PICKLES.
India.
Lay a pound of white ginger in water one night: then scrape, slice, and lay it in salt in a pan till the other ingredients shall be ready.
Peel, slice, and salt a pound of garlick three days; then put it in the sun to dry. Salt and dry long pepper in the same way.
Prepare various sorts of vegetables thus:
Quarter small white cabbages: salt three days: squeeze and set them in the sun to dry.
Cauliflowers cut in their branches: take off the green from radishes: cut celery in three inch lengths: ditto French beans whole, likewise the shoots of alder, which will look like bamboo. Apples and cucumbers, choose of the least seedy sort; cut them in slices, or quarters, if not too large. All must be salted, drained, and dried in the sun, except the latter; over which you must pour boiling vinegar, and, in twelve hours, drain them, but no salt must be used.
Put the spice, garlick, a quarter of a pound of mustardseed, and as much vinegar as you think enough for the quantity you are to pickle, into a large stonejar, and one ounce of turmeric to be ready against the vegetables shall be dried. When they are ready, observe the following directions: put some of them into a two quart stonejar, and pour over them one quart of boiling vinegar: next day take out those vegetables, and when drained, put them into a large stock jar, and boiling the vinegar, pour it over some more of the vegetables; let them lie a night, and do as above. Thus proceed till you have cleansed each set from the dust which must inevitably fall on them by being so long in doing: then, to every gallon of vinegar, put two ounces of flour of mustard, mixing, by degrees, with a little of it boiling hot. The whole of the vinegar should have been previously scalded, but left to be cool before put to the spice. Stop the jar tight.
This pickle will not be ready for a year; but you may make a small jar for eating in a fortnight, by only giving them one scald in water, after salting and drying as above, but without the preparative vinegar; then pour the vinegar that has the spice and garlick, boiling hot over. If at any time it be found that the vegetables have not swelled properly, boiling the pickle, and pouring it over them hot, will plump them.
English Bamboo, to Pickle.
Cut the large young shoots of alder, which put out in the middle of May, (the middle stalks are most tender) peel off the outward peel, or skin, and lay them in salt and water, very strong, one night. Dry them piece by piece in a cloth. Have in readiness a pickle thus made and boiled. To a quart of vinegar put an ounce of white pepper, an ounce of sliced ginger, a little mace and pimento, and pour boiling on the alder shoots, in a stonejar: stop close, and set by the fire two hours, turning the jar often, to keep scalding hot. If not green when cold, strain, off the liquor, and pour boiling hot again; keeping it hot as before. Or, if you intend to make Indian pickle, the above shoots are a great improvement to it: in which case you need only pour boiling vinegar and mustardseed on them; and keep them till your jar of pickles shall be ready to receive them.
Melon Mangoes.
There is a particular sort for this purpose which the gardeners know. Cut a square small piece out of one side, and through that take out the seeds, and mix with them mustard seeds and shred garlick; stuff the melon as full as the space will allow, and replace the square piece. Bind it up with a small new packthread. Boil a good quantity of vinegar, to allow for wasting, with peppers, salt, ginger, and pour boiling hot over the mangoes four successive days; the last, put flour of mustard, and scraped horseradish into the vinegar just as it boils up. Stop close. Observe that there is plenty of vinegar. All pickles are spoiled if not well covered. Mangoes should be done soon after they are gathered.
Pickled Onions.
In the month of September, choose the small white round onions, take off the brown skin; have ready a very nice tin 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 as quick as possible with a slice, and lay them on a clean cloth, cover them close with another, and scald some more, and so on. Let them lie to be cold, then put them in a jar, or glass widemouth bottle, and pour over them the best white wine vinegar, just hot, but not boiling. When cold, cover them.
Cucumbers and Onions sliced.
Cut them in slices, and sprinkle salt over them: next day drain them for five or six hours, then put them into a jar, and pour boiling vinegar over them, keeping in a warm place. The slices should be thick. Repeat the boiling vinegar, and stop instantly; and so on till green.
Pickled sliced Cucumbers, another way.
Slice large unpared cucumbers, an inch thick; slice onions, and put both into a broad pan: strew a good deal of salt among them. In twenty four hours drain them, and then lay them on a cloth to dry. Put them in small stonejars, and pour in the strongest plain vinegar, boiling hot: stop the jars close. Next day boil it again, and pour over, and thus thrice; the last time add whole white pepper, and a little ginger. Keep close covered.
Young Cucumbers.
Choose nice young gherkins; spread them on dishes; salt them, and let them lie a week: drain them, and, putting them in a jar, pour boiling vinegar over them. Set them near the fire, covered with plenty of vineleaves. If they do not become a tolerable good green, pour the vinegar into another jar, set it over the hot hearth, and when it boils, pour it over them again, covering with fresh leaves; and thus do till they are of as good a colour as you wish: but as it is now known, that the very fine green pickles are made so by using brass or bell metal vessels, which, when vinegar is put into them, become highly poisonous, few people like to eat them.
Note. Acids dissolve the lead in the tinning of saucepans. Pickles should never be kept in glazed jars, but in stone or glass; and vinegar, or any acids, should be boiled, by putting them in jars of stone, over a hot hearth, or in a kettle of water.
To Pickle Walnuts.
When they will bear a pin to go into them, put on them a brine of salt and water boiled, and strong enough to bear an egg, being quite cold first. It must be well skimmed while boiling. Let them soak twelve days, then drain them, and pour over them in the jar a pickle of the best white wine vinegar, with a good quantity of pepper, pimento, ginger, mace, cloves, mustardseed, and horseradish; all boiled together, but cold. To every hundred of walnuts, put six spoonfuls of mustardseed, and two or three heads of garlick, or shalot; but the latter is least strong.
Thus done, they will be good for several years, if kept close covered. The air will soften them. They will not be fit to eat under six months.
The pickle will serve as good catsup, when the walnuts are used.
Nasturtions, for Capers.
Keep them a few days after they are gathered; then pour boiling vinegar over them, and when cold, cover.
They will not be fit to eat for some months; but are then finely flavoured, and by many preferred to capers.
An excellent way to Pickle Mushrooms, to preserve the flavour.
Buttons must be rubbed with a bit of flannel and salt; and from the larger, take out the red inside, for when they are black they will not do, being too old. Throw a little salt over, and put them into a stewpan, with some mace, and pepper. As the liquor comes out, shake them well, and keep them over a gentle fire till all of it be dried into them again; then put as much vinegar into the pan as will cover them; give it one warm, and turn all into a glass or stonejar. They will keep two years, and are delicious.
Red Cabbage.
Slice it into a colander, and sprinkle each layer with salt; let it drain two days, then put it into a jar, and pour boiling vinegar enough to cover, and put a few slices of red beet root. Observe to choose the purple red cabbage. Those who like the flavour of spice, will boil it with the vinegar. Cauliflower, cut in branches, and thrown in after being salted, will look of a beautiful red.
To Stew Green Peas.
Put a quart of pease, a lettuce, an onion, both sliced, a bit of butter, pepper, salt, and no more water than hangs round the lettuce from washing. Stew them two hours very gently. When to be served, beat up an egg, and stir into them, or a bit of flour and butter.
Some think a teaspoonful of white powdered sugar is an improvement. Gravy may be added; but there will be less of the flavour of the peas. Chop a bit of mint, and stew in them.
To stew Cucumbers.
Slice them thick, or halve, and divide them in two lengths: strew some salt and pepper, and slice onions; add a little broth, or a bit of butter. Simmer very slowly; and, before serving, if no butter was in before, put some, and a little flour; or if it was in, only a little flour, unless it wants richness.
Another way.
Slice the onions, and cut the cucumbers large; flour and fry them in some butter: then pour on some good broth or gravy, and stew till enough. Skim off the fat.
Stewed Onions.
Peel six large onions: fry them gently of a fine brown, but do not blacken; then put them in a small stewpan, with a little weak gravy, pepper, and salt: cover and stew two hours gently. They should be lightly floured at first.
Roast Onions.
Should be done with all the skins on. They eat well alone, with salt only, and cold butter; or with roast potatoes, or with beetroots.
Stewed Celery.
Wash, and strip off the outer leaves of six heads; halve, or leave them whole according to their size; cut them in four inch lengths. Put them in a stewpan with a cup of broth, or weak white gravy. Stew till tender; then add two spoonfuls of cream, and a little flour and butter, seasoned with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and simmer all together.
Cauliflower in white Sauce.
Half boil, then cut into handsome pieces, and lay into a stewpan, with a little broth, a bit of mace, a little salt, and a dust of white pepper. Simmer half an hour; then put a little cream, butter, and flour; shake and simmer a few minutes, and serve.
Spinach
Should be very carefully picked and washed; then boil, and squeeze it dry. Put it in a pan with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper; stew it, and serve.
French way.
Clean as before; then put it into a stewpan without water, a spoonful of gravy, and a lump of butter, salt, and pepper, and simmer till ready. If too moist, squeeze the gravy from it.
Stewed Red Cabbage.
Slice a small, or half a large red cabbage: wash it, and put into a saucepan, with pepper and salt, no water but what hangs about the former, and a piece of butter. Stew till quite tender; then when going to serve, put to it half a cup of vinegar, and stir it over the fire.
Serve for cold meat, or with sausages on it.
Stewed Mushrooms.
Choose large buttons, or small flaps, before the fringe be turned black: pick each one separately, and observe there is not a bad one; rub the former, with a flannel and salt, skin the latter, and take out the fringe. Throw them into a stewpan, with a little salt, a piece of butter, and a few peppers; set them on a slack part of the fire, and shake them sometime. When tender, add two large spoonfuls of cream, and a dust of flour.
Stewed Sorrel for Fricandeau, and roast Meat.
Wash the sorrel, and put it in a silver vessel, or stonejar, and no more water than hangs to the leaves. Simmer in the slowest way you can; and when done enough, put a bit of butter, and beat it well.
Stewed Carrots.
Half boil, then nicely scrape, and slice them into a stewpan. Put to them half a teacup of any weak broth, some pepper, and salt, and half a cup of cream; simmer to be very tender, but not broke. Before serving, rub the least flour with a bit of butter, and warm up with it. If approved, chopped parsley may be added ten minutes before served.
Stewed old Peas.
Steep them in water all night, if not fine boilers, otherwise only half an hour; put them with water enough just to cover them, and a good bit of butter, or a piece of beef or pork. Stew in the most gentle way till the peas are soft, and the meat is tender. If not salt meat, add salt, and a little pepper, and serve round the meat.
French Sallad.
Chop three anchovies, a shalot, and some parsley small; put them in a bowl with two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one of oil, a little mustard, and salt. When well mixed, add by degrees some cold roast or boiled meat in the very thinnest slices; put in a few at a time, they being small, not exceeding two or three inches long; shake them in the seasoning, and then put more; cover the bowl close; and let the sallad be prepared three hours before it be eaten.
Garnish with parsley, and a few slices of the fat.
Lobster Sallad.
Make a sallad, and put some of the red part of the lobster to it, cut; which forms a pretty contrast to the white and green of the vegetables.
Do not put much oil, as shellfish take off the acidity of vinegar.
Serve in a dish, not a bowl.
To boil Potatoes.
Set them on a fire, unpared, in cold water; let them half boil, then throw some salt in, and a pint of cold water, and let them boil again till near done. Pour off the water, and put a clean cloth over them, and then the saucepan cover, and set them by the fire to steam till ready. Many use steamers.
To broil Potatoes.
Parboil, then slice and broil them; or parboil, and set them whole on the gridiron over a very slow fire; and when thoroughly done, send up with their skins on. The latter is done in many Irish families.
To roast Potatoes.
Half boil, take off the thin peel, and roast them of a beautiful brown.
To fry Potatoes.
Slice raw potatoes after the skin is removed, and fry either in butter, or thin batter.
To mash Potatoes.
Boil, peel, and break to paste the potatoes; then, to two pounds, add a quarter of a pint of milk, and a little salt, with two or three ounces of butter, and stir all well over the fire. Serve thus, or brown the top, when placed on the dish in a form, with a salamander; or in scollops.
To mash Parsnips.
Boil tender; scrape them; then mash into a stewpan, with a little cream, a good piece of butter, pepper, and salt.
To keep Green Peas.
Shell, and put them into a kettle of water when it boils: give them two or three warms only, and pour them into a colander. When the water drains off, turn them on a dresser covered with cloth; pour them on another cloth to dry perfectly: then bottle them in widemouth bottles, leaving only room to pour clarified mutton suet upon them an inch thick, and for the cork; rosin it down, and keep in a cellar, or in the earth, as ordered for gooseberries. Boil them, with a bit of butter, a spoonful of sugar, and a bit of mint, till tender, when to be used.
Another way, as practised in the Emperor of Russia’s Kitchen.
Shell, scald, and dry as above. Put them on tins or earthen dishes in a cool oven to harden, once or twice. Keep them in paper bags hung up in the kitchen. When to be used, let them lie an hour in water; then set them on with cold water, and a bit of butter, and boil till ready. Put a sprig of dried mint to boil with them.
To preserve French Beans, to eat in the Winter.
Pick them young, and throw into a little wooden keg a layer three inches deep; then sprinkle with salt: put another layer of beans, and do the same as high as you think proper, alternately with salt; but do not be too liberal of the latter: lay a plate, or cover of wood that will go into the keg, and put on it a heavy stone. A pickle will rise from the beans and salt. If too salt, the soaking and boiling will not be sufficient to make them pleasant to the taste. When to be eaten, cut, soak, and boil as when fresh.
Potatoes should be kept in the earth that adheres to them when dug; and preserved from frost.
Carrots, parsnips, and turnips the same, and put in layers of dry sand.
Small close cabbages laid on a stone floor before the frost sets in, will blanch and be very fine, after many weeks’ keeping.
To boil Vegetables Green.
Be sure the water boils when you put them in; when in, make them boil very fast. Do not cover, but watch them; and if the water has not slackened, you may be assured they are done when they are beginning to sink; take them out immediately, or the colour will change.
Small Dishes for Supper, &c.
Boil eggs hard, cut them in half, take out the yelks, set the whites on a dish, and fill with the following several ingredients; or put a saucer upside down on a plate, and place them in quarters round: in either case as a salmagundi. Chopped veal, yelk of egg, beetroot, anchovy, apple, onion, ham, and parsley. A very small bit of the white of the egg must be cut off, to make it stand on the dish as a cup.
Orange Butter.
Boil six eggs hard: beat the yelks in a mortar with fine sugar, orange flower water, four ounces of butter, and two ounces of almonds beaten to a paste. When all is mixed, rub it through a colander on a dish.
Roll butter in different forms; either like a pine, having made it in the shape of a cone, and marking it with a teaspoon; or rolling in a crimping form, or working it through a colander. Serve with scraped beef or anchovies, garnished with a wreath of curled parsley.
Rusks buttered, and anchovies split and rolled.
Grated hung beef on rusks buttered.
Grated cheese on ditto, or in a plate.
Radishes placed round a plate, and butter in the middle.
French beans boiled of a beautiful green, and served with a cream sauce.
Jerusalem artichokes or cauliflowers in ditto.
Broccoli boiled, served on toast, to eat with poached eggs.
Stewed vegetables.
Eggs poached on toast or spinach.
Eggs buttered on toast.
Custards in cups or glasses, with toast in long sippets.
Cold meat in slices on a dish, or as Sandwiches.
Ham. Tongue. Collared things. Hunter’s beef.
Oysters cold, scalloped, stewed, or pickled.
Potted meat, birds, fish, or cheese.
Pickled or baked fish.
Common cake. Baked or stewed fruits.
Pies of meat, fowl, or fruit.
Potatoes roasted, boiled, scalloped, mashed, &c.
Collared beef, veal, or pig’s head.
Lobsters. Crabs. Prawns.
Sweetbreads. Small birds.
Forcemeat for Patties, Balls or Stuffing.
Crumbs of bread, chopped parsley, fat bacon, (if it has been dressed it is the better,) suet, a bit of fresh butter, a little anchovy liquor, an egg, a bit of onion, a very little knotted marjorum, a little pepper, salt, and nutmeg.
This is a much admired mixture; but, according to the purpose it is for, any addition may be made to the flavour. Cold ham or gammon, different herbs, anchovies, oysters, Cayenne.
Note. To the above should have been added cold veal or chicken, which is a great improvement. Some like lemon, and lemon thyme is a good substitute. Tarragon gives a French flavour, but a very small proportion is sufficient.
Fried Patties.
Mince a bit of cold veal, and six oysters; mix with a few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a very small bit of lemonpeel; add the liquor of the oysters: warm all in a tosser, but do not boil. Let it go cold. Have ready a good puff paste, roll thin, and cut it in round or square bits. Put some of the above between two of them; twist the edges to keep in the gravy, and fry them of a fine brown.
This is a very good thing; and baked, is a fashionable dish.
Oyster Patties.
Put a fine puff paste into small pattypans, and a bit of bread in each; and against they are baked, have ready the following to fill with, taking out the bread. Take off the beards of the oysters; cut the other parts in small bits; put them in a small tosser, with a grate of nutmeg, the least white pepper, and salt, a morsel of lemonpeel, cut so small that you can scarcely see it, a little cream, and a little of the oyster liquor. Simmer for a few minutes before you fill.
Lobster Patties.
Make with the same seasoning, a little cream, and the smallest bit of butter.
Beef and veal patties, as likewise turkey and chicken, are under the several articles in the foregoing pages.
Sweet Patties.
Chop the meat of a boiled calf’s foot, of which you use the liquor for jelly, two apples, one ounce of orange and lemonpeel candied, and some fresh peel and juice: mix with them half a nutmeg grated, the yelk of an egg, a spoonful of brandy, and four ounces of currants washed and dried.
Bake in small pattypans.
Patties resembling Mincepies.
Chop the kidney and fat of cold veal, apple, orange and lemonpeel candied, and fresh currants, a little wine, two or three cloves, a little brandy, and a bit of sugar. Bake in puff paste as before.
Mincepie.
Of scraped beef free from skin and strings, weigh two pounds; four pounds of suet picked and chopped; then add six pounds of currants, nicely cleaned and perfectly dry, three pounds of chopped apples, the peel and juice of two lemons, a pint of sweet wine, a nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, ditto mace, ditto pimento, in finest powder; press the whole into a deep pan when well mixed, and keep it covered in a dry cool place.
Half the quantity is enough, unless for a very large family.
Have citron, orange, and lemonpeel ready, and put some of each in the pies when made.
Mincepies, without Meat.
Of the best apples six pounds, pared, cored, and minced; of fresh suet, and raisins stoned, each three pounds, likewise minced: to these add of mace and cinnamon a quarter of an ounce each, and eight cloves, in finest powder, three pounds of the finest powder sugar, three quarters of an ounce of salt, the rinds of four and juice of two lemons, half a pint of port wine, and the same of brandy. Mix well, and put into a deep pan.
Have ready washed and dried four pounds of currants, and add as you make the pies, with candied fruit.
Lemon Mincepies.
Squeeze a large lemon: boil the outside till tender enough to beat to a mash: add to it three large apples chopped, four ounces of suet, half a pound of currants, and four ounces of sugar. Put the juice of the lemon and candied fruit, as for other pies. Make a short crust, and fill the patty pans as usual.
Egg Mincepies.
Boil six eggs hard, and shred them small: shred double the quantity of suet; then put currants washed and picked, one pound or more, if the eggs were large; the peel of one lemon shred very fine, half the juice, six spoonfuls of sweet wine, mace, nutmeg, sugar, a very little salt, orange, lemon, and citron candied. Make a light paste for them.
Savory Rice.
Wash and pick some rice: stew it very gently in a small quantity of veal, or rich mutton broth, with an onion, a blade of mace, pepper, and salt. When swelled, but not boiled to mash, dry it on the shallow end of a sieve before the fire, and either serve it dry, or put it in the middle of a dish, and pour the gravy round, having heated it.
Buttered Rice.
Prepare some rice as above: drain, and put it with some new milk, enough just to swell it, over the fire. When tender, pour off the milk, and add a bit of butter, a little sugar, and pounded cinnamon. Shake it, that it do not burn, and serve.
Rice boiled to eat with Curry or roast Meats.
Prepare as above; then put it into a large quantity of water, boil it quick, throw in a little salt, and observe the very moment when it is swelled large, but not too much softened; then drain off the water, and pour the rice on the shallow end of a sieve: set it before a fire, and let it stay until it separates and dries. Serve it without sauce of any kind.
Omlet.
Make a batter of eggs and milk, and a very little flour; put to it chopped parsley, onions, or chives (the latter is best); or a very small quantity of shalot, a little pepper, salt, and a scrape or two of nutmeg. Make some very nice dripping: boil in a small fryingpan, and pour the above batter into it. When one side is of a fine yellow brown, turn and do the other. Some scraped lean ham, put in at first, is a very pleasant addition. Three eggs will make a pretty sized omlet; but many cooks will use eight or ten.
If the taste be approved, a little tarragon gives a fine flavour. A good deal of parsley should be used.
Ramakins.
Scrape a quarter of a pound of Cheshire, and ditto of Gloucester cheese, ditto of good fresh butter; then beat all in a mortar with the yelks of four eggs, and the inside of a small French roll boiled in cream till soft. Mix the paste then with the whites of the eggs previously beaten, and put into small paper pans made rather long than square, and bake in a Dutch oven till of a fine brown. They should be eaten quite hot.
Bacon Fraise.
Cut streaked bacon in thin slices an inch long; make a batter of milk, well beaten eggs, and flour; put a little lard or dripping into the pan, and when hot pour the batter in, and cover it with a dish. When fit to turn, put in the bacon, and turn it very carefully, that the bacon does not touch the pan.
Rich Puff Paste.
Weigh an equal quantity of butter with as much fine flour as you judge necessary; mix a little of the former with the latter, and wet it with as little water as will make into a stiff paste. Roll it out, and put all the butter over it in slices; turn in the ends, and roll it thin; do this twice, and touch it no more than can be avoided. The butter may be added at twice; and to those who are not accustomed to make paste, it may be better to do so.
A quicker oven than for short crust.
A less rich Paste.
Weigh a pound of flour, and a quarter of a pound of butter; rub them together, and mix into a paste with a little water, and an egg well beaten; of the former as little as will suffice, or the paste will be tough. Roll, and fold it three or four times.
Rub extremely fine, in one pound of dried flour, six ounces of butter, and a spoonful of white sugar. Work up the whole into a stiff paste, with as little hot water as possible.
German Puffs another way.
Boil two ounces of fresh butter in half a pint of cream; stir until cold; then beat two eggs, strain them into the cream, and mix that by degrees into two table spoonfuls of flour: butter teacups, and into each put three spoonfuls of the batter; bake them half an hour, and serve the moment they are to be eaten, turned out of the cups, with sauce of melted butter, sugar, and the juice of a lemon.
Excellent short Crust.
Make two ounces of white sugar, pounded and sifted, quite dry; then mix it with a pound of flour well dried; rub into it three ounces of butter so fine as not to be seen: into some cream put the yelks of two eggs beaten, and mix the above into a smooth paste; roll it thin, and bake in a moderate oven.
Another.
Mix with a pound of fine flour, dried, an ounce of sugar pounded and sifted; then crumble three ounces of butter in it, till it looks all like flour, and with a gill of boiling cream, work it up to a fine paste.
Light Paste for Tarts and Cheesecakes.
Beat the white of an egg to a strong froth; then mix it with as much water as will make three quarters of a pound of fine flour into a very stiff paste: roll it very thin, then lay the third part of half a pound of butter upon it in little bits: dredge it with some flour, left out at first, and roll it up tight. Roll it out again, and put the same proportion of butter; and so proceed till all be worked up.
A very fine Crust for Orange Cheesecakes or Sweetmeats, when to be particularly nice.
Dry a pound of the finest flour, and mix with it three ounces of refined sugar; then work half a pound of butter with your hand till it comes to a froth. Put the flour into it by degrees; and work into it, well beaten, and strained, the yelks of three and whites of two eggs. If too limber, put some flour and sugar to make fit to roll. Line your pattypans and fill. A little above fifteen minutes will bake them. Against they come out, have ready some refined sugar, beat up with the white of an egg, as thick as you can: ice them all over: set them in the oven to harden, and serve cold. Use fresh butter.
Salt butter will make a very fine flaky crust; but if for mincepies, or any sweet thing, should be washed.
Raised Crust for Custards or Fruit.
Put four ounces of butter into a saucepan with water; and when it boils, pour it into as much flour as you choose, knead and beat it till smooth: cover it as on the other side. Raise it; and if for custard, put a paper within to keep out the sides till half done, then fill with a cold mixture of milk, egg, sugar, and a little peachwater, lemonpeel, or nutmeg. By cold is meant that the egg is not to be warmed, but the milk should be warmed by itself; not to spoil the crust.
Raised Crust for Meatpies or Fowls, &c.
Boil water with a little fine lard, and an equal quantity of fresh dripping, or of butter, but not much of either. While hot, mix this with as much flour as you will want, making the paste as stiff as you can to be smooth, which you will make it by good kneading, and beating with the rolling pin. When quite smooth, put it in a lump into a cloth, or under a pan to soak, till near cold.
Those who have not a good hand at raising crust, may do thus: roll the paste of a proper thickness, and cut out the top and bottom of the pie, then a long piece for the sides. Cement the bottom to the sides with egg, bringing the former rather further out, and pinching both together; put egg between the edges of the paste to make it adhere at the sides. Fill your pie, and put on the cover, and pinch it and the side crust together. The same mode of uniting the paste is to be observed, if the sides are pressed into a tin form, in which the paste must be baked, after it shall be filled and covered; but in the latter case the tin should be buttered, and carefully taken off when done enough; and as the form usually makes the sides of a lighter colour than is proper, the paste should be put into the oven again for a quarter of an hour. With a feather put egg over at first.
Crust for Venison Pastry.
To a quarter of a peck of fine flour use two pounds and a half of butter, and four eggs: mix into paste with warm water, and work it smooth and to a good consistence. Put a paste round the inside, but not to the bottom of the dish, and let the cover be pretty thick, to bear the long continuance in the oven.
Rice Pastry.
Boil a quarter of a pound of ground rice in the smallest quantity of water: strain from it all the moisture as well as you can. Beat it in a mortar, with half an ounce of butter, and one egg well beaten, and it will make an excellent paste for tarts, &c.
Potatoe Pastry.
Pound boiled potatoes very fine; and add, while warm, a sufficiency of butter to make the mash hold together. Or you may mix with it an egg; then before it gets cold, flour the board pretty well to prevent it from sticking, and roll it to the thickness wanted.
If it is become quite cold before it be put on the dish, it will be apt to crack.