurel leaves, shred	½	oz.

Now pour pure cold best London pickling vinegar into the jar, and take care that the cabbage is perfectly covered, and to the depth of an inch or more. Make up the jar with a bung, and secure it with resin or pitch. In a month you will have perhaps the best article of its kind to be found anywhere, its excellency consisting in its flavour, its colour, and crispness.

GREEN SAMPHIRE.

Carefully pick out the refuse from a peck of fresh samphire as soon as you get it, or it will be tough by delay. Immerse the accepted branches in salt and water strong brine for two days, then take it up and dry with cloths, place it lightly in a pan, and cover it with spring water in which a handful of salt and half an ounce of saltpetre have been dissolved, and put it on the fire to simmer, taking it off the moment that a thick steam comes upon the surface, and add for every quart of water used in the mouth of each jar a small teaspoonful of gum kino. Then make the jars secure with bladder and keep for use.

CAULIFLOWERS.

Purchase for pickling the closest, soundest, and whitest, entirely free from grub and insect, and pull them into nice branches and sprigs. Lay them loosely on large dishes, and scatter table salt generally through and over them, let them remain thus for three days. Next place them neatly in jars, and pour boiling water upon them, tie leather over, and let them stand by twelve or fourteen hours, then dry them on a sieve and remove them to glass jars, filling them up with the following pickle when cold:

Bay leaves, shred	1	oz.
Laurel leaves, shred	1	oz.
Chillies, whole	1	oz.
Capsicums, red and green	1	oz.
White-wine vinegar	3	quarts

This must be boiled twenty minutes, and skimmed quite clear. Let olive oil float at the top of the pickle, in the jars, to the depth of half an inch. Then cover with bladder.

WHITE MUSHROOMS.

Choose the smallest, round, perfect buttons, rub each separately with a piece of soft old flannel, wetted with a solution of bay salt, and let them be thoroughly cleansed after they are all rubbed. (See note, No. 11). When all ready put them into a pan with a little finely powdered bay salt scattered over them, and covered so closely that not the least steam can escape, for ten or twelve minutes, or until the water is extracted from them. Then get them removed, without any delay, on to a sieve, then dry them well with cloths, and let them get cold, effectually covered up from the action of the air. Make the following light pickle, by boiling it and skimming it well, and, laying your mushrooms in clean glass jars, pour it amongst and upon them:

Mace, whole	½	oz.
Eschalots, sliced	½	oz.
Cloves, whole	1	oz.
Chillies, whole	1	oz.
Capsicums, whole	½	oz.
White-wine vinegar	3½	quarts

When the bottles are nearly filled with the pickle, let olive oil float on the top for an inch in depth, then make safe with bladder, and keep dry and cool. In a month they will be fit for use.

SILVER ONIONS.

Select your onions well, for many attempts at pickling them have been rendered abortive by the bad quality of the raw material. They should be globular and sound, and have the appearance of being got up in dry weather, and been well dried by the air and sun previous to being stored. The peeling will, however, prove much, and if you are suspicious of having been not well served, do not proceed with them. Peel a peck of nice onions, and, as you proceed, throw them into plenty of strong salt and water, and let them remain so for ten or twelve days, changing the pickle every second day. Set them now on a sieve to drain, then put them into jars and pour on them a brine freshly made of bay salt and water, boiling hot, and, covering up close, let them remain till cold. Repeat the scalding and with fresh pickle, and when drained thoroughly, put them into jars with

Bay leaves, shred	½	oz.
Laurel leaves, shred	½	oz.
Chillies, whole	1	oz.
Best ginger, sliced	1	oz.
Mace, whole	½	oz.
Best vinegar	3	quarts

scattered amongst them, and fill up with the vinegar cold. Let olive oil float on the top, for nearly an inch deep, and secure the jars with wetted bladder, and, that dried, soft leather above all. For the preservation of the colour, this attention to the exclusion of the air is chiefly owing. These are of first-rate quality, and are much resorted to in the kitchens of the wealthy.

PRESERVED WALNUTS.

Take half a hundred of walnuts just when they are ready for pickling, that is, when punctured with a pin no shell can be perceived. Take a jar that will a little above hold them, deposit in it a layer of coarse-sugar half an inch thick, on this make a layer of walnuts well wiped, and every one sound, then a layer of sugar, and so on alternately to near the top of the jar. The allowance of sugar must be half a pound to every score of nuts. Tie coarse paper over the mouth of the jar and place it in a saucepan of boiling water, in which it must remain three hours. This will dissolve the sugar; the syrup should now cover the fruit; if it does not, add some more sugar and continue the simmering. When cold, cover the mouth of the jar with bladder, and do not disturb them for six months, for the longer kept the better they will be. These will be found of excellent and extensive use in families of many children as a gentle aperient medicine. One is a dose for a child of five to seven years old, and so in advancing ratio, and instead of proving nauseous to young palates, will be regarded as a treat, and, if I am not mistaken, adults will occasionally be troubled with constipation.

APPLE MARMALADE.

Pare and core two pounds of rather acid apples, put them into an enamelled pan with a pint of sweet cider, or with half a pint of cape wine, and a pound of crushed good loaf sugar, and cook them slowly by a gentle heat three hours. Squeeze the fruit first through a colander and then through a sieve. If not sweet enough add powdered sugar to your taste. Put it in small white jars, cover with bladder and writing paper. It will be very nice, and extremely wholesome as supper for the juveniles, and for the aged, eaten with cream or milk.

RED CURRANTS.

Take currants for this purpose just before they have attained a perfect red colour. Select the nicest bunches, which keep separate, and accept no single ones but what are clear and sound. Boil these with the fruit until the colour of the vinegar is changed by it,

Loaf sugar, sifted	2	lb.
Bay salt, beaten fine	½	lb.
Bay leaves, shred	1	oz.
Sal prunelle	¼	oz.
White wine, or palest vinegar	2	quarts

skim it well, and let it get cold. Strain it now nicely, and press the fruit in a sieve, to obtain as much of the colour as possible. Boil it up again, and skim till quite clear. Now place the bunches and detached fruit into glass jars or tumblers, and pour the liquor hot upon them, so as to cover totally; then tie paper and bladder closely over.

CELERY.

The white part only is used for this purpose. Wash very clean half a dozen fine heads, and wipe them dry. Cut them into pieces to your taste, and make the following pickle:

Bay salt	1	lb.
Best ginger, sliced	2	oz.
Mace	½	oz.
Capsicums, red and green	1	oz.
Best vinegar	2	quarts

Put all these into a deep saucepan, and soon as they come to the boiling point, strew in the celery; let it boil again, not more than two minutes, then take it up, pour it through a sieve. When cold, place the celery in jars, and pour the liquor upon it, and make all safe with bladder, &c. &c. This will be found extremely useful in all families that live well. It will keep good a great length of time, and when the celery is all used, the pickle will be highly acceptable in dressing salads, &c. A few small onions may be added where they are not disliked, and omitted at pleasure.

GRAPES.

The foreign grapes, if got in the beginning of the importations to this country, for then they are less likely to be decayed or specked, answer extremely well for pickling, and are, of course, much cheaper than those grown at home. The white ones are generally chosen; but it appears to me that a mixture of the purple ones with them makes an agreeable change, as far as the appearance is concerned. Take ten pounds of the largest and soundest you can, and divide into little branches, which place in a deep straight-sided stone jar, embedded in vine leaves, and completely cover them with this mixture:

Bay salt	1	lb.
Sal prunelle	2	oz.
Common salt	1	lb.
Coarse sugar	6	oz.
Water	6	quarts

Tie leather over the jar, and set it in a saucepanful of water on the fire, and when it has boiled three quarters of an hour, pour off the liquor, which set aside to be well skimmed, and poured clean off the dregs. Return the liquor on to the fruit, cover up close, and let remain so for twenty-four hours; then take them up, and dry them well between cloths, not allowing the air to act upon them by keeping them covered up. Next make this pickle:

Soft or river water	2	quarts
White-wine vinegar	4	quarts
Coarse sugar	2½	lb.
Bay leaves, shred	3	oz.
Laurel leaves, shred	2	oz.

Boil these ten minutes, skim until quite clear, and let it get cold. Replace the fruit in the jar, and fill up with the pickle; you having laid plenty of vine leaves under, and also on the top of the fruit. After two days more see if the jar will hold any more of the pickle, which, if needful, must be added. Make all secure with bung and resin, and keep them in a cool airy apartment. You will please not to open them for six months, and will then be much delighted with so elegant and rich a product.

CODLINS.

These must be taken when about the size of hen-eggs, and none but perfectly sound ones accepted. Wrap them up singly in vine leaves recently plucked, and place them lightly in a saucepan, with plenty of leaves under, amongst, and above them, and thoroughly cover them with water. Boil them slowly until the peels begin to start, and separate, then carefully take them up, and drain them on a sieve. When cold, pare them carefully, and, replacing them in the pan, cover so well that none of the steam can escape, and continue the simmering until they are of a nice green colour. Now take them up, and let them drain, and get cold. Put them into little jars, and cover the fruit with white-wine vinegar, put a round of pasteboard on the top, and pour in melted mutton suet. Tie bladder over and leather above that, and keep them cool and dry for three or four months. They will be a good pickle at a little expense.

BARBERRIES.

These are more useful as garnishes than otherwise, and a great many are annually pickled for that purpose. Take half a sieve of fine, high-coloured fruit, pick out all the nice bunches that are sound, and keep them apart by themselves; the best of the single ones must also be had, but put in separate jars. Wash both in salt and water, and set them to drain. Now take two and a half pounds of bay salt to each gallon of water, and fill up the jars with the mixture, to running over; skim them daily for four or five days, and then pour the liquor away, and fill the jars again with a similar mixture of salt and water, adding half a pint of the strongest pickling vinegar. Let it merely steam over the fire, until it has become crisp and finely green, then take it off quickly, and let it cool, drain off the liquor, and put the fruit along with a light scattering of the following mixture into a jar, and cover it well with the liquor:

Mace, beaten roughly	½	oz.
Nutmeg, sliced	1	oz.
Bay leaves, shred	1	oz.
Saltpetre	½	oz.

Close the jar with a bung and secure that with resin. In a month it will be ready for table.

ASPARAGUS.

Take two hundred of fresh cut asparagus, fully grown, take off the root ends so high up as to leave the remaining parts tender, and wash the green tops in cold water, slightly tasted with salt, then remove them into fresh water, and let them remain in it for about two hours. Put them next into a shallow pan with as much cold spring water as will just cover them, and putting it on the fire, watch them closely, so that the moment the water comes to the boiling point you will remove it from the fire, and taking out the asparagus heads very carefully, lest they break, lay them on a sieve to get cold, being covered over with cloths. Place them now in jars and pour upon them a pickle made of

White pepper	½	oz.
Nutmeg	1½	oz.
Mace	½	oz.
Bay salt	1½	oz.
White-wine vinegar	4	quarts

boiled ten minutes or more, and well skimmed, to be used hot. Tie leather over the jars, and let them remain for five or six days, when you will boil the pickle again, and pour over hot. When cold make up the jars securely with bungs and leather.

GHERKINS.

From out of three hundred gherkins of the markets you may probably pick two hundred that will suit your purpose, and they should be all nearly of the same size; put them into a pickle made of two pounds and a half of common table salt to one gallon of soft or river water, and let them remain in it for three hours if they run small, or four hours if large. Let them lie on a sieve to drain, and wipe them carefully quite dry, and place them in stone jars—glazed ware is objectionable on many accounts for pickles. Next make a pickle of

Cloves	1	oz.
Mace	½	oz.
Allspice	1	oz.
Two nutmegs, sliced
White mustard seed	1	oz.
A stick of horseradish
Bay salt	8	oz.
White-wine vinegar	4	quarts

by boiling them fifteen minutes and skimming clear; when cold pour it over the gherkins, cover up closely, and let them remain so for twenty-four hours. Then put the whole contents into a saucepan, and let them simmer until they have acquired a bright green colour, then place them not too closely in jars, and pour the liquor with the spices over them. They must be totally covered with pickle, or more must be made for that purpose if you intend them to keep well and a long time. Cover your jars with wetted bladder, and soft leather over that.

PICCALILLI.

Take two perfectly fresh closely grown white cabbages, in preference to one large one, they must be quite sound at the hearts; cut them crosswise in slices, and then take a thorough grown white beetroot cut also the same way; divide a nice cauliflower into many small sprigs; some clear green radish pods, and twenty of the smallest gherkins. Place these apart from each other and strew three or four handfuls of common table salt over them. Expose these to the action of the sun if possible, or of a slow fire four days, or until you see that all the moisture has been drawn from them. Then put all into a large stoneware jar, and scatter over and amongst them two handfuls of sound bright mustard seed as you are packing them down. Now boil together

Garlic, minced	3	oz.
Eschalots, minced	1	oz.
Bay salt	1	oz.
Turmeric	2	oz.
Best pickling vinegar	1	gallon

Skim it well, and while boiling hot pour it upon the vegetables, and let them stand closely covered with leather, near the fire, until they have become of a nice yellow colour and saturated with the acid. Then make the following pickle:

Mace, bruised	1	oz.
Cloves, bruised	1	oz.
Jamaica pepper, bruised	½	oz.
Nutmeg, sliced	½	oz.
White pepper	2	oz.
Best vinegar	1	quart

Let these boil fifteen to twenty minutes, skimming well, and when cold add it to the pickles. Make the jar safe with bladder and tie leather over that. This pickle requires three months at least to become superior, and that the different flavours may be assimilated.

LEMON MANGOES.

Take a couple of dozen of large thick-skinned lemons, cut off a piece from the blossom end of each, leaving a bare surface the size of a shilling, scoop out the whole of the insides, wash them in cold water, entirely freeing them of loose pulp, and immerse them in a brine of a pound of bay salt to the gallon of water. Rouse them about occasionally, change the brine on the third day, and let them remain so pickled three days longer. Now drain and wipe them dry, and fill them with this mixture:

Horseradish, scraped fine	1	oz.
Mustard seed, bruised	2	oz.
Ginger, sliced thin	1	oz.
Eschalots, minced	1	oz.
Chillies, minced	1	oz.

Stitch the pieces which you cut off on to their respective correspondents, neatly place the fruit closely together in a stone jar, and pour upon them, boiling hot, the following pickle:

Best pickling vinegar	2	quarts
The juice from the lemons
Table salt	2	tablespoonfuls
White peppercorns, bruised	1	oz.
Ginger, bruised	1	oz.
Mace, bruised	1	oz.

The lemon juice must have been strained, and the vinegar put upon the pulp for half an hour, and then also passed through a fine sieve. The mangoes must be well covered by the pickle, and as some will be absorbed, it is desirable to let them remain just temporarily covered with paper for three days and then fill up with the pickle. These will be very fine in four or five months, but for present consumption they could not be recommended. Put bladder safely over the jars and cover with leather.

LEMON PICKLE.

Rub off with a fine tin grater the yellow rind of twenty fine large fresh lemons, recently unpacked from the chest, without disturbing the white part that lies underneath; next take the white part off with a sharp knife, and divide the fruit into two parts in the middle, and then again divide these pieces into slices, which will be each about an inch and three quarters thick. Rub these thoroughly with bay salt in fine powder, and set them on a dish to dry in a cool oven until the juice is completely taken up; put them then in a jar and pour upon them a pickle of the following ingredients, viz.

Mace, in fine powder	1¾	oz.
Cloves, in fine powder	1	oz.
Nutmeg, in fine powder	2	oz.
Garlic, minced	1	oz.
Mustard seed, crushed	1	pint

enclosed in a piece of muslin rag and boiled ten minutes with four quarts of white-wine vinegar. Make up the jar close with a bung, if it will admit of it, and put it on a hob by a fireside for ten days, agitating the contents three or four times daily. Now see that the fruit is perfectly covered with pickle, and secure the vessel with bladder and leather, and set it by for six months, by which time the bitter taste will be dissipated. It must next be bottled for store, effected thus: Turn the pickle and fruit into a hair sieve and press the liquor out into a large jug or jar, and on the next day pour the clear off from the lees through a muslin strainer into bottles, which should be corked well and the air excluded by sealing wax. You will still have remaining some sediment, upon which you may put half a pint of boiling rough cider or light vinegar, for an inferior lemon pickle, to be kept apart from your best. Better than the first product is rarely made, and it is an estimable pickle, generally admitted.

MANGOES.

An excellent imitation may be made by any dextrous person who wishes to excel in this branch. The cucumbers for this pickling must be gathered as soon as they have attained full growth, and the larger the better, but they must not be ripe or of a light yellow colour. Cut out a piece from the side of each and put them aside, take out nicely the seeds, and put both the cucumbers and the pieces which were taken from them into a pickle of two pounds of salt to a gallon of water, with half an ounce of saltpetre and one ounce of sal prunelle, so let them lie ten or twelve days, and until they come to a yellow colour; then put them in a pan with alternate layers of vine leaves, and dissolve half an ounce of alum in the brine they were pickled in, pour it upon them in the pan, which set upon a fire not too brisk, and let the cucumbers be subjected to a scalding process for about four hours, being attentive all the time that the pickle does not reach the boiling point. They should now be of a nice green colour. Set them on a sieve to drain, and then insert into each cucumber

One stick of fresh horseradish
Mustard seed	½	oz.
Four cloves of garlic
Peppercorns	½	oz.

Replace the pieces of the fruit you cut out, and attach them by a needle and green silk. Make then the following pickle, by boiling for ten minutes:

White-wine vinegar	6½	qts.
Black peppercorns	3	oz.
Mustard seed	6	oz.
Garlic	2	oz.
Shalots	1	oz.
Mace	1½	oz.
Cloves	2	oz.
Long pepper	3	oz.

Lay the mangoes in a deep straight-sided jar, and pour the pickle when cold upon them, covering completely, and an inch above at least, then make secure with bladder and leather. These will require three or four months at least before fit for use.

GREEN WALNUTS.

Get a hundred of fine large walnuts while the shells are yet tender, wrap them up in vine leaves separately, put them into jars along with plenty more vine leaves, and so that they cannot suffer by contact with each other, and cover plentifully with the best light-coloured vinegar; make secure from the air, and let them remain so for three weeks. Now pour off the vinegar, wrap up again the fruit in fresh vine leaves, and fill the jars with vinegar as before, this must be continued two weeks longer, when you may take off the leaves, put the fruit into jars, and make the following pickle for them:

Pale vinegar, with enough salt in it to float an egg	3	quarts
Garlic, minced	1½	oz.
Cloves, bruised	2	oz.
Mace, bruised	1	oz.
Allspice, bruised	1½	oz.
Nutmeg, bruised	2	oz.

Let these simmer fifteen minutes, and pour the whole, boiling hot, over the walnuts; tie bladder and leather over the jars, and keep four months before breaking in upon them.

WALNUTS PICKLED WHITE.

Bespeak a hundred of the largest walnuts just when they will suit your purpose, that is, to admit of their being peeled down to the very white interior, the kernels; have ready a brine of one pound of salt to the gallon, and pop your walnuts into it, overhead, as you get them peeled, and when all done, keep them well covered in the brine four hours. Next put a pan of pure water over the fire, and just as it is coming to boil, lay in the fruit, which must not be boiled at all, only simmered, for about ten or twelve minutes. Then transfer them to a pan of cold water, with a trifling amount of salt in it; after being in this ten minutes, take them out, and remove them into a pickle of two and a half pounds of salt to the gallon, in this let them be kept half an hour, totally immersed in the pickle to protect the colour. Next take them out, and lay them between cloths to dry; each nut then must be wiped separately, and put into clean white earthenware jars, with this mixture—

Mace, bruised	1½	oz.
Cloves, bruised	2	oz.
White pepper, bruised	2	oz.
Bay leaves, shred	1½	oz.
Laurel leaves, shred	1	oz.

—scattered pretty plentifully throughout them. Fill up your jars with best white-wine vinegar, and secure them from the air with bladder and leather.

PEACHES AND NECTARINES.

The fruit should be gathered just as it is beginning to ripen, and needs to be perfectly sound, as any bruised or decaying ones would most likely spoil the whole, and, what is worse, the loss is not discoverable till a long time after. Let them lie covered over with a pickle of bay salt and water, one and a half pounds to the gallon, for three or four days, according to size; take them out and, wiping them separately, lay them in jars, and pour over them, when cold, this pickle:

Mace, beaten fine	½	oz.
Cloves, beaten fine	½	oz.
Nutmeg, beaten fine	½	oz.
Ginger, sliced	1	oz.
Garlic, minced	½	oz.
White-wine vinegar	1	gallon

It must be boiled fifteen minutes and skimmed well. Fill the jars so as to cover the fruit completely with the pickle. Tie bladder and leather over, and keep them eight or nine months. They will be very rich and choice pickles.

GOLDEN PIPPINS.

From a basketful of this ripe fruit pick out twenty of the largest and clearest, lay them in a stewpan, and, covering them with soft water, set them on a fire and let them simmer until the peels begin to be separated from them—they must on no account come to the boil. If tender, set them to go cold, and peel them carefully, then lay them again in the water, adding nearly a pint of good sharp vinegar, and continue the simmering until they become a nice green colour. Now, with a wooden spoon take them out singly, and let them go cold, and make the following pickle, boiling it and skimming as long as any scum arises, for fifteen or twenty minutes:

Best ginger, bruised	1½	oz.
Mustard seed, bruised	2	oz.
Garlic, sliced	¾	oz.
Mace, bruised	¾	oz.
Cloves, bruised	1½	oz.
White-wine vinegar	2	quarts

Put the fruit carefully into jars, not crushing them, and pour the pickle, cold, upon them, and effectually exclude the air with bladder and leather.

NASTURTIUMS.

About ten days after the blossoms have left the plants is the proper time to take these for pickling, and they should be immediately put into process, before they become shrivelled. Immerse half a peck of the clearest and soundest in a pan of cold salt and water, and let them remain thus, changing the pickle every morning, for three days. Lay them to drain on a sieve, and then dry them well between cloths; and make a pickle of the following ingredients:

Six eschalots, minced
White peppercorns	2	oz.
Mace, bruised	1½	oz.
Nutmeg, sliced	1½	oz.
Common table salt	6	oz.
White-wine vinegar	5	pints

Skim this well, boiling it fifteen minutes, and, filling jars with the fruit, pour the liquor and spices equally upon them, when about new milk warm, and tie bladder over the jars.

BEET-ROOTS.

Pickled beet-roots which have both fine colour and flavour to recommend them are seldom to be met with, particularly in the provinces. If this method is tried, it will most certainly recommend them. Take half a dozen roots of the deepest blood-red colour, put them into a pail of cold water, and with a soft brush scour and wash them well, and without breaking the skin in the least. Put them into a saucepan of boiling water, and let them boil gently until tender, and no longer, then take them up, wipe dry, and leave them until the next day. Now peel them nicely, and cut them across in slices a quarter of an inch thick, not using the extremities. You may cut the slices into various ornamental and grotesque figures, and lay them in open-mouthed jars, and make the following pickle:

Mace	1	oz.
Cloves, bruised	2	oz.
Peppercorns	2	oz.
Bay salt, pounded	4	oz.
Ginger, sliced	2	oz.
Horseradish, sliced	1	oz.
Best vinegar	½	gallon

Boil these ten or fifteen minutes, skimming well, and, when cold, pour over the roots. Replenish the next day what pickle may have been absorbed, and cover the jars with bladder and leather. This pickle is ready in a month, and is very good. It makes a beautiful garnish with fish at dinner, &c. &c.

BUTTON MUSHROOMS, FOR PIES AND SAUCES.

Pick out expressly for this purpose a couple of quarts of fresh gathered button mushrooms, cut the stalks out closely, and wipe them singly with a piece of soft flannel dipped in moistened bay salt, place them apart on dishes and scatter a little finely beaten salt amongst them. Put them into a roomy saucepan along with

Mace, slightly bruised	½	oz.
White peppercorns, slightly bruised	¾	oz.
Bay leaves, shred	½	oz.
Cloves, bruised	¼	oz.

and let them simmer gently and until all their juice is taken up. Take the pan from the fire, and when cooled a little add to them four or five glasses of good white wine, agitate the mushrooms in the pan, replace it on the fire and bring it to the boil for one minute, then add three pints of the best pale vinegar and boil for ten minutes slowly. Now put the mushrooms into glass or stone jars that are clean and perfectly dry, and when cold make secure with corks or bladder, and keep them in a dry cool room. This is an estimable pickle, and will be appreciated duly by lady-cooks, who best know its usefulness and the various ways in which both the mushrooms and their pickle may be made available. The wine should be good old Madeira, and the quantity may be increased with great advantage.

GREEN PARSLEY.

Take fresh green curled parsley just at maturity, pick out the most handsome sprigs and put them into salt and water strong enough to float an egg, and let remain so for five or six days; set them to drain on a sieve, and then immerse them in another fresh pickle of the same strength for ten days longer, changing the brine twice. Then drain them again, and put them into pure cold spring water for two days, changing the water daily, and when again drained scald them in boiling water until they are of a nice green, and dry them between soft cloths. Make, then, the following pickle of

Mace	½	oz.
Nutmeg, sliced	1	oz.
Eschalots, minced	1	oz.
Horseradish, sliced	2	oz.
White-wine vinegar	3	pints

which must be boiled ten or twelve minutes and well skimmed. Put the parsley branches lightly into jars and pour the pickle over, covering well. Fill up again with pickle the next day, and cover that again with pure olive oil to the thickness of an inch or thereabouts. Cover close with wetted bladder, and over that, when dried, with soft leather, and keep in a dry airy room.

WALNUT CATSUP.

When walnuts have attained maturity, and are being deprived of the outside green shells by the fruiterers, take half a peck of these husks, put them into a jar, and pour on them as much cold strong pickling vinegar as will quite cover them; bung up the jar, and so let them remain three months. Then press out the liquor upon a sieve, and to every gallon of it take

Cloves	1	oz.
Mace	¾	oz.
Ginger	1½	oz.
Jamaica pepper	1½	oz.
Black pepper	1	oz.
Garlic	1	oz.
Port wine lees	1½	quart
Anchovies	8	oz.

With all these boil up the liquor of the walnuts, and let them simmer twenty minutes, skimming well the whole time, then put it aside for two days and boil it again until reduced one-third part. When cold, you may put it in bottles, which cork well and seal with wax. It will be an excellent catsup, and will be greatly improved by long keeping.

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

Throw large black flap mushrooms into a vessel, and crush them with the hands well, throwing in a large handful of common salt to each peck, and let them so lie for two days. Then put them into a crock of earthenware, and let them be macerated in a cool baker’s oven for six hours or so, and, when cold, press out the juice, which boil with the following, to each gallon of the liquor:

Mace	½	oz.
Jamaica pepper	1	oz.
Black pepper	1	oz.
Cloves	1½	oz.
Ginger	1	oz.
Garlic	1	oz.
Bay salt	9	oz.

The simmering and skimming must be continued as long as any filth rises, and let it then be put away for a day or two, and boiled up again, being kept well up to the boiling point until reduced to half its original quantity. When cold it may be put into bottles and firmly corked and waxed.

TOMATO CATSUP.

When tomatoes are fully ripe take two dozen of fine, large, sound ones, put them into jars and bake until they are tender; strain off the water from them, and pass the pulp through a sieve, then add to every pound of the pulp,

Eschalots, shred	1	oz.
Garlic, shred	½	oz.
Bay salt	¼	oz.
White pepper, finely powdered	¼	oz.
Chili vinegar	1	pint

Boil them together until the whole is quite soft, and pass it again through a sieve. Now, to every pound of the pulp add the juice of two lemons, and one large Seville orange, boil it again until it has attained the consistence of thick cream, and when cold bottle it; cork and seal well.

CELERY, CRAB SALAD.

Open and wash thoroughly clean a fine head of celery, wipe dry, and cut it across into a basin, add to it two ounces of some good rich old cheese sliced thinly, a teaspoonful of mustard mixed as for the table, a tablespoonful of best olive oil, the same quantity of vinegar, with pepper and salt to your taste. Mix all well together.

ELDER-FLOWER VINEGAR.

Pick out all the stalks from a peck of fresh elder flowers and put them into a vessel with two gallons of white-wine vinegar, set them under the influence of bright sunbeams for fourteen days and upwards, or at a short distance from a continuous fire, and then filter the vinegar through a new flannel bag; fill bottles, which must be well corked and sealed.

TARRAGON VINEGAR.

Take the leaves of tarragon just before it blossoms, put a pound of them to three quarts of the best white-wine vinegar in a stone jar, and let them infuse sixteen days. Then drain it and strain through a flannel bag; add for every two gallons a quarter of an ounce of isinglass dissolved in sherry wine, and let it be agitated briskly in a large stone bottle two days. Leave it a month to get fine, then draw it off into clean dry glass bottles, which cork well and seal.

WHITE-GOOSEBERRY VINEGAR.

Vinegars should be made at home if you wish to rely upon their quality. This will be superior to any white-wine vinegar, “so called at the shops,” and as such will be extremely serviceable in all large establishments and families. Choose fruit of the lightest colour you can get when fully ripe, mash it with a wooden mallet or potato beetle. To every peck of the fruit put two gallons of water, stir them well for an hour and let them ferment three weeks, repeating the stirring daily. Then strain off the liquor and add for every gallon:

Loaf sugar	1	lb.
Yeast, thick and fresh	1	tablespoonful
Treacle	1	tablespoonful

Let it work for three or four days, then put it into a sweet barrel of convenient size, and stop it down for twelve months.

SYRUP D’ORGEAT, A PARIS RECEIPT.

This elegant syrup is thus made:

Sweet almonds	20	oz.
Bitter almonds	8	oz.
Refined sugar	9	lb.
Water	4	pints

Blanch the almonds, dry them perfectly and pound them in a mortar with the sugar, adding gradually two thirds of the water; strain through linen, and wash the almonds on the strainer with the remainder of the water, and dissolve the sugar in the strained liquor by a gentle heat. Pour the syrup into an earthenware vessel, remove the scum, and, when nearly cold, add two ounces of orange-flower water. Put it into clean clear glass bottles, cork well, and seal effectually.

AN EXCELLENT CURRY-POWDER.

Turmeric	2	oz.
Coriander seeds	6	oz.
Ginger	½	oz.
Cinnamon	2	drachms
Cayenne pepper	6	drachms
Black pepper	½	oz.
Mace	1	drachm
Fenugreek	1½	oz.
Pimento	2	drachms
Cloves	1	drachm
Nutmeg	½	oz.

Pound all the above separately in a mortar, mix thoroughly for twenty minutes, then sift and again pound the returns, which, when in finest powder, mix with bulk; put into dry bottles, cork them well and seal. Some persons prefer more turmeric and less coriander. Others add two ounces of the best Durham mustard (scorched). Others, half an ounce of cardamoms or two ounces of cummin. The colour should be light yellow—brown, not bright yellow.